A fast data acquisition system for the study of transient events by high repetition rate time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Recent advances in commercially available data acquisition electronics embodying high speed A/D conversion coupled to increased memory storage have now made practical (at least within time intervals of a third of a millisecond or more) the capturing of all of the data generated by a high repetition rate time-of-flight mass spectrometer producing complete spectra every 25 to 35 microseconds. Such a system was assembled and interfaced with a personal computer for control and management of data. The applications are described for recording time-resolved spectra of individual vapor plumes induced from the pulsed-laser heating of material. Each laser pulse triggers the system to generate automatically a 3-dimensional (3-D) presentation of the time-resolved spectra with m/z labeling of the major mass peaks, plus an intensity versus time display of both the laser pulse and the resulting vapor pulse. The software also permits storing of data and its presentation in various additional forms

Synopsis of a computer program designed to interface a personal computer with the fast data acquisition system of a time-of-flight mass spectrometer

Briefly described are the essential features of a computer program designed to interface a personal computer with the fast, digital data acquisition system of a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The instrumentation was developed to provide a time-resolved analysis of individual vapor pulses produced by the incidence of a pulsed laser beam on an ablative material. The high repetition rate spectrometer coupled to a fast transient recorder captures complete mass spectra every 20 to 35 microsecs, thereby providing the time resolution needed for the study of this sort of transient event. The program enables the computer to record the large amount of data generated by the system in short time intervals, and it provides the operator the immediate option of presenting the spectral data in several different formats. Furthermore, the system does this with a high degree of automation, including the tasks of mass labeling the spectra and logging pertinent instrumental parameters

The isotope composition of water vapour: A powerful tool to study transport and chemistry of middle atmospheric water vapour

International audienceA one-dimensional chemistry model is applied to study the stable hydrogen (D) and stable oxygen isotope (17O, 18O) composition of water vapour in stratosphere and mesosphere. The stable isotope ratios of tropospheric H2O are determined by "physical'' fractionation effects, i.e. phase changes, diffusion processes, and mixing of air masses. Due to these processes water vapour entering the stratosphere (i) is mass-dependently fractionated (MDF), i.e. shifts in the isotope ratio 17O/16O are ~0.52 times of those of 18O/16O and (ii) shows isotope shifts in D/H, which are ~5 times of those in 18O/16O. In stratosphere and mesosphere "chemical'' fractionation, that are the oxidation of methane, re-cycling of H2O via the HOx family, and isotope exchange reactions are shown to considerably enhance the isotope ratios in the imported tropospheric H2O. Enrichments relative to the isotope ratios at the tropopause are used to derive the partitioning of tropospheric (unmodified), re-cycled and in situ generated H2O. The model reasonably predicts overall increases of the stable isotope ratios in H2O by ~23% for D/H, ~8.5% for 17O/16O, and ~14% for 18O/16O. The17O/16O and 18O/16O ratios in H2O are shown to be a measure of the partitioning of HOx that receives its O atom either from the reservoirs O2 or O3. In the entire middle atmosphere, MDF O2 is the major donator of oxygen atoms incorporated in OH and HO2 and thus in H2O. It is demonstrated that in the stratosphere mass-independent fractionation (MIF) in O3 in a first step is transferred to the NOx family and only in a second step to HOx and H2O. In contrast to CO2, O(1D) only plays a minor role in this MIF transfer. The major uncertainty in our calculation arises from the many badly quantified isotope exchange reactions and kinetic isotope fractionation factors

H2-Induced Pressure Broadening and Pressure Shift in the P-Branch of the v3 Band of CH4 from 300 to 700 K

For accurate modelling of observations of exoplanet atmospheres, quantification of the pressure broadening of infrared absorption lines for and by a variety of gases at elevated temperatures is needed. High-resolution high-temperature H2-pressure-broadened spectra are recorded for the CH4 v3-band P-branch. Measured linewidths for 116 transitions between 2840 and 3000 cm^{-1} with temperature and pressures ranging between 300 and 700 K, and 10 and 933 Torr, respectively, were used to find rotation- and tetrahedral-symmetry-dependent coefficients for pressure and temperature broadening and pressure-induced lineshifts. The new pressure-broadening data will be useful in radiative-transfer models for retrieving the properties of observed expolanet atmospheres.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, 7 tables, Resubmitted for 2nd round of revisions to JQSRT (Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy & Radiative Transfer). Comments welcome

Characteristics of Nursing Doctoral Programs in The United States

The expansive growth of doctoral programs in the United States has necessitated a need to determine demographic attributes of the academic program, characteristics of the students, admission criteria, and curriculum patterns. Seventy-eight doctoral programs were sent a researcher-designed survey and 48 (62 per cent) responded. Results show an increasing shift away from clinical doctorates to the research doctorate, although few differences exist within the research focus of doctoral nursing programs. Consistent with previous reports in the literature, curricula are fairly standard and few differences were noted based on a number of criteria including geographic location, type of degree granted, Carnegie classification of the university, or by the length of time the program has been in existence. Discussion of these findings is included

Characteristics of Nursing Doctoral Programs in The United States

The expansive growth of doctoral programs in the United States has necessitated a need to determine demographic attributes of the academic program, characteristics of the students, admission criteria, and curriculum patterns. Seventy-eight doctoral programs were sent a researcher-designed survey and 48 (62 per cent) responded. Results show an increasing shift away from clinical doctorates to the research doctorate, although few differences exist within the research focus of doctoral nursing programs. Consistent with previous reports in the literature, curricula are fairly standard and few differences were noted based on a number of criteria including geographic location, type of degree granted, Carnegie classification of the university, or by the length of time the program has been in existence. Discussion of these findings is included

Vibrational exciton nanoimaging of phases and domains in porphyrin nanocrystals.

Much of the electronic transport, photophysical, or biological functions of molecular materials emerge from intermolecular interactions and associated nanoscale structure and morphology. However, competing phases, defects, and disorder give rise to confinement and many-body localization of the associated wavefunction, disturbing the performance of the material. Here, we employ vibrational excitons as a sensitive local probe of intermolecular coupling in hyperspectral infrared scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy (IR s-SNOM) with complementary small-angle X-ray scattering to map multiscale structure from molecular coupling to long-range order. In the model organic electronic material octaethyl porphyrin ruthenium(II) carbonyl (RuOEP), we observe the evolution of competing ordered and disordered phases, in nucleation, growth, and ripening of porphyrin nanocrystals. From measurement of vibrational exciton delocalization, we identify coexistence of ordered and disordered phases in RuOEP that extend down to the molecular scale. Even when reaching a high degree of macroscopic crystallinity, identify significant local disorder with correlation lengths of only a few nanometers. This minimally invasive approach of vibrational exciton nanospectroscopy and -imaging is generally applicable to provide the molecular-level insight into photoresponse and energy transport in organic photovoltaics, electronics, or proteins

Ultrafast Dynamics of Vibrational Symmetry Breaking in a Charge-ordered Nickelate

The ability to probe symmetry breaking transitions on their natural time scales is one of the key challenges in nonequilibrium physics. Stripe ordering represents an intriguing type of broken symmetry, where complex interactions result in atomic-scale lines of charge and spin density. Although phonon anomalies and periodic distortions attest the importance of electron-phonon coupling in the formation of stripe phases, a direct time-domain view of vibrational symmetry breaking is lacking. We report experiments that track the transient multi-THz response of the model stripe compound La$_{1.75}$Sr$_{0.25}$NiO$_{4}$, yielding novel insight into its electronic and structural dynamics following an ultrafast optical quench. We find that although electronic carriers are immediately delocalized, the crystal symmetry remains initially frozen - as witnessed by time-delayed suppression of zone-folded Ni-O bending modes acting as a fingerprint of lattice symmetry. Longitudinal and transverse vibrations react with different speeds, indicating a strong directionality and an important role of polar interactions. The hidden complexity of electronic and structural coupling during stripe melting and formation, captured here within a single terahertz spectrum, opens new paths to understanding symmetry breaking dynamics in solids.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures; updated version with journal re

A 1000 hour endurance test of a glass-coated accelerator grid on a 15-centimeter-diameter Kaufman thruster

Endurance test of glass coated accelerator grid on 15-centimeter-diameter Kaufman thruste