A new positron annihilation lifetime spectrometer based on DRS4 waveform digitizing board

A new simple digital positron lifetime spectrometer has been developed. It includes a DRS4 waveform digitizing board and two scintillation detectors based on the XP2020Q photomultiplier tubes and LaBr₃ scintillators. The DRS4 waveform digitizing can handle small pulses, down to few tens of millivolts, and its time scale linearity and stability are very good. The new system has reached a 206 ps time resolution, which is better than the conventional analog apparatus using the same detectors. These improvements make this spectrometer more simple and convenient in comparison with other spectrometers, and it can be applied to the other scintillation timing measurements with picosecond accuracy.     

On-chip optical pulse shaper for arbitrary waveform generation

We propose and demonstrate a silicon-on-insulator(SOI) on-chip optical pulse shaper based on four-tap finite impulse response. Due to different width designs in phase region of each tap, the phase differences for all taps are controlled by an external thermal source, resulting in an optical pulse shaper. We further demonstrate optical arbitrary waveform generation based on the optical pulse shaper assisted by an optical frequency comb injection. Four different optical waveforms are generated when setting the central wavelengths at 1533.78 nm and 1547.1 nm and setting the thermal source temperatures at 23℃ and 33℃, respectively. Our scheme has distinct advantages of compactness, capability for integrating with electronics since the integrated silicon waveguide is employed.     

A new method of waveform digitization based on time-interleaved A/D conversion

Time interleaved analog-to-digital conversion （TIADC） based on parallelism is an effective way to meet the requirement of the ultra-fast waveform digitizer beyond Gsps. Different methods to correct the mismatch errors among different analog-to-digital conversion channels have been developed previously. To overcome the speed limi- tation in hardware design and to implement the mismatch correction algorithm in real time, this paper proposes a fully parallel correction algorithm. A 12-bit l-Gsps waveform digitizer with ENOB around 10.5 bit from 5 MHz to 200 MHz is implemented based on the real-time correction algorithm.     

B~3Σ_u~- X~3Σ_g~- transition in selenium dimer:ab initio multireference configuration interaction calculations

Theoretical investigation of low-lying electronic states and B 3Σu-X3Σg- transition properties of selenium dimer using size-extensivity singly and doubly excitation multireference configuration interaction theory with nonrelativistic all-electron basis set and relativistic effective core potential plus its split valence basis set is presented in this paper. The spectroscopic constants of ten low-lying Λ-S bound states have been obtained and compared with experiments. Spin-orbit calculations for coupling between B3Σu- sates and repulsive 1Πu,5Πu states have been made to interpret the predissociation mechanisms of the B3Σu- state. The lifetimes of B3Σu-(ν=0～6) have been calculated with scalar relativistic effects included or excluded,respectively,and reasonably agree with experimental values.     

Decay vertex reconstruction and 3-dimensional lifetime determination at BESⅢ

This paper focuses mainly on the vertex reconstruction of resonance particles with a relatively long lifetime such as Ks^0, A, as well as on lifetime measurements using a 3-dimensional fit. The kinematic constraints between the production and decay vertices and the decay vertex fitting algorithm based on the least squares method are both presented. Reconstruction efficiencies including experimental resolutions are discussed. The results and systematic errors are calculated based on a Monte Carlo simulation.     

Fabrication and temperature-dependent photoluminescence spectra of Zn–Cu–In–S quaternary nanocrystals

A series of Zn-Cu-In-S nanocrystals （ZCIS NCs） are prepared and the optical properties of the ZCIS NCs are tuned by adjusting the reaction time. It is interesting to observe that the temperature-dependent photoluminescence （PL） spectra of the ZCIS NCs show a redshift with decreasing intensity at low temperature （50-280 K） and a blueshift at high temperature （318--403 K）. The blueshift can be explained by the thermally active phonon-assisted tunneling from the excited states of the low-energy emission band to the excited states of the high-energy emission band.     

Measurement of the Bc+ meson lifetime using the decay mode Bc+ --> J/Psie+nue

We present a measurement of the Bc+ meson lifetime in the decay mode Bc+ --> J/Psie+nue using the Collider Detector at Fermilab II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. From a sample of about of 360 pb(-1) of pp collisions at square root of s = 1.96 TeV, we reconstruct J/Psie+ pairs with invariant mass in the kinematically allowed range 4< M(J/Psie) < 6 GeV/c2. A fit to the decay-length distribution of 238 signal events yields a measured Bc+ meson lifetime of 0.463(-0.065)(+0.073)(stat) +/- 0.036(syst) ps.     

掺杂钐离子的邻苯二甲酸锌的光谱研究

应用微波反应方法制备了掺杂钐离子的邻苯二甲酸锌(Zn(Pht))化合物,采用XRD,FTIR,NIR FT-Raman,固体样品漫反射紫外-可见光谱(DRS UV/Vis),荧光光谱和热重分析(TG)对其结构进行了分析表征。傅里叶变换红外和拉曼分析表明,在化合物中邻苯二甲酸酐中邻位的二个羟酸根各以单齿和Zn配位,其π→π*的跃迁由255和289 nm移向235和270 nm。该化合物在240 nm的光激发下,在560,596,642和670 nm附近产生较强的发射峰,它们分别对应于Sm3+的从4G_5/2,6H_7/2,6H_9/2和6H_11/2激发态到基态的发射,结果表明,Zn(Pht)显著地提高了Sm3+的发射效率。在荧光寿命谱中,化合物以240 nm激发所产生的596和642 nm的发射峰,其荧光寿命分别为τ₁=1.57 ns,τ₂=76.94 ns和τ₁=1.19 ns,τ₂=55.64 ns。TG分析表明,所研究的化合物在380℃开始分解,具有较高的热稳定性。     

Effect of WO3 on the spectroscopic properties in Er/Yb co-doped bismuth–borate glasses

The spectroscopic properties of Er³⁺/Yb³⁺ co-doped Bi₂O₃–B₂O₃–WO₃ (BBW) glasses were analyzed and discussed. The effect of WO₃ content on the absorption spectra, the Judd–Ofelt parameters Ω_t (t=2, 4, 6), emission spectra and the lifetime of the ⁴I_13/2 level and the quantum efficiency of Er³⁺:⁴I_13/2→⁴I_15/2 transition were also investigated. With the substitution of WO₃ for B₂O₃, the measured lifetime of the ⁴I_13/2 level and the quantum efficiency of Er³⁺:⁴I_13/2→⁴I_15/2 transition increase from 0.98 to 1.31 ms and from 38.2% to 49.2%, respectively. The effective width of emission band and the emission cross-section both decrease slightly. And the emission spectra is analyzed via the different curve (σ_e−σ_a) of BBW glasses, the influence of OH⁻is also discussed.     

Neutron β-decay, Standard Model and cosmology

The precise value of the neutron lifetime is of fundamental importance to particle physics and cosmology. The neutron lifetime recently obtained, 878.5±0.7_stat±0.3_sys s, is the most accurate one to date. The new result for the neutron lifetime differs from the world average value by 6.5σ. The impact of the new result on testing of Standard Model and on data analysis for the primordial nucleosynthesis model is scrutinized.     

A geometric factor calculation method based on the isotropic flux assumption

One of the instruments onboard the China Seismic Electromagnetic Satellite （CSES） is the Low Energy Particle Detector （LEPD）. The primary objective of LEPD is to provide measurements of the fluxes, energy spectra and pitch angles of 100 keV to 10 MeV electrons and protons from 2 to 50 MeV in the Earth＇s magnetosphere. The geometric factor is one of the principle parameters of a detector, which converts the physical quantity-count rate to the particle quantity-flux. In this paper, we calculated the geometric factor of LEPD via computer modeling of an isotropic radiation environment. It was first demonstrated that the radiation intensity related should obey a cosine-law, then a general sampling method of generating this distribution via GPS of GEANT4 was explained. Furthermore, combined with flux normalization, a comparison of the geometric factor calculation of a set of 2-layer detectors with different shapes （cylinder, truncated cone and rectangle） was performed. Results show a generally good agreement between simulation and analytical calculations for the cylinder and truncated cone detectors, and the result of the rectangular one, for which there is no accurate analytical formula, is consistent with the previous simulated results by others. As a practical instance of the 2-layer rectangle detector, the geometric factor of LEPD is 10.336±0.036 m cm2·sr for 10 MeV proton and 8.211±0.032 m cm2·sr for 8 MeV electron.     

Waveform timing performance of a 5 GS/s fast pulse sampling module with DRS4

We first clarify timing issues of non-uniform sampling intervals regarding a 5 GS/s fast pulse sampling module with DRS4. A calibration strategy is proposed, and as a result, the waveform timing performance is improved to below 10 ps RMS. We then further evaluate waveform-timing performance of the module by comparing with a10 GS/s oscilloscope in a setup with plastic scintillators and fast PMTs. Different waveform timing algorithms are employed for analysis, and the module shows comparable timing performance with that of the oscilloscope.     

A1/Ti/4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes with inhomogeneous barrier heights

This paper investigates the current-voltage （I-V） characteristics of Al/Ti/4H-SiC Schottky barrier diodes （SBDs） in the temperature range of 77 K-500 K, which shows that Al/Ti/4H SiC SBDs have good rectifying behaviour. An abnormal behaviour, in which the zero bias barrier height decreases while the ideality factor increases with decreasing temperature （T）, has been successfully interpreted by using thermionic emission theory with Gaussian distribution of the barrier heights due to the inhomogeneous barrier height at the A1/Ti/4H-SiC interface. The effective Richardson constant A＊ = 154 A/cm2 . K2 is determined by means of a modified Richardson plot In（I0/T2） - （qσ）2/2（κT）2 versus q/kT, which is very close to the theoretical value 146 A/cm2 · K2.     

Study on gamma response function of E J301 organic liquid scintillator with GEANT4 and FLUKA

The gamma response function is required for energy calibration of EJ301 （5 cm in diameter and 20 cm in height） organic liquid scintillator detector by means of gamma sources. The GEANT4 and FLUKA Monte Carlo simulation packages were used to simulate the response function of the detector for standard 22Na, 60Co, 137Cs gamma sources. The simulated results showed a good agreement with experimental data by incorporating the energy resolution function to simulation codes. The energy resolution and the position of the maximum Compton electron energy were obtained by comparing measured light output distribution with simulated one. The energy resolution of the detector varied from 21.2% to 12.4% for electrons in the energy region from 0.341 MeV to 1.12 MeV. The accurate position of the maximum Compton electron energy was determined at the position 81% of maximum height of Compton edges distribution. In addition, the relation of the electron energy calibration and the effective neutron detection thresholds were described in detail. The present results indicated that both packages were suited for studying the gamma response function of EJ301 detector.     

Simulation of beam optics for 12C＋12C scattering of RCNP by using Monte Carlo method

The Monte Carlo method is used to simulate the beam optics of the WS beam line of RCNP, Osaka University in order to know the effect of collimators on the beam line to control the beam spot. According to the simulation, we do not need to use the collimator to cut the beam and the beam angular resolution can be better than 0.05° in achromatic mode. In the present paper, the actual beam condition during the beam adjustment is listed. The accelerator can provide a 12C beam in achromatic mode and the angular resolution σ=0.7775 mrad±0.0030 mrad.     

Analysis of tensile strain enhancement in Ge nano-belts on an insulator surrounded by dielectrics

Ge nano-belts with large tensile strain are considered as one of the promising materials for high carrier mobility metal- oxide-semiconductor transistors and efficient photonic devices. In this paper, we design the Ge nano-belts on an insulator surrounded by Si3N4 or SiO？ for improving their tensile strain and simulate the strain profiles by using the finite difference time domain （FDTD） method. The width and thickness parameters of Ge nano-belts on an insulator, which have great effects on the strain profile, are optimized. A large uniaxial tensile strain of 1.16% in 50-nm width and 12-nm thickness Ge nano-belts with the sidewalls protected by Si3N4 is achieved after thermal treatments, which would significantly tailor the band gap structures of Ge-nanobelts to realize the high performance devices.     

Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: Synthesis and surface coating techniques for biomedical applications

Iron oxide nanoparticles are the most popular magnetic nanoparticles used in biomedical applications due to their low cost, low toxicity, and unique magnetic property. Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, including magnetite （Fe304） and maghemite （γ-Fe203）, usually exhibit a superparamagnetic property as their size goes smaller than 20 nm, which are often denoted as superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles （SPIONs） and utilized for drug delivery, diagnosis, therapy, and etc. This review article gives a brief introduction on magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in terms of their fundamentals of magnetism, magnetic resonance imaging （MRI）, and drug delivery, as well as the synthesis approaches, surface coating, and application examples from recent key literatures. Because the quality and surface chemistry play important roles in biomedical applications, our review focuses on the synthesis approaches and surface modifications of iron oxide nanopar- ticles. We aim to provide a detailed introduction to readers who are new to this field, helping them to choose suitable synthesis methods and to optimize the surface chemistry of iron oxide nanoparticles for their interests.     

Study of neutron response for two hybrid RPC setups using the GEANT4 MC simulation approach

The present article describes a detailed neutron simulation study in the energy range 10^-10 MeV to 1.0 GeV for two different RPC configurations. The simulation studies were taken by using the GEANT4 MC code. Aluminum was utilized on the GND and readout strips for the （a） Bakelite-based and （b） glass-based RPCs. For the former type of RPC setup the neutron sensitivity for the isotropic source was Sn = 2.702 × 10^-2 at En = 1.0 GeV, while for the latter type of RPC, the neutron sensitivity for the same source was evaluated as Sn = 4.049 × 10^-2 at En = 1.0 GeV. These results were further compared with the previous RPC configuration in which copper was used for ground and pickup pads. Additionally A1 was employed at （GND＋strips） of the phosphate glass RPC setup and compared with the copper-based phosphate glass RPC. Good agreement with sensitivity values was obtained with the current and previous simulation results.     

Study on incident laser modulation using surface micro-defects on KH2PO4 crystal

KH2PO4 crystal is a crucial optical component of inertial confinement fusion. Modulation of an incident laser by surface micro-defects will induce the growth of surface damage, which largely restricts the enhancement of the laser induced damage threshold. The modulation of an incident laser by using different kinds of surface defects are simulated by employing the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. The results indicate that after the modulation of surface defects, the light intensity distribution inside the crystal is badly distorted, with the light intensity enhanced symmetrically. The relations between modulation properties and defect geometries （e.g., width, morphology, and depth of defects） are quite different for different defects. The modulation action is most obvious when the width of surface defects reaches 1.064 p-m. For defects with smooth morphology, such as spherical pits, the degree of modulation is the smallest and the light intensity distribution seems relatively uniform. The degree of modulation increases rapidly with the increase of the depth of surface defects and becomes stable when the depth reaches a critical value. The critical depth is 1.064 μm for cuboid pits and radial cracks, while for ellipsoidal pits the value depends on both the width and the length of the defects.     

Effect of structural parameters of Gaussian repaired pit on light intensity distribution inside KH_2PO_4 crystal

KH2PO4 （KDP） crystal with excellent optical properties is a very important element of inertial confinement fusion （ICF） device. However, KDP crystal surface micro-defects severely reduce the crystal laser damage threshold, affecting the crystal service life. In this paper, Gaussian repaired pit is used to replace the crystal surface micro-defects, in order to improve the laser damage resistance of the KDP crystal with surface micro-defects. At first, the physical model of Gaussian repaired pit is built by Fourier model method, and the accuracy of the method is analyzed. It is found that the calculation error can be reduced by increasing the product of the width-period ratio and the truncation constant of the repaired pit. The calculation results about the physical model of Gaussian repaired pit show that the light intensity distribution within the crystal is symmetrical, and there are evidently enhanced light intensity regions in the crystal. Meanwhile, the maximum relative intensity inside the KDP crystal decreases gradually with the increase of the width of the Gaussian repaired pit. Secondly, the Gaussian repaired pits with different widths and the same depth of 20 μm are processed by micro-milling. Their surfaces are very smooth and present the ductile cutting state under the microscope. Finally, the laser damage threshold of the Gaussian repaired pits on the surface of the KDP crystal sample is measured by a 3 ω, 6-ns laser. The results showthat the maximum threshold of the Gaussian repaired pits is 3.12 J/cm2, which is 60% higher than the threshold of initial damage point, and the laser damage threshold increases with the increase of the width of the Gaussian repaired pit.