Equilibrium K-shell excitation of highly ionized neon

Augerelectron emission from foil-excited Ne-ions (6 to 10 MeV beam energy) has been measured. The beam-foil time-of-flight technique has been applied to study electronic transitions of metastable states (delayed spectra) and to determine their lifetimes. To achieve a line identification for the complex structure observed in the prompt spectrum, the spectrum is separated into its isoelectronic parts by an Augerelectron-ion coincidence correlating the emitted electrons and the emitting projectiles of well defined final charge states q_f. Well resolved spectra were obtained and the lines could be identified using intermediate coupling Dirac-Fock multiconfiguration calculations. From the total KLL-Augerelectron transition probabilities observed in the electronion coincidence experiment for Ne (10 MeV) the amount of projectiles with one K-hole just behind a C-target can be estimated. For foil-excited Ne-projectiles in contrast to single collision results the comparison of transition intensities for individual lines with calculated transition probabilities yields a statistical population of Li- and Be-like configurations.

Calculation of the hyperfine structure transition energy and lifetime in the one-electron Bi^82+ ion

We calculate the energy and lifetime of the ground state hyperfine structure transition in one-electron Bi^82+ . The influence of various distributions of the magnetic moment and the electric charge in the nucleus ^209_83 Bi on energy and lifetime is studied.

Recent experimental results from spectroscopy of superheavy quasiatoms

The concept of a "Superheavy Quasiatom" is discussed. Radiative transition times are compared with the lifetime of the intermediate system, cross sections are calculated within a two-collision model and induced transitions and their anisotropic emission are discussed. Recent experimental and theoretical results are presented from collision systems obtained with I-beams bombarding various heavy targets, giving combined Z-values between 120 and 145. Results include the energy dependence of the peak structure interpreted as M X-rays from superheavy quasiatoms and the anisotropy of X-ray emission referred to the beam direction. The data are discussed within the models available. These cannot explain the streng emission of anisotropic radiation in the X-ray energy range of quasiatomic M X-rays at small bombarding energies.

Excitation of Phonons in Solids and Nanostructures by Intense Laser and XUV Pulses and by Low Energy Atomic Collision

Intensive, ultrakurze Laserpulse regen Festkörper in einen Zustand an, in dem die Elektronen hohe Temperaturen erlangen, während das Gitter kalt bleibt. Die heißen Elektronen beeinflussen das sog. Laser-angeregte interatomare Potential bzw. die Potentialenergiefläche, auf der die Ionen sich bewegen. Dieses kann neben anderen ultrakurzen Prozessen zu Änderungen der Phononfrequenzen (phonon softening oder phonon hardening) führen. Viele ultrakurze strukturelle Phänomene in Festkörpern hängen bei hohen Laseranregungen von Änderungen der Phononfrequenzen bei niedrigeren Anregungen ab. Um die Laser-bedingten Änderungen des Phononenspektrums von Festkörpern beschreiben zu können, haben wir ein auf Temperatur-abhängiger Dichtefunktionaltheorie basierendes Verfahren entwickelt. Die dramatischen Änderungen nach einer Laseranregung in der Potentialenergiefläche werden durch die starke Veränderung der Zustandsdichte und der Besetzungen der Elektronen hervorgerufen. Diese Änderungen in der Zustandsdichte und den Besetzungszahlen können wir mit unserer Methode berechnen, um dann damit das Verhalten der Phononen nach einer Laseranregung zu analysieren. Auf diese Art und Weise studierten wir den Einfluss einer Anregung mit einem intensiven, ultrakurzen Laserpuls auf repräsentative Phonon Eigenmoden in Magnesium, Kupfer und Aluminium. Wir stellten dabei in manchen Gitterschwingungen entweder eine Abnahme (softening) und in anderen eine Zunahme (hardening) der Eigenfrequenz fest. Manche Moden zeigten bei Variation der Laseranregungsstärke sogar beide Verhaltensweisen. Das eine Phonon-Eigenmode ein hardening und softening zeigen kann, wird durch das Vorhandensein von van Hove Singularitäten in der elektronischen Zustandsdichte des betrachteten Materials erklärt. Für diesen Fall stellt unser Verfahren zusammen mit der Sommerfeld-Entwicklung die Eigenschaften der Festkörper Vibrationen in Verbindung mit den Laser induzierten Veränderungen in den elektronischen Besetzungen für verschiedene Phonon-eingefrorene Atomkonfigurationen. Auch die absolute Größe des softening und hardening wurde berechnet. Wir nehmen an, dass unsere Theorie Licht in die Effekte der Laseranregung von verschiedenen Materialien bringt. Außerdem studierten wir mit Hilfe von Dichtefunktionaltheorie die strukturellen Material-Eigenschaften, die durch kurze XUV Pulse induziert werden. Warme dichte Materie in Ultrakurzpuls angeregten Magnesium wurde analysiert und verglichen mit den Ergebnissen bei durch Laser Anregung bedingten Änderungen. Unter Verwendung von elektronischer-Temperatur-abhängiger Dichtefunktionaltheorie wurden die Änderungen in den Bindungseigenschaften von warmen dichten Magnesium studiert. Wir stellten dabei beide Effekte, Verstärkung und Abschwächung von Bindungen, bei jeweils verschiedenen Phonon Eigenmoden von Magnesium auf Grund von der Erzeugung von Rumpflöchern und dem Vorhandensein von heißen Elektronen fest. Die zusätzliche Erzeugung von heißen Elektronen führt zu einer Änderung der Bindungscharakteristik, die der Änderung, die durch die bereits vorhandenen Rumpflöcher hervorgerufen wurde, entgegen wirkt. Die thermischen Eigenschaften von Nanostrukturen sind teilweise sehr wichtig für elektronische Bauteile. Wir studierten hier ebenfalls den Effekt einer einzelnen Graphen Lage auf Kupfer. Dazu untersuchten wir mit Dichtefunktionaltheorie die strukturellen- und Schwingungseigenschaften von Graphen auf einem Kupfer Substrat. Wir zeigen, dass die schwache Wechselwirkung zwischen Graphen und Kupfer die Frequenz der aus der Ebene gerichteten akustischen Phonon Eigenmode anhebt und die Entartung zwischen den aus der Ebene gerichteten akustischen und optischen Phononen im K-Punkt des Graphen Spektrums aufhebt. Zusätzlich führten wir ab initio Berechnungen zur inelastischen Streuung eines Helium Atoms mit Graphen auf einem Kuper(111) Substrat durch. Wir berechneten dazu das Leistungsspektrum, das uns eine Idee über die verschiedenen Gitterschwingungen des Graphene-Kuper(111) Systems gibt, die durch die Kollision des Helium Atom angeregt werden. Wir brachten die Positionen der Peaks im Leistungsspektrum mit den Phonon Eigenfrequenzen, die wir aus den statischen Rechnungen erhalten haben, in Beziehung. Unsere Ergebnisse werden auch verglichen mit den Ergebnissen experimenteller Daten zur Helium Streuung an Graphen-Kupfer(111) Oberflächen.

Gas phase kinetic and quantum chemical studies of the reactions of silylene with the methylsilanes. Absolute rate constants, temperature dependences, RRKM modelling and potential energy surfaces

Time resolved studies of silylene, SiH2, generated by the 193 nm laser. ash photolysis of phenylsilane, have been carried out to obtain rate coefficients for its bimolecular reactions with methyl-, dimethyl- and trimethyl-silanes in the gas phase. The reactions were studied over the pressure range 3 - 100 Torr with SF6 as bath gas and at five temperatures in the range 300 - 625 K. Only slight pressure dependences were found for SiH2 + MeSiH3 ( 485 and 602 K) and for SiH2 + Me2SiH2 ( 600 K). The high pressure rate constants gave the following Arrhenius parameters: [GRAPHICS] These are consistent with fast, near to collision-controlled, association processes. RRKM modelling calculations are consistent with the observed pressure dependences ( and also the lack of them for SiH2 + Me3SiH). Ab initio calculations at both second order perturbation theory (MP2) and coupled cluster (CCSD(T)) levels, showed the presence of weakly-bound complexes along the reaction pathways. In the case of SiH2 + MeSiH3 two complexes, with different geometries, were obtained consistent with earlier studies of SiH2 + SiH4. These complexes were stabilised by methyl substitution in the substrate silane, but all had exceedingly low barriers to rearrangement to product disilanes. Although methyl groups in the substrate silane enhance the intrinsic SiH2 insertion rates, it is doubtful whether the intermediate complexes have a significant effect on the kinetics. A further calculation on the reaction MeSiH + SiH4 shows that the methyl substitution in the silylene should have a much more significant kinetic effect ( as observed in other studies).

Intermediate ion stability and regio selectivity polymerization using neutral salicyladiminato in propene nickel(II) and palladium(II) complexes as catalysts

The mechanism of the Heck reaction has been studied with regard to transition metal catalysis of the addition of propene and the formation of unsaturated polymers. The reactivity of nickel and palladium complexes with five different bidentate ligands with O,N donor atoms has been investigated by computational methods involving density functional theory. Hence, it is possible to understand the electronic and steric factors affecting the reaction and their relative importance in determining the products formed in regard of their control of the regiochemistry of the products. Our results show that whether the initial addition of propene is trans to O or to N of the bidentate ligand is of crucial importance to the subsequent reactions. Thus when the propene is trans to 0, 1,2-insertion is favoured, but when the propene is trans to N, then 2,1-insertion is favoured. This difference in the preferred insertion pathway can be related to the charge distribution engendered in the propene moiety when the complex is formed. Indeed charge effects are important for catalytic activity but also for regioselectivity. Steric effects are shown to be of lesser importance even when t-butyl is introduced into the bidentate ligand as a substituent. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Measuring ion temperatures and studying the ion energy balance in the high-latitude ionosphere

Data are presented for a nighttime ion heating event observed by the EISCAT radar on 16 December 1988. In the experiment, the aspect angle between the radar beam and the geomagnetic field was fixed at 54.7°, which avoids any ambiguity in derived ion temperature caused by anisotropy in the ion velocity distribution function. The data were analyzed with an algorithm which takes account of the non-Maxwellian line-of-sight ion velocity distribution. During the heating event, the derived spectral distortion parameter (D∗) indicated that the distribution function was highly distorted from a Maxwellian form when the ion drift increased to 4 km s−1. The true three-dimensional ion temperature was used in the simplified ion balance equation to compute the ion mass during the heating event. The ion composition was found to change from predominantly O4 to mainly molecular ions. A theoretical analysis of the ion composition, using the MSIS86 model and published values of the chemical rate coefficients, accounts for the order-of-magnitude increase in the atomic/molecular ion ratio during the event, but does not successfully explain the very high proportion of molecular ions that was observed.

Low-energy ion outflows from the ionosphere during a major polar cap expansion — evidence for equatorward motion of inverted-V structures

Data from the Dynamics Explorer 1 satellite and the EISCAT and Sondrestrom incoherent scatter radars, have allowed a study of low-energy ion outflows from the ionosphere into the magnetosphere during a rapid expansion of the polar cap. From the combined radar data, a 200kV increase in cross-cap potential is estimated. The upflowing ions show “X” signatures in the pitch angle-time spectrograms in the expanding midnight sector of the auroral oval. These signatures reveal low-energy (below about 60eV), light-ion beams sandwiched between two regions of ion conics and are associated with inverted-V electron precipitation. The lack of mass dispersion of the poleward edge of the event, despite great differences in the times of flight, reflects the equatorward expansion of the acceleration regions at velocities similar to those of the antisunward convection. In addition, a transient burst of upflow of 0+ is observed within the cap, possibly due to enhanced Joule heating during the event.

Low-energy ion flows into the magnetosphere

Ion flows from the ionosphere into the magnetosphere fall into two main categories: cold (<1eV), “classical” polar wind and heated (>1eV), suprathermal ion outflows. A wealth of new understanding of these outflows has resulted from the Dynamics Explorer Mission. This review describes both the confirmation of the predicted classical polar wind as well as the revelation of a great variety of low-energy suprathermal outflows: the cleft ion fountain, the nightside auroral fountaion (X-events, toroids and field-aligned flows) and polar cap outflows. The main emphasis is placed on flows at energies below about 50eV, observed by the Retarding Ion Mass Spectrometer (RIMS) on board the Dynamics Explorer 1 satellite; limited comparisons are made with results from other instruments which sample different energy ranges.

The geomagnetic mass spectrometer— mass and energy dispersions of ionospheric ion flows into the magnetosphere

NASA's Dynamics Explorer (DE) mission was designed to study the coupling between the Earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere and neutral thermosphere1. One area of major interest is the outflow of ionospheric plasma into the magnetosphere, the scale and significance of which is only now becoming apparent with the advent of mass-resolving, low-energy ion detectors. Here we compare observations of ion flows in the polar magnetosphere, made by the retarding ion mass spectrometer (RIMS)2 on DE1, with those made simultaneously in the topside ionosphere by the ion drift meter (IDM)3 on the lower-altitude DE2 spacecraft. The results show the dayside auroral ionosphere to be a significant and highly persistent source of plasma for the magnetosphere. The upwelling ionospheric ions are spatially dispersed, according to both their energy and mass, by the combined actions of the geomagnetic field and the dawn-to-dusk convection electric field, in an effect analogous to the operation of an ion mass spectrometer.

Electrical, optical, and structural studies of shallow-buried Au-polymethylmethacrylate composite films formed by very low energy ion implantation

The authors present here a summary of their investigations of ultrathin films formed by gold nanoclusters embedded in polymethylmethacrylate polymer. The clusters are formed from the self-organization of subplantated gold ions in the polymer. The source of the low energy ion stream used for the subplantation is a unidirectionally drifting gold plasma created by a magnetically filtered vacuum arc plasma gun. The material properties change according to subplantation dose, including nanocluster sizes and agglomeration state and, consequently also the material electrical behavior and optical activity. They have investigated the composite experimentally and by computer simulation in order to better understand the self-organization and the properties of the material. They present here the results of conductivity measurements and percolation behavior, dynamic TRIM simulations, surface plasmon resonance activity, transmission electron microscopy, small angle x-ray scattering, atomic force microscopy, and scanning tunneling microscopy. (C) 2010 American Vacuum Society [DOI: 10.1116/1.3357287]

Treatment of PVC using an alternative low energy ion bombardment procedure

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Variational fits to the lattice energy of heavy-light mesons

We perform variational calculations of heavy-light meson masses using a fitted formula to a lattice two-quark potential. We examine the light quark mass dependence of the meson mass using the Schrodinger equation and the Dirac equation. For the Dirac equation, a saddle-point variational principle is employed, since the Dirac Hamiltonian is not bound from below.