Experimental study of the reduction of field emission by gas injection in vacuum for accelerator applications

LGEP 2014 ID = 1590International audienceField emission current from surfaces under vacuum and at high field strengths can be reduced by the injection of gas into the evacuated volume. In this paper, the effects of H 2 , He, N 2 , and Ar on this "dark" current emitted from a tungsten carbide point cathode for 2 cm gap distance is studied. Exposure to any of these gases at pressures on the order of 10 −3 –10 −2 Pa was found to reduce the emission current by up to 90% with a time constant on the order of ∼1 minute as compared to the current at 10 −6 Pa. The effect was strongly dependent on the gas nature, with Ar and N 2 having larger effects at lower pressures than He and H 2 . The reduction was reversible, with the current increasing to near its original value with a time constant on the order of ∼1–10 minutes after pumping down. The effect of the gas remained in the absence of electric field, whatever the gas pressure. Mechanisms for these and related phenomena are discussed

Imaging single cells in a beam of live cyanobacteria with an X-ray laser

There exists a conspicuous gap of knowledge about the organization of life at mesoscopic levels. Ultra-fast coherent diffractive imaging with X-ray free-electron lasers can probe structures at the relevant length scales and may reach sub-nanometer resolution on micron-sized living cells. Here we show that we can introduce a beam of aerosolised cyanobacteria into the focus of the Linac Coherent Light Source and record diffraction patterns from individual living cells at very low noise levels and at high hit ratios. We obtain two-dimensional projection images directly from the diffraction patterns, and present the results as synthetic X-ray Nomarski images calculated from the complex-valued reconstructions. We further demonstrate that it is possible to record diffraction data to nanometer resolution on live cells with X-ray lasers. Extension to sub-nanometer resolution is within reach, although improvements in pulse parameters and X-ray area detectors will be necessary to unlock this potential

Open data set of live cyanobacterial cells imaged using an X-ray laser

Structural studies on living cells by conventional methods are limited to low resolution because radiation damage kills cells long before the necessary dose for high resolution can be delivered. X-ray free-electron lasers circumvent this problem by outrunning key damage processes with an ultra-short and extremely bright coherent X-ray pulse. Diffraction-before-destruction experiments provide high-resolution data from cells that are alive when the femtosecond X-ray pulse traverses the sample. This paper presents two data sets from micron-sized cyanobacteria obtained at the Linac Coherent Light Source, containing a total of 199,000 diffraction patterns. Utilizing this type of diffraction data will require the development of new analysis methods and algorithms for studying structure and structural variability in large populations of cells and to create abstract models. Such studies will allow us to understand living cells and populations of cells in new ways. New X-ray lasers, like the European XFEL, will produce billions of pulses per day, and could open new areas in structural sciences

Single-shot diffraction data from the Mimivirus particle using an X-ray free-electron laser

Citation: Ekeberg, T., Svenda, M., Seibert, M. M., Abergel, C., Maia, F. R. N. C., Seltzer, V., . . . Hajdu, J. (2016). Single-shot diffraction data from the Mimivirus particle using an X-ray free-electron laser. Scientific Data, 3. doi:10.1038/sdata.2016.60Free-electron lasers (FEL) hold the potential to revolutionize structural biology by producing X-ray pules short enough to outrun radiation damage, thus allowing imaging of biological samples without the limitation from radiation damage. Thus, a major part of the scientific case for the first FELs was three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of non-crystalline biological objects. In a recent publication we demonstrated the first 3D reconstruction of a biological object from an X-ray FEL using this technique. The sample was the giant Mimivirus, which is one of the largest known viruses with a diameter of 450 nm. Here we present the dataset used for this successful reconstruction. Data-analysis methods for single-particle imaging at FELs are undergoing heavy development but data collection relies on very limited time available through a highly competitive proposal process. This dataset provides experimental data to the entire community and could boost algorithm development and provide a benchmark dataset for new algorithms

Children struggle beyond preschool-age in a continuous version of the ambiguous figures task

Children until the age of five are only able to reverse an ambiguous figure when they are informed about the second interpretation. In two experiments, we examined whether children’s difficulties would extend to a continuous version of the ambiguous figures task. Children (Experiment 1: 66 3- to 5-year olds; Experiment 2: 54 4- to 9-year olds) and adult controls saw line drawings of animals gradually morph—through well-known ambiguous figures—into other animals. Results show a relatively late developing ability to recognize the target animal, with difficulties extending beyond preschool-age. This delay can neither be explained with improvements in theory of mind, inhibitory control, nor individual differences in eye movements. Even the best achieving children only started to approach adult level performance at the age of 9, suggesting a fundamentally different processing style in children and adults

Temporal evolution of temperature and OH density produced by nanosecond repetitively pulsed discharges in water vapour at atmospheric pressure

International audienceWe report on an experimental study of the temporal evolution of OH density and gas temperature in spark discharges created by nanosecond repetitively pulsed discharges in pure water vapour at 475 K and atmospheric pressure. The plasma was generated by 20 kV, 20 ns pulses, at a repetition frequency of 10 kHz. The temperature was measured during the discharge by optical emission spectroscopy of the second positive system of N2, and between two discharges by two-colour OH-planar laser induced fluorescence (OH-PLIF) using two pairs of rotational transitions. Between two successive discharges, the relative density of OH was measured by OH-PLIF and was found to decay very slowly, with a 1/e decay time of about 50 µs. With the use of a chemical kinetics model, the OH density was placed on an absolute scale