Low-temperature phases obtained by linear programming: An application to a lattice system of model chiral molecules

A convenient, Peierls-type approach to obtain low-temperature phases is to use the method of an m-potential. In this paper we show that, for more complex systems where it may be rather difficult to rewrite the Hamiltonian as an m-potential and whose configurations are subject to linear constraints, the verification of the Peierls condition can be reformulated as a linear programming problem. Before introducing this novel strategy for a general lattice system, we compare it with the m-potential method for a specific model molecular system consisting of an equimolar mixture of a chiral molecule and its non-superimposable mirror image that occupy all the sites of a honeycomb lattice. In one range of interactions, we prove that a racemic low-temperature phase occurs (containing equal numbers of each enantiomer). However, in a neighboring range of interactions, we show that a homochiral low-temperature phase (containing a single enantiomer) exists, and thus chiral segregation occurs in the system. Our linear programming technique yields these results in wider ranges of interactions than the m-potential method.     

Low-temperature plasma ionization source for the online detection of indoor volatile organic compounds

A simple-structure, low-power, and low-cost low temperature plasma (LTP) ionization source, coupled with mass spectrometry, for the online detection of indoor volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has been constructed in this work. Air, instead of noble gases, was employed as the discharging and carrier gas. And a custom-built AC high-voltage power supply with a total power consumption of 5 W, frequency of 2-4 kHz, and amplitude around 1-5 kV_p-p was used. This LTP source is a soft ionization source. The initial performance of the ionization source has been evaluated by ionizing samples including alcohols, ketones, aldehydes and aromatics. These compounds cover most of the common air pollutants concerning people's health. It is well known that those plasmas generated by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) produce significant amount of metastable species and electrons with mean energies greater than several electronvolt, but minimal fragmentation was observed in our work. Protonated ions are the dominant product for the VOCs detected after the ionization process. Further work has been conducted to confirm the detection feature of this source. The results are promising enough to ensure the novel LTP ionization source as an effective tool for the online detection of indoor VOCs.