Progress of Jinping Underground laboratory for Nuclear Astrophysics (JUNA)

Jinping Underground laboratory for Nuclear Astrophysics(JUNA) will take the advantage of the ultra-low background of CJPL lab and high current accelerator based on an ECR source and a highly sensitive detector to directly study for the first time a number of crucial reactions occurring at their relevant stellar energies during the evolution of hydrostatic stars. In its first phase, JUNA aims at the direct measurements of~(25)Mg(p,γ)~(26)Al,~(19)F(p,α)~(16)O,~(13)C(α,n)~(16)O and ~(12)C(α,γ)~(16)O reactions. The experimental setup,which includes an accelerator system with high stability and high intensity, a detector system, and a shielding material with low background, will be established during the above research. The current progress of JUNA will be given.     

A proposed direct measurement of cross section at Gamow window for key reaction ~(19)F( p,α)~(16)O in Asymptotic Giant Branch stars with a planned accelerator in CJPL

In 2014, the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC) approved the Jinping Underground Nuclear Astrophysics laboratory(JUNA) project, which aims at direct cross-section measurements of four key stellar nuclear reactions right down to the Gamow windows. In order to solve the observed fluorine overabundances in Asymptotic Giant Branch(AGB) stars, measuring the key ~(19)F( p,α)~(16)O reaction at effective burning energies(i.e., at Gamow window) is established as one of the scientific research sub-projects. The present paper describes this sub-project in details, including motivation, status, experimental setup, yield and background estimation, aboveground test, as well as other relevant reactions.     

Ultra-high resolution trap-loss spectroscopy of ultracold <Superscript>133</Superscript>Cs atom long-range states in a magnetooptical trap

We present an ultra-high resolution spectroscopic study of the photoassociation of cesium atoms inside a magnetooptical trap using trap-loss detection with photoassociation laser slow scanning. The photoassociation spectra show vibrational levels of three molecular symmetries below the 6S _1/2 + 6P _3/2 dissociation limit. A dynamic model is derived to extract the photoassociation rate from the trap-loss spectrum. Many observed rotational levels are well resolved, which indicate d-wave and higher partial wave contributions to the photoassociation cross section.     

Trapping neutral fermions with a PT-symmetric trigonometric potential in the presence of position-dependent mass

The relativistic problem of neutral fermions subject to PT-symmetric trigonometric potential (∼iαtanαx)$(\sim \mathrm{i}\alpha \tan \alpha x)$ in 1+1$1+1$ dimensions is investigated. By using the basic concepts of the supersymmetric quantum mechanics formalism and the functional analysis method, we solve exactly the position-dependent effective mass Dirac equation with the vector coupling scheme and obtain the bound state solutions in closed form. The behavior of the energy spectra is discussed in detail.     

Glow Discharge Characteristics of Hollow Needle-Plate Electrode in Atmospheric Pressure ArgonSCIEI北大核心CSCD

Atmosphere pressure uniform plasma has the broad application prospect in the industrial field. Using hollow needle cathode - plate anode device excited by direct-current voltage, a uniform and stable glow discharge is generated at atmospheric pressure in ambient air with argon used as working gas. The influence of the experimental parameters (including gas flow rate and the gas gap width) on discharge has been investigated by optical method. It can be found that a glow-discharge plasma column can bridge the two electrodes. The plasma column is uniform, and no filaments can be discerned. Near the plate electrode, the diameter of the plasma column is largest of all positions. The maximal diameter of the plasma column increases with increasing the discharge current or the gas flow rate. Through electrical method, the voltage-current characteristic has been investigated. It has been found that the discharge voltage decreases with increasing the current which is similar with the characteristic of glow discharge in low pressure. It increases with increasing the gas gap width or the gas flow rate. By analyzing the optical emission spectrum scanning from 330 to 450 nm emitted from the direct-current glow discharge, the molecular vibrational temperature and the intensity ratio of spectral lines I-391.4/I-337.1 have been investigated as functions of the gas flow rate and gas gap width. Results indicate that both the vibrational temperature and the intensity ratio of spectral lines I-391.4/I-337.1 decrease with increasing the gas flow rate or the gas gap width. In addition, the molecular vibrational temperature and the intensity ratio of spectral lines I-391.4/I-337.1 have been investigated in spatial resolution along the direction of gas flow(plasma column axial), and give a qualitative analysis as well. It is found that the vibrational temperature and the average electron energy increase with increasing the distance from the hollow needle cathode. These results are important to the industrial applications of glow discharge.     

Excellent passivation of thin silicon wafers by HF‐free hydrogen plasma etching using an industrial ICPECVD tool

In this work, hydrogen plasma etching of surface oxides was successfully accomplished on thin (～100 µm) planar n‐type Czochralski silicon wafers prior to intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon [a‐Si:H(i)] deposition for heterojunction solar cells, using an industrial inductively coupled plasma‐enhanced chemical vapour deposition (ICPECVD) platform. The plasma etching process is intended as a dry alternative to the conventional wet‐chemical hydrofluoric acid (HF) dip for solar cell processing. After symmetrical deposition of an a‐Si:H(i) passivation layer, high effective carrier lifetimes of up to 3.7 ms are obtained, which are equivalent to effective surface recombination velocities of 1.3 cm s^–1 and an implied open‐circuit voltage (V_oc) of 741 mV. The passivation quality is excellent and comparable to other high quality a‐Si:H(i) passivation. High‐resolution transmission electron microscopy shows evidence of plasma‐silicon interactions and a sub‐nanometre interfacial layer. Using electron energy‐loss spectroscopy, this layer is further investigated and confirmed to be hydrogenated suboxide layers. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Optical properties of flower‐like CdS prepared by a hydrothermal method with SDBS as surfactant

In this article, flower‐like CdS structures have been prepared by a hydrothermal method with SDBS as surfactant. The influences of different experimental conditions on the morphologies, UV‐Vis and fluorescence properties of CdS have been investigated. The performances of CdS have been analyzed by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), ultraviolet‐visible (UV–Vis) and room‐temperature photoluminescence (PL). The XRD result indicates that the flower‐like CdS structures are of hexagonal phase. The FESEM results indicate that the main role of SDBS is to make the CdS crystals assemble together to form the flower‐like structures. The UV–Vis results show CdS has a strong absorption in the ultraviolet region and visible‐light region. The PL results show CdS has two emission peaks, respectively at 461 nm and 553 nm. The growth mechanism for the formation of flower‐like CdS structures is also described.     

Pyrolysis and combustion model of oil sands from non-isothermal thermogravimetric analysis data

Thermogravimetric (TG) data of oil sand obtained at Engineering Research Center of Oil Shale Comprehensive Utilization were studied to evaluate the kinetic parameters for Indonesian oil sand samples. Experiments were carried out at heating rates of 5, 15, and 25 °C min^?1 in nitrogen, 10, 20, and 50 °C min^?1 in oxygen atmosphere, respectively. The extent of char combustion was found out by relating TG data for pyrolysis and combustion with the ultimate analysis. Due to distinct behavior of oil shale during pyrolysis, TG curves were divided into three separate events: moisture release, devolatilization, and evolution of fixed carbon/char, where for each event, kinetic parameters, based on Arrhenius theory, were calculated. Coats–Redfern method, Flynn–Wall–Ozawa method, and distributed activation energy model method have been used to determine the activation energies of degradation. The methods are compared with regard to their characteristics and the ease of interpretation of the thermal kinetics. Activation energies of the samples were determined by three different methods and the results are discussed.