Monte Carlo calculations of diatomic molecule gas flows including rotational mode excitation

The direct simulation Monte Carlo method was used to solve the Boltzmann equation for flows of an internally excited nonequilibrium gas, namely, of rotationally excited homonuclear diatomic nitrogen. The semi-classical transition probability model of Itikawa was investigated for its ability to simulate flow fields far from equilibrium. The behavior of diatomic nitrogen was examined for several different nonequilibrium initial states that are subjected to uniform mean flow without boundary interactions. A sample of 1000 model molecules was observed as the gas relaxed to a steady state starting from three specified initial states. The initial states considered are: (1) complete equilibrium, (2) nonequilibrium, equipartition (all rotational energy states are assigned the mean energy level obtained at equilibrium with a Boltzmann distribution at the translational temperature), and (3) nonequipartition (the mean rotational energy is different from the equilibrium mean value with respect to the translational energy states). In all cases investigated the present model satisfactorily simulated the principal features of the relaxation effects in nonequilibrium flow of diatomic molecules

Ion beam induced surface pattern formation and stable travelling wave solutions

This article was published in the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter [© IOP Publishing Ltd.] and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/25/9/095003The formation of ripple structures on ion bombarded semiconductor surfaces is examined theoretically. Previous models are discussed and a new nonlinear model is formulated, based on the infinitesimal local atomic relocation induced by elastic nuclear collisions in the early stages of collision cascades and an associated density change in the near surface region. Within this framework ripple structures are shown to form without the necessity to invoke surface diffusion or large sputtering as important mechanisms. The model can also be extended to the case where sputtering is important, and it is shown that in this case certain 'magic' angles can occur at which the ripple patterns are most clearly defined. The results are in very good agreement with experimental observations