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.

Structure of the earth's core and lowermost mantle from seismic PKP waves

This thesis addresses the fine structure, both radial and lateral, of compressional wave velocity and attenuation of the Earth's core and the lowermost mantle using waveforms, differential travel times and amplitudes of PKP waves, which penetrate the Earth's core.

The structure near the inner core boundary (ICB) is studied by analyzing waveforms of a regional sample. The waveform modeling approach is demonstrated to be an effective tool for constrainning the ICB structure. The best model features a sharp velocity jump of 0.78km/s at the ICB and a low velocity gradient at the lowermost outer core (indicating possible inhomogeneity) and high attenuation at the top of the inner core.

A spherically symmetric P-wave model of the core, is proposed from PKP differential times, waveforms and amplitudes. The ICB remains sharp with a velocity jump of 0. 78km/ s. A very low velocity gradient at the base of the fluid core is demonstrated to be a robust feature, indicating inhomogeneity is practically inevitable. The model also indicates that the attenuation in the inner core decreases with depth. The velocity at D" is smaller than PREM.

The inner core is confirmed to be very anisotropic, possessing a cylindrical symmetry around the Earth spin axis with the N-S direction 3% faster than the E-W direction. All of the N-S rays through the inner core were found to be faster than the E-W rays by 1.5 to 3.5s. Exhaustive data selection and efforts in insolating contributions from the region above ensure that this is an inner core feature.

The anisotropy at the very top of the inner core is found to be distinctly different from the deeper part. The top 60km of the inner core is not anisotropic. From 60km to 150km, there appears to be a transition from isotropy to anisotropy.

PKP differential travel times are used to study the P velocity structure in D". Systematic regional variations of up to 2s in AB-DF times were observed, attributed primarily to heterogeneities in the lower 500km of the mantle. However, direct comparisons with tomographic models are not successful.

Dynamics of cell–matrix mechanical interactions in three dimensions

The forces cells apply to their surroundings control biological processes such as growth, adhesion, development, and migration. In the past 20 years, a number of experimental techniques have been developed to measure such cell tractions. These approaches have primarily measured the tractions applied by cells to synthetic two-dimensional substrates, which do not mimic in vivo conditions for most cell types. Many cell types live in a fibrous three-dimensional (3D) matrix environment. While studying cell behavior in such 3D matrices will provide valuable insights for the mechanobiology and tissue engineering communities, no experimental approaches have yet measured cell tractions in a fibrous 3D matrix.

This thesis describes the development and application of an experimental technique for quantifying cellular forces in a natural 3D matrix. Cells and their surrounding matrix are imaged in three dimensions with high speed confocal microscopy. The cell-induced matrix displacements are computed from the 3D image volumes using digital volume correlation. The strain tensor in the 3D matrix is computed by differentiating the displacements, and the stress tensor is computed by applying a constitutive law. Finally, tractions applied by the cells to the matrix are computed directly from the stress tensor.

The 3D traction measurement approach is used to investigate how cells mechanically interact with the matrix in biologically relevant processes such as division and invasion. During division, a single mother cell undergoes a drastic morphological change to split into two daughter cells. In a 3D matrix, dividing cells apply tensile force to the matrix through thin, persistent extensions that in turn direct the orientation and location of the daughter cells. Cell invasion into a 3D matrix is the first step required for cell migration in three dimensions. During invasion, cells initially apply minimal tractions to the matrix as they extend thin protrusions into the matrix fiber network. The invading cells anchor themselves to the matrix using these protrusions, and subsequently pull on the matrix to propel themselves forward.

Lastly, this thesis describes a constitutive model for the 3D fibrous matrix that uses a finite element (FE) approach. The FE model simulates the fibrous microstructure of the matrix and matches the cell-induced matrix displacements observed experimentally using digital volume correlation. The model is applied to predict how cells mechanically sense one another in a 3D matrix. It is found that cell-induced matrix displacements localize along linear paths. These linear paths propagate over a long range through the fibrous matrix, and provide a mechanism for cell-cell signaling and mechanosensing. The FE model developed here has the potential to reveal the effects of matrix density, inhomogeneity, and anisotropy in signaling cell behavior through mechanotransduction.

Surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering spectroscopy of single R6G molecules

Surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS) of Rhodamine 6G (R6G) adsorbed on colloidal silver clusters has been studied. Based on the great enhancement of the Raman signal and the quench of the fluorescence, the SERRS spectra of R6G were recorded for the samples of dye colloidal solution with different concentrations. Spectral inhomogeneity behaviours from single molecules in the dried sample films were observed with complementary evidences, such as spectral polarization, spectral diffusion, intensity fluctuation of vibrational lines and even "breathing" of the molecules. Sequential spectra observed from a liquid sample with an average of 0.3 dye molecules in the probed volume exhibited the expected Poisson distribution for actually measuring 0, 1 or 2 molecules. Difference between the SERRS spectra of R6G excited by linearly and circularly polarized light were experimentally measured.

Electromagnetic scattering from cylindrically and spherically stratified bodies

A method is developed for calculating the electromagnetic field scattered by certain types of bodies. The bodies consist of inhomogeneous media whose constitutive parameters vary only with the distance from some axis or point of symmetry. The method consists in an extension of the invariant imbedding method for treating wave problems. This method, which is familiar in the case of a one-dimensional inhomogeneity, is extended to handle special types of two and three-dimensional inhomogeneities. Comparisons are made with other methods which have been proposed for treating these kinds of problems. Examples of applications of the method are given, some of which are of interest in themselves.

Thermodynamic and kinetic behavior of an argon plasma jet. Decomposition of nitric oxide between 1300 - 1750 degrees K in an argon plasma

In the first part of the study, an RF coupled, atmospheric pressure, laminar plasma jet of argon was investigated for thermodynamic equilibrium and some rate processes.

Improved values of transition probabilities for 17 lines of argon I were developed from known values for 7 lines. The effect of inhomogeneity of the source was pointed out.

The temperatures, T, and the electron densities, n_e , were determined spectroscopically from the population densities of the higher excited states assuming the Saha-Boltzmann relationship to be valid for these states. The axial velocities, v_z, were measured by tracing the paths of particles of boron nitride using a three-dimentional mapping technique. The above quantities varied in the following ranges: 10¹² ˂ n_e ˂ 10¹⁵ particles/cm³, 3500 ˂ T ˂ 11000 °K, and 200 ˂ v_z ˂ 1200 cm/sec.

The absence of excitation equilibrium for the lower excitation population including the ground state under certain conditions of T and n_e was established and the departure from equilibrium was examined quantitatively. The ground state was shown to be highly underpopulated for the decaying plasma.

Rates of recombination between electrons and ions were obtained by solving the steady-state equation of continuity for electrons. The observed rates were consistent with a dissociative-molecular ion mechanism with a steady-state assumption for the molecular ions.

In the second part of the study, decomposition of NO was studied in the plasma at lower temperatures. The mole fractions of NO denoted by x_NO were determined gas-chromatographically and varied between 0.0012 ˂ x_NO ˂ 0.0055. The temperatures were measured pyrometrically and varied between 1300 ˂ T ˂ 1750°K. The observed rates of decomposition were orders of magnitude greater than those obtained by the previous workers under purely thermal reaction conditions. The overall activation energy was about 9 kcal/g mol which was considerably lower than the value under thermal conditions. The effect of excess nitrogen was to reduce the rate of decomposition of NO and to increase the order of the reaction with respect to NO from 1.33 to 1.85. The observed rates were consistent with a chain mechanism in which atomic nitrogen and oxygen act as chain carriers. The increased rates of decomposition and the reduced activation energy in the presence of the plasma could be explained on the basis of the observed large amount of atomic nitrogen which was probably formed as the result of reactions between excited atoms and ions of argon and the molecular nitrogen.

Spin wave resonance in ferromagnetic films

The objective of this investigation has been a theoretical and experimental understanding of ferromagnetic resonance phenomena in ferromagnetic thin films, and a consequent understanding of several important physical properties of these films. Significant results have been obtained by ferromagnetic resonance, hysteresis, torque magnetometer, He ion backscattering, and X-ray fluorescence measurements for nickel-iron alloy films.

Taking into account all relevant magnetic fields, including the applied, demagnetizing, effective anisotropy and exchange fields, the spin wave resonance condition applicable to the thin film geometry is presented. On the basis of the simple exchange interaction model it is concluded that the normal resonance modes of an ideal film are expected to be unpinned. The possibility of nonideality near the surface of a real film was considered by means of surface anisotropy field, inhomogeneity in demagnetizing field and inhomogeneity of magnetization models. Numerical results obtained for reasonable parameters in all cases show that they negligibly perturb the resonance fields and the higher order mode shapes from those of the unpinned modes of ideal films for thicknesses greater than 1000 Å. On the other hand for films thinner than 1000 Å the resonance field deviations can be significant even though the modes are very nearly unpinned. A previously unnoticed but important feature of all three models is that the interpretation of the first resonance mode as the uniform mode of an ideal film allows an accurate measurement of the average effective demagnetizing field over the film volume. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that it is possible to choose parameters which give indistinguishable predictions for all three models, making it difficult to uniquely ascertain the source of spin pinning in real films from resonance measurements alone.

Spin wave resonance measurements of 81% Ni-19% Fe coevaporated films 30 to 9000 Å thick, at frequencies from 1 to 8 GHz, at room temperature, and with the static magnetic field parallel and perpendicular to the film plane have been performed. A self-consistent analysis of the results for films thicker than 1000 Å, in which multiple excitations can be observed, shows for the first time that a unique value of exchange constant A can only be obtained by the use of unpinned mode assignments. This evidence and the resonance behavior of films thinner than 1000 Å strongly imply that the magnetization at the surfaces of permalloy films is very weakly pinned. However, resonance measurements alone cannot determine whether this pinning is due to a surface anisotropy, an inhomogeneous demagnetizing field or an inhomogeneous magnetization. The above analysis yields a value of 4πM=10,100 Oe and A = (1.03 ± .05) x 10^-6 erg/cm for this alloy. The ability to obtain a unique value of A suggests that spin wave resonance can be used to accurately characterize the exchange interaction in a ferromagnet.

In an effort to resolve the ambiguity of the source of pinning of the magnetization, a correlation of the ratio of magnetic moment and X-ray film thickness with the value of effective demagnetizing field 4πNM as determined from resonance, for films 45 to 300 Å has been performed. The remarkable agreement of both quantities and a comparison with the predictions of five distinct models, strongly imply that the thickness dependence of both quantities is related to a thickness dependent average saturation magnetization, which is far below 10,100 Oe for very thin films. However, a series of complementary experiments shows that this large decrease of average saturation magnetization cannot be simply explained by either oxidation or interdiffusion processes. It can only be satisfactorily explained by an intrinsic decrease of the average saturation magnetization for very thin films, an effect which cannot be justified by any simple physical considerations.

Recognizing that this decrease of average saturation magnetization could be due to an oxidation process, a correlation of resonance measurements, He ion backscattering, X-ray fluorescence and torque magnetometer measurements, for films 40 to 3500 Å thick has been performed. On basis of these measurements it is unambiguously established that the oxide layer on the surface of purposefully oxidized 81% Ni-19% Fe evaporated films is predominantly Fe-oxide, and that in the oxidation process Fe atoms are removed from the bulk of the film to depths of thousands of angstroms. Extrapolation of results for pure Fe films indicates that the oxide is most likely α-Fe₂O₃. These conclusions are in agreement with results from old metallurgical studies of high temperature oxidation of bulk Fe and Ni-Fe alloys. However, X-ray fluorescence results for films oxidized at room temperature, show that although the preferential oxidation of Fe also takes place in these films, the extent of this process is by far too small to explain the large variation of their average saturation magnetization with film thickness.

晶格匹配氮化镓和氧化锌基外延薄膜衬底材料ScAlMgO4晶体生长研究

采用提拉法成功生长了氮化镓和氧化锌基外延薄膜晶格匹配的ScAlMgO4单晶衬底材料,晶体呈透明白色,尺寸为Ф30mm×59mm,表面部分沿解理面有裂纹.粉末X射线衍射（XRD）分析表明经1400℃固相反应烧结的原料基本合成了ScAlMgO4多晶相.初步的偏光显微镜观察、晶体的粉末XRD表征、透过光谱和双晶摇摆测试表明晶体具有较好的光学性质和结晶质量.研究表明晶体本身的层状结构、较大的温度梯度和热应力的不均匀性是生长过程中引起晶体开裂的几个主要原因.

共蒸法制备非均匀膜的速率控制分析

渐变折射率薄膜，又称为非均匀膜。利用德鲁德理论分析了混合介质膜的介电常量与各个膜料的介电常量之间的关系，介绍了共蒸法制备非均匀膜的制备机理。对混合膜的沉积速率为两种膜料的沉积速率之和的情况，分别从两种膜料的单分子体积是否相等和总的沉积速率是否为常数两个方面，探讨了双源共蒸法制备的非均匀膜的折射率分布规律与膜料的沉积速率之间的关系，并给出了几种常见的折射率分布如线性变化、正弦变化、指数变化和双曲变化规律的膜料沉积速率表达式。最后以混合介质膜的总沉积速率为常数、折射率按照线性变化为例进行了说明。

光学表面的标量散射理论

简要论述了标量散射理论的研究进展做,着重介绍了Beckman的一维标量散射理论和几种典型的多层膜散射模型-非相关表面粗糙度模型、附加表面粗糙度模型和非相关体内不均匀模型,比较了这些模型在中心波长为632.8nm的11层高反膜的散射特性.结果表明,非相关体内的不均匀性引起反射能带边缘散射,反射能带内的散射主要由附加表面粗糙度引起.理想粗糙度对膜系反射带内的散射影响很小,对反射带边缘几乎无影响.预测了标量散射理论的应用领域及前景.

Surface morphology and properties of zirconia thin films prepared at different deposition rates

ZrO2 thin films were prepared on BK7 glass substrates by electron beam evaporation deposition method. The influence of deposition rate varying from 1.2 to 6.3 nm s(-1) on surface morphology and other properties of ZrO2 films were examined. With increasing deposition rate, the surface defect density increased. The decrease in half width at full maximum in X-ray diffraction pattern with deposition rate indicates an increase in crystal dimension with increasing deposition rate. Electron beam deposited ZrO2 films are known to be inhomogeneous. From the change of the peak transmittance value, it can be deduced that the inhomogeneity of ZrO2 films strengthened gradually with increasing deposition rate. The type of surface defects changed from nodules to craters when the deposition rate was high enough.

膜厚监控误差及监控片不均匀对膜厚监控的影响

借助于VC＋＋编程从理论上模拟分析了膜厚监控误差以及监控片不均匀性对光学膜厚监控的影响。结果表明，膜厚监控误差和监控片的不均匀性都对监控曲线有影响；随着膜层层数的增加，监控片不均匀性逐渐增大。实验制备了多层规整薄膜并对其监控曲线进行了分析，分析表明考虑到膜厚监控误差和监控片不均匀性后计算的光学监控曲线和镀膜过程实测光学监控曲线吻合较好。这说明膜厚监控误差和监控片不均匀性是引起监控曲线与理论值偏离的重要因素。介绍了如何计算考虑膜厚监控误差和监控片不均匀性后的理论监控曲线。这将对膜厚自动监控，尤其是对非规整膜

离子辅助沉积中离子束流密度的作用

测量了End-Hall离子源在不同条件下的离子束流密度，在不同离子束流密度下进行了心离子辅助沉积ZrO2薄膜的实验，研究了离子束流密度对薄膜折射率、晶相的影响．根据动量传递模型分析了离子束流密度对薄膜折射率的作用；根据热尖峰理论证明了一定条件下离子束流密度不会影响薄膜晶体结构。

非均匀性对单层膜光学特性的影响

探讨了不同规律的非均匀性对单层膜的光谱特性的影响，与均匀单层膜对比发现：折射率正变引起透射率的极大值减小，折射率负变引起透射率的极大值变大，当非均匀性很小时，透射率的极小值基本不变．对实验制备的单层膜从实验和理论上进行了对比并给出了较好的拟合，发现在薄膜和基底的界面处存在一过渡层，过渡层可近似为线性，并从理论上给予了分析解释．

德鲁德分布非均匀膜的光学特性模拟分析

从德鲁德理论出发，对多元共蒸法镀制的非均匀膜的折射率分布与沉积速率的关系进行了探讨；然后利用计算机辅助模拟，对德鲁德分布非均匀光学薄膜，从单周期和多周期、正变和负变、完整周期和存在半周期几个方面对其光学特性进行了系统分析．研究发现：其透射率的极小值和周期数的关系遵从周期数的三次多项式衰减规律，不同规律的德鲁德分布非均匀膜可用来设计不同功能的滤光片．