Electron and ion transport in dense rare gases

A review of the research on electron and ion transport in dense rare gases is presented. The investigation of the transport properties of electrons in dense rare gases aims at understanding the dynamics and energetics of electron states in a dense medium and at elucidating how changes of the environment influence their nature and scattering properties. The quantum nature of electrons couples them to the environment is such a way to produce a density-dependent shift of their energy that is the key to rationalize the observed phenomena.Comment: manuscript submitted to IEEE_TDE

Electron mobility maximum in dense argon gas at low temperature

We report measurements of excess electron mobility in dense Argon gas at the two temperatures $T=152.15$ and 162.30 K, fairly close to the critical one ($T_c =150.7$ K), as a function of the gas density $N$ up to 14 atoms$\cdot$nm$^{-3}$ ($N_{c}=8.08$ atoms$\cdot$nm$^{-3}$). For the first time a maximum of the zero-field density-normalized mobility $\mu_{0}N$ has been observed at the same density where it was detected in liquid Argon under saturated vapor pressure conditions. The existence of the $\mu_{0}N$ maximum in the liquid is commonly attributed to electrons scattering off long-wavelength collective modes of the fluid, while for the low-density gas a density-modified kinetic model is valid. The presence of the $\mu_{0}N$ maximum also in the gas phase raises therefore the question whether the single scattering picture valid in the gas is valid even at liquid densities.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in J. Electrostatic

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of the O2- Ion Mobility in Dense Ne Gas at Low Temperature: Influence of the Repulsive Part of the Ion-Neutral Interaction Potential

New Molecular Dynamics simulations have been carried out in order to get an insight on the physical mechanisms that determine the drift mobility of negative Oxygen ions in very dense Neon gas in the supercritical phase close to the critical point. Two ion-neutral interaction potentials have been used that differ by their repulsive part. We have observed that the potential with a harder repulsive part gives much better agreement with the experimental data. The differences with the softer repulsive potential previously used are discussed. We propose that the behavior of the ion mobility as a function of the gas density is related to the number of neutral atoms loosely bound in the first solvation shell around the ion.Comment: submitted to IEEE-TDEI, 6 pages, 9 figure

Inhomogeneous gas model for electron mobility in high density neon gas

Experimental studies of electron mobilities in Neon as a function of the gas density have persistently shown mobilities up to an order of magnitude smaller than expected and predicted. A previously ignored mechanism (gas in--homogeneity which is negligible in the thermal mobilities for He and other gases) is found to reproduce the observed Neon mobilities accurately and simply at five temperatures with just one variable parameter. Recognizing that a gas is not a homogeneous medium, a variation in local density combined with the quantum multi--scattering theory, shifts the energy and cross section -- which in turn changes the collision probability and finally the mobilities. A lower density where a momentum transfer interaction occurs moves the mobility strongly in the same direction as the anomalous experiments. By going backwards from the observed mobilities, the collision frequency at each temperature and density is made to reproduce the experimental data by looking for the local (as opposed to average) density at which the (rare) momentum transfer interactions occur. These density deviations give a picture of the size and behavior of the wave packets for electron motion which looks very much like the often discussed wave function collapse.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

Infrared and visible scintillation of Ho3+-doped YAG and YLF crystals

In our effort to develop a new kind of detector for low-energy, low-rate energy deposition events we have investigated the cathodo- and radioluminescence of Ho:YAG and Ho:YLF single crystals in an extended wavelength range from 200 nm to 2200 nm. The emission spectra of both crystals show a much more intense emission in the infrared range than in the visible one. We estimate an infrared light yield of several tens of photons/keV when exciting the crystals with X-rays of energy 48 30 keV. The main reason of this high value is due to the Ho3+ ions energy levels scheme that allows efficient cross relaxation processes to occur even at low dopant concentration

Generation of microwave radiation by nonlinear interaction of a high-power, high-repetition rate, 1064-nm laser in KTP crystals

We report measurements of microwave (RF) generation in the centimeter band accomplished by irradiating a nonlinear KTiOPO$_4$ (KTP) crystal with a home-made, infrared laser at $1064\,$nm as a result of optical rectification (OR). The laser delivers pulse trains of duration up to $1\,\mu$s. Each train consists of several high-intensity pulses at an adjustable repetition rate of approximately $4.6\,$GHz. The duration of the generated RF pulses is determined by that of the pulse trains. We have investigated both microwave- and second harmonic (SHG) generation as a function of the laser intensity and of the orientation of the laser polarization with respect to the crystallographic axes of KTP.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Optics Letters, vol. 38 (2013