Autoresonant excitation of antiproton plasmas

We demonstrate controllable excitation of the center-of-mass longitudinal motion of a thermal antiproton plasma using a swept-frequency autoresonant drive. When the plasma is cold, dense, and highly collective in nature, we observe that the entire system behaves as a single-particle nonlinear oscillator, as predicted by a recent theory. In contrast, only a fraction of the antiprotons in a warm plasma can be similarly excited. Antihydrogen was produced and trapped by using this technique to drive antiprotons into a positron plasma, thereby initiating atomic recombination.     

Enhanced reactivity of nanoscale iron particles through a vacuum annealing process

A reactivity study was undertaken to compare and assess the rate of dechlorination of chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons (CAHs) by annealed and non-annealed nanoscale iron particles. The current study aims to resolve the uncertainties in recently published work studying the effect of the annealing process on the reduction capability of nanoscale Fe particles. Comparison of the normalized rate constants (m²/h/L) obtained for dechlorination reactions of trichloroethene (TCE) and cis-1,2-dichloroethene (cis-1,2-DCE) indicated that annealing nanoscale Fe particles increases their reactivity ~30-fold. An electron transfer reaction mechanism for both types of nanoscale particles was found to be responsible for CAH dechlorination, rather than a reduction reaction by activated H₂ on the particle surface (i.e., hydrogenation, hydrogenolysis). Surface analysis of the particulate material using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) together with surface area measurement by Brunauer, Emmett, Teller (BET) indicate that the vacuum annealing process decreases the surface area and increases crystallinity. BET surface area analysis recorded a decrease in nanoscale Fe particle surface area from 19.0 to 4.8 m²/g and crystallite dimensions inside the particle increased from 8.7 to 18.2 nm as a result of annealing.     

Radiation efficiency of unbaffled and perforated plates near a rigid reflecting surface

The accurate prediction of sound radiation from plate-like structures remains a challenging problem. Although the case of a plate set in a rigid baffle can be solved analytically, when the plate radiates sound into free space the problem is more difficult to solve; nevertheless, several approaches have been proposed to determine the sound radiation from an unbaffled plate. The present study extends the consideration to the situation of an unbaffled plate which is located close to a rigid reflecting surface. For this purpose, Laulagnet's model for the radiation efficiency of an unbaffled plate is extended by modifying the Green's function to include an image source due to the reflecting surface. The results show that, depending on the distance between the plate and the rigid surface, the radiation efficiency is considerably reduced at low frequencies. Additional reduction of sound radiation can be achieved by introducing perforation to the plate. However, at higher frequencies, the radiation efficiency is amplified relative to that for the plate in the absence of the rigid surface, both with and without perforation. These results have also been validated experimentally.     

Double prompt photon production at high transverse momentum byπ − on protons at 280 GeV/c

A search for pairs of highp _T prompt photons produced in hydrogen by a 280 GeV/c incidentπ ^- beam has been carried out using a fine-grained electromagnetic calorimeter and the Omega spectrometer at the CERN SPS. Clear evidence for the existence of such events is found with a six standard deviation signal forp _T >3.0 GeV/c. The cross-sections are consistent with beyond leading order QCD calculations. A discussion on the determination of α _s is also presented.     

Analysis of HRTEM images for carbon nanostructure quantification

Image processing algorithms have been developed to extract fringe length, tortuosity and separation from high resolution transmission electron microscopy images. To validate the separation algorithm, a comparison is made between the image-based fringe separation and that obtained by analysis of X-ray diffraction data for a progressively heat-treated carbon black. Agreement is favorable. To illustrate the utility of the analysis parameters for a range of carbon nanostructures, analysis is applied to a series of pyrolytically prepared carbon soots – qualitatively described as containing amorphous, graphitic or fullerenic nanostructure. For all processing, the intermediate image, in the form of a skeletonized binary image of the original high resolution transmission electron micrograph, is shown and found to accurately reflect the nanostructural organization within the carbon as visually observed. Statistical results for each analysis parameter, extracted from the binary images, are presented in the form of histograms and quantitatively distinguish the different carbon nanostructures.     

Direct observation of the phenomenology of a solid thermal explosion using time-resolved proton radiography

We present a new phenomenology for burn propagation inside a thermal explosion based on dynamic radiography. Radiographic images were obtained of an aluminum cased solid cylindrical sample of a plastic bonded formulation of octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine. The phenomenology observed is ignition followed by cracking in the solid accompanied by the propagation of a radially symmetric front of increasing proton transmission. This is followed by a further increase in transmission through the sample, ending after approximately 100 micros. We show that these processes are consistent with the propagation of a convective burn front followed by consumption of the remaining solid by conductive particle burning.     

Infrared spectra of the polar and nonpolar N2O dimers in the 1280 cm region of the ν3 fundamental

The high-resolution infrared spectrum of the polar N₂O dimer has been observed in the region of the N₂O ν₃ fundamental (∼1280 cm⁻¹) using a tunable diode laser to probe a pulsed supersonic slit jet. About 120 rotational transitions were assigned in terms of an a/b hybrid band of a planar asymmetric top molecule with a slipped parallel structure. The vibrational origin was determined to be 1290.21 cm⁻¹, showing a blue shift of 5.31 cm⁻¹ with respect to the monomer band origin. In addition, the spectrum of the nonpolar isomer at 1279.71 cm⁻¹ has been remeasured and analyzed in improved detail. Small but widespread perturbations are noted in this band, which appear somewhat similar to larger effects observed previously in the ν₁ + ν₃ region for nonpolar (N₂O)₂.     

Vacuum-deposited, nonpolymeric flexible organic light-emitting devices

We demonstrate mechanically flexible, organic light-emitting devices (OLED's) based on the nonpolymetric thin-film materials tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq(3)) and N, N(?) -diphenyl- N, N(?) -bis(3-methylphenyl)1- 1(?) biphenyl-4, 4(?) diamine (TPD). The single heterostructure is vacuum deposited upon a transparent, lightweight, thin plastic substrate precoated with a transparent, conducting indium tin oxide thin film. The flexible OLED performance is comparable with that of conventional OLED's deposited upon glass substrates and does not deteriorate after repeated bending. The large-area (~1 - cm>(2)) devices can be bent without failure even after a permanent fold occurs if they are on the convex substrate surface or over a bend radius of ~0.5>cm if they are on the concave surface. Such devices are useful for ultralightweight, flexible, and comfortable full-color flat panel displays.