Concentrations and velocity distributions of positive ions in laser ablation of copper

It is shown that the generation of secondary electrons by excited neutrals hitting a surface makes the so-called probe method unsuited for measuring the positive ion fraction in laser ablation plumes. Experiments have been performed in a modified set-up, in which the disturbance by secondary electrons is avoided. For a typical case of Cu irradiated in ultra-high vacuum by nanosecond excimer laser pulses of 3 J cm^–2 the ionized fraction is about 10^–8 at a distance of 60 cm. This number is in fair agreement with Saha-Langmuir predictions based on the assumption of local thermal equilibrium at an estimated temperature of about 3000K. Angular-resolved time-of-flight measurements show that there are three different ion velocity distributions. A slow contribution (kinetic energy 2eV) with an angular distribution peaked along the normal, and two fast, isotropic contributions (kinetic energy 20–50 eV). The fast contributions are attributed to ions involved in a Coulomb explosion.     

Potential surfaces for time-like geodesics in the Curzon metric

In this paper we deduce the general pattern of the potential surfaces for time-like geodesics in the Curzon metric. We find that for fairly small energies and orbital angular momenta, the time-like geodesics group into two sets; the geodesics of one set tend to thez-axis asR=(r²+z²)^1/2 0,R=0 being a directional singularity, the others tend to ther-axis. At low energies these two sets are detached but they merge together as the energy increases. Stable circular motion is confined to thez = 0-plane and an energy threshold for stationary motion exists and is equal (per unit of rest-mass energy) to 0.945, a value almost indistinguishable from that in the Schwarzschild space-time.     

Principles and recent developments in ultrasound contrast agents

The behaviour of gas bubbles and gas encapsulated spheres as echographic contrast agents is reviewed. Compared with rigid spheres, gas bubbles are superior scattering agents and they offer a number of useful properties which can be exploited in a variety of ways. The analysis of their velocity of sound, back-scatter intensity, second harmonic emission and resonant frequency opens up new perspectives in the development of contrast agents for echocardiographic research with potential clinical applications.     

Superdeformed bands in195Tl

Two superdeformed (SD) bands have been found and assigned to¹⁹⁵Tl on the basis of excitation function and cross bombardment results. The two bands are almost identical in transition energies to those observed in¹⁹³Tl. They are signature partners with a splitting, presumably due to the proton i_13/2 (=5/2) orbital, characteristic of all known SD bands in the thallium isotopes. Their alignments relative to the¹⁹³Tl bands were found to be zero.On leave from Comision National de Energia Atomica 1429 Buenos Aires, Argentina.     

Radiationless transition probabilities in muonic208Pb,232Th,and238U

The probabilities for non-radiative (n.r.) excitationsP _n.r. in the muonic nuclides²⁰⁸Pb,²³²Th, and²³⁸U have been determined from (μ^?,γγ)-measurements by comparing the intensities of muonic X-ray transitions in single and coincidence spectra. The value ofP _n.r. (3p→1s), measured for the first time, is about 90% for the actinides²³²Th and²³⁸U, but only about 8% for²⁰⁸Pb. The value ofP _n.r. (3d→1s) is found to be 10 % for²³³Th, 13% for²³⁸U, and about 4% for²⁰⁸Pb. For²⁰⁸Pb a vanishing strength of the n.r. decay of the 2p-level is found, while for²³²Th and for²³⁸U n.r. strengths of about 20% and 26%, respectively, are observed. By regarding two subcomplexes of the 2p→1s transitions leading to different mean excitation energies the n.r. transition probabilities were found to be different for²³⁸U only, 21.6% and 31.1.%, respectively.