Radiative process in strong magnetic fields

Abstract

The behavior of electromagnetic processes in strong magnetic fields is currently of great interest in high-energy astrophysics. Observations of neutron stars indicate that magnetic fields larger than 10¹² Gauss exist in nature. In fields this strong, where electrons behave much as if they were in bound atomic states, familiar processes undergo profound changes and exotic processes become important. Strong magnetic fields affect the physics in several fundamental ways: energies prependicular to the field are quantized, transverse momentum is not conserved and electron/positron spin is important. The relaxation of transverse mometum conservation allows first order processes and their inverses: one-photon pair production and annihilation, synchrotron/cyclotron radiation and absorption, which are kinematically forbidden under field-free conditions. The first two are essentially quantum-mechanical and hence significant only in fields whose strength approaches the critical field, B _cr = 4.414 × 10¹³ Gauss. One-photon pair production is likely to be the dominant source of e ⁺ -e ^? pairs in fields exceeding 10¹² Gauss. While synchrotron radiation and absorption are observable as classical electromagnetic processes in weak fields, they are considerably different in high fields, where the classical synchrotron radiation formulae can violate conservation of energy, and predict too large an emissivity and electron energy loss rate. The second-order processes: two-photon pair production and annihilation and Compton Scattering, are also modified in strong fields. The discreteness of e ⁺ - e^? pair states causes resonant behavior in the cross sections and decreases the second-order rates from their free-space values. These processes play an important role in modelling high energy emission from pulsars and gamma-ray bursts.     

Recombination processes and quenching of negative afterglow by microwaves — Ne,Ne + He

Quenching of the afterglow of an interrupted negative glow by application of microwaves to the decaying plasma has been observed. The time dependences of Ne atomic spectral line intensities show that two distinct groups of spectral lines, each group having its own time dependence in the afterglow, are emitted. Both the potential curves and energy level positions known for Ne ₂ ⁺ and Ne₂ are discussed with respect to the observed effects. The time dependence of Ne spectral lines cannot be explained by the temperature dependence of recombination coefficients only.The enhanced Mo spectral line emission (material evaporated from the cathode) caused by microwaves during the discharge period or after current cutoff, makes it possible to estimate the electron temperature increase and relaxation during and after the microwave pulse.     

Eu red long afterglow in Y2O2S:Ti, Eu phosphor through afterglow energy transfer

Eu,Ti co-doped Y₂O₂S:0.03Ti,0.03Eu phosphors and single Eu or Ti doped Y₂O₂S phosphors were prepared and their luminescent properties were investigated in detail by photoluminescence (PL) spectra, long afterglow spectra and thermoluminescence spectra measurements. The results showed that Y₂O₂S:Ti,Eu phosphors possess orange-red afterglow color with afterglow time above 5 h. The reddish afterglow color, which corresponds to a set of linear Eu³⁺ emissions at low-energy range (540-630 nm), was demonstrated to come from the energy transfer process from yellow Ti afterglow emissions, the proposed energy transfer mechanism may well explain the Eu³⁺ afterglow emission.     

Free-to-bound radiative recombination in highly conducting InN epitaxial layers

We present a theoretical simulation of near-band-edge emission spectra of highly conducting n-InN assuming the model of ‘free-to-bound’ radiative recombination (FBRR) of degenerate electrons from the conduction band with nonequilibrium holes located in the valence band tails. We also study experimental photoluminescence (PL) spectra of highly conducting InN epitaxial layers grown by MBE and MOVPE with electron concentrations in the range (7.7×10¹⁷–6×10¹⁸) cm⁻³ and find that the energy positions and shape of the spectra depend on the impurity concentration. By modeling the experimental PL spectra of the InN layers we show that spectra can be nicely interpreted in the framework of the FBRR model with specific peculiarities for different doping levels. Analyzing simultaneously the shape and energy position of the InN emission spectra we determine the fundamental bandgap energy of InN to vary between E_g=692 meV for effective mass m_n0=0.042m₀ and E_g=710 meV for m_n0=0.1m₀.     

Effects of non-stoichiometry and substitution on photoluminescence and afterglow luminescence of Sr4Al14O25:Eu, Dy phosphor

The effects of nonstoichiometry and cationic substitution on photoluminescence and afterglow characteristics of strontium aluminate phosphor (Sr₄Al₁₄O₂₅:Eu²⁺, Dy³⁺) were investigated. Photoluminescence intensity of both the strontium-deficit and -rich phosphors was enhanced, but no definite correlation was observed between the afterglow intensity and non-stoichiometry. The photoluminescence emission maxima were either blue or green shifted in case of non-stoichiometric phosphors, whereas the afterglow emission maxima were not affected by the non-stoichiometry. Substitution of strontium by calcium resulted in white afterglow emission at higher calcium concentration. The emission centers in case of photoluminescence and afterglow emission appear to be different. Addition of silver significantly enhanced the afterglow intensity due to increased trap density.     

Properties of 80-MeV oxygen ion irradiated ZnS:Mn nanoparticles and exploitation in nanophotonics

ZnS:Mn nanoparticles of size variation 11–17 nm were synthesized by a simple and inexpensive chemical method and confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Presuming electronic energy loss (S _e>S _n, S _n being nuclear energy loss) to be the dominant phenomenon, they were irradiated by 80-MeV energetic oxygen ions with fluence of 10¹¹ to 10¹³ ions/cm². Photoluminescence (PL) spectra revealed three major emission bands ~445 nm, ~582 nm and ~706 nm; which are ascribed to D–A pair transition, Mn emission and surface state led fluorescence activation. The recovery of Mn emission and tunable surface state emission have been observed with ion fluence variation. Infra-red (IR) spectra of irradiated samples show great extent of oscillation with respect to amplitude due to ion fluence variation however, phonon energy (~98 MeV) remains unchanged. The possible applications of these modified properties in nanophotonics are also highlighted.     

Relaxation of the electron temperature in an inert-gas afterglow plasma at elevated pressures

The relaxation of the electron temperature T _e in helium and neon afterglow at elevated pressures is studied theoretically and experimentally. It is shown that the processes in which fast electrons are produced are accompanied by the heating of thermal electrons. The high-energy part of the electron energy distribution function is studied in the intermediate regime (between the local and nonlocal regimes) of its formation. It is shown that, in this case, the calculated effective energy transferred from the fast electrons to the thermal electrons depends substantially on the wall potential of the discharge tube. Comparison of these calculations with experiments testifies to the reliability of the probe technique for measuring T _e in an afterglow at elevated pressures.     

Fast electron energy deposition in aluminium foils: Resistive vs. drag heating

The high current electron beam losses have been studied experimentally with 0.7 J, 40 fs, 6 10¹⁹ Wcm^-2 laser pulses interacting with Al foils of thicknesses 10-200 μm. The fast electron beam characteristics and the foil temperature were measured by recording the intensity of the electromagnetic emission from the foils rear side at two different wavelengths in the optical domain, ≈407 nm (the second harmonic of the laser light) and ≈500 nm. The experimentally observed fast electron distribution contains two components: one relativistic tail made of very energetic (T _h ^tail ≈ 10 MeV) and highly collimated (7° ± 3°) electrons, carrying a small amount of energy (less than 1% of the laser energy), and another, the bulk of the accelerated electrons, containing lower-energy (T _h ^bulk=500 ± 100 keV) more divergent electrons (35 ± 5°), which transports about 35% of the laser energy. The relativistic component manifests itself by the coherent 2ω₀ emission due to the modulation of the electron density in the interaction zone. The bulk component induces a strong target heating producing measurable yields of thermal emission from the foils rear side. Our data and modeling demonstrate two mechanisms of fast electron energy deposition: resistive heating due to the neutralizing return current and collisions of fast electrons with plasma electrons. The resistive mechanism is more important at shallow target depths, representing an heating rate of 100 eV per Joule of laser energy at 15 μm. Beyond that depth, because of the beam divergence, the incident current goes under 10¹² Acm^-2 and the collisional heating becomes more important than the resistive heating. The heating rate is of only 1.5 eV per Joule at 50 μm depth.     

Mössbauer studies of after-effects of auger ionization following electron capture in cobalt complexe

Abstract

The electron-capture decay of a cobalt-57 atom triggers an Auger event resulting in the loss of several electrons from the molecule in which it is incorporated. The 14.4 keV Mössbauer emission conveys information regarding the chemical forms in which the daughter iron-57 is ‘stabilized’ within 10^?7 sec following electron capture. During this time the electronic relaxation occurs completely and several tens of electron volt energy is deposited in the molecule as a result of neutralization. We find that the ethylenediamine tetra-acetate, bis-salicylaldehyde tri-ethylenetetramine, acetylacetone, and indenyl chelates fragment in a large majority of events, resulting in the formation of degraded ionic Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ in the former cases and C₉H₇Fe⁺ in the latter. On the other hand, highly conjugated compounds such as cobalt phthalocyanine and Vitamin B₁₂ escape fragmentation in 100 per cent of the Auger events. Tris-dipyridyl Co(III) perchlorate also escapes fragmentation in a majority of events. Apparently, the large amount of excitation energy deposited in the molecule as a consequence of charge neutralization is very rapidly (in less than 10^?13sec) and efficiently dispersed through neighboring molecules. It is a novel phenomenon.

When the dipyridyl chelate molecules are dispersed in a foreign matrix, the dissipation of charge and energy is no longer rapid and efficient and the probability of fragmentation is considerably enhanced.

We also find that part of the coordinated parent species, in the case of labeled dipyridyl chelate, arises through fragmentation followed by interaction of the electronically excited degraded iron species with a neighboring chelate molecule resulting in replacement of cobalt with an iron atom. This finding was made possible by using the chelate doped with ‘carrier-free’ ⁵⁷Co citrate.

Emission spectroscopy yields values for the isomer shifts and quadrupole splittings which differ somewhat from those obtained by absorption spectroscopy. The apparent disparities are attributed to the dissimilarities of the matrices in which the Mössbauer emitter or absorber is situated.     

Wavelength-resolved lifetime measurements of emissions from DNA components and poly rA at room temperature excited with synchrotron radiation

The wavelength-resolved luminescence decays of the very weak emission from DNA and of some components at room temperature have been investigated by using the luminescence equipment recently built at Orsay. It combines the LURE synchrotron source with a spectrophotofluorometer using a fast single photon counting detection operating in the nanosecond range. The high intensity of the synchrotron source together with the high pulse frequency have allowed for the first time the luminescence decays of such weak emitters (φ_f ?10^-4) to be undertaken. It is shown that the room temperature fluorescence of the monomers (nucleosides) is indeed very short, τ < 0.1 ns. In polymeric structures (poly rA) longer lifetimes are observed, which appear to be wavelength dependent and which correlate with the multi-component nature of the total emission.     

Photoluminescence and thermoluminescence of Ce and Eu in Ca2Al2SiO7 matrix

The Ca₂Al₂SiO₇ samples doped with Ce³⁺ and Eu²⁺ are synthesized via a high temperature solid-state reaction. Ca₂Al₂SiO₇: Ce³⁺ emits a strong UV-violet emission while Ca₂Al₂SiO₇: Eu²⁺ emits a blue-green emission. The Stokes shift of the latter is greater due to a stronger crystal repulsion from ligands to Eu²⁺ ions. Ca₂Al₂SiO₇: Ce³⁺ exhibits a stronger initial intensity and longer duration of afterglow due to the higher liberated probability of the trapped carriers. The thermoluminescence curves reveal that at least three traps exist in the phosphors. Ca²⁺ vacancies may enhance the electron trapping and then lead to a stronger afterglow. A possible explanation will be provided.     

Mode transition in magnetic pole enhanced inductively coupled argon plasmas

The electrical probe (Langmuir probe) diagnostics of different plasma parameters and operation regimes (E/H modes) of magnetic pole enhanced, inductively coupled (MaPE-ICP) argon plasmas are investigated. It is shown that uniform, high density (n _e ∼ 10¹² cm^-3) and low electron temperature (T _e ∼ 1.5 eV) plasma can be produced in low pressure argon discharges at a low power (100 W). It is found that an MaPE-ICP reactor operates in two different modes; capacitive (E mode) and inductive (H mode). No density jump or hysteresis are reported between these modes. The effect of pressure on transition power, where the mode changes from E to H mode at 20 sccm gas flow rate are studied and it is found that for all pressures tested (∼7.5 mTorr to 75 mTorr) the transition power remains same. In the inductive mode, the above plasma parameters show a smooth variation with increasing filling gas pressure at fixed power. The intensity of the emission line at 750.4 nm due to 2p ₁ → 1s ₂ (Paschen’s notation) transition, closely follows the variation of n _e with RF power and filling gas pressure. Measured electron energy probability function (EEPF) shows that electron occupation mostly changes in the high-energy tail, which enlightens close similarity of the 750.4 nm argon line to electron number density (n _e ). The behaviour of the electron energy probability function (EEPF) with regard to pressure and RF power in two operational modes is presented.     

Synchrotron peak luminosity,black hole mass and Eddington ratio for SDSS flat-spectrum radio quasars

For a sample of 185 flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) constructed from the SDSS DR3 quasar catalog, we found a significant correlation between the synchrotron peak luminosity and both the black hole mass and Eddington ratio. This implies that the physics of its jet formation is not only tightly related with the black hole mass, but also with the accretion rate. We verify that the synchrotron peak luminosity can be a better indicator of jet emission than 5 GHz luminosity, through comparing the relationships between each of these two parameters and both black hole mass and Eddington ratio. The fundamental plane of black hole activity for our FSRQs is established as L _r ∝ L ^0.80±0.06_x M ^{−0.04±0.09}_bh with a weak dependence on black hole mass, however, the scatter is significant.

     

Novel compact 60-kV Mott detector for spin-polarization electron spectroscopy

A compact 60-kV Mott polarimeter designed specially for the local analysis of surface and two-dimensional magnetism by spin-resolved electron spectroscopy is developed and tested. The use of a design which combines a spherical accelerating field and the absence of a retarding potential after scattering of the electron beam ensures high stability of the measured polarization even when the potential and diameter of the beam being investigated vary. As a result of optimization of the scattering angle (118°) and the use of surface-barrier detectors with a large collection angle (∼48°), the efficiency or figure of merit of the polarimeter, which determines the signal-to-noise ratio ɛ=(I/I ₀)·(S _eff)², equals 2.5×10⁻⁴. Specially developed electronic circuits and optimum positioning of the detectors provide a maximum electron counting rate as high as 5×10⁶ counts/s. Consequently, it is possible to calibrate the polarimeter (to find the effective Sherman function S _eff) by extrapolating the measured asymmetry to a high discrimination level. This instrument can also be used in other areas of solid-state physics, atomic physics, and high-energy physics. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 125–130 (August 1998)     

激光-电子康普顿散射物理特性研究

对激光-电子康普顿散射物理特性即能量特性和微分截面角分布进行了仔细的研究.计算结果显示出光子能量和微分截面角分布的简单结构.康普顿散射X射线光源具有散射光子的能量易调节、方向性好等特点.在入射电子束能量很高时,X射线近乎单向出射.光源色散度较大,但实验上可以获得色散（带宽）小的X射线.对于各种波长的激光,在很宽的电子束能量范围（1 MeV—10 GeV）内,散射X射线光子的总截面和前向发射圆锥内（半圆锥角1/γ,其中γ=E/m₀ 关键词： 康普顿散射 能量特性 微分截面 角分布     

反冲原子对低速离子轰击Si表面时电子发射产额的影响

在兰州重离子加速器国家实验室电子回旋共振离子源高电荷态原子物理实验平台上,用低能(0.75keV/u≤EP/MP≤10.5keV/u,即3.8×105m/s≤vP≤1.42×106m/s)He2+,O2+和Ne2+离子束正入射到自清洁Si表面时二次电子发射产额的实验结果.结果表明电子发射产额γ近似正比于入射离子动能EP/MP.在相同动能下,γ(O)γ(Ne)γ(He),对于原子序数ZP比较大的O2+和Ne2+离子,ZP大者反而γ小,这与较高入射能量时的结果截然不同.通过计算不同入射能量下入射离子的阻止能损S,发现反冲原子对激发二次电子的作用随入射离子能量的降低显著增大,这正是导致在较低能量范围内二次电子发射产额与较高入射能量时存在差异的主要原因.     

High energy excitations in ion-induced electron emission from AlF3

Measurements of electron emission spectra from surfaces of aluminum fluoride impacted by keV noble gas ions show a high-energy structure, peaking around 7 eV that increases in intensity with ion energy. The shape of this structure, identified by Factor Analysis, is independent of the nature and the energy of the impinging ions. We discuss one electron, two electron and plasmon excitation mechanisms and conclude that the high-energy structure results from the autoionization of F^? 2p⁴nl n′l′ excited by electron promotion in close atomic collisions.     

Green photoluminescence, but blue afterglow of Tb activated Sr4Al14O25

Tb³⁺ activated Sr₄Al₁₄O₂₅ phosphors were synthesized by the high temperature solid-state reaction. For the sample, the color of the photoluminescence (PL) was green, but that of the afterglow was blue. The spectral results indicated that the photoluminescence was mainly due to the transitions from ⁵D₄ to the ground energy levels of Tb³⁺ and obeyed the cross-relaxation mechanism; however, the afterglow was derived from the transitions from ⁵D₃ and independent with the concentration of Tb³⁺. This difference was attributed to the reason that the energy transfer process of cross-relaxation was halted by the traps during the period of afterglow.