Back discharge in multipoint-plane geometry in flue gases

The paper presents investigations of back discharge occurring in air and flue gases produced by the process of burning of liquefied petroleum gas or charcoal. The discharge was generated between a multineedle electrode and plate covered with fly ash layer. The aim of this work was to determine the effects of back discharge in multineedle-to-plate electrode configuration on the fly ash layer covering the plate electrode. Level of NO_x and CO emission was also measured. It was found that the chemical composition of flue gas can be changed in the domains where the back discharge occurs, for example, additional amounts of nitrogen oxides (NO and NO₂) are produced and also carbon oxide (CO) was produced at higher discharge current.     

Equipment for measurements of radial profiles of excited species in DC glow discharge

The original experimental device for studying the radial dependences of emitted radiation, generated by the cylindrically symmetric positive column of the DC glow discharge, is proposed. Principle of detection of the radial intensity profiles of the spectral lines by means of the special scanner with two movable conic mirrors is described. The function of the scanner was verified experimentally and by the method of raytracing. As an example, the radial profiles of lines emitted by the positive column of the neon glow discharge are presented. No significant changes were found. This work is a part of the research plan MSM 0021620834, that is financed by the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic.     

Characterization of Cd1?xMgxTe film and plasma diagnostic studies by optical emission spectroscopy during sputtering

Cd_1−x Mg _x Te is an attractive II–VI semiconductor alloy candidate for obtaining energy gaps wider than 1.5 eV of CdTe needed for the top junction absorber layer in a polycrystalline thin-film tandem solar cell. We have shown that these alloy films can easily be prepared by sputtering, however, the sputtering rate is substantially lower than for CdTe and the attainable cell performance has been poor, both before and after activation treatments with chlorine-containing vapors. In this work we have applied optical emission spectroscopy (OES) using selected peaks of ArII, CdII, MgI, TeII and correlated the results with crystallographic and morphological characteristics of the deposited films. Results were obtained as a function of rf sputter power and sputter gas pressure.     

Spectroscopic analysis of a laser-induced NaCl–water plasma. The influence of self-absorption

A spectroscopic study of the plasma plume created by a laser beam on the surface of NaCl aqueous solution is presented. Optical emission spectra are recorded and temporally analyzed; electron number density is determined from the Stark broadening of the NI nitrogen line, and temperature is obtained from relative intensity of OI oxygen lines. The intensity of an atomic line from sodium was used to quantitate its molar percentage in the Oceanic and Mediterranean sea, and calibration curves have been constructed for concentrations ranging up to 1.5%.     

Spectroscopic investigations of back-corona discharge on fly-ash layer

Results of spectroscopic investigations of back discharge generated in point-plane electrode geometry in ambient air at atmospheric pressure are presented in the paper. The back discharge was generated for the plate electrode covered with fly ash layer. To characterize the discharge process, the emission spectra were measured for the back discharges and compared with those obtained for corona discharge generated in the same electrode configuration but with dielectric layer removed. The measurements have shown that spectral lines emitted by the back discharge depend on the forms of discharge and the discharge current. From comparison of spectral lines of back and normal discharges an effect of the dust layer on discharge morphology can be determined. In normal conditions, the emission spectra are dominated by atmospheric components (molecular nitrogen, atomic oxygen and nitrogen) but for back-discharges, additional lines due to elements and compounds in fly ash were also identified. The studies of back discharge were undertaken because this type of discharge decreases the collection efficiency in electrostatic precipitators.     

Investigation of XeCl vibrational and quenching kinetics: Measurements of gain and laser spectra in a discharge-pumped oscillator module

The small signal gain, amplified spontaneous emission and laser spectra of a transverse discharge-excited XeCl laser have been measured. Several gas mixtures, total gas pressures and electron densities have been investigated. From these measurements it is concluded, that bound-free transitions and transitions to high-lying vibrational levels of the ground state contribute significantly to the gain and laser emission. For the upper laser level a vibrational population ratio [XeCl(B, =1)]/[XeCl(B, =0)] corresponding to a temperature of about 370 K has been determined. The intensity ratio of about 1 observed for the two laser lines may be explained by the vibrational and quenching kinetics of the lower laser level together with the upper state kinetics. A table summarizing the result of the small gain measurement has been included for model comparison.     

Optical absorption in early stage low temperature laser produced plasma

We describe a new technique to measure the UV/visible absorption spectrum of the ablated material during the laser pulse. The technique utilizes the continuum emission from one laser produced plasma as a light source to measure the absorption properties of a second laser produced plasma which is formed on a semi-transparent target with an array of 40 μm holes. A 6 ns, 1064 nm laser was used to ablate a Ag target and the plasma absorption was measured in the range 450–625 nm for a laser fluence of 1 J cm⁻². The total absorption cross-section is (0.5–1.5)×10⁻¹⁷ cm² in the range 450–540 nm. By comparing the measured absorption with a calculation using the plasma spectroscopy code FLYCHK it can be concluded that, in the wavelength region examined here, the absorption is mainly due to bound-bound transitions.     

Temporal extension of stable glow discharges in fluorine-based excimer laser gas mixtures by the addition of xenon

The effect of addition of xenon on the long term homogeneity of discharges in F₂and ArF excimer laser gas mixtures was investigated in a small-volume discharge chamber. The gas mixture in the discharge chamber was preionized by X-rays. A special electrical excitation circuit containing a pulse forming line provided a long, square-shaped current pumping pulse of a predetermined duration to the discharge electrodes. The initiation and the development of the discharge was monitored via its fluorescence signal with an intensified CCD camera. We found that adding Xe up to partial pressures of 0.53 mbar extended the homogeneous phase of the discharge from 80 ns to approximately 200 ns in He/F₂as well as in He/Ar/F₂and Ne/Ar/F₂excimer laser gas mixtures. Monitoring of the ArF and XeF spontaneous emission signals showed that the formation of ArF excimers remained unaffected by the addition of xenon (up to 1.3 mbar) to the laser gas mixture.     

Shock-wave velocity of a femtosecond-laser-produced plasma

Fluorescence measurements have been used to characterize the velocity of atoms in a femtosecond-laser-produced plasma. Nanogram amounts of a copper sample were ablated by the focused radiation (λ=775 nm) of an all-solid-state laser. The laser was operated at a pulse rate of 10 Hz with an energy of 200μJ per pulse. The microplasma expanded into a defined argon atmosphere of pressures between 0.02 and 850 mbar. Atomic fluorescence was excited in the laser plume by a dye-laser pulse with the wavelength set to the line Cu I 282.4 nm. The narrowed beam of the dye-laser was directed into the plasma at different heights above the sample surface. The fluorescence radiation was measured with an échelle-spectrometer, equipped with an intensified-charge-coupled device as the detector. The velocity depends strongly on the pressure of the ambient atmosphere and the distance from the sample surface. The highest velocity found at an argon pressure of 0.02 mbar was 1.0×10⁶ cm s⁻¹.     

Plasma plume induced during laser ablation of graphite

The plasma plume induced during ArF laser ablation of a graphite target is studied. Velocities of the plasma expansion front are determined by the optical time of flight method. Mass center velocities of the emitting atoms and ions are constant and amount to 1.7×10⁴ and 3.8×10⁴ m s⁻¹, respectively. Higher velocities of ions result probably from their acceleration in electrostatic field created by electron emission prior to ion emission. The emission spectroscopy of the plasma plume is used to determine the electron densities and temperatures at various distances from the target. The electron density is determined from the Stark broadening of the Ca II and Ca I lines. It reaches a maximum of ∼9.5×10²³ m⁻³ 30 ns from the beginning of the laser pulse at the distance of 1.2 mm from the target and next decreases to ∼1.2×10²² m⁻³ at the distance of 7.6 mm from the target. The electron temperature is determined from the ratio of intensities of ionic and atomic lines. Close to the target the electron temperature of ∼30 kK is found but it decreases quickly to 11.5 kK 4 mm from the target.     

Description of low-lying vibrational and two-quasiparticle states in164Dy

The calculation with the deformed Woods-Saxon potential and residual interaction allowing for a twophonon admixture of the quadrupole, octupole and hexadecapole vibrational and two-quasiparticle states in¹⁶⁴Dy have been made. The calculated excitation energies and B(E; =2, 3, 4) values are found to be in reasonable agreement with experimental data. The calculated 0⁺ states in¹⁶⁸Er do not contradict experimental data. It is shown that the wave functions of states with energies below 2.3 MeV have dominating one-phonon components.     

Pink afterglow in nitrogen-argon mixtures

The nitrogen pink afterglow was studied by optical emission spectroscopy in the DC flowing regime at a total gas pressure of 700 Pa and at the discharge current of 120 mA. The discharge was created in a Pyrex tube of 13 mm i.d. using nitrogen and argon of 99.999% purity with additional purification by Oxiclear columns and liquid nitrogen traps. The area ±3 cm around the observation point had to be cooled down to liquid nitrogen wall temperature in order to allow the study of the reactor wall temperature effect on the post-discharge. The maximum pink afterglow emission in pure nitrogen at ambient wall temperature was observed at a decay time of 6 ms. When the argon percentage in the gas mixture was increased the pink emission maximum was shifted to the later decay times. Simultaneously, the intensity of the pink afterglow decreased and at a 1:1 nitrogen-argon ratio the effect disappeared. Similar effects were also observed when the discharge tube wall around the observation point was cooled down to liquid nitrogen temperature. The argon atomic lines were only observed during the post-discharge at the highest argon concentration at a low wall temperature. The kinetic model showed that the pink afterglow quenching was connected to the decrease of the and pooling processes efficiency.     

Investigation of the fusion of heavy nearly symmetric systems

Excitation functions in the vicinity of the Coulomb barrier have been measured for the formation of evaporation residues in¹⁰⁰Mo-induced fusion reactions with^{90, 92, 96}Zr,^{92, 96, 98, 100}Mo,¹⁰⁴Ru and¹¹⁰Pd as well as for the system⁹⁶Zr+⁹⁶Zr. From these data the fusion probability in central collisions was extracted covering a range of 4 orders of magnitude. At the fusion barriers expected from systematics we find that the fusion probability is suppressed by one to three orders of magnitude. It is rising very gradually at higher energies and reaches for the heaviest systems saturation only at energies as high as 30 MeV above the barrier. The observed hindrance of the fusion process increases roughly with the growing Coulomb repulsion between the collision partners, but there is also a distinct influence of their individual nuclear structure. The data are compared to the extra-push model, the surface-friction model and the diabatic fusion model. A parameterisation of the extra-push energy and its fluctuation in terms of a macroscopic quantity like the Coulomb repulsion combined with a microscopic quantity characterizing the nuclear structure is proposed. As a byproduct of this work a new alpha emitter,¹⁹¹Po, could be identified. Its half-life is (15.5 _–2.5 ⁺⁶ ) ms, the alpha energy is (7314±20) keV.     

Temperature and density spectroscopic measurements in different laser-generated plasmas

A pulsed Nd:Yag laser, at intensities of the order of 10¹⁰ W/cm², is employed to irradiate different thick metallic targets (Ti, Fe, Ag, and Ni) placed in vacuum. The obtained non-equilibrium plasmas are investigated with various analytical techniques. An electrostatic ion energy analyzer and different ion collectors are employed to monitor in situ the ions ejected from the plasma and to determine the core plasma temperature, the ion energy distributions and the ion angular emission. An optical spectrometer is employed to analyze the plasma corona emitted light vs. wavelength and to identify the emitted characteristic lines. The optical spectroscopy permitted to evaluate the electron temperatures and densities. Results show strong temperature and density gradients occurring in the laser-generated plasma plume.     

The influence of electrode gap width on plasma properties of diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge in nitrogen

In this work we have studied the influence of electrode gap width (inter-electrode distance) on plasma properties of the diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge. The outer conditions and discharge configuration can substantially influence properties of the discharge. Better understanding of these effects can lead to optimization of the discharge parameters for industrial applications. In this work the discharge was operated in nitrogen at atmospheric pressure. The electrode gap width was varied in the range from 0.6 to 2.2 mm. The input voltage, electrode temperature and gas flow was kept constant for all cases. Plasma parameters were studied by the means of time and space resolved optical emission spectroscopy and oscilloscopic measurements. These measurements gave us time and space distribution of discharge luminosity (e.g. intensities of second positive and first negative systems of nitrogen) and 1D-spatial profiles of rotational and vibrational temperature of nitrogen.     

Transparence and electrical properties of ZnO-based multilayer electrode

Three-layered ZnO/Ag–Ti/ZnO structures were prepared using both the sol-gel technique and DC magnetron sputtering. This study focuses on the electrical and optical properties of the ZnO/Ag–Ti/ZnO multilayers with various thicknesses of the Ag–Ti layer. The ZnO thin film prepared by the sol–gel method was dried at 300°C for 3 minutes, and a fixed thickness of 20 nm was obtained. The thickness of the Ag–Ti thin film was controlled by varying the sputtering time. The Ag–Ti layer substantially reduced the electrical resistivity of the sol–gel-sprayed ZnO thin films. The sheet resistance of the Ag–Ti layer decreased dramatically and then became steady beyond a sputtering time of 60 s. The sputtering time of Ag–Ti thin film deposition was determined to be 60 s, taking into account the optical transmittance. Consequently, the transmittance of the ZnO/Ag–Ti/ZnO multilayer films was 71% at 550 nm and 60% at 350 nm. The sheet resistance was 4.2 Ω/sq.     

Single molecule spectroscopy of oligofluorenes: how molecular length influences polymorphism

Polyfluorene represents a unique model to study the influence of intramolecular conformation on the electronic properties of chromophores with an extended π-conjugation. According to the degree of planarity between the adjacent repeat units the electronic and optical properties can change substantially. This peculiar spectroscopic behavior has been described by identifying different phases, namely the glassy, the γ- and the β-phase. Here, we present low-temperature single-molecule spectroscopy of a series of oligofluorenes differing in the number of monomeric units, in order to gain information on the influence of chain length on the polymorphism. By monitoring the energy of the 0-0 transition we have classified single molecules belonging to the different phases. We demonstrate that a large number of molecules start to form the β-phase only when more than 9 repeat units constitute the molecular chain. The implications for the control of morphology in polyfluorene thin films are discussed.     

DC discharges in atmospheric air for bio-decontamination – spectroscopic methods for mechanism identification

Three types of DC electrical discharges in atmospheric air (streamer corona, transient spark and glow discharge) were tested for bio-decontamination of bacteria and yeasts in water solution, and spores on surfaces. Static vs. flowing treatment of contaminated water were compared, in the latter the flowing water either covered the grounded electrode or passed through the high voltage needle electrode. The bacteria were killed most efficiently in the flowing regime by transient spark. Streamer corona was efficient when the treated medium flew through the active corona region. The spores on plastic foil and paper surfaces were successfully inactivated by negative corona. The microbes were handled and their population evaluated by standard microbiology cultivation procedures. The emission spectroscopy of the discharges and TBARS (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) absorption spectrometric detection of the products of lipid peroxidation of bacterial cell membranes indicated a major role of radicals and reactive oxygen species among the bio-decontamination mechanisms.     

Evidence for a two-phonon octupole vibrational state in208Pb

Collective properties of^206,208Pb have been investigated with gamma-ray spectroscopy using nuclear and electromagnetic excitation by²⁰⁸Pb projectiles. From the measurement of particle-particle- and particle-particle- coincidences a new energy level in²⁰⁸Pb at 5.683 MeV was observed and the data suggest an interpretation as a 2-phonon octupole vibrational state with spin 4⁺ or 6⁺. For this state one finds the same dynamical deformation parameter ₃ as for the first-excited collective 3^– state. The results are compared to predictions of models which consider, in particular, the aspects of the quadrupole interaction and the interaction of the 2-particle pairing vibration with the 2-phonon octupole vibration. For the²⁰⁶Pb+²⁰⁸Pb system at 6.2 MeV/u the nuclear potential could be determined from the measured inelastic cross sections.Dedicated to Prof. Dr. P. Kienle on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Experimental investigation of vibrational excitations in230Th

Nuclear levels in²³⁰Th have been investigated in the decay of²³⁰Pa, the²³⁰Th(d, pn) reaction and the²³²Th(p, t) reaction. TheK =0 ₁ ⁺ , 2 ₁ ⁺ , and 2 ₂ ⁺ bands with band heads at 635, 781, and 1010 keV were observed up to the 8⁺, 9⁺, and 7⁺ levels, respectively. A second excited 0⁺ level was identified at 1297 keV which might be interpreted as the usual shape-oscillation. The branching ratios of theE2 transitions from the 0 ₁ ⁺ , 2 ₁ ⁺ , and 2 ₂ ⁺ bands are explained in the framework of the rotational model by taking into account the coupling of these bands with the ground-state band, and the coupling between the 0 ₁ ⁺ and 2 ₁ ⁺ band. A strong enhancement ofE2 transitions from the 2 ₁ ⁺ to the 0 ₁ ⁺ band reported earlier is not confirmed. For the octupole vibrations withK =0^–, 1^–, and 2^– theE1 branching ratios are analyzed in terms of the Coriolis coupling of these bands. An almost complete experimental set ofE1 transition moments from these negative-parity bands to the 0 _g ⁺ , 0 ₁ ⁺ , and 2 ₁ ⁺ bands was obtained. It is suggested that octupole correlations might be important in explaining theseE1 moments.We appreciate the help of Mr. Assmus with the proton irradiations and the financial support of the Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH. This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grants Bo 1109/1-1, Gr 894/2-1, Gu 179/3-1 and He 1316/2-3) and by the Volkswagen Stiftung.