A Multifunctional Processing Board for the Fast Track Trigger of the H1 Experiment

The electron-proton collider HERA is being upgraded to provide higher luminosity from the end of the year 2001. In order to enhance the selectivity on exclusive processes a Fast Track Trigger (FTT) with high momentum resolution is being built for the H1 Collaboration. The FTT will perform a 3-dimensional reconstruction of curved tracks in a magnetic field of 1.1 Tesla down to 100 MeV in transverse momentum. It is able to reconstruct up to 48 tracks within 23 mus in a high track multiplicity environment. The FTT consists of two hardware levels L1, L2 and a third software level. Analog signals of 450 wires are digitized at the first level stage followed by a quick lookup of valid track segment patterns. For the main processing tasks at the second level such as linking, fitting and deciding, a multifunctional processing board has been developed by the ETH Zurich in collaboration with Supercomputing Systems (Zurich). It integrates a high-density FPGA (Altera APEX 20K600E) and four floating point DSPs (Texas Instruments TMS320C6701). This presentation will mainly concentrate on second trigger level hardware aspects and on the implementation of the algorithms used for linking and fitting. Emphasis is especially put on the integrated CAM (content addressable memory) functionality of the FPGA, which is ideally suited for implementing fast search tasks like track segment linking.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted to TN

Spatial imaging of modifications to fluorescence lifetime and intensity by individual Ag nanoparticles

Highly ordered periodic arrays of silver nanoparticles have been fabricated which exhibit surface plasmon resonances in the visible spectrum. We demonstrate the ability of these structures to alter the fluorescence properties of vicinal dye molecules by providing an additional radiative decay channel. Using fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), we have created high resolution spatial maps of the molecular lifetime components; these show an order of magnitude increase in decay rate from a localized volume around the nanoparticles, resulting in a commensurate enhancement in the fluorescence emission intensity.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, submitted Applied Physics Letter

Plasmonic engineering of metal nanoparticles for enhanced fluorescence and Raman scattering

We have investigated the effects of tuning the localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) of silver nanoparticles on the fluorescence intensity, lifetime, and Raman signal from nearby fluorophores. The presence of a metallic structure can alter the optical properties of a molecule by increasing the excitation field, and by modifying radiative and non-radiative decay mechanisms. By careful choice of experimental parameters we have been able to decouple these effects. We observe a four-fold increase in fluorescence enhancement and an almost 30-fold increase in decay rate from arrays of Ag nanoparticles, when the LSPR is tuned to the emission wavelength of a locally situated fluorophore. This is consistent with a greatly increased efficiency for energy transfer from fluorescence to surface plasmons. Additionally, surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) measurements show a maximum enhancement occurs when both the incident laser light and the Raman signal are near resonance with the plasmon energy. Spatial mapping of the SERS signal from a nanoparticle array reveals highly localized differences in the excitation field resulting from small differences in the LSPR energy.Comment: Submitted to Plasmonics (Springer

The photoelectron spectra of the diazanaphthalenes

The high-resolution He 584 Å photoelectron spectra of ten diazanaphthalenes are presented. The ordering of the π orbitals and the nitrogen “lone-pair” orbitals is discussed. Several semi-empirical quantum-chemical calculation methods have been screened against the experimental evidence

Perfluoro effect in the photoelectron spectra of quinoline and isoquinoline

The high-resolution He 584Aophotoelectron spectra of heptafluoroquinoline and heptafluoroisoquinoline are compared with those of the parent compounds. Shifts in π ionisation potentials, due to the fluorine substitution, can be described with an inductive and a combined inductive-conjugative Hu¨ckel model

Photoelectron spectra of fluorine substituted diazanaphthalenes: “Even cases”

The high resolution He 584 Å photoelectron spectra of three diazanaphthalenes and some of their fluorine derivatives are presented. The qualitative model that is used frequently in the discussion of lone-pair level splittings is examined

Heat transfer in a recirculation zone at steady-state and oscillating conditions - the back facing step test case

Steady state and transient heat transfer is a very important aspect of any combustion process. To properly simulate gas to wall heat transfer in a turbulent flow, an accurate prediction of the flow and the thermal boundary layer is required. A typical gas turbine combustion chamber flow presents similarities with the academic backward facing step case, especially in the near wall regions where the heat transfer phenomena take place. For this reason, due to its simple geometry and the availability of well documented experiments, the backward facing step with wall heat transfer represents an interesting validation case. Results of steady-state and transient calculations with the use of various turbulence models are compared here with available experimental data

Special studies of AROD system concepts and designs

Signal processing techniques for range and range rate measurements in airborne range and orbit determinatio