Application of thermography in experimental studies of plasma jets

The paper presents the experimental studies of the optical properties for the plasma jet in the mid-IR range

Structure-related bandgap of hybrid lead halide perovskites and close-packed APbX3 family of phases

Metal halide perovskites APbX3 (A+ = FA+ (formamidinium), MA+ (methylammonium) or Cs+, X- = I-, Br-) are considered as prominent innovative components in nowadays perovskite solar cells. Crystallization of these materials is often complicated by the formation of various phases with the same stoichiometry but structural types deviating from perovskites such as well-known the hexagonal delta FAPbI3 polytype. Such phases are rarely placed in the focus of device engineering due to their unattractive optoelectronic properties while they are, indeed, highly important because they influence on the optoelectronic properties and efficiency of final devices. However, the total number of such phases has not been yet discovered and the complete configurational space of the polytypes and their band structures have not been studied systematically. In this work, we predicted and described all possible hexagonal polytypes of hybrid lead halides with the APbI3 composition using the group theory approach, also we analyzed theoretically the relationship between the configuration of close-packed layers in polytypes and their band gap using DFT calculations. Two main factors affecting the bandgap were found including the ratio of cubic (c) and hexagonal (h) close-packed layers and the thickness of blocks of cubic layers in the structures. We also show that the dependence of the band gap on the ratio of cubic (c) and hexagonal (h) layers in these structures are non-linear. We believe that the presence of such polytypes in the perovskite matrix might be a reason for a decrease in the charge carrier mobility and therefore it would be an obstacle for efficient charge transport causing negative consequences for the efficiency of solar cell devices

Boundary RG Flow Associated with the AKNS Soliton Hierarchy

We introduce and study an integrable boundary flow possessing an infinite number of conserving charges which can be thought of as quantum counterparts of the Ablowitz, Kaup, Newell and Segur Hamiltonians. We propose an exact expression for overlap amplitudes of the boundary state with all primary states in terms of solutions of certain ordinary linear differential equation. The boundary flow is terminated at a nontrivial infrared fixed point. We identify a form of whole boundary state corresponding to this fixed point.Comment: 54 page

AlGaAs/GaAs Quantum Well Infrared Photodetectors

In this article, we present an overview of a focal plane array (FPA) with 640 × 512 pixels based on the AlGaAs quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP). The physical principles of the QWIP operation and their parameters for the spectral range of 8–10 μm have been discussed. The technology of the manufacturing FPA based on the QWIP structures with the pixels 384 × 288 and 640 × 512 has been demonstrated. The parameters of the manufactured 640 × 512 FPA with a step of 20 μm have been given. At the operating temperature of 72 K, the temperature resolution of QWIP focal plane arrays is less than 35 mK. The number of defective elements in the matrix does not exceed 0.5%. The stability and uniformity of the FPA have been demonstrated

Challenges in QCD matter physics - The Compressed Baryonic Matter experiment at FAIR

Substantial experimental and theoretical efforts worldwide are devoted to explore the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter. At LHC and top RHIC energies, QCD matter is studied at very high temperatures and nearly vanishing net-baryon densities. There is evidence that a Quark-Gluon-Plasma (QGP) was created at experiments at RHIC and LHC. The transition from the QGP back to the hadron gas is found to be a smooth cross over. For larger net-baryon densities and lower temperatures, it is expected that the QCD phase diagram exhibits a rich structure, such as a first-order phase transition between hadronic and partonic matter which terminates in a critical point, or exotic phases like quarkyonic matter. The discovery of these landmarks would be a breakthrough in our understanding of the strong interaction and is therefore in the focus of various high-energy heavy-ion research programs. The Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment at FAIR will play a unique role in the exploration of the QCD phase diagram in the region of high net-baryon densities, because it is designed to run at unprecedented interaction rates. High-rate operation is the key prerequisite for high-precision measurements of multi-differential observables and of rare diagnostic probes which are sensitive to the dense phase of the nuclear fireball. The goal of the CBM experiment at SIS100 (sqrt(s_NN) = 2.7 - 4.9 GeV) is to discover fundamental properties of QCD matter: the phase structure at large baryon-chemical potentials (mu_B > 500 MeV), effects of chiral symmetry, and the equation-of-state at high density as it is expected to occur in the core of neutron stars. In this article, we review the motivation for and the physics programme of CBM, including activities before the start of data taking in 2022, in the context of the worldwide efforts to explore high-density QCD matter.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures. Published in European Physical Journal

Application of thermography in experimental studies of plasma jets

The paper presents the experimental studies of the optical properties for the plasma jet in the mid-IR range

Determination of smoldering time and thermal characteristics of firebrands under laboratory conditions

The laboratory experiment was conducted to simulate the transfer of smouldering particles produced in forest wildfires by a heated gas flow. The pine bark pieces with the linear dimensions L=(15; 20; 30) mm and a thickness of h=(4−5) mm were selected as model particles. The rate and temperature of the incident flow varied in the range of 1–3 m/s and 80–85 °C, respectively. The temperature of the samples was recorded using a thermal imager. To determine the minimum smouldering temperature of pine bark, the thermal analysis was conducted. The minimum smouldering temperature of pine bark was found to be 190 °C. This temperature will cause thermal decomposition of bark only at the first stage (oxidation of resinous components). In the study the smouldering time, the temperature and the weight of samples were obtained and analyzed under various experimental conditions. The data analysis shows that the increase in the particle size leads to the decrease in their mass loss, and the rate change of the incident flow does not practically influence the mass change. For particles with the linear dimensions of 10 mm and 20 mm, the mass varies from 6% to 25%. The maximum mass loss is observed for the flows with a rate of 1 and 2 m/s. The results have shown that the increase in the particle size leads to the increase in the smouldering time. The position of the particle plays an important role, the effect of which increases with increasing the particle size. The calculations showed that the smouldering time of bark samples is long enough for the particles to serve as new sources of spot fires. The particles were found to be transported to a distance of 218 m from the fire line which can certainly influence the propagation of the fire front

Determination of smoldering time and thermal characteristics of firebrands under laboratory conditions

The laboratory experiment was conducted to simulate the transfer of smouldering particles produced in forest wildfires by a heated gas flow. The pine bark pieces with the linear dimensions L=(15; 20; 30) mm and a thickness of h=(4−5) mm were selected as model particles. The rate and temperature of the incident flow varied in the range of 1–3 m/s and 80–85 °C, respectively. The temperature of the samples was recorded using a thermal imager. To determine the minimum smouldering temperature of pine bark, the thermal analysis was conducted. The minimum smouldering temperature of pine bark was found to be 190 °C. This temperature will cause thermal decomposition of bark only at the first stage (oxidation of resinous components). In the study the smouldering time, the temperature and the weight of samples were obtained and analyzed under various experimental conditions. The data analysis shows that the increase in the particle size leads to the decrease in their mass loss, and the rate change of the incident flow does not practically influence the mass change. For particles with the linear dimensions of 10 mm and 20 mm, the mass varies from 6% to 25%. The maximum mass loss is observed for the flows with a rate of 1 and 2 m/s. The results have shown that the increase in the particle size leads to the increase in the smouldering time. The position of the particle plays an important role, the effect of which increases with increasing the particle size. The calculations showed that the smouldering time of bark samples is long enough for the particles to serve as new sources of spot fires. The particles were found to be transported to a distance of 218 m from the fire line which can certainly influence the propagation of the fire front