What Do We Know about Long Laminar Plasma Jets?

Silent and stable long laminar plasma jets can be generated in a rather wide range of working parameters. The laminar flow state can be maintained even if considerable parameter fluctuations exist in the laminar plasma jet or if there is an impact of laterally injected particulate matter and its carrier gas. The attractive special features of laminar plasma jets include extremely low noise level, less entrainment of ambient air, much longer and adjustable high-temperature region length, and smaller axial gradient of plasma parameters. Modeling results show that the laminar plasma jet length increases with increasing jet inlet velocity or temperature and the effect of natural convection on laminar plasma jet characteristics can be ignored, consistent with experimental observations. The large difference between laminar and turbulent plasma jet characteristics is revealed to be due to their different laws of surrounding gas entrainment. Besides the promising applications of the laminar plasma jet to remelting and cladding strengthening of the metallic surface and to thermal barrier coating preparation, it is expected that the laminar plasma jet can become a rather ideal object for the basic studies of thermal plasma science owing to the nonexistence of the complexity caused by turbulence.

Space-resolved spectral diagnosis of line-shaped laser-produced magnesium plasmas

Space-resolved spectra of line-shaped laser-produced magnesium plasmas in the normal direction of the target have been obtained using a pinhole crystal spectrograph. These spectra are treated by a spectrum analyzing code for obtaining the true spectra and fine structures of overlapped lines. The spatial distributions of electron temperature and density along the normal direction of the target surface have been obtained with different spectral diagnostic techniques. Especially, the electron density plateaus beyond the critical surface in line-shaped magnesium plasmas have been obtained with a fitting technique applied to the Stark-broadened Ly-alpha wings of hydrogenic ions. The difference of plasma parameters between those obtained by different diagnostic techniques is discussed. Other phenomena, such as plasma satellites, population inversion, etc., which are observed in magnesium plasmas, are also presented.

Laser wakefield and self-modulation of driving pulse

A self-consistent theory of plasma response to a single laser beam is proposed. The driving pump is not viewed as invariant during its interaction with the plasmas. Its modulation by the plasmas has an obvious influence on the strength of the wakefield behind the pulse. This suggests that the compression of the low-intensity pulse by the plasmas might be a possible way to excite largae-amplitude wakefield. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.

Ion acceleration in laser-excited plasma wake fields

The dynamics of the plasma ions in the wake fields of short, ultraintense laser pulses in underdense plasmas are investigated analytically and numerically. Owing to the large ion-to-electron mass ratio, the motion of plasma ions in-such wake fields has often been assumed to be neglectable. It is shown that when the laser intensity exceeds 10(20) W/cm(2), the ion motion can no longer be ignored. In this case, ion momentum peaks appear behind the laser pulse, which correspond with the ion density peaks. The laser-excited wake field appears to be effective for ion acceleration, in particular to ions with high-charge numbers. The dependence of ion acceleration on the laser intensity, pulse width, and background plasma density is discussed. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.

Long lifetime plasma channel in air generated by multiple femtosecond laser pulses and an external electrical field

The lifetime of a plasma channel produced by self-guiding intense femtosecond laser pulses in air is largely prolonged by adding a high voltage electrical field in the plasma and by introducing a series of femtosecond laser pulses. An optimal lifetime value is realized through adjusting the delay among these laser pulses. The lifetime of a plasma channel is greatly enhanced to 350 ns by using four sequential intense 100fs( FWHM) laser pulses with an external electrical field of about 350kV/m, which proves the feasibility of prolonging the lifetime of plasma by adding an external electrical field and employing multiple laser pulses. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.

Mechanism initiated by nanoabsorber for UV nanosecond-pulse-driven damage of dielectric coatings

A model of plasma formation induced by UV nanosecond pulselaser interaction with SiO2 thin film based on nanoabsorber is proposed. The model considers the temperature dependence of band gap. The numerical results show that during the process of nanosecond pulsed-laser interaction with SiO2 thin film, foreign inclusion which absorbs a fraction of incident radiation heats the surrounding host material through heat conduction causing the decrease of the band gap and consequently, the transformation of the initial transparent matrix into an absorptive medium around the inclusion, thus facilitates optical damage. Qualitative comparison with experiments is also provided. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.

Single UV excitation of Hoechst 33342 and propidium iodide for viability assessment of rhesus monkey spermatozoa using flow cytometry

Many fluorescent probes excited by visible light have been used to assess sperm quality by flow cytometry. Developing a viability evaluation method using UV excited stains would be useful for multiparameter analysis of sperm function. This investigation was conducted to determine the efficacy of Hoechst 33342 (H342) and propidium iodide (PI) dual staining for evaluating rhesus monkey sperm viability through use of flow cytometry and excited by a single UV laser. The results showed that the live cells stained only with H342 strongly correlated with expected sperm viability, and flow cytometric analyses were highly correlated with fluorescence microscopic observation. Using H342/PI/SYBR-14 triple staining method, it was found that the live/dead sperm distributions were completely concordant in both H342/PI and SYBR-14/PI assays. In addition, this dual staining was extended with fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated peanut agglutinin (FITC-PNA) to simultaneously analyze viability and acrosome integrity of sperm cryopreserved using two different extenders, TTE and TEST, and indicated that TTE offered better Preservation of plasma and acrosome integrity than TEST Therefore, the H342/PI dual staining provides an accurate technique for evaluating viability of rhesus monkey sperm and should be valuable for multiparameter flow cytometric analysis of sperm function.

Circulating immunoglobulin A- and immunoglobulin G-secreting hybridoma cells in peripheral blood preferably migrate to female genital tracts. The role of sex hormones

Antigen-specific circulating immunoglobulin-secreting cells (ISC) migrate to various secondary and tertiary lymphoid tissues. To understand the migration of the cells into the genital tract and its regulation by sex hormones, spleen-derived SG2 hybridoma cells secreting immunoglobulin G2b (IgG2b) and Peyer's patch-derived PA4 hybridoma cells secreting polymer IgA were labelled with (3) H-TdR, and intravenously injected into syngeneic mice of both sexes. Using flow cytometry, surface molecular markers of plasma cells, CD38 and CD138, and adhesion molecules, CD49d, CD162, and CD11a were found to be positive in SG2 and PA4 cells, but CD62L, alpha4beta7 and CD44 were not expressed on these cells. The relative distribution indexes (RDIs) of the cells in genital tract and other tissues were measured. The means of RDIs of SG2 and PA4 cells in female genital tissues were 6.5 and 4.5 times as many as the means in male genital tissues, respectively. The treatment of ovariectomized mice with beta-oestradiol significantly increased the RDIs of PA4 cells in cervix and vagina, but decreased the RDIs of SG2 cells in vagina, horn of uterus, uterus and rectum (P <0.05). Progesterone treatment increased the RDIs of PA4 cells in vagina and rectum (P <0.05). The treatment with testosterone significantly increased the RDIs of SG2 and PA4 cells in epididymis and accessory sex glands (P <0.05). These results demonstrate that the female genital tract is the preferable site for the migration of circulating hybridoma cells to the male genital tract, and sex hormones play an important role in regulation of the migration of circulating ISC to genital tracts.

Sequential ultrastructural and biochemical changes induced in vivo by the hepatotoxic microcystins in liver of the phytoplanktivorous silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix

Up to now, in vivo studies on the toxic effects of microcystins (MCs) on the ultrastructures of fish liver have been very limited. The phytoplanktivorous silver carp was injected i.p. with extracted hepatotoxic microcystins (mainly MC-RR and -LR) at a dose of 1000 mu g MC-LReq. kg(-1) body weight, showing a time-dependent ultrastructural change in liver as well as significant increases in enzyme activity of plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). We observed for the first time the occurrence of a large amount of activated secondary lysosomes, which might be an adaptive mechanism to eliminate or lessen cell damage caused by MCs through lysosome activation. Quantitative and qualitative determinations of MCs in the liver were conducted by HPLC and LC-MS2, respectively. MCs concentration in the liver reached the maximum (114.20 mu g g(-1) dry weight) after 3 h post-injection, and then rapidly dropped to 7.57 mu g g(-1) dry weight at 48 h, indicating a deputation of 99% accumulated MC-LReq. On the other hand, a decrease trend in glutathione (GSH) concentration was observed in the liver of silver carp while the activity of glutathione S-transferase (GST) increased significantly after injection. The high tolerance of silver carp to MCs might be due to the high basic GSH level in their liver, and/or an increased GSH synthesis. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Biomarker responses and reproductive toxicity of the effluent from a Chinese large sewage treatment plant in Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes)

The present study was conducted to assess the potential toxicity of the effluent from a large sewage treatment plant (GBD-STP) in Beijing. Japanese medakas (Oryzias latipes) at reproduction active period were exposed to a serial of graded concentrations of the effluent or 100 ng l(-1) of 17-alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE2, positive control). Growth, gonadosomatic index (GSI), hepatosomatic index (HSI), reproductive success, induction potency of vitellogenin (VTG) in male fish and that of 7-ethoxyresorufin-o-deethylase activity (EROD) in male fish liver were used as test endpoints. The growth suppression of fish was observed in a dose-dependent manner, resulting in significant differences in both body length and body weight of medaka above 5% effluent. This effluent can inhibit the growth of gonad of medakas and are more sensitive to male than to female. At exposure concentration of 40% and higher, there was an unexpected decrease of HSI values, which may be resulted from sub-lethal toxicity of effluent to fish liver. VTG of plasma in males were induced in all exposure concentration levels, but not in a dose-dependent manner. The concentration of 5% effluent would be the lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL) affecting reproductive success when examining fertile individuals, fecundity and fertilization rate. The overt CYP1A response and higher reproductive toxicity may be indicative of low process efficiency of this STP. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization of polymorphous silicon thin film and solar cells

Polymorphous silicon (pm-Si:H) films have been prepared by a new regime of plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition in the region adjacent of phase transition from amorphous to microcrystalline state. Comparing to the conventional amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), the pm-Si:H has higher photoconductivity (sigma(ph)), better stability, and a broader light spectral response range in the longer wavelength range. It can be found from Raman spectra that there is a notable improvement in the medium range order. There are a blue shift for the stretching mode of IR spectra and a red shift for the wagging mode. The shifts are attributed to the variation of the microstructure. By using pm-Si:H film as intrinsic layer, a p-i-n junction solar cell was prepared with the initial efficiency of 8.51% and a stabilized efficiency of 8.01% (AM1.5, 100mw/cm(2)) at room temperature (T-R).

Structural characterization of stable amorphous silicon films

A kind of hydrogenated diphasic, silicon films has been prepared by a new regime of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) in the region adjacent to the phase transition from amorphous to crystalline state. The photoelectronic and microstructural properties of the films have been investigated by the constant photocurrent method (CPM), Raman scattering and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Our experimental results and corresponding analyses showed that the diphasic films, incorporated with a subtle boron compensation, could gain both the fine photosensitivity and high stability, provided the crystalline fraction (f) was controlled in the range of 0 < f < 0.3. When compared with the conventional hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), the diphasic films are more ordered and robust in the microstructure, and have a less clustered phase in the Si-H bond configurations. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Plasma induced damage in GaN-based light emitting diodes - art. no. 68410X

The effects of plasma induced damage in different conditions of ICP and PECVD processes on LEDs were presented. For ICP mesa etch, in an effort to confirm the effects of dry etch damage on the optical properties of p-type GaN, a photoluminescence (PL) measurement was investigated with different rf chuck power. It was founded the PL intensity of the peak decreased with increasing DC bias and the intensity of sample etched at a higher DC bias of -400V is less by two orders of magnitude than that of the as-grown sample. Meanwhile, In the IN curve for the etched samples with different DC biases, the reverse leakage current of higher DC bias sample was obviously degraded than the lower one. In addition, plasma induced damage was also inevitable during the deposition of etch masks and surface passivation films by PECVD. The PL intensity of samples deposited with different powers sharply decreased when the power was excessive. The PL spectra of samples deposited under the fixed condition with the different processing time were measured, indicating the intensity of sample deposited with a lower power did not obviously vary after a long time deposition. A two-layer film was made in order to improve the compactness of sparse dielectric film deposited with a lower power.

Dependence of wet etch rate on deposition, annealing conditions and etchants for PECVD silicon nitride film

The influence of deposition, annealing conditions, and etchants on the wet etch rate of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) silicon nitride thin film is studied. The deposition source gas flow rate and annealing temperature were varied to decrease the etch rate of SiN_x:H by HF solution. A low etch rate was achieved by increasing the SiH_4 gas flow rate or annealing temperature, or decreasing the NH_3 and N_2 gas flow rate. Concen-trated, buffered, and dilute hydrofluoric acid were utilized as etchants for SiO_2 and SiN_x:H. A high etching selectivity of SiO_2 over SiN_x:H was obtained using highly concentrated buffered HF.