Electron Temperatures and Electron Densities in Microwave Helium Discharges with Pressures Higher than 0.1 MPa

We adopted laser Thomson scattering for measuring the electron density and the electron temperature of microwave plasmas produced in helium at the pressures higher than the atmospheric pressure. The electron density decreased while we observed the increase in the electron temperature with the pressure. These are reasonable results by considering the decrease in the reduced electric field, the dominant loss of electrons via three‐body recombination with helium as the third body, and the production of electrons with medium energy via heavy particle collisions at the high gas pressure. The temporal variation of the electron temperature had the rise and the fall time constants of approximately 10 ns. The rapid heating and cooling of the electron temperature are due to the fast energy transfer from electrons to helium because of the high collision frequency in the high‐pressure discharge. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Doubly‐Charged Xe Ions Evidenced by Time Resolved RPA Measurement in the Far Field Plume of a Low‐Power HET

A low power Hall Effect Thruster (HET), based on a permanent magnet circuit, was investigated in the GREMI laboratory facility. The thruster operated in the working range between 50 and 300 W and the previously measured thrust is between 4 and 16 mN for an anodic efficiency respectively between 15% and 27%. The pulsed character of the thruster current is an important feature of this HET. The ion current's bursts are recorded at 30 and 70 cm from the exit plane in the thruster plume and are time‐resolved, which lead to a preliminary analysis of the time of flight (TOF) phenomena. This paper presents a detailed study of these bursts of ion current in the plume. The total ion current is shown to be a superposition of 2 distinct contributions of charged species. In complement, a controlled single current interruption in stable anodic current condition leads to exactly the same features than in oscillating mode. This crucial verification garantees the validity of the time of flight origine of the two distinct contributions. Then, the slower one is the more intense and is proportional to the ion Xe+ current whereas the faster one could be attributed either to doubly‐charged Xe⁺⁺ or to superfast Xe⁺. The work presents a way to determine unambiguously the nature of the fast contribution by recording the Retardated Potential Analyser (RPA) signals at various repelling grid potentials with respect to time. The energy distribution of the 2 wellseparated contributions are reconstructed and confirms the contribution of doubly‐charged xenon ions (Xe⁺⁺) in the plume. This way of RPA collecting data and interpretation presents the main advantage tobe an easy way for the identification of the nature of the charged species in the plume. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Si/Ge/Si异质横向SPiN二极管固态等离子体解析模型

采用横向表面PiN(SPiN)二极管构造的硅基可重构天线具有众多优于传统天线的独特优势, 是实现天线小型化和提升雷达与微波通信系统性能的有效技术途径. 本文提出一种Si/Ge/Si异质横向SPiN二极管, 并基于双极扩散模型与Fletcher型边界条件, 在大注入条件下建立了二极管结电压、电流密度与本征区固态等离子体浓度分布解析模型, 并数值模拟分析了本征区长度、P⁺与N⁺区掺杂浓度、外加电压对所建模型的影响. 结果表明, 固态等离子体浓度随本征区长度的增加下降, 随外加电压的增加而指数上升, 随P⁺与N⁺区掺杂浓度的提高而上升, 电流密度随外加电压的增加而指数上升. 同等条件下, 异质SPiN二极管的固态等离子体浓度相比同质二极管提高近7倍以上. 本文所建模型为硅基可重构天线的设计与应用提供有效的参考.     

流场环境下复杂囊泡的动力学行为

采用非平衡态分子动力学方法研究了二维复杂囊泡在剪切流中的动力学行为. 模拟发现了复杂囊泡经典的翻滚(tumbling)、摇摆(trembling)和坦克履(tank-treading)行为, 还观察到由坦克履行为向平动行为(translating)的转变. 囊泡的平动行为与剪切率大小、复杂囊泡的形状密切相关. 当大囊泡均匀嫁接较多数目的小囊泡后, 其平动方式消失. 该研究有益于加深对囊泡在剪切流场中复杂性行为的理解.     

Decrease of dynamic range of proteins in human plasma by ampholine immobilized polymer microspheres

A novel protein sample pretreatment method based on ampholine immobilized polymer microsphere (ampholine@PM) was developed for the fractionation of intact proteins prior to protein digestion and peptide analysis to reduce the dynamic range of human plasma proteome. After incubation with our prepared ampholine@PM, the captured plasma proteins were successively desorbed by 2 M NaCl, 100 mM glycine-hydrochloric acid, and 30% (v/v) acetonitrile with 0.1% (v/v) trifluoroacetic acid. The SDS-PAGE results showed the protein dynamic range in such three fractions was obviously reduced as compared with the native plasma. On-particle digestion was ultimately performed to release all proteins retained on ampholine@PM. Followed by MuPIT analysis, the number of identified proteins in plasma was improved by 75% after ampholine@PM treatment. Furthermore, the spectral count of 9 high abundance proteins was decreased by 37.6–97.2%, and the identified low abundance protein (<100 ng mL⁻¹) number was increased from 4 to 17. These results demonstrated that the fractionation by ampholine@PM could efficiently decrease the protein dynamic range in abundance, beneficial to achieve the deep coverage identification of human plasma proteome.     

Direct determination of mercury in cosmetic samples by isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry after dissolution with formic acid

A new method was proposed for the accurate determination of mercury in cosmetic samples based on isotopic dilution (ID)-photochemical vapor generation (PVG)-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP MS) measurement. Cosmetic samples were directly dissolved in formic acid solution and subsequently subjected to PVG for the reduction of mercury into vapor species following by ICP MS detection. Therefore, the risks of analyte contamination and loss were avoided. Highly enriched ²⁰¹Hg isotopic spike is added to cosmetics and the isotope ratios of ²⁰¹Hg/²⁰²Hg were measured for the quantitation of mercury. With ID calibration, the influences originating from sample matrixes for the determination of mercury in cosmetic samples have been efficiently eliminated. The effects of several experimental parameters, such as the concentration of the formic acid, and the flow rates of carrier gas and sample were investigated. The method provided good reproducibility and the detection limits were found to be 0.6 pg mL⁻¹. Finally, the developed method was successfully applied for the determination of mercury in six cosmetic samples and a spike test was performed to verify the accuracy of the method.     

Assessing transformation processes of organic contaminants by compound-specific stable isotope analysis

The analysis of variations in stable isotope composition is becoming an essential approach for evaluating enzymatic and abiotic reactions of organic contaminants in soils and aquatic systems. Different, sometimes complementary analytical techniques are currently used and developed to determine stable isotope ratios in individual organic compounds. Anticipating an increasing demand for compound-specific isotope analysis, this survey compiles information for choosing the most promising analytical approach to an isotope-related problem. To this end, we review the principles of instrumentation for compound-specific isotope analysis and show how they can be exploited to assess contaminant transformation processes. Using chlorinated solvents and triazine herbicides as illustrative examples, we discuss how the isotope-sensitive techniques impact the investigation of stable isotope fractionation in environmental chemistry and microbiology.     

高效液相色谱-电感耦合等离子质谱法分析海洋沉积物中有机锡的形态

建立了高效液相色谱-电感耦合等离子质谱(HPLC-ICP-MS)测定海洋沉积物中二丁基锡(DBT)、三丁基锡(TBT)、二苯基锡(DPhT)及三苯基锡(TPhT)的形态分析方法。通过改变流动相组分比例,使4种有机锡达到基线分离。比较不同提取方法对标准参考物质PACA-2中有机锡的提取效率。以V(乙腈)∶V(H2O)∶V(乙酸)=55∶33∶12(含5%三乙胺,pH 3.0)为提取剂时,超声提取效率最高(>91.5%),其加标回收率均大于96%。本方法对DBT,TBT,DPhT和TPhT的检出限分别达到0.7,0.75,0.45和0.4μg/kg。对浓度范围为0.5～100μg/kg有机锡混合标准溶液进行测定,4种有机锡回归系数均大于0.998。利用本方法对几种海洋沉积物样品和海产品中的有机锡进行测定,在部分沉积物样品中检测到了DBT和TBT,部分海产品中测到了少量TBT和TPhT。     

Spectral measurements of inductively coupled and helicon discharge modes of a laboratory argon plasma source

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the effects of several operational parameters in the emission spectra, in the 400-850 nm wavelength region, of a laboratory Argon plasma source. In particular, the emission spectra of the inductively coupled plasma and the Helicon plasma modes of operation were compared. Comparisons of spectra point to a significant increase in the ionization fraction of the plasma for the Helicon mode of operation. The spectral measurements allow one to determine the major trends in the plasma electron density for various parameters such as power delivered to the helical antenna, propellant mass flow rate, and applied external magnetic field intensity.Analysis of a prominent Argon single ion line, at 434.8 nm, points out that the plasma electron density increases linearly with the power delivered to the helical antenna, and that there is an optimum propellant mass flow rate for maximum ionization fraction. Additional analysis of the same line shows that above a minimum applied axial magnetic field intensity, the variation in the magnetic field strength has little effect on the plasma electron density.     

Towards the reduction of matrix effects in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry without compromising detection limits: The use of argon-nitrogen mixed-gas plasma

The multivariate optimization of a mixed-gas plasma was conducted in an attempt to find conditions minimizing matrix effects without sacrificing the detection limits that are observed with an all argon plasma optimized for maximum sensitivity in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Compared to the latter, where 49.1 ± 7.1% (n = 17) analyte signal suppression resulted in the presence of 0.1 M Na, 3.8 ± 3.2% suppression (and 2.8 ± 2.1% enhancement in some cases) was observed in the optimized mixed-gas plasma with 0.13% v/v N₂ in the plasma gas and 0.11% in the central channel as a sheath gas around the nebulizer gas flow. Furthermore, improved detection limits were observed for Al, Co, Pd, and V with the optimized mixed-gas plasma compared to an argon plasma at maximum sensitivity. The robustness of this mixed-gas plasma was further demonstrated through the accurate determination of U and Mo in NASS-5 seawater certified reference material using a simple external calibration, without matrix-matching or internal standardization. Indeed, the result obtained for Mo (9.1 ± 1.9 μg/L) was within the 95% confidence interval of the certified value of 9.6 ± 1.0 μg/L, while that obtained for U (3.0 ± 0.2 μg/L) was close to the information value of 2.6 μg/L. Spatial profiling results suggest better energy transfer between the toroidal zone and the central channel in the mixed-gas plasma.