Studies of extreme-ultraviolet emission from Rydberg series of H_2 by electron impact

Electron excitation cross sections have been measured for the following two Rydberg series of H_2: ^1Σ_u^+ 1sσnpσ (B, B′, and B", states with principal quantum numbers n=2, 3, and 4, respectively) and ^1Π_u 1sσnpπ (C, D, and D′ states with principal quantum numbers n=2, 3, and 4, respectively) over the energy range from threshold to 350 eV. The cross sections for these six states account for all (>99%) of the vacuum-ultraviolet emission (78-170 nm) of the singlet states of H_2. The estimated total direct-excitation cross sections for these six states at 100 eV in decreasing value are (4.02±0.60)×10^(−17) cm^2 for B^1Σ_u^+ (3.86±0.60)×10^(−17) cm^2 for C^1Π_u, (0.76±0.11)×10^(−17) cm^2 for D^1Π_u, (0.76±0.11)×10^(−17) cm^2 for B' ^1Σ_u^+, (0.30±0.06)×10^(−17) cm^2 for D′^1Π_u, and (0.23±0.05)×10^(−17) cm^2 for B"^1Σ_u^+ and, additionally, (0.43±0.10)×10^(−17) cm^2 for E,F^1Σ_g^+ which populates the B^1Σ_u^+ state through radiative cascade transitions. We estimate the predissociation (autoionization is weak) and emission yields of the vibrational levels of the D, D′, and B" states whose band systems exhibit strong "breaking off in emission" for wavelengths below 85 nm. Furthermore, we report the first direct measurement of the dissociative excitation cross section for production of Lyman-β of (8.9±3.0)×10^(−19) cm^2 at 100 eV. In particular, it is shown that the high-lying Rydberg states (n=3 and 4) make a substantial contribution to the observed emission below 110 nm while above 110 nm the Lyman bands (B^1Σ_u^+→X^1Σ_g^+) and Werner bands (C^1Π_u→X^1Σ_g^+), the first members of the Rydberg series, dominate the spectrum. As a result of these measurements and spectroscopic models the ultraviolet (UV) spectrum from H_2 by electron impact can serve as an intensity calibration standard from 80 to 170 nm

Fabrication and Characterization of Topological Insulator Bi2_2Se3_3 Nanocrystals

In the recently discovered class of materials known as topological insulators, the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling causes certain topological invariants in the bulk to differ from their values in vacuum. The sudden change of invariants at the interface results in metallic, time reversal invariant surface states whose properties are useful for applications in spintronics and quantum computation. However, a key challenge is to fabricate these materials on the nanoscale appropriate for devices and probing the surface. To this end we have produced 2 nm thick nanocrystals of the topological insulator Bi$_2$Se$_3$ via mechanical exfoliation. For crystals thinner than 10 nm we observe the emergence of an additional mode in the Raman spectrum. The emergent mode intensity together with the other results presented here provide a recipe for production and thickness characterization of Bi$_2$Se$_3$ nanocrystals.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures (accepted for publication in Applied Physics Letters

Efficient dehalogenation of polyhalomethanes and production of strong acids in aqueous environments: Water-catalyzed O-H-insertion and HI-elimination reactions of isodiiodomethane (CH 2I-I) with water

The ultraviolet photolysis of polyhalomethanes such as CH 2I 2 in water was investigated. The gas and solution pahse picosecond time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy was used for the study. It was observed that ultraviolet photolysis of CH 2I 2 led to almost complete conversion into CH 2(OH) 2 and 2HI products. It was also found that the photolysis at low concentration led to efficient dehalogenation as well as release of multiple strong acid (HI) leaving groups.published_or_final_versio

The EGRET high energy gamma ray telescope

The Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) is sensitive in the energy range from about 20 MeV to about 30,000 MeV. Electron-positron pair production by incident gamma photons is utilized as the detection mechanism. The pair production occurs in tantalum foils interleaved with the layers of a digital spark chamber system; the spark chamber records the tracks of the electron and positron, allowing the reconstruction of the arrival direction of the gamma ray. If there is no signal from the charged particle anticoincidence detector which surrounds the upper part of the detector, the spark chamber array is triggered by two hodoscopes of plastic scintillators. A time of flight requirement is included to reject events moving backward through the telescope. The energy of the gamma ray is primarily determined by absorption of the energies of the electron and positron in a 20 cm deep NaI(Tl) scintillator