Influence of surface properties on the structure of granular silver films and excitation of localized plasmons

Granular silver films deposited on a thin insulating film of amorphous hydrogenated carbon (a-C:H) and transparent conducting electrode (polycrystalline indium tin oxide (ITO) layer) have been investigated by spectroscopy and microscopy methods. The extinction spectra of silver films on the surface of these materials are found to be significantly different. An annealing of silver films causes a blue shift of the peak of plasmon resonance band in the spectrum of silver nanoparticles: by 16 nm on the a-C:H surface and by 94 nm on the ITO surface. Silver films on the surface of a-C:H films are characterized by a narrower band in the extinction spectrum, which is peaked at 446 nm. The changes observed in the optical density of Ag films are related to the change in size and area of nanoparticles. The results of spectral studies of Ag films are in agreement with the data on the nanostructure obtained by scanning electron microscopy and statistical image processing. The spectra of granular silver films are shown to correlate well with the nanoparticle distribution function over the film area.     

New Techniques and Designs of Focusing Piezoelectric Transducers for Ultrasonic Diagnostics and Therapy

New techniques of forming high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) fields using dynamic focusing and harmonic multifrequency excitation are developed for ultrasonic diagnostics and therapy. New designs of HIFU transducers based on high-performance composite materials are developed and studied. Finite-element and finite-difference simulations of HIFU transducers and processes of ultrasonic wave propagation in biological tissues are performed. The parameters of piezoceramic materials, piezoelements, and the acoustic fields of focusing ultrasonic transducers are measured. Experiments are performed on biological tissues ex vivo that confirm the efficiency, selectivity, and safety of the developed HIFU transducers and techniques of forming acoustic fields.     

Radiation properties of ICRF waveguide couplers

The radiation spectra of a dielectric-filled waveguide (DWG) and a folded waveguide (FWG) antenna in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies are evaluated for tokamaks with the waveguide codes, which model the coupling of the waveguide modes to the plasma waves with outward radiating boundary conditions. The codes provide a self-consistent calculation of the fields across the waveguide apertures for various antenna phasings taking into account a complete set of waveguide eigenmodes including the reflected modes and, in the case of DWG, an arbitrary orientation of the antenna to the plasma magnetic field. In the studied cases, the spectra are found to be well described by a model which is based on a simplified wave field pattern determined by the antenna aperture geometry. Comparison to the corresponding loop antenna is carried out     

Thermal Decomposition of 3'-Azidothymidine

The kinetics of thermal decomposition of 3'-azidothymidine (AZT) in melt at 140-201°C were studied by the thermogravimetric and manometric methods. The process follows the first-order kinetics and is decribed by the Arrhenius equation: k = 1014.7±0.5 exp[-(38100±900)/RT] (1/s). The kinetic and activation parameters are typical of thermal decomposition of aliphatic azides; they suggest that decomposition of the azido group is the rate-determining stage. The formation of nitrogen (1 mol per mole of AZT), furan, methyl alcohol, water, and carbon dioxide was confirmed by mass spectrometry. Thymine was found to be one of the condensed products of thermal decomposition of 3'-azidothymidine.     

Specific features of luminescence quenching in a nematic liquid crystal doped with nanoparticles

The change in the intensity of the photoluminescence (PL) spectra of nematic liquid crystal (NLC) composites as a function of the concentration of CdSe/ZnS semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) and TiO₂ and ZrO₂ nanoparticles ~5 nm in diameter has been investigated. It is shown that the PL-quenching intensity in composites with CdSe/ZnS QDs exceeds that in composites with TiO₂ and ZrO₂ nanoparticles. The lowfrequency spectra of these composites with a concentration of 0.1 wt %, recorded in the range of 10²–10³ Hz, and the content of mobile ions in them have been investigated. It is found that the dielectric loss in the composite with CdSe/ZnS QDs is much higher and the content of mobile ions is larger by a factor of 3 than in the composites with TiO₂ and ZrO₂ nanoparticles. It is shown that an increase in the CdSe/ZnS QD concentration in NLC composites leads to an increase in the dielectric loss and a decrease in the PL intensity. Possible mechanisms of the interaction between NLC molecules and CdSe/ZnS QDs are discussed.