The low-frequency reflection and scattering of the S0 Lamb mode from a circular through-thickness hole in a plate: Finite Element,analytical and experimental studies

A study of the interaction of the S0 Lamb wave with a circular through-thickness hole in a plate is presented. The study is limited to the nondispersive frequency range of this wave, in which the distributions of stress and displacement are simple. This allows a Finite Element analysis to be undertaken using a two-dimensional membrane discretization. Predictions of the direct reflection of the S0 mode and the lateral scattering of the SH0 mode are made for a range of diameters of the hole. At the same time, an analytical solution based on modal superposition is developed, and this is also used to predict the reflection and scattering coefficients. Both sets of predictions are validated by experimental measurements. It is found that the trends of the reflection coefficients for different hole diameters, frequencies and distances from the hole satisfy a simple normalization. On a detailed scale, the functions exhibit undulations which are shown to result from the interference of the direct reflection with secondary reflections which arrive slightly later.     

Raman spectroscopy of resonance exciton tunneling in GaAs/AlAs superlattices in electric fields

Optical-resonance-Raman scattering by acoustic phonons is used to study the effect of an electric field on the state of excitons in GaAs/AlAs superlattices. When the energy of the exciting photon coincides with the energy of an exciton bound to Wannier-Stark states of a heavy hole and electron with Δn=0,±1, the acoustic Raman scattering is enhanced. Oscillations in the intensity of the Raman spectrum in the electric field are explained by resonance delocalization of the exciton ground state as it interacts with Wannier-Stark states of neighboring quantum wells or with Wannier-Stark states of a higher electron miniband. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 827–829 (May 1998)     

Runaway Electron Measurements in the EAST Tokamak

An experimental study of runaway electrons in the EAST tokamak has been performed by a recently developed multi‐channel hard x‐ray diagnostics based on NaI(TL) scintillator detectors. It is found that in the current quench phase, the inductive loop voltage plays an important role in the generation of runaway electrons. And the avalanche mechanism was the main mechanism for runaway electrons after the disruptions. The distribution and transportation of runaway electrons were also investigated by multi‐channel hard x‐ray diagnostics. It is also found that the intensity of runaway electrons emission in the core plasma was much higher than those in the downside of the cross‐section, while the emission intensity of runaway electrons in the core plasma was almost the same. Calculated shrinking coefficient of runaway electrons emission after the plasma disruption was about 26 m/s according to the experimental data (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Recovery of butanol from model ABE fermentation broths using MFI adsorbent: a comparison between traditional beads and a structured adsorbent in the form of a film

Butanol, a promising biofuel, can be produced by ABE (acetone, butanol and ethanol) fermentation using e.g. Clostridium acetobutylicum. However, the butanol concentration in the resulting broth is limited to only ca. 20 g/L due to the toxicity for the microorganisms. This low product concentration demands an efficient recovery process for successful commercialization of this process. In this study, a structured adsorbent in the form of steel monolith coated with a silicalite-1 film was prepared using the in situ growth method. The adsorbent was carefully characterized by SEM and XRD. The performance of the adsorbent was evaluated by performing breakthrough experiments at room temperature using model ABE fermentation broths and the performance was compared with that of traditional adsorbents in the form of beads. The structured silicalite-1 adsorbent showed less saturation loading time as compared to commercial binder free silicalite-1 beads, reflecting the different dimensions of the columns used, set by experimental constraints. Studies of the desorption process showed that by operating at appropriate conditions, butanol with high concentration i.e. up to 95.2 wt% for butanol–water model system and 88.5 wt% for ABE fermentation broth can be obtained using the structured silicalite-1 adsorbent. Commercial silicalite-1 beads also showed good selectivity but the concentration of butanol in the desorbed product was limited to 70 % for the butanol–water model system and 69 % for ABE fermentation broth, probably as a result of entrained liquid between the beads.     

Escape time model for the current self-oscillation frequencies. in weakly coupled semiconductor superlattices

A semiclassical model was developed to predict the frequencies of current self-oscillations in weakly coupled semiconductor superlattices (SLs). The calculated frequency is derived from the classical round trip time in one well and the tunneling probability through the barrier, using the well and barrier width, effective masses and band offsets as well as the resulting energies of the sub- and minibands as input parameters. For all SLs, the measured frequency dependence on the sample parameters can be well described by our model. For weakly (strongly) coupled SLs, the calculated frequencies are somewhat above (below) the observed ones. The changeover from one behavior to the other occurs for SLs with miniband widths of a few meV. Received: 2 August 2000 / Accepted: 27 October 2000 / Published online: 28 February 2001     

Transition between synchronization and chaos in doped GaAs/AlAs superlattices

The transition between chaotic and periodic regimes in spontaneous current oscillations of weakly coupled, doped GaAs/AlAs superlattices has been observed by varying the external d.c. bias. The chaotic current oscillations are observed for voltage ranges, which exhibit a large negative differential conductance in the time-averaged I–V characteristic. Since this system can be described by a spatially distributed, non-linear system with many degrees of freedom, the coupling between the degrees of freedom in the chaotic windows is repulsive, while in the periodic windows it is attractive.