Oxygen plasmas used to synthesize superoxides

Production of alkali metal superoxides by interaction of molecular oxygen with alkali metals or their salts is discussed. Diagram of reactor to show components and operating principles is provided. Analysis of chemical reactions involved is developed

Reverse-osmosis membranes by plasma polymerization

Thin allyl amine polymer films were developed using plasma polymerization. Resulting dry composite membranes effectively reject sodium chloride during reverse osmosis. Films are 98% sodium chloride rejective, and 46% urea rejective

Method of preparing water purification membranes

Allyl amine and chemically related compounds are polymerized as thin films in the presence of a plasma discharge. The monomer compound can be polymerized by itself or in the presence of an additive gas to promote polymerization and act as a carrier. The polymerized films thus produced show outstanding advantages when used as reverse osmosis membranes

Moisture-resistant coatings for optical components

Plasma polymerization technique is used to apply thin, adherent, hydrophobic coatings from chlorotrifluoroethylene monomer. Apparently much of the chlorine contained in original monomer is lost during polymerization, and characteristic C-Cl absorption in infrared region is essentially absent

Rapid evaluation of reverse-osmosis membranes

Simultaneous reverse-osmosis tests conducted with centrifuges having multiple compartment heads are discussed. Equipment for retaining reverse-osmosis membrane is illustrated. Method of conducting tests is described

Opportunities for mesoscopics in thermometry and refrigeration: Physics and applications

This review presents an overview of the thermal properties of mesoscopic structures. The discussion is based on the concept of electron energy distribution, and, in particular, on controlling and probing it. The temperature of an electron gas is determined by this distribution: refrigeration is equivalent to narrowing it, and thermometry is probing its convolution with a function characterizing the measuring device. Temperature exists, strictly speaking, only in quasiequilibrium in which the distribution follows the Fermi-Dirac form. Interesting nonequilibrium deviations can occur due to slow relaxation rates of the electrons, e.g., among themselves or with lattice phonons. Observation and applications of nonequilibrium phenomena are also discussed. The focus in this paper is at low temperatures, primarily below 4 K, where physical phenomena on mesoscopic scales and hybrid combinations of various types of materials, e.g., superconductors, normal metals, insulators, and doped semiconductors, open up a rich variety of device concepts. This review starts with an introduction to theoretical concepts and experimental results on thermal properties of mesoscopic structures. Then thermometry and refrigeration are examined with an emphasis on experiments. An immediate application of solid-state refrigeration and thermometry is in ultrasensitive radiation detection, which is discussed in depth. This review concludes with a summary of pertinent fabrication methods of presented devices.Comment: Close to the version published in RMP; 59 pages, 35 figure