Discovery of temperature-dependent phenomena of muon-catalyzed fusion in solid deuterium and tritium mixtures

A systematic experimental study on muon-catalyzed fusion was conducted using a series of solid deuterium and tritium mixtures. A variety of conditions were investigated, i.e., tritium concentrations from 20% to 70%, and temperatures from 5 to 16 K. With decreasing temperature, we observed an unexpected decrease in the muon cycling rate (lambda(c)) and an increase in the muon loss probability (W). The origins of these observed changes were interpreted by the temperature-dependence in the dt mu formation process for lambda(c) and that in the muon reactivation process after muon-to-alpha sticking for W.     

Phase rotation scheme of laser-produced ions for reduction of the energy spread

In order to widely spread out particle beams utilized in cancer therapy, laser-produced ions are developed as the injection beam for an ion synchrotron dedicated for cancer therapy. Such a laser ion source is expected to contribute largely to the realization of compactness of the size and low cost of the cancer therapy accelerator. The energy spectrum of the laser-produced ions, however, has no peak, but their intensities decrease exponentially according to the increase of the energy. For the purpose of modifying such a situation, we have proposed a scheme to rotate the beam in the longitudinal phase space with the use of the RF electric field, which is phase-adjusted with the pulse laser. We aim for a reduction of the energy spread of ± 5% selected by an energy analyzer and slits to ±1% by such phase rotation. For this purpose, a quarter wavelength resonator with two gaps with the same resonant frequency as the source laser has already been fabricated, together with its RF power source. The above phase rotation system and its recent experimental realization are presented.     

Adsorption behavior and reaction properties of NO and CO on Rh(1 1 1)

Reactions between NO and CO on Rh(1 1 1) surfaces were investigated using infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and temperature-programmed desorption. NO adsorbed on the fcc, atop, and hcp sites in that order, whereas CO adsorbed initially on the atop sites and then on the hollow (fcc + hcp) sites. The results of experiments with NO exposure on CO-preadsorbed Rh(1 1 1) surfaces indicated that the adsorption of NO on the hcp sites was inhibited by preadsorption of CO on the atop sites, and NO adsorption on the atop and fcc sites was inhibited by CO preadsorbed on each type of site, which indicates that NO and CO competitively adsorbed on Rh(1 1 1). From a Rh(1 1 1) surface with coadsorbed NO and CO, N₂ was produced from the dissociation of fcc-NO, and CO₂ was formed by the reaction of adsorbed CO with atomic oxygen from dissociated fcc-NO. The CO₂ production increased remarkably in the presence of hollow-CO. Coverage of fcc-NO and hollow-CO on Rh(1 1 1) depended on the composition ratio of the NO/CO gas mixture, and a gas mixture with NO/CO ? 1/2 was required for the co-existence of fcc-NO and hollow-CO at 273 K.     

A miniaturization of the multi-degree-of-freedom ultrasonic actuator using a small cylinder fixed on a substrate

Multi-degree-of-freedom ultrasonic actuator has been studied for robot arms and multidimensional precision table and so on because of its simple structure, silent operation, and holding force. In this study, we aim to miniaturize multi-degree-of-freedom ultrasonic actuator for fabrication on a substrate. This actuator consists of a stainless steel cylinder and a PZT ring. The cylinder is fixed on a substrate and the PZT ring is glued to the substrate near the cylinder. The 1st longitudinal vibration and the 2nd bending vibration are simultaneously excited in the cylinder to make elliptical motion at the top of the cylinder and a ball rotor placed on the cylinder rotates because of the friction force. Length of the cylinder was decided so as to tune the resonance frequency of the 1st longitudinal vibration to the 2nd bending one. Actuator performances are evaluated experimentally using a 14 mm height and 7 mm diameter stainless steel cylinder with a 0.5 mm thickness PZT ring. The rotation about the cylinder axis is tested using the two orthogonal bending vibrations with 90 degrees phase difference. Also, the rotation about horizontal axes were investigated using the combination of the longitudinal vibration and one of two bending vibrations. We measured the rotation speed of a steel ball and obtained 15.8 rps using a 6 mm diameter ball rotor.     

Laser spectroscopy of trapped 7Be and 10Be at a prototype slow RI-beam facility of RIKEN

A next-generation slow radioactive nuclear ion beam facility (SLOWRI) which provides slow, high-purity and small emittance ion beams of all elements is being build as one of the principal facilities at the RIKEN RI-beam factory (RIBF). High energy radioactive ion beams from the projectile fragment separator BigRIPS are thermalized in a large gas catcher cell. The thermalized ions in the gas cell are guided and extracted to a vacuum environment by a combination of dc electric fields and inhomogeneous rf fields (rf carpet ion guide). From there the slow ion beam is delivered via a mass separator and a switchyard to various devices: such as an ion trap, a collinear fast beam apparatus, and a multi-reflection time of flight mass spectrometer. In the R&D works at the present RIKEN facility, an overall efficiency of 5% for a 100A MeV ⁸Li ion beam from the present projectile fragment separator RIPS was achieved and the dependence of the efficiency on the ion beam intensity was investigated. Recently our first spectroscopy experiment at the prototype SLOWI was performed on Be isotopes. Energetic ions of ¹⁰Be and ⁷Be from the RIPS were trapped and laser cooled in a linear rf trap and the specific mass shifts of these isotopes were measured for the first time.     

Complex impedance spectra of chip inductor using Li–Zn–Cu–Mn ferrite

A multi-layer chip inductor (MCI) was fabricated using polycrystalline Li–Zn–Cu–Mn ferrite and the green-sheet technique, and its complex impedance spectrum was evaluated with the help of numerical calculations. The complex impedance spectra of the MCI component using Ni–Zn–Cu ferrite, which have been widely used for this application, were very sensitive to the residual stress and deviated much from the calculated values; however, it was found that the complex impedance spectrum of the MCI component using Li–Zn–Cu–Mn ferrite is quite well reproduced by calculation, where the complex permittivity and permeability of the polycrystalline ferrite as well as the MCI dimensions, were used. It implied that the magneto-striction effect was negligible in case of MCI using Li–Zn–Cu–Mn ferrite, and that the difference was related to magneto-strictive coefficient of the polycrystalline ferrite. Consequently, utilization of Li–Zn–Cu–Mn ferrite enabled us to easily design the complex impedance of MCI component.     

Photo-electrochemical properties of multi-layered thin films composed of chalcogenide and superionic conductor glasses

Multi-layered thin films, which consisted of metallic silver, GeSe₃ glass, and silver oxyhalide superionic conductor glass were prepared. Photo- and electrochemical reaction of metallic silver with the chalcogenide glass layer was studied by optical absorbance and cyclic-voltammetry. Photo-doping of silver through the superionic glass layer was observed using evaporated AgI---Ag₂MoO₄ film and it was partly undoped by electrochemical treatment. However, no photo-doping was observed for the cell consisting of a AgI---AgPO₃ dip-coated layer. The doped silver was dissolved into the GeSe₃ layer during the photo-doping process. However, it formed another intermediate compound layer (probably silver selenide) during the electrodoping process.