Expansion-limited aggregation of nanoclusters in a single-pulse laser-produced plume

Formation of carbon nanoclusters in a single-laser-pulse created ablation plume was studied both in vacuum and in a noble gas environment at various pressures. The developed theory provides cluster radius dependence on combination of laser parameters, properties of ablated material, and type and pressure of an ambient gas in agreement with experiments. The experiments were performed on carbon nanoclusters formed by laser ablation of graphite targets with 12 picosecond 532 nm laser pulses at MHz-range repetition rate in a broad range of ambient He, Ar, Kr, and Xe gas pressures from 2× 10-2 to 1500 Torr. The experimental results confirmed our theoretical prediction that the average size of the nanoparticles depends weakly on the type of the ambient gas used, and is determined exclusively by the single laser pulse parameters even at the repetition rate as high as 28 MHz with the time gap 36 ns between the pulses. The most important finding relates to the fact that in vacuum the cluster size is mainly determined by hydrodynamic expansion of the plume while in the ambient gas it is controlled by atomic diffusion in the gas. We demonstrate that the ultrashort pulses can be used for production of clusters with the size less than the critical value, which separates the particles with properties drastically different from those of a material in a bulk. The presented results of experiments on formation of carbon nanoclusters are in close agreement with the theoretical scaling. The developed theory is applicable for cluster formation from any monatomic material, such as silicon for example

Space shuttle nonmetallic materials age life prediction

The chemiluminescence from samples of polybutadiene, Viton, Teflon, Silicone, PL 731 Adhesive, and SP 296 Boron-Epoxy composite was measured at temperatures from 25 to 150 C. Excellent correlations were obtained between chemiluminescence and temperature. These correlations serve to validate accelerated aging tests (at elevated temperatures) designed to predict service life at lower temperatures. In most cases, smooth or linear correlations were obtained between chemiluminescence and physical properties of purified polymer gums, including the tensile strength, viscosity, and loss tangent. The latter is a complex function of certain polymer properties. Data were obtained with far greater ease by the chemiluminescence technique than by the conventional methods of study. The chemiluminescence from the Teflon (Halon) samples was discovered to arise from trace amounts of impurities, which were undetectable by conventional, destructive analysis of the sample

Quark spin coupling in baryons - revisited

A direct connection can be made between mixing angles in negative parity baryons and the spin coupling of constituent quarks. The mixing angles do not depend on spectral data. These angles are recalculated for gluon exchange and pion exchange between quarks. For pion exchange the results of Glozman and Riska are corrected. The experimental data on mixing are very similar to those derived from gluon exchange but substantially different from the values obtained for pion exchange.Comment: 10 pages, RevTex; a sign error is corrected, spin-orbit results are include

Effect of the Centrifugal Force on Domain Chaos in Rayleigh-B\'enard convection

Experiments and simulations from a variety of sample sizes indicated that the centrifugal force significantly affects rotating Rayleigh-B\'enard convection-patterns. In a large-aspect-ratio sample, we observed a hybrid state consisting of domain chaos close to the sample center, surrounded by an annulus of nearly-stationary nearly-radial rolls populated by occasional defects reminiscent of undulation chaos. Although the Coriolis force is responsible for domain chaos, by comparing experiment and simulation we show that the centrifugal force is responsible for the radial rolls. Furthermore, simulations of the Boussinesq equations for smaller aspect ratios neglecting the centrifugal force yielded a domain precession-frequency $f\sim\epsilon^\mu$ with $\mu\simeq1$ as predicted by the amplitude-equation model for domain chaos, but contradicted by previous experiment. Additionally the simulations gave a domain size that was larger than in the experiment. When the centrifugal force was included in the simulation, $\mu$ and the domain size closely agreed with experiment.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figure

Influence of jet exit conditions on the passive scaler field of an axisymmetric free jet

The influence of initial flow conditions on the passive scalar field of a turbulent free jet issuing from the round nozzle is investigated in this paper by a review of the literature and a detailed experimental study. Two sets of distinctly different initial conditions are generated using two nozzle types: a smooth contraction and a long straight pipe. The present measurements of the passive scalar (temperature) field were conducted in a slightly heated air jet from each nozzle at a Reynolds number of 16 000 using identical experimental facilities and a single measurement technique. Significant differences between the flows from the two nozzles are revealed throughout the measured flow region which covers the axial range from 0 to 70 jet exit diameters. The study suggests that the differences observed in the statistics of the scalar field may be related to differences in the underlying turbulence structure of the jet in the near field. The present findings support the analytical result of George (1989) that the entire flow is influenced by the initial conditions, resulting in a variety of self-similar states in the far field.J. Mi, D. S. Nobes and G. J. Natha