Employing a Cerenkov detector for the thickness measurement of X-rays in a scattering background

The variation in environmental scattering background is a major source of systematic errors in X- ray inspection and measurement systems. As the energy of these photons consisting of environmental scattering background is much lower generally, the Cerenkov detectors having the detection threshold are likely insensitive to them and able to exclude their influence. A thickness measurement experiment is designed to verify the idea by employing a Cerenkov detector and an ionizing chamber for comparison. Furthermore, it is also found that the application of the Cerenkov detectors is helpful to exclude another systematic error from the variation of low energy components in the spectrum incident on the detector volume.     

Simulation of earth background radiation characteristic for satellite borne laser warning system

The earth background radiation is a kind of main background interference for satellite borne laser warning system in the space environment, and it is so necessary that the radiation characteristic be studied. In this paper, the mathematic model of the earth background radiation is established, the input parameters of 6S model are analyzed and set, and the simulation of earth background radiation is carried on aiming at the alarm wavelength 1.315 μm and the waveband 0.9-1.7 μm which is the responsive bandwidth of the detector. The results show that: with the increase of zenith angle, the irradiance from ground reflection increases, but the irradiances of atmospheric path radiation and surface-atmosphere interaction at the satellite level decrease; comparing with other two parts, the irradiance from ground reflection weighs most, and the corresponding percentages for 1.315 μm and 0.9-1.7 μm are 75.89% and 73.99%, respectively. The total irradiance at the satellite level from earth background radiation has exceeded the detection sensitivity of the system (about 1 mW/cm²), which may arouse the false alarm. So, the special technique of background suppression must be studied.     

Segmented HPGe detectors for the search of neutrinoless double beta-decay

Neutrinoless double beta-decay (0vbb-decay) is the most promising approach to distinguish between the possibilities of a Dirac or a Majorana nature of neutrinos. Additionally, a measurement of the half-life of 0vbb-decay can give information on the absolute mass scale of neutrinos. At the moment HPGe detectors yield the most sensitive limits on this Lepton-number violating process. The segmentation of HPGe detectors increases the experimental sensitivity by allowing the reconstruction of event topologies. The successful operation of prototype detectors submerged in cryoliquid demonstrates the viability of this experimental approach.     

Reduzierung des Störstrahlungseinflusses bei der Elementanalyse nach dem (n, γ)-Verfahren mit Neutronengenerator

Bei der Elementanaylse mittels Szintillalionsspektrometrie im Ausgangskanal der (n, γ)-Reaktion tritt ein hoher Linienuntergrund auf. Dieser Untergrund lafit läβt herabsetzen durch Puhung des Neutronengenerators (Plasyna-Pulsung), zweckmäβige Dimensionierung der Meβanordnung und Optimierung des Meβzeilintervalls.     

Review of Fluorescence Suppression Techniques in Raman Spectroscopy

Abstract

Raman spectroscopy is an important and powerful technique for analyzing the chemical composition of biological or nonbiological samples in many fields. A serious challenge frequently encountered in Raman measurements arises from the existence of the concurrent fluorescence background. The fluorescence intensity is normally several orders of magnitude larger than the Raman scattering signal, especially in biological samples. Such fluorescence background must be suppressed in order to obtain accurate Raman spectra. Several different techniques have been explored for this purpose. These techniques could be generally grouped into time-domain, frequency-domain, wavelength-domain, and computational methods in addition to various Raman enhancement techniques and other unconventional methods. This review briefly describes the fundamental principles of each group of methods, reports the most recent advances, and makes comparison across those major categories of techniques in terms of cost and performance in a hope to guide interested readers to select proper methods for specific applications.     

Ideal‐filter capillary electrophoresis: A highly efficient partitioning method for selection of protein binders from oligonucleotide libraries

Selection of affinity ligands for protein targets from oligonucleotide libraries currently involves multiple rounds of alternating steps of partitioning of protein‐bound oligonucleotides (binders) from protein‐unbound oligonucleotides (nonbinders). We have recently introduced ideal‐filter capillary electrophoresis (IFCE) for binder selection in a single step of partitioning. In IFCE, protein‐binder complexes and nonbinders move inside the capillary in the opposite directions, and the efficiency of their partitioning reaches 10⁹, i.e., only one of a billion molecules of nonbinders leaks through IFCE while all binders pass through. The condition of IFCE can be satisfied when the magnitude of the mobility of EOF is smaller than that of the protein‐binder complexes and larger than that of nonbinders. The efficiency of partitioning in IFCE is 10 million times higher than those of solid‐phase‐based methods of partitioning typically used in selection of affinity ligands for protein targets from oligonucleotide libraries. Here, we provide additional details on our justification for IFCE development. We elaborate on electrophoretic aspects of the method and define the theoretical range of EOF mobilities that support IFCE. Based on these theoretical results, we identify an experimental range of background electrolyte's ionic strength that supports IFCE. We also extend our interpretation of the results and discuss in‐depth IFCE's prospective in practical applications and fundamental studies.     

Considerations in the determination of orientational order parameters from X-ray scattering experiments

An assessment of the data processing and analysis methods used to obtain the second- and fourth-rank orientational order parameters of liquid crystals from X-ray scattering experiments has been carried out, using experimental data from four extensively studied alkyl-cyanobiphenyls and calculated data generated from two general types of theoretical orientational distribution function. The application of a background subtraction and two different baseline correction methods to the scattering profiles is assessed, along with three different methods to analyse the processed data. The choice of baseline correction method is shown to have a significant effect: an offset to zero overestimates the order parameters from the experimental and calculated data sets, particularly for lower order parameters arising from broad distributions, whereas an offset to a value estimated from regions of low scattering intensity provides experimental values close to those reported from other experimental techniques. By contrast, the three different analysis methods are shown generally to result in relatively small absolute differences between the order parameters. We outline a straightforward general approach to experimental X-ray scattering data processing and analysis for uniaxial phases that results in order parameters that match well with those reported using other experimental techniques.     

Propagation of Gaussian background vortex beams diffracted at a half-plane screen

Taking the Gaussian background vortex beam with topological charge +2 as a typical example, a closed-form expression for vortex Gaussian beams passing through a half-plane screen is derived and used to study the propagation dynamics of on-axis and off-axis vortex diffracted beams, and to compare with the case of the free-space propagation. It is shown that there may exist many phase singularities or no phase singularity of vortex diffracted Gaussian beams in the diffraction field. Number and position of phase singularities are dependent on the vortex position at the source plane and propagation distance. The creation, motion and annihilation of phase singularities in the diffraction field may appear by varying the vortex position and propagation distance.     

The dynamical mixing of light and pseudoscalar fields

We solve the general problem of mixing of electromagnetic and scalar or pseudoscalar fields coupled by axion-type interactions L _int = g _ϕ ϕε _μναβ F ^μν F ^αβ . The problem depends on several dimensionful scales, including the magnitude and direction of background magnetic field, the pseudoscalar mass, plasma frequency, propagation frequency, wave number, and finally the pseudoscalar coupling. We apply the results to the first consistent calculations of the mixing of light propagating in a background magnetic field of varying directions, which show a great variety of fascinating resonant and polarization effects.