High-order numerical simulation and modelling of the interaction of energetic and inert materials

We present an integrated algorithm on a Eulerian grid, for multimaterial simulations of energetic and inert materials modelled by non-ideal equations of state. We employ high-resolution shock capturing numerical algorithms for each material inside its domain and use an overlap domain method across the interface, maintained by a recently developed, hybrid, level-set algorithm. For applications to condensed explosives we implement a non-ideal, wide-ranging equation of state and reaction rate law. For inert materials, like plastic, metal, water, etc., we implement a (linear in the pressure) Mie–Grüneisen, (U _p ?U _s ), equation of state. We present a series of verifications of the integrated multimaterial code and show validations against experiment. We show examples of simulations of various experiments associated with real or planned experiments, some of which contain energetic materials (specifically the condensed explosives PBX-9502 and PBX-9501).     

Sonocrystallization of polycarbonate melts

In this paper, we showed the simplified continuous process to crystallize the polycarbonate (PC) melts using sonocrystallization which is based on ultrasonic cavitation and ‘hot spot’ theory. High power ultrasonic wave was introduced to crystallize the PC prepolymers which is generally used for solid‐state polymerization (SSP) to obtain the ultra‐high molecular weight PCs. The structure and properties of PC treated with ultrasonic wave such as torque changes and crystallinities were studied. The experimental results showed that ultrasonic wave could improve the crystallinities of PCs and sonication time was proportional to their crystallinity. This is attributed to the decrease of the specific volume and the resulting shrinkage is compensated by a flux of a polymer melt toward the crystallization front. Torque data were collected directly from the Haake internal mixer and crystallinities were evaluated from differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). This process is an environmentally benign process so that no additional solvents or treatments are needed and will be very useful in the conventional solid‐state process which is used industrially. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electronic parameters and electronic structures in modulation-doped highly strained InxGa1−xAs/InyAl1−yAs coupled double quantum wells

Electronic parameters of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in modulation-doped highly strained In_xGa_1−xAs/In_yAl_1−yAs coupled double quantum wells were investigated by performing Shubnikov-de Haas (S-dH), Van der Pauw Hall-effect, and cyclotron resonance measurements. The S-dH measurements and the fast Fourier transformation results for the S-dH at 1.5 K indicated the electron occupation of two subbands in the quantum well. The electron effective masses of the 2DEG were determined from the cyclotron resonance measurements, and satisfied qualitatively the nonparabolicity effects in the quantum wells. The electronic subband structures were calculated by using a self-consistent method.     

High-resolution cavity-tuned ringdown spectrometer using a narrow-bandwidth pulsed laser source

A novel method of cavity ringdown spectroscopy is proposed to achieve high spectral resolution with tunable narrow bandwidth pulsed lasers. We demonstrate a cavity-tuned ringdown configuration in which only a single cavity mode is kept excited near the carrier frequency of a narrow bandwidth pulse laser. This is done simply by making a cavity resonance actively track the frequency reference served by the cw injection seed of the pulsed laser source. We present the servo mechanism used in the cavity resonance tracking, reliable procedures for transverse mode matching, and the evidence of single longitudinal mode excitation. The spectrometer performance is tested to record weak molecular overtone features of acetylene around the wavelength of 570 nm, showing cavity tracking stability within 5-MHz uncertainty which overcomes the bandwidth limit of pulsed laser sources itself. PACS 42.62.Fi; 42.60.Da; 33.20.Kf     

Effects of Si-doped GaAs layer on optical properties of InAs quantum dots

We have investigated the optical properties of InAs self-assembled quantum dots (SAQDs) with the Si-doped GaAs barrier layer. Two types of samples are fabricated according to the position of the Si-doped GaAs layer. For type A samples the Si-doped GaAs layer is grown below the QDs, whereas for type B samples the Si-doped GaAs layer is grown above the QDs. For both types of samples the excited-state emissions caused by state filling are observed in photoluminescence (PL) spectra at high excitation power densities. The bandgap renormalization of QDs can be found from the shift of the PL peak energy. Particularly, for type A samples the Si atoms act as nucleation centers during the growth of InAs QDs on the Si-doped GaAs layer and affect the density and the size of the QDs. The Si-doped GaAs layer in type A samples has more effects on the properties of QDs, such as state filling and bandgap renormalization than those of type B samples.     

Coherent anti-stokes Raman spectroscopy of highly compressed solid deuterium at 300 K: evidence for a new phase and implications for the band gap

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy has been used to study deuterium at ambient temperature to 187 GPa, the highest pressure this technique has ever been applied. The pressure dependence of the nu1 vibron line shape indicates that deuterium has a rho direct=0.501 and rho exciton=0.434 mol/cm3 for a band gap of 2omega P=4.66 eV. The extrapolation from the ambient pressure band gap yields a metallization pressure of 460 GPa, confirming earlier measurements. Above 143 GPa, the Raman shift data provide clear evidence for the presence of the ab initio predicted I' phase of deuterium.     

On the steady simple shear flows of the one-mode Giesekus fluid

Analytical solutions for the plane Couette flow and the plane Poiseuille flow of the one-mode Giesekus fluid without any retardation time have been obtained by considering the domain of definition for each of the two branch solutions which arise due to the presence of the quadratic stress terms in the constitutive equations. For each fixed value of the mobility parametera, the limiting value of the Weissenberg number for the upper branch solution, i.e., the physically realistic solution is determined in terms of the corresponding dimensionless shear stress for the plane Couette flow and in terms of the corresponding dimensionless pressure gradient for the plane Poiseuille flow. In the case of the plane Couette flow, it is shown that fora falling in the range 0a1/2 only the physically realistic solution exists while for 1/2<a 1 a nonphysical solution coexists with the realistic one. In the case of the plane Poiseuille flow, it is shown that the non-physical solution cannot even exist around the center plane of the channel, and the effects of the mobility parameter and the dimensionless pressure gradient on the flow variables are investigated. Possible extensions of the present approach to other steady simple shear flows with and without the introduction of the retardation time are also discussed.