Negative Current Pulses in Atmospheric Pressure DC ElectricalDischarge

DC atmospheric pressure glow discharge with needle‐to‐plate electrode configuration stabilized by a gas flow can be used for a wide range of ecological applications, such as cleaning of polluted gases, destructing complex hydrocarbons from industrial gases, controlling acid gases etc. However, this type of positive discharge is a source of very intense radiation of electromagnetic waves in wideband region up to 300 MHz. Electromagnetic radiation is given by a strong current pulsation with the amplitude up to ten amperes and a frequency of about tens kHz. The influence of electric current and internal gas flow rate is studied. The possible electromagnetic disturbance and compatibility with computers and other electronic instruments is discussed. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Ionization and Breakdown in SF6-Air and Freon-Nitrogen Mixtures

The sparking potentials and swarm coefficients (ionization and attachment coefficients) have been measured in sulphurhexafluoride- air and freon-nitrogen mixtures over the range of 110 ? E/p ? 240 V cm-1 torr-l and gas pressures varying between 1 and 20 torr, at 20°C. Addition of strongly attaching salphur-hexafluoride and freon gases increased the sparking potentials and the rate of increase of the attachment coefficient with increasing percentage of the strongly attaching gases in the mixtures was much larger than the rate of change of the first ionization coefficient.     

Ratio of Diffusion Coefficient to Mobility for Electrons in SF6-Air and Freon-Nitrogen Mixtures

The ratio of diffusion coefficient to mobility (D/?) for electrons has been measured in SF6-air and freon-nitrogen mixtures for various concentrations of SF6 and freon in the mixtures over the range 140? E/p? 220 V.cm-1 - torr-1. In SF6-air mixtures, the values of D/? were always observed to lie intermediate between the values for the pure gases. However, in freon-nitrogen mixtures, with a small concentration (10 percent) of freon in the mixture, the values of D/? are found to lie above the boundaries determined by the pure gases. In this mixture, over the lower E/p range (140 to 190) the electrons appear to lose a large fraction of their energy by the excitation of the complex freon molecules, while at higher E/p values (200 to 240), the excitation and consequent deexcitation of nitrogen molecules and its metastables seem to cause an increased rate of ionization of freon molecules.     

Spectroscopic Approach to the Analysis of High Current Arcs in SF6

Spectroscopic observations were carried out on transient free-burning arcs drawn by separating copper/tungsten electrodes in SF6 gas. The peak value of the arc current was varied up to 60 kA. A new optical method was developed to measure temperature and pressure profiles of the arc taking the magnetic pinch force into account. The arc voltage calculated from the obtained temperature and pressure profiles agreed well with electrical measurements. The results made it clear that the composition of the arc changes significantly at the critical instantaneous current of 10 kA. Above 10 kA the arc is composed of the electrode vapor, while it contains SF6 gas below 10 kA.     

Estimation of Qualitative and Quantitative Parameters of Air Cleaning by a Pulsed Corona Discharge Using Multicomponent Standard Mixtures

The efficiency of removal of volatile organic impurities in air by a pulsed corona discharge is investigated using model mixtures. Based on the method of competing reactions, an approach to estimating the qualitative and quantitative parameters of the employed electrophysical technique is proposed. The concept of the “toluene coefficient” characterizing the relative reactivity of a component as compared to toluene is introduced. It is proposed that the energy efficiency of the electrophysical method be estimated using the concept of diversified yield of the removal process. Such an approach makes it possible to substantially intensify the determination of energy parameters of removal of impurities and can also serve as a criterion for estimating the effectiveness of various methods in which a nonequilibrium plasma is used for air cleaning from volatile impurities.     

Relaxing Phenomena in Negative Corona Discharge: New Aspects

Two theories, explaining the time dependence of the negative corona discharge current in air, are confronted with new experimental results. The influence of the ozone concentration on the discharge current was experimentally confirmed in dry air and in mixtures of nitrogen with oxygen. Assuming that only the dissociative electron attachment to ozone molecule is a process being responsible for a reduction of the electron component in the total mean discharge current, the mean value of the electron attachment rate constant k = (3 - 5.5) × 10^?9 cm^?3 s^?1 was derived from the measured dependence of the discharge current on the ozone concentration. The calculated value of the rate constant k corresponds to the dissociative attachment of electron to ozone molecule via process e + O₃ → products (O^? or O^?₂ negative ions).     

Excellence – energy – ethics

Dear pss readers, As the previous year approached its end, news on three excellent prize winnings and nominations of pss authors and editors reached us: Gerhard Abstreiter of TU Munich will receive the Stern–Gerlach Medal 2014, the highest prize of the German Physical Society for experimental physics, honoring his work on low‐dimensional electron systems in semiconductor hetero‐ and nanostructures. His Review@RRL on InGaAs nanowires on silicon is opening the 2014 volume of pss (RRL) [1]. It is a welcome addition to our recent successful Focus Issue on Semiconductor Nanowires [2]. Our long‐term Editorial Advisory Board member, Wiley author and Guest Editor, Rainer Waser of RWTH Aachen and Research Centre Jülich, is one of the 11 winners of the highly prestigious Leibniz Prize for his outstanding research on nanoelectronics, especially oxides, ferroelectrics and resistive switching [3, 4]. Last but not least, one of the three nominated teams for the German Future Prize has been led by Wolfgang Schnick , LMU Munich, and Peter J. Schmidt , Philips Lumileds Aachen. Their groundbreaking work on new phosphor materials in white light emitting diodes (LEDs) for solid‐state lighting [5] goes back to a highly‐cited pss (a) article from 2005 [6] (see figure). The technology is now being commercialized and expected to enable energy savings on a grand scale in the coming years. Speaking of energy, research results related to this global challenge have been important throughout the year, touching areas such as thermoelectrics [7], efficiency of organic LEDs [8] and photovoltaics [9]. The latter field is even better represented since the recent introduction of our section rrl solar, covering solar cell materials or device development and characterization (see Editorial [10]). The full‐paper sister journals pss (a) and (b) presented an unprecedented number of high‐profile special issues in 2013 [11–15]. With heartfelt gratitude we look back onto fruitful collaboration with highly engaged guest editors, who helped bring to light issues such as the “Advanced Concepts for Silicon Based Photovoltaics” [11], the “Quantum Criticality and Novel Phases” [12], the “Disorder in Order: A special issue on amorphous materials” [13], the “Substrate Interactions in Heterogeneous Catalysis” [14], and the “Quantum Transport at the Molecular Scale” [15] among other interesting topical issues and sections. Both contributors and fine articles are too numerous to do justice to all of them here. We must restrict ourselves to a general invitation to browse this content, only hinting a few possible starting points, such as topological insulators [16], molecular electronics [17] and quantum phase transitions [18].

     

多针对板负电晕放电电离区形貌确定

在前期对常压下多针对板负电晕放电伏安特性研究的基础上,利用光学发射光谱(OES)法检测放电产生的N₂发射光谱,研究其电离区形貌。根据N₂发射光谱中峰值最大的第二正态激发谱峰强度I_SPB在高压针电极周围的空间分布,较精确地确定了电离区形貌;在电离区内体积分I_SPB,获知I_SPB与放电电流I之间的关系。实验结果表明,电离区大小随着外加电压U升高而增大;电子雪崩始于距离针尖半径约1 mm处的球面上,并且只在mm量级范围内发展,即电离区的大小为mm量级;电子雪崩沿针尖轴向比沿径向发展范围大,电离区形貌为“子弹”状;I_SPB的积分值与I成二次相系数很小的二阶线性关系,故放电中受激物质主要是N₂;高能电子主要存在于电离区,迁移区中形成电流的带电粒子为离子。     

Volume electrical discharge in Ne/SF6/C6H14 and pure SF6

The electrical and spatial characteristics of a volume electrical discharge are studied as functions of the ratio of partial pressures of the mixture components at varying initial voltage. Early in the discharge, hot (plasma) cathode spots are observed with diffusive plasma flares developing above them. Overlapping of the flares produces a volume plasma column. The column homogeneity depends on the diffusive-flare density, and the length of the volume-discharge stage is determined by the time it takes for one or more flares to transform and give rise to the channel stage. Estimates of the ionization, attachment, and ion recombination rates are used to show that the electron density in plasma channels is two orders of magnitude lower than that of positive and negative ions forming a stagnant stiff skeleton of the plasma. Institute of High Current Electronics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 8, pp. 43–49, August, 1999.     

Bulk and surface electron transport in topological insulator candidate YbB6–δ

We report the study of transport and magnetic properties of the YbB_6–δsingle crystals grown by inductive zone melting. A strong disparity in the low temperature resistivity, Seebeck and Hall coefficients is established for the samples with the different level of boron deficiency. The effective parameters of the charge transport in YbB_6–δ are shown to depend on the concentration of intrinsic defects, which is estimated to range from 0.09% to 0.6%. The pronounced variation of Hall mobility μ_H found for bulk holes is induced by the decrease of transport relaxation time from τ ≈ 7.7 fs for YbB_5.994 to τ ≈ 2.2 fs for YbB_5.96. An extra contribution to conductivity from electrons with μ_H≈ –1000 cm² V^–1 s^–1 and the very low concentration n /n_Yb≈ 10^–6 discovered below 20 K for all the single crystals under investigation is suggested to arise from the surface electron states appeared in the inversion layer due to the band bending. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Depolarized light-scattering in liquid SF6

The spectra of depolarized light scattered by liquid SF₆ have been obtained for states along the co-existence curve. They can be decomposed into a broad background and a narrow component. The intensity of the latter amounts to about 80 per cent and 65 per cent of the total depolarized intensity near the critical point and the triple point, respectively, and decreases with increasing density. In a restricted frequency range ?-20 cm^-1 its line-shape is roughly a lorentzian with a half width of around 6 cm^-1. This component is explained by the so-called ‘dipole-induced dipole’ effect (DID) and is assumed to reflect the collective motion of a molecule and its neighbours. The background is of rather exponential shape and its intensity is almost constant within experimental uncertainty in the density range studied. It is assumed that this behaviour reflects the increased importance of short-range contributions to the polarizability anisotropy at high densities in addition to the classical DID term.