Measurement of the gradient field of a turbulent free surface

We study the free surface above a turbulent channel flow. We describe a laser scanning technique that can be used to measure the space–time turbulent surface gradient field along a line. A harmonically swiveling laser beam is focused on the surface and its angle of refraction is measured using a position sensing device. The registered signals can be converted easily to the desired gradient field, and spectra and correlations can be measured. Examples of measured spectra and correlation functions of the surface above a turbulent channel flow (Reynolds number R _λ ≈ 250) demonstrate the viability of the technique. We further assess the validity of Taylor’s frozen turbulence hypothesis that implies that time-dependent signals measured along a line that is oriented perpendicularly to the mean channel velocity can be interpreted as 2D measurements of the surface slope. While Taylor’s hypothesis works for a turbulent velocity field, it does not work for its free surface.

Integrated experiments of fast ignition targets by Gekko-XII and LFEX lasers

Implosion and heating experiments at the Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University on Fast Ignition (FI) targets for the FIREX-1 project have been performed with Gekko-XII laser for implosions and LFEX laser for heating. We tried to reduce the prepulse level in the LFEX laser system and have improved the plasma diagnostics to observe the plasma in the harsh hard X-ray environment. A plastic (CD) shell target, 7-μm thick and 500 μm in diameter with a hollow gold cone was used in this experiment to guide the short-pulse laser at the time of the maximum compression. The shell target was imploded with 9 or 12 beams of Gekko-XII laser (527 nm) with energy of 300 J/beam in a 1.5 ns pulse. Two of the four LFEX laser (1053 nm) beams were injected into the inside bottom of the cone with an energy up to 0.7 kJ/beam in a 1.5 ps pulse at the time around the maximum implosion. We have observed neutron enhancement up to 3.5 × 10⁷ with total heating energy of 300 J, which is higher than the yield obtained in the previous experiment in 2002 [R. Kodama et al. Nature 418, 933 (2002)]. We found the estimated heating efficiency is at a level of 10–20%. Fuel heating to 5 keV is expected when the full output of LFEX is used.     

Speckle technique for dynamic drop profile measurement on rough surfaces

A technique has been developed for measuring three-dimensional instantaneous drop profiles on rough surfaces. The surface is illuminated using a laser and images are captured of the resulting speckle pattern with and without the drop in place. The analysis consists of finding the contact line, measuring the deformation of the speckle field caused by refraction of light at the drop surface, then reconstructing the drop using simulated annealing optimization to find the drop shape whose shift vector field best matches the one measured. An error analysis of the technique was performed using a Monte Carlo technique and comparisons to sideview drop images for a large sample of drops. Mean contact angle measurement error was found to be −1.6° with a 1 − σ error bound of −6.9°, +2.0°.     

Synthesis and electrorheological properties of polar molecule-dominated TiO 2 particles with high yield stress

Two types of amorphous TiO₂ particles with different particle sizes were synthesized by a simple sol–gel method and were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry. The electrorheological (ER) results show that the TiO₂/silicone oil suspensions exhibited a remarkable ER effect. The static shear stress can be up to 130 kPa (shear rate 0.2 s^− 1) under the DC electric field of 4 kV/mm at room temperature. The polar molecules present on the particles’ surface play a decisive role for the observed giant ER effect, which arises from the alignment of polar molecules in the gap between neighboring particles.     

Emission direction of fast electrons in high-intensity laser interactions with solids

Energetic fast electron beams can be generated in ultrashort and ultraintense laser–plasma interactions. In this paper the dependence of the emission direction of the fast electron beams on the experimental conditions of the laser and plasmas, such as intensity, polarization, incident angle, scale length of the preplasma, as well as the possible ways to control the emission direction of fast electrons are discussed.     

Ion acceleration in the radiation pressure regime with ultrashort pulse lasers

Numerical simulations of the interaction between 100 TW ultrashort (<50 fs) laser pulses and nanometre scale carbon targets have been performed using the 2D3V PIC code OSIRIS. Different focusing geometries (f/2 and f/0.8) were investigated, along with varying target thickness and laser polarisation, to see the effect on the accelerated carbon ions and protons. The ions are found to be accelerated either directly by the radiation pressure of the incident radiation on the plasma, by bulk heating in the relativistic transparency regime, or a combination of both. Optimum target thicknesses for maximum carbon energies were found to be ～ 10 nm for the f/2 configuration and ～ 30 nm for the f/0.8 configuration. Despite this greater optimum target thickness, the faster focusing f/0.8 can result in a greater than doubling in maximum ion and proton energy. Circular polarisation was found to give only a marginal advantage in maintaining radiation pressure acceleration due to the deformation of the target during acceleration.     

Formation of Regions with High Energy and Pressure Gradients at the Free Surface of Liquid Dielectric in a Tangential Electric Field

The nonlinear dynamics of the free surface of an ideal incompressible non-conducting fluid with a high dielectric constant subjected to a strong horizontal electric field is simulated using the method of conformal transformations. It is shown that in the initial stage of interaction of counter-propagating periodic waves of significant amplitude, there is a direct energy cascade leading to energy transfer to small scales. This results in the formation of regions with a steep wave front at the fluid surface, in which the dynamic pressure and the pressure exerted by the electric field undergo a discontinuity. It has been demonstrated that the formation of regions with high gradients of the electric field and fluid velocity is accompanied by breaking of surface waves; the boundary inclination angle tends to 90?, and the surface curvature increases without bound.     

Critical energy for direct initiation of detonation induced by laser ablation

This study describes experimental work examining the critical energy for direct initiation of detonation by laser ablation in a stoichiometric acetylene–oxygen mixture. The amount of input energy, the target material, and the surface roughness of the target were varied to study their effects on shock wave generation. Aluminum and stainless steel were used as target materials. The propagating shock wave induced by laser ablation was observed using high-speed shadow imaging. The critical energy for direct initiation of detonation was calculated using the strong blast wave theory. The critical input energy for aluminum was found to be lower than that for stainless steel. Because the thermodynamic critical temperature of aluminum is lower than that of stainless steel, aluminum caused a phase explosion more easily than stainless steel, thus resulting in direct initiation of detonation with a lower amount of input energy. The effects of surface roughness on critical input energy and shock wave generation were negligibly small. The critical initiation energy was estimated to be \(10.3 \pm 0.2\) mJ, which is in agreement with the experimental data obtained in previous work. The estimated critical initiation energy was independent of the target material. However, other predictions of the critical initiation energy by using the cell size overestimated this value because of the scatter in cell size data of an unstable cellular structure. Furthermore, interaction between plasma plumes formed by laser ablation and those formed by breakdown near the target surface might have contributed to requiring a lower amount of energy for initiating detonation.     

基于交变电场的月表除尘方法研究进展

实施月球表面探测时, 月表尘埃物质容易在探测设备表面沉积并造成严重不利影响. 近年来交变电场 除尘方法被认为是在月表进行尘埃防护的有效手段, 但要使该方法实用化, 仍需要弄清除尘的机理, 确定相关 影响的因素, 以便进行优化设计. 本文从实现交变电场的电帘出发, 分别介绍电帘表面的交变电场分布、颗粒 在电帘表面的受力状态、颗粒群运动过程中的摩擦电荷分布、颗粒运动的模拟方法、颗粒运动过程、除尘效 率和能耗的理论和实验研究, 并对自清洁太阳能电池板系统的设计与制备进行了总结. 对颗粒的起跳过程、静 电的生成和除尘效率影响因素等普遍关注的问题进行了细致的讨论和总结, 指出了颗粒的带电量对起跳过程 的关键作用. 最后, 对该除尘防尘存在的问题进行了归纳, 并展望了该领域的发展趋势.      

Flow field measurements in an optically accessible, direct-injection spray-guided internal combustion engine using high-speed PIV

High-speed particle image velocimetry has been applied to study the flow field of an optically accessible motored direct-injection spray-guided internal combustion engine. Based on recent improvements in all-solid-state diode-pumped laser- and CMOS camera-technology a large field of view (43 × 44 mm²) was achieved at 6 kHz resulting in a temporal resolution of 1° crank angle at 1,000 rpm. This allows the investigation of the temporal evolution of large-scale flow structures. The flow field was recorded during the latter half of the compression stroke for tumble flow conditions at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 rpm. An analysis of cycle-to-cycle variations has been performed from individual and ensemble-averaged cycles. The temporal evolution of the main vortex center and the kinetic energy shows a few individual cycles with strong variations from the mean caused by a substantially different flow regime. A quantification of cyclic variations using the kinetic energy is possible.     

Isochoric heating of reduced mass targets by ultra-intense laser produced relativistic electrons

We present measurements of the chlorine K-alpha emission from reduced mass targets, irradiated with ultra-high intensity laser pulses. Chlorinated plastic targets with diameters down to 50 μm and mass of a few 10^?8 g were irradiated with up to 7 J of laser energy focused to intensities of several 10¹⁹ W/cm². The conversion of laser energy to K-alpha radiation is measured, and high-resolution spectra that allow observation of line shifts are observed, indicating isochoric heating of the target up to 18 eV. A zero-dimensional 2-temperature equilibration model, combined with electron impact K-shell ionization and post processed spectra from collisional radiative calculations reproduces the observed K-alpha yields and line shifts, and shows the importance of target expansion due to the hot electron pressure.     

一种新型聚能战斗部

根据能量利用的观点提出了一种将聚能射流与爆炸成型弹丸相结合的新型聚能战斗部装药结构,在此基础上,运用系统的静破甲实验研究了该战斗部装药结构关键参数对破甲效果的影响。实验结果表明:保持穿孔孔径相当和同等装药条件下,该聚能装药结构比普通EFP装药结构穿深可提高约50%,小锥角聚能罩采用裂锥型是一个更好的选择。利用等效药量法对小锥角聚能罩的最大底面半径进行了工程计算。实验和计算结果表明该新型聚能战斗部有较大发展潜力。     

Broadband asymmetric transmission and polarization conversion of a linearly polarized wave based on chiral metamaterial in terahertz region

A novel chiral metamaterial consisting of double L resonators on two sides of the dielectric substrate is proposed in this paper. The structure can realize broadband asymmetric transmission and polarization conversion of a linearly polarized wave in the terahertz band. The polarization conversion ratio of the linearly polarized wave is more than 80% across a wide frequency range from 2.65 THz to 5.58 THz. Furthermore, the structure realizes three bands polarization angle independent 90° polarization rotator. In addition, optical activity and chirality parameter changing with frequency are studied in detail. The physical mechanism of the polarization conversion is also analyzed by the electric field distributions.     

UDV measurements of single bubble rising in a liquid metal Galinstan with a transverse magnetic field

Liquid metal is an important type of energy transport carrier in nuclear reactors, such as in accelerator-driven sub-critical systems, fusion reactors and spallation neutron source devices. It is necessary to conduct research for bubbles rising in a liquid metal under different magnetic field intensities. The Perspex container is positioned concentrically inside a transverse magnetic field, which provides a homogeneous DC longitudinal magnetic field that passes through the fluid district. The coils are supplied with maximum field strength of 1.97 T. The equivalent diameter of the bubble is 3.1–5.6 mm. The Ultrasonic Doppler Velocimetry (UDV) method is used to evaluate the internal flow velocity of opaque liquid metals. Research shows that the influence of the Lorenz force on the bubble ascension velocity is not simply positive or negative. The magnetic field inhibits the ascension velocity of small bubbles with diameters of 3.1 mm and 3.4 mm. The terminal velocity for large bubbles with diameters of 4.57 mm, 5.15 mm and 5.6 mm is higher under a weak magnetic field than without a magnetic field. The positive effect happens under strong magnetic intensity. The target is to obtain the hydro-dynamical relationships between the terminal velocity, drag coefficient, the Eötvös number, Reynolds number, and Stuart number in a strong magnetic field using a multiple regression method to reveal that the mechanism of the induced current's restraining influence determines the ascension velocity of the bubble in viscous electric liquids with a strong magnetic field.     

High-pressured solid atomic hydrogen with photodissociation

A novel method to realize solid metallic hydrogen is proposed as a new path to high energy density states of hydrogen. High-pressured atomic hydrogen could be metalized at a density of 0.1 g/cm³ below 1000 K, which is much less than the previously expected in the solid molecular hydrogen(about 1.43 g/cm³ at 300 K). This density will be obtained at pressures of less than 100 GPa with a conventional static compression technique. Atomic hydrogen at this density could be created from molecular hydrogen using three-photon absorption of a 250 nm short pulse laser light to cause photodissociation. Calculations taking into account the wavefunction of the molecular hydrogen are presented.     

Efficiency of an electrostatically focused electron impact ion source

Summary Naidu [1] investigated the inverse problem of particle motion which specifies the electrostatic field to guide charged particles along a prescribed set of paraxial paths. As an example, an application to mass spectrometry was cited. From the theory an electric field was specified that should focus charged particles so that a gas source of greater efficiency than a modified Nier source appeared possible.An ion source is constructed employing the proposed focusing field. Experimentally the new source is found to have an overall efficiency of 4×10^–6, the same as the modified Nier source. The new ion source produces ions of 0.1 eV energy spread and a half angle of divergence of 0.5 deg. An explanation for the observed efficiency is given, and the reasons for the failure to improve the performance as predicted by Naidu are discussed.     

A continuum analysis of charge induced ferroelectric domain wall motions

A continuum model is presented for the motion of a domain wall in a plane 90°-domain configuration subjected to an isolated extrinsic charge near the surface of a ferroelectric single crystal. Local pinning is postulated for the kinetic law. Before the appearance of the extrinsic charge, all polarization surface charges are taken to be neutralized by environmental charges. The domain wall motion after the appearance of the extrinsic charge is assumed to proceed sufficiently fast without any significant conductive currents on the surface or in the interior of the crystal such that new surface and interface polarization charges remain unscreened and contribute to the ferroelectric anisotropy energy. A non-admissible divergence of the electric field and consequently of the local thermodynamic driving force and of the domain wall velocity appears in the model if the domain wall charged by interface polarization charges intersects the crystal surface charged by surface polarization charges under an arbitrary angle. The physically possible domain wall angle is identified using the condition of a non-divergent driving force. The ferroelectric anisotropy energy and an intrinsic surface energy of the domain wall, however, do not provide stability of the domain wall trajectory against an unlimited increase of its curvature at the surface. The problem has been solved conceptually by proper account of the domain wall bending energy. Numerical and dimensional analysis explain also why domain walls driven by extrinsic charges remain almost straight in soft ferroelectrics.     

Static wall layers in plane channel displacement flows

We study steady and pulsating displacement flows of a Bingham fluid by a Newtonian fluid, along a plane channel. For sufficiently large yield stress a static residual wall layer can result during the displacement. The flow is parameterised by the Reynolds number (Re), the Bingham number (B) and the viscosity ratio (M). Perhaps intuitively, thicker layers are found with larger M and at lower Re. The residual layer is formed on the advective timescale of the displacement but drains on a slower timescale governed by M. For larger M truly stationary layers are only found for large t when the layer has thinned sufficiently to become static. Increased Re results in increased energy production locally around the finger. For large enough Re the energy production can play a significant role in yielding the fluid. As the energy production rate increases it also becomes focused around the corner or shoulder region of the front, and spreads axially along the initial part of the residual layer. This causes fluid to yield increasingly far behind the front and allows for the layer to thin. As B increases the static layer tends to decrease (see also [1], [2]). At small Re the static layer thickness appears to be independent of M. At large Re the layer thickness is dependent on M and decreases asymptotically to a constant value as B → ∞.For pulsating displacement flow rates, Q(t) = 2(1 + Asin  ωt) : A ∈ [0, 1) we study two ranges: ωRe ? 2π and ωRe ? 2π. For the viscous regime (ωRe ? 2π) a pseudo-steady 1D model predicts that the residual layer should remain static for 3(1 + Asin  ωt) < MB. In practice we find that partial mobilisation of the residual layer occurs even when this inequality is satisfied, but not if MB becomes significantly larger than 3(1 + A). For ωRe ? 2π we mobilise the layer for significantly larger values of MB and at smaller A, than in the viscous regime. This effect is traced to the occurrence of out-of-phase velocity fluctuations in the displacing fluid within a wall layer close to the interface.     

Probing of laser-irradiated solid targets using coherent extreme ultra-violet radiation

The diagnostic potential of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) coherent probing within a laser produced plasma is investigated. A fluid code is used to model the interaction of a 35 fs, 2 × 10¹⁴ Wcm^?2 800 nm laser pulse with an 800 nm thick aluminium target. A post processor is used to calculate the refractive index and transmission to 45 eV radiation of the target. The effects of EUV radial phase variations at the rear of the target on the intensity distribution at a detector 1.5 m from the target are studied. An irradiated aluminium target is found to have little effect on the transmission of 45 eV radiation, however, there are significant phase retardation differences of the probing beam in the radial direction. These phase variations affect the subsequent propagation of the radiation, suggesting that a simple diagnostic that measures the far-field footprint of the coherent EUV radiation passing through an irradiated target is sensitive to radial variations of the target heating. Sample calculated footprint variations associated with a drop in laser absorption to an irradiance of 10¹⁴ Wcm^?2 at a radius from the focal centre of 50 μm are shown.