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In this thesis wave propagation in the whistler wave frequency range ωci≤ω≤ωce in the linear magnetized plasma experiment VINETA is investigated. The plasma is generated by a helicon antenna and has a diameter of about 10 cm. Whistler waves are launched by a loop antenna with a diameter of 4.5 cm and the fluctuating magnetic field is mapped by Ḃ-probes. Experiments are carried out for plasma parameters γ≤1/ √ 2 under which the only transversal polarized wave according to plane wave dispersion theory is the whistler wave. Due to the small collision frequencies ν≪1 cyclotron damping of whistler waves in this parameter regime is dominant and depends only on the electron plasma-β. The influence of the inhomogeneous plasma profile and excitation by a loop antenna is investigated by measurements of the fluctuating magnetic field perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field in azimuthal and radial axial planes. A mode characterized by the number of wave lengths m in the azimuthal direction is found. The mode structure is modified by the specific shape of the plasma density profile. Profiles with a homogeneous density inside the plasma radius are found to posses a comparably simple mode structure. An agreement in the mode structure of full-wave simulations in three dimensions, including a Gaussian density profile and excitation of the wave by a loop antenna, with the experimental results is found. Conclusions on the spatial structure of the excited mode are drawn using the simulations which predict excitation of an m=2 mode. The wave is found to be ducted within the plasma radius over a wide parameter range. A Helmholtz decomposition of the simulations electric field exhibits the fluctuating space charge as the dominant source for the electric field, while the contribution due to induction is negligible. The magnetic field is given partially by the electron and displacement current. Both contributions to the magnetic field are of the same order of magnitude. The frequency dependency of the excited modes spatial damping increment is investigated using measurements of the magnetic fluctuations along the symmetry axis of the plasma. In order to illustrate the parameter dependency, the electron plasma-β is varied over two orders in magnitude in the range β = 4·10-4 - 2.4·10-2. The experimental result for the spatial damping increment of the mode yields a strong damping for wave frequencies ω/ωce > 0.5 at maximum plasma-β, which shifts to higher frequencies with decreasing β. The parameter dependency of the damping for a fixed frequency is studied in an axial ambient magnetic field gradient. In both cases an excellent agreement between the experimental result and predictions for cyclotron damping from plane wave dispersion theory is found.
The layer-by-layer method is a robust way of surface functionalization using a wide range of materials, e.g. synthetic and natural polyelectrolytes (PEs), proteins and nanoparticles. Thus, this method yields films with applications in diverse areas including biology and medicine. Sequential adsorption of different oppositely charged macromolecules can be used to prepare tailored films with controlled molecular organization. In biomedical research, electrically conductive coatings are of interest. In manuscript 1, we investigated films sequentially assembled from the polycation poly (diallyldimethyl-ammonium) (PDADMA) and modified carbon nanotubes (CNTs), with CNTs serving as the electrically conductive material. We assume that charge transport occurs through CNT contacts. We showed that with more than four CNT/PDADMA bilayers, the electrical conductivity is constant and independent of the number of CNT/PDADMA bilayers. A conductivity up to 4∙10^3 S/m was found. It is possible to control the conductivity with the CNT concentration of the CNT deposition suspension. A higher CNT concentration resulted in thicker CNT/PDADMA bilayers, but in a lower conductivity per bilayer. We suspect that an increased CNT concentration leads to a rapid CNT adsorption without the possibility to rearrange themselves. If PDADMA then adsorbs on the disordered CNTs in the next deposition step, the average thickness of the polymer layer is thicker than on the more ordered CNT layer from the dilute solution. This leads to an increased PE monomer/CNT ratio and lower conductivity. More polycations between the CNT layers leads to less CNT contacts. Thus, the controlled composition of films can be used to fulfill specific requirements.
For many applications of polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs), cheap PEs with a broad distribution of molecular weights are used. It was unknown whether the distribution of molecular weights of the PE in the adsorption solution is maintained during the adsorption process and hence in the film. To investigate this, the PSS adsorption solution in article 2 consisted of a binary mixture of short and long poly (styrene sulfonate) (PSS). A good model system to study layered films in terms of composition are PDADMA/PSS multilayers. Neutron reflectivity and in-situ ellipsometry measurements were carried out to determine the PSS composition in the film and the growth regimes. At a mole fraction of long PSS of 5 % or more in solution, the exponential growth (which is characteristic of short PSS) is totally suppressed, and only long PSS is deposited in the resulting multilayer. Variation of adsorption time of PSS showed that short PSS first adsorbs to the surface but is displaced by long PSS. Between 0 and 5 % of long PSS in the adsorption solution exponential growth occurs. The fraction of short PSS in the film continuously decreases with the increase of long PSS in the adsorption solution. In the assembly of films prepared from binary PSS mixtures, the short PSS leaves the film through adsorption/desorption steps both during PSS adsorption and during PDADMA adsorption (as PDADMA/PSS complexes). Both techniques show that the composition of the film does not correspond to that of the deposition solution. The composition and thus the properties of the resulting multilayer are influenced by the choice of adsorption time. Moreover, we conclude that a multilayer grown from a polydisperse polyelectrolyte contains fewer mobile low molecular weight polymers than the deposition solution.
In manuscript 1 and article 2, the composition of multilayers was studied. In manuscript 1 adsorption kinetics were important for the arrangement of CNTs on the surface. In article 2, the adsorption kinetics, i.e. the diffusion of the polyelectrolytes to the surface, was also investigated. In article 3, we investigated the influence of the composition of the film as well as the preparation condition on the mobility of PEs in the film. The molecular weight of the polycation PDADMA and the NaCl concentration of the deposition solution were varied. The vertical PSS diffusion constant D_PSS within the PDADMA/PSS multilayers was measured using neutron reflectivity. The salt concentration of the preparation solution defines the polymer conformation during deposition. The molecular weight of the polycation determines the degree of intertwining. Together, both parameters determine the polyanion-polycation coupling and thus the PSS mobility within the network. Log−log display of D_PSS vs the molecular weight of PDADMA and fits to two power laws (D_PSS ∝ X_n(PDADMA)^(-m) ∝ M_w(PDADMA)^(-m)) reveals for films built from 10 or 200 mM NaCl a kink. Below and above the kink, the dependence of D_PSS on M_w(PDADMA) can be described by different power laws. For Χ_n(PDADMA) < X_n,kink(PDADMA) ≈ 288, the exponents are consistent with the predictions of the sticky reptation model. X_n(PDADMA) ≈ 288 is the entanglement limit. For Χ_n(PDADMA) > X_n,kink(PDADMA) ≈ 288, the decrease of D_PSS with M_w(PDADMA) is larger than below the entanglement limit, which is indicative of sticky reptation and entanglement. The PSS diffusion constant of films built from 100 mM NaCl drops three orders of magnitude when increasing the molecular weight of PDADMA from 45 kDa to 72 kDa. To figure out if an immobile PSS fraction exists in the film built from 72 kDa PDADMA (beyond the entanglement limit), the film was annealed at different conditions in article 4: both temperature and salt concentration were varied. For data analysis, the simplest model with two PSS fractions with different diffusion constants was used. These diffusion constants increase as the temperature of the surrounding solution is increased. As assumed in article 3, an immobile PSS fraction exists when annealing at room temperature. At higher annealing temperatures, at least two diffusion processes must be distinguished: the diffusion of the highly mobile PSS fraction through the entire film and a slow PSS fraction, mowing in a limited way. The choice of preparation conditions determines whether a polyelectrolyte multilayer can intermix completely. It is not clear if complete intermixing will ever occur for films built with PDADMA beyond the entanglement limit. It is possible that the diffusion is more complex. Long-term measurements will clarify this question. Calculating scattering length density profiles with subdiffusive behavior would be interesting and is a challenge for the future. Furthermore, immobile fractions are only visible with long annealing times. We hypothesize that an immobile or nearly immobile fraction is present whenever the dependence of D_PSS on the molecular weight of PDADMA cannot be described by the sticky reptation. To verify this hypothesis, further studies are necessary.
All results presented and discussed in the manuscript and articles show that by varying the preparation conditions, tailored films can be built. The composition of the film is also determined by the adsorption kinetics. In addition, the mobility of the PEs within the multilayers can be controlled by varying the conformation, mingling and entanglement of the chains within the film. The influence of the salt concentration in the preparation solution on the growth regimes during film formation is part of our future research. It is planned to investigate films built of different PDADMA molecular weights under varied annealing conditions to better understand the mobile and immobile fractions.
In this work, the investigation of dusty plasma by means of tunable diode laser spectroscopy was carried out. Special interest was focused on the interactions of dust particles and metastable atoms. At first, Al density and temperature in dc and pulsed magnetron discharges were measured. Measurements with argon as working gas show an expected behavior of the measured atom density and temperature. Decrease of absorption signal was observed in argon/oxygen and argon/methane mixtures. A small admixture of oxygen leads to a complete disappearance of the absorption signal indicating vanishing Al atom density. The effect is believed to be caused by the oxidation of the magnetron target. This decrease reveals typical hysteresis behavior caused by poisoning of the target. Significant difference between critical oxygen flow value in dc and pulsed modes was registered. Then dust formation and plasma behaviors in hydrocarbon containing plasmas were analysed. The dust growing plasmas (Ar/C2H2, Ar/CH4 and Ar/C3H6 rf plasmas) were characterized by laser transmission and scattering methods, ion energy distribution function and mass spectrum evolution by plasma processing monitor, and the spatial distribution in pristine plasma and the temporal behavior of the metastable atom density in processing plasma using TDLAS. Pristine plasma were then characterized in term of metastable density and temperature. The radial distribution of neon metastable atom density in capacitive coupled rf discharge can be approximated to a Gaussian profile with the width smaller than plasma chamber radius. The diffusion flow of metastable atoms deduced from their spatial density distribution gives the loss of metastable atom in the plasma sheath. Argon metastable density was measured in rf plasma and compared with a simple model for metastable density. The model explains well the trend of metastable density with respect to the change of plasma input power. Metastable density of dusty plasma with injected dust particles was measured and compared to that of pristine plasma. The particle heating by metastable atoms was strongly evidenced. The power absorbed by dust particles due to bombardment of metastable atoms onto a dust particle surface in our experiments is about 0.04 Wm-2 for the low dust density case and lower for higher dust density which is in the same order as the contributions of kinetic energy of ions and electrons and the energy released by their recombination on the grain surface. The influence of dust particle density and size on metastable density was studied. Through measuring metastable density, TDLAS can be used as a tool to study the dust growth process in processing plasma.
The confinement of energy has always been a challenge in magnetic confinement fusion devices. Due to their toroidal shape there exist regions of high and low magnetic field, so that the particles are divided into two classes - trapped ones that are periodically reflected in regions of high magnetic field with a characteristic frequency, and passing particles, whose parallel velocity is high enough that they largely follow a magnetic field line around the torus without being reflected. The radial drift that a particle experiences due to the field inhomogeneity depends strongly on its position, and the net drift therefore depends on the path taken by the particle. While the radial drift is close to zero for passing particles, trapped particles experience a finite radial net drift and are therefore lost in classical stellarators. These losses are described by the so-called neoclassical transport theory. Recent optimised stellarator geometries, however, in which the trapped particles precess around the torus poloidally and do not experience any net drift, promise to reduce the neoclassical transport down to the level of tokamaks. In these optimised stellarators, the neoclassical transport becomes small enough so that turbulent transport may limit the confinement instead. The turbulence is driven by small-scale-instabilities, which tap the free energy of density or temperature gradients in the plasma. Some of these instabilities are driven by the trapped particles and therefore depend strongly on the magnetic geometry, so the question arises how the optimisation affects the stability. In this thesis, collisionless electrostatic microinstabilities are studied both analytically and numerically. Magnetic configurations where the action integral of trapped-particle bounce motion, J, only depends on the radial position in the plasma and where its maximum is in the plasma centre, so-called maximum-J configurations, are of special interest. This condition can be achieved approximately in quasi-isodynamic stellarators, for example Wendelstein 7-X. In such configurations the precessional drift of the trapped particles is in the opposite direction from the direction of propagation of drift waves. Instabilities that are driven by the trapped particles usually rely on a resonance between these two frequencies. Here it is shown analytically by analysing the electrostatic energy transfer between the particles and the instability that, thanks to the absence of the resonance, a particle species draws energy from the mode if the frequency of the mode is well below the charateristic bounce frequency. Due to the low electron mass and the fast bounce motion, electrons are almost always found to be stabilising. Most of the trapped-particle instabilities are therefore predicted to be absent in maximum- J configurations in large parts of parameter space. Analytical theory thus predicts enhanced linear stability of trapped-particle modes in quasi-isodynamic stellarators compared with tokamaks. Moreover, since the electrons are expected to be stabilising, or at least less destabilising, for all instabilities whose frequency lies below the trapped-electron bounce frequency, other modes might benefit from the enhanced stability as well. In reality, however, stellarators are never perfectly quasi-isodynamic, and the question thus arises whether they still benefit from enhanced stability. Here the stability properties of Wendelstein 7-X and a more quasi-isodynamic configuration, QIPC, are investigated numerically and compared with another, non-quasiisodynamic stellarator, the National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) and a typical tokamak. In gyrokinetic simulations, performed with the gyrokinetic code GENE in the electrostatic and collisionless approximation, several microinstabilities, driven by the density as well as both ion and electron temperature gradients, are studied. Wendelstein 7-X and QIPC exhibit significantly reduced growth rates for all simulations that include kinetic electrons, and the latter are indeed found to be stabilising when the electrostatic energy transfer is analysed. In contrast, if only the ions are treated kinetically but the electrons are taken to be in thermodynamic equilibrium, no such stabilising effect is observed. These results suggest that imperfectly optimised stellarators can retain most of the stabilising properties predicted for perfect maximum-J configurations. Quasi-isodynamic stellarators, in addition to having reduced neoclassical transport, might therefore also show reduced turbulent transport, at least in certain regions of parameter space.
We present a Green's function based treatment of the effects of electron-phonon coupling on transport through a molecular quantum dot in the quantum limit. Thereby we combine an incomplete variational Lang-Firsov approach with a perturbative calculation of the electron-phonon self energy in the framework of generalised Matsubara Green functions and a Landauer-type transport description. Calculating the ground-state energy, the dot single-particle spectral function and the linear conductance at finite carrier density, we study the low-temperature transport properties of the vibrating quantum dot sandwiched between metallic leads in the whole electron-phonon coupling strength regime. We discuss corrections to the concept of an anti-adiabatic dot polaron and show how a deformable quantum dot can act as a molecular switch.
Synopsis
C+60 has been proposed to be responsible for two of the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs), the absorption features observed in the visible-to-near-infrared spectra of the interstellar medium. However, a confirmation requires laboratory gas-phase spectra, which are so far not available. We plan to develop a novel spectroscopy technique that will allow us to obtain the first gas-phase spectra of C+60, and that will be applicable to other complex organic molecules such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The current status of the experimental setup, the ideas behind the measurement scheme and the preparatory work toward its implementation will be presented.
Experience in the construction of optimized stellarators shows the coil system is a significant challenge. The precision necessary allow the generation of accurate flux surfaces in recent experiments affected both cost and schedule negatively. Moreover, recent experiments at Wendelstein 7-X have shown that small field corrections were necessary for the operation of specific desired magnetic configurations. Therefore, robust magnetic configurations in terms of coil geometry and assembly tolerances have a high potential to facilitate swifter and less expensive construction of future, optimized stellarators. We present a new coil optimization technique that is designed to seek out coil configurations that are resilient against 3D coil displacements. This stochastic version of stellarator coil optimization uses the sampling average approach to incorporate an iterative perturbation analysis into the optimization routine. The result is a robust magnetic configuration that simultaneously reproduces the target magnetic field more accurately and leads to a better fusion performing coil configuration.
A novel method for time-resolved tuned diode laser absorption spectroscopy has been developed. In this paper, we describe in detail developed electronic module that controls time-resolution of laser absorption spectroscopy system. The TTL signal triggering plasma pulse is used for generation of two signals: the first one triggers the fine tuning of laser wavelength and second one controls time-defined signal sampling from absorption detector. The described method and electronic system enable us to investigate temporal evolution of sputtered particles in technological low-temperature plasma systems. The pulsed DC planar magnetron sputtering system has been used to verify this method. The 2" in diameter titanium target was sputtered in pure argon atmosphere. The working pressure was held at 2 Pa. All the experiments were carried out for pulse ON time fixed at 100 (is. When changing OFF time the discharge has operated between High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering regime and pulsed DC magnetron regime. The effect of duty cycle variation results in decrease of titanium atom density during ON time while length of OFF time elongates. We believe that observed effect is connected with higher degree of ionization of sputtered particles. As previously reported by Bohlmark et al., the measured optical emission spectra in HiPIMS systems were dominated by emission from titanium ions [1].
Abstract
Reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) of a cobalt cathode in pure argon gas and with different oxygen admixtures was investigated by time-resolved optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and time-integrated energy-resolved mass spectrometry. The HiPIMS discharge was operated with a bipolar pulsed power supply capable of providing a large negative voltage with a typical pulse width of 100 μs followed by a long positive pulse with a pulse width of about 350 μs. The HiPIMS plasma in pure argon is dominated by Co+ ions. With the addition of oxygen, O+ ions become the second most prominent positive ion species. OES reveals the presence of Ar I, Co I, O I, and Ar II emission lines. The transition from an Ar+ to a Co+ ion sputtering discharge is inferred from time-resolved OES. The enhanced intensity of excited Ar+* ions is explained by simultaneous excitation and ionisation induced by energetic secondary electrons from the cathode. The intensity of violet Ar I lines is drastically reduced during HiPIMS. Intensity of near-infrared Ar I lines resumes during the positive pulse indicating an additional heating mechanism.
Fluorocarbon containing capacitively coupled radio frequency (cc-rf) plasmas are widely used in technical applications and as model systems for fundamental investigations of complex plasmas. Absorption spectroscopy based on pulsed quantum cascade lasers (QCL) was applied in the mid-IR spectral range of 1269-1275 cm-1. Absolute densities of the precursor molecule CF4 and of the stable product C3F8 were measured with a time resolution of up to 1 ms in pulsed CF4/H2 asymmetrical cc-rf (13.56 MHz) discharges. For this purpose both the non-negligible temperature dependence of the absorption coefficients and the interference of the absorption features of CF4 and C3F8 had to be taken into account in the target spectral range. Therefore, at two different spectral positions composite absorption spectra were acquired under the same plasma conditions in order to discriminate between CF4 and C3F8 contributions. A total consumption of∼ 12 % was observed for CF4 during a 1 s plasma pulse, whereas C3F8 appeared to be produced mainly from amorphous fluorocarbon layers deposited at the reactor walls. A gas temperature increase by ∼ 100 K in the plasma pulse was estimated from the measurements. Additionally, not yet identified unresolved absorption (potentially from the excited CF4 molecule) was found during the àon-phase'.
This thesis is devoted to experiments on three-dimensional dust clouds which are confined in low temperature plasmas. Such ensembles of highly electrically charged micrometer-sized particles reveal fascinating physics, such as self-excited density waves and vortices. At the same time, these systems are challenging for experimental approaches due to their three-dimensional character. In this thesis, new optical diagnostics for dusty plasmas have been developed and, in combination with existing techniques, have been used to study these 3D dusty plasmas on different size and time scales.
In this thesis, I was able to provide answers to transport processes in lipid monolayers, which are ultimately, all of biological relevance. In particular, I was interested in lipid oxidation and dynamic compression/expansion processes of surfactant monolayers at the air-water interface:
Lipid oxidation was shown to be a consequence of the formation of a high concentration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during cell respiration, which finally can lead to severe cell damage. It is not yet understood clearly, which part of the lipid molecules is especially prone to a ROS attack. I was particularly interested in the role of the double bonds of the acyl chains of the lipid molecules during oxidation. Further, I wanted to know the time scales of lipid interaction with the ROS.
Compared to lipid vesicles, lipid monolayers have the advantage that many parameters of the system can be adjusted easily. In our system, I made use of this by setting the lateral pressure to low values during H2O2 treatment, which facilitated the ROS to reach the double bonds in the acyl chains.
A prime example of biological systems out of thermal equilibrium was given in the alveolus surface, which is covered with a surfactant monolayer. During breathing, these monolayers undergo such a highly dynamic compression and expansion. Arising flows from breathing could disrupt a film and consequently, it would lose its protective role. One of my goals was to understand flows and their influence on domain shape. Dependent on the strength of the flows, I expected different growth regimes, with differing prevailing transport processes. Once understanding the underlying mechanisms in domain shaping would allow me to draw conclusions on biological systems.
In order to address these questions, I established two systems, both based on the compression of lipid monolayers. I used isotherms to study the phase behavior of the lipids:9 During compression, the lipids can undergo phase transitions from the gaseous phase to the liquid expanded phase (LE-phase) and further from the LE-phase to the liquid condensed phase (LC-phase). A coexistence regime is observed in between the LE-phase and the LC-phase, characterized by a flat increase of lateral pressure with decreasing molecular area. Some lipids exhibited LC-phase domains. These were further investigated with Brewster angle microscopy (BAM). The used BAM was equipped with an integrated Scheimpflug optics, enabling an overall focused image plane. Furthermore, time-resolved observation of the growth of the domains was possible by recording videos (20 frames per seconds).
The first system enabled the investigation of lipid peroxidation, when the lipids were exposed to ROS. I chose DMPC, POPC, DOPC and PLPC, since these are phospholipids differing in the number and position of double bonds in acyl chains, but not in the head group. I used a H2O2 enriched phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution, which served as a precursor for more reactive ROS, like hydroxyls (.OH). PBS was chosen, since it resembles the cell environment best. During defined waiting times of H2O2 treatment, the ROS diffused vertically from the subphase towards the monolayer. The lipid molecules were in the LE-phase, which facilitated the ROS molecules to reach also the double bonds of the acyl chains. The oxidized monolayers were then compressed at constant compression speed. Since the corresponding isotherms could be measured with high precision, the relative area increase δA/A between oxidized and non-oxidized monolayer along the isotherm proved to be a good measure for lipid peroxidation. The area increase δA in the molecular area of the oxidized molecules was explained by the eventually added, more hydrophilic −OOH group at the position of a carbon atom adjacent to a double bond in the unsaturated acyl chain. The −OOH group is drawn to the hydrophilic head group of the lipid. This leads to a kink in the acyl chain, which increases the molecular area A by δA. A model, which explained this peroxidation process in lipid vesicles, could be adopted to monolayers.
I compared the oxidation of phospholipids, differing in the number and position of the double bonds of their acyl chains. I found that δA/A increased with the growing number of double bonds in one acyl chain. However, a comparison of DOPC with POPC also showed the importance of the position of the acyl chain. I determined a slow reaction kinetic. It could be estimated by a √t dependence of the number density N_surface, which denominates the ROS sticking on the monolayer. The transport of ROS towards the monolayer was found to be diffusive, because it was the slowest process in the reaction. This interpretation was reinforced by a comparison of the temperature dependence of the relative area increase δA/A with the Stokes-Einstein diffusion coefficient of water molecules. The initial ROS concentration c_0 in the trough could be traced back (c_0~ 50 nM), which is indeed a realistic value found in human cells.
Concluding, our results can be understood as a feasibility study. The complexity of the monolayer can be arbitrarily increased, for example by the addition of proteins, allowing the investigation of other oxidative processes occurring in the cell membrane.
The second system allowed the investigation of growth of LC domains during fast compression processes of monolayers. I chose erucic acid monolayers, due to its low line tension and a continuous nucleation phase, enabling the formation of fractal domains. The monolayers were investigated with isotherms and BAM videos. Since v_C (compression speed of the monolayer) was continuous over the whole compression time, I had a system with well-defined hydrodynamic conditions. This allowed me a complete analysis of the system, starting with descriptive features of the observed domains to a classification of the observed growth regimes by means of hydrodynamic theory, through to the distinction and quantification of different kind of flows and supersaturations, involving Ivantsov theory:
Dependent on the compression speed v_C, I observed seaweed or dendritic domains. The LE/LC phase transition pressure pi_t was slightly increased compared to pi_inf of the equilibrium isotherm. A high compression speed v_C induced a supersaturation Δc. I introduced the excess lateral pressure Δpi=pi-pi_inf as an appropriate quantity to describe the supersaturation Δc. I showed a linear behavior of Δc on Δpi. Δc is a macroscopic quantity since it is averaged over the whole monolayer area. I characterized the domains of the seaweed and dendritic regime with respect to tip radii, branch lengths, side branch separations and fractal dimensions. I calculated the growth speed of the main branches. A roughly doubling of the growth speed of dendritic domains, compared to seaweed domains was observed. This was an evidence of adjunctive (Marangoni) flow in the subphase.
For each monolayer, I observed drifts during domain growth, which I explained by an anisotropy in the LE-phase, caused by the continuous nucleation of the domains. These kind of surface flows were superimposed to bulk flows in the subphase. Since I had a well established system, I could analyze the influence of these surface flows on domain shape, in terms of magnitude, direction and duration of the surface flows. I therefore used FFT spectra and directionality histograms. At low flows, the FFT showed six-fold symmetry. Higher drifts exhibited incisions in the FFT, eventually leading to dumbbell shaped FFTs at very high drifts. The domains grew preferentially in the direction parallel to the incision.
I used directionality histograms to analyze the angular distribution of the growing domains. They showed that the drift direction always correlated with a minimum in the histogram. In order to analyze drift duration, I split the domain in downstream and upstream side. I could show that for small drift durations, downstream growth was preferred. However, for longer drift durations, the flows got more isotropic and consequently growth was more balanced then.
I could observe only a weak correlation between drift velocity v_D and compression speed v_C. However, dendrites were formed when the compression speed v_C was high, while seaweed domains were formed when v_C was small. Domain distortion occurred in the same way, independent if seaweed or dendritic domains were considered. I further showed that hydrodynamic flows in the subphase and surface flows are superimposed and scale differently. Consequently, they have different impact on domain shape: hydrodynamic flows act on μm scale and influence the domain morphology (distance between side branches, and tip radius) and the growth speed of the main branches. Surface flows act on the mm to cm scale, cause an anisotropic flow in the LE phase surrounding the domain, and thus affect the overall domain shape.
The anisotropy in the LE-phase led to a locally different degree of supersaturation. To take this into account, I introduced a local normalized supersaturation Δ, based on the Ivantsov solution. Therefore, I calculated Péclet numbers p of measured quantities of the system. I obtained values of 0.88 ≤Δ≤0.90 for the seaweed regime (p<5) and 0.93 ≤Δ≤0.96 for the dendritic regime (p>6). Since the Ivantsov solution can only be applied for purely diffusive processes, I applied a modified Ivantsov solution Δ_mod, which calculates Δ at a distance 𝛿 ahead of the dendrite tip. I was able to determine the progression of the diffusive layer 𝛿, however a quantitative determination failed.
Applying hydrodynamic theory allowed me to classify the two growth regimes with respect to the Boussinesq number Bq. Since for both growth regimes, I achieved values of Bq<1, bulk viscous losses dominated over surface viscous losses. Further, a cross-over length 𝜉 was calculated, from which one can distinguish, whether advective transport dominates over diffusion.
I further connected the two defined supersaturations Δ and Δc via the excess lateral pressure Δpi. From this, I saw differences in the seaweed and dendritic growth regimes: The local normalized supersaturation Δ of seaweed growth seemed to be quite stable for a further increase of the lateral excess pressure Δpi, whereas it reacted quite sensitive in the dendritic regime. This was found to be an indication of a non-equilibrium regime, caused by the strong coupling of the monolayer to the subphase. It reinforces therefore the theory of Marangoni-flow.
The findings of this thesis emphasize the importance of understanding highly dynamic compression/expansion processes arising in surfactant monolayers. Using the example of the compression of the alveolus surface, it can be seen that a more realistic model of the pulmonary alveolus is not only enabled by increasing the complexity of the surfactant monolayer (e.g. by adding specific proteins or lipid mixtures to the monolayer). Equally important is the understanding in transport processes and the consequences for the monolayer structure. By the analysis of domain shapes, I presented a method, which is suitable for such a study.
The first Therapeutic ROS and Immunity in Cancer (TRIC) meeting was organized by the excellence research center ZIK plasmatis (with its previous Frontiers in Redox Biochemistry and Medicine (FiRBaM) and Young Professionals’ Workshop in Plasma Medicine (YPWPM) workshop series in Northern Germany) and the excellence research program ONKOTHER-H (Rostock/Greifswald, Germany). The meeting showcased cutting-edge research and liberated discussions on the application of therapeutic ROS and immunology in cancer treatment, primarily focusing on gas plasma technology. The 2-day hybrid meeting took place in Greifswald and online from 15–16 July 2021, facilitating a wide range of participants totaling 66 scientists from 12 countries and 5 continents. The meeting aimed at bringing together researchers from a variety of disciplines, including chemists, biochemists, biologists, engineers, immunologists, physicists, and physicians for interdisciplinary discussions on using therapeutic ROS and medical gas plasma technology in cancer therapy with the four main sessions: “Plasma, Cancer, Immunity”, “Plasma combination therapies”, “Plasma risk assessment and patients studies”, and “Plasma mechanisms and treated liquids in cancer”. This conference report outlines the abstracts of attending scientists submitted to this meeting.
In the present work, a time- and radial-dependent fluid model has been developed to describe the glow-to-arc transition of the positive column in the course of constriction. The self-consistent model comprises the particle balance equations for the relevant species, the balance equation of the mean electron energy and the heavy particle temperature in the plasma, the Poisson equation for the space-charge potential, and a current balance determining the axial electric field. The model adopts the nonlocal moment method, i.e., the system of the balance equations resulting from the moments of the radially dependent Boltzmann equation is solved. The electron transport and rate coefficients are adapted as functions of the mean energy of the electrons, the gas temperature and the ionization degree. The model is applied to a description of the constriction of the dc positive column in argon, for a wide range of pressures and applied currents. Pronounced nonlocal features of the mean electron energy balance are found and their influence on the constricted argon positive column is analyzed. Different assumptions concerning the electron velocity distribution function (EVDF) have been considered in the present model. The assumption of a Maxwellian distribution for the electrons was found to be inappropriate, while the assumption of a Druyvesteyn distribution for the electrons was found to be suitable for describing qualitatively the glow-to-arc transition. However, the standard model using the EVDF obtained from the solution of the steady-state, spatially homogeneous electron Boltzmann equation including electron-electron collisions allows to describe the constriction effect and provides best agreement with experimental data and other available modelling results. The fluid model has also been used to study a medium-pressure pulsed positive column in xenon at conditions of the contracted discharge. The simulation results provide a detailed insight in the physical mechanisms of xenon discharges in pulsed mode. The stepwise ionization of the excited atoms, the conversion of the atomic ions into molecular ions as well as the dissociative recombination of the molecular ions are found to be the most important processes for the pulsed positive column in xenon plasmas at conditions of the contracted discharge. The comparison of the model predictions with experimental results generally shows good agreement. In particular, the model predictions are suitable for qualitative reproduction of the significant increase of low-lying atomic levels densities as well as of the higher and of the relaxed lowest vibrational states of the Xe2* excimers in the afterglow phase of the pulse.
The present work is the first work dealing with turbulence in the WEGA stellarator. The main object of this work is to provide a detailed characterisation of electrostatic turbulence in WEGA and to identify the underlying instability mechanism driving turbulence. The spatio-temporal structure of turbulence is studied using multiple Langmuir probes providing a sufficiently high spatial and temporal resolution. Turbulence in WEGA is dominated by drift wave dynamics. Evidence for this finding is given by several individual indicators which are typical features of drift waves. The phase shift between density and potential fluctuations is close to zero, fluctuations are mainly driven by the density gradient, and the phase velocity of turbulent structures points in the direction of the electron diamagnetic drift. The structure of turbulence is studied mainly in the plasma edge region inside the last closed flux surface. WEGA can be operated in two regimes differing in the magnetic field strength by almost one order of magnitude (57mT and 500mT, respectively). The two regimes turned out to show a strong difference in the turbulence dynamics. At 57mT large structures with a poloidal extent comparable to the machine dimensions are observed, whereas at 500mT turbulent structures are much smaller. The poloidal structure size scales nearly linearly with the inverse magnetic field strength. This scaling may be argued to be related to the drift wave dispersion scale. However, the structure size remains unchanged when the ion mass is changed by using different discharge gases. Inside the last closed flux surface the poloidal ExB drift in WEGA is negligible. The observed phase velocity is in good agreement with the electron diamagnetic drift velocity. The energy in the wavenumber-frequency spectrum is distributed in the vicinity of the drift wave dispersion relation. The three-dimensional structure is studied in detail using probes which are toroidally separated but aligned along connecting magnetic field lines. As expected for drift waves a small but finite parallel wavenumber is found. The ratio between the average parallel and perpendicular wavenumber is in the order of 10^-2. The parallel phase velocity of turbulent structures is in-between the ion sound velocity and the Alfvènvelocity. In the parallel dynamics a fundamental difference between the two operational regimes at different magnetic field strength is found. At 500mT turbulent structures can be described as an interaction of wave contributions with parallel wavefronts. At 57mT the energy in the parallel wavenumber spectrum is distributed among wavenumber components pointing both parallel and antiparallel to the magnetic field vector. In both cases turbulent structures arise preferable on the low field side of the torus. Some results on a novel field in plasma turbulence are given, i.e. the study of turbulence as a function of resonant magnetic field perturbations leading to the formation of magnetic islands. Magnetic islands in WEGA can be manipulated by external perturbation coils. A significant influence of field perturbations on the turbulence dynamics is found. A distinct local increase of the fluctuation amplitude and the associated turbulent particle flux is found in the region of magnetic islands.
AbstractThe efficient operation of a tokamak is limited by several constraints, such as the transition to high confinement or the density limits occurring in both confinement regimes. These particular boundaries of operation are derived in terms of a combination of dimensionless parameters describing interchange-drift-Alfvén turbulence without any free adjustable parameter. The derived boundaries describe the operational space at the separatrix of the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak, which is presented in terms of an electron density and temperature existence diagram. The derived density limits are compared against Greenwald scaling. The power threshold and role of ion heat flux for the transition to high confinement are discussed.
This thesis highlights the impact of surface charges and negative ions on the pre-ionization, breakdown mechanism, and lateral structure of dielectric barrier discharges operated in binary mixtures of helium with nitrogen or electronegative oxygen. Sophisticated diagnostic methods, e.g., non-invasive optical emission spectroscopy and the electro-optic Pockels effect as well as invasive laser photodetachment and laser photodesorption, were applied at one plane-parallel discharge configuration to investigate both relevant volume and surface processes. Moreover, the experimental findings were supported by numerical fluid simulations of the discharge. For the first time, the memory effect of the measured surface charge distribution was quantified and its impact on the local self-stabilization of discharge filaments was pointed out. As well, it turned out that a few additional seed electrons, either desorbed from the charged dielectric surface or detached from negative ions in the volume, significantly contribute to the pre-ionization resulting in a reduced voltage necessary for discharge breakdown. Finally, effective secondary electron emission coefficients of different dielectrics were estimated from the measured breakdown voltage using an analytical model.
In future fusion reactors disruptions must be avoided at all costs. Disruptions due to the density limit (DL) are typically described by the power-independent Greenwald scaling. Recently, a power dependence of the disruptive DL was predicted by several authors (Zanca et al 2019 Nucl. Fusion 59 126011; Giacomin et al 2022 Phys. Rev. Lett. 128 185003; Singh and Diamond 2022 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 64 084004; Stroth et al 2022 Nucl. Fusion 62 076008; Brown and Goldston 2021 Nucl. Mater. Energy 27 101002). It is investigated whether this increases the operational range of the tokamak. Increasing the heating power in the L-mode can induce an L-H transition, and therefore a power-dependent DL and the L-H transition cannot be considered independently. The different models are tested on a data base for separatrix parameters at the separatrix of ASDEX Upgrade and compared with the concept (SepOS) presented in Eich and Manz (2021 Nucl. Fusion 61 086017). The disruptive separatrix density scales with the power ne ∝ P0.38±0.08 in good agreement to all models. Also the back transition from high to low (H-L) confinement shows an approximately Greenwald scaling with an additional power dependence ne ∝ P0.4 according to the SepOS concept. For future devices operating at much higher heating power such a power scaling may allow operation at much higher separatrix densities than are common in H-mode operation. Preconditions to extrapolation for future devices are discussed.
The heaviest actinide elements are only accessible in accelerator-based experiments on a one-atom-at-a-time level. Usually, fusion–evaporation reactions are applied to reach these elements. However, access to the neutron-rich isotopes is limited. An alternative reaction mechanism to fusion–evaporation is multinucleon transfer, which features higher cross-sections. The main drawback of this technique is the wide angular distribution of the transfer products, which makes it challenging to catch and prepare them for precision measurements. To overcome this obstacle, we are building the NEXT experiment: a solenoid magnet is used to separate the different transfer products and to focus those of interest into a gas-catcher, where they are slowed down. From the gas-catcher, the ions are transferred and bunched by a stacked-ring ion guide into a multi-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MR-ToF MS). The MR-ToF MS provides isobaric separation and allows for precision mass measurements. In this article, we will give an overview of the NEXT experiment and its perspectives for future actinide research.
This work describes the recent scientific and technical achievements obtained at the high-precision Penning trap mass spectrometer SHIPTRAP. The scientific focus of the SHIPTRAP experiment are mass measurements of short-lived nuclides with proton number larger than 100. The masses of these isotopes are usually determined via extrapolations, systematic trends, predictions based on theoretical models or alpha-decay spectroscopy. In several experiments the masses of the isotopes 252-255No and 255,256Lr have been measured directly. With the obtained results the region of enhanced nuclear stability at the deformed shell closure at the neutron number 152 was investigated. Furthermore, the masses have been used to benchmark theoretical mass models. The measured masses were compared selected mass models which revealed differences between few keV/c² up to several MeV/c² depending on the investigated nuclide and model. In order to perform mass measurements on superheavy nuclei with lower production rates, the efficiency of the SHIPTRAP setup needs to be increased. Currently, the efficiency is 2% and mainly limited by the stopping- and extraction efficiency of the buffer gas cell. The stopping and extraction efficiency of the current buffer gas cell is 12%. To this end, a modified version of the buffer gas cell was developed and characterized with 223Ra ion source. Besides a larger stopping volume and a coaxial injection the new buffer gas cell is operated at a temperature of 40K. The operation at cryogenic temperatures increases the cleanliness of the buffer gas. From extraction measurements and simulations an overall efficiency of 62(3)% was determined which results in an increase by a factor of 5 in comparison to the current buffer gas cell. Aside from high-precision mass measurements of heavy radionuclides the mass differences of metastable isobars was measured to identify candidates for the neutrinoless double-electron capture. Neutrinoless double-electron capture can only occur if the neutrino is its own antiparticle and a physics beyond the standard model exists since the neutrinoless double-electron capture violates the conservation of the lepton number. Due to its expected long half-life this decay has not yet been observed. However, the decay rate is resonantly enhanced if mother and daughter nuclide are degenerate in energy. Suitable candidates for the search of the neutrinoless double-electron capture have been identified with mass difference measurements uncertainties of about 100eV/c². In this work the results of the mass difference measurements of 12 possible candidates are presented.
Abstract
The laser photodetachment experiment in a diffuse helium–oxygen barrier discharge is evaluated by a 1D fluid simulation. As in the experiment, the simulated discharge operates in helium with
400
ppm
oxygen admixture at
500
mbar
inside a discharge gap of
3
mm
. The laser photodetachment is included by the interaction of negative ions with a temporally and spatially dependent photon flux. The simulation with the usually applied set of reactions and rate coefficients provides a much lower negative ion density than needed to explain the impact on the discharge characteristics in the experiment. Further processes for an enhanced negative ion formation and their capabilities of reproducing the experimental results are discussed. These further processes are additional attachment processes in the volume and the negative ion formation at the negatively charged dielectric. Both approaches are able to reproduce the measured laser photodetachment effect partially, but the best agreement with the experimental results is achieved with the formation of negative ions at the negatively charged dielectric.
Abstract
Based on the analysis of electron density Ne profiles (Grahamstown ionosonde), a case study of the height‐dependent ionospheric response to two 27‐day solar rotation periods in 2019 is performed. A well‐defined sinusoidal response is observed for the period from 27 April 2019 to 24 May 2019 and reproduced with a Thermosphere‐Ionosphere‐Electrodynamics General Circulation Model simulation. The occurring differences between model and observations as well as the driving physical and chemical processes are discussed based on the height‐dependent variations of Ne and major species. Further simulations with an artificial noise free sinusoidal solar flux input show that the Ne delay is defined by contributions due to accumulation of O+ at the Ne peak (positive delay) and continuous loss of O2+ ${\mathrm{O}}_{2}^{+}$ in the lower ionosphere (negative delay). The neutral parts' 27‐day signatures show stronger phase shifts. The time‐dependent and height‐dependent impact of the processes responsible for the delayed ionospheric response can therefore be described by a joint analysis of the neutral and ionized parts. The return to the initial ionospheric state (and thus the loss of the accumulated O+) is driven by an increase of downward transport in the second half of the 27‐day solar rotation period. For this reason, the neutral vertical winds (upwards and downwards) and their different height‐dependent 27‐day signatures are discussed. Finally, the importance of a wavelength‐dependent analysis, statistical methods (superposed epoch analysis), and coupling with the middle atmosphere is discussed to outline steps for future analysis.
This study evaluated the impact of a defined plasma treated water (PTW) when applied to various stages within fresh-cut endive processing. The quality characteristic responses were investigated to establish the impact of the PTW unit processes and where PTW may be optimally applied in a model process line to retain or improve produce quality. Different stages of application of PTW within the washing process were investigated and compared to tap water and chlorine dioxide. Fresh-cut endive (Cichorium endivia L.) samples were analyzed for retention of food quality characteristics. Measurements included color, texture, and nitrate quantification. Effects on tissue surface and cell organelles were observed through scanning electron and atomic force microscopy. Overall, the endive quality characteristics were retained by incorporating PTW in the washing process. Furthermore, promising results for color and texture characteristics were observed, which were supported by the microscopic assays of the vegetal tissue. While ion chromatography detected high concentrations of nitrite and nitrate in PTW, these did not affect the nitrate concentration of the lettuce tissue post-processing and were below the concentrations within EU regulations. These results provide a pathway to scale up the industrial application of PTW to improve and retain quality characteristic retention of fresh leafy products, whilst also harnessing the plasma functionalized water as a process intervention for reducing microbial load at multiple points, whether on the food surface, within the process water or on food-processing surfaces.
AbstractThe 2022 Roadmap is the next update in the series of Plasma Roadmaps published by Journal of Physics D with the intent to identify important outstanding challenges in the field of low-temperature plasma (LTP) physics and technology. The format of the Roadmap is the same as the previous Roadmaps representing the visions of 41 leading experts representing 21 countries and five continents in the various sub-fields of LTP science and technology. In recognition of the evolution in the field, several new topics have been introduced or given more prominence. These new topics and emphasis highlight increased interests in plasma-enabled additive manufacturing, soft materials, electrification of chemical conversions, plasma propulsion, extreme plasma regimes, plasmas in hypersonics, data-driven plasma science and technology and the contribution of LTP to combat COVID-19. In the last few decades, LTP science and technology has made a tremendously positive impact on our society. It is our hope that this roadmap will help continue this excellent track record over the next 5–10 years.
AbstractMagneto-optical (MO) effects, viz. magnetically induced changes in light intensity or polarization upon reflection from or transmission through a magnetic sample, were discovered over a century and a half ago. Initially they played a crucially relevant role in unveiling the fundamentals of electromagnetism and quantum mechanics. A more broad-based relevance and wide-spread use of MO methods, however, remained quite limited until the 1960s due to a lack of suitable, reliable and easy-to-operate light sources. The advent of Laser technology and the availability of other novel light sources led to an enormous expansion of MO measurement techniques and applications that continues to this day (see section 1). The here-assembled roadmap article is intended to provide a meaningful survey over many of the most relevant recent developments, advances, and emerging research directions in a rather condensed form, so that readers can easily access a significant overview about this very dynamic research field. While light source technology and other experimental developments were crucial in the establishment of today’s magneto-optics, progress also relies on an ever-increasing theoretical understanding of MO effects from a quantum mechanical perspective (see section 2), as well as using electromagnetic theory and modelling approaches (see section 3) to enable quantitatively reliable predictions for ever more complex materials, metamaterials, and device geometries. The latest advances in established MO methodologies and especially the utilization of the MO Kerr effect (MOKE) are presented in sections 4 (MOKE spectroscopy), 5 (higher order MOKE effects), 6 (MOKE microscopy), 8 (high sensitivity MOKE), 9 (generalized MO ellipsometry), and 20 (Cotton–Mouton effect in two-dimensional materials). In addition, MO effects are now being investigated and utilized in spectral ranges, to which they originally seemed completely foreign, as those of synchrotron radiation x-rays (see section 14 on three-dimensional magnetic characterization and section 16 on light beams carrying orbital angular momentum) and, very recently, the terahertz (THz) regime (see section 18 on THz MOKE and section 19 on THz ellipsometry for electron paramagnetic resonance detection). Magneto-optics also demonstrates its strength in a unique way when combined with femtosecond laser pulses (see section 10 on ultrafast MOKE and section 15 on magneto-optics using x-ray free electron lasers), facilitating the very active field of time-resolved MO spectroscopy that enables investigations of phenomena like spin relaxation of non-equilibrium photoexcited carriers, transient modifications of ferromagnetic order, and photo-induced dynamic phase transitions, to name a few. Recent progress in nanoscience and nanotechnology, which is intimately linked to the achieved impressive ability to reliably fabricate materials and functional structures at the nanoscale, now enables the exploitation of strongly enhanced MO effects induced by light–matter interaction at the nanoscale (see section 12 on magnetoplasmonics and section 13 on MO metasurfaces). MO effects are also at the very heart of powerful magnetic characterization techniques like Brillouin light scattering and time-resolved pump-probe measurements for the study of spin waves (see section 7), their interactions with acoustic waves (see section 11), and ultra-sensitive magnetic field sensing applications based on nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond (see section 17). Despite our best attempt to represent the field of magneto-optics accurately and do justice to all its novel developments and its diversity, the research area is so extensive and active that there remains great latitude in deciding what to include in an article of this sort, which in turn means that some areas might not be adequately represented here. However, we feel that the 20 sections that form this 2022 magneto-optics roadmap article, each written by experts in the field and addressing a specific subject on only two pages, provide an accurate snapshot of where this research field stands today. Correspondingly, it should act as a valuable reference point and guideline for emerging research directions in modern magneto-optics, as well as illustrate the directions this research field might take in the foreseeable future.
Abstract
Identifying materials with an efficient spin-to-charge conversion is crucial for future spintronic applications. In this respect, the spin Hall effect is a central mechanism as it allows for the interconversion of spin and charge currents. Spintronic material research aims at maximizing its efficiency, quantified by the spin Hall angle and the spin-current relaxation length . We develop an all-optical contact-free method with large sample throughput that allows us to extract and . Employing terahertz spectroscopy and an analytical model, magnetic metallic heterostructures involving Pt, W and Cu80Ir20 are characterized in terms of their optical and spintronic properties. The validity of our analytical model is confirmed by the good agreement with literature DC values. For the samples considered here, we find indications that the interface plays a minor role for the spin-current transmission. Our findings establish terahertz emission spectroscopy as a reliable tool complementing the spintronics workbench.
The absolute density of the metastable N2(A,v=0) molecule was extensively studied in nitrogen barrier discharges at 500 mbar. For the detection of the metastables laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy (LIF) was used, at which for the calibration of the absoute metastables density a comparison with Rayleigh scattering was performed. To get the ratio of the LIF signal to the Rayleigh signal it is shown that the LIF signal is the convolution of the Rayleigh signal with an exponential decay. Besides, the different cross sections are calculated and the ratio of the detection sensitivities at the laser and fluorescence wavelength is determined. As a first step on the way to atmospheric pressure barrier discharges, the laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy was implemented in low pressure capacitively coupled radio-frequency discharges. The determined metastables density in the capacitively coupled radio-frequency discharge is somewhat below 10^12 cm^(-3) at 40 Pa and somewhat below 10^13 cm^(-3) at 1000 Pa. The axial density profiles show a nearly symmetric shape due to the long lifetime of the metastable state. At a pressure of 500 mbar the two discharge modes of the barrier discharge, the filamentary and the diffuse mode, were analysed. The filamentary mode was mainly investigated in an asymmetric discharge configuration. Typical densities in the detection volume are in the range of 10^13 cm^(-3), resulting in maximal densities of up to 10^15 cm^(-3) in the microdischarge channel. Such large densities are in agreement with the fast decay by the pooling reaction after the maximum of the metastables density in the afterglow of the discharge pulse. The time dependent measurements in the afterglow of single microdischarges offer a delay of the metastables production with respect to the discharge current. This delay indicates that the metastables production takes place mostly by cascades from higher triplet states, which are in turn excited by electron impact. The axial density profiles show a maximum in metastables density in front of the anode in agreement with optical emission spectroscopy, but which cannot be clearly identified because of the asymmetric discharge configuration. The measurements for the diffuse discharge mode were performed in a symmetric discharge configuration. The metastables density is in the range of 10^13 cm^(-3). It increases during the current pulse of the discharge and decays afterwards. The maximum of the metastables density is delayed with respect to the maximum of the discharge current. The depletion of metastables in the early discharge afterglow is dominated by the pooling reaction, afterwards quenching by nitrogen atoms becomes important assuming a nitrogen atom density in the order of 10^14 cm^(-3). As for the filamentary mode, the losses by diffusion are negligible for the measurement positions. The measured axial density profiles show an accumulation of metastables in front of the anode, whereas the density in front of the cathode is below the detection limit. To calculate the metastables current density to the dielectrics after the discharge pulse a simulation is developed including the dominant volume processes for the depletion of metastables and the axial diffusion. Starting point for the simulation is the axial metastables density distribution at the end of the discharge pulse. The calculated metastables current density at the dielectrics is in the range of 10^14 cm^(-2)s^(-1). With the use of recently calculated secondary electron emission coefficients a comparison of the secondary electron emission by metastables with the discharge current is done. It is figured out that the secondary electron emission current is large enough to be important during the discharge ignition. To expand the simulation to the whole voltage cycle, the excitation of metastables is assumed to be proportional to the discharge current and electron density. Using this model, the measured time dependences of the metastables density are well reproduced for the investigated parameter variations. This is not the case for the axial profiles, where a metastables loss process is missed to explain the formation of a density plateau in front of the anode during the discharge pulse. The intended calculation of the metastables current density shows that the delay of the metastables production with respect to the discharge current might be responsible for the ignition of microdischarges at the beginning of the discharge pulse.
This thesis contains studies on a special class of topological insulators, so called anomalous Floquet topological insulators, which exclusively occur in periodically driven systems. At the boundary of an anomalous Floquet topological insulator, topologically protected transport occurs even though all of the Floquet bands are topologically trivial. This is in stark contrast to ordinary topological insulators of both static and Floquet type, where the topological invariants of the bulk bands completely determine the chiral boundary states via the bulk-boundary correspondence. In anomalous Floquet topological insulators, the boundary states are instead characterized by bulk invariants that account for the full dynamical evolution of the Floquet system.
Here, we explore the interplay between topology, symmetry, and non-Hermiticity in two-dimensional anomalous Floquet topological insulators. The central results of this exploration are (i) new expressions for the topological invariants of symmetry-protected anomalous Floquet topological phases which can be efficiently computed numerically, (ii) the construction of a universal driving protocol for symmetry-protected anomalous Floquet topological phases and its experimental implementation in photonic waveguide lattices, (iii) the discovery of non-Hermitian boundary state engineering which provides unprecedented possibilities to control and manipulate the topological transport of anomalous Floquet topological insulators.
Surface Stoichiometry and Depth Profile of Tix-CuyNz Thin Films Deposited by Magnetron Sputtering
(2021)
This work study a monolayer of branched poly(ethyleneimine (PEI) adsorbed onto oppositely charged surfaces with iron chelates or iron ions in the absorption solution. The conformation of adsorbed PEI is explored in the dependence of the composition of the adsorption solution by measuring the surface forces using atomic force microscopy (AFM) with the colloidal probe (CP) at different ionic strengths (INaCl) in surrounding aqueous solution. The surface coverage of these layers is investigated using X-ray reflectivity.
PEI solutions show different pH values with iron chelates (pH = 3), iron ions (pH = 4.67) or pure water (pH = 9.3) at room temperature. Low surface coverage of PEI at pH = 3 adjusted by monovalent ions was also observed. However, adsorbing PEI with iron ions or iron chelates and washing with pure water shifts the pH, leading to an adsorbed PEI layer with high coverage. In our observation, the influence of iron ions and iron chelates on the surface coverage of PEI film is stronger than the pH effect. PEI adsorbed from a pure water solution shows flat conformation. Surface force measurements with CP show that PEI adsorbed from solutions containing iron chelates or iron ions cause almost identical steric forces. The thickness of the brush L is determined as a function of the ionic INaCl in the measuring solution. It scales as a polyelectrolyte brush.
The maximum number density of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) adsorbed onto the PEI brushes was identical and larger than on flatly adsorbed PEI. On the PEI layer with the larger surface coverage, the AuNPs aggregate; on the PEI layer with the lower surface coverage they do not aggregate. Taken together, these results contribute to understanding the mechanisms determining surface coverage and conformation of PEI and demonstrate the possibility of controlling surface properties, which is highly desirable for potential future applications.
In this thesis, we also investigate the top layer (PSS and PDADMA) of polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) films. PEM films were prepared by sequential adsorption of oppositely charged PEs on solid substrates. PEM films consist of polydiallyldimethylammonium (PDADMA) as polycation and the polystyrene sulfonate (PSS) as polyanion. PDADMA has a smaller linear charge density than PSS. For this system, two different growth regimes are known: parabolic and linear. I studied the top layer (PSS and PDADMA) conformation of PEM films and how the structure of this top layer is affected by increasing the number of PDADMA/PSS layer pairs N and the addition of salt to the surrounding solution.
The INaCl was changed during the force-distance measurements. PSS terminated films always show electrostatic forces at INaCl < 0.1 M and flat conformation. The surface charge density is always negative at INaCl < 0.1 M. The surface charge of the PSS top layer starts to turn from negative to positive at N ≥ 14. At N between 13 and 15, adsorbed PSS cannot compensate all the excess PDADMA charge. This leads to an accumulation of the positive extrinsic sites within the PSS terminated film beyond a specific N. At INaCl ≈ 0.1 M, an exponential decaying force was measured. This is an indication of unusual long-ranged hydration force (decay length λ-1 ≈ 0.2-0.5 nm), and PSS terminated film shows zwitterionic or neutral surface. At INaCl > 0.1 M, a non-electrostatic action occurs and the PSS terminated film reswells in solution.
PDADMA terminated surface consisting of few layers show a flat conformation and the electrostatic forces were measured. For N ≥ 9 and INaCl ≤ 0.1 M, steric forces were measured. The force-distance profiles are well-explained by Alexander and de Gennes theory. PDADMA chains show a maximum L that is around 40-45 % of the contour length. For INaCl ≈ 0.1 M, and N > 9, a flat, neutral or zwitterionic surface is found (λ-1 ≈ 0.3-0.9 nm). For N = 9 and INaCl > 0.1 M, a strong screening of electrostatic interaction and attractive forces are observed. For N > 9 and INaCl > 0.1 M, the ion adsorption into the PE chains leads to an increase in the monomer size and as a result, the L increases and PDADMA brushes reswell again into the solution.
These data show that by varying N and INaCl, different surface forces can be obtained: Electrostatic forces (flat chains) both positive and negative, steric forces (brush), hydration force (flat, neutral or zwitterionic surface), and effects not yet explained (reswelling brush).
The concept of the electron surface layer introduced in this thesis provides a framework for the description of the microphysics of the surplus electrons immediately at the wall and thereby complements the modelling of the plasma sheath. In this work we have considered from a surface physics perspective the distribution and build-up of an electron adsorbate on the wall as well as the effect of the negative charge on the scattering of light by a spherical particle immersed in a plasma. In our electron surface layer model we treat the wall-bound electrons as a wall-thermalised electron distribution minimising the grand canonical potential and satisfying Poissons equation. The boundary between the electron surface layer and the plasma sheath is determined by a force balance between the attractive image potential and the repulsive sheath potential and lies in front of the crystallographic interface. Depending on the electron affinity x, that is the offset of the conduction band minimum to the potential in front of the surface, two scenarios for the wall-bound electrons are realised. For x<0 electrons do not penetrate into the solid but are trapped in the image states in front of the surface where they form a quasi two-dimensional electron gas. For x>0 electrons penetrate into the conduction band where they form an extended space charge. These different scenarios are also reflected in the electron kinetics at the wall which control the sticking coefficient and the desorption time. If x<0 electrons from the plasma cannot penetrate into the solid. They are trapped in the image states in front of the surface. The transitions between unbound and bound states are due to surface vibrations. Trapping of electrons is mediated by one-phonon transitions and takes place in the upper bound states. Owing to the large binding energy of the lowest bound state transitions from the upper bound states to the lowest bound state are due to multi-phonon processes. For low surface temperatures relaxation to the lowest bound state takes place while for higher temperature a relaxation bottleneck emerges. Desorption occurs in cascades for systems without relaxation bottleneck and as a one-way process in systems with a relaxation bottleneck. From the perspective of plasma physics the most important result is that the sticking coefficient for electrons is relatively small, typically on the order of 0.001. For x>0 electron physisorption takes place in the conduction band. For this case sticking coefficients and desorption times have not been calculated yet but in view of the more efficient scattering with bulk phonons, responsible for electron energy relaxation in this case, we expect them to be larger than for the case of x<0. Finally, we have studied the effects of surplus electrons on the scattering of light by a spherical particle. For x<0 the electrons form a spherical electron gas around the particle and their electrical conductivity modifies the boundary condition for the magnetic field. For x>0 the electrons in the bulk of the particle modify the refractive index through their bulk electrical conductivity. In both cases the conductivity is limited by scattering with surface or bulk phonons. Surplus electrons lead to an increase of absorption at low frequencies and, most notably, to a blue-shift of an extinction resonance in the infrared. This shift is proportional to the charge and is strongest for submicron-sized particles. The particle charge is also revealed in a blue-shift of the rapid variation of one of the two polarisation angles of the reflected light. From our work we conclude that the electron affinity is an important parameter of the surface which should affect the charge distribution as well as the charge-up. Therefore, we encourage experimentalists to study the charging of surfaces or dust particles as a function of x. Interesting in this respect is also if or under what conditions the electron affinity of a surface exposed to a plasma remains stable. Moreover, we suggest to use the charge signatures in Mie scattering to measure the particle charge optically. This would allow a charge measurement independent of the plasma parameters and could be applied to nano-dust where conventional methods cannot be applied.
Surface charge measurements on different dielectrics in diffuse and filamentary barrier discharges
(2017)
Abstract
Previously, we reported on the measurement of surface charges during the operation of barrier discharges (BDs) using the electro-optic Pockels effect of a bismuth silicon oxide (BSO) crystal. With the present work, the next milestone is achieved by making this powerful method accessible to various dielectrics which are typically used in BD configurations. The dynamics and spatial distribution of positive and negative surface charges were determined on optically transparent borosilicate glass, mono-crystalline alumina and magnesia, respectively, covering the BSO crystal. By variation of the nitrogen admixture to helium and the pressure between 500 mbar and 1 bar, both the diffuse glow-like BD and the self-stabilized discharge filaments were operated inside of a gas gap of 3 mm. The characteristics of the discharge and, especially, the influence of the different dielectrics on its development were studied by surface charge diagnostics, electrical measurements and ICCD camera imaging. Regarding the glow-like BD, the breakdown voltage changes significantly by variation of the cathodic dielectric, due to the different effective secondary electron emission (SEE) coefficients. These material-specific SEE yields were estimated using Townsend’s criterion in combination with analytical calculations of the effective ionization coefficient in helium with air impurities. Moreover, the importance of the surface charge memory effect for the self-stabilization of discharge filaments was quantified by the recalculated spatio-temporal behavior of the gap voltage.
The active screen plasma nitrocarburizing (ASPNC) technology is a state-of-the-art plasma-assisted heat treatment for improving surface hardness and wear resistance of metallic workpieces based on thermochemical diffusion. In comparison to conventional plasma nitrocarburizing, the use of an active screen (AS) improves thermal homogeinity at the workload and reduces soot formation. Further it can serve as a chemical source for the plasma processes, e.g. by use of an AS made of carbon-fibre reinforced carbon. This compilation of studies investigates the plasma-chemical composition of industrial- and laboratory-scale ASPNC plasmas, predominantly using in-situ laser absorption spectroscopy with lead-salt tuneable diode lasers, external-cavity quantum cascade lasers, and a frequency comb. In this way the temperatures and concentrations of the dominant stable molecular species HCN, NH3, CH4, C2H2, and CO, as well as of less prevelant species, were recorded as functions of e.g. the pressure, the applied plasma power, the total feed gas flow and its composition. Additionally, the diagnostics were applied to a chemically similar plasma-assisted process for diamond deposition.
Resulting from this thesis are new insights into the practical application of an AS made of CFC, the plasma-chemistry involving hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon, and the particular role of CO as an indicator for reactor contamination. The effect of the feed gas composition on the resulting nitrogen- and carbon-expanded austenite layers was proven by combination of in-situ laser absorption spectroscopy with post-treatment surface diagnostics. Furthermore this work marks the first use of frequency comb spectroscopy with sub-nominally resolved Michelson interferometry for investigation of a low-pressure molecular discharge. This way the rotational bands of multiple species were simultaneously measured, resulting in temperature information at a precision hitherto not reached in the field of nitrocarburizing plasmas.
The stratospheric aerosol layer plays an important role in the radiative balance of Earth primarily through scattering of solar radiation. The magnitude of this effect depends critically on the size distribution of the aerosol. The aerosol layer is in large part fed by volcanic eruptions strong enough to inject gaseous sulfur species into the stratosphere. The evolution of the stratospheric aerosol size after volcanic eruptions is currently one of the biggest uncertainties in stratospheric aerosol science. We retrieved aerosol particle size information from satellite solar occultation measurements from the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III mounted on the International Space Station (SAGE III/ISS) using a robust spectral method. We show that, surprisingly, some volcanic eruptions can lead to a decrease in average aerosol size, like the 2018 Ambae and the 2021 La Soufrière eruptions. In 2019 an intriguing contrast is observed, where the Raikoke eruption (48∘ N, 153∘ E) in 2019 led to the more expected stratospheric aerosol size increase, while the Ulawun eruptions (5∘ S, 151∘ E), which followed shortly after, again resulted in a reduction in the values of the median radius and absolute distribution width in the lowermost stratosphere. In addition, the Raikoke and Ulawun eruptions were simulated with the aerosol climate model MAECHAM5-HAM. In these model runs, the evolution of the extinction coefficient as well as of the effective radius could be reproduced well for the first 3 months of volcanic activity. However, the long lifetime of the very small aerosol sizes of many months observed in the satellite retrieval data could not be reproduced.
Based on distributions of local Green's functions we present a stochastic approach to disordered systems. specifically we address Anderson localisation and cluster effects in binary alloys. Taking Anderson localisation of Holstein polarons as an example we discuss how this stochastic approach can be used for the investigation of interacting disordered systems.
In this thesis, a stereoscopic camera system is presented that is designed for the use on parabolic flights for the investigation of dusty plasmas under microgravity conditions. This camera system consists of three synchronously triggered high-speed cameras observing a common volume of approximately (15 × 15 × 15) mm³ size. In this volume, the three-dimensional trajectories of a large number of particles surrounded by a dense dust cloud were reconstructed. For this task an intricate set of reconstruction algorithms has been developed, including a four-frame linking algorithm and a complex combined 2D/3D tracking algorithm for a reliable tracking of 3D particles. Furthermore, these algorithms effectively suppress so-called ghost particles in the evaluation process which are reconstructed from falsely identified 2D particle correspondences. Dusty plasmas under microgravity conditions are of special interest due to their complex structure and the variety of observable dynamic phenomena. Under typical discharge conditions, a central dust-free void is formed, surrounded by a dense particle cloud. Since the void is inherently dust-free, particles shot into the void can be uniquely identified and used to probe plasma properties inside this region. In the dust cloud itself, processes like self-excited dust-density waves can be observed under suitable experimental conditions. Using the presented camera setup and reconstruction algorithms, two parts of a dusty plasma under microgravity on parabolic flights are investigated. Initially, the force field creating and sustaining the central void is deduced and characterized. The combination of ion drag and electric field force is measured and compared to current models of the ion drag, showing a good agreement with these models. While previous investigations on the forces were limited to two-dimensional slices through the void, our measurements represent the first three-dimensional quantitative analysis of a large fraction of the void region. From this analysis the structure of the force field is determined and separated into a radial and a non-radial (or orthogonal) contribution. It is shown that the radial contribution dominates in the central void, while non-radial forces increase in magnitude close to the void edge. The radial domination is also observed in the velocity distribution of the probe particles which is significantly shifted to radially outward directed velocities for particles leaving the void. Assuming a strictly radial force profile in the horizontal mid-plane of the void, the friction coefficient determining the interaction of the probe particles with the neutral gas background is experimentally determined and shown to match the theoretical expectation. Subsequently, particles at the outer surface of the dust cloud are reconstructed. There, the particles are found to oscillate due to dust-density waves propagating through the high-density dust cloud. For the investigation of the correlation between waves and oscillating particles, the instantaneous wave and oscillation properties are determined and the instantaneous phase difference is obtained. Modeling the probe particles as driven, damped harmonic oscillators, these phase differences between waves and particles are interpreted with respect to the resonance frequency of the oscillating particles. Spatial variations of the phase difference are observed that may be attributed to different frequencies of the dust-density waves, or to changes of the resonance frequency induced by changing local plasma parameters. From a few measurements of particles oscillating at their resonance frequency, information about the surrounding plasma or properties of the particles themselves can be deduced. However, a larger number of reconstructed trajectories is necessary in order to interpret the phase differences on a reliable data basis. The presented camera setup in combination with the evaluation algorithms is a flexible system for the investigation of three-dimensional dusty plasmas. Its robust construction allows the operation of the system in challenging environments such as on parabolic flights, where spatial limitations and vibrations produced by the aircraft make special demands on such a diagnostic tool. This versatility makes our stereoscopic camera setup and the reconstruction process a suitable standard diagnostic for the application with dusty plasmas; this system will therefore be used in future research amongst other things for the investigation of boundary layers in extended three-dimensional dust clouds under microgravity.
In this work, 2-dimensional measurements in the THz frequency range with self-made spintronic THz emitters were presented. The STE were used to optimize the spatial resolution and determine the magnetization in geometric shapes. At the beginning, various combinations of FM and NM layers were produced and measured to achieve an optimal composition of the STE. The layer thickness of the ferromagnetic CoFeB layer and the nonmagnetic PT layer was also varied. The investigations have shown that a layer combination of 2 nm thick CoFeB and 2 nm thick Pt, applied to a fused silica glass substrate and covered with a 300 nm thick SiO2 layer, emits the highest THz amplitude. Based on these, a structured sample, consisting of an STE and an additional layer system of 5 nm Cr and 100 nm Au, was produced. Further, three wedge-shaped structures were removed from the gold layer by an etching process so that the THz radiation generated by the STE can pass through these areas. This enables the optimization of the resolution of the system. For this purpose, the sample was moved perpendicular to the laser beam by two stepping motors with a step size of 5 μm and imaged 2-dimensionally. By reducing the step size to 0.2 μm, the beam diameter could be measured at the edge of the structure using the knife-edge method. Based on this measurement, the resolution of the system could be determined as 5.1 ± 0.5 μm at 0.5 THz, 4.9 ± 0.4 μm at 1 THz, and 5.0 ± 0.5 μm at 1.5 THz. These results are confirmed by simulations considering the propagation of THz wave packets through the SiO2. The expansion of the FWHM of the waves, passing through the 300 nm thick layer, is about 1%. Only a SiO2 layer with a thickness in the μm range occurs an expansion of around 10%. This shows that it is possible to perform 2-dimensional THz spectroscopy with a resolution in the dimension of the exciting laser beam by using near-field optics. Afterward, the achieved spatial resolution was used to investigate the influence of external magnetic fields on the STE and the emitted THz radiation. By implementing a pair of coils above the sample, an external magnetic field could be applied parallel to the pattern. The used sample was designed in such a way that only certain geometric areas on the fused silica glass substrate were coated with an STE so that THz radiation is emitted only in those areas. The 2-dimensional images show the geometric structures for f = 1.0 THz and f = 1.5 THz clearly. By applying a permanent, positive magnetic field (+M), a positive course of the THz amplitude can be seen. A rotation of the magnetic field by 180° (-M) leads to a reversal of the orientation of the emitted THz radiation, whereby the magnetic field does not influence the corresponding frequency spectrum. By using minor loops, the sample was demagnetized by the constant reduction of the magnetic field strength with alternating magnetic field direction. The 2-dimensional representation of the pattern with a step size of 10 μm shows that the sample was demagnetized since both, positively and negatively magnetized structures, could be imaged. In addition, in the 2nd row from the top, a completely demagnetized circle and a rectangle with a division into two domains can be seen. These structures have both positive and negative magnetized areas, which are separated by a domain wall. To investigate this in more detail a 2-dimensional measurement of the divided regions was made with a step size of 2.5 μm. These images confirm the division of the structures into positive and negative domains, separated by a domain wall, which was verified by Kerr-microscope measurements. Both data show a similar course of the domains and the domain wall. However, to be able to examine the domain wall more precisely using 2-dimensional THz spectroscopy, the resolution of the system must be improved to a range of a few nm, because the expected domain wall width is between 𝑙𝑊 = 12.56 nm and 𝑙𝑊 = 125.6 nm. The improved resolution would make it possible to image foreign objects, such as microplastics in biological cells or tissue. For this purpose, different plastics, such as polypropylene, polyethylene, and polystyrene, were investigated in the THz frequency range up to 4 THz. While no specific absorption could be determined for PP, characteristic absorption peaks were found for PE and PS. The energy of the photons with a frequency of about 2.2 THz excites lattice vibrations in the PE. Therefore, this frequency is specifically absorbed, and the intensity in the transmission spectrum is lower than for other frequencies. PS absorbs especially THz radiation with a frequency of 3.2 THz. In addition, all of the investigated plastics are mostly transparent for THz radiation, which makes imaging of these materials feasible. Based on these basic properties, it will be possible to image and identify these types of plastic.
We investigate local THz field generation using spintronic THz emitters to enhance the resolution for micrometer-sized imaging. Far-field imaging with wavelengths above 100 µm limits the resolution to this order of magnitude. By using optical laser pulses as a pump, THz field generation can be confined to the area of laser beam focusing. The divergence of the generated THz beam due to laser beam focusing requires the imaged object to be close to the generation spot at a distance below the THz field wavelength. We generate THz-radiation by fs-laser pulses in CoFeB/Pt heterostructures, based on spin currents, and detect them by commercial low-temperature grown-GaAs (LT-GaAs) Auston switches. The spatial resolution of THz radiation is determined by applying a 2D scanning technique with motorized stages allowing step sizes in the sub-micrometer range. Within the near-field limit, we achieve spatial resolution in the dimensions of the laser spot size on the micrometer scale. For this purpose, a gold test pattern is evaporated on the spintronic emitter separated by a 300 nm SiO2 spacer layer. Moving these structures with respect to the femtosecond laser spot, which generates THz radiation, allows for resolution determination. The knife-edge method yields a full-width half-maximum beam diameter of 4.9 +- 0.4 µm at 1 THz. The possibility to deposit spintronic emitter heterostructures on simple glass substrates makes them attractive candidates for near-field imaging in many imaging applications.
Three-dimensional (3D) dynamical properties of fast particles being injected into the void region of a dusty plasma under microgravity conditions have been measured. For that purpose, a stereoscopic camera setup of three cameras has been developed that is able to track and reconstruct the 3D trajectories of individual dust particles. From more than 500 particle trajectories, the force field inside the void region and its influence on particle movement are derived and analyzed in 3D. It is shown that the force field is dominated by forces pointing radially out of the void and that this radial character is reflected in the velocity distributions of particles leaving the void. Furthermore, the structure of the force field is used for measuring the neutral gas friction for the particles inside the void.
Solar Activity Driven 27‐Day Signatures in Ionospheric Electron and Molecular Oxygen Densities
(2022)
Abstract
The complex interactions in the upper atmosphere, which control the height‐dependent ionospheric response to the 27‐day solar rotation period, are investigated with the superposed epoch analysis technique. 27‐day signatures describing solar activity are calculated from a solar proxy (F10.7) and wavelength‐dependent extreme ultraviolet (EUV) fluxes (Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics/Solar EUV Experiment), and the corresponding 27‐day signatures describing ionospheric conditions are calculated from electron density profiles (Pruhonice ionosonde station) and O2 density profiles (Global‐scale Observations of the Limb and Disk). The lag analysis of these extracted signatures is applied to characterize the delayed ionospheric response at heights from 100 to 300 km and the impact of major absorption processes in the lower (dominated by O2) and upper ionosphere (dominated by O) is discussed. The observed variations of the delay in these regions are in good agreement with model simulations in preceding studies. Additionally, the estimated significance and the correlation of the delays based on both ionospheric parameters are good. Thus, variations such as the strong shift in 27‐day signatures for the O2 density at low heights are also reliably identified (up to half a cycle). The analysis confirms the importance of ionospheric and thermospheric coupling to understand the variability of the delayed ionospheric response and introduces a method that could be applied to additional ionosonde stations in future studies. This would allow to describe the variability of the delayed ionospheric response spatially, vertically and temporally and therefore may contribute further to the understanding of processes and improve ionospheric modeling.
We report on the effect of solar variability at the 27-day and the 11-year timescales on standard phase height measurements in the ionospheric D region carried out in central Europe. Standard phase height corresponds to the reflection height of radio waves (for constant solar zenith distance) in the ionosphere near 80 km altitude, where NO is ionized by solar Lyman radiation. Using the superposed epoch analysis (SEA) method, we extract statistically highly significant solar 27-day signatures in standard phase heights.
The 27-day signatures are roughly inversely correlated to solar proxies, such as the F10.7 cm radio flux or the Lyman-flux. The sensitivity of standard phase height change to solar forcing at the 27-day timescale is found to be in good agreement with the sensitivity for the 11-year solar cycle,suggesting similar underlying mechanisms. The amplitude of the 27-day signature in standard phase height is larger duringsolar minimum than during solar maximum, indicating that the signature is not only driven by photoionization of NO.We identified statistical evidence for an influence of ultra-long planetary waves on the quasi 27-day signature of standard phase height in winters of solar minimum periods.
In this thesis, size-sensitive phenomena of three-dimensional dust crystals emerged in a low temperature plasma are presented. Depending on the number of particles in the system phase transitions, collective vortex motions and large-scaled expansions can be observed. To investigate these fascinating effects an advanced experimental setup as well as new evaluation methods have been developed. This thesis will present these new techniques and the gained insights.
The controlled formation and adjustment of size and density of magnetic skyrmions in Ta/CoFeB/MgO trilayers with low Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction is demonstrated. Close to the out-of-plane to in-plane magnetic spin reorientation transition, we find that small energy contributions enable skyrmion formation in a narrow window of 20 pm in CoFeB thickness. Zero-field stable skyrmions are established with proper magnetic field initialization within a 10 pm CoFeB thickness range. Using magneto-optical imaging with quantitative image processing, variations in skyrmion distribution and diameter are analyzed quantitatively, the latter for sizes well below the optical resolution limit. We demonstrate the controlled merging of individual skyrmions. The overall demonstrated degree of comprehension of skyrmion control aids to the development of envisioned skyrmion based magnetic memory devices.
Ion trajectories have been simulated for an assembly of a linear quadrupole ion-filter and a linear Paul trap with additional pin electrodes for MS SPIDOC, a project in preparation for the study of biomolecules by single-particle imaging with X-ray pulses. The ion-optical components are based on digital RF guiding and trapping fields. In order to carefully handle biomolecules over a wide mass-over-charge range, the module presented consists of separate components for filtering and accumulation/trapping in order to select the ions of interest and to convert the beam from a continuous ion source to ion bunches, respectively, as required for the experiments downstream. The present analysis focuses on the transmission efficiency and mass resolving power of the filter, as well as the buffer-gas-pressure-dependent ion capture and thermalization in the trap for the example of a mass-to-charge ratio equivalent to hemoglobin 15+ ions. The resulting optimized ion bunch delivered by the assembly is characterized.
There is a wide variety of Alfvén waves in tokamak and stellarator plasmas. While most of them are damped, some of the global eigenmodes can be driven unstable when they interact with energetic particles. By coupling the MHD code CKA with the gyrokinetic code EUTERPE, a hybrid kinetic-MHD model is created to describe this wave–particle interaction in stellarator geometry. In this thesis, the CKA-EUTERPE code package is presented. This numerical tool can be used for linear perturbative stability analysis of Alfvén waves in the presence of energetic particles. The equations for the hybrid model are based on the gyrokinetic equations. The fast particles are described with linearized gyrokinetic equations. The reduced MHD equations are derived by taking velocity moments of the gyrokinetic equations. An equation for describing the Alfvén waves is derived by combining the reduced MHD equations. The Alfvén wave equation can retain kinetic corrections. Considering the energy transfer between the particles and the waves, the stability of the waves can be calculated. Numerically, the Alfvén waves are calculated using the CKA code. The equations are solved as an eigenvalue problem to determine the frequency spectrum and the mode structure of the waves. The results of the MHD model are in good agreement with other sophisticated MHD codes. CKA results are shown for a JET and a W7-AS example. The linear version of the EUTERPE code is used to study the motion of energetic particles in the wavefield with fixed spatial structure, and harmonic oscillations in time. In EUTERPE, the gyrokinetic equations are discretized with a PIC scheme using the delta-f method, and both full orbit width and finite Larmor radius effects are included. The code is modified to be able to use the wavefield calculated externally by CKA. Different slowing-down distribution functions are also implemented. The work done by the electric field on the particles is measured to calculate the energy transfer between the particles and the wave and from that the growth rate is determined. The advantage of this approach is that the full magnetic geometry is retained without any limiting assumptions on guiding center orbits. Extensive benchmarks have been performed to test the new CKA-EUTERPE code. Three tokamak benchmarks are presented, where the stability of TAE modes are studied as a function of fast particle energy, or in one case as a function of the fast particle charge. The benchmarks show good agreement with other codes. Stellarator calculations were performed for Wendelstein 7-AS and the results demonstrate that the finite orbit width effects tend to be strongly stabilizing.
To suit a wide variety of space mission profiles, different designs of ion thrusters were developed, such as the High‐Efficiency‐Multistage‐Plasma thrusters (HEMP‐T). In the past, the optimization of ion thrusters was a difficult and time‐consuming process and evolved experimentally. Because the construction of new designs is expensive, cheaper methods for optimization were sought‐after. Computer‐based simulations are a cheap and useful method towards predictive modelling. The physics in HEMP‐T requires a kinetic model. The Particle‐in‐Cell (PIC) method delivers self‐consistent solutions for the plasmas of ion thrusters, but it is limited by the high amount of computing time required to study a specific system. Therefore, it is not suited to explore a wide operational and design space. An approach to decrease computing time is self‐similarity scaling schemes, which can be derived from the kinetic equations. One specific self‐similarity scheme is investigated quantitatively in this work for selected HEMP‐Ts, using PIC simulations. The possible application of the scaling is explained and the limits of this approach are derived.
The influence of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) on the middle atmosphere (MA) and particularly on MA temperature is of interest for both the understanding of MJO-induced teleconnections and research on the variability of the MA. We analyze statistically the connection of the MJO and the MA zonal mean temperature based on observations by the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) satellite instrument. We consider all eight MJO phases, different seasons and the state of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO). We show that MA temperature anomalies are significantly related to the MJO and its temporal development. The MJO signal in the zonal mean MA temperature is characterized by a particular spatial pattern in the MA, which we link to the interhemispheric coupling (IHC) mechanism, as a major outcome of this study. The signal with the largest magnitude is found in the polar MA during boreal winter with temperature deviations on the order of ±10 K when the QBO at 50 hPa is in its easterly phase. Other atmospheric conditions and locations also exhibit temperature signals, which are, however, weaker or noisier. We also analyze the change in the temperature signal while the MJO progresses from one phase to the next. We find a gradual altitude shift in parts of the IHC pattern, which can be seen more or less clearly depending on the atmospheric conditions.
The statistical link between the MJO and the MA temperature highlights illustratively the far-reaching connections across different atmospheric layers and geographical regions in the atmosphere. Additionally, it highlights close linkages of known dynamical features of the atmosphere, particularly the MJO, the IHC, the QBO and sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs). Because of the wide coverage of atmospheric regions and included dynamical features, the results might help to further constrain the underlying dynamical mechanisms and could be used as a benchmark for the representation of atmospheric couplings on the intraseasonal timescale in atmospheric models.
Abstract
Single self-stabilized discharge filaments were investigated in the plane-parallel electrode configuration. The barrier discharge was operated inside a gap of 3 mm shielded by glass plates to both electrodes, using helium-nitrogen mixtures and a square-wave feeding voltage at a frequency of 2 kHz. The combined application of electrical measurements, ICCD camera imaging, optical emission spectroscopy and surface charge diagnostics via the electro-optic Pockels effect allowed the correlation of the discharge development in the volume and on the dielectric surfaces. The formation criteria and existence regimes were found by systematic variation of the nitrogen admixture to helium, the total pressure and the feeding voltage amplitude. Single self-stabilized discharge filaments can be operated over a wide parameter range, foremost, by significant reduction of the voltage amplitude after the operation in the microdischarge regime. Here, the outstanding importance of the surface charge memory effect on the long-term stability was pointed out by the recalculated spatio-temporally resolved gap voltage. The optical emission revealed discharge characteristics that are partially reminiscent of both the glow-like barrier discharge and the microdischarge regime, such as a Townsend pre-phase, a fast cathode-directed ionization front during the breakdown and radially propagating surface discharges during the afterglow.
We examine the turbulence driven by the ion and electron temperature gradients in selected magnetic configurations of the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator. The inherent flexibility in the configuration space of W7-X enables us to find candidate configurations manifesting low turbulent transport. We follow insights gained by stellarator optimization techniques, in order to identify key geometric features, which are directly related to the ion and electron heat fluxes produced by plasma turbulence. One such a feature is the flux expansion at locations where the curvature is particularly unfavourable. Starting from a configuration routinely used in the W7-X experiment, we end up with an optimized configuration. Based on this equilibrium, we select a configuration from W7-X configuration database with a similar feature as the optimized one. With the help of nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations, we show that the heat flux in this configuration is less stiff than in the initial configuration, both for ion temperature gradient and electron temperature gradient turbulence.
The lateral movement in lipid membranes depends on their diffusion constant within the membrane. However, when the flux of the subphase is high, the convective flow beneath the membrane also influences lipid movement. Lipid monolayers of an unsaturated fatty acid at the water–air interface serve as model membranes. The formation of domains in the liquid/condensed coexistence region is investigated. The dimension of the domains is fractal, and they grow with a constant growth velocity. Increasing the compression speed of the monolayer induces a transition from seaweed growth to dendritic growth. Seaweed domains have broad tips and wide and variable side branch spacing. In contrast, dendritic domains have a higher fractal dimension, narrower tips, and small, well-defined side branch spacing. Additionally, the growth velocity is markedly larger for dendritic than seaweed growth. The domains’ growth velocity increases and the tip radius decreases with increasing supersaturation in the liquid/condensed coexistence region. Implications for membranes are discussed.
A research of the temperature effect of the muon cosmic ray (CR) component on the MuSTAnG super telescope data (Greifswald, Germany) for the whole period of its work (from 2007) was carried out. The primary hourly telescope's data were corrected for the temperature effect, using vertical temperature atmospheric profile at the standard isobaric levels obtained from the GFS model. To estimate the model accuracy and applicability the air sounding data for some years were used.
AbstractWe propose a new scattering mechanism of Rydberg excitons, i.e., those with high principal quantum numbers, namely scattering by coupled LO phonon-plasmon modes, which becomes possible due to small differences in energies of the states due to different quantum defects. Already in very low-density electron–hole plasmas these provide a substantial contribution to the excitonic linewidth. This effect should allow determining plasma densities by a simple line shape analysis. Whenever one expects that low-density electron–hole plasma is present the plasmon induced broadening is of high significance and must be taken into account in the interpretation.
Modern space missions depend more and more on electric propulsion devices for in-space
flights. The superior efficiency by ionizing the feedgas and propelling them using electric
fields with regard to conventional chemical thrusters makes them a great alternative. To
find optimized thruster designs is of high importance for industrial applications. Building
new prototypes is very expensive and takes a lot of time. A cheaper alternative is to rely
on computer simulations to get a deeper understanding of the underlying physics. In order
to gain a realistic simulation the whole system has to be taken into account including the
channel and the plume region. Because numerical models have to resolve the smallest time
and spatial scales, simulations take up an unfeasible amount of time. Usually a self-similarity
scaling scheme is used to greatly speed up these simulations. Until now the limits of this
method have not been thoroughly discussed. Therefore, this thesis investigates the limits
and the influence of the self-similarity scheme on simulations of ion thrusters. The aim
is to validate the self-similarity scaling and to look for application oriented tools to use
for thruster design optimization. As a test system the High-Efficiency-Multistage-Plasma
thruster (HEMP-T) is considered.
To simulate the HEMP-T a fully kinetic method is necessary. For low-temperature plasmas,
as found in the HEMP-T, the Particle-in-Cell (PIC) method has proven to be the best
choice. Unfortunately, PIC requires high spatial and temporal resolution and is hence
computationally costly. This limits the size of the devices PIC is able to simulate as well
as limiting the exploration of a wider design space of different thrusters. The whole system
is physically described using the Boltzmann and Maxwell equations. Using these system
of equations invariants can be derived. In the past, these invariants were used to derive a
self-similarity scaling law, maintaining the exact solution for the plasma volume, which is
applicable to ion thrusters and other plasmas. With the aid of the self-similarity scaling
scheme the computation cost can be reduced drastically. The drawback of the geometrical
scaling of the system is, that the plasma density and therefore the Debye length does not
scale. This expands the length at which charge separation occurs in respect to the system
size. In this thesis the limits of this scaling are investigated and the influence of the scaling
at higher scaling factors is studied. The specific HEMP-T design chosen for these studies is
the DP1.
Because the application of scaling laws is limited by the increasing influence of charge separation with increased scaling, PIC simulations still are computationally costly. Another approach to explore a wider design space is given using Multi-Objective-Design-Optimization
(MDO). MDO uses different tools to generate optimized thruster designs in a comparatively
short amount of time. This new approach is validated using the PIC method. During this
validation the drawback of the MDO surfaces. The MDO calculations are not self-consistent
and are based on empirical values of old thruster designs as input parameters, which not
necessarily match the new optimized thruster design. By simulating the optimized thruster
design with PIC and recalculate the former input parameters, a more realistic thruster design is achieved. This process can be repeated iteratively. The combination of self-consistent
PIC simulations with the performance of MDO is a great way to generate optimized thruster
designs in a comparatively short amount of time. The proof of concept of such a combination
is the pinnacle of this thesis.
Response of Osteoblasts to Electric Field Line Patterns Emerging from Molecule Stripe Landscapes
(2022)
Molecular surface gradients can constitute electric field landscapes and serve to control local cell adhesion and migration. Cellular responses to electric field landscapes may allow the discovery of routes to improve osseointegration of implants. Flat molecule aggregate landscapes of amine- or carboxyl-teminated dendrimers, amine-containing protein and polyelectrolytes were prepared on glass to provide lateral electric field gradients through their differing zeta potentials compared to the glass substrate. The local as well as the mesoscopic morphological responses of adhered osteoblasts (MG-63) with respect to the stripes were studied by means of Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy (SICM) and Fluorescence Microscopy, in situ. A distinct spindle shape oriented parallel to the surface pattern as well as a preferential adhesion of the cells on the glass site have been observed at a stripe and spacing width of 20 μm. Excessive ruffling is observed at the spindle poles, where the cells extend. To explain this effect of material preference and electro-deformation, we put forward a retraction mechanism, a localized form of double-sided cathodic taxis.
We investigate the equilibration of nonideal plasmas from initial states where each species has already established a Maxwellian distribution, but the species temperatures and the chemical composition are not in equilibrium. On the basis of quantum kinetic equations, we derive hydrodynamic balance equations for the species densities and temperatures. The coupled density-temperature relaxation is then given in terms of the energy transfer between the subsystems and the population kinetics. We use the Landau-Spitzer approach for the energy transfer rates and a system of rate equations to describe the nonequilibrium plasma composition. Nonideality corrections are included in the rate coefficients and as potential energy contributions in the temperature equations on the simplest level of a Debye shift.
Quantum-Kinetic Modeling of Electron Release in Low-Energy Surface Collisions of Atoms and Molecules
(2012)
In this work we present a theoretical description of electron release in the collision of atomic and molecular projectiles with metallic and especially dielectric surfaces. The associated electron yield, the secondary electron emission coefficient, is an important input parameter for numerical simulations of dielectric barrier discharges and other bounded low-temperature gas discharges. The available reference data for emission coefficients is, however, very sparse and often uncertain, especially for molecular projectiles. With the present work we aim to contribute to the filling of these gaps by providing a flexible and easy-to-use model that allows for a convenient calculation of the emission coefficient and related quantities for a wide range of projectile-surface systems and the most dominant reaction channels.
Modern cavity QED and cavity optomechanical systems realize the interaction of light with mesoscopic devices, which exhibit discrete (atom-like) energy spectra or perform micromechanical motion. In this thesis we have studied the crossover from the quantum regime to the classical limit of two prototypical models, the Dicke model and the generic optomechanical model. The physical problems considered in this approach range from a ground state phase transition, its dynamical response to general nonequilibrium dynamics including Hamiltonian and driven dissipative chaotic motion. The classical limit of these models follows from the classical limit of at least one of its subsystems. The classical equations of motion result from the respective quantum equations through the application of the semiclassical approximation, i.e., the neglect of quantum correlations. The approach of the results from quantum mechanics to the prediction of the classical equations can be obtained by subsequently decreasing the respective scaling parameter. In order to obtain exact results we have utilized advanced numerical methods, e.g., the Lanczos diagonalization method for ground state calculations, the Kernel Polynomial Method for dynamical response functions, Chebyshev recursion for time propagation, and quantum state diffusion for open system dynamics. We have studied the quantum phase transition of the Dicke model in the classical oscillator limit. Our work shows that in this limit the transition occurs already for finite spin length but with the same critical behavior as in the classical spin limit. We have derived an effective model for the oscillator degrees of freedom and have discussed the differences of both classical limits with respect to quantum fluctuations around the mean-field ground state and spin-oscillator entanglement. In this thesis we have proposed a variational ansatz for the Dicke model which extends the mean-field description through the inclusion of spin-oscillator correlations. The ansatz becomes correct in the limit of large oscillator frequency and in the limit of a large spin. For the latter it captures the leading quantum corrections to the classical limit exactly including the spin-oscillator entanglement entropy. We have studied the dynamics of spin and oscillator coherent states in the nonresonant Dicke model at weak coupling. In this regime periodic collapses and revivals of Rabi oscillations occur, which are accompanied by the buildup and decay of atom-field entanglement. The spin-oscillator wave function evolves into a superposition of multiple field coherent states that are correlated with the spin configuration. In our work we provide a description of the underlying dynamical mechanism based on perturbation theory. Our analysis shows that collapse and revival at nonresonance is distinguished from the resonant case treated within the rotating wave approximation by the appearance of two time scales instead of one. We have extended our study of the Dicke dynamics to the case of increasing spin length, as the system approaches the classical spin limit. We described the emergence of collective excitations above the ground state that converge to the coupled spin-oscillator oscillations observed in the classical limit. With increased spin length the corresponding Green functions thus reveal quantum dynamical signatures of the quantum phase transition. For the dynamics at larger coupling and energy, classical phase space drift and quantum diffusion hinders the direct comparison of quantum and classical observables. As we show in our work, signatures of classical quasiperiodic orbits can be identified in the Husimi phase-space functions of the propagated wave function and individual eigenstates with energies close to that of the quasiperiodic orbits. The analysis of the generic optomechanical system complements our study of cavity QED systems by a quantum dissipative system. In this thesis we have shown for the first time, how the route to chaos in the classical optomechanical system takes place, given as a sequence of consecutive period doubling bifurcations of self-induced cantilever oscillations. In addition to the semiclassical dynamics we have analyzed the possibility of chaotic motion in the quantum regime. Our results showed that quantum mechanics protects the optomechanical system against irregular dynamics. In sufficient distance to the semiclassical limit simple periodic orbits reappear and replace the classically chaotic motion. In this way direct observation of the dynamical properties of an optomechanical system makes it possible to pin down the crossover from quantum to classical mechanics.
Nanoengineering and laser optics allow for the fabrication of a wide range of systems that subject fermionic particles to geometric restrictions. In addition to strong correlations, the fermions may couple to internal or external bosonic fields, such as quantized lattice vibrations or light fields. This thesis considers the theoretical description of two such systems. One is a molecular junction, i.e., a small organic molecule contacted by metallic electrodes or leads. Itinerant electrons induce molecular vibrations and deformations, corresponding to phonon modes of considerable energy. The thesis investigates the effects of this local electron-phonon interaction on the electric and thermoelectric transport through the junction. Starting with an Anderson-Holstein quantum dot model, our ansatz is based on the application of a variational Lang-Firsov transformation that accounts for the polaronic character of the dot state. We solve the steady-state Kadanoff-Baym equations and derive a self-consistent approximation to the polaronic self-energy that accounts for finite densities and multi-phonon scattering processes. The optimal variational parameter is determined numerically by minimizing the thermodynamical potential. This allows a detailed study of the electronic dot spectral function for all interaction strengths and adiabaticity regimes. For instance, we discuss how a voltage dependent polaronic renormalization of the dot-lead coupling and the dot level causes negative differential conductance and novel conductance features. The investigation of the second system is motivated by recent experiments on the Bose-Einstein condensation of excitons in small semiconducting cuprous oxide crystals. At ultra cold temperatures three species of para- and orthoexcitons are caught in stress induced potential traps. Their decay luminescence is the primary method of detection. This thesis considers the thermodynamics of this system in terms of a multicomponent gas of weakly interacting bosons in external potentials. The coupled equations of motion are solved within a Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov-Popov approximation. For typical experimental parameters the density distributions of the interacting species are calculated numerically. Based on the luminescence formula by Shi and Verechaka we discuss, e.g., how the spectrum of the direct decay of thermal paraexcitons may reveal the formation of a nonluminescent paraexciton condensate as well as the spatial separation of strongly repulsive orthocondensates. First results for an extended luminescence theory are presented, which takes into account the polariton effect.
The realistic description of the physical processes in quantum optical systems requires careful investigation of the interplay between quantum dissipation and entanglement generation. In this thesis, we have considered from a microscopical perspective the entanglement generation in semiconductor microcavities at short times, the dissipative evolution of the quantum harmonic oscillator towards a stationary state, and the nonclassical properties of the asymptotic states of different photonic systems. In our description of two-dimensional semiconductor microcavities we showed that two different pump configurations can be used to stimulate parametric scattering processes between polaritons that lead to the generation of internal polariton entanglement. A moving polariton induces an ultrafast electric polarisation as a source of light that serves as a probe of the internal entanglement properties. The identification of the nonclassical correlations of the emitted photons is based on entanglement witnesses that can also be used for the quantification of entanglement, e.g., in terms of the Schmidt number. The simultaneous creation of multiple branch entangled photon pairs renders it possible to generate an arbitrary number of entangled qubit states. By adjusting the number of pump beams and their spectral properties, one can optimize the Bell-type correlations within one ore more of those entangled qubits. Quantum dissipation can be studied in a microscopic setting with the well known model of a central oscillator coupled linearly to a bath of harmonic oscillators. We showed that equilibration of the central oscillator is the generic behaviour, which is prevented only in situations in which the classical oscillator equation of motion possesses undamped oscillatory solutions. Because of its localised spectral function, the infinite linear harmonic chain is an example for this behaviour. Thermalisation of the central oscillator depends on additional conditions. Equipartition of kinetic and potential energies requires the weak damping limit but is independent on the initial condition. The initial bath preparation enters the asymptotic temperature. Essential for the thermalisation of several oscillators is, that the asymptotic temperature is independent of the central oscillator frequency, which is fulfilled if the initial bath energy distribution matches that of a thermal state. Nevertheless, because this condition involves the sum of kinetic and potential energy, full thermalisation is possible in environments with nonthermal individual energy distributions, even in those far from thermal equilibrium. We showed, that even in the absence of full thermalisation the fluctuations of the central oscillator follow a generalised fluctuation dissipation theorem that reduces to the well known thermal result whenever the central oscillator thermalises in the strict sense. Photonic systems such as two-level emitters in a cavity or semiconductor microcavities are employed in quantum optics applications. The realistic theoretical description of the physical processes requires the use of methods from quantum optics as well as fromthe field of quantum dissipation. Our focus was on the correct theoretical description of the emission from systems with strong coupling. The analysis of the light generated by emitters in a cavity reveals a non-trivial dependence of the photon statistics on the light-matter coupling and temperature. Clearly identifiable parameters regimes with sub- and super-Poissonian photon statistics appear at strong and ultrastrong coupling, and lie immediately next to each other. We provided an approximate rule to relate the emission characteristics for a single emitter to those obtained for few emitters under an appropriate scaling of the emitter-cavity coupling. In accordance with this rule, the generation of noncassical light is easier with more emitters. The outright failure of the quantum optical master equation at predicting any of the features observed in the emission statistics shows that using the correct master equation is essential in all situations. Including internal dissipation channels we showed that a continuously driven semiconductor microcavity generates entangled light even at infinitely large times. The entanglement generation is thus robust against decoherence under realistic experimental conditions. Because the pair correlations between polaritons can sustain over long times and distances in these solid-state devices, a microcavity is a highly efficient source of entangled light and therefore well suited for quantum optics applications.
The pulse length dependence of a reactive high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) discharge with a tungsten cathode in an argon+oxygen gas mixture gas was investigated. The HiPIMS discharge is operated with a variable pulse length of 20–500 µs. Discharge current measurements, optical emission spectroscopy of neutral Ar, O, and W lines, and energy-resolved ion mass spectrometry are employed. A pronounced dependence of the discharge current on pulse length is noted while the initial discharge voltage is maintained constant. Energy-resolved mass spectrometry shows that the oxygen-to-tungsten (O+/W+) and the tungsten oxide-to-tungsten (WO+/W+) ion ratio decreases with pulse length due to target cleaning. Simulation results employing the SDTrimSP program show the formation of a non-stoichiometric sub-surface compound layer of oxygen which depends on the impinging ion composition and thus on the pulse length.
This thesis presents the production of polyanionic clusters within two ion storage devices:
Considering a Penning trap, the accessible range of polyanionic aluminium clusters has been expanded up to the 10th charge state. In particular, abundance curves for clusters with 5 to 9 excess electrons have been measured for the first time and analysed with respect to their lifetime-dependent appearance sizes. These sizes reveal a nearly quadratic dependency on the charge state for experimentally accessible lifetimes.
Additionally, the production of polyanionic clusters has been enabled in a radiofrequency ion trap. Therefore, the transition from a harmonic to a digital 2- and 3-state guiding signal has been investigated with respect to the ion storage. The passing of electrons through the trap during field-free periods of the guiding signal led to the first production of polyanionic clusters within a radiofrequency ion trap.
The rapid neutron-capture or the r-process is responsible for the origin of about half of the neutron-rich atomic nuclei in the universe heavier than iron. For the calculation of the abundances of those nuclei, atomic masses are required as one of the input parameters with very high precision. In the present work, the masses of the neutron-rich Zn isotopes (A=71 to 81) lying in the r-process path have been measured in the ISOLTRAP experiment at ISOLDE/CERN. The mass of 81Zn has been measured directly for the first time. The half-lives of the nuclides ranged from 46.5 h (72Zn) down to 290 ms (81Zn). In case of all the nuclides, the relative mass uncertainty (∆m/m) achieved was in the order of 1E-8 corresponding to a 100-fold improvement in precision over previous measurements.
Abstract
Alkali ion beams are among the most intense produced by the ISOLDE facility. These were the first to be studied by the ISOLTRAP mass spectrometer and ever since, new measurements have been regularly reported. Recently the masses of very neutron-rich and short-lived cesium isotopes were determined at ISOLTRAP. The isotope 148Cs was measured directly for the first time by Penning-trap mass spectrometry. Using the new results, the trend of two-neutron separation energies in the cesium isotopic chain is revealed to be smooth and gradually decreasing, similar to the ones of the barium and xenon isotopic chains. Predictions of selected microscopic models are employed for a discussion of the experimental data in the region.
In this work, studies with respect to the exhaust problem were performed
in the stellarator experiment Wendelstein 7-X with different target concepts and different magnetic field geometries. Different infrared cameras were used to study the heat flux from the plasma onto the PFC. In the first publication, the limiter set-up was used with a simpler magnetic topology in the plasma edge. The radial fall-off of the parallel heat flux for inboard limiters in W7-X shows, similar to inboard limiters in tokamaks, two different radial fall-off lengths, a short (narrow) one, characterizing the near-SOL, and a long (broad) characterizing the far-SOL. For the far-SOL, the heating power and connection length have been identified as the main scaling parameters, while for the near-SOL, the electron temperature close to the LCFS has been identified as the main scaling parameter. The two fall-off lengths differ by a factor 10, and the found scalings for both regimes differ from known models and experimental scalings in tokamaks. A turbulent-driven feature was discussed in the publication as a possible explanation for the behavior of the fall-off length in W7-X.
The gained information and data have been further used to support many
other publications, covering the symmetry of the heat loads, the
energy balance of the machine, and seeding experiments.
The heat exhaust in W7-X with an island divertor was studied in the second
and third publication. Definitions of parameters such as peaking factor and
wetted area were applied for the heterogeneous heat flux pattern on the
W7-X divertor. It was shown that the island divertor concept is capable
of spreading out the heat efficiently, resulting in large wetted areas of up to 1.5 m2. The reached values for the wetted area are comparable to the ones of the larger tokamak JET but with a much smaller ratio of wetted
area to the area of the last closed flux surface. Furthermore, a positive
scaling of the wetted area with the power in the SOL was observed. This
scaling is beneficial for future reactors but needs further investigation of the involved transport processes. The peaking factor (discussed in the second publication) describes how concentrated the heat load is within the region of the strike line. It was shown that this factor is decreasing for increasing densities without affecting the wetted area. The present work paves the way for further analysis of the transport processes of the heat flux towards the island divertor of Wendelstein 7-X.
Synopsis
Polyanionic metal clusters are produced by electron attachment in both Paul and Penning traps. After size and charge-state selection, the cluster properties are further investigated by various methods including photo-dissociation. Depending on the particular cluster species various decay modes are observed.
The development of innovative coatings with multifunctional properties is an ambitious task in modification of material surfaces. A novel approach is a hybrid method combining the non-thermal plasma processing with nanotechnology for the development of multifunctional surface coatings. The conception of the hybrid coating process is based on three steps: the preparation of a suspension consisting of an organic liquid and functional nanoparticles, the deposition of the suspension as a thin liquid film on the material surface, and the plasma modification of the liquid organic film to achieve a thin solid composite film with embedded nanoparticles demonstrating multifunctional properties and good adherence on the substrate material. In this work the liquid polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was applied as a model system, and the experimental investigations were focused on the PDMS plasma modification. In particular, the specific role of the different plasma components and the influence of the plasma and processing parameters on the PDMS modification were studied. The applied capacitively coupled radio frequency (CCRF) plasma was analyzed by electric probe measurements and optical emission spectroscopy, whereas the molecular changes in PDMS due to plasma-induced chemical reactions were studied by the Fourier transform infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy. Additionally, the photocatalytic activity of thin composite films consisting of plasma cross-linked PDMS with embedded TiO2 nanoparticles was demonstrated. During the investigation it was found that the CCRF discharge modifies efficiently thin liquid PDMS films to solid coatings. The samples were positioned in the plasma bulk at floating potential. The penetration depth of particles like neutrals, ions, electrons and radicals in the film is strongly limited. The heating of samples in the CCRF discharge is weak to modify PDMS by itself and only the plasma radiation is able to transform the liquid bulk to solid one. It is known that the absorption onset of PDMS lies in the VUV region (below 200 nm). The energetic VUV radiation penetrates into the PDMS film on a thickness from several hundred nanometers to few micrometers and initiates photochemical reactions there. Thus, different gases like Ar, Xe, O2, H2O, air and H2 were tested to provide the strongest VUV emission intensity of the CCRF discharge. Discharge pressure and power were varied for all these gases and it was found that at all conditions the H2 plasma demonstrates drastically stronger emission. Thus, H2 gas was selected for the plasma treatment of liquid PDMS films. The IRRAS analysis revealed the transformation process of PDMS with the degradation of CH3 groups, the formation of new groups like SiOH, CH2 and SiH, the formation of the SiOx material and crosslinking. It was found that the modification effect is not uniform across the film thickness. The top region with an initial thickness up to 100 nm loses all CH3 groups, in the underlying region the CH3 concentration increases gradually from zero to the value for PDMS, if the film was thick enough. The methyl-free SiOx top layer contains also SiOH and SiH groups. Furthermore, the SiH groups are concentrated only in a very thin layer with a thickness below 10 nm. The presence of the unscreened polar SiOSi and SiOH groups on the surface causes the adsorption of H2O from the atmosphere, which was also observed by IRRAS. By means of the spectroscopic ellipsometry it was found out that all above described regions experience a shrinking. The reason is the crosslinking and loss of material. The most shrunken layer is the top SiOx layer with the shrinking ratio (final thickness/initial thickness) of 0.55 - 0.60. Further, this ratio gradually rise up to the value of 0.95 in the deeper region, which has the concentration of CH3 groups of about that for PDMS. After the analysis of all results the depth of effective modification was estimated at 300 400 nm for the most optimal conditions. The optimization of the plasma VUV intensity was realized by variation of discharge pressure and power. The strongest plasma emission at studied conditions provided the irradiance of the sample of ca. 13 mW/cm2. However, such strong radiation causes very strong production rate of the gases. These products leave the modifying film slower as they are produced, what causes their accumulation in there. Their pressure grows up leading to formation of bubbles, which later explode. Finally, the film becomes heavily damaged. To avoid this effect the pressure and the RF power were changed to reduce the irradiance to 6 - 7 mW/cm2. This resulted in the absence of any damages.
The aim of this thesis is to concentrate on the investigation of these ROS&RNS composition distribution and their production pathways in the gas phase produced by a plasma jet. By understanding the physical mechanisms behind the generation of the ROS&RNS a precise tuning and design of the composition distribution in the gas phase can be achieved. One crucial physical parameter is the dissipated power inside the plasma. Only if this parameter is known a meaningful comparison of different feed gas settings is possible. Therefore, a concept for measuring the dissipated power inside the plasma for the modified micro-scaled atmospheric pressure plasma jet( µAPPJ) is designed. Additionally, due to achievements within this thesis it is now possible to ignite a homogeneous discharge in argon and helium within the geometry of the µAPPJ. The used feed gas is a determining factor concerning the electron energy distribution function and consequently influencing the production mechanism of the ROS&RNS. First of all, the electrical characterisation of the modified µAPPJ was performed including the alpha-to-gamma transition. It is shown that the alpha-to-gamma transition power is increasing with increasing frequency. For the first time it is now feasible to investigate the influence of the dissipated power on the neutral gas temperature, the metastable atom densities and the ROS&RNS production for the modified µAPPJ with argon and helium as feed gas. Due to the possibility of changing the feed gas and controlling the dissipated power a fundamental insight into the production mechanism of the ROS&RNS generated by the plasma jet is achieved. With rising dissipated power the temperature and the metastable densities as well as the ozone and nitrogen dioxide concentrations are increasing. By adding molecular oxygen and nitrogen to the feed gas of a plasma jet the ROS&RNS composition can be tuned. However, also the dissipated power is changed by the small amount of admixtures. Due to the developed dissipated power measurements within this thesis it was possible to disentangle the influence of the admixture on the power and on the ROS&RNS production. If the dissipated power is fixed for the µAPPJ with argon and helium feed gas, respectively, the highest amount of ozone was measured with oxygen admixture in an argon discharge, the highest amount of dinitrogen pentoxide with nitrogen admixture in an argon discharge and the highest amount of nitrogen dioxide with nitrogen admixture in a helium discharge. Beyond the influence of the dissipated power and the molecular admixture on the ROS&RNS production the feed gas temperature is a crucial parameter for the corresponding chemical reactions. By changing this parameter the distribution of ozone and nitrogen dioxide can be tuned precisely in such a way that with increasing temperature the ozone density goes down and the nitrogen dioxide density rises. Another determinant for the ROS&RNS composition produced by an atmospheric pressure plasma jet is the influence of ambient air. If the ambient air is changing from pure nitrogen to pure oxygen atmosphere the ozone density produced by the plasma jet is increasing. For the same conditions the nitrogen dioxide has a maximum at an oxygen-to-nitrogen ratio of 1:1. To avoid the influence of the ambient air on the reactive species production the afterglow of the µAPPJ was prolonged with a glass tube. By increasing the amount of molecular admixtures to the feed gas with each in equal quantities a totally different ROS&RNS composition can be obtained compared without the glass tube. It figures out that for small molecular admixtures the reactive species composition is nitrogen dominated and for higher admixtures it is oxygen dominated. Consequently, by shielding the ambient air from the active effluent and by admixing molecular oxygen and nitrogen the ROS&RNS composition can be designed.
Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations are used to model the MS4 test thruster of Thales Deutschland. Given as input the geometric shape, material components, magnetic field and the operating parameters of the experiment, the model is able to reproduce the experimentally observed emission pattern in the plume. This is determined by the magnetic field line structure and the resulting plasma dynamics in the near-field region close to the exit.
Physics-regularized Machine Learning To Approximate 3D Ideal-MHD Equilibria At Wendelstein 7-X
(2024)
The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equilibrium model is one of the fundamental building blocks in the description of a magnetically confined plasma. The computational cost of constructing solutions to the 3D ideal-MHD equilibrium problem is one of the limiting factors in stellarator research and design; in particular, it limits the extent to which we can perform sample-intensive applications, applications which require many samples to be evaluated to yield meaningful results. Sample-intensive applications in stellarator research and design include, for example, equilibrium reconstruction, stellarator optimization, and flight simulators. In this thesis, we investigate how faithfully artificial neural networks (NNs) can quickly approximate ideal-MHD equilibria in stellarator geometries, starting with Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), the world’s most advanced stellarator. In particular, we investigate (see section 1.7):
RQI: to what extent can NN models approximate the MHD equilibrium solution for different W7-X configurations and plasma profiles? What
is the speed-accuracy trade-off offered by NN models?
RQII: to what degree the NN model faithfully reproduces equilibrium quantities of interest (e. g., MHD stability)? To what extent can NN models meet the requirements of downstream applications (e. g., Bayesian
inference, stellarator optimization) in terms of equilibrium quantities
accuracy?
RQIII: whether we can exploit the implicit representation of a MHD equilibrium, i. e., the equilibrium solution should satisfy the ideal-MHD force
balance equation, to improve the NN approximation’s accuracy;
RQIV: the reconstruction of the full posterior istribution of plasma parameters and equilibrium quantities with self-consistent MHD equilibria; moreover, how does the adoption of MHD equilibria approximated by NN models affect the inferred plasma parameters?
A deep NN model is developed to learn the ideal-MHD solution operator in W7-X operational subspace, yielding 3D equilibria up to six orders of magnitude faster than currently available MHD equilibrium codes. Physics domain knowledge is embeded into the NN model: equilibrium solution symmetries are satisfied by construction, and the MHD force balance regularizes the NN model to satisfy the ideal-MHD equations. The model accurately predicts the equilibrium solution and it faithfully reproduces global equilibrium quantities and proxy functions used in stellarator optimization. Finally, the developed fast NN equilibrium model has been applied in downstream applications to obtain W7-X configurations with improved fast-particle confinement and to infer plasma parameters with self-consistent MHD equilibria at W7-X.
The content of this thesis can be summarized as follows: (i) The deposition processes of SiOx and SiOxCyHz coatings were investigated in a low-pressure, low temperature HMDSO-O2-N2 plasmas. Infrared laser absorption spectroscopy (IRLAS) and optical emission spectroscopy (OES) were combined to measure the gas temperatures in the hot and colder zones of the plasma as well as to monitor the concentration of the methyl radical, CH3, and of seven stable molecules, HMDSO, CH4, C2H2, C2H4, C2H6, CO and CO2. Tunable lead salt diode lasers (TDLs) and an external-cavity quantum cascade laser (EC-QCL) were simultaneously employed as radiation sources to perform the IRLAS measurements. They were found to be in the range between 10^{11} to 10^{15} cm^{−3}. The influence of the discharge parameters of power, pressure and gas mixture on the molecular concentrations was studied. The plasma generation is characterized by a certain degree of inhomogeneity with different temperature zones, i.e., hottest, hot and colder zones depending on the construction of the reactor. This complexity is characterized by the multiple molecular species including the HMDSO precursor and products in ground and excited states existing in the plasma. (ii) Employing similarly IRLAS and OES techniques, the deposition of nanocrystalline diamond at relatively low temperature in low-pressure MW H2 plasmas with small ad-mixtures of methane and carbon dioxide was investigated. Five methods were applied for an extensive temperature analysis, providing new insights into energetic aspects of the multi-component non-equilibrium plasma. The OES method provided information about the gas temperature of H2 inside the MW plasma. Using lead salt diode lasers, the rotational temperature of the methyl radical, CH3 , and gas temperature of methane molecule, CH4 , was measured. A variety of CO lines in the ground and in three excited states have been analysed using an EC-QCL with a relatively wide spectral range. These methods have shown that based on the construction of the DAA reactor using 16 single plasma sources the plasma generation is characterized by a variety of hottest, hot and colder zones. Extensive measurement of these various species temperatures in the complex plasma enabled the concentration determination of the various stable and unstable plasma species, which were found to be in the range between 10 11 to 10 15 cm −3 . The influence of the discharge parameters, power and pressure, on the molecular concentrations has been studied. To achieve insight into general plasma chemical aspects, the dissociation of the carbon precursor gases including their fragmentation and conversion to the reaction products was analysed in detail. The evolution of the concentration of the methyl radical, CH 3 , of five stable molecules, CH4, CO2, CO, C2H2 and C2H4, and of vibrationally excited CO in the first and second hot band was monitored in the plasma processes by in situ infrared laser absorption spectroscopy using lead salt diode lasers (TDL) and an external-cavity quantum cascade laser (EC-QCL) as radiation sources. OES was applied simultaneously to obtain complementary information about the degree of dissociation of the H2 precursor gas. The analysis of the carbon and oxygen mass balances shows clearly, that the deposition on the reactor walls and the production of other hydrocarbons species may act as sinks for carbon and oxygen. (iii) The absolute line strengths of many P-branch transitions of the ν3 fundamental of {28}^SiH4 were determined using the wide tuning range and the narrow line width of a cw EC-QCL between 2096 and 2178 cm^{−1}. The line positions and line strengths of transitions of the stretching dyad within the P-branch of {28}^SiH4 were determined with an estimated experimental measurement accuracy of 10%. The high spectral resolution available has enabled us to resolve and measure representative examples of the tetrahedral splittings associated with each component of the P-branch. The positions of these components are in excellent agreement with spherical top data system (STDS) predictions and theoretical transitions from the TDS spectroscopic database for spherical top molecules. To our knowledge, this is the first reported measurement of these line strengths in this band and is an example of the applicability of high-powered, widely tunable EC-QCLs to high resolution spectroscopy in the MIR. (iv) Similarly, the determination of the silyl radicals, ν3 band, line strengths is ongoing using the same cw EC-QCL. This effort was impaired by silane and other unknown species lines overlap; however, the silyl radicals was successfully detected in a SiH4/H2 plasma. A method to determine the silyl line strengths has been presented through its iterative decay measurements which relied on the value of the silyl radical self reaction constant. There was a consensus of its value in the literature.
Cationic and anionic clusters of the group-14 elements carbon, silicon, germanium, tin, and lead are produced by high-vacuum laser ablation and studied with a multi-reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometer. In-trap photodissociation is performed for cluster species in the size range n=2–10. The clusters’ production rates as well as their dissociation pathways are used to probe the nonmetal–metal transition throughout the group. Carbon clusters show neutral-trimer break-off, while those of the other elements evaporate neutral monomers and, in some cases, form specific charged fragment sizes.
In this thesis, the transport properties of topological insulators are investigated. In contrast to trivial insulators, topological insulators possess conducting boundary states which cross the bulk energy gap that separates the highest occupied electronic band from the lowest unoccupied band. The materials used in this thesis are three-dimensional topological insulators with time-reversal symmetry. Their associated helical surface states are protected against elastic backscattering by Kramers degeneracy. The unique properties of the helical surface states can be utilized to generate spin-polarized currents at the surface of topological insulators and to control their propagation direction. This makes them a promising material class for the field of spintronics.
Here, we perform photocurrent scans of topological insulator Hall bar and nanowire devices. From these measurements, we obtained two-dimensional maps of the polarization-independent and helicity-dependent components of the photocurrents.
We find that the polarization-independent component is dominated by the Seebeck effect and thus driven by thermoelectric currents. On the other hand, the helicity-dependent component is driven by the spin-polarized currents that emerge from the topologically non-trivial helical surface states via the circular photogalvanic effect.
First and foremost, our experiments demonstrate that topological insulator nanowires provide a promising platform for the generation of spin-polarized currents, whose direction can be controlled via the helicity of the excitation light. They also highlight the importance of analysing the spatial distribution of the photocurrent, as we observe a strong enhancement of the spin-polarized current and the thermoelectric current at the interface between the nanowire and the metallic contacts. As our analysis shows, the thermoelectric current is enhanced by the Schottky effect and the spin-polarized current is amplified by the spin Nernst effect. In addition, the spin Nernst effect is also present in Hall bar devices and manifest as an enhancement of the spin-polarized current along the Hall bar sides.
Abstract
The presented experimental system is a barrier discharge system with plane parallel electrodes. The lateral surface charge distribution being deposited on the dielectric layer during each breakdown is observed optically using the well known electro-optic effect (Pockels effect). The temporal resolution of the surface charge measurement has been increased to 200 ns, and so for the first time it is possible to resolve the charge transfer to the dielectric surface in a single breakdown. In the present measurements, a patterned glow-like barrier discharge is investigated. It is found that the charge reversal in a single discharge spot (microdischarge) starts in the centre and then grows outwards. These experimental findings verify previously unconfirmed predictions from earlier numerical calculations and thereby contribute to a better understanding of the interaction between the plasma and the electrical charge on the electrodes.
Abstract
The surface charge distribution deposited by the effluent of a dielectric barrier discharge driven atmospheric pressure plasma jet on a dielectric surface has been studied. For the first time, the deposition of charge was observed phase resolved. It takes place in either one or two events in each half cycle of the driving voltage. The charge transfer could also be detected in the electrode current of the jet. The periodic change of surface charge polarity has been found to correspond well with the appearance of ionized channels left behind by guided streamers (bullets) that have been identified in similar experimental situations. The distribution of negative surface charge turned out to be significantly broader than for positive charge. With increasing distance of the jet nozzle from the target surface, the charge transfer decreases until finally the effluent loses contact and the charge transfer stops.
Three-dimensionally extended dusty plasmas containing mixtures of two particle species of different size have been investigated on parabolic flights. To distinguish the species even at small size disparities, one of the species is marked with a fluorescent dye, and a two-camera video microscopy setup is used for position determination and tracking. Phase separation is found even when the size disparity is below 5%. Particles are tracked to obtain the diffusion flux, and resulting diffusion coefficients are in the expected range for a phase separation process driven by plasma forces. Additionally, a measure for the strength of the phase separation is presented that allows to quickly characterize measurements. There is a clear correlation between size disparity and phase separation strength.
Molecular dynamics simulations of binary dusty plasmas have been performed and their behavior with respect to the phase separation process has been analyzed. Here as well, it is found that even the smallest size disparities lead to phase separation. The separation is due to the force imbalance on the two species and the separation becomes weaker with increasing mean particle size.
In the second part of the thesis, Experiments on self-excited dust-density waves under various magnetic fields have been performed. For that purpose, different dust clouds of micrometer-sized dust particles were trapped in the sheath of a radio frequency discharge. The self-excited dust-density waves were studied for magnetic field strengths ranging from 0 mT to about 2 T. It was observed that the waves are very coherent at the lowest fields (B < 20 mT). At medium fields (20 mT < B < 300 mT), the waves seem to feature a complex competition between different wave modes before, at even higher fields, the waves become more coherent again. At the highest fields (B > 1 T), the wave activity is diminished. The corresponding wave frequencies and wavenumbers have been derived. From the comparison of the measured wave properties and a model dispersion relation, the ion density and the dust charge are extracted. Both quantities show only little variation with magnetic field strength.
An interesting aspect in the research of complex (dusty) plasmas is the experimental study of the interaction of micro-particles with the surrounding plasma for diagnostic purposes. Local electric fields can be determined from the behaviour of particles in the plasma, e.g. particles may serve as electrostatic probes. Since in many cases of applications in plasma technology it is of great interest to describe the electric field conditions in front of floating or biased surfaces, the confinement and behaviour of test particles is studied in front of floating walls inserted into a plasma as well as in front of additionally biased surfaces. For the latter case, the behaviour of particles in front of an adaptive electrode, which allows for an efficient confinement and manipulation of the grains, has been experimentally studied in terms of the dependence on the discharge parameters and on different bias conditions of the electrode. The effect of the partially biased surface (dc and rf) on the charged micro-particles has been investigated by particle falling experiments. In addition to the experiments, we also investigate the particle behaviour numerically by molecular dynamics, in combination with a fluid and particle-in-cell description of the plasma.
Abstract
Experimental studies on dusty plasmas containing systems of (super-)paramagnetic dust particles are presented. In our experiments, external (homogeneous as well as inhomogeneous) magnetic fields in the mT range are applied to study the effect on single particles or few-particle systems that are trapped inside the sheath region. The behavior of the paramagnetic dust particles is considerably different than that of dielectric plastic particles, which are widely used in dusty plasmas. It is revealed that especially non-magnetic contributions play an important role in the interaction between superparamagnetic particles.
Recent experimental campaigns in the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, a
plasma-confining device designed to investigate the Magnetic Confinement Fusion
(MCF) approach to generating electrical power, have shown that the injection of
fuelling pellets had an unexpected and considerable impact on the performance of
the plasma. Rather than simply refuelling the device and `diluting' the plasma
energy, pellet injection is followed by a significant increase in the ratio of
the ion temperature to the electron temperature. It has been suggested that this
is not merely due to the improved confinement following the reduction of
turbulent transport after the pellet material has homogenised with the bulk
plasma, but also due to a direct transfer of energy from electrons to ions. The
proposed mechanism for this energy transfer is the ambipolar expansion of the
pellet plasmoid, the localised plasma structure produced by the
ionisation of ablated pellet material, along magnetic field lines.
Early work on pellet plasmoid expansion predicted that half the heating power
deposited in plasmoid electrons by collisions with hot ambient electrons is
transferred to plasmoid ions in the form of flow velocity as the plasmoid
expands. The complicated nature of the system of the pellet plasmoid embedded in
the ambient plasma, particularly the behaviour of electrons, which experience
many collisional and collisionless phenomena on multiple disparate timescales,
means that early models of the expansion were not wholly self-consistent, but
rather made use of strong approximations that apply in some regions of the
plasmoid but not in others. For example, only electrons and ions associated with
the plasmoid were rigorously treated, meaning that the framework was one of
`expansion into vacuum'. Combined with the assumption of Maxwellian electrons,
this led to an electric potential that was unbounded at infinity. Naturally, the
validity of the conclusions of such a model are called into question because the
approximations lose their validity far from the plasmoid and as time advances,
yet predictions about the final state of the plasma are desired. A deeper
investigation is required: careful consideration of the phenomena in question
and the timescales (and lengthscales) on which they act must be made in order to
rigorously construct a model that is valid throughout the entire expansion.
The first two papers presented in this thesis iterate on the model established
in the paper that first predicted the electron-to-ion energy transfer; their aim
was to find out how the character of the expansion changes with a more
sophisticated and accurate description of various phenomena, while remaining
within the existing framework of expansion into vacuum. Ultimately, we find that
the qualitative character is unchanged, and that approximately half the heating
power deposited in plasmoid electrons is transferred to ions.
Two other papers in this thesis address the limitations of the original model.
This is achieved by properly considering the electron kinetic problem in a
plasmoid. One paper considers the electron kinetic problem when electrons are
highly isotropised. In this case the kinetic equation can be integrated to
remove all but two independent variables, which is the maximum possible
reduction considering it is a time-dependent problem. The full nonlinear
integro-differential Landau self-collision operator is integrated exactly and
few approximations are made, leading to a rather general kinetic equation.
However, for fuelling pellets some anisotropy in the electron distribution is
expected. Another paper considers the electron kinetic problem (and the entire
plasmoid expansion) allowing for electron anisotropy. Careful consideration of
the ordering of timescales of electron phenomena in a pellet plasmoid leads to a
steady-state kinetic problem that we call collisional quasi-equilibrium (QE). QE
appears in many ways similar to the collisional steady-state characterising a
true thermal equilibrium. It was found that the time-dependent kinetic problem
of the earlier paper, with isotropic electrons, produces the QE distribution
function, corroborating the existence of the QE state. We then take moments of
the electron kinetic equation that is valid on the expansion timescale, assuming
that the electron distribution is that given as the solution to the QE kinetic
problem. This is completely analogous to what is done to obtain the Braginskii
equations or any Chapman-Enskog theory. The result is a set of equations for the
long-term evolution of the macroscopic quantities that describe the distribution
function existing in a quasi-steady-state at each point in time. It is from this
point that one may feasibly describe the plasmoid expansion with an accurate
picture of the electron kinetics and finally obtain the electron-to-ion energy
transfer so desired in a rigorous model of the expansion.
From a broader point of view, the two frameworks provided by these rigorous
investigations of the electron kinetic problem serve as a basis for the future
study of plasmoids. Such a `first-principles' approach to plasmoid dynamics is
novel and interesting in its own right, but it will be demonstrated that such an
approach is essential for pellet plasmoids owing to the fact that they are
poorly described by the `standard tools' of plasma physics.
Using the QE framework it was found that, once more, about half the heating
power experienced by plasmoid electrons is transferred to plasmoid ions. The
incredible robustness of the prediction of such an energy transfer is, in the
author's opinion, the result of the self-similar nature of the expansion found
as a solution to the original model. As a rule, the profiles of self-similar
solutions tend to be attractors for the `real', more complicated, system, and
the qualitative predictions involving no parameters, of which the
electron-to-ion energy transfer is one, tend to be very sturdy.
Aside from fuelling pellets, composed of hydrogen or deuterium, one paper in
this thesis investigates the physics of high-Z pellets that are designed to
terminate the plasma safely in the event of a `disruption', where much of the
magnetic field energy is channelled into a runaway electron beam with
potentially disastrous consequences if the beam encounters a plasma-facing
component. The paper draws on the work carried out in the paper concerning the
kinetic problem of isotropised electrons in a plasmoid.
This thesis is `cumulative'; the vast majority of the work carried out is
described within a set of Papers, labelled A-E, placed at the back of the text.
There is a preceding `wrapper text' (given in numbered Sections) tasked with
introducing the reader to the topic, guiding the reader through the papers, and
expounding some of their main results. Some amount of material not present in
the papers is also provided in the wrapper text. Naturally, the wrapper text
mainly focusses on the results of the papers which are under my first
authorship. In the course of publishing papers over an extended period of time
the nomenclature is bound to vary. Although it is mostly consistent between the
papers, a few difference do arise, and the section `Common symbols and
subscripts' is provided in the frontmatter to alleviate confusion. Particular
care should be taken with the symbols x and z; both can refer to the
coordinate parallel to the magnetic field line, but in papers where z is used
for this purpose x tends to have another definition. In the wrapper text the
choice of symbols is generally chosen to reflect those in the corresponding
paper.
The Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) has become an important tool for probing the mechanical properties of cells and microparticles by force-indentation experiments. In this thesis optimized AFM approaches for these experiments are developed and applied to three types of living human cells in order to answer biologically relevant questions about their mechanics. These microscopic investigations are then interpreted with respect to nanoscopic and macroscopic biologic parameters, such as the function of cell surface receptors or the size of human heart ventricles. This thesis comprises two physical/technical chapters and three medical/biological chapters. The physical/technical chapters discuss the measurement process itself, aiming for its improvement with respect to a proper data analysis and contact model (for spherical cells). The medical/biological chapters investigate the elasticity of cells by the use of optimized AFM approaches, with respect to the used data analysis.
The thesis describes experimental results based on optical diagnostics of low- pressure discharges. The models, which are necessary for the interpretation of the experimental data, are developed and simulations are done. The contents can be categorized into the following topics: 1) the time-resolved tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy of excited states of argon in pulsed magnetron discharge and modeling the plasma afterglow; 2) optical emission- and laser absorption spectroscopy of excited states of argon in radio-frequency (rf) discharge and calculation of the escape factor for self-absorption; 3) fast video recording of the oscillatory motion of a dust particle in rf discharge and analysis of the data.
Abstract
In this series of two papers we present results about the E-H transition of an inductively coupled oxygen discharge driven at radio frequency (13.56 MHz) for different total gas pressures. The mode transition from the low density E-mode to the high density H-mode is studied using comprehensive plasma diagnostics. The measured electron density can be used to distinguish between the different operation modes. This paper focuses on the determination of the negative atomic ion density and the electronegativity by two experimental methods and global rate equation calculation. As a result, the electronegativity significantly decreases over two orders of magnitude from about 25 in the E-mode to about 0.1 in the H-mode. The temporal behavior of the electronegativity in pulsed ICP shows that the negative atomic ion density reaches a steady state after 10 ms. Negative atomic ions are mainly produced by the dissociative attachment with the molecular ground state. The ion–ion recombination with the positive molecular ions and the collisional detachment with the singlet molecular metastables contribute significantly to the loss of the negative atomic ions.
Abstract
In this series of two papers, the E-H transition in a planar inductively coupled radio frequency discharge (13.56 MHz) in pure oxygen is studied using comprehensive plasma diagnostic methods. The electron density serves as the main plasma parameter to distinguish between the operation modes. The (effective) electron temperature, which is calculated from the electron energy distribution function and the difference between the floating and plasma potential, halves during the E-H transition. Furthermore, the pressure dependency of the RF sheath extension in the E-mode implies a collisional RF sheath for the considered total gas pressures. The gas temperature increases with the electron density during the E-H transition and doubles in the H-mode compared to the E-mode, whereas the molecular ground state density halves at the given total gas pressure. Moreover, the singlet molecular metastable density reaches 2% in the E-mode and 4% in the H-mode of the molecular ground state density. These measured plasma parameters can be used as input parameters for global rate equation calculations to analyze several elementary processes. Here, the ionization rate for the molecular oxygen ions is exemplarily determined and reveals, together with the optical excitation rate patterns, a change in electronegativity during the mode transition.
The high-latitude phenomenon of noctilucent clouds (NLCs) is characterised by a silvery-blue or pale blue colour. In this study, we employ the radiative transfer model SCIATRAN to simulate spectra of solar radiation scattered by NLCs for a ground-based observer and assuming spherical NLC particles. To determine the resulting colours of NLCs in an objective way, the CIE (International Commission on Illumination) colour-matching functions and chromaticity values are used. Different processes and parameters potentially affecting the colour of NLCs are investigated, i.e. the size of the NLC particles, the abundance of middle atmospheric O3 and the importance of multiply scattered solar radiation. We affirm previous research indicating that solar radiation absorption in the O3 Chappuis bands can have a significant effect on the colour of the NLCs. A new result of this study is that for sufficiently large NLC optical depths and for specific viewing geometries, O3 plays only a minor role for the blueish colour of NLCs. The simulations also show that the size of the NLC particles affects the colour of the clouds. Cloud particles of unrealistically large sizes can lead to a reddish colour. Furthermore, the simulations show that the contribution of multiple scattering to the total scattering is only of minor importance, providing additional justification for the earlier studies on this topic, which were all based on the single-scattering approximation.
A central point of this thesis is the investigation of surface structure and surface forces, which are created by single layers of linear polyelectrolytes (PE). In detail, the properties of cationic poly(allylamine)hydrochloride (PAH) and poly-l-lysine (PLL) and anionic sodium poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) are determined, which have been physisorbed onto oppositely charged silica surfaces in presence of a predefined salt concentration IAds. For these investigations, a new averaging method for colloidal probe (CP) force profiles is developed, which leads to an ultimate force resolution of 1 pN after the data processing, (signal to noise ratio of > 1000). Furthermore, a new kind of tapping mode imaging is presented (so called colloidal probe tapping mode, CPTM), which uses a CP instead of a sharp tip and hence which allows to resolve lateral inhomogeneously distributed surface forces. The basics to understand such-like obtained tapping mode images are developed. For adsorption from salt-free solution (IAds = 0) the dominance of an electrostatic double layer repulsion is observed, which is commonly attributed to the adsorption of the PE chains into a rather flat and compact layer and which is in full agreement with theoretical predictions and enormous experimental data available in literature. However, even a small addition of salt to the deposition solution (i.e. IAds > 1 mM NaCl) introduces a new contribution to the surface force, which is attributed to PE chains that are non-flatly physisorbed. Using scaling considerations, it is shown for all investigated PE that this non-flat conformation can be described by brush-like chain adsorption (cf. Section 3.3.5); other conformations like mushroom or pancake are excluded (cf. Section 5.3). Interestingly, these non-flatly physisorbed chains combine properties of neutral and PE brushes: (i) The force is very well described by the theory of Alexander and de Gennes (AdG, cf. Section 5.4). By fitting the AdG force law to the data, it is possible to determine the (brush) thickness L of the PE layer and the average distance s between brush-like physisorbed chains. Although the chains are charged the electrostatic contribution to the surface forces is too small to be noticeable (cf. Section 5.4.2). (ii) The thickness L of this PE layer is much larger compared to the compact layer (observed for salt-free adsorption) and is also subject to a pronounced swelling and shrinking if the bulk salt concentration I is decreased or increased, respectively. Surprisingly, all measurements indicate that L follows a scaling law known for salted end-grafted PE brushes, i.e. L ~ N (I s^2)^(-1/3) (with N denoting the degree of polymerization). Furthermore, the osmotic brush phase is never observed in the experiments, but chain stretching up to 1 / 3 of the contour length is regularly achieved. CPTM imaging applied to PSS shows that the brush-like physisorbed chains are not homogenously distributed over the surface, but form brush domains which coexist with flatly physisorbed chains (cf. sections 5.5 and 5.6). This clearly shows that PSS generally physisorbs in two distinct phases, which differ in conformation (flat vs. brush) and the surface force caused (electrostatic vs. steric repulsion). The force profile of the two phase system is in good approximation simply the superposition of a steric and an electrostatic repulsion, whereby their respective contribution to the composed force profile is given by their area fraction. The quantitative analysis reveals that L and s of the brush phase are independent on IAds. This is remarkable, as a change in IAds is known to induce a continuous transition between a stretched (low IAds) and coiled chain conformation (high IAds) in the deposition solution (cf. [Fleer1993, Yashiro2002]). Hence, one can conclude that the conformation in solution does not necessarily correspond to the conformation after adsorption. It is also shown that the area fraction A of the brush domains strongly depends on N and IAds. For example, for constant N the scaling relation A ~ sqrt(IAds) is determined, which is very similar to the common observation that the surface coverage %Gamma of adsorbed PE layers increases also with %Gamma ~ sqrt(IAds) [Schmitt1996, Cosgrove1986, Ahrens2001, Yim2000, Gopinadhan2007, Cornelson2010]. This suggest that brush-like physisorbed PE chains are responsible for the increase in %Gamma. In fact, Section 5.6 shows that the mass of the brush phase is approx. 0.5 mg/m² which is comparable to the increase in %Gamma reported in literature for IAds = 1 M NaCl [Cosgrove1986, Schmitt1996, Ahrens2001]. As a change in IAds does not affect L and s, but solely the brush area fraction A, it is argued in Section 5.6 that an increase in IAds can be understood as a phase transition from the (disordered) flat phase towards the (ordered and extended) brush phase. Here, further theoretical considerations would be desirable.
A fluorescent lamp driven with an 'instant start electronic control gear' starts in a glow mode. In the glow mode, which lasts typically for tens of milliseconds, the cathode fall exceeds hundreds of volts. This causes high energy ion bombardment of the electrode which heats the electrode, and induces a transition from glow to arc mode. In the arc mode the electrode emits thermionically and the cathode fall drops to the 12 – 15 V range. Unfortunately, the high energy ion bombardment during the glow mode leads also to intense sputtering of electrode material, including tungsten as well as emitter. Thus, instant started fluorescent lamps often suffer from early failures due to coil fracture. Therefore, the investigation of tungsten erosion during instant start is necessary and was the main goal of this work.
The density of neutral atomic tungsten is determined by laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and optical emission spectroscopy measurements (OES). Investigations are performed on a low-pressure argon dc discharge and on commercial fluorescent lamps. To include the entire temperature profile along the electrode the diffuse and spot operation modes of the dc lamp are studied experimentally and theoretically. The measured dependencies of the cathode temperature along the coil on the discharge and heating parameters are compared with the calculated results. For the first time the tungsten erosion during instant start of commercial fluorescent lamps was experimentally investigated in this work. The erosion process could be related to sputtering. A reconstruction of the temporal evolution of the absolute tungsten population density of the ground state during the glow mode was presented. The sputtered tungsten density increases immediately with the ignition, reaches a maximum where the discharge contracts at the end of the glow mode, and decreases some milliseconds before the glow-to-arc transition takes place. The maximum tungsten density was observed within a region of a few hundred micrometers only located at the discharge attachment point. The main result achieved in this work is that during the whole glow mode tungsten is sputtered. Therefore, the lifetime of instant started fluorescent lamps can be enhanced by reducing the duration of the glow mode. Additionally, the need for the application of different types of diagnostics for the observation of lamp ignition was shown due to different results of LIF, AAS and OES: The observation of excited tungsten atoms by OES shows the maximum emission signal at the glow-to-arc transition whereas by LIF and AAS measurements of tungsten atoms in the ground state the maximum density is found during the whole glow mode. This can be explained by the fact that the intensity of the spontaneous emitted light is related not only to the density but also to the degree of excitation.
In this work, various aspects of fundamental physics and chemistry of molecular gas discharges are presented with emphasis on the interaction between species, activated by low-pressure plasmas, and surfaces. As already known, synergistic effects of multiple plasma-generated species are responsible for surface modification. However, due to the large number of internal parameters of a discharge and the complex plasma processes the identification of correlations between plasma characteristics and their effects on surfaces are complicated. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to improve the understanding of several phenomena associated with plasma–surface interactions by measuring or calculating fundamental kinetic, transport or spectroscopic data needed to interpret measurements and hereby, to support some future applications of plasmas.
The current work is focused on the study of two surface modification plasma processes, (i) the active screen plasma nitriding (ASPN) and nitrocarburizing (ASPNC) for the hardening of ferrous surfaces and (ii) the microwave plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition (MW-PACVD) for the synthesis of single crystal and doped diamond. Conventional and active screen plasma nitriding processes have been investigated in a cylindrical, industrial scale ASPN reactor with a volume of about 1 m3, using low-pressure pulsed dc H2-N2 plasmas with admixtures of CH4 or CO2. The experiments were carried out (i) with the plasma at an internal model probe, (ii) with the plasma at the active screen (floated model probe) and (iii) with the plasma at the active screen and an additional plasma at the biased model probe. For deeper insights in ASPN and ASPNC processes, a laboratory scale plasma nitriding monitoring reactor, PLANIMOR, has been constructed. The main feature of this reactor is the linear configuration of the electrode setup combined with a tubular glass vessel, overcoming the experimental disadvantages of cylindrical laboratory scale ASPN reactors. With the help of infrared laser absorption spectroscopy (IRLAS) the rotational temperature of the stable molecules in the gas phase and the concentrations of the precursor, CH4, and the reaction products (NH3, HCN, C2H2, C2H4, CO, CH3) could be determined in both reactors, depending on the plasma power, the gas mixture, the plasma at the model probe and the admixture of CH4. Furthermore, the admixture of CO2 as the carbon containing precursor has been studied in the ASPN reactor leading to an additional reaction product H2O. The concentration of the molecular species has been found being in a range of 1012 to 1016 molecules cm-3. Also optical emission spectroscopy (OES) has been applied during the studies for analyzing the emission of the plasmas in the nitriding and nitrocarburizing processes. A similar behavior of the plasma chemistry in PLANIMOR comparing to that in the ASPN reactor has been found. Beside the plasma chemical investigations, both reactors have been used for the treatment of C15 steel samples. These samples have been analyzed with the help of GDOES resulting in the elements profile of the treated surfaces. It has been found that samples treated in PLANIMOR reach comparable nitriding results as samples treated in the ASPN reactor. Another focus of interest during the investigations about plasma nitrocarburizing has been the application of a carbon containing screen electrode as carbon source. For this purpose the carbon containing precursor and the steel screen have been substituted by a meshed carbon electrode, acting as the active screen. This change of the setup leads to a decrease of the NH3 production by a factor of 2.5 and an increase of the concentrations of HCN by a factor of 30 and of C2H2 by a factor of 70. The investigations of MW-PACVD processes used for diamond layer deposition have been carried out in a jacketed stainless steel reactor (JR), dedicated to the deposition of single crystalline diamond under high pressure and plasma power conditions. Using H2-plasmas with admixtures of CH4 and B2H6, the experiments were carried out in order to analyze the dependence of the plasma chemistry on several parameters, such as plasma power, pressure and gas mixture, in a wide pressure (p = 25…270 mbar) and power range (P = 0.6…4 kW). Using IRLAS the concentrations of six molecular species (B2H6, CH4, C2H2, C2H4, C2H6, CH3) have been monitored. With the help of OES the concentration of atomic boron could be determined. The concentrations of the detected molecular and atomic species were found to be in a range of 1010 to 1017 cm-3. With the help of the line-ratio-method the rotational temperature of the stable molecules has been determined. The temperature increased with pressure and power from 340 to 425 K. Using the Doppler broadening of the absorption line of CH3 at ν = 612,413 cm-1, the gas temperature has found to be Tg = (2000 ± 200) K under lower pressure and power conditions. For the H2-CH4 gas mixture, the experimental obtained molecular densities have been compared to those of a 1D-radial thermochemical model. The calculated radial densities have been integrated axially. For the same range the chemical processes in JR have been compared with those in a bell-jar (BJ) reactor. The hydrocarbon chemistry in JR has found to be similar to that in a BJ reactor.
The term atomic cluster relates to compounds of at least two or three atoms. Thereby the physical properties are size dependent and the property transitions between single atoms and bulk material are not always smooth. Ion traps allow it to observe internal cluster properties independent from the influence of external forces. In this work the electron induced decay of singly negatively charged atomic clusters was observed. The dissociation cross section of the clusters is dominated by detachment of the only weakly bound outer electrons. For simple atoms at low electron energies a simple scaling law can be obtained that includes only the binding energies of the valence electrons. Nevertheless for larger sizes theoretical calculations predict so called "giant resonances" as dominant decay process in metal clusters. Due to mass limitations in storage rings exist so far only cross section measurements for simple anions and small negative molecules. In this work the electron detachment cross sections of small negatively charged carbon (Cn- n=2-12), aluminium (Aln- n=2-7) and silver clusters (Agn- n=1-11) were measured in an electrostatic ion beam trap. The classical scaling law, including only the binding energies of the valence electrons, turned out to be not sufficient, especially for larger clusters. In order to improve the correlation between measured and predicted values it was proposed to involve the influence of the cluster volume and the specific polarisability induced by long range coulomb interaction. For silver clusters the best agreement was obtained using a combination of the projected area reduced by the polarisability. The existence of "giant resonances" could not be confirmed. According to theory for clusters with a broad internal energy distribution, a power-law decay close to 1/time is expected. For some clusters the lifetime behaviour would be strongly quenched by photon emission. The thermionic evaporative decay of anionic aluminium and silver clusters in a size range from one to ten constituents was tested but a correlation could be only found incidentally for a few cluster sizes.
In this work we will analyse the capabilities of several numerical techniques for the description of different physical systems. Thereby, the considered systems range from quantum over semiclassical to classical and from few- to many-particle systems. For each case we address an interesting, partly unsolved question. Despite the different topics we address in the individual chapters, the problems under study are somehow related because we focus on the time evolution of the system. In chapter 1 we investigate the behaviour of a single quantum particle in the presence of an external disordered background (static potentials). Starting from the quantum percolation problem, we address the fundamental question of a disorder induced (Anderson-) transition from extended to localised single-particle eigenstates. Distinguishing isolating from conducting states by applying a local distribution approach for the local density of states (LDOS), we detect the quantum percolation threshold in two- and three-dimensions. Extending the quantum percolation model to a quantum random resistor model, we comment on the possible relevance of our results to the influence of disorder on the conductivity in graphene sheets. Furthermore, we confirm the localisation properties of the 2D percolation model by calculating the full quantum time evolution of a given initial state. For the calculation of the LDOS as well as for the Chebyshev expansion of the time evolution operator, the kernel polynomial method (KPM) is the key numerical technique. In chapter 2 we examine how a single quantum particle is influenced by retarded bosonic fields that are inherent to the system. Within the Holstein model, these bosonic degrees of freedom (phonons) give rise to an infinite dimensional Hilbert space, posing a true many-particle problem. Constituting a minimal model for polaron formation, the Holstein model allows us to study the optical absorption and activated transport in polaronic systems. Using a two-dimensional variant of the KPM, we calculate for the first time quasi-exactly the optical absorption and dc-conductivity as a function of temperature. Concerning the numerical technique, the close relation to the time evolution in the other chapters get clear if we identify temperature with an imaginary time. In chapter 3 we come back to the time evolution of a quantum particle in an external, static potential and investigate the capability of semiclassical approximations to it. Considering various one-dimensional geometries, we address basic quantum effects as tunneling, interference and anharmonicity. The question is, to which extend and at which numerical costs, several semiclassical methods can reproduce the exact result for the quantum dynamics, calculated by Chebyshev expansion. To this end we consider the linearised semiclassical propagator method, the Wigner-Moyal approach and the recently proposed quantum tomography. A conceptually very interesting aspect of the compared semiclassical methods is their relation to different representations of quantum mechanics (wave function/density matrix, Wigner function, quantum tomogram). Finally, in chapter 4 we calculate the dynamics of a classical many-particle system under the influence of external fields. Considering a low-temperature rf-plasma, we investigate the interplay of the plasma dynamics and the motion of dust particles, immersed into the plasma for diagnostic reasons. In addition to the huge number of involved particles, the numerical description of this systems faces the challenge of a large range of involved time and length scales. Exploiting the mass differences of plasma constituents and dust particles allows for separating the PIC description of the plasma from the MD simulation of the dust particles in the effective surrounding plasma.
Beams of ions and electrons are a source of free energy which can be transferred to waves via an instability. Beams exist in almost all plasma environments, but their instabilities are particularly important for the dynamics of space plasmas. In the absence of collisions, the instability drives waves to large amplitudes and forms nonlinear structures such as solitary waves. The electric fields in these waves can scatter particles in the background plasma, or disrupt currents. Both of these effects are important for the overall dynamics of the plasma. In this thesis, both electron and ion beam plasma instabilities have been investigated in the linear plasma device VINETA and using a Particle-in-Cell simulation. The electron beam instability has been demonstrated by previous authors to be a useful diagnostic for the plasma density. The spatial resolution of previous results was confirmed at a few millimetres, and a temporal resolution of 1ms was shown for the first time. An ion beam was generated with a double plasma discharge. Compared to space, this environment and indeed most laboratory plasmas have considerably higher collisionality and a limited spatial extent which introduces gradients in the plasma. Gradients perpendicular to the beam propagation direction are linked to a decrease of both the wavelength and amplitude of the instability. It was observed in both experiment and simulation that gradients in sheaths at the boundaries of the plasma not only affect the time averaged plasma parameters, but also excite instabilities. Fluctuations within the sheath spread the beam in velocity space, effectively increasing its temperature. Warmer beams require a higher drift velocity to excite an instability. This was also confirmed by experimental and numerical results. Collisions are shown to be the dominant damping force for the electron beam instability. For ions, collisions play an important role in the simulation, but appear to be overshadowed by Landau damping from impurities in the experiment. When boundary conditions are removed from the simulation, wave amplitudes increase and nonlinear effects become important. Saturation by particle trapping and coalescence of phase space holes is observed, which could eventually lead to the solitary waves as they are observed in space plasmas.
Research into nuclear physics has enjoyed a long and rich history since the earliest experiments began investigating atomic constituents. The discovery of the atomic nucleus in the early 20th century started a complex field of research that has undergone many transformations with the advancements of modern technology. Today, atomic nuclei are not only studied to advance our understanding of the strong force but also to gain more information on the synthesis of elements in the universe, to exploit nuclear decay to investigate the weak interaction, and to search for physics beyond the standard model.
In this work, we will study the strong force in atomic nuclei, i.e. the way nucleons (protons and neutrons) arrange themselves in a many-body system governed by the repulsive Coulomb interaction and the attractive strong interaction. In particular, we will focus on nuclear structure near nuclei with a "magic number" of Z protons and N neutrons, so-called doubly-magic nuclei, exhibiting a particularly stable configuration with respect to neighboring nuclei.
Within the nuclear shell model, similar to the atomic shells, the magic numbers indicate shell closures accompanied by energy gaps. Nuclei at double-shell closures and their direct vicinity provide an important playground to benchmark nuclear theories and models that aim to predict the intricate interplay of the nucleons that lead to enhanced nuclear binding energies, significant changes in charge radii and transition strengths, etc.
Of particular interest are nuclear isomers, long-lived excited states, in which the nucleon configuration with respect to its ground state is altered, resulting in a modification of their properties despite having the same number of protons and neutrons.
The main part of this work consists of three publications, which report on nuclear structure investigations through mass measurements and laser spectroscopy near the doubly magic nuclei nickel-78, tin-100, and lead-208.
The nuclides investigated in this work include neutron-deficient indium isotopes, neutron-rich zinc isotopes, and neutron-rich mercury isotopes.
Abstract
We formulate exact generalized nonequilibrium fluctuation relations for the quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator coupled to multiple harmonic baths. Each of the different baths is prepared in its own individual (in general nonthermal) state. Starting from the exact solution for the oscillator dynamics we study fluctuations of the oscillator position as well as of the energy current through the oscillator under general nonequilibrium conditions. In particular, we formulate a fluctuation–dissipation relation for the oscillator position autocorrelation function that generalizes the standard result for the case of a single bath at thermal equilibrium. Moreover, we show that the generating function for the position operator fulfils a generalized Gallavotti–Cohen-like relation. For the energy transfer through the oscillator, we determine the average energy current together with the current fluctuations. Finally, we discuss the generalization of the cumulant generating function for the energy transfer to nonthermal bath preparations.
We use time-evolution techniques for (infinite) matrix product states to calculate, directly in the thermodynamic limit, the time-dependent photoemission spectra and dynamic structure factors of the half-filled Hubbard chain after pulse irradiation. These quantities exhibit clear signatures of the photoinduced phase transition from insulator to metal that occurs because of the formation of so-called η pairs. In addition, the spin dynamic structure factor loses spectral weight in the whole momentum space, reflecting the suppression of antiferromagnetic correlations due to the buildup of η-pairing states. The numerical method demonstrated in this work can be readily applied to other one-dimensional models driven out of equilibrium by optical pumping.
We discuss a numerical method to study electron transport in mesoscopic devices out of equilibrium. The method is based on the solution of operator equations of motion, using efficient Chebyshev time propagation techniques. Its peculiar feature is the propagation of operators backwards in time. In this way the resource consumption scales linearly with the number of states used to represent the system. This allows us to calculate the current for non-interacting electrons in large one-, two- and three-dimensional lead-device configurations with time-dependent voltages or potentials. We discuss the technical aspects of the method and present results for an electron pump device and a disordered system, where we find transient behaviour that exists for a very long time and may be accessible to experiments.
Infrared laser absorption spectroscopy (IRLAS) employing both tuneable diode and quantum cascade lasers (TDLs, QCLs) has been applied with both high sensitivity and high time resolution to plasma diagnostics and trace gas measurements.
TDLAS combined with a conventional White type multiple pass cell was used to detect up to 13 constituent molecular species in low pressure Ar/H2/N2/O2 and Ar/CH4/N2/O2 microwave discharges, among them the main products such as H2O, NH3, NO and CO, HCN respectively. The hydroxyl radical has been measured in the mid infrared (MIR) spectral range in-situ in both plasmas yielding number densities of between 1011 ... 1012 cm-3. Strong indications of surface dominated formation of either NH3 or N2O and NO were found in the H2-N2-O2 system. In methane containing plasmas a transition between deposition and etching conditions and generally an incomplete oxidation of the precursor were observed.
The application of QCLs for IRLAS under low pressure conditions employing the most common tuning approaches has been investigated in detail. A new method of analysing absorption features quantitatively when the rapid passage effect is present is proposed. If power saturation is negligible, integrating the undisturbed half of the line profile yields accurate number densities without calibrating the system. By means of a time resolved analysis of individual chirped QCL pulses the main reasons for increased effective laser line widths could be identified. Apart from the well-known frequency down chirp non-linear absorption phenomena and bandwidth limitations of the detection system may significantly degrade the performance and accuracy of inter pulse spectrometers. The minimum analogue bandwidth of the entire system should normally not fall below 250 MHz.
QCLAS using pulsed lasers has been used for highly time resolved measurements in reactive plasmas for the first time enabling a time resolution down to about 100 ns to be achieved. A temperature increase of typically less than 50 K has been established for pulsed DC discharges containing Ar/N2 and traces of NO. The main NO production and depletion reactions have been identified from a comparison of model calculations and time resolved measurements in plasma pulses of up to 100 ms. Considerable NO struction is observed after 5 ... 10 ms due to the impact of N atoms.
Finally, thermoelectrically cooled pulsed and continuous wave (cw) QCLs have been employed for high finesse cavity absorption spectroscopy in the MIR. Cavity ring down spectroscopy (CRDS) has been performed with pulsed QCLs and was found to be limited by the intrinsic frequency chirp of the laser suppressing an efficient intensity build-up inside the cavity. Consequently the accuracy and advantage of an absolute internal absorption calibration is not achievable. A room temperature cw QCL was used in a complementary cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy (CEAS) configuration which was equipped with different cavities of up to ~ 1.3 m length. This spectrometer yielded path lengths of up to 4 km and a noise equivalent absorption down to 4 x 10-8 cm-1Hz-1/2. The corresponding molecular concentration detection limit (e.g. for CH4, N2O and C2H2 at 1303 cm-1/7.66 μm) was generally below 1 x 1010 cm-3 for 1 s integration times and one order of magnitude less for 30 s integration times. The main limiting factor for achieving even higher sensitivity is the residual mode noise of the cavity. Employing a ~ 0.5 m long cavity the achieved sensitivity was good enough for the selective measurement of trace atmospheric constituents at 2.2 mbar.
(A paperback version is published by Logos under ISBN 978-3-8325-2345-9.)