Investigation of PL properties of C-doped SiO2/Si samples after high energy Pb ion irradiation

Amorphous SiO2 thin films with about 400-500 nm in thickness were thermally grown on single crystalline silicon. These SiO2/Si samples were firstly implanted at room temperature (RT) with 100 keV carbon ions to 2.0 x 10(17),5.0 X 10(17) or 1.2 x 10(18) ions/cm(2), then irradiated at RT by 853 MeV Pb ions to 5.0 x 10(11), 1.0 X.10(12) 2.0 x 10(12) or 5.0 x 10(12) ions/cm(2), respectively. The variation of photoluminescence (PL) properties of these samples was analyzed at RT using a fluorescent spectroscopy. The obtained results showed that Pb-ion irradiations led to significant changes of the PL properties of the carbon ion implanted SiO2 films. For examples, 5.0 x 10(12) Pb-ions/cm(2) irradiation produced huge blue and green light-emitters in 2.0 x 10(17) C-ions/cm(2) implanted samples, which resulted in the appearance of two intense PL peaks at about 2.64 and 2.19 eV. For 5.0 x 10(17) carbon-ions/cm(2) implanted samples, 2.0 x 10(12) Pb-ions/cm(2) irradiation could induce the formation of a strong and wide violet band at about 2.90 eV, whereas 5.0 x 10(12) Pb-ionS/cm(2) irradiation could,create double peaks of light emissions at about 2.23 and 2.83 eV. There is no observable PL peak in the 1.2 x 10(18) carbon-ions/cm(2) implanted samples whether it was irradiated with Pb ions or not. All these results implied that special light emitters could be achieved by using proper ion implantation and irradiation conditions, and it will be very useful for the synthesis of new type Of SiO2-based light-emission materials.

Development of an intermediate energy heavy-ion micro-beam irradiation system

The micro-beam irradiation system, which focuses the beam down to micron order and precisely delivers a predefined number of ions to a predefined spot of micron order, is a powerful tool for radio-biology, radio-biomedicine and micromachining. The Institute of Modern Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences is developing a heavy-ion microbeam irradiation system up to intermediate energy. Based on the intermediate and low energy beam provided by Heavy Ion Research Facility of Lanzhou, the micro-beam system takes the form of the magnetic focusing. The heavy-ion beam is conducted to the basement by a symmetrical achromatic system consisting of two vertical bending magnets and a quadrupole in between. Then a beam spot of micron order is formed by a magnetic triplet quadrupole of very high gradient. The sample can be irradiated either in vacuum or in the air. This system will be the first opening platform capable of providing heavy ion micro-beam, ranging from low (10MeV/u) to intermediate energy (100MeV/u), for irradiation experiment with positioning and counting accuracy. Target material may be biology cell, tissue or other non-biological materials. It will be a help for unveiling the essence of heavy-ion interaction with matter and also a new means for exploring the application of heavy-ion irradiation.

Rotating wheel filter design and optimization for a uniform depth dose distribution in heavy ion therapy

Treatment planning of heavy-ion radiotherapy involves predictive calculation of not only the physical dose but also the biological dose in a patient body. The goal in designing beam-modulating devices for heavy ion therapy is to achieve uniform biological effects across the spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP). To achieve this, a mathematical model of Bragg peak movement is presented. The parameters of this model have been resolved with Monte Carlo method. And a rotating wheel filter is designed basing on the velocity of the Bragg peak movement.

Neutron production at the heavy ion research facility in Lanzhou

In this work, the neutron radiation field at Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL) was investigated. Total neutron yields, spectra and angular distributions in the bombardment of various thick targets by C-12 and O-18 ions with energies up to 75 MeV/u were obtained using the activation method. The neutron dose equivalent rates of 60 MeV/u O-18 on various thick targets at different angles were measured with a modified A-B remmeter. Our results are compared with those of other reports.

Effect of entrance-channel asymmetry on the isospin dependence of nucleon emission in heavy ion collisions

Using the isospin- and momentum-dependent hadronic transport model 1BUU04, we have investigated the influence of the entrance-channel isospin asymmetry on the sensitivity of the pre-equilibrium neutron/proton ratio to symmetry energy in central heavy-ion collisions induced by high-energy radioactive beams. Our analysis and discussion are based on the dynamical simulations of the three isotopic reaction Systems Sn-132+Sn-124, Sn-124+Sn-112 and Sn-112+(112)Su which are of the same total proton number but, different isospin asymmetry. We find that, the kinetic-energy distributions of the pre-equilibrium neutron/proton ratio are quite sensitive to the density-dependence of symmetry energy at incident beam energy E/A = 400 MeV, and the sensitivity increases as the isospin asymmetry of the reaction system increases.

Isospin effects of the Skyrme potential and the momentum dependent interaction at intermediate energy heavy ion collisions

We improve the isospin dependent quantum molecular dynamical model by including isospin effects in the Skyrme potential and the momentum dependent interaction to obtain an isospin dependent Skyrme potential and an isospin dependent momentum interaction. We investigate the isospin effects of Skyrme potential and momentum dependent interaction on the isospin fractionation ratio and the dynamical mechanism in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions. It is found that the isospin dependent Skyrme potential and the isospin dependent momentum interaction produce some important isospin effects in the isospin fractionation ratio

Early effects of carbon-ion irradiation on murine lymphocytes and thymocytes

To estimate the biological risks from space radiation encountered by cosmonauts in outer space, the effects from whole-body exposure to carbon ions or X-rays irradiations at 0, 0.39, 0.55 and 1 Gy at a dose rate of 0.2 Gy/min were investigated in BALB/c mice. The relative thymus and spleen weights were measured at 24 h after exposure, and the cell cycle distribution and percentage of apoptosis of thymocytes and spleen and peripheral blood lymphocytes were determined by flow cytometry. The data showed that exposure to carbon ions delayed cell progression of peripheral blood lymphocytes in S-phase, and delayed thymocytes and spleen lymphocytes in G(0)/G(1)-phase. Apoptosis of thymocytes and peripheral blood lymphocytes induced by carbon ions increased more rapidly with dose than was the case for X-rays. There were some differences between the relative weight loss of the thymus and the spleen with increasing dose of either carbon ions or X-rays. The results obtained provide evidence of dose- and organ-specific differences induced by carbon ions compared to X-rays, with increased apoptosis in peripheral blood lymphocytes and thymocytes, but not spleen lymphocytes. Our data may suggest that further work would be of interest to estimate risk of changes in immune function during particle radiation exposures in space travel. (c) 2007 COSPAR

The influence of carbon ion irradiation on sweet sorghum seeds

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of different doses of 100 MeV/u carbon ions on sweet sorghum seeds in order to improve crop yields and their sugar content. After irradiation, seeds were germinated and grown to 30 days, and others were sown in the field. At the end of harvesting season all planted seeds were picked separately and M2 generations obtained. The differences among the treatments were examined using the RAPID procedure. In the study done by using 38 primers; according to the amplification results, the differences among the various doses treatment were shown.

Preparation and characterization of CdS nanotubes and nanowires by electrochemical synthesis in ion-track templates

CdS nanotubes and nanowires have been synthesized with controlled dimensions by means of template-electrodeposition method in etched ion-track membranes. The diameters of nanotubes and nanowires are between 20 and I 10 nm, and the lengths are up to tens of micrometers. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern investigations demonstrate that CdS nanotubes and nanowires are polycrystalline in nature. The UV-vis absorption spectra of CdS nanotubes and nanowires embedded in polycarbonate (PC) membranes show that the absorption edges of PC films shift towards the shorter wavelength, with decreasing diameters of the deposited nanostructures. The results indicate that nanowires are formed from nanotubes by nanotube-stuffing-growth mechanism.

The coulomb potential energy effect on the intensity of the characteristic lines at highly charged ion incendence on Al surface

The Al atomic characteristic spectral lines were induced by the impact of Ar-40(q+) ions (8 <= q <= 16; kinetic energy 150 keV) on Al surface. The result shows that by Penning impinging and resonant capture, the ion energy is deposited on the Al surface to excite the target atom, which is different from light excitation. Not only are the transitions betweem electronic configurations of the atomic complex excited, but the enhancing tendency of the characteristic spectral line intensity is consistent with the enhancing tendency of the coulomb potential energy of the incident ions with increasing charged states.

Angular dispersion and deflection function for heavy ion elastic scattering

The differential cross sections for elastic scattering products of F-17 on Pb-208 have been measured. The angular dispersion plots of ln(d sigma/d theta) versus theta(2) are obtained from the angular distribution of the elastic scattering differential cross sections. Systematical analysis on the angular dispersion for the available experimental data indicates that there is an angular dispersion turning angle at forward angular range within the grazing angle. This turning angle can be clarified as nuclear rainbow in classical deflection function. The exotic behaviour of the nuclear rainbow angle offers a new probe to investigate the halo and skin phenomena.

Heavy-ion conformal irradiation in the shallow-seated tumor therapy terminal at HIRFL

Basic research related to heavy-ion cancer therapy has been done at the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP), Chinese Academy of Sciences since 1995. Now a plan of clinical trial with heavy ions has been launched at IMP. First, superficially placed tumor treatment with heavy ions is expected in the therapy terminal at the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL), where carbon ion beams with energy up to 100 MeV/u can be supplied. The shallow-seated tumor therapy terminal at HIRFL is equipped with a passive beam delivery system including two orthogonal dipole magnets, which continuously scan pencil beams laterally and generate a broad and uniform irradiation field, a motor-driven energy degrader and a multi-leaf collimator. Two different types of range modulator, ripple filter and ridge filter with which Guassian-shaped physical dose and uniform biological effective dose Bragg peaks can be shaped for therapeutic ion beams respectively, have been designed and manufactured. Therefore, two-dimensional and three-dimensional conformal irradiations to tumors can be performed with the passive beam delivery system at the earlier therapy terminal. Both the conformal irradiation methods have been verified experimentally and carbon-ion conformal irradiations to patients with superficially placed tumors have been carried out at HIRFL since November 2006.

Probing the medium effect and isospin dependence of the in-medium nucleon-nucleon cross section in heavy ion collisions

Probing in-medium nucleon-nucleon (NN) cross section sigma(1)(NN)(alpha) in heavy ion collisions has been investigated by means of the isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics (IQMD) with the isospin- and momentum- dependent interaction (IMDI(tau)). It is found that there are the very obvious medium effect and the sensitive isospin- dependence of nuclear stopping R on the in-medium NN cross section sigma(1)(NN)(alpha) in the nuclear reactions induced by halo-neutron projectile and the same-mass stable projectile. However, R induced by the neutron-halo projectile is obviously lower than that induced by the corresponding stable projectile. In particular, there is a very obvious dependence of R on the medium effect of sigma(1)(NN)(alpha) in the whole beam energy region for the above two kinds of projectiles. Therefore, the comparison between the results of R's in the reactions induced by the neutron-halo projectile and the corresponding same-mass stable projectile is a more favourable probe for extracting the information of sigma(1)(NN)(alpha) because of adding a new judgement.

A high charge state all-permanent magnet ECR ion source for the IMP 320 kV HV platform

A 320 kV high voltage (HV) platform has been constructed at Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) to satisfy the increasing requirements of experimental studies in some heavy ion associated directions. A high charge state all-permanent magnet ECRIS-LAPECR2 has been designed and fabricated to provide intense multiple charge state ion beams (such as 1000 e mu A O6+, 16.7 e mu A Ar14+, 24 e mu A Xe27+, etc.) for the HV platform. LAPECR2 has a dimension of 0 650 mm x 560 mm. The powerful 3D magnetic confinement to the ECR plasma and the optimum designed magnetic field for the operation at 14.5 GHz makes it possible to obtain very good performances from this source. After a brief introduction of the ECRIS and accelerator development at IMP, the conceptual design of LAPECR2 source is presented. The first test results of this all-permanent magnet ECRIS are given in this paper.

Study on the apoptosis and Bcl-2/Bax expression of human hepatoma SMMC-7721 cells after exposure to heavy-ion and X-ray irradiations

This study is aimed at observing the apoptosis and Bcl-2/Bax gene expression of mammalian cells following heavy-ion and X-ray irradiations. Exponentially growing human hepatoma SMMC-7721 cells cultured in vitro were irradiated with a C-12 ion beam of 50 MeV/u (corresponding to a LET value of 44.56 keV/mu m) from Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL) at doses varying from 0 to 3 Gy. The X-ray irradiation (8 MV) was performed in the therapy unit of the General Hospital of the Lanzhou Military Area. Survival fractions of irradiated cells at various doses were measured by means of MTT assay. Apoptotic cells after irradiation were analyzed with fluorescence microscope and flow cytometer (FCM). Immuno-histological assay were applied to detect the expression of Bcl-2/Bax genes in the irradiated cells. The survival fraction of SMMC-7721 cells decreased gradually (vs. control p<0.05) with increasing the dose of the carbon ion beam more obviously than X-ray irradiation, and the carbon ion irradiation efficiently induced cell apoptosis and significantly promoted the expression of Bax gene while Bcl-2 gene expression was restrained. High-LET heavy ion beam would induce cell apoptosis effectively than low-LET X-ray, and the apoptosis rate is correlated with the transcription of Bcl-2/Bax and the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax in human hepatoma SMMC-7721 cells after irradiation to heavy ion beam.