Hydrogen analysis in solid samples by utilizing He metastable atoms induced by TEA CO2 laser plasma in He gas at 1 atm

A TEA CO₂ laser (350 mJ–1.5 J, 10.6 μm, 200 ns, 10 Hz) was focused onto a metal sub-target under He as host gas at 1 atmospheric pressure with a small amount of impurity gas, such as water and ethanol vapors. It was found that the TEA CO₂ laser with the help of the metal sub-target is favorable for generating a strong, large volume helium gas breakdown plasma at 1 atmospheric pressure, in which the helium metastable-excited state was then produced overwhelmingly. While the metal sub-target itself was never ablated. The helium metastable-excited state produced after the strong helium gas breakdown plasma was considered to play an important role in exciting the atoms. This was confirmed by the specific characteristics of the detected H emission, namely the strong intensity with low background, narrow spectral width, and the long lifetime. This technique can be used for gas and solid samples analysis. For nonmetal solid analysis, a metal mesh was introduced in front of the nonmetal sample surface to help initiation of the helium gas breakdown plasma. For metal sample, analysis can be carried out by combining the TEA CO₂ laser and an Nd–YAG laser where the Nd–YAG laser is used to ablate the metal sample. The ablated atoms from the metal sample are then sent into the region of helium gas breakdown plasma induced by the TEA CO₂ laser to be excited through the helium metastable-excited state. This technique can be extended to the analysis of other elements, not limited only to hydrogen, such as halogens.     

Investigation of the detection limit for the determination,by pyrolysis-capillary GC,of the thickness of ultra thin PMMA layers coated on to PET film

The determination of nanometer thick layers of poly(methyl methacrylate) coated on to the surface of poly(ethylene terephthalate) film has been investigated by high resolution pyrolysis gas chromatography without sample pretreatment or modification of the instrumentation used. A good linear relationship was observed between the quantity of the characteristic pyrolysate and the thickness of the poly(methyl methacrylate) layer; the detection limit was sufficient to enable the quantitation of poly(methyl methacrylate)-to-poly(ethylene terephthalate) film thickness ratios of 1:20000 in composite materials.     

Nature of the active component in the catalytic system prepared from titanium(III) chloride(AA), ethylaluminum dichloride,and tetrakis(dimethylamino)silane,in the polymerization of propylene

The chemistry of the titanium(III) chloride(AA)–ethylaluminum dichloride–tetrakis-(dimethylamino)silane system for the polymerization of propylene was studied. A complex of ethylaluminum dichloride with tetrakis(dimethylamino)silane was isolated. It was shown that this complex contains ethylaluminum dichloride and tetrakis(dimethylamino)silane in the ratio of 2:1. This complex with titanium(III) chloride is responsible for the polymerization activity.     

Color removal method considering perceived lightness

Optical Review - A novel color removal method for digital color images is proposed. In this method, differences of colors in an input color image are reflected effectively, and the perceived...     

Integration of a piezoelectric transformer and an ultrasonic motor

Ultrasonic motors are usually operated at an AC voltage higher than a regular battery. This implies the need of a voltage step-up transformer. In this paper, we report the integration of a piezoelectric transformer (PT) with an ultrasonic motor and a simple drive circuit. The stator of the ultrasonic motor and the PT were operated in the same radial vibration mode. Their dimensions were very close to each other yielding nearly matching resonance frequencies. Consequently, they could be combined together without inductor. The drive circuit was designed by using a 555 timer as an astable multivibrator, and high-speed dual MOSFET drivers as a class D half-bridge switching amplifier. This integrated PT-ultrasonic motor performed reasonably without the use of electromagnetic transformer or inductor.     

Mechanism of photoinduced changes in the structure and optical properties of amorphous As2S3

We propose a mechanism of photostructural changes in amorphous As2S3 ( a-As2S3) on the basis of ab initio molecular orbital calculations on clusters of atoms modeling the local structure of the amorphous system. We have found that trigonal AsS3 pyramidal units can be transformed into a fivefold coordinated As site having four As-S bonds and one As-As bond via a photoionization process. This photoinduced coordination defect center exhibits a lower photoabsorption energy as compared with the usual pyramidal structure, explaining the observed photodarkening effect of a-As2S3.