Synchrotron radiation in Novosibirsk: The first 13 years

We describe the development of activity at the Siberian Center for Synchrotron and Terahertz Radiation at Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics (BINP), SB RAS, since 1974, when the history of experiments with synchrotron radiation (SR) in the world was just beginning–there were no dedicated sources of radiation and works can be carried out at several nuclear centers in the world. BINP made a significant contribution to the development of synchrotron radiation sources, and SB RAS institutes did their part for development of SR application to problems of chemistry, catalysis, biology, geology and materials science. The experiments were made at VEPP-3/VEPP-4 installation.     

Investigation of Heat Pump Efficiency on Zeotropic Refrigerants R32/R134a and R32/R152a

Results of analysis of thermodynamic cycle efficiency with consideration of nonisothermal nature of phase transition indicate that when using the mixture of R32/R152a (30/70%) in the vapor compression heat pumps, the coefficient of performance is up to 4% higher in comparison with R32/R134a (30/70%). The study shows that in cycles with two-stage compression the coefficient of performance increases by 6.5% as compared to the single-stage process. The value of exergic efficiency of the single-stage cycle is equal to 0.47 for zeotropic mixture of R32/R152a (30/70%), and it is equal to 0.45 for the R32/R134a (30/70%) mixture. Data obtained for the zeotropic mixtures are as effective as those obtained for refrigerant R134a.     

Superconducting Wigglers

In low- and medium-energy storage rings for synchrotron radiation (SR) production, it is necessary to use high-performance insertion devices (IDs) in order to meet the increasing demand for high X-ray flux to perform life science and material science, since the maximum beam energy and beam current cannot be changed in storage rings without major rebuilds of the accelerator systems.     

Precision measurement of the wavelengths and natural line widths of 3d-2p pionic X-ray transitions in low-Z atoms

The wavelengths and the natural line widths of the 3d-2p transitions in the pionic atoms of ¹²C, ¹⁶O, ¹⁸O, ²⁴Mg, ²⁶Mg, ²⁸Si and ³⁰Si have been measured at SIN with a bent-crystal spectrometer. The precision reached in the transition wavelengths ranges from 4 to 18 ppm, and in the widths from 2 to 14%.     

Chirped solitons with strong confinement in transmission links with in-line fiber Bragg gratings

We demonstrate that the use of fiber gratings to reverse periodically the pulse chirp in transmission links allows us to produce stable chirped optical solitons with fast-decaying tails. The interaction between neighboring pulses is reduced from that of the usual soliton system as a result of pulse chirping and strong confinement, making possible dense information packing. Such a pulse is an attractive candidate for use as an information carrier in optical transmission systems with ultralarge capacities of approximately 100 Gbits/s.     

A sensitive 3–4-mm radiometer

Improving the parameters of the Schottky barrier mixing diodes has permitted us to improve the sensitivity of the 3–4-mm radiometer described in [1]. The authors were able to achieve a fluctuation sensitivity of no worse than 0.15K for double-sideband reception with an output RC filter time constant of =1 sec by using, with several changes, the high-frequency part of this receiver. The sensitivity reached 0.1K at several points in the 3–4-mm range. Figure 1 shows a calibration record of a standard load, cooled in liquid nitrogen. The amplification while recording the noise was 30 times greater than for the calibration signal.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 21, No. 11, pp. 1702–1703, November, 1978.     

The use of synchrotron radiation for study of structural changes in polymers during phase transition and deformation

An experimental method using monochromatized synchrotron radiation for a wide-angle x-ray scattering study of polymers during phase transition and deformation is described. Results obtained on low-density and high-density polyethylenes and on polypropylene are given. Melting processes could be studied conveniently by making exposures during a temperature scan; a few seconds were found sufficient to obtain a diffraction spectrum. This way relatively fast crystallization processes and the structural change accompanying stress relaxation could be followed easily. The crystalline-amorphous ratio was found to decrease continuously much below the melting temperature measured dilatometrically and by DSC, implying that in the α_c-relaxation transition region of polyethylene and polypropylene a structural change takes place. At the initial state of crystallization the 040 reflection in polypropylene was found to be stronger than the 110 one, while after crystallization has been completed this ratio was inverted. Equatorial spectra made after rapid uniaxial stretching of polypropylene sheet were found to exhibit a slight time dependence demonstrating that orientation went on after stretching had been stopped.     

Synthesis of superheavy nuclei in the reactions of 244Pu and 248Cm with 48Ca

This paper presents results of the experiments aimed at producing long-lived superheavy elements located near the spherical-shell closures with Z ⩾ 114 and N ⩾ 172 in the ²⁴⁴Pu + ⁴⁸Ca and ²⁴⁸Cm + ⁴⁸Ca reactions. The large measured α-particle energies of the newly observed nuclei, together with the long decay times and spontaneous fission terminating the chains, offer evidence of the decay of nuclei with high atomic numbers. The decay properties of the synthesized nuclei are consistent with the consecutive α-decays originating from the parent nuclides ^{288, 289}114 and ²⁹²116, produced in the 3n and 4n evaporation channels with cross-sections of about a picobarn. The present observations can be considered as experimental evidence of the existence of the “island of stability” of superheavy elements. Received: 21 March 2002 / Accepted: 16 May 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: utyonkov@sungns.jinr.ru