Principal and secondary luminescence lifetime components in annealed natural quartz

Time-resolved luminescence spectra from quartz can be separated into components with distinct principal and secondary lifetimes depending on certain combinations of annealing and measurement temperature. The influence of annealing on properties of the lifetimes related to irradiation dose and temperature of measurement has been investigated in sedimentary quartz annealed at various temperatures up to $900{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$. Time-resolved luminescence for use in the analysis was pulse stimulated from samples at 470 nm between 20 and $200{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$. Luminescence lifetimes decrease with measurement temperature due to increasing thermal effect on the associated luminescence with an activation energy of thermal quenching equal to $0.68\pm 0.01\mathrm{eV}$ for the secondary lifetime but only qualitatively so for the principal lifetime component. Concerning the influence of annealing temperature, luminescence lifetimes measured at $20{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$ are constant at about $33\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{s}$ for annealing temperatures up to $600{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$ but decrease to about $29\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{s}$ when the annealing temperature is increased to $900{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$. In addition, it was found that lifetime components in samples annealed at $800{}^{\circ }\mathrm{C}$ are independent of radiation dose in the range 85–1340 Gy investigated. The dependence of lifetimes on both the annealing temperature and magnitude of radiation dose is described as being due to the increasing importance of a particular recombination centre in the luminescence emission process as a result of dynamic hole transfer between non-radiative and radiative luminescence centres.     

Electron spin relaxation of exchange coupled pairs of transition metal ions in solids. Ti2+–Ti2+ pairs and single Ti2+ ions in SrF2 crystals

EPR (X- and Q-band) and electron spin relaxation measured by electron spin echo method (X-band) were studied for ${\text{Ti}}^{2+}(S=1)$ and ${\text{Ti}}^{2+}''–''{\text{Ti}}^{2+}$ pairs in ${\text{SrF}}_2$ crystal at room temperature and in the temperature range 4.2–115 K. EPR spectrum consists of a strong line from ${\text{Ti}}^{2+}$ and quartets 2:3:3:2 from titanium pairs $(S=2)$. Spin-Hamiltonian parameters of the pairs are $g_{\parallel }=1.883$, $g_{\perp }=1.975$ and $D=0.036{\text{cm}}^{-1}$. Temperature behavior of the dimer spectrum indicates ferromagnetic coupling between ${\text{Ti}}^{2+}$. Spin–lattice relaxation of individuals ${\text{Ti}}^{2+}$ is dominated by the ordinary two-phonon Raman process involving the whole phonon spectrum up to the Debye temperature ${\Theta }_{\text{D}}=380\text{K}$ with spin–phonon coupling parameter equal to $215{\text{cm}}^{-1}$. Important contribution to the relaxation arises from local mode vibrations of energy $133{\text{cm}}^{-1}$. The pair relaxation is faster due to the exchange coupling modulation mechanism with the relaxation rate characteristic for ferromagnetic ground state of the pairs $1/T_1\propto [\exp (2J/\mathit{kT})-1{]}^{-1}$ which allowed to estimate the exchange coupling $J=36{\text{cm}}^{-1}$. The theories of electron–lattice relaxation governed by exchange interaction are outlined for extended spin systems, for clusters and for individual dimers. Electron spin echo decay is strongly modulated by coupling with surrounding ¹⁹F nuclei. FT-spectrum of the modulations shows a dipolar splitting of the fluorine lines, which allows the evaluation of the off-center shift of ${\text{Ti}}^{2+}$ in pair as 0.132 nm. The electron spin echo dephasing is dominated by an instantaneous diffusion at low temperatures and by the spin–lattice relaxation processes above 18 K.     

222Rn concentrations of water in the Balaton Highland and in the southern part of Hungary,and the assessment of the resulting dose

In this study the ²²²Rn concentration of mains water in 120 settlements in Hungary (Southern Hungary, the Balaton Highland region) was measured. The average ²²²Rn concentration was 5.56 $(0–24.3)\mathrm{Bq}{\mathrm{l}}^{-1}$. On the basis of the ²²²Rn concentration of mains water inspected in the Southern Great Plain region, it can be stated that the ²²²Rn concentration of mains water here is, as an average, half of the ²²²Rn concentration of fountains in the same region. This decrease in radon probably happens during the water management and storage of mains drinking water. The ²²²Rn concentration of spring-water examined in the region of the Balaton Highland exceeds the average ²²²Rn concentration of drinking water (average $27.1\mathrm{Bq}{\mathrm{l}}^{-1}$).The radiation dose originating from the consumption of mains drinking water in case of adults does not reach the value of $0.1\mathrm{mSv}{\mathrm{year}}^{-1}$, even as a conservative assessment ($1\mathrm{l}{\mathrm{day}}^{-1}$ water consumption and ${10}^{-8}\mathrm{Sv}{\mathrm{Bq}}^{-1}$ dose conversion factor).     

Electric field and temperature dependence of hole mobility in electroluminescent PDY 132 polymer thin films

The current density–voltage ($J\text{–}V$) behavior of polymer PDY 132 thin films has been investigated in hole-only device configuration, viz., ITO/poly(ethylene-dioxthiophene):polystyrenesulphonate (PEDOT:PSS)/PDY 132/Au, as a function of polymer (PDY) film thickness (150 nm and 200 nm) and temperature (290–90 K). Hole current density was found to follow two distinct modes of conduction, (i) low electric field region I: ohmic conduction where slope $～1$, and (ii) intermediate and high electric field region II: non ohmic conduction where slope $～2$. Region I has been attributed to the transport of intrinsic background charge carriers while region II has been found to be governed by space charge limited currents (SCLC) with hole mobility strongly dependent on electric field and temperature. The respective hole transport parameters determined from the SCLC regime, ${\mu }_{p0}$ is $3.7\times 10^{?3}{m}^2/Vs$, ${\mu }_p(0,T)$ is $3.7\times 10^{?8}{m}^2/Vs$, and zero field activation energy (${\Delta }_0$) of 0.48 eV is obtained.     

Application of medium energy plasma focus device in study of radioisotopes

Pulsed neutrons generated in a plasma focus device are used for the thermal neutron activation analysis (TNAA) of selected three elements having widely different half-lives varying from a few seconds to a few days [Dysprosium (Dy), Manganese (Mn) and Gold (Au)]. Neutron pulse having strength of $(1.2\pm 0.3)\times {10}^9$ neutrons/pulse with a pulse width of $46\pm 5\text{ns}$ is produced by “MEPF-12” device operated at a filling gas (deuterium + 0.5% krypton) pressure of 3 mbar. The fast 2.45 MeV D–D neutrons are thermalized before irradiating the sample. The decay gammas from the radioisotopes ^165mDy ($T_{1/2}=1.26\text{min.}$), ⁵⁶Mn ($T_{1/2}=2.58\text{hrs.}$), and ¹⁹⁸Au ($T_{1/2}=2.69\text{days}$) produced via reactions, ¹⁶⁴Dy($n,\gamma$)^165mDy, ⁵⁵Mn($n,\gamma$) ⁵⁶Mn, and ¹⁹⁷Au($n,\gamma$) ¹⁹⁸Au respectively are counted off-line in a lead shielded well type $76\times 76{\text{mm}}^2$ NaI(Tl) detector coupled to a calibrated 2048 channel analyzer. The values of half-lives evaluated from the measured decay gammas, $1.43\pm 0.3\text{min.}$, $2.56\pm 0.5\text{hrs.}$ and $2.84\pm 0.6\text{days}$ respectively for the radioisotopes of Dy, Mn and Au, are seen to be close to the values reported in literature.     

Pressure dependence of negative thermal expansion in Zr2(WO4)(PO4)2

Negative thermal expansion materials can experience significant stresses when they are used in composites. Under ambient conditions Zr₂(WO₄)(PO₄)₂ displays anisotropic negative thermal expansion (NTE) (${\alpha }_v=?14.0\left(10\right)\times 10^{?6}{K}^{?1}$, ${\alpha }_a=?7.9\left(5\right)\times 10^{?6}{K}^{?1}$, ${\alpha }_b=2.5\left(5\right)\times 10^{?6}{K}^{?1}$, ${\alpha }_c=?8.7\left(2\right)\times 10^{?6}{K}^{?1}$ at 0 GPa). The effect of hydrostatic pressure on its thermal expansion characteristics was investigated by neutron diffraction between 300 and 60 K at pressures up to 0.3 GPa. No phase transitions were observed in the pressure and temperature range examined. The material was found to have a bulk modulus, B₀, of 61.3(8) GPa at ambient temperature, and unlike some other NTE materials, pressure had no detectable effect on thermal expansion (${\alpha }_v=?14.2\left(8\right)\times 10^{?6}{K}^{?1}$, ${\alpha }_a=?7.9\left(3\right)\times 10^{?6}{K}^{?1}$, ${\alpha }_b=2.9\left(5\right)\times 10^{?6}{K}^{?1}$, ${\alpha }_c=?9.2\left(2\right)\times 10^{?6}{K}^{?1}$ at 0.3 GPa).     

Direct spectroscopic evidence for competition between thermal molecular agitation and magnetic field in a tetrameric protein in aqueous solution

Samples of a typical tetrameric protein, the hemoglobin, at the concentration of 150 mg/ml in bidistilled water solution, were exposed to a uniform magnetic field at 200 mT at different temperatures of ${15}^{°}\text{C}$, ${40}^{°}\text{C}$ and ${65}^{°}\text{C}$. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy was used to analyze the response of the secondary structure of the protein to both stress agents, heating and static magnetic field. The most relevant result which was observed was the significant increasing in intensity of the Amide I band after exposure to the uniform magnetic field at the room temperature of ${15}^{°}\text{C}$. This result can be explained assuming that protein's α-helices aligned along the direction of the applied magnetic field due to their large dipole moment, inducing the alignment of the entire protein. Increasing of temperature up to ${40}^{°}\text{C}$ and ${65}^{°}\text{C}$ induced a significant reduction of the increasing in intensity of the Amide I band. This effect may be easily explained assuming that Brownian motion of the protein in water solution caused by thermal molecular agitation increased with increasing of temperature, contrasting the effect of the torque of the magnetic field applied to the protein in water solution.     

Ultra-intense femtosecond super-heavy ion beams driven by a multi-PW laser

The paper reports the results of numerical studies on the laser-driven acceleration of super-heavy ions by a multi-PW laser pulse of ultra-relativistic intensity attainable with the Extreme Light Infrastructure lasers currently being built in Europe. Using a multi-dimensional (2D3V) particle-in-cell code, it is shown that multi-GeV super-heavy (thorium) ion beams with an intensity of $～{10}^{21}\text{–}{10}^{22}\text{W}/{\text{cm}}^2$, fluence $～{10}^{17}\text{–}{10}^{18}{\text{cm}}^{?2}$ and time duration $～20\text{–}100\text{fs}$ can be produced from a sub-μm thorium target irradiated by a 150-J, 20-fs laser pulse with an intensity of ${10}^{23}\text{W}/{\text{cm}}^2$. Such ion beams are impossible to obtain presently with the use of conventional RF-driven accelerators, so they can open the door to new areas of research in both nuclear and high energy-density physics.     

Photoluminescence of ZnO ceramics sintered with a flux

ZnO ceramics both with and without boric acid as a flux were sintered at $T_S=800\text{–}1200{}^{°}C$ and their luminescent characteristics were compared. In obtained samples UV as well as visible emission bands were observed. The addition of the flux was shown to cause the increase of grain size and the improvement of crystalline quality of the ceramics, which was ascribed to the creation of a liquid phase during the sintering process. It was found that the adding of 1 wt% of boric acid to ZnO powder allowed ceramics preparation without any pressing of the starting materials, in this case $T_S=950{}^{°}C$ being enough to obtain firm and dense ceramics. This ceramics had higher intensity of UV emission and lower intensity of visible emission than ceramics sintered without the flux.     

Inflationary magnetic fields from massive Euler–Heisenberg electrodynamics

We study the generation of cosmic magnetic fields during de Sitter inflation in a non-conformally-invariant effective model of massive electrodynamics containing a four-photon interaction term. We show that, if the photon self-coupling is strong enough, comoving magnetic fields correlated on scales of 10kpc and of intensities ${10}^{?22}\text{G}?B_0?{10}^{?19}\text{G}$ are produced as excitation of the vacuum. If amplified by galactic dynamo, they naturally explain the existence of galactic magnetic fields.