Photoelectron Emission from Metal Surfaces Induced by VUV-emission of Filament Driven Hydrogen Arc Discharge Plasma

Photoelectron emission measurements have been performed using a filament-driven multi-cusp arc discharge volume production H^- ion source (LIISA). It has been found that photoelectron currents obtained with Al, Cu, Mo, Ta and stainless steel (SAE 304) are on the same order of magnitude. The photoelectron currents depend linearly on the discharge power. It is shown experimentally that photoelectron emission is significant only in the short wavelength range of hydrogen spectrum due to the energy dependence of the quantum efficiency. It is estimated from the measured data that the maximum photoelectron flux from plasma chamber walls is on the order of 1 A per kW of discharge power

An Experimental Study of Waveguide Coupled Microwave Heating with Conventional Multicusp Negative Ion Source

Negative ion production with conventional multicusp plasma chambers utilizing 2.45 GHz microwave heating is demonstrated. The experimental results were obtained with the multicusp plasma chambers and extraction systems of the RFdriven RADIS ion source and the filament driven arc discharge ion source LIISA. A waveguide microwave coupling system, which is almost similar to the one used with the SILHI ion source, was used. The results demonstrate that at least one third of negative ion beam obtained with inductive RF-coupling (RADIS) or arc discharge (LIISA) can be achieved with 1 kW of 2.45 GHz microwave power in CW mode without any modification of the plasma chamber. The co-extracted electron to H^- ratio and the optimum pressure range were observed to be similar for both heating methods. The behaviour of the plasma implies that the energy transfer from the microwaves to the plasma electrons is mainly an off-resonance process

Aerosol Chemical Characteristion on Board the Doe g1 Aircraft Using a Particle Into Liquid Sampler During the Texaqs 2000 Experiment.

Knowledge of aerosol chemical composition is key to understanding a number of properties of ambient aerosol particles including sources, size/number distribution, chemical evolution, optical properties and human health effects. Although filter based techniques have been widely used to determine aerosol chemical constituents, they generally cannot provide sufficiently fast time resolution needed to investigate sources and chemical evolution that effect aerosol chemical, size and number changes. In order to gain an ability to describe and predict the life cycles of ambient aerosols as a basis for ambient air quality control, fast and sensitive determination of the aerosol chemical composition must be made available. To help to achieve this goal, we deployed a newly developed technique, referred to as PILS (particle-into-liquid-sampler), on the DOE G1 aircraft during the 2000 Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS 2000) to characterize the major ionic species of aerosol particles with aerodynamic size smaller than 2.5 {micro}m (PM 2.5). The results obtained are examined in the context of other simultaneously collected data for insights into the measurement capability of the PILS system

Overview of the 2010 Carbonaceous Aerosols and Radiative Effects Study (CARES)

Substantial uncertainties still exist in the scientific understanding of the possible interactions between urban and natural (biogenic) emissions in the production and transformation of atmospheric aerosol and the resulting impact on climate change. The US Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program's Carbonaceous Aerosol and Radiative Effects Study (CARES) carried out in June 2010 in Central Valley, California, was a comprehensive effort designed to improve this understanding. The primary objective of the field study was to investigate the evolution of secondary organic and black carbon aerosols and their climate-related properties in the Sacramento urban plume as it was routinely transported into the forested Sierra Nevada foothills area. Urban aerosols and trace gases experienced significant physical and chemical transformations as they mixed with the reactive biogenic hydrocarbons emitted from the forest. Two heavily-instrumented ground sites – one within the Sacramento urban area and another about 40 km to the northeast in the foothills area – were set up to characterize the evolution of meteorological variables, trace gases, aerosol precursors, aerosol size, composition, and climate-related properties in freshly polluted and "aged" urban air. On selected days, the DOE G-1 aircraft was deployed to make similar measurements upwind and across the evolving Sacramento plume in the morning and again in the afternoon. The NASA B-200 aircraft, carrying remote sensing instruments, was also deployed to characterize the vertical and horizontal distribution of aerosols and aerosol optical properties within and around the plume. This overview provides: (a) the scientific background and motivation for the study, (b) the operational and logistical information pertinent to the execution of the study, (c) an overview of key observations and initial findings from the aircraft and ground-based sampling platforms, and (d) a roadmap of planned data analyses and focused modeling efforts that will facilitate the integration of new knowledge into improved representations of key aerosol processes and properties in climate models.United States. Dept. of Energy. Atmospheric System Research Program (Contract DE-AC06-76RLO 1830)United States. National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationUnited States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. HQ Science Mission Directorate Radiation Sciences ProgramUnited States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. CALIPSO ProgramUnited States. Dept. of Energy. Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (Interagency Agreement No. DE-AI02-05ER63985

Asian dust events of April 1998

On April 15 and 19, 1998, two intense dust storms were generated over the Gobi desert by springtime low-pressure systems descending from the northwest. The windblown dust was detected and its evolution followed by its yellow color on SeaWiFS satellite images, routine surface-based monitoring, and through serendipitous observations. The April 15 dust cloud was recirculating, and it was removed by a precipitating weather system over east Asia. The April 19 dust cloud crossed the Pacific Ocean in 5 days, subsided to the surface along the mountain ranges between British Columbia and California, and impacted severely the optical and the concentration environments of the region. In east Asia the dust clouds increased the albedo over the cloudless ocean and land by up to 10-20%, but it reduced the near-UNI cloud reflectance, causing a yellow coloration of all surfaces. The yellow colored backscattering by the dust eludes a plausible explanation using simple Mie theory with constant refractive index. Over the West Coast the dust layer has increased the spectrally uniform optical depth to about 0.4, reduced the direct solar radiation by 30-40%, doubled the diffuse radiation, and caused a whitish discoloration of the blue sky. On April 29 the average excess surface-level dust aerosol concentration over the valleys of the West Coast was about 20-50 mug/m(3) with local peaks \u3e 100 mug/m(3). The dust mass mean diameter was 2-3 mum, and the dust chemical fingerprints were evident throughout the West Coast and extended to Minnesota. The April 1998 dust event has impacted the surface aerosol concentration 2-4 times more than any other dust event since 1988. The dust events were observed and interpreted by an ad hoc international web-based virtual community. It would be useful to set up a community-supported web-based infrastructure to monitor the global aerosol pattern for such extreme aerosol events, to alert and to inform the interested communities, and to facilitate collaborative analysis for improved air quality and disaster management

Visibility assessment : Monte Carlo characterization of temporal variability.

Current techniques for assessing the benefits of certain anthropogenic emission reductions are largely influenced by limitations in emissions data and atmospheric modeling capability and by the highly variant nature of meteorology. These data and modeling limitations are likely to continue for the foreseeable future, during which time important strategic decisions need to be made. Statistical atmospheric quality data and apportionment techniques are used in Monte-Carlo models to offset serious shortfalls in emissions, entrainment, topography, statistical meteorology data and atmospheric modeling. This paper describes the evolution of Department of Energy (DOE) Monte-Carlo based assessment models and the development of statistical inputs. A companion paper describes techniques which are used to develop the apportionment factors used in the assessment models

Visibility assessment : coping with incomplete emissions and modeling.

The availability of complete emissions and entrainment data, topographic data and statistical meteorology data, and the modeling to account for all aerosol constituents presently found in our atmospheres, is not likely to improve substantially in the foreseeable future. This inability to model all of the transformation and transport processes which result in visibility-impairing aerosol species arriving at a point of interest, does not necessarily prevent our assessment of the benefits of reducing emissions from sources that can be modeled. We must, however, have an adequate statistical record of the concentrations of these materials and we must have a reliable means to apportion the concentration into controllable (i.e., those we can quantify and model) and uncontrollable fractions. Statistical concentration data, for remote scenic regions, are available for relevant aerosol species from the IMPROVE Network, for years beginning in 1988. A comparable network is unfortunately not available for urban areas. Here we describe the evolution of our source apportionment assumptions for two remote sites of much current interest, Grand Canyon and Shenandoah National Parks. Ingenuity and in some cases additional field investigations are necessary to improve such apportionment assumptions. To that end we briefly summarize promising approaches, such as receptor analysis and characterization of the particulate loading of on-shore flows, and current DOE research relevant to the issue

Timing-Error Detection Design Considerations in Subthreshold: An 8-bit Microprocessor in 65 nm CMOS

This paper presents the first known timing-error detection (TED) microprocessor able to operate in subthreshold. Since the minimum energy point (MEP) of static CMOS logic is in subthreshold, there is a strong motivation to design ultra-low-power systems that can operate in this region. However, exponential dependencies in subthreshold, require systems with either excessively large safety margins or that utilize adaptive techniques. Typically, these techniques include replica paths, sensors, or TED. Each of these methods adds system complexity, area, and energy overhead. As a run-time technique, TED is the only method that accounts for both local and global variations. The microprocessor presented in this paper utilizes adaptable error-detection sequential (EDS) circuits that can adjust to process and environmental variations. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the microprocessor, as well as energy savings up to 28%, when using the TED method in subthreshold. The microprocessor is an 8-bit core, which is compatible with a commercial microcontroller. The microprocessor is fabricated in 65 nm CMOS, uses as low as 4.35 pJ/instruction, occupies an area of 50,000 μm<sup>2</sup>, and operates down to 300 mV

Aerosol optical depth derived from solar radiometry observations at northern mid-latitude sites

Routine, automated solar radiometry observations began with the development of the Mobile Automated Scanning Photometer (MASP) and its installation at the Rattlesnake Mountain Observatory (RMO). We have introduced a microprocessor controlled rotating shadowband radiometer (RSR), both the single detector and the multi-filter/detector (MFRSR) versions to replace the MASP. The operational mode of the RSRs is substantially different than the MASP or other traditional sun-tracking radiometers, because, by virtue of the automated rotating shadowband, the total and diffuse irradiance on a horizontal plane are measured and the direct-normal component deduced through computation from the total and diffuse components by the self-contained microprocessor. Because the three irradiance components are measured using the same detector for a given wavelength, the calibration coefficients are identical for each component, thus reducing errors when comparing them. The MFRSR is the primary radiometric instrument in the nine-station Quantitative Links Network (QLN) established in the eastern United States in late 1991. Data from this network are being used to investigate how cloud- and aerosol-induced radiative effects vary in time and with cloud structure and type over a mid-latitude continental region. This work supports the DOE Quantitative Links Program to quantify linkages between changes in atmospheric composition and climate forcing. In this paper we describe the setup of the QLN and present aerosol optical depth results from the on-going measurements at PNL/RMO, as well as preliminary results from the QLN. From the time-series of data at each site, we compare seasonal variability and geographical differences, as well as the effect of the perturbation to the stratosphere by Mt. Pinatubo. Analysis of the wavelength dependence of optical depth also provides information on the evolution and changes in the size distribution of the aerosols