Three-dimensional annihilation imaging of trapped antiprotons

We demonstrate three-dimensional imaging of antiprotons in a Penning trap, by reconstructing annihilation vertices from the trajectories of the charged annihilation products. The unique capability of antiparticle imaging has allowed, for the first time, the observation of the spatial distribution of the particle loss in a Penning trap. The radial loss of antiprotons on the trap wall is localized to small spots, strongly breaking the azimuthal symmetry expected for an ideal trap. Our observations have important implications for detection of antihydrogen annihilations.     

Controllable Growth of Perovskite Films by Room‐Temperature Air Exposure for Efficient Planar Heterojunction Photovoltaic Cells

A two‐step solution processing approach has been established to grow void‐free perovskite films for low‐cost high‐performance planar heterojunction photovoltaic devices. A high‐temperature thermal annealing treatment was applied to drive the diffusion of CH₃NH₃I precursor molecules into a compact PbI₂ layer to form perovskite films. However, thermal annealing for extended periods led to degraded device performance owing to the defects generated by decomposition of perovskite into PbI₂. A controllable layer‐by‐layer spin‐coating method was used to grow “bilayer” CH₃NH₃I/PbI₂ films, and then drive the interdiffusion between PbI₂ and CH₃NH₃I layers by a simple air exposure at room temperature for making well‐oriented, highly crystalline perovskite films without thermal annealing. This high degree of crystallinity resulted in a carrier diffusion length of ca. 800 nm and a high device efficiency of 15.6 %, which is comparable to values reported for thermally annealed perovskite films.     

Gas-phase deprotonation of arylalkylamines. A collision-induced dissociation study

The collision-induced dissociation (CID) of deprotonated arylalkylamines of general formula R(1)C(6)H(4)CHR(2)CH(2)NR(3)(2) (where R(1) = H, OH, F or NO(2); R(2) = H or OH; R(3) = H or CH(3)) generated by negative chemical ionization with H(2)O and D(2)O as ionizing reagents, is discussed. The negative chemical ionization mass spectra show that, in the absence of a hydroxy group in the aromatic ring, deprotonation takes place at the benzylic position whereas the proton is lost from the OH group when present. The nitro compound forms only M(-.) ions. The CID spectra of the deprotonated molecules show that fragmentations are strongly dependent on the structural features of the molecules, namely the presence or absence of substituents in the aromatic ring or aliphatic chain. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Isolation of NO(3)(-)-N as 1-phenylazo-2-naphthol (Sudan-1) for measurement of delta(15)N

The conversion of nitrate (NO(3)(-)) to 1-phenylazo-2-naphthol (Sudan-1) has been examined as a method for natural abundance measurement of delta(15)N of NO(3)(-). The reaction results in dilution of NO(3)(-)-N with only one reagent-derived N and the product is readily concentrated from dilute samples by reverse phase chromatography. There is systematic isotopic fractionation during the reaction, but this can be allowed for by analysing known NO(3)(-) standards along with each sample set. Sudan-1 prepared from surface water samples containing approximately 50 &mgr;g NO(3)(-)-N can be analysed by automated continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry with a precision of 0.2 per thousand (one standard deviation) and the accuracy is not affected by interference from other nitrogenous species in the sample or reagents. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Core-shell H-ZSM-5/silicalite-1 composites: Brønsted acidity and catalyst deactivation at the individual particle level

A combination of in situ UV-Vis and confocal fluorescence micro-spectroscopy is applied to investigate the influence of an external silicalite-1 shell on the Br?nsted acidity and coke formation process of individual H-ZSM-5 zeolite crystals. Three probe reactions were used: oligomerization of styrene, methanol-to-olefin (MTO) conversion and aromatization of light naphtha (LNA) derivatives. Oligomerization of styrene leads to the formation of optically active carbocationic oligomers. Different styrene substitutions indicate the conversion ability of the catalyst acid core, a preferred alignment of the oligomers within the straight zeolite channels and a Br?nsted acidity gradient throughout the zeolite crystal. Both the MTO conversion and the LNA process lead to limited carbonaceous deposition within the external silicalite-1 layer. This outer shell furthermore prevents the growth of extended coke species at the zeolite external surface. During MTO, the formation of carbonaceous compounds initiates at the center of the H-ZSM-5 zeolite core and expands towards the zeolite exterior. This coke build-up starts with a 420 nm UV-Vis absorption band, assigned to methyl-substituted aromatic carbocations, and a second band around 550 nm, which is indicative of their growth towards larger conjugated systems. Aromatization of linear and branched C5 paraffins causes negligible darkening of the zeolite crystals though it forms fluorescent coke deposits and their precursors within the H-ZSM-5 catalyst. Olefin homologues on the contrary cause pronounced darkening of the zeolite composite. Methyl-branching of these reactants slows down the coke formation rate and produces carbonaceous species that are more restricted in their molecular size.     

Structural studies and T c dependence in La2−x Dy x Ca y Ba2Cu4+y O z type mixed oxide superconductors

A new series of mixed oxide superconductors with the stoichiometric composition La_2−x Dy _x Ca _y Ba₂Cu_4+y O _z (x=0.0 − 0.5, y=2x) has been studied for structural and superconductiong properties. Our earlier studies on La_2−x (Y/Er) _x Ca _y Ba₂Cu_4+y O _z series, show a strong dependence of T _c on hole concentration (p _sh). In the present work, the results of the analysis of the neutron diffraction measurements at room temprerature on x=0.3 and 0.5 samples are reported. It is interesting to know that Ca substitutes for both La and Ba site with concomitant displacement of La onto Ba site. Superconductivity studies show that maximum T _c is obtained for x=0.5, y=1.0 sample (T _c ∼ 75 K), for La_1.5Dy_0.5Ca₁Ba₂Cu₅O _z (La-2125).     

Finite element error bounds for a curve shrinking with prescribed normal contact to a fixed boundary

We approximate the evolution of a curve subject to motion bycurvature by linear finite elements. The curve evolves insidea given domain and meets orthogonally. We derive optimal boundsfor the error with respect to the L²- and H¹-norms and presentsome computed examples.