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The properties of the ion feature of the Thomson scattering signal are investigated. Firstly, the description of the atomic form factor by hydrogen-like wave functions is reviewed and better screening charges are obtained. Then the ionic structure in systems with several ion species is calculated from the HNC integral equation.
Interaction of injected dust particles with metastable neon atoms in a radio frequency plasma
(2008)
Spatial density and temperature profiles of neon metastables produced in a radio frequency (rf) discharge were investigated by means of tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy. The experiments were performed in the PULVA1 reactor, which is designed for the study of complex (dusty) plasmas. The line averaged measured density is about 1.5×1015 m−3 in the bulk and drops almost linearly in the plasma sheath. The gas temperature is in the range of 370–390 K. The flow of metastable atoms in the plasma sheath deduced from the spatial density distribution is dominated by the flow towards the rf electrode. The sheath length is supposed as the effective diffusion length in the plasma sheath region. This approximation was used to investigate the interaction of injected particles with the plasma. The observations and estimation provide evidence for a significant interaction between metastable atoms and powder particles which is important for energy transfer from the plasma to the particles. The power per unit area absorbed by dust particles due to the collision of metastable atoms with the dust particle surface is in the range of a few tens of mW m−2.
The WEGA stellarator is used to confine low temperature, overdense (densities exceeding the cut-off density of the heating wave) plasmas by magnetic fields in the range of B=50-500 mT. Microwave heating systems are used to ignite gas discharges using hydrogen, helium, neon or argon as working gases. The produced plasmas have been analyzed using Langmuir and emissive probes, a single-channel interferometer and ultra-high resolution Doppler spectroscopy. For a typical argon discharge in the low field operation, B=56 mT, the maximum electron density is n_e~10^18m^{-3} with temperatures in the range of T=4-12 eV. The plasma parameters are determined by using Langmuir probes and are cross-checked with interferometry. It is demonstrated within this work that the joint use of emissive probes and ultra-high resolution Doppler spectroscopy allows a precise measurement of the radial electric field. Here the floating potential measurements using emissive probes have been compared to measurements of the poloidal rotation of the plasma which is also linked to the radial electric field. In order to alter the plasma parameters a biasing probe setup has been used during this work. The focus of this work is on demonstrating the ability to modify the existing radial electric field in a plasma by using the biasing probe. This technique is in principle not new, as it has been around for decades. Looking at details, it turns out that describing low field operation WEGA argon plasmas in connection with biasing is not covered by the present set of theoretical approaches and experimental cognition. This work will commence with a basic approach and first establishes the diagnostic tools in a well-known discharge. Then the perturbation caused by the biasing probe is assessed. Following the characterization of the unperturbed plasmas, plasma states altered by the operation of the energized biasing probe will be characterized. It is demonstrated that modifying the existing radial electric field can be achieved and reliably diagnosed using spectroscopy and probe measurements. In order to verify the different approaches for determining the radial electric field the diagnostics are cross-checked against another whenever possible. During biasing the plasma two different stable plasma states have been found. Stable here refers to the state existing much longer than the confinement time for WEGA. The presence of a calorimetric limiter placed in the scrape-off layer has an impact on the type of the plasma state. The two observed plasma states differ in plasma parameter profiles, such as density, temperature, electric field and confined energy. The results are compared to two simple models. One model relies on the relevant atomic processes and a second one is based on neoclassical theory. Both models can be used to derive the particle and power flux from the plasma. The losses predicted by the atomic models can be tested using bolometry. It can be shown that both models agree well in the description of the particle balance of the electrons for large regions of the plasma. By comparing the models the neoclassical heat flux turns out to be small compared to the energy fluxes caused by atomic processes. For the reference discharge taking the energy flux due to the atomic processes and balancing it by the input microwave power is satisfying the energy balance, without the need for transport. For the biased discharges it turns out that neoclassical transport can be neglected as well, but the additional biasing power has to be taken into account. A simple model for the biasing power is motivated and tested. An agreement in the energy balance can be reached in this way as far as the models are applicable. The models also allow drawing conclusions on the amount of absorbed microwave power.
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.
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.
Multiply negatively charged aluminium clusters and fullerenes were generated in a Penning trap using the "electron-bath" technique. Aluminium monoanions were generated using a laser vaporisation source. After this, two-, three- and four-times negatively charged aluminium clusters were generated for the first time. This research marks the first observation of tetra-anionic metal clusters in the gas phase. Additionally, doubly-negatively charged fullerenes were generated. The smallest fullerene dianion observed contained 70 atoms.
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.
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.