Determination of the OH radical in atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge plasmas using near infrared cavity ring-down spectroscopy

The hydroxyl radical (OH) plays an important role in combustion systems, atmospheric chemistry and the removal of air pollutants by non-thermal plasmas. The present work reports the determination of the hydroxyl radicals in atmospheric dielectric barrier discharge plasmas via near infrared continuous wave cavity ring-down spectroscopy. The P-branches of OH X²Π_i (ν' = 2 ←ν^′′ = 0) bands were used for its number density measurements. The minimum measurable absorption coefficient is about 3 × 10^-8 cm^-1 in DBD plasmas. At certain experimental conditions (a.c. frequency of 70 kHz, 6700 ppm H₂O in He, 1 atm), when the peak-to-peak discharge voltage varied from 6 kV to 10.4 kV, the determined OH radical concentration increased from (2.1 ± 0.1) × 10¹³ molecules cm^-3 to (3.7 ± 0.1) × 10¹³ molecules cm^-3. The plasma gas temperature, derived from the Boltzmann plots of OH rotational population distributions, ranged from 312 ± 10 K to 363 ± 10 K when the discharge voltage was raised in the above range. The influences of O₂ and N₂ addition on the production of OH radicals have been also investigated.     

Synthesis and photoluminescence characteristics of AlN nanocrystalline solids

A new condensed form of AlN nanocrystalline solids was obtained directly from reactions of metal Al and (NH₄Cl+NH₄I) in liquid ammonia at 550 °C, without the subsequent consolidation process as in the conventional method. The synthesized product is a transparent bulk solid, while the constituted nanocrystals have an average size of about 18 nm and possess the same wurtzite structure as bulk AlN. (NH₄Cl+NH₄I), which plays a role of a catalyst in the present synthetic route, is indispensable. The photoluminescence spectrum of the AlN nanocrystalline solids shows a broad blue band centered at 400 nm. Received: 20 June 2000 / Accepted: 22 June 2000 / Published online: 9 August 2000     

Adsorption of a Gaussian random copolymer chain at an interface

We consider the adsorption of an isolated, Gaussian, random, and quenched copolymer chain at an interface. We first propose a simple analytical method to obtain the adsorption/depletion transition, by averaging over the disorder the partition function instead of the free energy. The adsorption thresholds obtained by previous authors at a solid/liquid and at a liquid/liquid interface for multicopolymer chains can be rederived using this method. We also compare the adsorption thresholds obtained for bimodal and for Gaussian disorder; they only agree for small disorder. We focus on the specific case of an ideally flat asymmetric liquid/liquid interface, and consider the situation where the chain is composed of monomers of two different chemical species A and B. The replica method is developed for this case. We show that the Hartree approximation, coupled to a replica symmetry assumption, leads to the same adsorption thresholds as obtained from our general method. In order to describe the properties of the adsorbed (or depleted) chain, we develop a new approximation for long chains, within the framework of the replica theory. In most cases, the behavior of a random copolymer chain can be mapped onto that of a homopolymer chain at an asymmetric attractive interface. The values of the effective adsorption energy are different for a random and a periodic copolymer chain. Finally, we consider the case of uncorrelated annealed disorder. The behavior of an annealed chain can be mapped onto that of a homopolymer chain at an asymmetric non attractive interface; hence, an annealed chain cannot adsorb at an asymmetric interface. Received 21 January 1999     

Weakly charged lamellar bilayer system: Interplay between thermal undulations and electrostatic repulsion

We study the interplay between thermal undulations and electrostatic interactions for weakly charged surfactant bilayers by measuring the backscattering of light from very dilute lamellar phases of the non-ionic surfactant triethylene glycol monodecyl ether (C₁₀E₃) doped with small amounts of the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), both with and without added electrolyte. Upon charging, the lamellar phases show a transition from undulation to electrostatic stabilization. Non-lamellar structures develop if the molar mixing ratio exceeds . Deviations from ideal swelling, , where is the lamellar repeating distance and the membrane volume fraction, were detected for all lamellar phases. Salt-free lamellar phases with charge densities below , as well as more highly charged lamellar phases at high ionic strength show a universal logarithmic deviation from ideal swelling that was analyzed using theories for undulation stabilized lamellar phases. Deviations from ideal swelling for electrostatically stabilized lamellar phases were analyzed using theories recently developed for undulations in charged lamellar phases. The fits to the various theories yield a value of for the bending modulus of the C₁₀E₃ bilayers. Received 21 June 1999 and Received in final form 25 August 1999     

Effects of quantum space time foam in the neutrino sector

We discuss violations of CPT and quantum mechanics due to interactions of neutrinos with space-time quantum foam. Neutrinoless double beta decay and oscillations of neutrinos from astrophysical sources (supernovae, active galactic nuclei) are analysed. It is found that the propagation distance is the crucial quantity entering any bounds on EHNS parameters. Thus, while the bounds from neutrinoless double beta decay are not significant, the data of the supernova 1987a imply a bound being several orders of magnitude more stringent than the ones known from the literature. Even more stringent limits may be obtained from the investigation of neutrino oscillations from active galactic nuclei sources, which have an impressive potential for the search of quantum foam interactions in the neutrino sector. Received: 5 June 2000 / Accepted: 12 July 2000     

Flow equations for electron-phonon interactions: phonon damping

We report Nuclear Magnetic Resonance studies of CeAuAl₃ and LaAuAl₃ at frequencies between 1.30 and 76.91 MHz and at temperatures from up to . CeAuAl₃ is a new heavy-electron compound which orders antiferromagnetically at . For the two inequivalent Al sites of CeAuAl₃, the transferred hyperfine couplings and are relatively small compared to those in other Ce compounds. The nuclear quadrupolar coupling constants e2qQ / h are 2.9 MHz and 7.8 MHz, respectively. We suggest that the magnetic structure of the ordered state below is of a simple spiral type with the ordered Ce moments arranged ferromagnetically within the ( ab ) planes of the tetragonal crystal lattice. Based on this magnetic structure we estimate a 25% reduction of the Ce moments, most likely due to Kondo screening. At high temperatures, in the paramagnetic state of CeAuAl₃, the spin-lattice relaxation rate T1 ^-1 is dominated by the fluctuations of the localised Ce moments. At , T1 ^-1 is , more than two orders of magnitude larger than for the reference compound LaAuAl₃. For temperatures lower than T1 ^-1 decreases as a function of ( T / H ) and below , displays a linear-in-T behaviour, strongly enhanced compared to the reference compound LaAuAl₃. Received: 5 May 1998 / Received in final form: 16 July 1998 / Accepted: 20 July 1998     

Quantitative Brewster angle microscopy measurements of chiral symmetry breaking and chiral boundaries in fatty acid Langmuir monolayers

Brewster angle microscopy (BAM) measurements of the low temperature region of the phase diagram of eicosanoic acid monolayers at an acidic subphase are performed. The existence of a new chiral I phase intervening between the L₂ and L ₂ ' phase recently discovered by Durbin et al. [M.K. Durbin, A. Malik, A.G. Richter, R. Ghastkadvi, T. Gog, P. Dutta, J. Chem. Phys. 106, 8216 (1997)] using grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD) is confirmed. Chiral symmetry breaking within the monolayers creates characteristic boundaries separating domains of opposite handedness. These disclination lines are associated with a jump in the tilt azimuth of the director, while the underlying hexatic orientation is continuous across the boundary. The disclination lines are observed with the Brewster angle microscope and analyzed as a function of surface pressure. The jump in tilt azimuth is determined. Agreement with an extended Landau theory proposed by Durbin is achieved. Received: 26 January 1998 / Revised: 3 August 1998 / Accepted: 7 August 1998     

Effect of Discharge Voltage on an Ion Sheath Formed at a Grid in a Multi-Dipole Discharge Plasma

It is experimentally demonstrated that a relatively strong ion-rich sheath formed at a fixed negative bias of the grid can be changed to a rather weak ion sheath （sheath potential weakly retards electrons） only by increasing the discharge voltage in the system. At sufficiently high negative grid bias, an increase of discharge voltage enhances the ion collection current at the grid. An explanation is put forward in support of this experimental observation. A slight density enhancement with a fall in plasma electron temperature is also observed with the increasing negative grid bias.     

Correlation between impurities in Fe-Si amorphous layers synthesized by Fe implantation and photoluminescence property of β-FeSi2 precipitates in Si

Completely amorphous Fe-Si layers are formed by Fe implantation into Si substrate at a dosage of 5×10¹⁵ cm⁻² using a metal vapor vacuum arc (MEVVA) ion source under 80 kV extraction voltage and cryogenic temperature. After thermal annealing, β-FeSi₂ precipitates are formed in Si matrix. The influence of impurities in these amorphous Fe-Si layers on the photoluminescence (PL) from β-FeSi₂ precipitates is investigated. PL is found to be significantly enhanced by optimizing the impurity concentration and annealing scheme. After 60 s of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at 900 °C, β-FeSi₂ precipitates in medium boron-doped Si substrate give the strongest PL intensity without boron out-diffusion from them.