Microdosimetry of diagnostic X-rays: applications of the variance-covariance method.

Microdosimetric measurements in beams of diagnostic X rays (between 30 and 125 kV) have been performed. In these pulsed radiation fields, microdosimetric measurements are possible only by application of the variance-covariance technique. The dose mean lineal energy, yD, is determined for various simulated diameters, at different depths in the absorber, and at different points within the pulse intervals. From the measured temporal dependences one can also obtain values of yD for different X-ray pulse generators. The results demonstrate the potential of the variance-covariance method for a diversity of microdosimetric measurements in radiation protection and in the quality control of radiation beams

A slowly rotating perfect fluid body in an ambient vacuum

A global model of a slowly rotating perfect fluid ball in general relativity is presented. To second order in the rotation parameter, the junction surface is an ellipsoidal cylinder. The interior is given by a limiting case of the Wahlquist solution, and the vacuum region is not asymptotically flat. The impossibility of joining an asymptotically flat vacuum region has been shown in a preceding work.Comment: 7 pages, published versio

Criteria of applicability for autoradiography of tritium

Autoradiography is an effective tool for the imaging of radionuclide distributions in various samples. In sophisticated applications with special preparation and development of sample-emulsion combinations and subsequent grain counts it can be highly quantitative, but it requires carefully controlled conditions and a variety of counter-checks, for example through scintillation spectroscopy. Less refined applications use X-ray films as detectors, and their seeming simplicity tends to invite artefacts and misinterpretations. Particular care needs to be taken, if one deals, or presumes to deal, with the low-energy ß-emitter tritium. Because of the short electron ranges the film must be in intimate contact with the sample, which tends to produce chemographic artefacts; without added spectroscopic measurements it is impossible to discriminate the spurious signals from a blackening of the film due to tritium. Recent statements concerning autoradiographic tritium measurements in tree samples have created considerable public concern and have demonstrated the pitfalls of uncritical use. This paper presents order-of-magnitude criteria for the detection threshold in the autoradiography of tritium; they can serve as an exclusion principle for some of the more extravagant misinterpretations. Dedication to Prof. Wolfgang Jacobi on the occasion of his 65th birthda

^25Mg NMR study of the MgB_2 superconductor

^25Mg NMR spectra and nuclear spin-lattice relaxation time, T_1, have been measured in polycrystalline ^25MgB_2 with a superconducting transition temperature T_c = 39.0 K in zero magnetic field. From the first order and second order quadrupole perturbed NMR spectrum a quadrupole coupling frequency nu_Q = 222(1.5) kHz is obtained. T_1T = 1090(50) sK and Knight shift K_c = 242(4) ppm are temperature independent in the normal conducting phase. The ^25Mg Korringa ratio equals to 0.95 which is very close to the ideal value of unity for s-electrons. The comparison of the experimental nu_Q, T_1T, and K_c with the corresponding values obtained by LDA calculations shows an excellent agreement for all three quantities.Comment: 4 pages including 4 eps-figures, revtex

Deterministic entanglement of ions in thermal states of motion

We give a detailed description of the implementation of a Molmer-Sorensen gate entangling two Ca+ ions using a bichromatic laser beam near-resonant with a quadrupole transition. By amplitude pulse shaping and compensation of AC-Stark shifts we achieve a fast gate operation without compromising the error rate. Subjecting different input states to concatenations of up to 21 individual gate operations reveals Bell state fidelities above 0.80. In principle, the entangling gate does not require ground state cooling of the ions as long as the Lamb-Dicke criterion is fulfilled. We present the first experimental evidence for this claim and create Bell states with a fidelity of 0.974(1) for ions in a thermal state of motion with a mean phonon number of =20(2) in the mode coupling to the ions' internal states.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures (author name spelling corrected