4,304 research outputs found
Measurement of the lowest millimetre-wave transition frequency of the CH radical
The CH radical offers a sensitive way to test the hypothesis that fundamental
constants measured on earth may differ from those observed in other parts of
the universe. The starting point for such a comparison is to have accurate
laboratory frequencies. Here we measure the frequency of the lowest
millimetre-wave transition of CH, near 535 GHz, with an accuracy of 0.6 kHz.
This improves the uncertainty by roughly two orders of magnitude over previous
determinations and opens the way for sensitive new tests of varying constants.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Shock enhancement and control of hypersonic mixing and combustion
The possibility that shock enhanced mixing can
substantially increase the rate of mixing between
coflowing streams of hydrogen and air has been
studied in experimental and computational investigations.
Early numerical computations indicated that
the steady interaction between a weak shock in air
with a coflowing hydrogen jet can be well approximated
by the two-dimensional time-dependent interaction
between a weak shock and an initially circular
region filled with hydrogen imbedded in air. An experimental
investigation of the latter process has been
carned out in the Caltech 17 Inch Shock Tube in experiments
in which the laser induced fluorescence of
byacetyl dye is used as a tracer for the motion of the
helium gas after shock waves have passed across the
helium cylinder. The flow field has also been studied
using an Euler code computation of the flow field.
Both investigations show that the shock impinging
process causes the light gas cylinder to split into two
parts. One of these mixes rapidly with air and the
other forms a stably stratified vortex pair which mixes
more slowly; about 60% of the light gas mixes rapidly
with the ambient fluid. The geometry of the flow field
and the mixing process and scaling parameters are
discussed here. The success of this program encouraged
the exploration of a low drag injection system in
which the basic concept of shock generated streamwise
vorticity could be incorporated in an injector for
a Scramjet combustor at Mach numbers between 5
and 8. The results of a substantial computational
program and a description of the wind tunnel model and preliminary experimental results obtained in the
High Reynolds Number Mach 6 Tunnel at NASA Langley
Research Center are given here
Compliant Turbomachine Sealing
Sealing interface materials and coatings are sacrificial, giving up their integrity for the benefit of the component. Seals that are compliant while still controlling leakage, dynamics, and coolant flows are sought to enhance turbomachine performance. Herein we investigate the leaf-seal configuration. While the leaf seal is classified as contacting, a ready modification using the leaf-housing arrangement in conjunction with an interface film rider (a bore seal, for example) provides for a film-riding noncontact seal. The leaf housing and leaf elements can be made from a variety of materials from plastic to ceramic. Four simplistic models are used to identify the physics essential to controlling leakage. Corroborated by CFD, these results provide design parameters for applications to within reasonable engineering certainty. Some potential improvements are proposed
Vibrational branching ratios and hyperfine structure of BH and its suitability for laser cooling
The simple structure of the BH molecule makes it an excellent candidate for
direct laser cooling. We measure the branching ratios for the decay of the
state to vibrational levels of the ground state, , and find that they are exceedingly favourable for laser
cooling. We verify that the branching ratio for the spin-forbidden transition
to the intermediate state is inconsequentially small. We
measure the frequency of the lowest rotational transition of the X state, and
the hyperfine structure in the relevant levels of both the X and A states, and
determine the nuclear electric quadrupole and magnetic dipole coupling
constants. Our results show that, with a relatively simple laser cooling
scheme, a Zeeman slower and magneto-optical trap can be used to cool, slow and
trap BH molecules.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Updated analysis of A state hyperfine structure
and other minor revision
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