Observation of metastable hcp solid helium

We have produced and observed metastable solid helium-4 below its melting pressure between 1.1 K and 1.4 K. This is achieved by an intense pressure wave carefully focused inside a crystal of known orientation. An accurate density map of the focal zone is provided by an optical interferometric technique. Depending on the sample, minimum density achieved at focus corresponds to pressures between 2 and 4 bar below the static melting pressure. Beyond, the crystal undergoes an unexpected instability much earlier than the predicted spinodal limit. This opens a novel opportunity to study this quantum crystal in an expanded metastable state and its stability limits.Comment: deuxi\`eme versio

A new Manifestation of Atomic Parity Violation in Cesium: a Chiral Optical Gain induced by linearly polarized 6S-7S Excitation

We have detected, by using stimulated emission, an Atomic Parity Violation (APV) in the form of a chiral optical gain of a cesium vapor on the 7S - 6P$_{3/2}$ transition,consecutive to linearly polarized 6S-7S excitation. We demonstrate the validity of this detection method of APV, by presenting a 9% accurate measurement of expected sign and magnitude. We underline several advantages of this entirely new approach in which the cylindrical symmetry of the set-up can be fully exploited. Future measurements at the percent level will provide an important cross-check of an existing more precise result obtained by a different method.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Illuminating the life of GPCRs

The investigation of biological systems highly depends on the possibilities that allow scientists to visualize and quantify biomolecules and their related activities in real-time and non-invasively. G-protein coupled receptors represent a family of very dynamic and highly regulated transmembrane proteins that are involved in various important physiological processes. Since their localization is not confined to the cell surface they have been a very attractive "moving target" and the understanding of their intracellular pathways as well as the identified protein-protein-interactions has had implications for therapeutic interventions. Recent and ongoing advances in both the establishment of a variety of labeling methods and the improvement of measuring and analyzing instrumentation, have made fluorescence techniques to an indispensable tool for GPCR imaging. The illumination of their complex life cycle, which includes receptor biosynthesis, membrane targeting, ligand binding, signaling, internalization, recycling and degradation, will provide new insights into the relationship between spatial receptor distribution and function. This review covers the existing technologies to track GPCRs in living cells. Fluorescent ligands, antibodies, auto-fluorescent proteins as well as the evolving technologies for chemical labeling with peptide- and protein-tags are described and their major applications concerning the GPCR life cycle are presented

Real-time plasma state monitoring and supervisory control on TCV

In ITER and DEMO, various control objectives related to plasma control must be simultaneously achieved by the plasma control system (PCS), in both normal operation as well as off-normal conditions. The PCS must act on off-normal events and deviations from the target scenario, since certain sequences (chains) of events can precede disruptions. It is important that these decisions are made while maintaining a coherent prioritization between the real-time control tasks to ensure high-performance operation. In this paper, a generic architecture for task-based integrated plasma control is proposed. The architecture is characterized by the separation of state estimation, event detection, decisions and task execution among different algorithms, with standardized signal interfaces. Central to the architecture are a plasma state monitor and supervisory controller. In the plasma state monitor, discrete events in the continuous-valued plasma state are modeled using finite state machines. This provides a high-level representation of the plasma state. The supervisory controller coordinates the execution of multiple plasma control tasks by assigning task priorities, based on the finite states of the plasma and the pulse schedule. These algorithms were implemented on the TCV digital control system and integrated with actuator resource management and existing state estimation algorithms and controllers. The plasma state monitor on TCV can track a multitude of plasma events, related to plasma current, rotating and locked neoclassical tearing modes, and position displacements. In TCV experiments on simultaneous control of plasma pressure, safety factor profile and NTMs using electron cyclotron heating (ECH) and current drive (ECCD), the supervisory controller assigns priorities to the relevant control tasks. The tasks are then executed by feedback controllers and actuator allocation management. This work forms a significant step forward in the ongoing integration of control capabilities in experiments on TCV, in support of tokamak reactor operation

Physics research on the TCV tokamak facility: from conventional to alternative scenarios and beyond

The research program of the TCV tokamak ranges from conventional to advanced-tokamak scenarios and alternative divertor configurations, to exploratory plasmas driven by theoretical insight, exploiting the device’s unique shaping capabilities. Disruption avoidance by real-time locked mode prevention or unlocking with electron-cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) was thoroughly documented, using magnetic and radiation triggers. Runaway generation with high-Z noble-gas injection and runaway dissipation by subsequent Ne or Ar injection were studied for model validation. The new 1 MW neutral beam injector has expanded the parameter range, now encompassing ELMy H-modes in an ITER-like shape and nearly non-inductive H-mode discharges sustained by electron cyclotron and neutral beam current drive. In the H-mode, the pedestal pressure increases modestly with nitrogen seeding while fueling moves the density pedestal outwards, but the plasma stored energy is largely uncorrelated to either seeding or fueling. High fueling at high triangularity is key to accessing the attractive small edge-localized mode (type-II) regime. Turbulence is reduced in the core at negative triangularity, consistent with increased confinement and in accord with global gyrokinetic simulations. The geodesic acoustic mode, possibly coupled with avalanche events, has been linked with particle flow to the wall in diverted plasmas. Detachment, scrape-off layer transport, and turbulence were studied in L- and H-modes in both standard and alternative configurations (snowflake, super-X, and beyond). The detachment process is caused by power ‘starvation’ reducing the ionization source, with volume recombination playing only a minor role. Partial detachment in the H-mode is obtained with impurity seeding and has shown little dependence on flux expansion in standard single-null geometry. In the attached L-mode phase, increasing the outer connection length reduces the in–out heat-flow asymmetry. A doublet plasma, featuring an internal X-point, was achieved successfully, and a transport barrier was observed in the mantle just outside the internal separatrix. In the near future variable-configuration baffles and possibly divertor pumping will be introduced to investigate the effect of divertor closure on exhaust and performance, and 3.5 MW ECRH and 1 MW neutral beam injection heating will be added

Measurement of the forbidden 6S - 8S M1 transition in caesium with an electric field

The 6S1/2 - 8S1/2 caesium transition is excited in a Stark field, with a pulsed narrow-band nitrogen-pumped dye-laser. It is detected by monitoring the fluorescence light emitted in the 8S1/2 - 6P1/2 decay. The scalar-to-vector off-diagonal polarizability ratio is obtained : α/β = - 4.8 ± 0.5. The M1 amplitude is observed through the electronic polarization created in 8S1/2 by its interference with the Stark-induced amplitude. We obtain M1/β = ( - 9.15 ± 1.05) V/cm. Using a theoretical determination of α, we deduce M1 = ( - 3.11 ± 0.48) · 10-5 |μB| /c.La transition 6S1/2 - 8S1/2 du césium est excitée, dans un champ électrique, avec un laser à colorant pulsé, de faible largeur spectrale, pompé par laser à azote. La détection se fait sur la lumière de fluorescence émise au cours de la désexcitation de 8S1/2 vers 6P 1/2. Nous obtenons le rapport des polarisabilités non diagonales scalaire et vectorielle : α/β = — 4,8 ± 0,5. L'amplitude M 1 se manifeste par la polarisation électronique créée dans 8S 1/2 du fait de son interférence avec l'amplitude Stark induite. Nous obtenons M1 /β = 5(- 9,15 ± 1,05) V/cm. Grâce à une détermination théorique de α, nous en déduisons M1 = ( — 3,11 ± 0,48) 10-5|μβ|/c

La Lanterne : journal politique quotidien

21 janvier 19051905/01/21 (N2412,A22)

Complex image method for RF antenna-plasma inductive coupling calculation in planar geometry. Part I: basic concepts

The coupling between an inductive source and the plasma determines the power transfer efficiency and the reflected impedance in the primary circuit. Usually, the plasma coupling is analysed by means of a transformer equivalent circuit, where the plasma inductance and resistance are estimated using a global plasma model. This paper shows that, for planar RF antennas, the mutual inductance between the plasma and the primary circuit can be calculated using partial inductances and the complex image method, where the plasma coupling is determined in terms of the plasma skin depth and the distance to the plasma. To introduce the basic concepts, the mutual inductance is calculated here for a linear conductor parallel to the plasma surface. In the accompanying paper part II Guittienne et al (2015 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 24 065015), impedance measurements on a RF resonant planar plasma source are modeled using an impedance matrix where the plasma-antenna mutual impedances are calculated using the complex image method presented here