Charged particles produced by corona emission from an overhead high voltage powerline

High voltage powerlines may give rise to corona breakdown, resulting in the release of large concentrations of charged ions into the surrounding environment. These ions quickly attach to aerosols and the resulting charged particles are carried by prevalent winds. This paper describes a study carried out at a site near an overhead double circuit ac transmission voltage powerline to investigate factors that control the rate at which charged particles are produced, and to determine the total particle number concentrations, total particle charge concentrations and vertical dc electric fields in the proximity of the line. Measured mean values of these three parameters at a perpendicular distance of 50m from the line were 1.8 x 103 particle cm-3, 518 ions cm3 and 520 V m-1 respectively. The net electric charge was positive and the electric field was directed downwards. These parameters were correlated with each other and monitored at four different distances from the line. Effects of meteorological parameters such as wind speed and wind direction were also investigated.

Free energy calculations of glycosaminoglycan - Protein interactions

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are complex highly charged linear polysaccharides that have a variety of roles in biological processes. We report the first use of molecular dynamics (MD) free energy calculations using the MM/PBSA method to investigate the binding of GAGs to protein molecules, namely the platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule 1 (PECAM-1) and annexin A2. Calculations of the free energy of the binding of heparin fragments of different sizes reveal the existence of a region of low GAG-binding affinity in domains 5-6 of PECAM-1 and a region of high affinity in domains 2-3, consistent with experimental data and ligand-protein docking studies. A conformational hinge movement between domains 2 and 3 was observed, which allows the binding of heparin fragments of increasing size (pentasaccharides to octasaccharides) with an increasingly higher binding affinity. Similar simulations of the binding of a heparin fragment to annexin A2 reveal the optimization of electrostatic and hydrogen bonding interactions with the protein and protein-bound calcium ions. In general, these free energy calculations reveal that the binding of heparin to protein surfaces is dominated by strong electrostatic interactions for longer fragments, with equally important contributions from van der Waals interactions and vibrational entropy changes, against a large unfavorable desolvation penalty due to the high charge density of these molecules.

Electrocatalytic activity of transition metal substituted heteropolytungstates

The electrochemical and electrocatalytic behavior of a series of heteropolytungstate anions in which a tungsten atom in the well known Keggin structure has been replaced by an iron atom is described. All of the iron substituted ions exhibit a one electron reversible couple associated with the Fe³⁺ center and a pair of two electron waves attributed to electron addition and removal from the tungsten oxo framework. The pH and ionic strength effects upon the various electrochemical processes are discussed and interpreted in terms of a competition between protonation and ion pairing of the highly negatively charged ions.

The anions are efficient catalysts for the electroreduction of hydrogen peroxide. A catalytic mechanism involving a formally Fe(IV) intermediate is proposed. Pulse radiolysis experiments were employed to detect the intermediate and evaluate the rate constants for the reactions in which it is formed and decomposed. A chain mechanism for the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in which the Fe center shuttles between the +2, +3, and +4 oxidation states is proposed to explain the non-integral stoichiometry observed for the iron substituted polytungstate catalyzed electroreduction of hydrogen peroxide.

The anions are also efficient electrocatalyst for the electrochemical conversion of nitric oxide to ammonia. The catalyzed reduction does not produce hydroxylamine as an intermediate and appears to depend upon the ability of the multiply reduced heteropolytungstates to deliver several electrons to the bound NO group in a concerted step. A valuable feature of the heteropolytungstates is the ease at which the formal potentials of the several redox couples they exhibit may be shifted by changing the identity of the central heteroatom. Exploitation of this feature provided diagnostic information that was decisive in establishing the mechanism of electrocatalytic reduction.

The iron substituted heteropolytungstates are not degraded by repeated cycling between their oxidized and reduced states. They also show superior activity compared to their unsubstituted analogues, indicating that the Fe center acts as a binding site that facilitates inner-sphere electron transfer processes. The basic electrochemistry of several other transition metal substituted Keggin ions is also described.

高电荷态离子126Xeq+引起GaN表面形貌变化研究

用不同电荷态的126Xeq+离子（9≤q≤30）在室温下轰击GaN晶体表面，经原子力显微镜分析表明，当q>18，辐照区域由隆起转为显著的刻蚀.被轰击后的GaN晶体表面形貌主要取决于入射离子的电荷态.同时，样品表面形貌还与入射离子的剂量和入射角有关；在实验参数范围，与入射离子的初动能没有明显关系（180 keV≤Ek≤600 keV）.当入射离子的电荷态q=18，与样品表面法线成60°角倾斜入射和垂直表面入射时，样品的表面几乎没有变化，只是倾斜入射后有很微小的隆起；当q＜18时，样品表面膨胀隆起，粗糙度增强，倾斜入射时表面隆起比垂直入射时更明显，而且都有清晰的峰状分界区；当q＞18时，样品表面被蚀刻呈凹陷状，有明显的齿状刻痕，且侵蚀深度与离子剂量近似呈线性关系，倾斜入射时的刻蚀深度大于垂直入射时的刻蚀深度.

X-ray spectra produced by interaction of Ar16+ and Ar17+ with Zr

The 10-20 qkeV Ar16+ and Ar17+ ions produced by SECRAL enter on metallic surface of Zr. In this interaction, the multi-electron excitation possibly occurred in the neutralization of the highly charged Ar16+ ions, which produced vacancy in the K shell. Electron of the high n state de-excited to K vacancy gives off X-ray. The experimental results show that X-ray intensities for the Ar hollow atom decrease with increase of incidence energy, and L beta X-ray intensities of target atom Zr increase with increasing incidence energy. K alpha X-ray yield per ion for Ar17+ was five orders of magnitude greater than that for Ar16+

X-ray spectroscopy of hollow argon atoms formed on a beryllium surface

The X-rays induced during interaction of highly charged argon ions with a beryllium surface are reported. It is found that the K shell X-ray yield of single particle during interaction of hydrogen-like argon ions was 3.6 x 10(-3), which is five orders more than that of heliumlike argon ions. Moreover, due to the screening the 2s electron, no K X-ray was emitted during interaction of lithium-like argon ions with the beryllium surface. It is also found that the X-ray spectrum induced by Ar17+ interacting with residual gases is very different from that induced by Ar17+ interacting with the surfaces, that provided an experimental evidence for the existence of the hollow atoms below the surface.

OVERVIEW ON THE HIRFL-CSR FACILITY

The status of the HIRFL (Heavy Ion Facility in Lanzhou) - Cooler Storage Ring (CSR) at the IMP is reported. The main physics goals at the HIRFL-CSR are the researches on nuclear structure and decay property, EOS of nuclear matter, hadron physics, highly charged atomic physics, high energy density physics, nuclear astrophysics, and applications for cancer therapy, space industries, materials and biology sciences. The HIRFL-CSR is the first ion cooler-storage-ring system in China, which consists of a main ring (CSRm), an experimental ring (CSRe) and a radioactive beamline (RIBLL2). The two existing cyclotrons SFC (K=70) and SSC (K=450) are used as its injectors. The 7MeV/u12C6+ ions were stored successfully in CSRm with the stripping injection in January 2006. After that, realized were the accelerations of C-12(6+), Ar-36(18+), Kr-78(28+) and Xe-129(27+) ions with energies of 1GeV/u, 1GeV/u, 450 MeV/u and 235 MeV/u, respectively, including accumulation, electron cooling and acceleration. In 2008, the first two isochronous mass measurement experiments with the primary beams of Ar-36(18+) and Kr-78(28+) were performed at CSRe with the Delta p/p similar to 10(-5).

TIME-DEPENDENT DENSITY FUNCTIONAL STUDY OF MULTIELECTRON TRANSFER IN Cq+-Na-4 COLLISIONS

The process of multielectron transfer from a Na-4 cluster induced by highly charged C6+, C4+, C2+ and C+ ions is studied using the method of time-dependent density functional theory within the local density approximation combined with the use of pseudopotential. The evolution of dipole moment changes and emitted electrons in Na-4 isobtained and the time-dependent probabilities with various charges are deduced. It is shown that the Na-4 cluster is strongly ionized by C6+ and that the number of emitted electrons per atom of Na-4 is larger than that of Na-2 under the same condition. One can find that the detailed information of the emitted electrons from Na-4 is different from the same from Na-2, which is possibly related to the difference in structure between the two clusters.

Some Superconducting Magnets at IMP

Some superconducting magnets research at IMP (Institute of Modern Physics, CAS, Lanzhou) will be described in this paper. Firstly, a superconducting electron cyclotron resonance ion source (SECRAL) was successfully built to produce intense beams of highly charged heavy ions for Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL). An innovation design of SECRAL is that the three axial solenoid coils are located inside of a sextupole bore in order to reduce the interaction forces between the sextupole coils and the solenoid coils. For 28 GHz operation, the magnet assembly can produce peak mirror fields on axis of 3.6 T at injection, 2.2 T at extraction, and a radial sextupole field of 2.0 T at plasma chamber wall. Some excellent results of ion beam intensity have been produced and SECRAL has been put into operation to provide highly charged ion beams for HIRFL since May 2007. Secondly, a super-ferric dipole prototype of FAIR Super-FRS is being built by FCG (FAIR China Group) in cooperation with GSI. Its superconducting coils and cryostat is made and tested in the Institute of Plasma Physics (IPP, Hefei), and it more 50 tons laminated yoke was made in IMP. This super-ferric dipole static magnetic field was measured in IMP, it reach to the design requirement, ramping field and other tests will be done in the future. Thirdly, a 3 T superconducting homogenous magnetic field solenoid with a 70 mm warm bore has been developed to calibrate Hall sensor, some testing results is reported. And a penning trap system called LPT (Lanzhou Penning Trap) is now being developed for precise mass measurements.

高电荷态238Uq+在碳膜中电荷平衡时间的研究

离子通过物质过程中与靶原子发生碰撞，碰撞中大量电子被俘获和电离。当电子俘获截面与电离截面达到平衡时，出射离子的电荷态分布达到一个平衡的分布，这个分布与入射离子的核电荷数、速度、壳层结构以及靶材料的性质有关。研究离子通过物质后的电荷态分布和电荷平衡时间对于研究高电荷态离子穿越物质层时的电荷转换及平衡过程具有重要意义。 本文论述了能量为0.8 MeV/u 238Uq+离子通过不同厚度碳膜后的电荷态分布，并对铀离子在碳膜中的电荷平衡时间进行了研究。 实验中束流采用兰州重离子加速器国家重点实验室（HIRFL）首次加速出的能量为0.8 MeV/u 238U26+离子束。本实验是首次在兰州放射性次级束流线（RIBLL）实验终端进行，采用的实验方法新颖。为了研究不同初始电荷态的铀离子通过不同厚度碳膜后的电荷态分布，实验中采取让初级束流 238U26+通过0.1µm厚度碳膜后形成一个电荷态分布，通过调节二极磁铁的控制电流从中选择某一电荷态轰击碳靶，进行电荷态分布研究。 实验对0.8 MeV/u 238Uq+(q=26，29，34，39)通过不同厚度碳膜（5µg/cm2，15µg/cm2，26µg/cm2和225µg/cm2）后的电荷态分布进行了研究。结果发现：能量为0.8 MeV/u的铀离子通过5µg/cm2厚度碳膜后，出射铀离子的电荷态分布未达到平衡；同样铀离子通过15µg/cm2厚度碳膜后，出射铀离子的电荷态分布已达到平衡，平衡平均电荷态为33.72+；由此通过计算得到铀离子在碳膜中的电荷平衡时间为1/3×5.4fs<=t<=5.4fs

高电荷态氩离子与原子碰撞中的多电子转移过程研究

本工作建立起了符合关联测量实验装置，包括反冲离子飞行时间谱仪、散射离子位置灵敏探测器、差分拉瓦型气体喷嘴、基于微机的多参数数据获取系统以及数据分析和处理程序。在入射离子能量在80KeV～240KeV范围内，利用该装置系统研究了Arq++He，Arq++Ne和Arq++Ar（q=8，9，11，12）碰撞体系中的多电子转移规律，实验鉴别了反应中发生的各种多电子转移过程，测量了反应截面，获得了一批新的实验数据。 对于Arq++He碰撞体系，本工作主要研究了He原子的转移电离相对截面与入射离子能量和电荷态的规律，发现相对截面在所研究能区基本与入射离子能量无关，并利用核间势垒和复合分子的经典图象，描述了此碰撞体系转移电离过程发生的两种可能途径，估计了相对截面的经典上限，发现在此碰撞体系中，转移电离过程中电子关联作用起着重要的作用。 本工作系统研究了Arq++He和Arq++Ar碰撞体系中多电子转移反应截面与入射离子能量、电荷态和反冲离子电荷态的变化规律，以及反冲离子电荷态分布。研究发现，在低能高电荷态离子与多电子靶原子碰撞反应中，碰撞系统的相对运动动能对碰撞体系中的电子转移过程基本没有贡献；系统所具有的势能是碰撞体系中电子转移和靶原子电离的主要因素；在相同的入射离子条件下，靶原子电离能对电子转移有重要影响；碰撞反应中单电子过程占主要地位，而在多电子转移过程中，转移电离过程发生的几率一般大于纯的多电子俘获几率；入射离子单电子俘获截面、总电荷交换截面与入射离子电荷态成正比关系；入射离子电荷交换截面随离子俘获电子数目的增加而单调减小；入射离子俘获一个电子时，转移电离截面随反冲离子电荷态的升高而单调下降，而入射离子俘获电子数多于一个时，转移电离截面存在极大值分布现象，而且分布宽度随入射离子电荷态的升高具有增加的趋势。 本工作在分析实验现象和分子经典库仑过垒模型MCBM的基础上，提出基于MCBM描述，把高电荷态离子与原子碰撞反应中的电子转移过程分为四阶段描述的新想法，即：入射过程中的分子化→复合分子形成→复合分子解离和中间态离子的形成→多电子激发态散射离子和靶离子向末态的自电离衰变。并依据能量守恒原理，规范了处理多电子激发态离子发生自电离衰变的规则。在此基础上，对Arq++He和Arq++Ar碰撞体系中的电子转移截面进行了理论计算，通过与实验结果的对比研究发现，对在中间态形成的多电子激发态散射离子，根据这些规则进行自电离衰变修正后计算得到的结果与实验符合很好，因此，对多电子激发态离子的自电离修正是合理的，而且多电子激发态离子的自电离衰变是低能高电荷态离子与原子碰撞反应中转移电离过程发生的主要因素。

Electronic structures of 3d-metal mononitrides

Bond distances, vibrational frequencies, electron affinities, ionization potentials, and dissociation energies of the title molecules in neutral, positively, and negatively charged ions were studied by use of density functional methods B3LYP, BLYP, BHLYP, BPW91, and B3PW91. The calculated results are compared with experiments and previous theoretical studies. It was found that the calculated properties are highly dependent on the functionals employed, in particular for the dissociation energy and vibrational frequency. For neutral species, pure density functional methods BLYP and BPW91 have relatively good performance in reproducing the experimental bond distance and vibrational frequency. For cations, hybrid exchange functional methods B3LYP and B3PW91 are good in predicting the dissociation energy. For both neutral and charged species, BHLYP tends to give smaller dissociation energy.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometric analysis of phospholipase A(2) and fibrinolytic enzyme, two enzymes obtained from Chinese Agkistrodon blomhoffii Ussurensis venom

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS) was used to analyze two enzymes, phospholipase AZ and fibrinolytic enzyme isolated from Chinese Agkistrodon blomhoffii Ussurensis venom. Using sinapinic acid as the matrix, positive ion mass spectra of the enzymes were obtained, In addition to the dominant protein [M+H](+) ions, multimeric and multiply charged ions were also observed in the mass spectra, The higher the concentration of the enzymes, the more multiply charged polymer and multimeric ions were detected, Our results indicate that MALDI-TOFMS can provide a rapid and accurate method for molecular weight determination of snake venom enzymes, Mass accuracies of 0.1 and 0.3 % were achieved by analysis of highly dialyzed phospholipase A2 and fibrinolytic enzyme, and these results are much better than those obtained using sodium dodecyl sulfate-palyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. MALDI-TOFMS thus provides a reliable method to determine the purity and molecular weight of these enzymes, which are of potential use as therapeutants, Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

On the adsorption of hexaammineruthenium (III) at anionic self-assembled monolayers

The binding of the electroactive hexaammineruthenium (III) complex ions to anionic self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) has been investigated by means of chronocoulometry and ac voltammetry. From chronocoulometric data recorded in 10-2 M LiClO4 containing different [Ru(NH3)6]3+ concentrations, we have established the adsorption isotherm of [Ru(NH3)6]3+ on a compact monolayer of 2-mercaptobenzimidazole-5-sulfonate (MBIS) self-assembled on Au(1 1 1). The data were satisfactorily fitted to the linearized Langmuir adsorption isotherm and a binding constant of 4.0 (±0.4) × 106 M-1 has been determined. The electrostatic binding of [Ru(NH3)6]3+ to a dilute PNA-DNA monolayer formed after hybridization on a PNA-modified gold electrode by self-assembly from a mixed solution of mercaptobutan-1-ol and PNA oligonucleotides has been studied by ac voltammetry. The admittance of the PNA-modified electrode after hybridization with complementary DNA was measured in 0.01 M Tris-HCl buffer containing different [Ru(NH3)6]3+ concentrations. Based on these data, a binding constant of [Ru(NH3)6]3+ to the surface-confined PNA-DNA duplex was derived from the Langmuir isotherm and amounts to 2.9 (±0.3) × 105 M-1. As the interactions between [Ru(NH3)6]3+ and the immobilized PNA-DNA hybrids on the gold surface are essentially electrostatic, the adsorption of the highly charged cationic redox complex at low concentrations to the negatively charged PNA-DNA modified surface is in large competition with other monovalent cations present in the electrolyte at higher concentrations. The influence of competing sodium cations was thus studied by adding different NaCl concentrations in the 0.01 M Tris-HCl electrolyte. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Damage to plasmid DNA induced by low energy carbon ions

The damage induced in supercoiled plasmid DNA molecules by 1-6 keV carbon ions has been investigated as a function of ion exposure, energy and charge state. The production of short linear fragments through multiple double strand breaks has been demonstrated and exponential exposure responses for each of the topoisomers have been found. The cross section for the loss of supercoiling was calculated to be (2.2 +/- 0.5) x 10(-14) cm(2) for 2 keVC(+) ions. For singly charged carbon ions, increased damage was observed with increasing ion energy. In the case of 2 keV doubly charged ions, the damage was greater than for singly charged ions of the same energy. These observations demonstrate that ion induced damage is a function of both the kinetic and potential energies of the ion.