Controlling the betatron oscillations of a wakefield-accelerated electron beam by temporally asymmetric laser pulses

Based on two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we investigated the electron beam's transverse oscillations by temporally asymmetric laser pulses in laser wakefield acceleration. Of particular interest in this article are the effects of ultrashort laser pulses having sharp rising and slow falling time scales. In this situation, the accelerated electron beam interacts directly with the laser field and undergoes transverse oscillations due to a phase-slip with the laser field. This oscillation can be matched with the betatron oscillation due to the focusing force of the ions, which can lead to a large transverse oscillation amplitude due to the resonance between them. Furthermore, in this case, the electron beam can be microbunched at the laser wavelength, which may provide the possibility for generation of a coherent synchrotron radiation.open6

Large transverse motion and micro-bunching of trapped electrons in a wakefield accelerator driven by temporally-asymmetric laser pulses

The transverse oscillatory motion of trapped electrons under the influence of the laser fields trailing the temporally-asymmetric driving laser pulse was investigated with a theoretical model of the quasi-steady state solution of trapped electron dynamics in the cavity. Our studies show that the transverse oscillation of electrons accelerated in the ion cavity can increase drastically due to the resonance with the laser field of the tail of the temporally-asymmetric pulse. The motion of the accelerated electrons can be represented by a forced harmonic oscillation and it was confirmed by 2D particle-in-cell simulations. These transverse oscillations of beams lead to micro-bunching as well, which can be used for generation of femtosecond coherent radiations of keV range photon energies.close1

Enhanced betatron radiation by a modulating laser pulse in laser wakefield acceleration

We propose a new idea to enhance and control the betatron radiation by using a modulating laser pulse in laser wakefield acceleration. In this scheme, a high-power laser pulse is used for self-trapping and acceleration of the plasma electrons and the accelerated electron beam is modulated by a separately-propagating laser pulse for large amplitude betatron oscillations and microbunching. In this way, the relatively low power modulating laser pulse can enhance the X-ray photon flux and energy significantly. We performed two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to demonstrate the idea and the results show that a sub-TW laser pulse is enough for electron beam modulation and it can generate easily-controllable fs X-ray pulses with a wide range of photon energies from soft X-rays to hard X-rays

The effect of the gap distance between an atmospheric-pressure plasma jet nozzle and liquid surface on OH and N2 species concentrations

An argon plasma jet at atmospheric pressure was operated at various gap distances between the nozzle of the plasma jet and the water surface in order to study the formation of OH and N2 species in the vicinity of the water surface. Plasma was generated using a 24 kHz sinusoidal power supply at a steady gas flow-rate of 200 sccm. The electron temperature and rotational temperature of gas species were measured using optical emission spectroscopy and found to decrease with increasing gap distance. Meanwhile, the electron density calculated from jet current measurement increased with increasing gap distance. The average OH concentration reduced from 6.10 × 1015 cm−3 to 1.35 × 1015 cm−3, as the gap distance increased from 1 to 4 mm. The 337 nm N2 second positive system studied by optical emission spectroscopy and temporal emission signals increased with increasing gap distance. Plasma activated water was also made from various gap distances in order to confirm the presence of particular reactive oxygen or nitrogen species inside the water. The maximum observed absorbance corresponding to nitrogen oxide was in the spectral range of 230–250 nm from the 4 mm gap distance, while another maximum was recorded in the range of 250–260 nm corresponding to H2O2 from the 1 mm gap distance. Our experimental observations indicate that reactive oxygen and nitrogen species may be generated above the water surface or penetrate into some biological fluids, suggesting that their particular production can be tailored by the variation of the gap distance. I. INTRODUCTIO

Influence of nanosecond pulsed plasma on the non-enzymatic pathway for the generation of nitric oxide from L-arginine and the modification of graphite oxide to increase the solar cell efficiency

In this work, we demonstrated the action of nanosecond pulsed plasma (NPP) on the generation of nitric oxide (NO) from the non-enzymatic pathway and on the modification of graphite oxide (GO) sheets to increase polymer solar cells (PSCs) efficiency. NO is an important signal and an effector molecule in animals, which is generated from the enzyme-catalyzed oxidation of L-arginine to NO and L-citrulline. Hence, L-arginine is an important biological precursor for NO formation. Therefore, we developed a new non-enzymatic pathway for the formation of NO and L-citrulline using NPP and characterized the pathway using NO detection kit, NMR, liquid chromatography/capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (LC/CE-MS) for both quantitative and qualitative bioanalysis. We then synthesized and modified the functional groups of GO using NPP, and it was characterised by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), confocal Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging, cathodoluminescence (CL) and work function using gamma-FIB. Further, we also tested the power conversion efficiency of the PSCs devices with modified GO that is similar to the one obtained with poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) as HTL. This work is perceived to have great implications for inexpensive and efficient methodology for NO generation and modification of GO, which are applicable in materials from nanomaterials to biomolecules

Enhancement of cellular glucose uptake by reactive species : a promising approach for diabetes therapy

It is generally known that antidiabetic activity is associated with an increased level of glucose uptake in adipocytes and skeletal muscle cells. However, the role of exogenous reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) in muscle development and more importantly in glucose uptake is largely unknown. We investigate the effect of RONS generated by cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) in glucose uptake. We show that the glucose uptake is significantly enhanced in differentiated L6 skeletal muscle cells after CAP treatment. We also observe a significant increase of the intracellular Ca(++) and ROS level, without causing toxicity. One of the possible reasons for an elevated level of glucose uptake as well as intracellular ROS and Ca(++) ions is probably the increased oxidative stress leading to glucose transport