Removal of oxygen from silicon by electron beam melting

Small amounts of multicrystalline silicon were melted in an electron beam furnace in different experimental conditions in order to investigate the oxygen evaporation behavior during the electron beam melting (EBM) process. The oxygen content level before and after EBM was determined by secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The oxygen content was reduced from 6.177 to 1.629 ppmw when silicon was melted completely at 15 kW with removal efficiency up to 73.6 %. After that, it decreased continually to <0.0517 ppmw when the refining time exceeded 600 s with a removal efficiency of more than 99.08 %. During the melting process, the evaporation rate of silicon is 1.10 × 10^?5 kg/s. The loss of silicon could be reduced up to 1.7 % during oxygen removal process to a desirable figure, indicating EBM is an effective method to remove oxygen from silicon and decrease the loss of silicon.     

Microwave-assisted synthesis of Cu2ZnSnS4 nanocrystals as a novel anode material for lithium ion battery

One-dimensional ordered quantum-ring chains are fabricated on a quantum-dot superlattice template by molecular beam epitaxy. The quantum-dot superlattice template is prepared by stacking multiple quantum-dot layers and quantum-ring chains are formed by partially capping quantum dots. Partially capping InAs quantum dots with a thin layer of GaAs introduces a morphological change from quantum dots to quantum rings. The lateral ordering is introduced by engineering the strain field of a multi-layer InGaAs quantum-dot superlattice.     

Complexed sol-gel synthesis of improved Pt-Ru-Os-based anode electro-catalysts for direct methanol fuel cells

A high specific surface area (SSA) Pt-Ru-Os-based anode catalyst synthesized by a novel complexed sol-gel (CSG) process shows better catalytic activity in comparison to pure equi-atomic compositions of Pt-Ru anode catalysts synthesized by similar sol-gel processes. A homogeneous amorphous gel was successfully synthesized by complexing platinum(II) acetylacetonate, ruthenium(III) acetylacetonate and osmium(III) chloride with tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) used as a complexing agent. Phase-pure Pt(Ru,Os) and Pt(Ru) solid solutions possessing high specific surface area (∼110-120 m²/g) were successfully synthesized by controlled removal of carbonaceous species present in the as-prepared precursor generated from the CSG process. This has been successfully achieved by precise thermal treatments of the precursor using controlled oxidizing atmospheres. Results indicate that the nano-crystalline Pt(Ru,Os) solid solution of nominal composition 50 at%-Pt-40 at% Ru-10 at% Os possesses good chemical homogeneity, and reveals excellent catalytic activity, thus demonstrating the potential of the novel CSG process for synthesizing high-performance Pt-Ru-Os-based catalysts for direct methanol fuel cells.     

Scintillation index of astigmatic annular beams in a turbulent atmosphere

The scintillation properties of astigmatic annular beams in a weak turbulent atmosphere are investigated. Expression for the on-axis scintillation index of an astigmatic annular beam is derived. It is found that the scintillation index of an astigmatic annular beam can be smaller than that of a Gaussian beam, an elliptical Gaussian beam and a stigmatic annular beam in a weak turbulent atmosphere under certain conditions. The scintillation properties of astigmatic annular beams are closely controlled by its beam parameters.     

The influence of Co doping on the dielectric, ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties of Ba0.70Sr0.30TiO3 thin films

Ba_0.70Sr_0.30TiO₃ (BST) thin films doped by Co (BSTC) are fabricated by sol-gel method on a Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrate. A strong correlation is observed among the microstructure, dielectric, ferroelectric, ferromagnetic properties and Co concentration. The dielectric constant of BST thin films can be tailored from 343 to 119 by manipulating the Co concentration. The dielectric loss of BSTC thin films are still kept below 0.020 and the tunability is above 30% at a dc-applied electric field of 500 kV/cm. With increasing Co doping up to 10 mol%, the coexistence of ferromagnetism and ferroelectrics is found. Suitable dielectric constant, low-dielectric loss, and high tunability of this kind of thin films can be useful for potential tunable applications.     

Accuracy analysis and stabilization design of the Fabry–Perot frequency discriminator in double-edge wind lidars

The measurement error of a double-edge wind lidar caused by a disturbed Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI) is analyzed. Several error sources such as air pressure variations, temperature changes, and mechanical vibrations are considered in the measurement-error model. The simulation results show that a double-edge wind lidar is so sensitive to environmental variations that the measurement error reaches ±60 m/s if the FPI is not stabilized. In order to compensate the external disturbance acting on the FPI, a nonlinear proportional–integral–derivative (PID) control scheme is designed based on the transmission measurement of the calibration channel. An arc tangent function is used to improve the feedback gain of the usual PID control design. The results show that with the new controller the measurement accuracy of the wind lidar can be improved 4–5 times in comparison with the usual control design, and the range of the measurement error is only ±3 m/s.     

Resonantly pumped continuous wave Er:YAP laser

A continuous wave Er:YAP laser pumped by Mgo:PPLN laser locked at 1535 nm was reported. 170 mW of 1609 nm output was achieved under total incident pump power of 7 W at 77 K. The slope efficiency were 5.0 and 3.1% with the cavity length 75 and 140 mm.     

Efficient continuous-wave eye-safe region signal output from intra-cavity singly resonant optical parametric oscillator

We report an efficient continuous-wave (CW) tunable intra-cavity singly resonant optical parametric oscillator based on the multi-period periodically poled lithium niobate and using a laser diode (LD) end-pumped CW 1064 nm Nd:YVO₄ laser as the pump source. A highly efficiency CW operation is realized through a careful cavity design for mode matching and thermal stability. The signal tuning range is 1401-1500 nm obtained by varying the domain period. The maximum output power of 2.2 W at 1500 nm is obtained with a 17.1 W 808 nm LD power and the corresponding conversion efficiency is 12.9%.     

基于蒙特卡罗方法的α粒子细胞S值计算

在放射性免疫治疗以及硼中子俘获治疗（BNCT）等放射性治疗过程中,粒子通过与人体组织材料相互作用产生次级电子将能量传递给人体组织,放射性核素在细胞尺度分布的不均匀性将严重影响靶区剂量分布。为深入了解放射性核素在细胞中不同位置分布对靶区剂量影响,采用基于历史凝聚算法的Monte Carlo 工具包Geant4编写了细胞S值计算程序。计算了2种细胞尺寸,12种粒子能量,3种源分布方式的细胞S值,与医学内照射剂量（MIRD）委员会解析算法的计算结果进行对比,发现两者差异在1%以内。证明了Geant4在m尺度下细胞剂量计算的可行性,并对BNCT治疗过程中产生的粒子(1.47 MeV与1.78 MeV)的细胞S值进行计算。     

Computer design of a compact cyclotron

Here we present results of the computer design of the structural elements of a compact cyclotron by the example of HITFiL cyclotron selected as the driving accelerator that is under construction at the Institute of Modern Physics (Lanzhou, China). In the article a complex approach to modeling of the compact cyclotron, including calculation of electromagnetic fields of the structural elements and beam dynamics calculations, is described. The existing design data on the axial injection, magnetic, acceleration and extraction systems of the cyclotron are used as a starting point in the simulation. Some of the upgrades of the cyclotron structural elements were proposed, which led to substantial improvement of the beam quality and transmission.