5,545 research outputs found
Vacuum-UV spectroscopy of interstellar ice analogs. II. Absorption cross-sections of nonpolar ice molecules
Dust grains in cold circumstellar regions and dark-cloud interiors at 10-20 K
are covered by ice mantles. A nonthermal desorption mechanism is invoked to
explain the presence of gas-phase molecules in these environments, such as the
photodesorption induced by irradiation of ice due to secondary ultraviolet
photons. To quantify the effects of ice photoprocessing, an estimate of the
photon absorption in ice mantles is required. In a recent work, we reported the
vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) absorption cross sections of nonpolar molecules in the
solid phase. The aim was to estimate the VUV-absorption cross sections of
nonpolar molecular ice components, including CH4, CO2, N2, and O2. The column
densities of the ice samples deposited at 8 K were measured in situ by infrared
spectroscopy in transmittance. VUV spectra of the ice samples were collected in
the 120-160 nm (10.33-7.74 eV) range using a commercial microwave-discharged
hydrogen flow lamp. We found that, as expected, solid N2 has the lowest
VUV-absorption cross section, which about three orders of magnitude lower than
that of other species such as O2, which is also homonuclear. Methane (CH4) ice
presents a high absorption near Ly-alpha (121.6 nm) and does not absorb below
148 nm. Estimating the ice absorption cross sections is essential for models of
ice photoprocessing and allows estimating the ice photodesorption rates as the
number of photodesorbed molecules per absorbed photon in the ice.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 7 table
Investigation of HNCO isomers formation in ice mantles by UV and thermal processing: an experimental approach
Current gas phase models do not account for the abundances of HNCO isomers
detected in various environments, suggesting a formation in icy grain mantles.
We attempted to study a formation channel of HNCO and its possible isomers by
vacuum-UV photoprocessing of interstellar ice analogues containing HO,
NH, CO, HCN, CHOH, CH, and N followed by warm-up, under
astrophysically relevant conditions. Only the HO:NH:CO and HO:HCN
ice mixtures led to the production of HNCO species. The possible isomerization
of HNCO to its higher energy tautomers following irradiation or due to ice
warm-up has been scrutinized. The photochemistry and thermal chemistry of
HO:NH:CO and HO:HCN ices was simulated using the Interstellar
Astrochemistry Chamber (ISAC), a state-of-the-art ultra-high-vacuum setup. The
ice was monitored in situ by Fourier transform mid-infrared spectroscopy in
transmittance. A quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) detected the desorption of
the molecules in the gas phase. UV-photoprocessing of
HO:NH:CO/HO:HCN ices lead to the formation of OCN as main
product in the solid state and a minor amount of HNCO. The second isomer HOCN
has been tentatively identified. Despite its low efficiency, the formation of
HNCO and the HOCN isomers by UV-photoprocessing of realistic simulated ice
mantles, might explain the observed abundances of these species in PDRs, hot
cores, and dark clouds
Nature-Inspired Interconnects for Self-Assembled Large-Scale Network-on-Chip Designs
Future nano-scale electronics built up from an Avogadro number of components
needs efficient, highly scalable, and robust means of communication in order to
be competitive with traditional silicon approaches. In recent years, the
Networks-on-Chip (NoC) paradigm emerged as a promising solution to interconnect
challenges in silicon-based electronics. Current NoC architectures are either
highly regular or fully customized, both of which represent implausible
assumptions for emerging bottom-up self-assembled molecular electronics that
are generally assumed to have a high degree of irregularity and imperfection.
Here, we pragmatically and experimentally investigate important design
trade-offs and properties of an irregular, abstract, yet physically plausible
3D small-world interconnect fabric that is inspired by modern network-on-chip
paradigms. We vary the framework's key parameters, such as the connectivity,
the number of switch nodes, the distribution of long- versus short-range
connections, and measure the network's relevant communication characteristics.
We further explore the robustness against link failures and the ability and
efficiency to solve a simple toy problem, the synchronization task. The results
confirm that (1) computation in irregular assemblies is a promising and
disruptive computing paradigm for self-assembled nano-scale electronics and (2)
that 3D small-world interconnect fabrics with a power-law decaying distribution
of shortcut lengths are physically plausible and have major advantages over
local 2D and 3D regular topologies
Photo-desorption of H2O:CO:NH3 circumstellar ice analogs: Gas-phase enrichment
We study the photo-desorption occurring in HO:CO:NH ice mixtures
irradiated with monochromatic (550 and 900 eV) and broad band (250--1250 eV)
soft X-rays generated at the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center
(Hsinchu, Taiwan). We detect many masses photo-desorbing, from atomic hydrogen
(m/z = 1) to complex species with m/z = 69 (e.g., CHNO, CHO,
CHN), supporting the enrichment of the gas phase.
At low number of absorbed photons, substrate-mediated exciton-promoted
desorption dominates the photo-desorption yield inducing the release of weakly
bound (to the surface of the ice) species; as the number of weakly bound
species declines, the photo-desorption yield decrease about one order of
magnitude, until porosity effects, reducing the surface/volume ratio, produce a
further drop of the yield.
We derive an upper limit to the CO photo-desorption yield, that in our
experiments varies from 1.4 to 0.007 molecule photon in the range ~absorbed photons cm. We apply these findings to a
protoplanetary disk model irradiated by a central T~Tauri star
First experimental test of Bell inequalities performed using a non-maximally entangled state
We report on the realisation of a new test of Bell inequalities using the
superposition of type I parametric down conversion produced in two different
non-linear crystals pumped by the same laser, but with different polarisation.
The produced state is non-maximally entangled. We discuss the advantages and
the possible developments of this configuration
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