Novel inferences of ionisation & recombination for particle/power balance during detached discharges using deuterium Balmer line spectroscopy

The physics of divertor detachment is determined by divertor power, particle and momentum balance. This work provides a novel analysis technique of the Balmer line series to obtain a full particle/power balance measurement of the divertor. This supplies new information to understand what controls the divertor target ion flux during detachment. Atomic deuterium excitation emission is separated from recombination quantitatively using Balmer series line ratios. This enables analysing those two components individually, providing ionisation/recombination source/sinks and hydrogenic power loss measurements. Probabilistic Monte Carlo techniques were employed to obtain full error propagation - eventually resulting in probability density functions for each output variable. Both local and overall particle and power balance in the divertor are then obtained. These techniques and their assumptions have been verified by comparing the analysed synthetic diagnostic 'measurements' obtained from SOLPS simulation results for the same discharge. Power/particle balance measurements have been obtained during attached and detached conditions on the TCV tokamak.Comment: The analysis results of this paper were formerly in arXiv:1810.0496

Design and Laboratory Validation of a Capacitive Sensor for Measuring the Recession of Thin-Layered Ablator

Flight vehicles are typically instrumented with subsurface thermocouples to estimate heat transfer at the surface using inverse analysis procedures. If the vehicle has an ablating heat shield, however, temperature time histories from subsurface thermocouples no longer provide enough information to estimate heat flux at the surface. In this situation, the geometry changes and thermal energy leaves the surface in the form of ablation products. The ablation rate is required to estimate heat transfer to the surface. A new concept for a capacitive sensor has been developed to measure ablator depth using the ablator's dielectric effect on a capacitor's fringe region. Relying on the capacitor's fringe region enables the gage to be flush mounted in the vehicle's permanent structure and not intrude into the ablative heat shield applied over the gage. This sensor's design allows nonintrusive measurement of the thickness of dielectric materials, in particular, the recession rates of low-temperature ablators applied in thin (0.020 to 0.060 in. (0.05 to 0.15 mm)) layers. Twenty capacitive gages with 13 different sensing element geometries were designed, fabricated, and tested. A two-dimensional finite-element analysis was performed on several candidate geometries. Calibration procedures using ablator-simulating shims are described. A one-to-one correspondence between system output and dielectric material thickness was observed out to a thickness of 0.055 in. (1.4 mm) for a material with a permittivity about three times that of air or vacuum. A novel method of monitoring the change in sensor capacitance was developed. This technical memorandum suggests further improvements in gage design and fabrication techniques

Structural characterization of Si(m)Ge(n) strained layer superlattices

SimGen strained layer superlattice (SLS) structures were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GexSi1-x buffer layers on Si substrates to determine the effects of buffer layer composition, SLS thickness ratio, and superlattice periodicity, on the overall quality of these structures. X-ray diffraction methods were used to determine how closely actual periodicities and compositions met targeted values, and to evaluate the quality of these samples. In most instances the as-grown structures matched the targeted values to within 10%, though in some instances deviations of 20-25% in either the period or composition were observed. The quality of the SLS structures was greatly dependent on the composition of the buffer layer on which it was grown. SimGen SLS structures grown on Si- and Ge-rich buffer layers were of much higher quality than SimGem SLSs grown on Ge0.50Si0.50 layers, but the x-ray rocking curves of the SimGen samples indicated that they were far from perfect and contained moderate levels of defects. These results were confirmed by cross sectional transmission electron microscopy, which showed that the SimGem structures contained significant numbers of dislocations and that the layers were nonuniform in thickness and wavy in appearance. SimGen structures, however, displayed fewer defects but some dislocations and nonparallelism of layers were still observed

Development of an electroactive aerobic biocathode for microbial fuel cell applications

Microbial biocathodes are gaining interest due to their low cost, environmental friendliness and sustainable nature. In this study, a microbial consortium was enriched from activated sludge obtained from a common textile effluent treatment plant in the absence of organic carbon source to produce an electroactive biofilm. Chronoamperometry method of enrichment was carried out for over 70 days to select for electroactive bacteria that could be used as a cathode catalyst in microbial fuel cells (MFC). The resultant biofilm produced an average peak current of −0.7 mA during the enrichment and produced a maximum power density of 64.6 ± 3.5 mW m−2 compared to platinum (72.7 ± 1.2 mW m−2) in a Shewanella-based MFC. Microbial community analysis of the initial sludge sample and enriched samples, based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing, revealed the selection of chemolithotrophs with the most dominant phylum being Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Acidobacteria in the enriched samples. A variety of CO2 fixing and nitrate-reducing bacteria was present in the resultant biofilm on the cathode. This study suggests that microbial consortia are capable of replacing expensive platinum as a cathode catalyst in MFCs

Casimir-Polder force density between an atom and a conducting wall

In this paper we calculate the Casimir-Polder force density (force per unit area acting on the elements of the surface) on a metallic plate placed in front of a neutral atom. To obtain the force density we use the quantum operator associated to the electromagnetic stress tensor. We explicitly show that the integral of this force density over the plate reproduces the total force acting on the plate. This result shows that, although the force is obtained as a sum of surface element-atom contributions, the stress-tensor method includes also nonadditive components of Casimir-Polder forces in the evaluation of the force acting on a macroscopic object.Comment: 5 page

Measurement of parity-nonconserving rotation of neutron spin in the 0.734-eV p-wave resonance of 139La^{139}La

The parity nonconserving spin rotation of neutrons in the 0.734-eV p-wave resonance of $^{139}La$ was measured with the neutron transmission method. Two optically polarized $^3He$ cells were used before and behind a a 5-cm long $^{139}La$ target as a polarizer and an analyzer of neutron spin. The rotation angle was carefully measured by flipping the direction of $^3He$ polarization in the polarizer in sequence. The peak-to-peak value of the spin rotation was found to be $(7.4 \pm 1.1) \times 10^{-3}$ rad/cm which was consistent with the previous experiments. But the result was statisticallly improved. The s-p mixing model gives the weak matrix element as $xW = (1.71 \pm 0.25)$ meV. The value agrees well with the one deduced from the parity-nonconserving longitudinal asymmetry in the same resonance

Surface roughness effect on ultracold neutron interaction with a wall and implications for computer simulations

We review the diffuse scattering and the loss coefficient in ultracold neutron reflection from slightly rough surfaces, report a surprising reduction in loss coefficient due to roughness, and discuss the possibility of transition from quantum treatment to ray optics. The results are used in a computer simulation of neutron storage in a recent neutron lifetime experiment that re-ported a large discrepancy of neutron lifetime with the current particle data value. Our partial re-analysis suggests the possibility of systematic effects that were not included in this publication.Comment: 39 pages, 9 figures; additional calculations include

Analysis of a quenched lattice-QCD dressed-quark propagator

Quenched lattice-QCD data on the dressed-quark Schwinger function can be correlated with dressed-gluon data via a rainbow gap equation so long as that equation's kernel possesses enhancement at infrared momenta above that exhibited by the gluon alone. The required enhancement can be ascribed to a dressing of the quark-gluon vertex. The solutions of the rainbow gap equation exhibit dynamical chiral symmetry breaking and are consistent with confinement. The gap equation and related, symmetry-preserving ladder Bethe-Salpeter equation yield estimates for chiral and physical pion observables that suggest these quantities are materially underestimated in the quenched theory: |<bar-q q>| by a factor of two and f_pi by 30%.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX2e, REVTEX4, 6 figure

Quantitative estimates of relationships between geomagnetic activity and equatorial spread-F as determined by TID occurrence levels

Using a world-wide set of stations for 15 years, quantitative estimates of changes to equatorial spread-F (ESF) occurrence rates obtained from ionogram scalings, have been determined for a range of geomagnetic activity (GA) levels, as well as for four different levels of solar activity. Average occurrence rates were used as a reference. The percentage changes vary significantly depending on these subdivisions. For example for very high GA the inverse association is recorded by a change of -33% for R-z greater than or equal to 150, and -10% for R-z < 50. Using data for 9 years for the equatorial station, Huancayo, these measurements of ESF which indicate the presence of TIDs, have also been investigated by somewhat similar analyses. Additional parameters were used which involved the local times of GA, with the ESF being examined separately for occurrence pre-midnight (PM) and after-midnight (AM). Again the negative changes were most pronounced for high GA in R-z-max years (-21%). This result is for PM ESF for GA at a local time of 1700. There were increased ESF levels (+31%) for AM ESF in R-z-min years for high GA around 2300 LT. This additional knowledge of the influence of GA on ESF occurrence involving not only percentage changes, but these values for a range of parameter levels, may be useful if ever short-term forecasts are needed. There is some discussion on comparisons which can be made between ESF results obtained by coherent scatter from incoherent-scatter equipment and those obtained by ionosondes