Metastable room-temperature twist-bend nematic phases via photopolymerization

The heliconical twist-bend nematic (NTB) phase is a promising candidate for novel electro-optic and photonic applications. However, the phase generally exists at elevated temperatures and across a narrow temperature interval, limiting its implementation in device fabrication, which would ideally require the liquid crystal phase to be stable at room temperature. Here we report the formation of room-temperature NTB phases by in situ photopolymerization. A complete phase diagram of the liquid crystal and monomer mixtures is presented and the nature of the polymerized samples is discussed in detail. In contrast to samples before polymerization–where the NTB phases exist at elevated temperatures and across temperature intervals of width <10 °C–all photopolymerized NTB samples are found to be stable at room temperature and exist over a temperature interval of up to 80 °C. Scanning electron microscopy of the polymerized NTB phase shows that the polymer strands assemble at an angle with respect to the direction of the helical axis. This suggests that photopolymerized NTB phases could be used to facilitate the tilt angle measurements in the twist-bend nematic phase

Optics-free x-ray FEL oscillator

There is a need for an Optics-Free FEL Oscillators (OFFELO) to further the advantages of free-electron lasers and turning them in fully coherent light sources. While SASE (Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission) FELs demonstrated the capability of providing very high gain and short pulses of radiation and scalability to the X-ray range, the spectra of SASE FELs remains rather wide ({approx}0.5%-1%) compared with typical short wavelengths FEL-oscillators (0.01%-0.0003% in OK-4 FEL). Absence of good optics in VUV and X-ray ranges makes traditional oscillator schemes with very high average and peak spectral brightness either very complex or, strictly speaking, impossible. In this paper, we discuss lattice of the X-ray optics-free FEL oscillator and present results of initial computer simulations of the feedback process and the evolution of FEL spectrum in X-ray OFFELO. We also discuss main limiting factors and feasibility of X-ray OFFELO

Crystal experiments on efficient beam extraction

Silicon crystal was channeling and extracting 70-GeV protons from the U-70 accelerator with efficiency of 85.3+-2.8% as measured for a beam of 10^12 protons directed towards crystals of 2 mm length in spills of 1-2 s duration. The experimental data follow very well the prediction of Monte Carlo simulations. This success is important to devise a more efficient use of the U-70 accelerator in Protvino and provides a crucial support for implementation of crystal-assisted collimation of gold ion beam in RHIC and slow extraction from AGS onto E952, now in preparation at Brookhaven Nat'l Lab. Future applications, spanning in the energy from sub-GeV (medical) to order of 1 GeV (scraping in the SNS, extraction from COSY) to order of 1 TeV and beyond (scraping in the Tevatron, LHC, VLHC), can benefit from these studies.Comment: 12pp. Presented at 19-th Intern. Conference on Atomic Collisions in Solids (ICACS-19: Paris, July 29 - August 3, 2001

Progress in crystal extraction and collimation

Recent IHEP Protvino experiments show efficiencies of crystal-assisted slow extraction and collimation of 85.3+-2.8%, at the intensities of the channeled beam on the order of 10^12 proton per spill of 2 s duration. The obtained experimental data well follows the theory predictions. We compare the measurements against theory and outline the theoretical potential for further improvement in the efficiency of the technique. This success is important for the efficient use of IHEP accelerator and for implementation of crystal-assisted collimation at RHIC and slow extraction from AGS onto E952, now in preparation. Future applications, spanning in the energy from order of 1 GeV (scraping in SNS, slow extraction from COSY and medical accelerators) to order of 1 TeV and beyond (scraping in Tevatron, LHC, VLHC), can benefit from these studies.Comment: 7pp. Presented at HEACC 2001 (Tsukuba, March 25-30

The AGS synchrotron with four helical magnets

The idea of using two partial helical magnets was applied successfully to the AGS synchrotron to preserve the proton beam polarization. In this paper we explore in details the idea of using four helical magnets placed symmetrically in the AGS ring. The placement of four helical magnets in the AGS ring provides many advantages over the present setup of the AGS which uses two partial helical magnets. First, the symmetric placement of the four helical magnets allows for a better control of the AGS optics with reduced values of the beta functions especially near beam injection, second, the vertical spin direction during beam injection and extraction is closer to vertical, and third, it provides for a larger 'spin tune gap', which allows the vertical and horizontal tunes to be placed, and prevent the horizontal and vertical intrinsic spin resonances of the AGS to occur during the acceleration cycle. Although the same spin gap can be obtained with a single or two partial helices, the required high field strength of a single helix makes its use impractical, and that of the double helix rather difficult. In this paper we will provide results on the spin tune and on the optics of the AGS with four partial helical magnets, and compare these results with the present setup of the AGS that uses two partial helical magnets

A proposed delay line for hadron beams in RHIC

N/

The AGS with four helical magnets

The idea of using multiple partial helical magnets was applied successfully to the AGS synchrotron, to preserve the proton beam polarization. In this paper we explore in details the idea of using four helical magnets placed symmetrically in the AGS ring. This modification provides many advantages over the present setup of the AGS that uses two partial helical magnets. First, it provides a larger 'spin tune gap' for the placement of the vertical betatron tune of the AGS during acceleration, second, the vertical spin direction during the beam injection and extraction is closer to vertical, third, the symmetric placement of the snakes allows for a better control of the AGS optics, and for reduced values of the beta and eta functions, especially near injection, fourth, the optical properties of the helical magnets also favor the placement of the horizontal betatron tune in the 'spin tune gap', thus eliminating the horizontal spin resonances. In this paper we provide results on the spin tune and on the optics of the AGS with four partial helical magnets, and we compare these results with the present setup of the AGS that uses two partial helical magnets

Dielectric properties of liquid crystalline dimer mixtures exhibiting the nematic and twist-bend nematic phases

A detailed investigation of the thermal and dielectric properties of a series of binary mixtures exhibiting the nematic ( N ) and twist-bend nematic ( N TB ) liquid crystal phases is presented. The mixtures consist of an achiral, dimeric liquid crystal CB7CB, which forms the nematic and twist-bend nematic phases, and a calamitic liquid crystal 5CB, which shows the nematic phase. As the concentration of the calamitic liquid crystal is increased, the transition temperatures decrease linearly, and the width of the nematic phase increases. The enthalpies of phase transitions obtained from DSC measurements show that on increasing the concentration of 5CB in the binary mixtures, the enthalpy associated with the N − N TB phase transitions reduces considerably compared to a clear first-order N − N TB transition in pure CB7CB. The real and imaginary parts of the dielectric permittivity are measured as a function of frequency from 100 Hz to 2 MHz in the nematic and twist-bend nematic phases in planar and homeotropic devices. A significant decrease in the average dielectric permittivity as a function of temperature for mixtures forming the N TB phase is observed. Measurements of the imaginary part of the dielectric permittivity show a relaxation peak in the measured frequency window for all of the mixtures exhibiting the N TB phase. The activation energy associated with this relaxation process is calculated and is shown to remain constant irrespective of the composition of the mixtures