424 research outputs found
Experimental evidence of thermal fluctuations on the X-ray absorption near-edge structure at the aluminum K-edge
After a review of temperature-dependent experimental x-ray absorption
near-edge structure (XANES) and related theoretical developments, we present
the Al K-edge XANES spectra of corundum and beryl for temperature ranging from
300K to 930K. These experimental results provide a first evidence of the role
of thermal fluctuation in XANES at the Al K-edge especially in the pre-edge
region. The study is carried out by polarized XANES measurements of single
crystals. For any orientation of the sample with respect to the x-ray beam, the
pre-edge peak grows and shifts to lower energy with temperature. In addition
temperature induces modifications in the position and intensities of the main
XANES features. First-principles DFT calculations are performed for both
compounds. They show that the pre-edge peak originates from forbidden 1s to 3s
transitions induced by vibrations. Three existing theoretical models are used
to take vibrations into account in the absorption cross section calculations:
i) an average of the XANES spectra over the thermal displacements of the
absorbing atom around its equilibrium position, ii) a method based on the crude
Born-Oppenheimer approximation where only the initial state is averaged over
thermal displacements, iii) a convolution of the spectra obtained for the atoms
at the equilibrium positions with an approximate phonon spectral function. The
theoretical spectra so obtained permit to qualitatively understand the origin
of the spectral modifications induced by temperature. However the correct
treatment of thermal fluctuation in XANES spectroscopy requires more
sophisticated theoretical tools
Assessing temperature effects on multipole contributions and angular dependence in core-level spectroscopies
This study aims at assessing the thermal nuclei motion effects on the multipole transition channels involved in two core-level spectroscopies, x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and x-ray Raman scattering (XRS). Temperature effects on the 1s -> s monopole, 1s -> p dipole, and 1s -> d quadrupole transitions are investigated using two reference systems for which we present original experimental data: alpha-Al2O3 at the Al K edge probed by XRS at room temperature and rutile TiO2 at the Ti K pre-edge probed by XAS at temperatures ranging from 6 to 700 K. Through the latter, this work enlightens the part of the pre-edge peak enhancement due to temperature in the K pre-edge region of 3d transition metal, which is known to be routinely used to determine the concentration, valence or symmetry of the probed element in a given sample. Nuclear thermal fluctuations are taken into account using a method based on density functional theory that consists in averaging spectra over atomic configurations, generated within the harmonic approximation and obeying quantum statistics at finite temperature. Since only a finite number of such configurations are used, the numerically averaged spectra generally lose the symmetry of the equilibrium crystal positions. In this paper, we demonstrate that the physical average has to be symmetric and propose a method to restore the physical angular dependence of the spectra. The approach is successfully applied to investigate the angular dependent XAS spectra in rutile as a function of temperature. The two systems under study allow to draw general conclusions regarding the effect of nuclear quantum fluctuations on the different transition channels available to both core-level spectroscopies.Peer reviewe
Influence of the 6^1S_0-6^3P_1 Resonance on Continuous Lyman-alpha Generation in Mercury
Continuous coherent radiation in the vacuum-ultraviolet at 122 nm
(Lyman-alpha) can be generated using sum-frequency mixing of three fundamental
laser beams in mercury vapour. One of the fundamental beams is at 254 nm
wavelength, which is close to the 6^1S_0-6^3P_1 resonance in mercury.
Experiments have been performed to investigate the effect of this one-photon
resonance on phasematching, absorption and the nonlinear yield. The efficiency
of continuous Lyman-alpha generation has been improved by a factor of 4.5.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure calculations with pseudopotentials. Application to K-edge in diamond and alpha-quartz
We present a reciprocal-space pseudopotential scheme for calculating X-ray
absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectra. The scheme incorporates a
recursive method to compute absorption cross section as a continued fraction.
The continued fraction formulation of absorption is advantageous in that it
permits the treatment of core-hole interaction through large supercells
(hundreds of atoms). The method is compared with recently developed
Bethe-Salpeter approach. The method is applied to the carbon K-edge in diamond
and to the silicon and oxygen K-edges in alpha-quartz for which polarized XANES
spectra were measured. Core-hole effects are investigated by varying the size
of the supercell, thus leading to information similar to that obtained from
cluster size analysis usually performed within multiple scattering
calculations.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
AEGIS at CERN: Measuring Antihydrogen Fall
The main goal of the AEGIS experiment at the CERN Antiproton Decelerator is
the test of fundamental laws such as the Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP) and
CPT symmetry. In the first phase of AEGIS, a beam of antihydrogen will be
formed whose fall in the gravitational field is measured in a Moire'
deflectometer; this will constitute the first test of the WEP with antimatter.Comment: Presented at the Fifth Meeting on CPT and Lorentz Symmetry,
Bloomington, Indiana, June 28-July 2, 201
Risk-based inspection as a cost-effective strategy to reduce human exposure to cysticerci of Taenia saginata in low-prevalence settings
Taenia saginata cysticercus is the larval stage of the zoonotic parasite Taenia saginata, with a life-cycle involving both cattle and humans. The public health impact is considered low. The current surveillance system, based on post-mortem inspection of carcasses has low sensitivity and leads to considerable economic burden. Therefore, in the interests of public health and food production efficiency, this study aims to explore the potential of risk-based and cost-effective meat inspection activities for the detection and control of T. saginata cysticercus in low prevalence settings
Quadrupole moment of the 6â isomeric state in 66Cu: Interplay between different nuclear deformation driving forces
AbstractWe have measured the spectroscopic quadrupole moment of the 6â isomeric state in 66Cu to be |Qs|=18.6(12) efm2. This state results from a weak coupling of the Ïp3/2 and the Îœg9/2 orbitals, which lead to sizable deformation at oblate and prolate shapes, correspondingly, in the 68Ni region. The interplay between these two different deformation-driving orbitals is observed at N=37 for the 6â state resulting in a most probable oblate shape
Prospects for measuring the gravitational free-fall of antihydrogen with emulsion detectors
The main goal of the AEgIS experiment at CERN is to test the weak equivalence
principle for antimatter. AEgIS will measure the free-fall of an antihydrogen
beam traversing a moir\'e deflectometer. The goal is to determine the
gravitational acceleration g for antihydrogen with an initial relative accuracy
of 1% by using an emulsion detector combined with a silicon micro-strip
detector to measure the time of flight. Nuclear emulsions can measure the
annihilation vertex of antihydrogen atoms with a precision of about 1 - 2
microns r.m.s. We present here results for emulsion detectors operated in
vacuum using low energy antiprotons from the CERN antiproton decelerator. We
compare with Monte Carlo simulations, and discuss the impact on the AEgIS
project.Comment: 20 pages, 16 figures, 3 table
Annihilation of low energy antiprotons in silicon
The goal of the AEIS experiment at the Antiproton
Decelerator (AD) at CERN, is to measure directly the Earth's gravitational
acceleration on antimatter. To achieve this goal, the AEIS
collaboration will produce a pulsed, cold (100 mK) antihydrogen beam with a
velocity of a few 100 m/s and measure the magnitude of the vertical deflection
of the beam from a straight path. The final position of the falling
antihydrogen will be detected by a position sensitive detector. This detector
will consist of an active silicon part, where the annihilations take place,
followed by an emulsion part. Together, they allow to achieve 1 precision on
the measurement of with about 600 reconstructed and time tagged
annihilations.
We present here, to the best of our knowledge, the first direct measurement
of antiproton annihilation in a segmented silicon sensor, the first step
towards designing a position sensitive silicon detector for the
AEIS experiment. We also present a first comparison with
Monte Carlo simulations (GEANT4) for antiproton energies below 5 MeVComment: 21 pages in total, 29 figures, 3 table
Deformation change in light iridium nuclei from laser spectroscopy
Laser spectroscopy measurements have been performed on neutron-deficient and stable Ir isotopes using the COMPLIS experimental setup installed at ISOLDE-CERN. The radioactive Ir atoms were obtained from successive decays of a mass-separated Hg beam deposited onto a carbon substrate after deceleration to 1kV and subsequently laser desorbed. A three-color, two-step resonant scheme was used to selectively ionize the desorbed Ir atoms. The hyperfine structure (HFS) and isotope shift (IS) of the first transition of the ionization path 5d^{7}6s ^{2}^{4}F_{9/2} \to 5d^{7}6s6p ^{6}F_{11/2} at 351.5nm were measured for Ir, and the stable Ir. The nuclear magnetic moments ÎŒI and the spectroscopic quadrupole moments Qs were obtained from the HFS spectra and the change of the mean square charge radii from the IS measurements. The sign of ÎŒI was experimentally determined for the first time for the masses 182â€Aâ€189 and the isomeric state . The spectroscopic quadrupole moments of Ir and Ir were measured also for the first time. A large mean square charge radius change between Ir and and between and was observed corresponding to a sudden increase in deformation: from ÎČ2 â + 0.16 for the heavier group A = 193, 191, 189, 187 and 186m to ÎČ2 â„ + 0.2 for the lighter group A = 186g, 185, 184, 183 and 182. These results were analyzed in the framework of a microscopic treatment of an axial rotor plus one or two quasiparticle(s). This sudden deformation change is associated with a change in the proton state that describes the odd-nuclei ground state or that participates in the coupling with the neutron in the odd-odd nuclei. This state is identified with the Ï3/2+[402] orbital for the heavier group and with the Ï1/2-[541] orbital stemming from the 1h _9/2 spherical subshell for the lighter group. That last state seems to affect strongly the observed values of the nuclear moments
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