Refine
Year of publication
- 2010 (7) (remove)
Document Type
- Conference Proceeding (5)
- Article (2)
Language
- English (7)
Has Fulltext
- yes (7)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (7)
Keywords
- - (5)
Institute
Publisher
- IOP Publishing (7) (remove)
A quantum kinetic approach is presented to investigate the energy relaxation of dense strongly coupled two-temperature plasmas. We derive a balance equation for the mean total energy of a plasma species including a quite general expression for the transfer rate. An approximation scheme is used leading to an expression of the transfer rates for systems with coupled modes relevant for the warm dense matter regime. The theory is then applied to dense beryllium plasmas under conditions such as realized in recent experiments. Special attention is paid to the influence of correlation and quantum effects on the relaxation process.
In classical Drude theory the conductivity is determined by the mass of the propagating particles and the mean free path between two scattering events. For a quantum particle this simple picture of diffusive transport loses relevance if strong correlations dominate the particle motion. We study a situation where the propagation of a fermionic particle is possible only through creation and annihilation of local bosonic excitations. This correlated quantum transport process is outside the Drude picture, since one cannot distinguish between free propagation and intermittent scattering. The characterization of transport is possible using the Drude weight obtained from the f-sum rule, although its interpretation in terms of free mass and mean free path breaks down. For the situation studied we calculate the Green's function and Drude weight using a Green's functions expansion technique, and discuss their physical meaning.
In order to clarify the physics of the crossover from a spin-density-wave (SDW) Mott insulator to a charge-density-wave (CDW) Peierls insulator in one-dimensional (1D) systems, we investigate the Hubbard-Holstein Hamiltonian at half filling within a density matrix renormalisation group (DMRG) approach. Determining the spin and charge correlation exponents, the momentum distribution function, and various excitation gaps, we confirm that an intervening metallic phase expands the SDW-CDW transition in the weak-coupling regime.
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.
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.
Behavior of a porous particle in a radiofrequency plasma under pulsed argon ion beam bombardment
(2010)
The behavior of a single porous particle with a diameter of 250 μm levitating in a radiofrequency (RF) plasma under pulsed argon ion beam bombardment was investigated. The motion of the particle under the action of the ion beam was observed to be an oscillatory motion. The Fourier-analyzed motion is dominated by the excitation frequency of the pulsed ion beam and odd higher harmonics, which peak near the resonance frequency. The appearance of even harmonics is explained by a variation of the particles's charge depending on its position in the plasma sheath. The Fourier analysis also allows a discussion of neutral and ion forces. The particle's charge was derived and compared with theoretical estimates based on the orbital motion-limited (OML) model using also a numerical simulation of the RF discharge. The derived particle's charge is about 7–15 times larger than predicted by the theoretical models. This difference is attributed to the porous structure of the particle.
Because of some disadvantages of chemical disinfection in dental practice (especially denture cleaning), we investigated the effects of physical methods on Candida albicans biofilms. For this purpose, the antifungal efficacy of three different low-temperature plasma devices (an atmospheric pressure plasma jet and two different dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs)) on Candida albicans biofilms grown on titanium discs in vitro was investigated. As positive treatment controls, we used 0.1% chlorhexidine digluconate (CHX) and 0.6% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl). The corresponding gas streams without plasma ignition served as negative treatment controls. The efficacy of the plasma treatment was determined evaluating the number of colony-forming units (CFU) recovered from titanium discs. The plasma treatment reduced the CFU significantly compared to chemical disinfectants. While 10 min CHX or NaOCl exposure led to a CFU log10 reduction factor of 1.5, the log10 reduction factor of DBD plasma was up to 5. In conclusion, the use of low-temperature plasma is a promising physical alternative to chemical antiseptics for dental practice.