Collector Probe Measurements of Impurity Fluxes Injected into the Plasma of the T-10 Tokamak

It is shown that the efflux of impurities injected into the core plasma can be detected by collector probes in the scrape-off plasma. The time evolution, orientation and radial dependences of these effluxes allow to conclude on the impurity confinement in the core plasma and the scrape-off plasma. Moreover, recycling effects can also be measured.     

The influence of a γ-oxygen in the spacer of liquid crystal side group polysiloxanes on their ferroelectric properties

Two types of side group polysiloxanes which differ in their spacer between backbone and mesogenic part were synthesized via polymer analogous reaction. The impact of an oxygen atom localized in the γ position to the siloxane main chain on the ferroelectric properties was investigated. In addition, the link between the terminal chiral moiety and the mesogenic part in each series was varied. The phase transition behaviour, spontaneous polarization and the electro-optical response time for the two series of polymers are compared. The mesophase structures were determined by X-ray measurements on magnetically oriented samples at different temperatures. The additional oxygen atom in the spacer near to the main chain leads to broader range smectic C* phases and shorter electro-optical response times, which suggests that the ether linkage promotes a better decoupling between main chain and mesogenic side group.     

2-(2-pyridyl-)ethyl esters A new carboxyl protecting group in peptide synthesis

2-(2-pyridyl-)ethyl esters are used as chemically inert, highly selective protecting groups that are removable under mild conditions via a two step procedure.     

Liquid crystalline side group polymers with azo-chromophores and fluorinated tails of varying length

A series of side group liquid crystalline polymethacrylates with 4'-(1H,1H-perfluoroalkoxy)-azobenzene mesogenic units was synthesized and characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, polarizing optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction methods depending on the tail length. The phase behaviour is discussed as a function of the length of the tail groups. Very high clearing temperatures up to 290°C were observed for the polymers with long tail groups.     

Photoabsorption of Atomic Sodium in the VUV

The absorption spectrum of atomic sodium in the photon energy region from 30 to 150 eV has been investigated. A great number of sharp absorption lines which can be attributed to the excitation of a 2p- or a 2s-electron has been detected. Simultaneous excitation of one 2p- and one 3s-electron gives rise to considerably strong broad and asymmetric absorption structures above the highest series limit (¹ P ₁) for the excitations of a single 2p-electron. Some of the assignments have been confirmed by Hartree-Fock calculations. The relative spectral dependence of the absorption cross-section in this energy range has been determined for the first time. The spectrum of free Na atoms has been compared with theL _{II, III} spectrum of solid sodium.     

Optimization of Gold Nanoparticle-Based DNA Detection for Microarrays

DNA microarrays are promising tools for fast and highly parallel DNA detection by means of fluorescence or gold nanoparticle labeling. However, substrate modification with silanes (as a prerequisite for capture DNA binding) often leads to inhomogeneous surfaces and/or nonspecific binding of the labeled DNA. We examined both different substrate cleaning and activating protocols and also different blocking strategies for optimizing the procedures, especially those for nanoparticle labeling. Contact angle measurements as well as fluorescence microscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and a flatbed scanner were used to analyze the multiple-step process. Although the examined different cleaning and activating protocols resulted in considerably different contact angles, meaning different substrate wettability, silanization led to similar hydrophobic surfaces which could be revealed as smooth surfaces of about 2–4 nm roughness. The two examined silanes (3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GOPS) and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES)) differed in their DNA binding homogeneity, maximum signal intensities, and sensitivity. Nonspecific gold binding on APTES/PDC surfaces could be blocked by treatment in 3% bovine serum albumin (BSA).     

Reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy and temperature-programmed desorption studies of the adsorption and desorption of amorphous and crystalline water on a graphite surface

Reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) and temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) have been used to perform a detailed investigation of the adsorption of water on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) at 90 K. RAIRS shows that water is physisorbed on HOPG at all coverages, as expected. Experiments at higher surface temperatures show marked changes in the O-H stretching region of the spectrum which can be assigned to the observation of the amorphous to crystalline ice phase transition. The infrared signature of both phases of solid water has been determined on HOPG and can be used to identify the phase of the ice. TPD spectra show the desorption of multilayers of crystalline ice. At high exposures a small bump appears in the TPD spectrum, on the low temperature side of the main peak, which is attributed to the amorphous to crystalline phase transition. At very low exposures of water, it is possible to distinguish the desorption of water from two- and three-dimensional islands and hence to determine the growth mode of water on the HOPG surface. Isothermal TPD studies have also been performed and show that the desorption of water does not obey perfect zero-order kinetics. Desorption orders, derived directly from the TPD spectra, confirm this observation. Desorption energies and preexponential factors have also been determined for this adsorption system.     

Toward a theory of wave energy transport in large irregular structures

An ansatz is proposed by which the energy transport behavior observed at early times in a direct numerical simulation (DNS) of a large irregular structure may be extrapolated to arbitrary times. In the slow-transport limit, this ansatz leads to a diffusion-like equation, similar to that of time-domain statistical energy analysis (SEA), but it does not require substructuring. The model is successfully used to extract diffusion parameters from simulated data of unambiguously diffusive character. The model is then successfully used to extract diffusion parameters from data obtained in a DNS of a simple undamped two-room structure of a kind typically analyzed by SEA or room acoustics.