Investigations into beam monitors at the AEg ̄ IS experiment

Detailed diagnostic of antiproton beams at low energies is required for essentially all experiments at the Antiproton Decelerator (AD), but will be particularly important for the future Extra Low ENergy Antiproton ring (ELENA) and its keV beam lines to the different experiments. Many monitors have been successfully developed and operated at the AD, but in particular beam profile monitoring remains a challenge. A dedicated beam instrumentation and detector test stand has recently been setup at the AE \(\bar {g}\) IS experiment (Antimatter Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy). Located behind the actual experiment, it allows for parasitic use of the antiproton beam at different energies for testing and calibration. With the aim to explore and validate different candidate technologies for future low energy beam lines, as well as the downstream antihydrogen detector in AE \(\bar {g}\) IS, measurements have been carried out using Silicon strip and pixel detectors, a purpose-built secondary emission monitor and emulsions. Here, results from measurements and characterization of the different detector types with regard to their future use at the AD complex are presented.     

Irradiation of amorphous Ta<Subscript>42</Subscript>Si<Subscript>13</Subscript>N<Subscript>45</Subscript> film with a femtosecond laser pulse

Films of 260 nm thickness, with atomic composition Ta₄₂Si₁₃N₄₅, on 4″ silicon wafers, have been irradiated in air with single laser pulses of 200 femtoseconds duration and 800 nm wave length. As sputter-deposited, the films are structurally amorphous. A laterally truncated Gaussian beam with a near-uniform fluence of ∼0.6 J/cm² incident normally on such a film ablates 23 nm of the film. Cross-sectional transmission electron micrographs show that the surface of the remaining film is smooth and flat on a long-range scale, but contains densely distributed sharp nanoprotrusions that sometimes surpass the height of the original surface. Dark field micrographs of the remaining material show no nanograins. Neither does glancing angle X-ray diffraction with a beam illuminating many diffraction spots. By all evidence, the remaining film remains amorphous after the pulsed femtosecond irradiation.     

Spatial and temporal mapping of water content across Nafion membranes under wetting and drying conditions

Water transport and water management are fundamental to polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell operation. Accurate measurements of water content within and across the Nafion layer are required to elucidate water transport behavior and validate existing numerical models.We report here a direct measurement of water content profiles across a Nafion layer under wetting and drying conditions, using a novel magnetic resonance imaging methodology developed for this purpose. This method, multi-echo double half k-space spin echo single point imaging, based on a pure phase encode spin echo, is designed for high resolution 1D depth imaging of thin film samples. The method generates high resolution (<8 μm) depth images with an SNR greater than 20, in an image acquisition time of less than 2 min. The high temporal resolution permits water content measurements in the transient states of wetting and drying, in addition to the steady state.     

Servo-stabilization of low-frequency oscillations in liquid propellant rocket motors

Zusammenfassung Die Theorie der kleinen Frequenz-Instabilität von Raketenmotoren mit flüssigen Treibmitteln wird überarbeitet, wobei im besonderen die Methode der Satche-Diagramme erörtert wird, welche durchH. S. Tsien für Stabilitätsrechnungen linearer Systeme mit zeitlicher Verzögerung eingeführt worden sind. Das Prinzip der Stabilisierung durch Benutzung einer Gegenkopplungsschleife wird besprochen, und es wird gezeigt, dass schon eine sehr einfache Lösung des Gegenkopplungskreises die Stabilität von flüssigen Einzel- und Doppeltreibmitteln in Raketenmotoren versichern kann, unabhängig von der Grösse der Zeitverzögerung. Auf Grund des beschriebenen speziellen analytischen Beispiels wird gefolgert, dass solche Stabilisierungsmassnahmen für eine viel grössere Klasse von Instabilitäten in Raketenmotoren als die betrachtete empirisch verwirklicht werden können.     

Core noise from gas turbine exhausts

There is abundant evidence to show that the exhaust noise from gas turbines contains components which exceed the jet mixing noise at low jet velocities. This paper describes results of a theory developed to calculate the acoustic power produced by temperature fluctuations from the combustor entering the turbine. With the turbine Mach numbers and flow directions at blade mid-height, and a typical value for the fluctuation in temperature, as parameters it has been possible to predict the acoustic power due to this mechanism for three different engines. In all three cases the agreement with measurements of acoustic power at low jet velocities is very good. Similarly, based on a measured spectrum of the temperature fluctuation, the prediction of the acoustic power spectrum agrees quite well with that measured.     

Trace element analysis by accelerator mass spectrometry

An Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) facility has been assembled at the University of North Texas (UNT) in collaboration with Texas Instruments, Inc. The UNT AMS facility is used primarily for the high sensitivity determination of trace elements of stable isotopes in materials. Particle accelerators, in conjunction with magnetic (momentum/charge) and electrostatic (energy/charge) spectrometers and particle energy detectors, may be used to measure rare isotopes at concentrations as low as one part in 10¹² or 10¹⁰ atoms/cm³.     

The internal magnetic field distribution, and single exponential magnetic resonance free induction decay, in rocks

When fluid saturated porous media are subjected to an applied uniform magnetic field, an internal magnetic field, inside the pore space, is induced due to magnetic susceptibility differences between the pore-filling fluid and the solid matrix. The microscopic distribution of the internal magnetic field, and its gradients, was simulated based on the thin-section pore structure of a sedimentary rock. The simulation results were verified experimentally. We show that the 'decay due to diffusion in internal field' magnetic resonance technique may be applied to measure the pore size distribution in partially saturated porous media. For the first time, we have observed that the internal magnetic field and its gradients in porous rocks have a Lorentzian distribution, with an average gradient value of zero. The Lorentzian distribution of internal magnetic field arises from the large susceptibility contrast and an intrinsic disordered pore structure in these porous media. We confirm that the single exponential magnetic resonance free induction decay commonly observed in fluid saturated porous media arises from a Lorentzian internal field distribution. A linear relationship between the magnetic resonance linewidth, and the product of the susceptibility difference in the porous media and the applied magnetic field, is observed through simulation and experiment.