Maxwell stress in fluid mixtures

We examine the structure of Maxwell stress in binary fluid mixtures under an external electric field and discuss its consequence. In particular, we show that, in immiscible blends, it is intimately related to the statistics of domain structure. This leads to a compact formula, which may be useful in the investigation of electro-rheological effects in such systems. The stress tensor calculated in a phase separated fluid under a steady electric field is in a good agreement with recent experiments.Comment: 5 page

Nonlinear dynamics of the interface of dielectric liquids in a strong electric field: Reduced equations of motion

The evolution of the interface between two ideal dielectric liquids in a strong vertical electric field is studied. It is found that a particular flow regime, for which the velocity potential and the electric field potential are linearly dependent functions, is possible if the ratio of the permittivities of liquids is inversely proportional to the ratio of their densities. The corresponding reduced equations for interface motion are derived. In the limit of small density ratio, these equations coincide with the well-known equations describing the Laplacian growth.Comment: 10 page

Advances in Non-Contact Thermal-Wave Imaging with Infrared Detection

We are making further advances in non-destructive and non-contact thermal imaging with infrared detection. We employ a chopped and scanned electron beam as heat source, a cooled HgCdTe infrared detector as temperature sensor, and digital processing of the measured temperature pattern for display and storage. The results give a convincing, high contrast image of subsurface structures

Nonlinear Stability of Static N\'eel Walls in Ferromagnetic Thin Films

In this paper, the nonlinear (orbital) stability of static 180^\circ N\'eel walls in ferromagnetic films, under the reduced wave-type dynamics for the in-plane magnetization proposed by Capella, Melcher and Otto [CMO07], is established. It is proved that the spectrum of the linearized operator around the static N\'eel wall lies in the stable complex half plane with non-positive real part. This information is used to show that small perturbations of the static N\'eel wall converge to a translated orbit belonging to the manifold generated by the static wall.Comment: 45 page

DC-conductivity of a suspension of insulating particles with internal rotation

We analyse the consequences of Quincke rotation on the conductivity of a suspension. Quincke rotation refers to the spontaneous rotation of insulating particles dispersed in a slightly conducting liquid and subject to a high DC electric field: above a critical field, each particle rotates continuously around itself with an axis pointing in any direction perpendicular to the DC field. When the suspension is subject to an electric field lower than the threshold one, the presence of insulating particles in the host liquid decreases the bulk conductivity since the particles form obstacles to ion migration. But for electric fields higher than the critical one, the particles rotate and facilitate ion migration: the effective conductivity of the suspension is increased. We provide a theoretical analysis of the impact of Quincke rotation on the apparent conductivity of a suspension and we present experimental results obtained with a suspension of PMMA particles dispersed in weakly conducting liquids

Photostimulated Luminescence and Thermoluminescence of LSO Scintillators

Photostimulated luminescence (PSL) and thermoluminescence (TL) from five Lu_(2(1-x/)Ce)_(2x)/(SiO_4)O (LSO) crystals with different light outputs is reported. Optical irradiation into the Ce^(3+) absorption bands causes the appearance of a broad absorption band near 280 nn which is ascribed to Ce^(4+). In addition, a tail is observed extending beyond 700 nm. Optical irradiation into this tail (PSL) or heating of the crystal (TL) results in Ce^(3+) emission. It is shown that both PSL and TL are due to the same traps: In addition, an anti-correlation is found between the light output under gamma-ray irradiation and the trap concentration in the crystal. The nature of the recombination centers responsible for the low light output in some crystals is not clear. Annealing experiments suggest that the traps and the recombination centers may be related to oxygen vacancies

Photostimulated Luminescence and Thermoluminescence of LSO Scintillators

Photostimulated luminescence (PSL) and thermoluminescence (TL) from five Lu_(2(1-x))Ce_(2x)(SiO_4)O (LSO) crystals with different light outputs is reported. Optical irradiation into the Ce^(3+) absorption bands causes the appearance of a broad absorption band near 280 nm which is ascribed to Ce^(4+). In addition, a tail is observed extending beyond 700 nm. Optical irradiation into this tail (PSL) or heating of the crystal (TL) results in Ce^(3+) emission. It is shown that both PSL and TL are due to the same traps: In addition, an anti-correlation is found between the light output under gamma-ray irradiation and the trap concentration in the crystal. The nature of the recombination centers responsible for the low light output in some crystals is not clear. Annealing experiments suggest that the traps and the recombination centers may be related to oxygen vacancies

Cold Helium Pressurization for Liquid Oxygen / Liquid Methane Propulsion Systems: Fully-Integrated Initial Hot-Fire Test Results

A prototype cold helium active pressurization system was incorporated into an existing liquid oxygen (LOX) / liquid methane (LCH4) prototype planetary lander and hot-fire tested to collect vehicle-level performance data. Results from this hot-fire test series were used to validate integrated models of the vehicle helium and propulsion systems and demonstrate system effectiveness for a throttling lander. Pressurization systems vary greatly in complexity and efficiency between vehicles, so a pressurization performance metric was also developed as a means to compare different active pressurization schemes. This implementation of an active repress system is an initial sizing draft. Refined implementations will be tested in the future, improving the general knowledge base for a cryogenic lander-based cold helium system

In-depth description of Electrohydrodynamic conduction pumping of dielectric liquids: physical model and regime analysis

In this work, we discuss the fundamental aspects of Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) conduction pumping of dielectric liquids. We build a mathematical model of conduction pumping that can be applied to all sizes, down to microsized pumps. In order to do this, we discuss the relevance of the Electrical Double Layer (EDL) that appears naturally on nonmetallic substrates. In the process, we identify a new dimensionless parameter related to the value of the zeta potential of the substrate-liquid pair, which quantifies the influence of these EDLs on the performance of the pump. This parameter also describes the transition from EHD conduction pumping to electro-osmosis. We also discuss in detail the two limiting working regimes in EHD conduction pumping: ohmic and saturation. We introduce a new dimensionless parameter, accounting for the electric field enhanced dissociation that, along with the conduction number, allows us to identify in which regime the pump operates.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades PGC2018-099217-B-I0

Geometrical quadrupolar frustration in DyB4_4

Physical properties of DyB$_4$ have been studied by magnetization, specific heat, and ultrasonic measurements. The magnetic entropy change and the ultrasonic properties in the intermediate phase II indicate that the degeneracy of internal degrees of freedom is not fully lifted in spite of the formation of magnetic order. The ultrasonic attenuation and the huge softening of $C_{44}$ in phase II suggests existence of electric-quadrupolar (orbital) fluctuations of the 4$f$-electron. These unusual properties originate from the geometrical quadrupolar frustration.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of the Physical Society of Japa