The Role of Radial Electric Fields in the Tokamaks TEXTOR-94, CASTOR, and T-10

Radial electric fields (E _r) and their role in the establishment of edge transport barriers and improved confinement have been studied in the tokamaks TEXTOR-94 and CASTOR, where E _r is externally applied to the plasma in a controlled way using a biased electrode, as well as in the tokamak T-10 where an edge transport barrier (H-mode) is obtained during electron-cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) of the plasma.The physics of radial currents was studied and the radial conductivity in the edge of TEXTOR-94 (R = 1.75 m, a = 0.46 m) was found to be dominated by recycling (ion-neutral collisions) at the last closed flux surface (LCFS) and by parallel viscosity inside the LCFS. From a performance point of view (edge engineering), such electrode biasing was shown to induce a particle transport barrier, a reduction of particle transport, and a concomitant increase in energy confinement. An H-mode-like behaviour can be induced both with positive and negative electric fields. Positive as well as negative electric fields were shown to strongly affect the exhaust of hydrogen, helium, and impurities, not only in the H-mode-like regime.The impact of sheared radial electric fields on turbulent structures and flows at the plasma edge is investigated on the CASTOR tokamak (R = 0.4 m, a = 0.085 m). A non-intrusive biasing scheme that we call "separatrix biasing" is applied whereby the electrode is located in the scrape-off layer (SOL) with its tip just touching the LCFS. There is evidence of strongly sheared radial electric field and E×B flow, resulting in the formation of a transport barrier at the separatrix. Advanced probe diagnosis of the edge region has shown that the E×B shear rate that arises during separatrix biasing is larger than for standard edge plasma biasing. The plasma flows, especially the poloidal E×B drift velocity, are strongly modified in the sheared region, reaching Mach numbers as high as half the sound speed. The corresponding shear rates ( 5×10⁶ s^-1) derived from both the flow and electric field profiles are in excellent agreement and are at least an order of magnitude higher than the growth rate of unstable turbulent modes as estimated from fluctuation measurements.During ECRH in the tokamak T-10 (R = 1.5 m, a = 0.3 m), a regime of improved confinement is obtained with features resembling those in the H-mode in other tokamaks. Using a heavy ion beam probe, a narrow potential well is observed near the limiter together with the typical features of the L-H transition. The time evolution of the plasma profiles during L-H and H-L transitions is clearly correlated with that of the density profile and the formation of a transport barrier near the limiter. The edge electric field is initially positive after the onset of ECRH. It changes its sign during the L-H transition and grows till a steady condition is reached. Similar to the biasing experiments in TEXTOR-94 and CASTOR, the experimentally observed transport barrier is a barrier for particles.     

Isochronous Mass Measurements of Hot Exotic Nuclei

A novel method for mass measurements of short-lived exotic nuclides is presented. Exotic nuclides were produced and separated in flight at relativistic energies with the fragment separator (FRS) and were injected into the experimental storage ring (ESR). Operating the ESR in the isochronous mode we performed mass measurements of neutron deficient fragments of ⁸⁴Kr with half-lives larger than 50 ms. However, this experimental technique is applicable in a half-life range down to a few μs. A mass resolving power of 110000 (FWHM) has been achieved. Results are presented for the masses of ⁶⁸As, ^70,71Se and ⁷³Br. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Ground states versus low-temperature equilibria in random field Ising chains

Random walk arguments and exact numerical computations are used to study one-dimensional random field chains. The ground state structure is described with absorbing and non-absorbing random walk excursions. At low temperatures, the local magnetization follows the ground state except at regions where a local random field fluctuation makes thermal excitations easier. This is explained by the random walk picture, implying that the magnetization lengthscale is a product of the domain size and the thermal excitation scale. Received 16 October 2000 and Received in final form 7 June 2001     

Time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy of magnetic field and magnetisation changes

Owing to its parallel image acquisition, photoemission electron microscopy is well suited for real-time observation of fast processes on surfaces. Pulsed excitation sources like synchrotron radiation or lasers, fast electric pulsers for the study of magnetic switching, and/or time-resolved detection can be utilised. A standard approach also being used in light optical imaging is stroboscopic illumination of a periodic (or quasi-periodic) process. Using this technique, the time dependence of the magnetic field in a pulsed microstrip line has been imaged in real time exploiting Lorentz-type contrast. Similarly, the corresponding field-induced changes in the magnetisation of cobalt microstructures deposited on the microstrip line have been observed exploiting magnetic X-ray circular dichroism as a contrast mechanism. The experiment has been performed at the UE 56/1-PGM at BESSY II (Berlin) in the single-bunch mode. Received: 2 September 2002 / Accepted: 2 September 2002 / Published online: 5 March 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +49-6131/392-3807, E-mail: krasyuk@mail.uni-mainz.de     

Modelling of magnetic effects in near-field optics

Green's dyadic technique represents a powerful tool for calculations in electrodynamics, especially in modelling optical properties of nanoscopic objects. The method does not only provide field distributions, but also maps of susceptibilities and densities of states. Whereas the formalism is well established for dielectrics and electric fields, I present here a straight forward extension to tensors of both electric and magnetic type as well as mixed ones and furthermore to the situation where objects with dielectric and magnetic permeabilities are present together. As examples, characteristic field patterns are compared for elementary dielectric and magnetic perturbations. Green's tensors calculated for a coral structure reveal that mixed susceptibilities can exhibit other symmetries than pure electric or magnetic ones. Maps of all tensor components can thus give essential clues to the interpretation of near-field images. Received 15 December 2002 Published online 20 June 2003 RID="a" ID="a"Files “maths.ps” and “tensors.ps” are only available in electronic form at http://www.edpsciences.org RID="b" ID="b"e-mail: Ursula.Schroeter@uni-konstanz.de     

The kinetics of methane ignition in fuel-rich HCCI engines: DME replacement by ozone

Fuel-rich combustion of methane in a homogeneous-charge compression-ignition (HCCI) engine can be used as a polygeneration process producing work, heat, and useful chemicals like syngas. Due to the inertness of methane, additives such as dimethyl ether (DME) are needed to achieve ignition at moderate inlet temperatures and to control combustion phasing. Because significant concentrations of DME are then needed, a considerable part of the fuel energy comes from DME. An alternative ignition promotor known from fuel-lean HCCI is ozone (O₃). Here, a combined experimental and modelling study on the ignition of fuel-rich partial oxidation of methane/air mixtures at Φ = 1.9 with ozone and DME as additives in an HCCI engine is conducted. Experimental results show that ozone is a suitable additive for fuel-rich HCCI, with only 75 ppm ozone reducing the fuel-fraction of DME needed from 11.0% to 5.3%. Since ozone does not survive until the end of the compression stroke, the reaction paths are analyzed in a single-zone model. The simulation shows that different ignition precursors or buffer molecules are formed, depending on the additives. If only DME is added, hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and formaldehyde (CH₂O) are the most important intermediates, leading to OH formation and ignition around top dead center (TDC). With ozone addition, methyl hydroperoxide (CH₃OOH) becomes very important earlier in the compression stroke under these fuel-rich conditions. It is then later converted to CH₂O and H₂O₂. Thus, ozone is a very effective additive not only for fuel-lean, but also for fuel-rich combustion. However, the mechanism differs between both regimes. Because less of the expensive additives are needed, ozone could help improving the economics of a polygeneration process with fuel-rich operated HCCI engines.     

Experimental and modeling assessment of sulfur release from coal under low and high heating rates

Coal combustion releases elevated amounts of pollutants to the atmosphere including SO_X. During the pyrolysis step, sulfur present in the coal is released to the gas phase as many different chemical species such as H₂S, COS, SO₂, CS₂, thiols and larger tars, also called SO_X precursors, as they form SO_X during combustion. Understanding the sulfur release process is crucial to the development of reliable kinetic models, which support the design of improved reactors for cleaner coal conversion processes. Sulfur release from two bituminous coals, Colombian hard coal (K1) and American high sulfur coal (U2), were studied in the present work. Low heating rate (LHR) experiments were performed in a thermogravimetric analyzer coupled with mass spectrometry (TG-MS), allowing to track the mass loss and the evolution of many volatile species (CO, CO₂, CH₄, SO₂, H₂S, COS, HCl and H₂O). High heating rate (HHR) experiments were performed in an entrained flow reactor (drop-tube reactor – DTR), coupled with MS and nondispersive infrared sensor (NDIR). HHR experiments were complemented with CFD simulation of the multidimentional reacting flow field. A kinetic model of coal pyrolysis is employed to reproduce the experiments allowing a comprehensive assessment of the process. The suitability of this model is confirmed for LHR. The combination of HHR experiments with CFD simulations and kinetic modeling revealed the complexity of sulfur chemistry in coal combustion and allowed to better understand of the individual phenomena resulting in the formation of the different SO_X precursors. LHR and HHR operating conditions lead to different distribution of sulfur species released, highly-dependent on the gas-phase temperature and residence time. Higher retention of total sulfur in char is observed at LHR (63%) when compared to HHR (37–44%), at 1273 K. These data support the development of reliable models with improved predictability.     

Premixed flames for arbitrary combinations of strain and curvature

Many modeling strategies for combustion rely on laminar flamelet concepts to determine structure and properties of multi-dimensional and turbulent flames. Using flamelet tabulation strategies, the user anticipates certain aspects of the combustion process prior to the simulation and selects a flamelet model which mimics local flame conditions in the more complex configuration. Flame stretch, which can be decomposed into contributions from strain and curvature, is one of the conditions influencing a flame’s properties, structure, and stability. The objective of this work is to study premixed flame structures in the strain-curvature space using a recently published composition space model (CSM) and three physical space models for canonical flame configurations (stagnation flame, spherical expanding flame and inwardly propagating flame). Flames with effective Lewis numbers both smaller and larger than unity are considered. For canonical laminar flames, the stretch components are inherently determined through boundary conditions and their specific flame configuration. Therefore, canonical flames can only represent a certain sub-set of stretch effects experienced by multi-dimensional and turbulent flames. On the contrary, the CSM allows arbitrary combinations of strain and curvature to be prescribed for premixed flames exceeding the conditions attainable with the canonical flame setups. Thereby, also influences of negative strain effects and large curvatures can be studied. A parameter variation with the CSM shows that flame structures still significantly change outside the region of the canonical flame configurations. Furthermore, limits in the strain-curvature space are discussed. The present paper highlights advantages of composition space modeling which is achieved by detaching the representation of the flame structure from a specific canonical flame configuration in physical space.     

Novel metal complexes containing 6-methylpyridine-2-carboxylic acid as potent α-glucosidase inhibitor: synthesis,crystal structures,DFT calculations,and molecular docking

Molecular Diversity - The World Health Organization (WHO) report shows that diabetes mellitus (DM) will be one of the ten deadly diseases in the near future. The best way to prevent DM is to...