An image system and surface singularity solutions for potential flow past an elliptical cylinder

The Milne-Thomson circle theorem is extended to give a simplegeneral expression for the image system in an elliptical cylinderintroduced into an otherwise specified unbounded potential flowwhich contains no singularities in the region to be occupiedby the ellipse. This image system is used to obtain an expressionfor the corresponding source-sink surface singularity distributionon the ellipse, thus providing new benchmark test cases forsource-sink solutions as obtained numerically by a panel method.Several typical examples are given to illustrate the generaltheoretical approach.     

A simple line shape technique for electron number density diagnostics of helium and helium-seeded plasmas

The results of an experimental study of the He I 447.1 nm line and its forbidden component at high electron number density are presented and compared with profiles calculated using computer simulation method. Michelson interferometer at 632.8 nm was used to measure plasma electron number density in the range (1–7) × 10²³ m^− 3 while electron temperatures for the same experimental conditions in the range of 25 000 K to 35 000 K were determined using several spectroscopic techniques. The agreement of experimental overall line shape with computer simulation results is within 10% of what is well within theoretical and experimental uncertainty. This favorable comparison enabled the development of a simple approximate formula for the evaluation of electron number density from the measurement of wavelength separation between peaks of allowed and forbidden lines. This technique of plasma diagnostics is not sensitive to the presence of self-absorption of strong He I allowed line. The derivation of approximate formula with estimated accuracy of 15% was followed by detailed comparison with other experimental and theoretical data.     

The microscopic investigation of structures of moving flux lines by neutron and muon techniques

We have used a variety of microscopic techniques to reveal the structure and motion of flux line arrangements, when the flux lines in low T _c type II superconductors are caused to move by a transport current. Using small-angle neutron scattering by the flux line lattice (FLL), we are able to demonstrate directly the alignment by motion of the nearest-neighbor FLL direction. This tends to be parallel to the direction of flux line motion, as had been suspected from two-dimensional simulations. We also see the destruction of the ordered FLL by plastic flow and the bending of flux lines. Another technique that our collaboration has employed is the direct measurement of flux line motion, using the ultra-high-resolution spectroscopy of the neutron spin-echo technique to observe the energy change of neutrons diffracted by moving flux lines. The muon spin rotation (μSR) technique gives the distribution of values of magnetic field within the FLL. We have recently succeeded in performing μSR measurements while the FLL is moving. Such measurements give complementary information about the local speed and orientation of the FLL motion. We conclude by discussing the possible application of this technique to thin film superconductors.