Simulation and optimization of a soft gamma-ray concentrator using thin film multilayer structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shirazi, Farzane; Bloser, Peter F.; Krzanowski, James E.; Legere, Jason S.; McConnell, Mark L.

2017-08-01

We are reporting the investigation result of using multilayer thin film structures for channeling and concentrating soft gamma rays with energies greater than 100 keV, beyond the reach of current grazing-incidence hard X-ray mirrors. This will enable future telescopes for higher energies with same mission parameters already proven by NuSTAR. A suitable arrangement of bent multilayer structures of alternating low and high-density materials will channel soft gamma-ray photons via total external reflection and then concentrate the incident radiation to a point. We present the latest results of producing Ir/Si and W/Si multilayers with the required thicknesses and smoothness by using magnetron sputter technique. In addition to experimental works, we have been working on gamma-ray tracking model of the concentrator by IDL, making use of optical properties calculated by the IMD software. This modeling allows us to calculate efficiency and track photon for different energy bands and materials and compare them with experimental result. Also, we describe combine concentrator modeling result and detector simulation by MEGAlib to archive a complete package of gamma-ray telescope simulation. This technology offers the potential for soft gamma-ray telescopes with focal lengths of less than 10 m, removing the need for formation flying spacecraft and providing greatly increased sensitivity for modest cost and complexity and opening the field up to balloon-borne instruments.

Electro-Active Polymer Based Soft Tactile Interface for Wearable Devices.

PubMed

Mun, Seongcheol; Yun, Sungryul; Nam, Saekwang; Park, Seung Koo; Park, Suntak; Park, Bong Je; Lim, Jeong Mook; Kyung, Ki-Uk

2018-01-01

This paper reports soft actuator based tactile stimulation interfaces applicable to wearable devices. The soft actuator is prepared by multi-layered accumulation of thin electro-active polymer (EAP) films. The multi-layered actuator is designed to produce electrically-induced convex protrusive deformation, which can be dynamically programmable for wide range of tactile stimuli. The maximum vertical protrusion is and the output force is up to 255 mN. The soft actuators are embedded into the fingertip part of a glove and front part of a forearm band, respectively. We have conducted two kinds of experiments with 15 subjects. Perceived magnitudes of actuator's protrusion and vibrotactile intensity were measured with frequency of 1 Hz and 191 Hz, respectively. Analysis of the user tests shows participants perceive variation of protrusion height at the finger pad and modulation of vibration intensity through the proposed soft actuator based tactile interface.

OSA Proceedings of the Topical Meeting on Soft-X-Ray Projection Lithography Held in Monterey, California on 10-12 April 1991. Volume 12

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-05-22

Carbide because of its high thermal the mirror on its backside or edge. Shott Zerodur conductivity. Edge cooling causes a larger exceeded the limit by about...Characterization Angstrom-level noncontact profiling of mirrors for soft x-ray lithography............ 134 Paul Glenn Nonspecular Scattering from X-Ray...structed by patterning a Mo/Si Tropel Division of GCA Corporation. multilayer coated silicon wafer. The mirrors were coated at AT&T Bell The multilayer

Innovative soft magnetic multilayers with enhanced in-plane anisotropy and ferromagnetic resonance frequency for integrated RF passive devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falub, Claudiu V.; Bless, Martin; Hida, Rachid; MeduÅa, Mojmír; Ammann, Arnold

2018-04-01

We present an innovative, economical method for manufacturing soft magnetic materials that may pave the way for integrated thin film magnetic cores with dramatically improved properties. Soft magnetic multilayered thin films based on the Fe-28%Co20%B (at.%) and Co-4.5%Ta4%Zr (at.%) amorphous alloys are deposited on 8" bare Si and Si/200nm-thermal-SiO2 wafers in an industrial, high-throughput Evatec LLS EVO II magnetron sputtering system. The multilayers consist of stacks of alternating 80-nm-thick ferromagnetic layers and 4-nm-thick Al2O3 dielectric interlayers. Since in our dynamic sputter system the substrate cage rotates continuously, such that the substrates face different targets alternatively, each ferromagnetic sublayer in the multilayer consists of a fine structure comprising alternating CoTaZr and FeCoB nanolayers with very sharp interfaces. We adjust the thickness of these individual nanolayers between 0.5 and 1.5 nm by changing the cage rotation speed and the power of each gun, which is an excellent mode to engineer new, composite ferromagnetic materials. Using X-ray reflectometry (XRR) we reveal that the interfaces between the FeCoB and CoTaZr nanolayers are perfectly smooth with roughness of 0.2-0.3 nm. Kerr magnetometry and B-H looper measurements for the as-deposited samples show that the coercivity of these thin films is very low, 0.2-0.3 Oe, and gradually scales up with the thickness of FeCoB nanolayers, i.e. with the increase of the overall Fe content from 0 % (e.g. CoTaZr-based multilayers) to 52 % (e.g. FeCoB-based multilayers). We explain this trend in the random anisotropy model, based on considerations of grain size growth, as revealed by glancing angle X-ray diffraction (GAXRD), but also because of the increase of magnetostriction with the increase of Fe content as shown by B-H looper measurements performed on strained wafers. The unexpected enhancement of the in-plane anisotropy field from 18.3 Oe and 25.8 Oe for the conventional CoTaZr- and FeCoB-based multilayers, respectively, up to ˜48 Oe for the nanostructured multilayers with FeCoB/CoTaZr nano-bilayers is explained based on interface anisotropy contribution. These novel soft magnetic multilayers, with enhanced in-plane anisotropy, allow operation at higher frequencies, as revealed by broadband (between 100 MHz and 10 GHz) RF measurements that exhibit a classical Landau-Lifschitz-Gilbert (LLG) behavior.

Radiation hardness of molybdenum silicon multilayers designed for use in a soft-x-ray projection lithography system.

PubMed

Gaines, D P; Spitzer, R C; Ceglio, N M; Krumrey, M; Ulm, G

1993-12-01

A molybdenum silicon multilayer is irradiated with 13.4-nm radiation to investigate changes in multilayer performance under simulated soft-x-ray projection lithography (SXPL) conditions. The wiggler-undulator at the Berlin electron storage ring BESSY is used as a quasi-monochromatic source of calculable spectral radiant intensity and is configured to simulate an incident SXPL x-ray spectrum. The test multilayer receives a radiant exposure of 240 J/mm(2) in an exposure lasting 8.9 h. The corresponding average incident power density is 7.5 mW/mm(2). The absorbed dose of 7.8 × 10(10) J/kg (7.8 × 10(12) rad) is equivalent to 1.2 times the dose that would be absorbed by a multilayer coating on the first imaging optic in a hypothetical SXPL system during 1 year of operation. Surface temperature increases do not exceed 2 °C during the exposure. Normal-incidence reflectance measurements at λ(0) = 13.4 nm performed before radiation exposure are in agreement with measurements performed after the exposure, indicating that no sign icant damage had occurred.

Physics of reflective optics for the soft gamma-ray photon energy range

DOE PAGES

Fernandez-Perea, Monica; Descalle, Marie -Anne; Soufli, Regina; ...

2013-07-12

Traditional multilayer reflective optics that have been used in the past for imaging at x-ray photon energies as high as 200 keV are governed by classical wave phenomena. However, their behavior at higher energies is unknown, because of the increasing effect of incoherent scattering and the disagreement between experimental and theoretical optical properties of materials in the hard x-ray and gamma-ray regimes. Here, we demonstrate that multilayer reflective optics can operate efficiently and according to classical wave physics up to photon energies of at least 384 keV. We also use particle transport simulations to quantitatively determine that incoherent scattering takesmore » place in the mirrors but it does not affect the performance at the Bragg angles of operation. Furthermore, our results open up new possibilities of reflective optical designs in a spectral range where only diffractive optics (crystals and lenses) and crystal monochromators have been available until now.« less

Carbon buffer layers for smoothing superpolished glass surfaces as substrates for molybdenum /silicon multilayer soft-x-ray mirrors.

PubMed

Stock, H J; Hamelmann, F; Kleineberg, U; Menke, D; Schmiedeskamp, B; Osterried, K; Heidemann, K F; Heinzmann, U

1997-03-01

Zerodur and BK7 glass substrates (developed by Fa. Glaswerke Schott, D-55014 Mainz, Germany) from Carl Zeiss Oberkochen polished to a standard surface roughness of varsigma = 0.8 nm rms were coated with a C layer by electron-beam evaporation in the UHV. The roughness of the C-layer surfaces is reduced to 0.6 nm rms. A normal-incidence reflectance of 50% at a wavelength of 13 nm was measured for a Mo/Si multilayer soft-x-ray mirror with 30 double layers (N = 30) deposited onto the BK7/C substrate, whereas a similar Mo/Si multilayer (N = 30) evaporated directly onto the bare BK7 surface turned out to show a reflectance of only 42%.

Study of Cr/Sc-based multilayer reflecting mirrors using soft x-ray reflectivity and standing wave-enhanced x-ray fluorescence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Meiyi; Burcklen, Catherine; André, Jean-Michel; Guen, Karine Le; Giglia, Angelo; Koshmak, Konstantin; Nannarone, Stefano; Bridou, Françoise; Meltchakov, Evgueni; Rossi, Sébastien de; Delmotte, Franck; Jonnard, Philippe

2017-11-01

We study Cr/Sc-based multilayer mirrors designed to work in the water window range using hard and soft x-ray reflectivity as well as x-ray fluorescence enhanced by standing waves. Samples differ by the elemental composition of the stack, the thickness of each layer, and the order of deposition. This paper mainly consists of two parts. In the first part, the optical performances of different Cr/Sc-based multilayers are reported, and in the second part, we extend further the characterization of the structural parameters of the multilayers, which can be extracted by comparing the experimental data with simulations. The methodology is detailed in the case of Cr/B4C/Sc sample for which a three-layer model is used. Structural parameters determined by fitting reflectivity curve are then introduced as fixed parameters to plot the x-ray standing wave curve, to compare with the experiment, and confirm the determined structure of the stack.

Design of a normal incidence multilayer imaging x-ray microscope.

PubMed

Shealy, D L; Gabardi, D R; Hoover, R B; Walker, A B; Lindblom, J F; Barbee, T W

1989-01-01

Normal incidence multilayer Cassegrain x-ray telescopes were flown on the Stanford/MSFC Rocket X-Ray Spectroheliograph. These instruments produced high spatial resolution images of the Sun and conclusively demonstrated that doubly reflecting multilayer x-ray optical systems are feasible. The images indicated that aplanatic imaging soft x-ray /EUV microscopes should be achievable using multilayer optics technology. We have designed a doubly reflecting normal incidence multilayer imaging x-ray microscope based on the Schwarzschild configuration. The Schwarzschild microscope utilizes two spherical mirrors with concentric radii of curvature which are chosen such that the third-order spherical aberration and coma are minimized. We discuss the design of the microscope and the results of the optical system ray trace analysis which indicates that diffraction-limited performance with 600 Å spatial resolution should be obtainable over a 1 mm field of view at a wavelength of 100 Å. Fabrication of several imaging soft x-ray microscopes based upon these designs, for use in conjunction with x-ray telescopes and laser fusion research, is now in progress. High resolution aplanatic imaging x-ray microscopes using normal incidence multilayer x-ray mirrors should have many important applications in advanced x-ray astronomical instrumentation, x-ray lithography, biological, biomedical, metallurgical, and laser fusion research.

Simulation and Optimization of Soft Gamma-Ray Concentrator Using Thin Film Multilayer Structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shirazi, Farzane; Bloser, Peter F.; Aliotta, Paul H.; Echt, Olof; Krzanowski, James E.; Legere, Jason S.; McConnell, Mark L.; Tsavalas, John G.; Wong, Emily N.; Kippen, R. Marc

2016-04-01

We are reporting the investigation result of channeling and concentrating soft gamma rays (above 100 keV) using multilayer thin films of alternating low and high-density materials. This will enable future telescopes for higher energies with same mission parameters already proven by NuSTAR. Base on initial investigations at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) we are investigating of producing these multilayers with the required thicknesses and smoothness using magnetron sputter (MS) and pulsed laser deposition (PLD) techniques. A suitable arrangement of bent multilayer structures of alternating low and high-density materials will channel soft gamma-ray photons via total external reflection and then concentrate the incident radiation to a point. The high-energy astrophysics group at the UNH Space Science Center (SSC) is testing these structures for their ability to channel 122 keV gamma rays in the laboratory. In addition of experimental works, we have been working on gamma ray tracing model of the concentrator by IDL, making use of optical properties calculated by the IMD software. This modeling allows us to calculate efficiency and focal length for different energy bands and materials and compare them with experimental result. Also we will combine concentrator modeling result and detector simulation by Geant4 to archive a complete package of gamma-ray telescope simulation. If successful, this technology will offer the potential for soft gamma-ray telescopes with focal lengths of less than 10 m, removing the need for formation flying spacecraft and opening the field up to balloon-borne instruments and providing greatly increased sensitivity for modest cost and complexity.

A soft gamma-ray concentrator using thin-film multilayer structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bloser, Peter F.; Aliotta, Paul H.; Echt, Olof; Krzanowski, James E.; Legere, Jason S.; McConnell, Mark L.; Shirazi, Farzane; Tsavalas, John G.; Wong, Emily N.; Kippen, R. Marc

2015-09-01

We have begun to investigate the use of thin-film, multilayer structures to form optics capable of concentrating soft gamma rays with energies greater than 100 keV, beyond the reach of current grazing-incidence hard X-ray mirrors. Alternating layers of low- and high-density materials (e.g., polymers and metals) will channel soft gamma-ray photons via total external reflection. A suitable arrangement of bent structures will then concentrate the incident radiation to a point. Gamma-ray optics made in this way offer the potential for soft gamma-ray telescopes with focal lengths of less than 10 m, removing the need for formation flying spacecraft and opening the field up to balloon-borne instruments. Building on initial investigations at Los Alamos National Laboratory, we are investigating whether it is possible to grow such flexible multi-layer structures with the required thicknesses and smoothness using magnetron sputter and pulsed laser deposition techniques. We present the initial results of tests aimed at fabricating such structures by combining magnetron sputtering with either spin coating or pulsed laser deposition, and demonstrating gamma-ray channeling of 122 keV photons in the laboratory. If successful, this technology offers the potential for transformational increases in sensitivity while dramatically improving the system-level performance of future high-energy astronomy missions through reduced mass and complexity.

High Reflectance Nanoscale V/Sc Multilayer for Soft X-ray Water Window Region.

PubMed

Huang, Qiushi; Yi, Qiang; Cao, Zhaodong; Qi, Runze; Loch, Rolf A; Jonnard, Philippe; Wu, Meiyi; Giglia, Angelo; Li, Wenbin; Louis, Eric; Bijkerk, Fred; Zhang, Zhong; Wang, Zhanshan

2017-10-10

V/Sc multilayer is experimentally demonstrated for the first time as a high reflectance mirror for the soft X-ray water window region. It primarily works at above the Sc-L edge (λ = 3.11 nm) under near normal incidence while a second peak appears at above the V-L edge (λ = 2.42 nm) under grazing incidence. The V/Sc multilayer fabricated with a d-spacing of 1.59 nm and 30 bilayers has a smaller interface width (σ = 0.27 and 0.32 nm) than the conventional used Cr/Sc (σ = 0.28 and 0.47 nm). For V/Sc multilayer with 30 bilayers, the introduction of B 4 C barrier layers has little improvement on the interface structure. As the number of bilayers increasing to 400, the growth morphology and microstructure of the V/Sc layers evolves with slightly increased crystallization. Nevertheless, the surface roughness remains to be 0.25 nm. A maximum soft X-ray reflectance of 18.4% is measured at λ = 3.129 nm at 9° off-normal incidence using the 400-bilayers V/Sc multilayer. According to the fitted model, an s-polarization reflectance of 5.2% can also be expected at λ = 2.425 nm under 40° incidence. Based on the promising experimental results, further improvement of the reflectance can be achieved by using a more stable deposition system, exploring different interface engineering methods and so on.

Figure correction of multilayer coated optics

DOEpatents

Chapman; Henry N. , Taylor; John S.

2010-02-16

A process is provided for producing near-perfect optical surfaces, for EUV and soft-x-ray optics. The method involves polishing or otherwise figuring the multilayer coating that has been deposited on an optical substrate, in order to correct for errors in the figure of the substrate and coating. A method such as ion-beam milling is used to remove material from the multilayer coating by an amount that varies in a specified way across the substrate. The phase of the EUV light that is reflected from the multilayer will be affected by the amount of multilayer material removed, but this effect will be reduced by a factor of 1-n as compared with height variations of the substrate, where n is the average refractive index of the multilayer.

Clinical effectiveness of a silicone foam dressing for the prevention of heel pressure ulcers in critically ill patients: Border II Trial.

PubMed

Santamaria, N; Gerdtz, M; Liu, W; Rakis, S; Sage, S; Ng, A W; Tudor, H; McCann, J; Vassiliou, T; Morrow, F; Smith, K; Knott, J; Liew, D

2015-08-01

Critically ill patients are at high risk of developing pressure ulcers (PU), with the sacrum and heels being highly susceptible to pressure injuries. The objective of our study was to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of a new multi-layer, self-adhesive soft silicone foam heel dressing to prevent PU development in trauma and critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). A cohort of critically ill patients were enrolled at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Each patient had the multi-layer soft silicone foam dressing applied to each heel on admission to the emergency department. The dressings were retained with a tubular bandage for the duration of the patients' stay in the ICU. The skin under the dressings was examined daily and the dressings were replaced every three days. The comparator for our cohort study was the control group from the recently completed Border Trial. Of the 191 patients in the initial cohort, excluding deaths, loss to follow-up and transfers to another ward, 150 patients were included in the final analysis. There was no difference in key demographic or physiological variables between the cohorts, apart from a longer ICU length of stay for our current cohort. No PUs developed in any of our intervention cohort patients compared with 14 patients in the control cohort (n=152; p<0.001) who developed a total of 19 heel PUs. We conclude, based on our results, that the multi-layer soft silicone foam dressing under investigation was clinically effective in reducing ICU-acquired heel PUs. The findings also support previous research on the clinical effectiveness of multi-layer soft silicone foam dressings for PU prevention in the ICU.

Refraction effects in soft x-ray multilayer blazed gratings.

PubMed

Voronov, D L; Salmassi, F; Meyer-Ilse, J; Gullikson, E M; Warwick, T; Padmore, H A

2016-05-30

A 2500 lines/mm Multilayer Blazed Grating (MBG) optimized for the soft x-ray wavelength range was fabricated and tested. The grating coated with a W/B₄C multilayer demonstrated a record diffraction efficiency in the 2nd blazed diffraction order in the energy range from 500 to 1200 eV. Detailed investigation of the diffraction properties of the grating demonstrated that the diffraction efficiency of high groove density MBGs is not limited by the normal shadowing effects that limits grazing incidence x-ray grating performance. Refraction effects inherent in asymmetrical Bragg diffraction were experimentally confirmed for MBGs. The refraction affects the blazing properties of the MBGs and results in a shift of the resonance wavelength of the gratings and broadening or narrowing of the grating bandwidth depending on diffraction geometry. The true blaze angle of the MBGs is defined by both the real structure of the multilayer stack and by asymmetrical refraction effects. Refraction effects can be used as a powerful tool in providing highly efficient suppression of high order harmonics.

Development of W/C soft x-ray multilayer mirror by ion beam sputtering (IBS) system for below 50A wavelength

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Biswas, A.; Bhattacharyya, D.

A home-made Ion Beam Sputtering (IBS) system has been developed in our laboratory. Using the IBS system single layer W and single layer C film has been deposited at 1000eV Ar ion energy and 10mA ion current. The W-film has been characterized by grazing Incidence X-ray reflectrometry (GIXR) technique and Atomic Force Microscope technique. The single layer C-film has been characterized by Spectroscopic Ellipsometric technique. At the same deposition condition 25-layer W/C multilayer film has been deposited which has been designed for using as mirror at 30 Degree-Sign grazing incidence angle around 50A wavelength. The multilayer sample has been characterizedmore » by measuring reflectivity of CuK{alpha} radiation and soft x-ray radiation around 50A wavelength.« less

A concept for a soft gamma-ray concentrator using thin-film multilayer structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bloser, Peter F.; Shirazi, Farzane; Echt, Olof; Krzanowski, James E.; Legere, Jason S.; McConnell, Mark L.; Tsavalas, John G.; Wong, Emily N.; Aliotta, Paul H.

2016-07-01

We are investigating the use of thin-film, multilayer structures to form optics capable of concentrating soft gamma rays with energies greater than 100 keV, beyond the reach of current grazing-incidence hard X-ray mirrors. Alternating layers of low- and high-density materials (e.g., polymers and metals) will channel soft gamma-ray photons via total external reflection. A suitable arrangement of bent structures will then concentrate the incident radiation to a point. Gamma-ray optics made in this way offer the potential for soft gamma-ray telescopes with focal lengths of less than 10 m, removing the need for formation flying spacecraft and opening the field up to balloon-borne instruments. Following initial investigations conducted at Los Alamos National Laboratory, we have constructed and tested a prototype structure using spin coating combined with magnetron sputtering. We are now investigating whether it is possible to grow such flexible multi-layer structures with the required thicknesses and smoothness more quickly by using magnetron sputter and pulsed laser deposition techniques. We present the latest results of our fabrication and gamma-ray channeling tests, and describe our modeling of the sensitivity of potential concentrator-based telescope designs. If successful, this technology offers the potential for transformational increases in sensitivity while dramatically improving the system-level performance of future high-energy astronomy missions through reduced mass and complexity.

Design of a normal incidence multilayer imaging X-ray microscope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shealy, David L.; Gabardi, David R.; Hoover, Richard B.; Walker, Arthur B. C., Jr.; Lindblom, Joakim F.

Normal incidence multilayer Cassegrain X-ray telescopes were flown on the Stanford/MSFC Rocket X-ray Spectroheliograph. These instruments produced high spatial resolution images of the sun and conclusively demonstrated that doubly reflecting multilayer X-ray optical systems are feasible. The images indicated that aplanatic imaging soft X-ray/EUV microscopes should be achievable using multilayer optics technology. A doubly reflecting normal incidence multilayer imaging X-ray microscope based on the Schwarzschild configuration has been designed. The design of the microscope and the results of the optical system ray trace analysis are discussed. High resolution aplanatic imaging X-ray microscopes using normal incidence multilayer X-ray mirrors should have many important applications in advanced X-ray astronomical instrumentation, X-ray lithography, biological, biomedical, metallurgical, and laser fusion research.

Normal-incidence reflectance of optimized W/B4C x-ray multilayers in the range 1.4 nm < λ < 2.4 nm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Windt, David L.; Gullikson, Eric M.; Walton, Christopher C.

2002-12-01

We have fabricated W/B4C multilayers having periods in the range d = 0.8-1.2 nm and measured their soft-x-ray performance near normal incidence in the wavelength range 1.4 < λ < 2.4 nm. By adjusting the fractional layer thickness of W we have produced structures having interface widths σ ~ 0.29 nm (i.e., as determined from normal-incidence reflectometry), thus having optimal soft-x-ray performance. We describe our results and discuss their implications, particularly with regard to the development of short-wavelength normal-incidence x-ray optics.

Oxidation preventative capping layer for deep-ultra-violet and soft x-ray multilayers

DOEpatents

Prisbrey, Shon T.

2004-07-06

The invention uses iridium and iridium compounds as a protective capping layer on multilayers having reflectivity in the deep ultra-violet to soft x-ray regime. The iridium compounds can be formed in one of two ways: by direct deposition of the iridium compound from a prepared target or by depositing a thin layer (e.g., 5-50 angstroms) of iridium directly onto an element. The deposition energy of the incoming iridium is sufficient to activate the formation of the desired iridium compound. The compounds of most interest are iridium silicide (IrSi.sub.x) and iridium molybdenide (IrMo.sub.x).

Enhancement of soft X-ray reflectivity and interface stability in nitridated Pd/Y multilayer mirrors.

PubMed

Xu, Dechao; Huang, Qiushi; Wang, Yiwen; Li, Pin; Wen, Mingwu; Jonnard, Philippe; Giglia, Angelo; Kozhevnikov, Igor V; Wang, Kun; Zhang, Zhong; Wang, Zhanshan

2015-12-28

Pd/Y multilayer mirrors operating in the soft X-ray region are characterized by a high theoretical reflectance, reaching 65% at normal incidence in the 8-12 nm wavelength range. However, a severe intermixing of neighboring Pd and Y layers results in an almost total disappearance of the interfaces inside the multilayer structures fabricated by direct current magnetron sputtering and thus a dramatic reflectivity decrease. Based on grazing incidence X-ray reflectometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, we demonstrate that the stability of the interfaces in Pd/Y multilayer structures can be essentially improved by adding a small amount of nitrogen (4-8%) to the working gas (Ar). High resolution transmission electron microscopy shows that the interlayer width is only 0.9 nm and 0.6 nm for Y(N)-on-Pd(N) and Pd(N)-on-Y(N) interfaces, respectively. A well-defined crystalline texture of YN (200) is observed on the electron diffraction pattern. As a result, the measured reflectance of the Pd(N)/Y(N) multilayer achieves 30% at λ = 9.3 nm. The peak reflectivity value is limited by the remaining interlayers and the formation of the YN compound inside the yttrium layers, resulting in an increased absorption.

Fabrication of sub-micrometer-sized jingle bell-shaped hollow spheres from multilayered core-shell particles.

PubMed

Gu, Shunchao; Kondo, Tomohiro; Mine, Eiichi; Nagao, Daisuke; Kobayashi, Yoshio; Konno, Mikio

2004-11-01

Jingle bell-shaped hollow spheres were fabricated starting from multilayered particles composed of a silica core, a polystyrene inner shell, and a titania outer shell. Composite particles of silica core-polystyrene shell, synthesized by coating a 339-nm-sized silica core with a polystyrene shell of thickness 238 nm in emulsion polymerization, were used as core particles for a succeeding titania-coating. A sol-gel method was employed to form the titania outer shell with a thickness of 37 nm. The inner polystyrene shell in the multilayered particles was removed by immersing them in tetrahydrofuran. These successive procedures could produce jingle bell-shaped hollow spheres that contained a silica core in the titania shell.

Investigation of sacrificial layer and building block for layered nanofabrication (LNF)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shih, Ting-Yu

Layered Nanoscale Fabrication (LNF) is a "bottom-up" procedure that uses multiple layers to build 3-dimensional nanoscale structures. Here, in this dissertation, several candidates for sacrificial layers were explored, The thermal stability of gold nanoparticles and simple patterns are also reported. In order to obtain information on layer thickness and film quality; the samples were characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and ellipsometry. Octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) was first investigated for use as a sacrificial layer and we studied filth growth by targeted self-replication of silane multilayers with and without the presence of thiolated gold nanoparticles on silicon oxide substrates. The particles adhered to the substrate during layer grafting. The film grew selectively on the substrate, without covering the particles. AFM was used to investigate the growth mechanism and the process of embedding the nanoparticles. OTS multilayer films up to 9 layers were grown in a linear, bilayer-by bilayer mode, free of islands and defects. We also report on studies of monolayer and multilayer formation of Methyl-11-dimethylmonochlorosilyl-undecanoate films. Flat multilayers up to 3-layers thick were grown. AFM was used to measure the height of an observable "edge" of the multilayer film and this provides and independent determination of the MOSUD layer height of 1.5 nm: However, the particles detached from the surface when we attempted to grow multilayer. One strategy of linking the particles to form 2D arrays, thermal activation in ambient air, was investigated. The morphological properties of flaked nanoparticles and structures on silicon oxide substrates before and after heating were characterized by using AFM. For widely separated 5 nm gold nanoparticles height decreased over 50% at 600 °C. Further heating to 630 °C caused most particles to completely disappear, with small amount of particle residue left on the surface. Particles positioned near to other particles first formed a neck-like structure at 570 °C and then deformed into one wide particle with tail-shape residue at 650 °C. Clusters of Au nanoparticles rearranged and became one large collide with particles residues left on the surface at 630 °C.

A soft X-ray beam-splitting multilayer optic for the NASA GEMS Bragg Reflection Polarimeter

DOE PAGES

Allured, Ryan; Kaaret, Philip; Fernandez-Perea, Monica; ...

2013-04-12

A soft X-ray, beam-splitting, multilayer optic has been developed for the Bragg Reflection Polarimeter (BRP) on the NASA Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer Mission (GEMS). The optic is designed to reflect 0.5 keV X-rays through a 90° angle to the BRP detector, and transmit 2–10 keV X-rays to the primary polarimeter. The transmission requirement prevents the use of a thick substrate, so a 2 μm thick polyimide membrane was used. Atomic force microscopy has shown the membrane to possess high spatial frequency roughness less than 0.2 nm rms, permitting adequate X-ray reflectance. A multilayer thin film was especially developedmore » and deposited via magnetron sputtering with reflectance and transmission properties that satisfy the BRP requirements and with near-zero stress. Furthermore, reflectance and transmission measurements of BRP prototype elements closely match theoretical predictions, both before and after rigorous environmental testing.« less

A soft X-ray beam-splitting multilayer optic for the NASA GEMS Bragg Reflection Polarimeter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Allured, Ryan; Kaaret, Philip; Fernandez-Perea, Monica

A soft X-ray, beam-splitting, multilayer optic has been developed for the Bragg Reflection Polarimeter (BRP) on the NASA Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer Mission (GEMS). The optic is designed to reflect 0.5 keV X-rays through a 90° angle to the BRP detector, and transmit 2–10 keV X-rays to the primary polarimeter. The transmission requirement prevents the use of a thick substrate, so a 2 μm thick polyimide membrane was used. Atomic force microscopy has shown the membrane to possess high spatial frequency roughness less than 0.2 nm rms, permitting adequate X-ray reflectance. A multilayer thin film was especially developedmore » and deposited via magnetron sputtering with reflectance and transmission properties that satisfy the BRP requirements and with near-zero stress. Furthermore, reflectance and transmission measurements of BRP prototype elements closely match theoretical predictions, both before and after rigorous environmental testing.« less

X ray reflection masks: Manufacturing, characterization and first tests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahn, Stephen

1992-09-01

SXPL (Soft X-ray Projection Lithography) multilayer mirrors are characterized, laterally structured and then used as reflection masks in a projecting lithography procedure. Mo/Si-multilayer mirrors with a 2d in the region of 14 nm were characterized by Cu-k(alpha) grazing incidence as well as soft X-ray normal incidence reflectivity measurements. The multilayer mirrors were patterned by reactive ion etching with CF4 using a photoresist as etch mask, thus producing X-ray reflection masks. The masks were tested at the synchrotron radiation laboratory of the electron accelerator ELSA. A double crystal X-ray monochromator was modified so as to allow about 0.5 sq cm of the reflection mask to be illuminated by white synchrotron radiation. The reflected patterns were projected (with an energy of 100 eV) onto a resist and structure sizes down to 8 micrometers were nicely reproduced. Smaller structures were distorted by Fresnel-diffraction. The theoretically calculated diffraction images agree very well with the observed images.

Emulsion design to improve the delivery of functional lipophilic components.

PubMed

McClements, David Julian

2010-01-01

The food industry has used emulsion science and technology for many years to create a diverse range of food products, such as milk, cream, soft drinks, nutritional beverages, dressings, mayonnaise, sauces, dips, deserts, ice cream, margarine, and butter. The majority of these food products are conventional oil-in-water (O/W) or water-in-oil (W/O) type emulsions. Recently, there has been increasing interest within the food industry in either improving or extending the functional performance of foods using novel structured emulsions. This article reviews recent developments in the creation of structured emulsions that could be used by the food and other industries, including nanoemulsions, multiple emulsions, multilayer emulsions, solid lipid particles, and filled hydrogel particles. These structured emulsions can be produced from food-grade [generally recognized as safe (GRAS)] ingredients (e.g., lipids, proteins, polysaccharides, surfactants, and minerals), using simple processing operations (e.g., mixing, homogenizing, and thermal processing). The structure, production, performance, and potential applications of each type of structured emulsion system are discussed.

Figures of Merit for Magnetic Recording Media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skomski, Ralph; Sellmyer, D. J.

2007-03-01

Since the first nucleation-field calculations for hard-soft nanostructures with multilayered [1] and arbitrary [2] geometries, exchange-spring magnets have attracted much attention in various areas of magnetism, including magnetic recording. Ultrahigh storage densities correspond to the strong-coupling limit, realized on small length scales and described by volume-averaged anisotropies. Second-order perturbation theory yields finite-size corrections that describe a partial decoupling of the phases. Since soft phases reduce the nucleation field, nanostructuring can be used to reduce the coercivity Hc while maintaining the energy barrier EB. However, the ratio EB/Hc is an ill-defined figure of merit, because the comparison with the Stoner-Wohlfarth model requires the introduction of a particle volume, as contrasted to an area. By using elongated particles with a continuous anisotropy gradient, it is possible to reduce the coercivity by a factor scaling as the bit size divided by the domain-wall width of the hard phase. However, with decreasing bit size this effect becomes less pronounced. In the strong-coupling limit, thermal stability yields a maximum storage density of order γ/kBT, where γ is the domain-wall energy of the hard phase. - This research is supported by NSF MRSEC, INSIC, and NCMN. [1] S. Nieber and H. Kronm"uller, phys. stat. sol. (b) 153, 367 (1989). [2] R. Skomski and J. M. D. Coey, Phys. Rev. B 48, 15812 (1993).

Repair of high performance multilayer coatings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gaines, D.P.; Ceglio, N.M.; Vernon, S.P.

1991-07-01

Fabrication and environmental damage issues may require that the multilayer x-ray reflection coatings used in soft x-ray projection lithography be replaced or repaired. Two repair strategies were investigated. The first was to overcoat defective multilayers with a new multilayer. The feasibility of this approach was demonstrated by depositing high reflectivity (61% at 130 {Angstrom}) molybdenum silicon (Mo/Si) multilayers onto fused silica figured optics that had already been coated with a Mo/Si multilayer. Because some types of damage mechanisms and fabrication errors are not repairable by this method, a second method of repair was investigated. The multilayer was stripped from themore » optical substrate by etching a release layer which was deposited onto the substrate beneath the multilayer. The release layer consisted of a 1000 {Angstrom} aluminum film deposited by ion beam sputtering or by electron beam evaporation, with a 300 {Angstrom} SiO{sub 2} protective overcoat. The substrates were superpolished zerodur optical flats. The normal incidence x-ray reflectivity of multilayers deposited on these aluminized substrates was degraded, presumably due to the roughness of the aluminum films. Multilayers, and the underlying release layers, have been removed without damaging the substrates.« less

Layer-by-Layer Motif Architectures: Programmed Electrochemical Syntheses of Multilayer Mesoporous Metallic Films with Uniformly Sized Pores.

PubMed

Jiang, Bo; Li, Cuiling; Qian, Huayu; Hossain, Md Shahriar A; Malgras, Victor; Yamauchi, Yusuke

2017-06-26

Although multilayer films have been extensively reported, most compositions have been limited to non-catalytically active materials (e.g. polymers, proteins, lipids, or nucleic acids). Herein, we report the preparation of binder-free multilayer metallic mesoporous films with sufficient accessibility for high electrocatalytic activity by using a programmed electrochemical strategy. By precisely tuning the deposition potential and duration, multilayer mesoporous architectures consisting of alternating mesoporous Pd layers and mesoporous PdPt layers with controlled layer thicknesses can be synthesized within a single electrolyte, containing polymeric micelles as soft templates. This novel architecture, combining the advantages of bimetallic alloys, multilayer architectures, and mesoporous structures, exhibits high electrocatalytic activity for both the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR). © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Spacer layer thickness dependent structural and magnetic properties of Co/Si multilayers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roy, Ranjan; Singh, Dushyant; Kumar, M. Senthil

2018-05-01

In this article, the study of high resolution x-ray diffraction and magnetization of sputter deposited Co/Si multilayer is reported. Multilayers are prepared at ambient temperature by dc magnetron sputtering. Structural properties are studied by high resolution x-ray diffraction. Magnetic properties are studied at room temperature by vibrating sample magnetometer. Structural properties show that the Co layer is polycrystalline and the Si layer is amorphous. The magnetization study indicates that the samples are soft ferromagnetic in nature. The study of magnetization also shows that the easy axis of magnetization lies in the plane of the film.

Biocolloids with ordered urease multilayer shells as enzymatic reactors.

PubMed

Lvov, Y; Caruso, F

2001-09-01

The preparation of biocolloids with organized enzyme-containing multilayer shells for exploitation as colloidal enzymatic nanoreactors is described. Urease multilayers were assembled onto submicrometer-sized polystyrene spheres by the sequential adsorption of urease and polyelectrolyte, in a predetermined order, utilizing electrostatic interactions for layer growth. The catalytic activity of the biocolloids increased proportionally with the number of urease layers deposited on the particles, demonstrating that biocolloid particles with tailored enzymatic activities can be produced. It was further found that precoating the latex spheres with nanoparticles (40-nm silica or 12-nm magnetite) enhanced both the stability (with respect to adsorption) and enzymatic activity of the urease multilayers. The presence of the magnetite nanoparticle coating also provided a magnetic function that allowed the biocolloids to be easily and rapidly separated with a permanent magnet. The fabrication of such colloids opens new avenues for the application of bioparticles and represents a promising route for the creation of complex catalytic particles.

Multi-layer robot skin with embedded sensors and muscles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tomar, Ankit; Tadesse, Yonas

2016-04-01

Soft artificial skin with embedded sensors and actuators is proposed for a crosscutting study of cognitive science on a facial expressive humanoid platform. This paper focuses on artificial muscles suitable for humanoid robots and prosthetic devices for safe human-robot interactions. Novel composite artificial skin consisting of sensors and twisted polymer actuators is proposed. The artificial skin is conformable to intricate geometries and includes protective layers, sensor layers, and actuation layers. Fluidic channels are included in the elastomeric skin to inject fluids in order to control actuator response time. The skin can be used to develop facially expressive humanoid robots or other soft robots. The humanoid robot can be used by computer scientists and other behavioral science personnel to test various algorithms, and to understand and develop more perfect humanoid robots with facial expression capability. The small-scale humanoid robots can also assist ongoing therapeutic treatment research with autistic children. The multilayer skin can be used for many soft robots enabling them to detect both temperature and pressure, while actuating the entire structure.

Large-area soft x-ray projection lithography using multilayer mirrors structured by RIE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahn, Steffen; Kloidt, Andreas; Kleineberg, Ulf; Schmiedeskamp, Bernt; Kadel, Klaus; Schomburg, Werner K.; Hormes, F. J.; Heinzmann, Ulrich

1993-01-01

SXPL (soft X-ray projection lithography) is one of the most promising applications of X-ray reflecting optics using multilayer mirrors. Within our collaboration, such multilayer mirrors were fabricated, characterized, laterally structured and then used as reflection masks in a projecting lithography procedure. Mo/Si-multilayer mirrors were produced by electron beam evaporation in UHV under thermal treatment with an in-situ X-ray controlled thickness in the region of 2d equals 14 nm. The reflectivities measured at normal incidence reached up to 54%. Various surface analysis techniques have been applied in order to characterize and optimize the X-ray mirrors. The multilayers were patterned by reactive ion etching (RIE) with CF(subscript 4), using a photoresist as the etch mask, thus producing X-ray reflection masks. The masks were tested in the synchrotron radiation laboratory of the electron accelerator ELSA at the Physikalisches Institut of Bonn University. A double crystal X-ray monochromator was modified so as to allow about 0.5 cm(superscript 2) of the reflection mask to be illuminated by white synchrotron radiation. The reflected patterns were projected (with an energy of 100 eV) onto the resist (Hoechst AZ PF 514), which was mounted at an average distance of about 7 mm. In the first test-experiments, structure sizes down to 8 micrometers were nicely reproduced over the whole of the exposed area. Smaller structures were distorted by Fresnel-diffraction. The theoretically calculated diffraction images agree very well with the observed images.

Adsorption-desorption kinetics of soft particles onto surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Osberg, Brendan; Gerland, Ulrich

A broad range of physical, chemical, and biological systems feature processes in which particles randomly adsorb on a substrate. Theoretical models usually assume ``hard'' (mutually impenetrable) particles, but in soft matter physics the adsorbing particles can be effectively compressible, implying ``soft'' interaction potentials. We recently studied the kinetics of such soft particles adsorbing onto one-dimensional substrates, identifying three novel phenomena: (i) a gradual density increase, or ''cramming'', replaces the usual jamming behavior of hard particles, (ii) a density overshoot, can occur (only for soft particles) on a time scale set by the desorption rate, and (iii) relaxation rates of soft particles increase with particle size (on a lattice), while hard particles show the opposite trend. The latter occurs since unjamming requires desorption and many-bodied reorganization to equilibrate -a process that is generally very slow. Here we extend this analysis to a two-dimensional substrate, focusing on the question of whether the adsorption-desorption kinetics of particles in two dimensions is similarly enriched by the introduction of soft interactions. Application to experiments, for example the adsorption of fibrinogen on two-dimensional surfaces, will be discussed.

Protein-Containing Multilayer Capsules by Templating on Mesoporous CaCO3 Particles: POST- and PRE-Loading Approaches.

PubMed

Balabushevich, Nadezhda G; Lopez de Guerenu, Anna V; Feoktistova, Natalia A; Skirtach, Andre G; Volodkin, Dmitry

2016-01-01

Encapsulation of model proteins (catalase, insulin, aprotinin) into multilayer dextran sulphate/protamin capsules by templating on CaCO3 microparticles is investigated employing: (i) PRE-loading into CaCO3 particles by adsorption or co-synthesis and (ii) POST-loading into performed capsules. Protein encapsulation is governed by both its size and electrostatic interactions with the carbonate microparticles and multilayer shell. PRE-loading enables improved encapsulation compared to POST-loading (catalase content in capsules 630 and 70 mg · g(-1)). Bioactivity of encapsulated protein is not affected by interaction with multilayers but may be reduced at slightly alkaline pH due to CaCO3 hydrolysis. This study might help to successfully encapsulate fragile bio-macromolecules into multilayer capsules. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Microstructure and composition analysis of low-Z/low-Z multilayers by combining hard and resonant soft X-ray reflectivity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rao, P. N., E-mail: pnrao@rrcat.gov.in; Rai, S. K.; Srivastava, A. K.

2016-06-28

Microstructure and composition analysis of periodic multilayer structure consisting of a low electron density contrast (EDC) material combination by grazing incidence hard X-ray reflectivity (GIXR), resonant soft X-ray reflectivity (RSXR), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are presented. Measurements of reflectivity at different energies allow combining the sensitivity of GIXR data to microstructural parameters like layer thicknesses and interfacing roughness, with the layer composition sensitivity of RSXR. These aspects are shown with an example of 10-period C/B{sub 4}C multilayer. TEM observation reveals that interfaces C on B{sub 4}C and B{sub 4}C on C are symmetric. Although GIXR provides limited structural informationmore » when EDC between layers is low, measurements using a scattering technique like GIXR with a microscopic technique like TEM improve the microstructural information of low EDC combination. The optical constants of buried layers have been derived by RSXR. The derived optical constants from the measured RSXR data suggested the presence of excess carbon into the boron carbide layer.« less

Fabricating microfluidic valve master molds in SU-8 photoresist

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dy, Aaron J.; Cosmanescu, Alin; Sluka, James; Glazier, James A.; Stupack, Dwayne; Amarie, Dragos

2014-05-01

Multilayer soft lithography has become a powerful tool in analytical chemistry, biochemistry, material and life sciences, and medical research. Complex fluidic micro-circuits require reliable components that integrate easily into microchips. We introduce two novel approaches to master mold fabrication for constructing in-line micro-valves using SU-8. Our fabrication techniques enable robust and versatile integration of many lab-on-a-chip functions including filters, mixers, pumps, stream focusing and cell-culture chambers, with in-line valves. SU-8 created more robust valve master molds than the conventional positive photoresists used in multilayer soft lithography, but maintained the advantages of biocompatibility and rapid prototyping. As an example, we used valve master molds made of SU-8 to fabricate PDMS chips capable of precisely controlling beads or cells in solution.

X-ray/EUV optics for astronomy, microscopy, polarimetry, and projection lithography; Proceedings of the Meeting, San Diego, CA, July 9-13, 1990

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoover, Richard B. (Editor); Walker, Arthur B. C., Jr. (Editor)

1991-01-01

Topics discussed in this issue include the fabrication of multilayer X-ray/EUV coatings; the design, characterization, and test of multilayer X-ray/EUV coatings; multilayer X-ray/EUV monochromators and imaging microscopes; X-ray/EUV telescopes; the test and calibration performance of X-ray/EUV instruments; XUV/soft X-ray projection lithography; X-ray/EUV space observatories and missions; X-ray/EUV telescopes for solar research; X-ray/EUV polarimetry; X-ray/EUV spectrographs; and X-ray/EUV filters and gratings. Papers are presented on the deposition-controlled uniformity of multilayer mirrors, interfaces in Mo/Si multilayers, the design and analysis of an aspherical multilayer imaging X-ray microscope, recent developments in the production of thin X-ray reflecting foils, and the ultraprecise scanning technology. Consideration is also given to an active sun telescope array, the fabrication and performance at 1.33 nm of a 0.24-micron-period multilayer grating, a cylindrical proportional counter for X-ray polarimetry, and the design and analysis of the reflection grating arrays for the X-Ray Multi-Mirror Mission.

Shear thinning in soft particle suspensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voudouris, Panayiotis; van der Zanden, Berco; Florea, Daniel; Fahimi, Zahra; Wyss, Hans

2012-02-01

Suspensions of soft deformable particles are encountered in a wide range of food and biological materials. Examples are biological cells, micelles, vesicles or microgel particles. While the behavior of suspenions of hard spheres - the classical model system of colloid science - is reasonably well understood, a full understanding of these soft particle suspensions remains elusive. The relation between single particle properties and macroscopic mechanical behavior still remains poorly understood in these materials. Here we examine the surprising shear thinning behavior that is observed in soft particle suspensions as a function of particle softness. We use poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (p-NIPAM) microgel particles as a model system to study this effect in detail. These soft spheres show significant shear thinning even at very large Peclet numbers, where this would not be observed for hard particles. The degree of shear thinning is directly related to the single particle elastic properties, which we characterize by the recently developed Capillary Micromechanics technique. We present a simple model that qualitatively accounts for the observed behavior.

Nanolaminated FeCoB/FeCo and FeCoB/NiFe soft magnetic thin films with tailored magnetic properties deposited by magnetron sputtering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hida, Rachid; Falub, Claudiu V.; Perraudeau, Sandrine; Morin, Christine; Favier, Sylvie; Mazel, Yann; Saghi, Zineb; Michel, Jean-Philippe

2018-05-01

Thin films based on layers of Fe52Co28B20 (at%), Fe65Co35 (at%), and Ni80Fe20 (at%) were deposited by sputtering on 8″ bare Si and Si/200 nm-thermal-SiO2 wafers by simultaneous use of two or more cathodes. Due to the continuous rotation of the substrate cage, such that the substrates faced different targets alternately, the multilayers consisted of stacks of alternating, nanometer-thick regular layers. The composition of the films was determined by Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) and Nuclear Reactive Analysis (NRA), whereas Plasma Profiling Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (PP-TOFMS) analysis gave depth profile information about the chemical elements. The structural and magnetic properties of the films were investigated by X-ray Diffraction and by TEM analysis, B-H loop tracer and high frequency single coil technique permeametry, respectively. The linear dependence of the coercivity of these thin films versus the grain size can be explained by the random anisotropy model. These novel, composite soft magnetic multilayers, with tunable in-plane anisotropy, allow operation at tunable frequencies, as shown by broadband (between 100 MHz and 10 GHz) RF measurements that exhibit a classical Landau-Lifschitz-Gilbert (LLG) behavior and, combine the magnetic properties of the individual materials in an advantageous way. This article presents a method to produce nanostructured soft magnetic multilayers, the properties of which can easily be tuned by choosing the ratio of the individual nanolayers. In this way it's possible to combine soft magnetic materials with complementary properties, e.g. high saturation magnetization, low coercivity, high specific resistivity and low magnetostriction

Cr/B 4C multilayer mirrors: Study of interfaces and X-ray reflectance

DOE PAGES

Burcklen, C.; Soufli, R.; Gullikson, E.; ...

2016-03-24

Here, we present an experimental study of the effect of layer interfaces on the x-ray reflectance in Cr/B 4C multilayer interference coatings with layer thicknesses ranging from 0.7 nm to 5.4 nm. The multilayers were deposited by magnetron sputtering and by ion beam sputtering. Grazing incidence x-ray reflectometry, soft x-ray reflectometry, and transmission electron microscopy reveal asymmetric multilayer structures with a larger B 4C-on-Cr interface, which we modeled with a 1–1.5 nm thick interfacial layer. Reflectance measurements in the vicinity of the Cr L 2,3 absorption edge demonstrate fine structure that is not predicted by simulations using the currently tabulatedmore » refractive index (optical constants) values for Cr.« less

Imaging Schwarzschild multilayer X-ray microscope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoover, Richard B.; Baker, Phillip C.; Shealy, David L.; Core, David B.; Walker, Arthur B. C., Jr.; Barbee, Troy W., Jr.; Kerstetter, Ted

1993-01-01

We have designed, analyzed, fabricated, and tested Schwarzschild multilayer X-ray microscopes. These instruments use flow-polished Zerodur mirror substrates which have been coated with multilayers optimized for maximum reflectivity at normal incidence at 135 A. They are being developed as prototypes for the Water Window Imaging X-Ray Microscope. Ultrasmooth mirror sets of hemlite grade sapphire have been fabricated and they are now being coated with multilayers to reflect soft X-rays at 38 A, within the biologically important 'water window'. In this paper, we discuss the fabrication of the microscope optics and structural components as well as the mounting of the optics and assembly of the microscopes. We also describe the optical alignment, interferometric and visible light testing of the microscopes, present interferometrically measured performance data, and provide the first results of optical imaging tests.

Tunable Shape-Shifting Structures for Military Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

autonomous (also self - healing and fault-tolerant) systems that can provide multifunctionality whilst minimising weight/size, particularly in extreme...The proof-of-concept approach was successfully demonstrated. It is possible to deform the surface of a multilayer soft structure with a high level...biological systems found in Nature (e.g. adaptive skin texture of cephalopods), active soft structures producing large deformations offer attractive ways to

A versatile model for soft patchy particles with various patch arrangements.

PubMed

Li, Zhan-Wei; Zhu, You-Liang; Lu, Zhong-Yuan; Sun, Zhao-Yan

2016-01-21

We propose a simple and general mesoscale soft patchy particle model, which can felicitously describe the deformable and surface-anisotropic characteristics of soft patchy particles. This model can be used in dynamics simulations to investigate the aggregation behavior and mechanism of various types of soft patchy particles with tunable number, size, direction, and geometrical arrangement of the patches. To improve the computational efficiency of this mesoscale model in dynamics simulations, we give the simulation algorithm that fits the compute unified device architecture (CUDA) framework of NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs). The validation of the model and the performance of the simulations using GPUs are demonstrated by simulating several benchmark systems of soft patchy particles with 1 to 4 patches in a regular geometrical arrangement. Because of its simplicity and computational efficiency, the soft patchy particle model will provide a powerful tool to investigate the aggregation behavior of soft patchy particles, such as patchy micelles, patchy microgels, and patchy dendrimers, over larger spatial and temporal scales.

The preparation of copper fine particle paste and its application as the inner electrode material of a multilayered ceramic capacitor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yonezawa, Tetsu; Takeoka, Shinsuke; Kishi, Hiroshi; Ida, Kiyonobu; Tomonari, Masanori

2008-04-01

Well size-controlled copper fine particles (diameter: 100-300 nm) were used as the inner electrode material of multilayered ceramic capacitors (MLCCs). The particles were dispersed in terpineol to form a printing paste with 50 wt% copper particles. The MLCC precursor modules prepared by the layer-by-layer printing of copper and BaTiO3 particles were cosintered. Detailed observation of the particles, paste, and MLCCs before and after sintering was carried out by electron microscopy. The sintering temperature of Cu-MLCC was as low as 960 °C. The permittivity of these MLCCs was successfully measured with the copper inner layers.

Colloidal micro- and nano-particles as templates for polyelectrolyte multilayer capsules.

PubMed

Parakhonskiy, Bogdan V; Yashchenok, Alexey M; Konrad, Manfred; Skirtach, Andre G

2014-05-01

Colloidal particles play an important role in various areas of material and pharmaceutical sciences, biotechnology, and biomedicine. In this overview we describe micro- and nano-particles used for the preparation of polyelectrolyte multilayer capsules and as drug delivery vehicles. An essential feature of polyelectrolyte multilayer capsule preparations is the ability to adsorb polymeric layers onto colloidal particles or templates followed by dissolution of these templates. The choice of the template is determined by various physico-chemical conditions: solvent needed for dissolution, porosity, aggregation tendency, as well as release of materials from capsules. Historically, the first templates were based on melamine formaldehyde, later evolving towards more elaborate materials such as silica and calcium carbonate. Their advantages and disadvantages are discussed here in comparison to non-particulate templates such as red blood cells. Further steps in this area include development of anisotropic particles, which themselves can serve as delivery carriers. We provide insights into application of particles as drug delivery carriers in comparison to microcapsules templated on them. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Gamma-Ray Imager GRI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wunderer, Cornelia B.; GRI Collaboration

2006-09-01

Observations of the gamma-ray sky reveal the most powerful sources and the most violent events in the Universe. While at lower wavebands the observed emission is generally dominated by thermal processes, the gamma-ray sky provides us with a view on the non-thermal Universe. Here particles are accelerated to extreme relativistic energies by mechanisms which are still poorly understood, and nuclear reactions are synthesizing the basic constituents of our world. Cosmic accelerators and cosmic explosions are the major science themes that are addressed in the gamma-ray regime. With the INTEGRAL observatory, ESA has provided a unique tool to the astronomical community revealing hundreds of sources, new classes of objects, extraordinary views of antimatter annihilation in our Galaxy, and fingerprints of recent nucleosynthesis processes. While INTEGRAL provides the global overview over the soft gamma-ray sky, there is a growing need to perform deeper, more focused investigations of gamma-ray sources. In soft X-rays a comparable step was taken going from the Einstein and the EXOSAT satellites to the Chandra and XMM/Newton observatories. Technological advances in the past years in the domain of gamma-ray focusing using Laue diffraction and multilayer coated mirror techniques have paved the way towards a gamma-ray mission, providing major improvements compared to past missions regarding sensitivity and angular resolution. Such a future Gamma-Ray Imager will allow to study particle acceleration processes and explosion physics in unprecedented detail, providing essential clues on the innermost nature of the most violent and most energetic processes in the Universe.

GRI: the gamma-ray imager mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knödlseder, Jürgen

2006-06-01

Observations of the gamma-ray sky reveal the most powerful sources and the most violent events in the Universe. While at lower wavebands the observed emission is generally dominated by thermal processes, the gamma-ray sky provides us with a view on the non-thermal Universe. Here particles are accelerated to extreme relativistic energies by mechanisms which are still poorly understood, and nuclear reactions are synthesizing the basic constituents of our world. Cosmic accelerators and cosmic explosions are the major science themes that are addressed in the gamma-ray regime. With the INTEGRAL observatory, ESA has provided a unique tool to the astronomical community revealing hundreds of sources, new classes of objects, extraordinary views of antimatter annihilation in our Galaxy, and fingerprints of recent nucleosynthesis processes. While INTEGRAL provides the global overview over the soft gamma-ray sky, there is a growing need to perform deeper, more focused investigations of gamma-ray sources. In soft X-rays a comparable step was taken going from the Einstein and the EXOSAT satellites to the Chandra and XMM/Newton observatories. Technological advances in the past years in the domain of gamma-ray focusing using Laue diffraction and multilayer-coated mirror techniques hav paved the way towards a gamma-ray mission, providing major improvements compared to past missions regarding sensitivity and angular resolution. Such a future Gamma-Ray Imager will allow to study particle acceleration processes and explosion physics in unprecedented detail, providing essential clues on the innermost nature of the most violent and most energetic processes in the Universe.

Soft X-ray Foucault test: A path to diffraction-limited imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ray-Chaudhuri, A. K.; Ng, W.; Liang, S.; Cerrina, F.

1994-08-01

We present the development of a soft X-ray Foucault test capable of characterizing the imaging properties of a soft X-ray optical system at its operational wavelength and its operational configuration. This optical test enables direct visual inspection of imaging aberrations and provides real-time feedback for the alignment of high resolution soft X-ray optical systems. A first application of this optical test was carried out on a Mo-Si multilayer-coated Schwarzschild objective as part of the MAXIMUM project. Results from the alignment procedure are presented as well as the possibility for testing in the hard X-ray regime.

Soft x ray optics by pulsed laser deposition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fernandez, Felix E.

1994-01-01

A series of molybdenum thin film depositions by PLD (Pulsed Laser Deposition) have been carried out, seeking appropriate conditions for multilayer fabrication. Green (532 nm) and UV (355 nm) light pulses, in a wide range of fluences, were used. Relatively large fluences (in comparison with Si) are required to cause evaporation of molybdenum. The optical penetration depths and reflectivities for Mo at these two wavelengths are comparable, which means that results should be, and do appear to be similar for equal fluences. For all fluences above threshold used, a large number of incandescent particles is ejected by the target (either a standard Mo sputtering target or a Mo sheet were tried), together with the plasma plume. Most of these particles are clearly seen to bounce off the substrate. The films were observed with light microscopy using Nomarski and darkfield techniques. There is no evidence of large debris. Smooth films plus micron-sized droplets are usually seen. The concentration of these droplets embedded in the film appears not to vary strongly with the laser fluence employed. Additional characterization with SEM and XRD is under way.

Optical Properties of Multilayer CdSe/POLYMER Structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Red'Ko, V. P.; Voitenkov, A. I.; Kovalenko, O. E.

The effects of preparation condition, concentration and size of particles upon optical and photoelectrical characteristics of multilayer structures CdSe/polyethylene terephthalate obtained by electron-beam evaporation were investigated.

Autonomous Object Manipulation Using a Soft Planar Grasping Manipulator

PubMed Central

Katzschmann, Robert K.; Marchese, Andrew D.

2015-01-01

Abstract This article presents the development of an autonomous motion planning algorithm for a soft planar grasping manipulator capable of grasp-and-place operations by encapsulation with uncertainty in the position and shape of the object. The end effector of the soft manipulator is fabricated in one piece without weakening seams using lost-wax casting instead of the commonly used multilayer lamination process. The soft manipulation system can grasp randomly positioned objects within its reachable envelope and move them to a desired location without human intervention. The autonomous planning system leverages the compliance and continuum bending of the soft grasping manipulator to achieve repeatable grasps in the presence of uncertainty. A suite of experiments is presented that demonstrates the system's capabilities. PMID:27625916

Studying Pulsed Laser Deposition conditions for Ni/C-based multi-layers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bollmann, Tjeerd R. J.

2018-04-01

Nickel carbon based multi-layers are a viable route towards future hard X-ray and soft γ-ray focusing telescopes. Here, we study the Pulsed Laser Deposition growth conditions of such bilayers by Reflective High Energy Electron Diffraction, X-ray Reflectivity and Diffraction, Atomic Force Microscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and cross-sectional Transmission Electron Microscopy analysis, with emphasis on optimization of process pressure and substrate temperature during growth. The thin multi-layers are grown on a treated SiO substrate resulting in Ni and C layers with surface roughnesses (RMS) of ≤0.2 nm. Small droplets resulting during melting of the targets surface increase the roughness, however, and cannot be avoided. The sequential process at temperatures beyond 300 °C results into intermixing between the two layers, being destructive for the reflectivity of the multi-layer.

Passivating overcoat bilayer for multilayer reflective coatings for extreme ultraviolet lithography

DOEpatents

Montcalm, Claude; Stearns, Daniel G.; Vernon, Stephen P.

1999-01-01

A passivating overcoat bilayer is used for multilayer reflective coatings for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) or soft x-ray applications to prevent oxidation and corrosion of the multilayer coating, thereby improving the EUV optical performance. The overcoat bilayer comprises a layer of silicon or beryllium underneath at least one top layer of an elemental or a compound material that resists oxidation and corrosion. Materials for the top layer include carbon, palladium, carbides, borides, nitrides, and oxides. The thicknesses of the two layers that make up the overcoat bilayer are optimized to produce the highest reflectance at the wavelength range of operation. Protective overcoat systems comprising three or more layers are also possible.

Structural and magnetic properties of granular CoPd multilayers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vivas, L. G.; Figueroa, A. I.; Bartolomé, F.; Rubín, J.; García, L. M.; Deranlot, C.; Petroff, F.; Ruiz, L.; González-Calbet, J. M.; Brookes, N. B.; Wilhelm, F.; Rogalev, A.; Bartolomé, J.

2016-02-01

Multilayers of bimetallic CoPd alloyed and assembled nanoparticles, prepared by room temperature sequential sputtering deposition on amorphous alumina, were studied by means of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, SQUID-based magnetometry and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. Alloying between Co and Pd in these nanoparticles gives rise to a high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Their magnetic properties are temperature dependent: at low temperature, the multilayers are ferromagnetic with a high coercive field; at intermediate temperature the behavior is of a soft-ferromagnet, and at higher temperature, the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in the nanoparticles disappears. The magnetic orbital moment to spin moment ratio is enhanced compared with Co bare nanoparticles and Co fcc bulk.

Shell structure of natural rubber particles: evidence of chemical stratification by electrokinetics and cryo-TEM.

PubMed

Rochette, Christophe N; Crassous, Jérôme J; Drechsler, Markus; Gaboriaud, Fabien; Eloy, Marie; de Gaudemaris, Benoît; Duval, Jérôme F L

2013-11-26

The interfacial structure of natural rubber (NR) colloids is investigated by means of cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) and electrokinetics over a broad range of KNO3 electrolyte concentrations (4-300 mM) and pH values (1-8). The asymptotic plateau value reached by NR electrophoretic mobility (μ) in the thin double layer limit supports the presence of a soft (ion- and water-permeable) polyelectrolytic type of layer located at the periphery of the NR particles. This property is confirmed by the analysis of the electron density profile obtained from cryo-TEM that evidences a ∼2-4 nm thick corona surrounding the NR polyisoprene core. The dependence of μ on pH and salt concentration is further marked by a dramatic decrease of the point of zero electrophoretic mobility (PZM) from 3.6 to 0.8 with increasing electrolyte concentration in the range 4-300 mM. Using a recent theory for electrohydrodynamics of soft multilayered particles, this "anomalous" dependence of the PZM on electrolyte concentration is shown to be consistent with a radial organization of anionic and cationic groups across the peripheral NR structure. The NR electrokinetic response in the pH range 1-8 is indeed found to be equivalent to that of particles surrounded by a positively charged ∼3.5 nm thick layer (mean dissociation pK ∼ 4.2) supporting a thin and negatively charged outermost layer (0.6 nm in thickness, pK ∼ 0.7). Altogether, the strong dependence of the PZM on electrolyte concentration suggests that the electrostatic properties of the outer peripheral region of the NR shell are mediated by lipidic residues protruding from a shell containing a significant amount of protein-like charges. This proposed NR shell interfacial structure questions previously reported NR representations according to which the shell consists of either a fully mixed lipid-protein layer, or a layer of phospholipids residing exclusively beneath an outer proteic film.

Stable aqueous dispersions of functionalized multi-layer graphene by pulsed underwater plasma exfoliation of graphite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer-Plath, Asmus; Beckert, Fabian; Tölle, Folke J.; Sturm, Heinz; Mülhaupt, Rolf

2016-02-01

A process was developed for graphite particle exfoliation in water to stably dispersed multi-layer graphene. It uses electrohydraulic shockwaves and the functionalizing effect of solution plasma discharges in water. The discharges were excited by 100 ns high voltage pulsing of graphite particle chains that bridge an electrode gap. The underwater discharges allow simultaneous exfoliation and chemical functionalization of graphite particles to partially oxidized multi-layer graphene. Exfoliation is caused by shockwaves that result from rapid evaporation of carbon and water to plasma-excited gas species. Depending on discharge energy and locus of ignition, the shockwaves cause stirring, erosion, exfoliation and/or expansion of graphite flakes. The process was optimized to produce long-term stable aqueous dispersions of multi-layer graphene from graphite in a single process step without requiring addition of intercalants, surfactants, binders or special solvents. A setup was developed that allows continuous production of aqueous dispersions of flake size-selected multi-layer graphenes. Due to the well-preserved sp2-carbon structure, thin films made from the dispersed graphene exhibited high electrical conductivity. Underwater plasma discharge processing exhibits high innovation potential for morphological and chemical modifications of carbonaceous materials and surfaces, especially for the generation of stable dispersions of two-dimensional, layered materials.

Cobalt-based multilayers with ultrathin seedlayers for perpendicular magnetic recording media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Wenbin

With the rapid increase in areal density in longitudinal magnetic recording, it is widely believed that the superparamagnetic limit will soon be reached. Perpendicular magnetic recording is now being seriously considered to be a candidate for the replacement. Co/Pd and Co/Pt multilayers are promising candidates because of their high anisotropy, high coercivity, high remanent squareness, and high negative nucleation field. However, Co/Pd and Co/Pt multilayers usually require thick seed layers to promote perpendicular anisotropies, which leads to large "spacing loss". In this work, different seed layers were studied and it showed that an amorphous indium tin oxide (ITO) seed layer as thin as 2nm could promote good perpendicular anisotropy. The processing parameters for Co-based multilayers such as deposition pressure, temperature, individual layer thickness, and number of bilayers were optimized to obtain better interfaces, higher coercivity, and higher anisotropies. Boron was added as dopants into Co layers to obtain better intergranular segregation and reduce the grain growth during the thin film deposition. The substrates were heated to promote the migration of boron atoms. It was proved that the addition of boron has successfully reduced the magnetic domain sizes as well as the media noise. Spin stand test showed that the CoB/Pd multilayers with 2nm ITO seed layer and 6mum thick NiFe soft underlayers deposited at 230°C gave a D50 of 340 kfci for differentiated output signals and an areal density of 11 Gb/in2 at a bit-error-rate of 10 -7. Given narrower heads, better soft underlayer, and lower flying height, the media can reach a much higher recording density.

Design and analysis of a fast, two-mirror soft-x-ray microscope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shealy, D. L.; Wang, C.; Jiang, W.; Jin, L.; Hoover, R. B.

1992-01-01

During the past several years, a number of investigators have addressed the design, analysis, fabrication, and testing of spherical Schwarzschild microscopes for soft-x-ray applications using multilayer coatings. Some of these systems have demonstrated diffraction limited resolution for small numerical apertures. Rigorously aplanatic, two-aspherical mirror Head microscopes can provide near diffraction limited resolution for very large numerical apertures. The relationships between the numerical aperture, mirror radii and diameters, magnifications, and total system length for Schwarzschild microscope configurations are summarized. Also, an analysis of the characteristics of the Head-Schwarzschild surfaces will be reported. The numerical surface data predicted by the Head equations were fit by a variety of functions and analyzed by conventional optical design codes. Efforts have been made to determine whether current optical substrate and multilayer coating technologies will permit construction of a very fast Head microscope which can provide resolution approaching that of the wavelength of the incident radiation.

Soft X-Ray Optics by Pulsed Laser Deposition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fernandez, Felix E.

1996-01-01

Mo/Si and C/Co multilayers for soft x-ray optics were designed for spectral regions of interest in possible applications. Fabrication was effected by Pulsed Laser Deposition using Nd:YAG (355 nm) or excimer (248 nm) lasers in order to evaluate the suitability of this technique. Results for Mo/Si structures were not considered satisfactory due mainly to problems with particulate production and target surface modification during Si ablation. These problems may be alleviated by a two-wavelength approach, using separate lasers for each target. Results for C/Co multilayers are much more encouraging, since indication of good layering was observed for extremely thin layers. We expect to continue investigating this possibility. In order to compete with traditional PVD techniques, it is necessary to achieve film coverage uniformity over large enough areas. It was shown that this is feasible, and novel means of achieving it were devised.

Impact of B 4C co-sputtering on structure and optical performance of Cr/Sc multilayer X-ray mirrors

DOE PAGES

Ghafoor, Naureen; Eriksson, Fredrik; Aquila, Andrew; ...

2017-01-01

We investigate the influence of B 4C incorporation during magnetron sputter deposition of Cr/Sc multilayers intended for soft X-ray reflective optics. Chemical analysis suggests formation of metal: boride and carbide bonds which stabilize an amorphous layer structure, resulting in smoother interfaces and an increased reflectivity. A near-normal incidence reflectivity of 11.7%, corresponding to a 67% increase, is achieved at λ = 3.11 nm upon adding 23 at.% (B + C). The advantage is significant for the multilayer periods larger than 1.8 nm, where amorphization results in smaller interface widths, for example, giving 36% reflectance and 99.89% degree of polarization nearmore » Brewster angle for a multilayer polarizer. The modulated ion-energy-assistance during the growth is considered vital to avoid intermixing during the interface formation even when B + C are added.« less

Impact of B 4C co-sputtering on structure and optical performance of Cr/Sc multilayer X-ray mirrors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ghafoor, Naureen; Eriksson, Fredrik; Aquila, Andrew

We investigate the influence of B 4C incorporation during magnetron sputter deposition of Cr/Sc multilayers intended for soft X-ray reflective optics. Chemical analysis suggests formation of metal: boride and carbide bonds which stabilize an amorphous layer structure, resulting in smoother interfaces and an increased reflectivity. A near-normal incidence reflectivity of 11.7%, corresponding to a 67% increase, is achieved at λ = 3.11 nm upon adding 23 at.% (B + C). The advantage is significant for the multilayer periods larger than 1.8 nm, where amorphization results in smaller interface widths, for example, giving 36% reflectance and 99.89% degree of polarization nearmore » Brewster angle for a multilayer polarizer. The modulated ion-energy-assistance during the growth is considered vital to avoid intermixing during the interface formation even when B + C are added.« less

Physical characteristics of indigestible solids affect emptying from the fasting human stomach.

PubMed Central

Meyer, B; Beglinger, C; Neumayer, M; Stalder, G A

1989-01-01

Gastric emptying of indigestible solids depends on their size. It is not clear whether physical characteristics other than particle size affect emptying of indigestible solids from the fasting human stomach. We studied gastric emptying of three differently shaped particles, (cubes, spheres, rods) of either hard or soft consistency during the fasting state in human volunteers. The shape of indigestible particles did not affect their emptying. The area under the gastric emptying curve (AUC: particles x hour) was for hard cubes 24.7 (2.2), for hard spheres 27.9 (1.6), for hard rods 26.9 (2.7). All soft particles emptied faster than their identically shaped hard counterparts, but there was no difference among the three shapes (AUC for soft cubes: 29.2 (3.0), for soft spheres 32.0 (1.8), for soft rods 34.1 (1.2). If gastric emptying of hard and soft particles was compared independently of their shape, soft particles emptied significantly faster than hard ones: AUC 31.8 (1.2) v 26.5 (1.3) (p less than 0.01). In conclusion, the consistency but not the shape significantly affects gastric emptying. Specific physical characteristics other than size and shape may affect gastric emptying of indigestible particles which may be of importance in the design of drugs. PMID:2599438

Instant tough bonding of hydrogels for soft machines and electronics

PubMed Central

Wirthl, Daniela; Pichler, Robert; Drack, Michael; Kettlguber, Gerald; Moser, Richard; Gerstmayr, Robert; Hartmann, Florian; Bradt, Elke; Kaltseis, Rainer; Siket, Christian M.; Schausberger, Stefan E.; Hild, Sabine; Bauer, Siegfried; Kaltenbrunner, Martin

2017-01-01

Introducing methods for instant tough bonding between hydrogels and antagonistic materials—from soft to hard—allows us to demonstrate elastic yet tough biomimetic devices and machines with a high level of complexity. Tough hydrogels strongly attach, within seconds, to plastics, elastomers, leather, bone, and metals, reaching unprecedented interfacial toughness exceeding 2000 J/m2. Healing of severed ionic hydrogel conductors becomes feasible and restores function instantly. Soft, transparent multilayered hybrids of elastomers and ionic hydrogels endure biaxial strain with more than 2000% increase in area, facilitating soft transducers, generators, and adaptive lenses. We demonstrate soft electronic devices, from stretchable batteries, self-powered compliant circuits, and autonomous electronic skin for triggered drug delivery. Our approach is applicable in rapid prototyping and in delicate environments inaccessible for extended curing and cross-linking. PMID:28691092

Instant tough bonding of hydrogels for soft machines and electronics.

PubMed

Wirthl, Daniela; Pichler, Robert; Drack, Michael; Kettlguber, Gerald; Moser, Richard; Gerstmayr, Robert; Hartmann, Florian; Bradt, Elke; Kaltseis, Rainer; Siket, Christian M; Schausberger, Stefan E; Hild, Sabine; Bauer, Siegfried; Kaltenbrunner, Martin

2017-06-01

Introducing methods for instant tough bonding between hydrogels and antagonistic materials-from soft to hard-allows us to demonstrate elastic yet tough biomimetic devices and machines with a high level of complexity. Tough hydrogels strongly attach, within seconds, to plastics, elastomers, leather, bone, and metals, reaching unprecedented interfacial toughness exceeding 2000 J/m 2 . Healing of severed ionic hydrogel conductors becomes feasible and restores function instantly. Soft, transparent multilayered hybrids of elastomers and ionic hydrogels endure biaxial strain with more than 2000% increase in area, facilitating soft transducers, generators, and adaptive lenses. We demonstrate soft electronic devices, from stretchable batteries, self-powered compliant circuits, and autonomous electronic skin for triggered drug delivery. Our approach is applicable in rapid prototyping and in delicate environments inaccessible for extended curing and cross-linking.

Yield stress and scaling of polyelectrolyte multilayer modified suspensions: effect of polyelectrolyte conformation during multilayer assembly.

PubMed

Hess, Andreas; Aksel, Nuri

2013-09-10

The yield stress of polyelectrolyte multilayer modified suspensions exhibits a surprising dependence on the polyelectrolyte conformation of multilayer films. The rheological data scale onto a universal master curve for each polyelectrolyte conformation as the particle volume fraction, φ, and the ionic strength of the background fluid, I, are varied. It is shown that rough films with highly coiled, brushy polyelectrolytes significantly enhance the yield stress. Moreover, via the ionic strength I of the background fluid, the dynamic yield stress of brushy polyelectrolyte multilayers can be finely adjusted over 2 decades.

Method for fabricating beryllium-based multilayer structures

DOEpatents

Skulina, Kenneth M.; Bionta, Richard M.; Makowiecki, Daniel M.; Alford, Craig S.

2003-02-18

Beryllium-based multilayer structures and a process for fabricating beryllium-based multilayer mirrors, useful in the wavelength region greater than the beryllium K-edge (111 .ANG. or 11.1 nm). The process includes alternating sputter deposition of beryllium and a metal, typically from the fifth row of the periodic table, such as niobium (Nb), molybdenum (Mo), ruthenium (Ru), and rhodium (Rh). The process includes not only the method of sputtering the materials, but the industrial hygiene controls for safe handling of beryllium. The mirrors made in accordance with the process may be utilized in soft x-ray and extreme-ultraviolet projection lithography, which requires mirrors of high reflectivity (>60%) for x-rays in the range of 60-140 .ANG. (60-14.0 nm).

Modeling the Elastic and Damping Properties of the Multilayered Torsion Bar-Blade Structure of Rotors of Light Helicopters of the New Generation. 1. Finite-Element Approximation of the Torsion Bar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paimushin, V. N.; Shishkin, V. M.

2015-11-01

A prismatic semiquadratic element with a nonclassical approximation of its displacements is suggested for modeling the composite and soft layers of a torsion bar and multilayered plate-rod structures. The stiffness, weight, damping, and geometric stiffness matrices of the above-mentioned element are obtained. Expressions for computing stresses in the finite element under the action of static loads and vibrations in the resonance zone are presented. Test examples confirming the validity of the element suggested are given. An example of finite element determination of the dynamic response of a multilayered torsion bar in the resonant mode is considered.

GRI: The Gamma-Ray Imager mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knödlseder, J.; Gri Consortium

Observations of the gamma-ray sky reveal the most powerful sources and the most violent events in the Universe While at lower wavebands the observed emission is generally dominated by thermal processes the gamma-ray sky provides us with a view on the non-thermal Universe Here particles are accelerated to extreme relativistic energies by mechanisms which are still poorly understood and nuclear reactions are synthesizing the basic constituents of our world Cosmic accelerators and cosmic explosions are the major science themes that are addressed in the gamma-ray regime With the INTEGRAL observatory ESA has provided a unique tool to the astronomical community and has put Europe in the lead in the field of gamma-ray astronomy INTEGRAL provides an unprecedented survey of the soft gamma-ray sky revealing hundreds of sources new classes of objects extraordinary views of antimatter annihilation in our Galaxy and fingerprints of recent nucleosynthesis processes While INTEGRAL has provided the global overview over the soft gamma-ray sky there is a growing need to perform deeper more focused investigations of gamma-ray sources In soft X-rays a comparable step was taken going from the Einstein satellite to the XMM Newton observatory Technological advances in the past years in the domain of gamma-ray focusing using Laue diffraction and multilayer-coated mirror techniques have paved the way towards a gamma-ray mission providing major improvements compared to past missions regarding sensitivity and angular resolution Such a

Solid-state dewetting of magnetic binary multilayer thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esterina, Ria; Liu, X. M.; Adeyeye, A. O.; Ross, C. A.; Choi, W. K.

2015-10-01

We examined solid-state dewetting behavior of magnetic multilayer thin film in both miscible (CoPd) and immiscible (CoAu) systems and found that CoPd and CoAu dewetting stages follow that of elemental materials. We established that CoPd alloy morphology and dewetting rate lie in between that of the elemental materials. Johnson-Mehl-Avrami analysis was utilized to extract the dewetting activation energy of CoPd. For CoAu, Au-rich particles and Co-rich particles are distinguishable and we are able to predict the interparticle spacings and particle densities for the particles that agree well with the experimental results. We also characterized the magnetic properties of CoPd and CoAu nanoparticles.

Corrugated grating on organic multilayer Bragg reflector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaquet, Sylvain; Scharf, Toralf; Herzig, Hans Peter

2007-08-01

Polymeric multilayer Bragg structures are combined with diffractive gratings to produce artificial visual color effects. A particular effect is expected due to the angular reflection dependence of the multilayer Bragg structure and the dispersion caused by the grating. The combined effects can also be used to design particular filter functions and various resonant structures. The multilayer Bragg structure is fabricated by spin-coating of two different low-cost polymer materials in solution on a cleaned glass substrate. These polymers have a refractive index difference of about 0.15 and permit multilayer coatings without interlayer problems. Master gratings of different periods are realized by laser beam interference and replicated gratings are superimposed on the multilayer structure by soft embossing in a UV curing glue. The fabrication process requires only polymer materials. The obtained devices are stable and robust. Angular dependent reflection spectrums for the visible are measured. These results show that it is possible to obtain unexpected reflection effects. A rich variety of color spectra can be generated, which is not possible with a single grating. This can be explained by the coupling of transmission of grating orders and the Bragg reflection band. A simple model permits to explain some of the spectral vs angular dependence of reflected light.

Energy-Sensitive Ion- and Cathode-Luminescent Radiation-Beam Monitors Based on Multilayer Thin-Film Designs.

PubMed

Gil-Rostra, Jorge; Ferrer, Francisco J; Espinós, Juan Pedro; González-Elipe, Agustín R; Yubero, Francisco

2017-05-17

A multilayer luminescent design concept is presented to develop energy-sensitive radiation-beam monitors on the basis of colorimetric analysis. Each luminescent layer within the stack consists of rare-earth-doped transparent oxides of optical quality and a characteristic luminescent emission under excitation with electron or ion beams. For a given type of particle beam (electron, protons, α particles, etc.), its penetration depth and therefore its energy loss at a particular buried layer within the multilayer stack depend on the energy of the initial beam. The intensity of the luminescent response of each layer is proportional to the energy deposited by the radiation beam within the layer, so characteristic color emission will be achieved if different phosphors are considered in the layers of the luminescent stack. Phosphor doping, emission efficiency, layer thickness, and multilayer structure design are key parameters relevant to achieving a broad colorimetric response. Two case examples are designed and fabricated to illustrate the capabilities of these new types of detector to evaluate the kinetic energy of either electron beams of a few kilo-electron volts or α particles of a few mega-electron volts.

Solar cells based on particulate structure of active layer: Investigation of light absorption by an ordered system of spherical submicron silicon particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miskevich, Alexander A.; Loiko, Valery A.

2015-12-01

Enhancement of the performance of photovoltaic cells through increasing light absorption due to optimization of an active layer is considered. The optimization consists in creation of particulate structure of active layer. The ordered monolayers and multilayers of submicron crystalline silicon (c-Si) spherical particles are examined. The quasicrystalline approximation (QCA) and the transfer matrix method (TMM) are used to calculate light absorption in the wavelength range from 0.28 μm to 1.12 μm. The integrated over the terrestial solar spectral irradiance "Global tilt" ASTM G173-03 absorption coefficient is calculated. In the wavelength range of small absorption index of c-Si (0.8-1.12 μm) the integral absorption coefficient of monolayer can be more than 20 times higher than the one of the plane-parallel plate of the equivalent volume of material. In the overall considered range (0.28-1.12 μm) the enhancement factor up to ~1.45 for individual monolayer is observed. Maximum value of the spectral absorption coefficient approaches unity for multilayers consisting of large amount of sparse monolayers of small particles. Multilayers with variable concentration and size of particles in the monolayer sequences are considered. Absorption increasing by such gradient multilayers as compared to the non-gradient ones is illustrated. The considered structures are promising for creation of high efficiency thin-film solar cells.

Impact of laser-contaminant interaction on the performance of the protective capping layer of 1w high-reflection mirror coatings

DOE PAGES

Qiu, S. R.; Norton, M. A.; Raman, R. N.; ...

2015-10-02

In this paper, high dielectric constant multilayer coatings are commonly used on high-reflection mirrors for high-peak-power laser systems because of their high laser-damage resistance. However, surface contaminants often lead to damage upon laser exposure, thus limiting the mirror’s lifetime and performance. One plausible approach to improve the overall mirror resistance against laser damage, including that induced by laser-contaminant coupling, is to coat the multilayers with a thin protective capping (absentee) layer on top of the multilayer coatings. An understanding of the underlying mechanism by which laser-particle interaction leads to capping layer damage is important for the rational design and selectionmore » of capping materials of high-reflection multilayer coatings. In this paper, we examine the responses of two candidate capping layer materials, made of SiO 2 and Al 2O 3, over silica-hafnia multilayer coatings. These are exposed to a single oblique shot of a 1053 nm laser beam (fluence ~10 J/cm 2, pulse length 14 ns), in the presence of Ti particles on the surface. We find that the two capping layers show markedly different responses to the laser-particle interaction. The Al 2O 3 cap layer exhibits severe damage, with the capping layer becoming completely delaminated at the particle locations. The SiO 2 capping layer, on the other hand, is only mildly modified by a shallow depression. Combining the observations with optical modeling and thermal/mechanical calculations, we argue that a high-temperature thermal field from plasma generated by the laser-particle interaction above a critical fluence is responsible for the surface modification of each capping layer. The great difference in damage behavior is mainly attributed to the large disparity in the thermal expansion coefficient of the two capping materials, with that of Al 2O 3 layer being about 15 times greater than that of SiO 2.« less

Impact of laser-contaminant interaction on the performance of the protective capping layer of 1w high-reflection mirror coatings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Qiu, S. R.; Norton, M. A.; Raman, R. N.

In this paper, high dielectric constant multilayer coatings are commonly used on high-reflection mirrors for high-peak-power laser systems because of their high laser-damage resistance. However, surface contaminants often lead to damage upon laser exposure, thus limiting the mirror’s lifetime and performance. One plausible approach to improve the overall mirror resistance against laser damage, including that induced by laser-contaminant coupling, is to coat the multilayers with a thin protective capping (absentee) layer on top of the multilayer coatings. An understanding of the underlying mechanism by which laser-particle interaction leads to capping layer damage is important for the rational design and selectionmore » of capping materials of high-reflection multilayer coatings. In this paper, we examine the responses of two candidate capping layer materials, made of SiO 2 and Al 2O 3, over silica-hafnia multilayer coatings. These are exposed to a single oblique shot of a 1053 nm laser beam (fluence ~10 J/cm 2, pulse length 14 ns), in the presence of Ti particles on the surface. We find that the two capping layers show markedly different responses to the laser-particle interaction. The Al 2O 3 cap layer exhibits severe damage, with the capping layer becoming completely delaminated at the particle locations. The SiO 2 capping layer, on the other hand, is only mildly modified by a shallow depression. Combining the observations with optical modeling and thermal/mechanical calculations, we argue that a high-temperature thermal field from plasma generated by the laser-particle interaction above a critical fluence is responsible for the surface modification of each capping layer. The great difference in damage behavior is mainly attributed to the large disparity in the thermal expansion coefficient of the two capping materials, with that of Al 2O 3 layer being about 15 times greater than that of SiO 2.« less

Development of extreme ultraviolet and soft x-ray multilayer optics for scientific studies with femtosecond/attosecond sources

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aquila, Andrew Lee

The development of multilayer optics for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation has led to advancements in many areas of science and technology, including materials studies, EUV lithography, water window microscopy, plasma imaging, and orbiting solar physics imaging. Recent developments in femtosecond and attosecond EUV pulse generation from sources such as high harmonic generation lasers, combined with the elemental and chemical specificity provided by EUV radiation, are opening new opportunities to study fundamental dynamic processes in materials. Critical to these efforts is the design and fabrication of multilayer optics to transport, focus, shape and image these ultra-fast pulses This thesis describes themore » design, fabrication, characterization, and application of multilayer optics for EUV femtosecond and attosecond scientific studies. Multilayer mirrors for bandwidth control, pulse shaping and compression, tri-material multilayers, and multilayers for polarization control are described. Characterization of multilayer optics, including measurement of material optical constants, reflectivity of multilayer mirrors, and metrology of reflected phases of the multilayer, which is critical to maintaining pulse size and shape, were performed. Two applications of these multilayer mirrors are detailed in the thesis. In the first application, broad bandwidth multilayers were used to characterize and measure sub-100 attosecond pulses from a high harmonic generation source and was performed in collaboration with the Max-Planck institute for Quantum Optics and Ludwig- Maximilians University in Garching, Germany, with Professors Krausz and Kleineberg. In the second application, multilayer mirrors with polarization control are useful to study femtosecond spin dynamics in an ongoing collaboration with the T-REX group of Professor Parmigiani at Elettra in Trieste, Italy. As new ultrafast x-ray sources become available, for example free electron lasers, the multilayer designs described in this thesis can be extended to higher photon energies, and such designs can be used with those sources to enable new scientific studies, such as molecular bonding, phonon, and spin dynamics.« less

Advances in Artificial Neural Networks - Methodological Development and Application

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Artificial neural networks as a major soft-computing technology have been extensively studied and applied during the last three decades. Research on backpropagation training algorithms for multilayer perceptron networks has spurred development of other neural network training algorithms for other ne...

Spectral characterisation of aperiodic normal-incidence Sb/B4C multilayer mirrors for the λ < 124 Å range

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vishnyakov, E. A.; Kopylets, I. A.; Kondratenko, V. V.; Kolesnikov, A. O.; Pirozhkov, A. S.; Ragozin, E. N.; Shatokhin, A. N.

2018-03-01

Three broadband aperiodic Sb/B4C multilayer mirrors were synthesised for the purposes of soft X-ray optics and spectroscopy in the wavelength range beyond the L-edge of Si (λ < 124 Å), and their reflection spectra were measured. The multilayer structures were optimised for maximum uniform reflectivity in the ranges 100–120 Å, 95–105 Å and 90–100 Å. The reflection spectra were recorded using a laboratory laser-plasma radiation source and an electronic detector with a 2D spatial resolution (a CCD matrix with 13 × 13 μm sized pixels). The experimental spectra are compared with theoretical calculations. The effect of lower antimony and B4C layer densities on the reflection spectra is discussed.

Magnetoimpedance effect in the FeNi/Ti-based multilayered structure: A pressure sensor prototype

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chlenova, A. A.; Melnikov, G. Yu.; Svalov, A. V.; Kurlyandskaya, G. V.

2016-09-01

Magnetically soft [Ti/FeNi]5/Ti/Cu/Ti/[FeNi/Ti]4 multilayered structures were obtained by magnetron sputtering. Based on them sensitive elements have been investigated with focus on the design of the giant magnetoimpedance (MI) pressure sensors. Magnetic properties and MI of fabricated sensitive elements were comparatively analyzed for both multilayers deposited both onto rigid and flexible polymer substrates. Structures on a rigid substrate had the highest MI ratio of 140 %. They showed the sensitivity of 0.70 %/Ba suitable for possible applications in pressure sensing. Structures deposited onto flexible Cyclo Olefin Copolymer substrates had slightly lower sensitivity of 0.55 %/Ba. That structures showing linear dependence of MI ratio in the pressure range of 0 to 360 Ba are promising for microfluidic and biosensor applications.

A randomised controlled trial of the effectiveness of soft silicone multi-layered foam dressings in the prevention of sacral and heel pressure ulcers in trauma and critically ill patients: the border trial.

PubMed

Santamaria, Nick; Gerdtz, Marie; Sage, Sarah; McCann, Jane; Freeman, Amy; Vassiliou, Theresa; De Vincentis, Stephanie; Ng, Ai Wei; Manias, Elizabeth; Liu, Wei; Knott, Jonathan

2015-06-01

The prevention of hospital acquired pressure ulcers in critically ill patients remains a significant clinical challenge. The aim of this trial was to investigate the effectiveness of multi-layered soft silicone foam dressings in preventing intensive care unit (ICU) pressure ulcers when applied in the emergency department to 440 trauma and critically ill patients. Intervention group patients (n = 219) had Mepilex(®) Border Sacrum and Mepilex(®) Heel dressings applied in the emergency department and maintained throughout their ICU stay. Results revealed that there were significantly fewer patients with pressure ulcers in the intervention group compared to the control group (5 versus 20, P = 0·001). This represented a 10% difference in incidence between the groups (3·1% versus 13·1%) and a number needed to treat of ten patients to prevent one pressure ulcer. Overall there were fewer sacral (2 versus 8, P = 0·05) and heel pressure ulcers (5 versus 19, P = 0·002) and pressure injuries overall (7 versus 27, P = 0·002) in interventions than in controls. The time to injury survival analysis indicated that intervention group patients had a hazard ratio of 0·19 (P = 0·002) compared to control group patients. We conclude that multi-layered soft silicone foam dressings are effective in preventing pressure ulcers in critically ill patients when applied in the emergency department prior to ICU transfer. © 2013 The Authors. International Wound Journal © 2013 Medicalhelplines.com Inc and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Layered reactive particles with controlled geometries, energies, and reactivities, and methods for making the same

DOEpatents

Fritz, Gregory M.; Weihs, Timothy P.; Grzyb, Justin A.

2016-07-05

An energetic composite having a plurality of reactive particles each having a reactive multilayer construction formed by successively depositing reactive layers on a rod-shaped substrate having a longitudinal axis, dividing the reactive-layer-deposited rod-shaped substrate into a plurality of substantially uniform longitudinal segments, and removing the rod-shaped substrate from the longitudinal segments, so that the reactive particles have a controlled, substantially uniform, cylindrically curved or otherwise rod-contoured geometry which facilitates handling and improves its packing fraction, while the reactant multilayer construction controls the stability, reactivity and energy density of the energetic composite.

Layered reactive particles with controlled geometries, energies, and reactivities, and methods for making the same

DOEpatents

Fritz, Gregory M; Knepper, Robert Allen; Weihs, Timothy P; Gash, Alexander E; Sze, John S

2013-04-30

An energetic composite having a plurality of reactive particles each having a reactive multilayer construction formed by successively depositing reactive layers on a rod-shaped substrate having a longitudinal axis, dividing the reactive-layer-deposited rod-shaped substrate into a plurality of substantially uniform longitudinal segments, and removing the rod-shaped substrate from the longitudinal segments, so that the reactive particles have a controlled, substantially uniform, cylindrically curved or otherwise rod-contoured geometry which facilitates handling and improves its packing fraction, while the reactant multilayer construction controls the stability, reactivity and energy density of the energetic composite.

Modelling non-equilibrium secondary organic aerosol formation and evaporation with the aerosol dynamics, gas- and particle-phase chemistry kinetic multilayer model ADCHAM

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Roldin, P.; Eriksson, A. C.; Nordin, E. Z.

2014-08-11

We have developed the novel Aerosol Dynamics, gas- and particle- phase chemistry model for laboratory CHAMber studies (ADCHAM). The model combines the detailed gas phase Master Chemical Mechanism version 3.2, an aerosol dynamics and particle phase chemistry module (which considers acid catalysed oligomerization, heterogeneous oxidation reactions in the particle phase and non-ideal interactions between organic compounds, water and inorganic ions) and a kinetic multilayer module for diffusion limited transport of compounds between the gas phase, particle surface and particle bulk phase. In this article we describe and use ADCHAM to study: 1) the mass transfer limited uptake of ammonia (NH3)more » and formation of organic salts between ammonium (NH4+) and carboxylic acids (RCOOH), 2) the slow and almost particle size independent evaporation of α-pinene secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particles, and 3) the influence of chamber wall effects on the observed SOA formation in smog chambers.« less

Design of a multilayer-based collimated plane-grating monochromator for tender X-ray range.

PubMed

Yang, Xiaowei; Wang, Hongchang; Hand, Matthew; Sawhney, Kawal; Kaulich, Burkhard; Kozhevnikov, Igor V; Huang, Qiushi; Wang, Zhanshan

2017-01-01

Collimated plane-grating monochromators (cPGMs), consisting of a plane mirror and plane diffraction grating, are essential optics in synchrotron radiation sources for their remarkable flexibility and good optical characteristics in the soft X-ray region. However, the poor energy transport efficiency of a conventional cPGM (single-layer-coated) degrades the source intensity and leaves reduced flux at the sample, especially for the tender X-ray range (1-4 keV) that covers a large number of K- and L-edges of medium-Z elements, and M-edges of high-Z elements. To overcome this limitation, the use of a multilayer-based cPGM is proposed, combining a multilayer-coated plane mirror with blazed multilayer gratings. With this combination, the effective efficiency of cPGMs can be increased by an order of magnitude compared with the conventional single-layer cPGMs. In addition, higher resolving power can be achieved with improved efficiency by increasing the blaze angle and working at higher diffraction order.

Design of a multilayer-based collimated plane-grating monochromator for tender X-ray range

PubMed Central

Yang, Xiaowei; Wang, Hongchang; Hand, Matthew; Sawhney, Kawal; Kaulich, Burkhard; Kozhevnikov, Igor V.; Huang, Qiushi; Wang, Zhanshan

2017-01-01

Collimated plane-grating monochromators (cPGMs), consisting of a plane mirror and plane diffraction grating, are essential optics in synchrotron radiation sources for their remarkable flexibility and good optical characteristics in the soft X-ray region. However, the poor energy transport efficiency of a conventional cPGM (single-layer-coated) degrades the source intensity and leaves reduced flux at the sample, especially for the tender X-ray range (1–4 keV) that covers a large number of K- and L-edges of medium-Z elements, and M-edges of high-Z elements. To overcome this limitation, the use of a multilayer-based cPGM is proposed, combining a multilayer-coated plane mirror with blazed multilayer gratings. With this combination, the effective efficiency of cPGMs can be increased by an order of magnitude compared with the conventional single-layer cPGMs. In addition, higher resolving power can be achieved with improved efficiency by increasing the blaze angle and working at higher diffraction order. PMID:28009556

Preparation of multi-layer film consisting of hydrogen-free DLC and nitrogen-containing DLC for conductive hard coating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iijima, Yushi; Harigai, Toru; Isono, Ryo; Degai, Satoshi; Tanimoto, Tsuyoshi; Suda, Yoshiyuki; Takikawa, Hirofumi; Yasui, Haruyuki; Kaneko, Satoru; Kunitsugu, Shinsuke; Kamiya, Masao; Taki, Makoto

2018-01-01

Conductive hard-coating films have potential application as protective films for contact pins used in the electrical inspection process for integrated circuit chips. In this study, multi-layer diamond-like carbon (DLC) films were prepared as conductive hard-coating films. The multi-layer DLC films consisting of DLC and nitrogen-containing DLC (N-DLC) film were prepared using a T-shape filtered arc deposition method. Periodic DLC/N-DLC four-layer and eight-layer films had the same film thickness by changing the thickness of each layer. In the ball-on-disk test, the N-DLC mono-layer film showed the highest wear resistance; however, in the spherical polishing method, the eight-layer film showed the highest polishing resistance. The wear and polishing resistance and the aggressiveness against an opponent material of the multi-layer DLC films improved by reducing the thickness of a layer. In multi-layer films, the soft N-DLC layer between hard DLC layers is believed to function as a cushion. Thus, the tribological properties of the DLC films were improved by a multi-layered structure. The electrical resistivity of multi-layer DLC films was approximately half that of the DLC mono-layer film. Therefore, the periodic DLC/N-DLC eight-layer film is a good conductive hard-coating film.

Deterministic Integration of Biological and Soft Materials onto 3D Microscale Cellular Frameworks

PubMed Central

McCracken, Joselle M.; Xu, Sheng; Badea, Adina; Jang, Kyung-In; Yan, Zheng; Wetzel, David J.; Nan, Kewang; Lin, Qing; Han, Mengdi; Anderson, Mikayla A.; Lee, Jung Woo; Wei, Zijun; Pharr, Matt; Wang, Renhan; Su, Jessica; Rubakhin, Stanislav S.; Sweedler, Jonathan V.

2018-01-01

Complex 3D organizations of materials represent ubiquitous structural motifs found in the most sophisticated forms of matter, the most notable of which are in life-sustaining hierarchical structures found in biology, but where simpler examples also exist as dense multilayered constructs in high-performance electronics. Each class of system evinces specific enabling forms of assembly to establish their functional organization at length scales not dissimilar to tissue-level constructs. This study describes materials and means of assembly that extend and join these disparate systems—schemes for the functional integration of soft and biological materials with synthetic 3D microscale, open frameworks that can leverage the most advanced forms of multilayer electronic technologies, including device-grade semiconductors such as monocrystalline silicon. Cellular migration behaviors, temporal dependencies of their growth, and contact guidance cues provided by the nonplanarity of these frameworks illustrate design criteria useful for their functional integration with living matter (e.g., NIH 3T3 fibroblast and primary rat dorsal root ganglion cell cultures). PMID:29552634

Collective mechanical behavior of multilayer colloidal arrays of hollow nanoparticles.

PubMed

Yin, Jie; Retsch, Markus; Thomas, Edwin L; Boyce, Mary C

2012-04-03

The collective mechanical behavior of multilayer colloidal arrays of hollow silica nanoparticles (HSNP) is explored under spherical nanoindentation through a combination of experimental, numerical, and theoretical approaches. The effective indentation modulus E(ind) is found to decrease with an increasing number of layers in a nonlinear manner. The indentation force versus penetration depth behavior for multilayer hollow particle arrays is predicted by an approximate analytical model based on the spring stiffness of the individual particles and the multipoint, multiparticle interactions as well as force transmission between the layers. The model is in good agreement with experiments and with detailed finite element simulations. The ability to tune the effective indentation modulus, E(ind), of the multilayer arrays by manipulating particle geometry and layering is revealed through the model, where E(ind) = (0.725m(-3/2) + 0.275)E(mon) and E(mon) is the monolayer modulus and m is number of layers. E(ind) is seen to plateau with increasing m to E(ind_plateau) = 0.275E(mon) and E(mon) scales with (t/R)(2), t being the particle shell thickness and R being the particle radius. The scaling law governing the nonlinear decrease in indentation modulus with an increase in layer number (E(ind) scaling with m(-3/2)) is found to be similar to that governing the indentation modulus of thin solid films E(ind_solid) on a stiff substrate (where E(ind_solid) scales with h(-1.4) and also decreases until reaching a plateau value) which also decreases with an increase in film thickness h. However, the mechanisms underlying this trend for the colloidal array are clearly different, where discrete particle-to-particle interactions govern the colloidal array behavior in contrast to the substrate constraint on deformation, which governs the thickness dependence of the continuous thin film indentation modulus.

Conformal growth of Mo/Si multilayers on grating substrates using collimated ion beam sputtering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voronov, D. L.; Gawlitza, P.; Cambie, R.; Dhuey, S.; Gullikson, E. M.; Warwick, T.; Braun, S.; Yashchuk, V. V.; Padmore, H. A.

2012-05-01

Deposition of multilayers on saw-tooth substrates is a key step in the fabrication of multilayer blazed gratings (MBG) for extreme ultraviolet and soft x-rays. Growth of the multilayers can be perturbed by shadowing effects caused by the highly corrugated surface of the substrates, which results in distortion of the multilayer stack structure and degradation of performance of MBGs. To minimize the shadowing effects, we used an ion-beam sputtering machine with a highly collimated atomic flux to deposit Mo/Si multilayers on saw-tooth substrates. The sputtering conditions were optimized by finding a balance between smoothening and roughening processes in order to minimize degradation of the groove profile in the course of deposition and at the same time to keep the interfaces of a multilayer stack smooth enough for high efficiency. An optimal value of energy of 200 eV for sputtering Kr+ ions was found by deposition of test multilayers on flat substrates at a range of ion energies. Two saw-tooth substrates were deposited at energies of 200 eV and 700 eV for the sputtering ions. It was found that reduction of the ion energy improved the blazing performance of the MBG and resulted in a 40% gain in the diffraction efficiency due to better replication of the groove profile by the multilayer. As a result of the optimization performed, an absolute diffraction efficiency of 28.8% was achieved for the 2nd blaze order of the MBG with a groove density of 7350 lines/mm at a wavelength of 13.5 nm. Details of the growth behavior of the multilayers on flat and saw-tooth substrates are discussed in terms of the linear continuous model of film growth.

Conformal growth of Mo/Si multilayers on grating substrates using collimated ion beam sputtering

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Voronov, D. L.; Cambie, R.; Dhuey, S.

2012-05-01

Deposition of multilayers on saw-tooth substrates is a key step in the fabrication of multilayer blazed gratings (MBG) for extreme ultraviolet and soft x-rays. Growth of the multilayers can be perturbed by shadowing effects caused by the highly corrugated surface of the substrates, which results in distortion of the multilayer stack structure and degradation of performance of MBGs. To minimize the shadowing effects, we used an ion-beam sputtering machine with a highly collimated atomic flux to deposit Mo/Si multilayers on saw-tooth substrates. The sputtering conditions were optimized by finding a balance between smoothening and roughening processes in order to minimizemore » degradation of the groove profile in the course of deposition and at the same time to keep the interfaces of a multilayer stack smooth enough for high efficiency. An optimal value of energy of 200 eV for sputtering Kr{sup +} ions was found by deposition of test multilayers on flat substrates at a range of ion energies. Two saw-tooth substrates were deposited at energies of 200 eV and 700 eV for the sputtering ions. It was found that reduction of the ion energy improved the blazing performance of the MBG and resulted in a 40% gain in the diffraction efficiency due to better replication of the groove profile by the multilayer. As a result of the optimization performed, an absolute diffraction efficiency of 28.8% was achieved for the 2nd blaze order of the MBG with a groove density of 7350 lines/mm at a wavelength of 13.5 nm. Details of the growth behavior of the multilayers on flat and saw-tooth substrates are discussed in terms of the linear continuous model of film growth.« less

Conformal growth of Mo/Si multilayers on grating substrates using collimated ion beam sputtering

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Voronov, D. L.; Gawlitza, Peter; Cambie, Rossana

2012-05-07

Deposition of multilayers on saw-tooth substrates is a key step in the fabrication of multilayer blazed gratings (MBG) for extreme ultraviolet and soft x-rays. Growth of the multilayers can be perturbed by shadowing effects caused by the highly corrugated surface of the substrates, which results in distortion of the multilayer stack structure and degradation of performance of MBGs. In this study, to minimize the shadowing effects, we used an ion-beamsputtering machine with a highly collimated atomic flux to deposit Mo/Si multilayers on saw-tooth substrates. The sputtering conditions were optimized by finding a balance between smoothening and roughening processes in ordermore » to minimize degradation of the groove profile in the course of deposition and at the same time to keep the interfaces of a multilayer stack smooth enough for high efficiency. An optimal value of energy of 200 eV for sputtering Kr + ions was found by deposition of test multilayers on flat substrates at a range of ion energies. Two saw-tooth substrates were deposited at energies of 200 eV and 700 eV for the sputtering ions. It was found that reduction of the ion energy improved the blazing performance of the MBG and resulted in a 40% gain in the diffraction efficiency due to better replication of the groove profile by the multilayer. As a result of the optimization performed, an absolute diffraction efficiency of 28.8% was achieved for the 2nd blaze order of the MBG with a groove density of 7350 lines/mm at a wavelength of 13.5 nm. Lastly, details of the growth behavior of the multilayers on flat and saw-tooth substrates are discussed in terms of the linear continuous model of film growth.« less

Probing young drinking water biofilms with hard and soft particles.

PubMed

Paris, Tony; Skali-Lami, Salaheddine; Block, Jean-Claude

2009-01-01

The aim of our study was to investigate, through the use of soft (Escherichia coli) and hard (polystyrene microspheres) particles, the distribution and persistence of allochthonous particles inoculated in drinking water flow chambers. Biofilms were allowed to grow for 7-10 months in tap water from Nancy's drinking water network and were composed of bacterial aggregates and filamentous fungi. Both model particles adhered almost exclusively on the biofilms (i.e. on the bacterial aggregates and on the filamentous structures) and not directly on the uncolonized walls (glass or Plexiglas). Biofilm age (i.e. bacterial density and biofilm properties) and convective-diffusion were found to govern particle accumulation: older biofilms and higher wall shear rates both increased the velocity and the amount of particle deposition on the biofilm. Persistence of the polystyrene particles was measured over a two-month period after inoculation. Accumulation amounts were found to be very different between hard and soft particles as only 0.03 per thousand of the soft particles inoculated accumulated in the biofilm against 0.3-0.8% for hard particles.

Soft X-ray multilayers produced by sputtering and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) - Substrate and interfacial roughness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kearney, Patrick A.; Slaughter, J. M.; Powers, K. D.; Falco, Charles M.

1988-01-01

Roughness measurements were made on uncoated silicon wafers and float glass using a WYKO TOPO-3D phase shifting interferometry, and the results are reported. The wafers are found to be slightly smoother than the flat glass. The effects of different cleaning methods and of the deposition of silicon 'buffer layers' on substrate roughness are examined. An acid cleaning method is described which gives more consistent results than detergent cleaning. Healing of the roughness due to sputtered silicon buffer layers was not observed on the length scale probed by the WYKO. Sputtered multilayers are characterized using both the WYKO interferometer and low-angle X-ray diffraction in order to yield information about the roughness of the top surface and of the multilayer interfaces. Preliminary results on film growth using molecular beam epitaxy are also presented.

Design of an imaging microscope for soft X-ray applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoover, Richard B.; Shealy, David L.; Gabardi, David R.; Walker, Arthur B. C., Jr.; Lindblom, Joakim F.

1988-01-01

An imaging soft X-ray microscope with a spatial resolution of 0.1 micron and normal incidence multilayer optics is discussed. The microscope has a Schwarzschild configuration, which consists of two concentric spherical mirrors with radii of curvature which minimize third-order spherical aberration, coma, and astigmatism. The performance of the Stanford/MSFC Cassegrain X-ray telescope and its relevance to the present microscope are addressed. A ray tracing analysis of the optical system indicates that diffraction-limited performance can be expected for an object height of 0.2 mm.

Importance of core electrostatic properties on the electrophoresis of a soft particle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De, Simanta; Bhattacharyya, Somnath; Gopmandal, Partha P.

2016-08-01

The impact of the volumetric charged density of the dielectric rigid core on the electrophoresis of a soft particle is analyzed numerically. The volume charge density of the inner core of a soft particle can arise for a dendrimer structure or bacteriophage MS2. We consider the electrokinetic model based on the conservation principles, thus no conditions for Debye length or applied electric field is imposed. The fluid flow equations are coupled with the ion transport equations and the equation for the electric field. The occurrence of the induced nonuniform surface charge density on the outer surface of the inner core leads to a situation different from the existing analysis of a soft particle electrophoresis. The impact of this induced surface charge density together with the double-layer polarization and relaxation due to ion convection and electromigration is analyzed. The dielectric permittivity and the charge density of the core have a significant impact on the particle electrophoresis when the Debye length is in the order of the particle size. We find that by varying the ionic concentration of the electrolyte, the particle can exhibit reversal in its electrophoretic velocity. The role of the polymer layer softness parameter is addressed in the present analysis.

Rotation of hard particles in a soft matrix

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Weizhu; Liu, Qingchang; Yue, Zhufeng; Li, Xiaodong; Xu, Baoxing

Soft-hard materials integration is ubiquitous in biological materials and structures in nature and has also attracted growing attention in the bio-inspired design of advanced functional materials, structures and devices. Due to the distinct difference in their mechanical properties, the rotation of hard phases in soft matrixes upon deformation has been acknowledged, yet is lack of theory in mechanics. In this work, we propose a theoretical mechanics framework that can describe the rotation of hard particles in a soft matrix. The rotation of multiple arbitrarily shaped, located and oriented particles with perfectly bonded interfaces in an elastic soft matrix subjected to a far-field tensile loading is established and analytical solutions are derived by using complex potentials and conformal mapping methods. Strong couplings and competitions of the rotation of hard particles among each other are discussed by investigating numbers, relative locations and orientations of particles in the matrix at different loading directions. Extensive finite element analyses are performed to validate theoretical solutions and good agreement of both rotation and stress field between them are achieved. Possible extensions of the present theory to non-rigid particles, viscoelastic matrix and imperfect bonding are also discussed. Finally, by taking advantage of the rotation of hard particles, we exemplify an application in a conceptual design of soft-hard material integrated phononic crystal and demonstrate that phononic band gaps can be successfully tuned with a high accuracy through the mechanical tension-induced rotation of hard particles. The present theory established herein is expected to be of immediate interests to the design of soft-hard materials integration based functional materials, structures and devices with tunable performance via mechanical rotation of hard phases.

The effect of microscopic friction and size distributions on conditional probability distributions in soft particle packings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saitoh, Kuniyasu; Magnanimo, Vanessa; Luding, Stefan

2017-10-01

Employing two-dimensional molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of soft particles, we study their non-affine responses to quasi-static isotropic compression where the effects of microscopic friction between the particles in contact and particle size distributions are examined. To quantify complicated restructuring of force-chain networks under isotropic compression, we introduce the conditional probability distributions (CPDs) of particle overlaps such that a master equation for distribution of overlaps in the soft particle packings can be constructed. From our MD simulations, we observe that the CPDs are well described by q-Gaussian distributions, where we find that the correlation for the evolution of particle overlaps is suppressed by microscopic friction, while it significantly increases with the increase of poly-dispersity.

Magnetically Assisted Bilayer Composites for Soft Bending Actuators.

PubMed

Jang, Sung-Hwan; Na, Seon-Hong; Park, Yong-Lae

2017-06-12

This article presents a soft pneumatic bending actuator using a magnetically assisted bilayer composite composed of silicone polymer and ferromagnetic particles. Bilayer composites were fabricated by mixing ferromagnetic particles to a prepolymer state of silicone in a mold and asymmetrically distributed them by applying a strong non-uniform magnetic field to one side of the mold during the curing process. The biased magnetic field induces sedimentation of the ferromagnetic particles toward one side of the structure. The nonhomogeneous distribution of the particles induces bending of the structure when inflated, as a result of asymmetric stiffness of the composite. The bilayer composites were then characterized with a scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The bending performance and the axial expansion of the actuator were discussed for manipulation applications in soft robotics and bioengineering. The magnetically assisted manufacturing process for the soft bending actuator is a promising technique for various applications in soft robotics.

Magnetically Assisted Bilayer Composites for Soft Bending Actuators

PubMed Central

Jang, Sung-Hwan; Na, Seon-Hong; Park, Yong-Lae

2017-01-01

This article presents a soft pneumatic bending actuator using a magnetically assisted bilayer composite composed of silicone polymer and ferromagnetic particles. Bilayer composites were fabricated by mixing ferromagnetic particles to a prepolymer state of silicone in a mold and asymmetrically distributed them by applying a strong non-uniform magnetic field to one side of the mold during the curing process. The biased magnetic field induces sedimentation of the ferromagnetic particles toward one side of the structure. The nonhomogeneous distribution of the particles induces bending of the structure when inflated, as a result of asymmetric stiffness of the composite. The bilayer composites were then characterized with a scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The bending performance and the axial expansion of the actuator were discussed for manipulation applications in soft robotics and bioengineering. The magnetically assisted manufacturing process for the soft bending actuator is a promising technique for various applications in soft robotics. PMID:28773007

Synthesis of size-controlled acid-resistant hybrid calcium carbonate microparticles as templates for fabricating "micelles-enhanced" polyelectrolyte capsules by the LBL technique.

PubMed

Li, Xiaodong; Hu, Qiaoling; Yue, Linhai; Shen, Jiacong

2006-07-24

Size-controlled, low-dispersed calcium carbonate microparticles were synthesized in the presence of the amphiphilic block copolymer polystyrene-b-poly(acrylic acid) (PS-b-PAA) by modulating the concentration of block copolymer in the reactive system. This type of hybrid microparticles have acid-resistant properties. By investigating the aggregation behaviors of PS-b-PAA micelles by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the mechanism of hybrid calcium carbonate formation illustrated that the block copolymer served not only as "pseudonuclei" for the growth of calcium carbonate nanocrystals, but also forms the supramicelle congeries, a spherical framework, as templates for calcium carbonate nanocrystal growth into hybrid CaCO(3) particles. Moreover, this pilot study shows that the hybrid microparticle is a novel candidate as a template for fabricating multilayer polyelectrolyte capsules, in which the block copolymer is retained within the capsule interior after core removal under soft conditions. This not only facilitates the encapsulation of special materials, but also provides "micelles-enhanced" polyelectrolyte capsules.

Evolution of network architecture in a granular material under compression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bassett, Danielle

As a granular material is compressed, the particles and forces within the system arrange to form complex and heterogeneous collective structures. However, capturing and characterizing the dynamic nature of the intrinsic inhomogeneity and mesoscale architecture of granular systems can be challenging. Here, we utilize multilayer networks as a framework for directly quantifying the evolution of mesoscale architecture in a compressed granular system. We examine a quasi-two-dimensional aggregate of photoelastic disks, subject to biaxial compressions through a series of small, quasistatic steps. Treating particles as network nodes and inter-particle forces as network edges, we construct a multilayer network for the system by linking together the series of static force networks that exist at each strain step. We then extract the inherent mesoscale structure from the system by using a generalization of community detection methods to multilayer networks, and we define quantitative measures to characterize the reconfiguration and evolution of this structure throughout the compression process. To test the sensitivity of the network model to particle properties, we examine whether the method can distinguish a subsystem of low-friction particles within a bath of higher-friction particles. We find that this can be done by considering the network of tangential forces, and that the community structure is better able to separate the subsystem than consideration of the local inter-particle forces alone. The results discussed throughout this study suggest that these novel network science techniques may provide a direct way to compare and classify data from systems under different external conditions or with different physical makeup. National Science Foundation (BCS-1441502, PHY-1554488, and BCS-1631550).

Artificial multilayers and nanomagnetic materials.

PubMed

Shinjo, Teruya

2013-01-01

The author has been actively engaged in research on nanomagnetic materials for about 50 years. Nanomagnetic materials are comprised of ferromagnetic systems for which the size and shape are controlled on a nanometer scale. Typical examples are ultrafine particles, ultrathin films, multilayered films and nano-patterned films. In this article, the following four areas of the author's studies are described.(1) Mössbauer spectroscopic studies of nanomagnetic materials and interface magnetism.(2) Preparation and characterization of metallic multilayers with artificial superstructures.(3) Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect in magnetic multilayers.(4) Novel properties of nanostructured ferromagnetic thin films (dots and wires).A subject of particular interest in the author's research was the artificially prepared multilayers consisting of metallic elements. The motivation to initiate the multilayer investigation is described and the physical properties observed in the artificial multilayers are introduced. The author's research was initially in the field of pure physical science and gradually extended into applied science. His achievements are highly regarded not only from the fundamental point of view but also from the technological viewpoint.

The cost-benefit of using soft silicone multilayered foam dressings to prevent sacral and heel pressure ulcers in trauma and critically ill patients: a within-trial analysis of the Border Trial.

PubMed

Santamaria, Nick; Liu, Wei; Gerdtz, Marie; Sage, Sarah; McCann, Jane; Freeman, Amy; Vassiliou, Theresa; DeVincentis, Stephanie; Ng, Ai W; Manias, Elizabeth; Knott, Jonathan; Liew, Danny

2015-06-01

Little is known about the cost-benefit of soft silicone foam dressings in pressure ulcer (PU) prevention among critically ill patients in the emergency department (ED) and intensive care unit (ICU). A randomised controlled trial to assess the efficacy of soft silicone foam dressings in preventing sacral and heel PUs was undertaken among 440 critically ill patients in an acute care hospital. Participants were randomly allocated either to an intervention group with prophylactic dressings applied to the sacrum and heels in the ED and changed every 3 days in the ICU or to a control group with standard PU prevention care provided during their ED and ICU stay. The results showed a significant reduction of PU incidence rates in the intervention group (P = 0·001). The intervention cost was estimated to be AU$36·61 per person based on an intention-to-treat analysis, but this was offset by lower downstream costs associated with PU treatment (AU$1103·52). Therefore, the average net cost of the intervention was lower than that of the control (AU$70·82 versus AU$144·56). We conclude that the use of soft silicone multilayered foam dressings to prevent sacral and heel PUs among critically ill patients results in cost savings in the acute care hospital. © 2013 The Authors. International Wound Journal © 2013 Medicalhelplines.com Inc and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Fabrication and characterization of W/B4C lamellar multilayer grating and NbC/Si multilayer phase-shift reflector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pradhan, P. C.; Bhartiya, S.; Singh, A.; Majhi, A.; Gome, A.; Dhawan, R.; Nayak, M.; Sahoo, P. K.; Rai, S. K.; Reddy, V. R.

2017-08-01

We present fabrication and structural analysis of two different multilayer grating structures. W/B4C based lamellar multilayer grating (LMG) was studied for high resolution monochomator application near soft x-ray region ( 1.5 keV). Whereas NbC/Si based multilayer phase-shift reflector (MPR) was studied for high reflection at normal incidence near Si L-edge ( 99 eV) and simultaneously to suppress the unwanted vacuum ultraviolet / infrared radiation. The grating patterns of different periods down to D = 10 micron were fabricated on Si substrates by using photolithography, and multilayers (MLs) of different periodicity (d = 10 to 2 nm) and number of layer pairs (15 to 100) were coated using sputtering techniques by optimizing the process parameters. The LMG and MPR samples are characterized by x-ray reflectivity (XRR) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. XRR results show successive higher order Bragg peaks that reveal a well-defined vertical periodic structure in LMG, MPR and ML structures. The lateral periodicity of the grating and depth of the rectangular groves were analyzed using AFM. The AFM results show good quality of lateral periodic structures in terms of groove profile. The effect of the process parameters on the microstructure (both on vertical and lateral patterns) of ML, LMG and MPR were analyzed.

Splitting of the neutral mechanical plane depends on the length of the multi-layer structure of flexible electronics.

PubMed

Li, Shuang; Su, Yewang; Li, Rui

2016-06-01

Multi-layer structures with soft (compliant) interlayers have been widely used in flexible electronics and photonics as an effective design for reducing interactions among the hard (stiff) layers and thus avoiding the premature failure of an entire device. The analytic model for bending of such a structure has not been well established due to its complex mechanical behaviour. Here, we present a rational analytic model, without any parameter fitting, to study the bending of a multi-layer structure on a cylinder, which is often regarded as an important approach to mechanical reliability testing of flexible electronics and photonics. For the first time, our model quantitatively reveals that, as the key for accurate strain control, the splitting of the neutral mechanical plane depends not only on the relative thickness of the middle layer, but also on the length-to-thickness ratio of the multi-layer structure. The model accurately captures the key quantities, including the axial strains in the top and bottom layers, the shear strain in the middle layer and the locations of the neutral mechanical planes of the top and bottom layers. The effects of the length of the multi-layer and the thickness of the middle layer are elaborated. This work is very useful for the design of multi-layer structure-based flexible electronics and photonics.

Splitting of the neutral mechanical plane depends on the length of the multi-layer structure of flexible electronics

PubMed Central

Li, Shuang; Li, Rui

2016-01-01

Multi-layer structures with soft (compliant) interlayers have been widely used in flexible electronics and photonics as an effective design for reducing interactions among the hard (stiff) layers and thus avoiding the premature failure of an entire device. The analytic model for bending of such a structure has not been well established due to its complex mechanical behaviour. Here, we present a rational analytic model, without any parameter fitting, to study the bending of a multi-layer structure on a cylinder, which is often regarded as an important approach to mechanical reliability testing of flexible electronics and photonics. For the first time, our model quantitatively reveals that, as the key for accurate strain control, the splitting of the neutral mechanical plane depends not only on the relative thickness of the middle layer, but also on the length-to-thickness ratio of the multi-layer structure. The model accurately captures the key quantities, including the axial strains in the top and bottom layers, the shear strain in the middle layer and the locations of the neutral mechanical planes of the top and bottom layers. The effects of the length of the multi-layer and the thickness of the middle layer are elaborated. This work is very useful for the design of multi-layer structure-based flexible electronics and photonics. PMID:27436977

Rational design of the exchange-spring permanent magnet.

PubMed

Jiang, J S; Bader, S D

2014-02-12

The development of the optimal exchange-spring permanent magnet balances exchange hardening, magnetization enhancement, and the feasibility of scalable fabrication. These requirements can be met with a rational design of the microstructural characteristics. The magnetization processes in several model exchange-spring structures with different geometries have been analyzed with both micromagnetic simulations and nucleation theory. The multilayer geometry and the soft-cylinders-in-hard-matrix geometry have the highest achievable figure of merit (BH)max, while the soft-spheres-in-hard-matrix geometry has the lowest upper limit for (BH)max. The cylindrical geometry permits the soft phase to be larger and does not require strict size control. Exchange-spring permanent magnets based on the cylindrical geometry may be amenable to scaled-up fabrication.

Fabrication and Characteristics of Al/PTFE Multilayers and Application in Micro-initiator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yuxin; Jiang, Hongchuan; Zhao, Xiaohui; Zhang, Wanli; Li, Yanrong

2017-12-01

In this paper, a micro-initiator was designed and fabricated by integrating Al/PTFE multilayers with a Cu film bridge. The regularity layer structure and interface composition of Al/PTFE multilayers was analysed by transmission electron microscope and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. The heat release reaction in Al/PTFE multilayers can be triggered with reaction temperature of 430 °C, and the overall heat of reaction is 3192 J/g. Al/PTFE multilayers with bilayer thickness of 200 nm was alternately deposited on a Cu film bridge to improve the electric explosion performances. Compared to Cu film bridge, the Al/PTFE/Cu integrated film bridge exhibits improved performances with longer explosion duration time, more violent explosion phenomenon and larger quantities of ejected product particles.

In-line phase retarder and polarimeter for conversion of linear to circular polarization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kortright, J.B.; Smith, N.V.; Denlinger, J.D.

1997-04-01

An in-line polarimeter including phase retarder and linear polarizer was designed and commissioned on undulator beamline 7.0 for the purpose of converting linear to circular polarization for experiments downstream. In commissioning studies, Mo/Si multilayers at 95 eV were used both as the upstream, freestanding phase retarder and the downstream linear polarized. The polarization properties of the phase retarder were characterized by direct polarimetry and by collecting MCD spectra in photoemission from Gd and other magnetic surfaces. The resonant birefringence of transmission multilayers results from differing distributions of s- and p-component wave fields in the multilayer when operating near a structuralmore » (Bragg) interference condition. The resulting phase retardation is especially strong when the interference is at or near the Brewster angle, which is roughly 45{degrees} in the EUV and soft x-ray ranges.« less

Properties of Exchange Coupled All-garnet Magneto-Optic Thin Film Multilayer Structures

PubMed Central

Nur-E-Alam, Mohammad; Vasiliev, Mikhail; Kotov, Viacheslav A.; Balabanov, Dmitry; Akimov, Ilya; Alameh, Kamal

2015-01-01

The effects of exchange coupling on magnetic switching properties of all-garnet multilayer thin film structures are investigated. All-garnet structures are fabricated by sandwiching a magneto-soft material of composition type Bi1.8Lu1.2Fe3.6Al1.4O12 or Bi3Fe5O12:Dy2O3 in between two magneto-hard garnet material layers of composition type Bi2Dy1Fe4Ga1O12 or Bi2Dy1Fe4Ga1O12:Bi2O3. The fabricated RF magnetron sputtered exchange-coupled all-garnet multilayers demonstrate a very attractive combination of magnetic properties, and are of interest for emerging applications in optical sensors and isolators, ultrafast nanophotonics and magneto-plasmonics. An unconventional type of magnetic hysteresis behavior not observed previously in magnetic garnet thin films is reported and discussed. PMID:28788043

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in granular multilayers of CoPd alloyed nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vivas, L. G.; Rubín, J.; Figueroa, A. I.; Bartolomé, F.; García, L. M.; Deranlot, C.; Petroff, F.; Ruiz, L.; González-Calbet, J. M.; Pascarelli, S.; Brookes, N. B.; Wilhelm, F.; Chorro, M.; Rogalev, A.; Bartolomé, J.

2016-05-01

Co-Pd multilayers obtained by Pd capping of pre-deposited Co nanoparticles on amorphous alumina are systematically studied by means of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, extended x-ray absorption fine structure, SQUID-based magnetometry, and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. The films are formed by CoPd alloyed nanoparticles self-organized across the layers, with the interspace between the nanoparticles filled by the non-alloyed Pd metal. The nanoparticles show atomic arrangements compatible with short-range chemical order of L 10 strucure type. The collective magnetic behavior is that of ferromagnetically coupled particles with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, irrespective of the amount of deposited Pd. For increasing temperature three magnetic phases are identified: hard ferromagnetic with strong coercive field, soft-ferromagnetic as in an amorphous asperomagnet, and superparamagnetic. Increasing the amount of Pd in the system leads to both magnetic hardness increment and higher transition temperatures. Magnetic total moments of 1.77(4) μB and 0.45(4) μB are found at Co and Pd sites, respectively, where the orbital moment of Co, 0.40(2) μB, is high, while that of Pd is negligible. The effective magnetic anisotropy is the largest in the capping metal series (Pd, Pt, W, Cu, Ag, Au), which is attributed to the interparticle interaction between de nanoparticles, in addition to the intraparticle anisotropy arising from hybridization between the 3 d -4 d bands associated to the Co and Pd chemical arrangement in a L 10 structure type.

Thermal Performance Testing of Order Dependancy of Aerogels Multilayered Insulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Wesley L.; Fesmire, James E.; Demko, J. A.

2009-01-01

Robust multilayer insulation systems have long been a goal of many research projects. Such insulation systems must provide some degree of structural support and also mechanical integrity during loss of vacuum scenarios while continuing to provide insulative value to the vessel. Aerogel composite blankets can be the best insulation materials in ambient pressure environments; in high vacuum, the thermal performance of aerogel improves by about one order of magnitude. Standard multilayer insulation (MU) is typically 50% worse at ambient pressure and at soft vacuum, but as much as two or three orders of magnitude better at high vacuum. Different combinations of aerogel and multilayer insulation systems have been tested at Cryogenics Test Laboratory of NASA Kennedy Space Center. Analysis performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory showed an importance to the relative location of the MU and aerogel blankets. Apparent thermal conductivity testing under cryogenic-vacuum conditions was performed to verify the analytical conclusion. Tests results are shown to be in agreement with the analysis which indicated that the best performance is obtained with aerogel layers located in the middle of the blanket insulation system.

Skin effect suppression for Cu/CoZrNb multilayered inductor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sato, Noriyuki; Endo, Yasushi; Yamaguchi, Masahiro

2012-04-01

The Cu/Co85Zr3Nb12 multilayer is studied as a conductor of a spiral inductor to suppress the skin effect at the 5 GHz range (matches IEEE 802.11 a standard) using negative-permeability in CoZrNb films beyond the ferromagnetic resonance frequency. The skin effect suppression becomes remarkable when the thickness of Cu in each period of the multilayer, tCu, is less than the skin depth of Cu at the targeting frequency. For the 5 GHz operation, tCu ≤ 750 nm. The resistance of the Cu/CoZrNb multilayered spiral inductor decreases as much as 8.7%, while keeping the same inductance of 1.1 nH as that of a similar air core. Accordingly, Q = 16. Therefore, the proposed method can contribute to realize a high-Q spiral inductor. We also study the potentially applicable frequency of this method. Given a soft magnetic material with Ms = 105 emu/cc and Hk = 5 Oe, the method can be applied at 700 MHz, the lowermost carrier frequency band for the 4th generation cellular phone system.

Granular giant magnetoresistive materials and their ferromagnetic resonances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rubinstein, M.; Das, B. N.; Koon, N. C.; Chrisey, D. B.; Horwitz, J.

1994-11-01

Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) can reveal important information on the size and shape of the ferromagnetic particles which are dispersed in granular giant magnetoresistive (GMR) materials. We have investigated the FMR spectra of three different types of granular GMR material, each with different properties: (1) melt-spun ribbons of Fe5Co15Cu80 and Co20Cu80, (2) thin films of Co20Cu80 produced by pulsed laser deposition, and (3) a granular multilayer film of (Cu(50 A)/Fe(10 A)) x 50. We interpret the linewidth of these materials in as simple a manner as possible, as a 'powder pattern' of noninteracting ferromagnetic particles. The linewidth of the melt-spun ribbons is caused by a completely random distribution of crystalline anisotropy axes. The linewidth of these samples is strongly dependent upon the annealing temperature: the linewidth of the as-spun sample is 2.5 kOe (appropriate for single-domain particles) while the linewidth of a melt-spun sample annealed at 900 C for 15 min is 3.8 kOe (appropriate for larger, multidomain particles). The linewidth of the granular multilayer is attributed to a restricted distribution of shape anisotropies, as expected from a discontinuous multilayer, and is only 0.98 kOe with the magnetic field in the plane of the film.

Ferromagnetic-resonance studies of granular giant-magnetoresistive materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rubinstein, M.; Das, B. N.; Koon, N. C.; Chrisey, D. B.; Horwitz, J.

1994-07-01

Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) can reveal important information on the size and shape of the ferromagnetic particles which are dispersed in granular giant magnetoresistive (GMR) materials. We have investigated the FMR spectra of three different types of granular GMR material, each with different properties: (1) melt-spun ribbons of Fe5Co15Cu80 and Co20Cu80, (2) thin films of Co20Cu80 produced by pulsed laser deposition, and (3) a granular multilayer film of [Cu(50 Å)/Fe(10 Å)]×50. We interpret the linewidth of these materials in as simple a manner as possible, as a ``powder pattern'' of noninteracting ferromagnetic particles. The linewidth of the melt-spun ribbons is caused by a completely random distribution of crystalline anisotropy axes. The linewidth of these samples is strongly dependent upon the annealing temperature: the linewidth of the as-spun sample is 2.5 kOe (appropriate for single-domain particles) while the linewidth of a melt-spun sample annealed at 900 °C for 15 min is 4.5 kOe (appropriate for larger, multidomain particles). The linewidth of the granular multilayer is attributed to a restricted distribution of shape anisotropies, as expected from a discontinuous multilayer, and is only 0.98 kOe when the applied magnetic field is in the plane of the film.

Omni Directional Multimaterial Soft Cylindrical Actuator and Its Application as a Steerable Catheter.

PubMed

Gul, Jahan Zeb; Yang, Young Jin; Su, Kim Young; Choi, Kyung Hyun

2017-09-01

Soft actuators with complex range of motion lead to strong interest in applying devices like biomedical catheters and steerable soft pipe inspectors. To facilitate the use of soft actuators in devices where controlled, complex, precise, and fast motion is required, a structurally controlled Omni directional soft cylindrical actuator is fabricated in a modular way using multilayer composite of polylactic acid based conductive Graphene, shape memory polymer, shape memory alloy, and polyurethane. Multiple fabrication techniques are discussed step by step that mainly include fused deposition modeling based 3D printing, dip coating, and UV curing. A mathematical control model is used to generate patterned electrical signals for the Omni directional deformations. Characterizations like structural control, bending, recovery, path, and thermal effect are carried out with and without load (10 g) to verify the new cylindrical design concept. Finally, the application of Omni directional actuator as a steerable catheter is explored by fabricating a scaled version of carotid artery through 3D printing using a semitransparent material.

BMS symmetry, soft particles and memory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chatterjee, Atreya; Lowe, David A.

2018-05-01

In this work, we revisit unitary irreducible representations of the Bondi–Metzner–Sachs (BMS) group discovered by McCarthy. Representations are labelled by an infinite number of supermomenta in addition to 4-momentum. Tensor products of these irreducible representations lead to particle-like states dressed by soft gravitational modes. Conservation of 4-momentum and supermomentum in the scattering of such states leads to a memory effect encoded in the outgoing soft modes. We note there exist irreducible representations corresponding to soft states with strictly vanishing 4-momentum, which may nevertheless be produced by scattering of particle-like states. This fact has interesting implications for the S-matrix in gravitational theories.

Compaction of granular materials composed of deformable particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Thanh Hai; Nezamabadi, Saeid; Delenne, Jean-Yves; Radjai, Farhang

2017-06-01

In soft particle materials such as metallic powders the particles can undergo large deformations without rupture. The large elastic or plastic deformations of the particles are expected to strongly affect the mechanical properties of these materials compared to hard particle materials more often considered in research on granular materials. Herein, two numerical approaches are proposed for the simulation of soft granular systems: (i) an implicit formulation of the Material Point Method (MPM) combined with the Contact Dynamics (CD) method to deal with contact interactions, and (i) Bonded Particle Model (BPM), in which each deformable particle is modeled as an aggregate of rigid primary particles using the CD method. These two approaches allow us to simulate the compaction of an assembly of elastic or plastic particles. By analyzing the uniaxial compaction of 2D soft particle packings, we investigate the effects of particle shape change on the stress-strain relationship and volume change behavior as well as the evolution of the microstructure.

Development of Ni-based multilayers for future focusing soft gamma ray telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Girou, David A.; Massahi, Sonny; Sleire, Erlend K.; Jakobsen, Anders C.; Christensen, Finn E.

2015-09-01

Ni-based multilayers are a possible solution to extend the upper energy range of hard X-ray focusing telescopes currently limited at ≈79:4 keV by the Pt-K absorption edge. In this study 10 bilayers multilayers with a constant bilayer thickness were coated with the DC magnetron sputtering facility at DTU Space, characterized at 8 keV using X-ray reectometry and fitted using the IMD software. Ni/C multilayers were found to have a mean interface roughness ≈ 1:5 times lower than Ni/B4C multilayers. Reactive sputtering with ≈ 76% of Ar and ≈ 24% of N2 reduced the mean interface roughness by a factor of ≈ 1:7. It also increased the coating rate of C by a factor of ≈ 3:1 and lead to a coating process going ≈ 1:6 times faster. Honeycomb collimation proved to limit the increase in mean interface roughness when the bilayer thickness increases at the price of a coating process going ≈ 1:9 times longer than with separator plates. Finally a Ni/C 150 bilayers depth-graded mutilayer was coated with reactive sputtering and honeycomb collimation and then characterized from 10 keV to 150 keV. It showed 10% reectance up to 85 keV.

Multilayer Microfluidic Devices Created From A Single Photomask

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kelly, Ryan T.; Sheen, Allison M.; Jambovane, Sachin R.

2013-08-28

The time and expense associated with high quality photomask production can discourage the creation of multilayer microfluidic devices, as each layer currently requires a separate photomask. Here we describe an approach in which multilayer microfabricated devices can be created from a single photomask. The separate layers and their corresponding alignment marks are arranged in separate halves of the mask for two layer devices or quadrants for four layer devices. Selective exposure of the photomask features and rotation of the device substrate between exposures result in multiple copies of the devices on each wafer. Subsequent layers are aligned to patterned featuresmore » on the substrate with the same alignment accuracy as when multiple photomasks are used. We demonstrate this approach for fabricating devices employing multilayer soft lithography (MSL) for pneumatic valving. MSL devices containing as many as 5 layers (4 aligned fluidic layers plus a manually aligned control layer) were successfully created using this approach. Device design is also modularized, enabling the presence or absence of features as well as channel heights to be selected independently from one another. The use of a single photomask to create multilayer devices results in a dramatic savings of time and/or money required to advance from device design to completed prototype.« less

The multilayer nanoparticles formed by layer by layer approach for cancer-targeting therapy.

PubMed

Oh, Keun Sang; Lee, Hwanbum; Kim, Jae Yeon; Koo, Eun Jin; Lee, Eun Hee; Park, Jae Hyung; Kim, Sang Yoon; Kim, Kwangmeyung; Kwon, Ick Chan; Yuk, Soon Hong

2013-01-10

The multilayer nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared for cancer-targeting therapy using the layer by layer approach. When drug-loaded Pluronic NPs were mixed with vesicles (liposomes) in the aqueous medium, Pluronic NPs were incorporated into the vesicles to form the vesicle NPs. Then, the multilayer NPs were formed by freeze-drying the vesicle NPs in a Pluronic aqueous solution. The morphology and size distribution of the multilayer NPs were observed using a TEM and a particle size analyzer. In order to apply the multilayer NPs as a delivery system for docetaxel (DTX), which is a model anticancer drug, the release pattern of the DTX was observed and the tumor growth was monitored by injecting the multilayer NPs into the tail veins of tumor (squamous cell carcinoma)-bearing mice. The cytotoxicity of free DTX (commercial DTX formulation (Taxotere®)) and the multilayer NPs was evaluated using MTT assay. We also evaluated the tumor targeting ability of the multilayer NPs using magnetic resonance imaging. The multilayer NPs showed excellent tumor targetability and antitumor efficacy in tumor-bearing mice, caused by the enhanced permeation and retention (EPR) effect. These results suggest that the multilayer NPs could be a potential drug delivery system for cancer-targeting therapy. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Predicting plasticity with soft vibrational modes: from dislocations to glasses.

PubMed

Rottler, Jörg; Schoenholz, Samuel S; Liu, Andrea J

2014-04-01

We show that quasilocalized low-frequency modes in the vibrational spectrum can be used to construct soft spots, or regions vulnerable to rearrangement, which serve as a universal tool for the identification of flow defects in solids. We show that soft spots not only encode spatial information, via their location, but also directional information, via directors for particles within each soft spot. Single crystals with isolated dislocations exhibit low-frequency phonon modes that localize at the core, and their polarization pattern predicts the motion of atoms during elementary dislocation glide in two and three dimensions in exquisite detail. Even in polycrystals and disordered solids, we find that the directors associated with particles in soft spots are highly correlated with the direction of particle displacements in rearrangements.

Preparation of multilayer graphene sheets and their applications for particle accelerators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tatami, Atsushi; Tachibana, Masamitsu; Yagi, Takashi; Murakami, Mutsuaki

2018-05-01

Multilayer graphene sheets were prepared by heat treatment of polyimide films at temperatures of up to 3000 °C. The sheets consist of highly oriented graphite layers with excellent mechanical robustness and flexibility. Key features of these sheets include their high thermal conductivity in the in-plane direction, good mechanical properties, and high carbon purity. The results suggest that the multilayer graphene sheets have great potential for charge stripping foils that persist even under the highest ion beam intensities irradiation and can be used for accelerator applications.

Fabrication of lactobionic-loaded chitosan microcapsules as potential drug carriers targeting the liver.

PubMed

Zhang, Jing; Li, Cao; Xue, Zhi-Yuan; Cheng, Hai-Wei; Huang, Fu-Wei; Zhuo, Ren-Xi; Zhang, Xian-Zheng

2011-04-01

This paper demonstrates a general approach for fabrication of lactobionic chitosan microcapsules using layer-by-layer assembly via click chemistry. Chitosan was selectively modified with either azide (CHI-Az) or alkyne (CHI-Alk) groups. The growth of the CHI-Az/CHI-Alk click multilayer was studied experimentally by multilayer assembly on planar supports. Linear buildup of the film was observed. The chitosan click capsules were also analyzed with confocal laser scanning microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Capsules were found to have regular spherical shapes. In addition, (CHI-Az/CHI-Alk)-coated particles were modified with fluorescein isothiocyanate to ensure that the particles can be easily post-functionalized. Finally, lactobionic acid was conjugated onto the (CHI-Az/CHI-Alk)-coated particles and the lactobionic particles exhibited hepatoma cell (HepG2) targeting behavior. Copyright © 2010 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Alpha particle-induced soft errors in microelectronic devices. I

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Redman, D. J.; Sega, R. M.; Joseph, R.

1980-03-01

The article provides a tutorial review and trend assessment of the problem of alpha particle-induced soft errors in VLSI memories. Attention is given to an analysis of the design evolution of modern ICs, and the characteristics of alpha particles and their origin in IC packaging are reviewed. Finally, the process of an alpha particle penetrating an IC is examined.

Guest Editorial

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alagarsamy, Perumal; Srinivasan, Ananthakrishnan; Pandian, Subramanian

2014-09-01

Magnetic materials play a vital role in technologies ranging from those concerning the day-to-day life of man to special applications in nuclear, space, defense and health sectors. Despite several notable developments in theoretical and experimental fronts in the area of magnetism and magnetic materials and the ever increasing number of researchers and engineers actively engaged in these topics, only a few international conferences are being organized in these topics in Asia. To address this lacuna, the second edition of International Conference on Magnetic Materials and Applications - 2013 (MagMA-2013) was jointly hosted and organized by Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) under the auspicious of Magnetics Society of India (MSI). MagMA-2013 devoted special sessions for (A) Soft and Hard Magnetic Materials and their Applications, (B) Magnetic Thin Films, Particles and Nanostructures, (C) Magnetic Recording, Memories, and Spintronics, (D) Strongly Correlated Electron System, (E) Fundamental Magnetic Properties and Cooperative Phenomena, (F) Novel Magnetic Materials and Device Applications, (G) Magnet Industry - Product and Marketing and (H) Interdisciplinary Topics in Magnetism. These sessions included plenary and invited talks by speakers drawn from the international arena who shared their expertise and experiences on recent developments in various topics such as (1) conventional (bulk and powder metallurgy processed) soft and hard magnetic materials, (2) novel forms (nanostructured, particulate/granular, composite, thin film and multilayered films) of soft and hard magnetic materials and their hybrids, (3) sensors and actuators based on magnetoresistive, magnetostrictive, magnetoelastic and magnetoimpedance materials, (4) magnetic storage and its trends, (5) multi-disciplinary area of bio-magnetism and applications of magnetic materials in medicine, (6) newly emerging interdisciplinary topics in magnetism and (7) recent progress in theoretical and computational techniques in magnetism.

An Observation of Diamond-Shaped Particle Structure in a Soya Phosphatidylcohline and Bacteriorhodopsin Composite Langmuir Blodgett Film Fabricated by Multilayer Molecular Thin Film Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsujiuchi, Y.; Makino, Y.

A composite film of soya phosphatidylcohline (soya PC) and bacteriorhodopsin (BR) was fabricated by the multilayer molecular thin film method using fatty acid and lipid on a quartz substrate. Direct Force Microscopy (DFM), UV absorption spectra and IR absorption spectra of the film were characterized on the detail of surface structure of the film. The DFM data revealed that many rhombus (diamond-shaped) particles were observed in the film. The spectroscopic data exhibited the yield of M-intermediate of BR in the film. On our modelling of molecular configuration indicate that the coexistence of the strong inter-molecular interaction and the strong inter-molecular interaction between BR trimmers attributed to form the particles.

Modeling Soft Tissue Damage and Failure Using a Combined Particle/Continuum Approach.

PubMed

Rausch, M K; Karniadakis, G E; Humphrey, J D

2017-02-01

Biological soft tissues experience damage and failure as a result of injury, disease, or simply age; examples include torn ligaments and arterial dissections. Given the complexity of tissue geometry and material behavior, computational models are often essential for studying both damage and failure. Yet, because of the need to account for discontinuous phenomena such as crazing, tearing, and rupturing, continuum methods are limited. Therefore, we model soft tissue damage and failure using a particle/continuum approach. Specifically, we combine continuum damage theory with Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH). Because SPH is a meshless particle method, and particle connectivity is determined solely through a neighbor list, discontinuities can be readily modeled by modifying this list. We show, for the first time, that an anisotropic hyperelastic constitutive model commonly employed for modeling soft tissue can be conveniently implemented within a SPH framework and that SPH results show excellent agreement with analytical solutions for uniaxial and biaxial extension as well as finite element solutions for clamped uniaxial extension in 2D and 3D. We further develop a simple algorithm that automatically detects damaged particles and disconnects the spatial domain along rupture lines in 2D and rupture surfaces in 3D. We demonstrate the utility of this approach by simulating damage and failure under clamped uniaxial extension and in a peeling experiment of virtual soft tissue samples. In conclusion, SPH in combination with continuum damage theory may provide an accurate and efficient framework for modeling damage and failure in soft tissues.

Modeling Soft Tissue Damage and Failure Using a Combined Particle/Continuum Approach

PubMed Central

Rausch, M. K.; Karniadakis, G. E.; Humphrey, J. D.

2016-01-01

Biological soft tissues experience damage and failure as a result of injury, disease, or simply age; examples include torn ligaments and arterial dissections. Given the complexity of tissue geometry and material behavior, computational models are often essential for studying both damage and failure. Yet, because of the need to account for discontinuous phenomena such as crazing, tearing, and rupturing, continuum methods are limited. Therefore, we model soft tissue damage and failure using a particle/continuum approach. Specifically, we combine continuum damage theory with Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH). Because SPH is a meshless particle method, and particle connectivity is determined solely through a neighbor list, discontinuities can be readily modeled by modifying this list. We show, for the first time, that an anisotropic hyperelastic constitutive model commonly employed for modeling soft tissue can be conveniently implemented within a SPH framework and that SPH results show excellent agreement with analytical solutions for uniaxial and biaxial extension as well as finite element solutions for clamped uniaxial extension in 2D and 3D. We further develop a simple algorithm that automatically detects damaged particles and disconnects the spatial domain along rupture lines in 2D and rupture surfaces in 3D. We demonstrate the utility of this approach by simulating damage and failure under clamped uniaxial extension and in a peeling experiment of virtual soft tissue samples. In conclusion, SPH in combination with continuum damage theory may provide an accurate and efficient framework for modeling damage and failure in soft tissues. PMID:27538848

Tape transfer atomization patterning of liquid alloys for microfluidic stretchable wireless power transfer.

PubMed

Jeong, Seung Hee; Hjort, Klas; Wu, Zhigang

2015-02-12

Stretchable electronics offers unsurpassed mechanical compliance on complex or soft surfaces like the human skin and organs. To fully exploit this great advantage, an autonomous system with a self-powered energy source has been sought for. Here, we present a new technology to pattern liquid alloys on soft substrates, targeting at fabrication of a hybrid-integrated power source in microfluidic stretchable electronics. By atomized spraying of a liquid alloy onto a soft surface with a tape transferred adhesive mask, a universal fabrication process is provided for high quality patterns of liquid conductors in a meter scale. With the developed multilayer fabrication technique, a microfluidic stretchable wireless power transfer device with an integrated LED was demonstrated, which could survive cycling between 0% and 25% strain over 1,000 times.

Tape Transfer Atomization Patterning of Liquid Alloys for Microfluidic Stretchable Wireless Power Transfer

PubMed Central

Jeong, Seung Hee; Hjort, Klas; Wu, Zhigang

2015-01-01

Stretchable electronics offers unsurpassed mechanical compliance on complex or soft surfaces like the human skin and organs. To fully exploit this great advantage, an autonomous system with a self-powered energy source has been sought for. Here, we present a new technology to pattern liquid alloys on soft substrates, targeting at fabrication of a hybrid-integrated power source in microfluidic stretchable electronics. By atomized spraying of a liquid alloy onto a soft surface with a tape transferred adhesive mask, a universal fabrication process is provided for high quality patterns of liquid conductors in a meter scale. With the developed multilayer fabrication technique, a microfluidic stretchable wireless power transfer device with an integrated LED was demonstrated, which could survive cycling between 0% and 25% strain over 1,000 times. PMID:25673261

Science and Technology of Nanostructured Magnetic Materials

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-07-06

galvano-magnetic and magneto-optic effects that can lead to future storage technologies. Ultrafine particles also show interesting and unique properties...areas including thin films, multilayers, disordered systems, ultrafine particles , intermetallic compounds, permanent magnets and magnetic imaging... ultrafine particles , intermetallic compounds, permanent magnets and magnetic imaging techniques. The development of new techniques for materials preparation

Free vibrations of a multilayered non-circular cylindrical shell

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zelinskaya, Anna V.

2018-05-01

Free vibrations of an elastic non-circular cylindrical shell of intermediate length are considered. The shell is assumed heterogeneous in the thickness direction, in its part it may be multilayered. In order to derive the equations of stability, we use the Timoshenko-Reissner model. According to it, a shell that is heterogeneous can be replaced by a homogeneous shell with the equivalent bending and transversal shear stiffness. We obtain the approximate asymptotic formula for a frequency that takes into account an influence of a transversal shear and a variability of a directrix curvature. As an example, a three-layer elliptical shell with hinged edges and a soft middle layer is analyzed.

Artificial multilayers and nanomagnetic materials

PubMed Central

SHINJO, Teruya

2013-01-01

The author has been actively engaged in research on nanomagnetic materials for about 50 years. Nanomagnetic materials are comprised of ferromagnetic systems for which the size and shape are controlled on a nanometer scale. Typical examples are ultrafine particles, ultrathin films, multilayered films and nano-patterned films. In this article, the following four areas of the author’s studies are described. (1) Mössbauer spectroscopic studies of nanomagnetic materials and interface magnetism. (2) Preparation and characterization of metallic multilayers with artificial superstructures. (3) Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect in magnetic multilayers. (4) Novel properties of nanostructured ferromagnetic thin films (dots and wires). A subject of particular interest in the author’s research was the artificially prepared multilayers consisting of metallic elements. The motivation to initiate the multilayer investigation is described and the physical properties observed in the artificial multilayers are introduced. The author’s research was initially in the field of pure physical science and gradually extended into applied science. His achievements are highly regarded not only from the fundamental point of view but also from the technological viewpoint. PMID:23391605

Effect of frequency on fretting wear behavior of Ti/TiN multilayer film on depleted uranium

PubMed Central

Zhu, Sheng-Fa; Lu, Lei; Cai, Zhen-Bing

2017-01-01

The Ti/TiN multi-layer film was prepared on the depleted uranium (DU) substrate by cathodic arc ion plating equipment. The character of multi-layer film was studied by SEM, XRD and AES, revealed that the surface was composed of small compact particle and the cross-section had a multi-layer structure. The fretting wear performance under different frequencies was performed by a MFT-6000 machine with a ball-on-plate configuration. The wear morphology was analyzed by white light interferometer, OM and SEM with an EDX. The result shows the Ti/TiN multi-layer film could greatly improve the fretting wear performance compared to the DU substrate. The fretting wear running and damaged behavior are strongly dependent on the film and test frequency. The fretting region of DU substrate and Ti/TiN multi-layer under low test frequency is gross slip. With the increase of test frequency, the fretting region of Ti/TiN multi-layer change from gross slip to mixed fretting, then to partial slip. PMID:28384200

Effect of frequency on fretting wear behavior of Ti/TiN multilayer film on depleted uranium.

PubMed

Wu, Yan-Ping; Li, Zheng-Yang; Zhu, Sheng-Fa; Lu, Lei; Cai, Zhen-Bing

2017-01-01

The Ti/TiN multi-layer film was prepared on the depleted uranium (DU) substrate by cathodic arc ion plating equipment. The character of multi-layer film was studied by SEM, XRD and AES, revealed that the surface was composed of small compact particle and the cross-section had a multi-layer structure. The fretting wear performance under different frequencies was performed by a MFT-6000 machine with a ball-on-plate configuration. The wear morphology was analyzed by white light interferometer, OM and SEM with an EDX. The result shows the Ti/TiN multi-layer film could greatly improve the fretting wear performance compared to the DU substrate. The fretting wear running and damaged behavior are strongly dependent on the film and test frequency. The fretting region of DU substrate and Ti/TiN multi-layer under low test frequency is gross slip. With the increase of test frequency, the fretting region of Ti/TiN multi-layer change from gross slip to mixed fretting, then to partial slip.

Formation of silicides in annealed periodic multilayers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maury, H.; Jonnard, P.; Le Guen, K.; André, J.-M.

2009-05-01

Periodic multilayers of nanometric period are widely used as optical components for the X-ray and extreme UV (EUV) ranges, in X-ray space telescopes, X-ray microscopes, EUV photolithography or synchrotron beamlines for example. Their optical performances depend on the quality of the interfaces between the various layers: chemical interdiffusion or mechanical roughness shifts the application wavelength and can drastically decrease the reflectance. Since under high thermal charge interdiffusion is known to get enhanced, the study of the thermal stability of such structures is essential to understand how interfacial compounds develop. We have characterized X-ray and EUV siliconcontaining multilayers (Mo/Si, Sc/Si and Mg/SiC) as a function of the annealing temperature (up to 600°C) using two non-destructive methods. X-ray emission from the silicon atoms, describing the Si valence states, is used to determine the chemical nature of the compounds present in the interphases while X-ray reflectivity in the hard and soft X-ray ranges can be related to the optical properties. In the three cases, interfacial metallic (Mo, Sc, Mg) silicides are evidenced and the thickness of the interphase increases with the annealing temperature. For Mo/Si and Sc/Si multilayers, silicides are even present in the as-prepared multilayers. Characteristic parameters of the stacks are determined: composition of the interphases, thickness and roughness of the layers and interphases if any. Finally, we have evidenced the maximum temperature of application of these multilayers to minimize interdiffusion.

High-order multilayer coated blazed gratings for high resolution soft x-ray spectroscopy

DOE PAGES

Voronov, Dmitriy L.; Goray, Leonid I.; Warwick, Tony; ...

2015-02-17

A grand challenge in soft x-ray spectroscopy is to drive the resolving power of monochromators and spectrometers from the 10 4 achieved routinely today to well above 10 5. This need is driven mainly by the requirements of a new technique that is set to have enormous impact in condensed matter physics, Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS). Unlike x-ray absorption spectroscopy, RIXS is not limited by an energy resolution dictated by the core-hole lifetime in the excitation process. Using much higher resolving power than used for normal x-ray absorption spectroscopy enables access to the energy scale of soft excitations inmore » matter. These excitations such as magnons and phonons drive the collective phenomena seen in correlated electronic materials such as high temperature superconductors. RIXS opens a new path to study these excitations at a level of detail not formerly possible. However, as the process involves resonant excitation at an energy of around 1 keV, and the energy scale of the excitations one would like to see are at the meV level, to fully utilize the technique requires the development of monochromators and spectrometers with one to two orders of magnitude higher energy resolution than has been conventionally possible. Here we investigate the detailed diffraction characteristics of multilayer blazed gratings. These elements offer potentially revolutionary performance as the dispersive element in ultra-high resolution x-ray spectroscopy. In doing so, we have established a roadmap for the complete optimization of the grating design. Traditionally 1st order gratings are used in the soft x-ray region, but we show that as in the optical domain, one can work in very high spectral orders and thus dramatically improve resolution without significant loss in efficiency.« less

Optical performance of W/B4C multilayer mirror in the soft x-ray region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pradhan, P. C.; Majhi, A.; Nayak, M.

2018-03-01

W/B4C x-ray multilayers (MLs) with 300 layer pairs and a period in the range of d = 2-1.6 nm are fabricated and investigated for the x-ray optical element in the soft x-ray regime. The structural analyses of the MLs are carried out by using hard x-ray reflectivity (HXR) measurements at 8.047 keV. Well-defined successive higher order Bragg peaks (up to 3rd order) in HXR data collected up to glancing incidence angles of ˜9° reveal a good quality of the periodic structure. The ML mirrors have an average interface width of ˜0.35 nm and have a compressive residual stress of ˜0.183 GPa and 0. 827 GPa for d = 1.62 nm and d = 1.98 nm, respectively. MLs maintain structural stability over a long time, with a slight increase in interface widths of the W layers by 0.1 nm due to self-diffusion. Soft x-ray reflectivity (SXR) performances are evaluated in the energy range of 650 to 1500 eV. At energy ˜ 1489 eV, measured reflectivities (energy resolution, ΔE) are ˜ 10% (19 eV) and 4.5% (13 eV) at glancing incident angles of 12.07° and 15° for MLs having periods of 1.98 nm and 1.62 nm, respectively. The optical performance from 1600 eV to 4500 eV is theoretically analysed by considering the measured structural parameters. The structure-stress-optical performance is correlated on the basis of the mechanism of film growth. The implications of W/B4C MLs are discussed, particularly with respect to the development of ML optics with high spectral selectivity and reflectance for soft x-ray instruments.

Polypeptide multilayer film co-delivers oppositely-charged drug molecules in sustained manners.

PubMed

Jiang, Bingbing; Defusco, Elizabeth; Li, Bingyun

2010-12-13

The current state-of-the-art for drug-carrying biomedical devices is mostly limited to those that release a single drug. Yet there are many situations in which more than one therapeutic agent is needed. Also, most polyelectrolyte multilayer films intended for drug delivery are loaded with active molecules only during multilayer film preparation. In this paper, we present the integration of capsules as vehicles within polypeptide multilayer films for sustained release of multiple oppositely charged drug molecules using layer-by-layer nanoassembly technology. Calcium carbonate (CaCO(3)) particles were impregnated with polyelectrolytes, shelled with polyelectrolyte multilayers, and then assembled onto polypeptide multilayer films using glutaraldehyde. Capsule-integrated polypeptide multilayer films were obtained after decomposition of CaCO(3) templates. Two oppositely charged drugs were loaded into capsules within polypeptide multilayer films postpreparation based on electrostatic interactions between the drugs and the polyelectrolytes impregnated within capsules. We determined that the developed innovative capsule-integrated polypeptide multilayer films could be used to load multiple drugs of very different properties (e.g., opposite charges) any time postpreparation (e.g., minutes before surgical implantation inside an operating room), and such capsule-integrated films allowed simultaneous delivery of two oppositely charged drug molecules and a sustained (up to two weeks or longer) and sequential release was achieved.

Polypeptide Multilayer Film Co-Delivers Oppositely-Charged Drug Molecules in Sustained Manners

PubMed Central

Jiang, Bingbing; DeFusco, Elizabeth; Li, Bingyun

2010-01-01

The current state-of-the-art for drug-carrying biomedical devices is mostly limited to those that release a single drug. Yet there are many situations in which more than one therapeutic agent is needed. Also, most polyelectrolyte multilayer films intending for drug delivery are loaded with active molecules only during multilayer film preparation. In this paper, we present the integration of capsules as vehicles within polypeptide multilayer films for sustained release of multiple oppositely-charged drug molecules using layer-by-layer nanoassembly technology. Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) particles were impregnated with polyelectrolytes, shelled with polyelectrolyte multilayers, and then assembled onto polypeptide multilayer films using glutaraldehyde. Capsule-integrated polypeptide multilayer films were obtained after decomposition of CaCO3 templates. Two oppositely-charged drugs were loaded into capsules within polypeptide multilayer films post-preparation based on electrostatic interactions between the drugs and the polyelectrolytes impregnated within capsules. We determined that the developed innovative capsule-integrated polypeptide multilayer films could be used to load multiple drugs of very different properties (e.g. opposite charges) any time post-preparation (e.g. minutes before surgical implantation inside an operating room), and such capsule-integrated films allowed simultaneous delivery of two oppositely-charged drug molecules and a sustained (up to two weeks or longer) and sequential release was achieved. PMID:21058719

Method for characterizing mask defects using image reconstruction from X-ray diffraction patterns

DOEpatents

Hau-Riege, Stefan Peter [Fremont, CA

2007-05-01

The invention applies techniques for image reconstruction from X-ray diffraction patterns on the three-dimensional imaging of defects in EUVL multilayer films. The reconstructed image gives information about the out-of-plane position and the diffraction strength of the defect. The positional information can be used to select the correct defect repair technique. This invention enables the fabrication of defect-free (since repaired) X-ray Mo--Si multilayer mirrors. Repairing Mo--Si multilayer-film defects on mask blanks is a key for the commercial success of EUVL. It is known that particles are added to the Mo--Si multilayer film during the fabrication process. There is a large effort to reduce this contamination, but results are not sufficient, and defects continue to be a major mask yield limiter. All suggested repair strategies need to know the out-of-plane position of the defects in the multilayer.

X ray microscope/telescope test and alignment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walker, Arthur B. C.; Hoover, Richard B.

1991-01-01

The tasks performed by the Center for Applied Optics (CAO) in support of the Normal Incidence Multilayer X-Ray Optics Program are detailed. The Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array (MSSTA) was launched on a Terrier-boosted Black Brant sounding rocket from White Sands Missile Range on 13 May 1991. High resolution images of the sun in the soft x ray to extreme ultraviolet (EUV) regime were obtained with normal-incidence Cassegrain, Ritchey-Chretien, and Herschelian telescopes mounted in the sounding rocket. MSSTA represents the first use of multilayer optics to study a very broad range of x ray and EUV solar emissions. Energy-selective properties of multilayer-coated optics allow distinct groups of emission lines to be isolated in the solar corona and transition region. Features of the near and far coronal structures including magnetic loops of plasmas, coronal plumes, coronal holes, faint structures, and cool prominences are visible in these images. MSSTA successfully obtained unprecedented information regarding the structure and dynamics of the solar atmosphere in the temperature range of 10(exp 4)-10(exp 7) K. The performance of the MSSTA has demonstrated a unique combination of ultra-high spatial resolution and spectral differentiation by use of multilayer optics.

Obtaining high resolution XUV coronal images

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Golub, L.; Spiller, E.

1992-01-01

Photographs obtained during three flights of an 11 inch diameter normal incident soft X-ray (wavelength 63.5 A) telescope are analyzed and the data are compared to the results expected from tests of the mirror surfaces. Multilayer coated X ray telescopes have the potential for 0.01 arcsec resolution, and there is optimism that such high quality mirrors can be built. Some of the factors which enter into the performance actually achieved in practice are as follows: quality of the mirror substrate, quality of the multilayer coating, and number of photons collected. Measurements of multilayer mirrors show that the actual performance achieved in the solar X-ray images demonstrates a reduction in the scattering compared to that calculated from the topography of the top surface of the multilayer. In the brief duration of a rocket flight, the resolution is also limited by counting statistics from the number of photons collected. At X-ray Ultraviolet (XUV) wavelengths from 171 to 335 A the photon flux should be greater than 10(exp 10) ph/sec, so that a resolution better than 0.1 arcsec might be achieved, if mirror quality does not provide a limit first. In a satellite, a large collecting area will be needed for the highest resolution.

Patchy Particles of Block Copolymers from Interface-Engineered Emulsions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ku, Kang Hee; Kim, Yongjoo; Yi, Gi-Ra; Jung, Yeon Sik; Kim, Bumjoon

A simple method for creating soft patchy particles with a variety of three-dimensional shapes has been developed through the evaporation-induced assembly of polystyrene-b-poly(4-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P4VP) block copolymer (BCP) in an oil-in-water emulsion. Depending on the particle volume, a series of patchy particles in the shapes of snowmen, dumbbells, triangles, tetrahedra, and raspberry can be prepared, which are then precisely tuned by modulating the interfacial interaction at the particle/water interface using a mixture of two different surfactants. Moreover, for a given interfacial interaction, the stretching penalty of the BCPs in the patchy particles can be systematically controlled by adding P4VP homopolymers, which decreases the number of patches of soft particles from multiple patches to a single patch but increases the size of the patch. Calculations based on the strong segregation theory supported the experimental observation of various soft patchy particles and identified the underlying principles of their formation with tunable 3D structures.

Characterization of Cement Particles Found in Peri-implantitis-Affected Human Biopsy Specimens.

PubMed

Burbano, Maria; Wilson, Thomas G; Valderrama, Pilar; Blansett, Jonathan; Wadhwani, Chandur P K; Choudhary, Pankaj K; Rodriguez, Lucas C; Rodrigues, Danieli C

2015-01-01

Peri-implantitis is a disease characterized by soft tissue inflammation and continued loss of supporting bone, which can result in implant failure. Peri-implantitis is a multifactorial disease, and one of its triggering factors may be the presence of excess cement in the soft tissues surrounding an implant. This descriptive study evaluated the composition of foreign particles from 36 human biopsy specimens with 19 specimens selected for analysis. The biopsy specimens were obtained from soft tissues affected by peri-implantitis around cement-retained implant crowns and compared with the elemental composition of commercial luting cement. Nineteen biopsy specimens were chosen for the comparison, and five test cements (TempBond, Telio, Premier Implant Cement, Intermediate Restorative Material, and Relyx) were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. This enabled the identification of the chemical composition of foreign particles embedded in the tissue specimens and the composition of the five cements. Statistical analysis was conducted using classification trees to pair the particles present in each specimen with the known cements. The particles in each biopsy specimen could be associated with one of the commercial cements with a level of probability ranging between .79 and 1. TempBond particles were found in one biopsy specimen, Telio particles in seven, Premier Implant Cement particles in four, Relyx particles in four, and Intermediate Restorative Material particles in three. Particles found in human soft tissue biopsy specimens around implants affected by peri-implant disease were associated with five commercially available dental cements.

Steady flow of smooth, inelastic particles on a bumpy inclined plane: Hard and soft particle simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tripathi, Anurag; Khakhar, D. V.

2010-04-01

We study smooth, slightly inelastic particles flowing under gravity on a bumpy inclined plane using event-driven and discrete-element simulations. Shallow layers (ten particle diameters) are used to enable simulation using the event-driven method within reasonable computational times. Steady flows are obtained in a narrow range of angles (13°-14.5°) ; lower angles result in stopping of the flow and higher angles in continuous acceleration. The flow is relatively dense with the solid volume fraction, ν≈0.5 , and significant layering of particles is observed. We derive expressions for the stress, heat flux, and dissipation for the hard and soft particle models from first principles. The computed mean velocity, temperature, stress, dissipation, and heat flux profiles of hard particles are compared to soft particle results for different values of stiffness constant (k) . The value of stiffness constant for which results for hard and soft particles are identical is found to be k≥2×106mg/d , where m is the mass of a particle, g is the acceleration due to gravity, and d is the particle diameter. We compare the simulation results to constitutive relations obtained from the kinetic theory of Jenkins and Richman [J. T. Jenkins and M. W. Richman, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 87, 355 (1985)] for pressure, dissipation, viscosity, and thermal conductivity. We find that all the quantities are very well predicted by kinetic theory for volume fractions ν<0.5 . At higher densities, obtained for thicker layers ( H=15d and H=20d ), the kinetic theory does not give accurate prediction. Deviations of the kinetic theory predictions from simulation results are relatively small for dissipation and heat flux and most significant deviations are observed for shear viscosity and pressure. The results indicate the range of applicability of soft particle simulations and kinetic theory for dense flows.

Measurements of molybdenum radiation in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak using a multilayer mirror soft x-ray polychromator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

May, M. J.; Finkenthal, M.; Regan, S. P.; Moos, H. W.; Terry, J. L.; Graf, M. A.; Fournier, K.; Goldstein, W. L.

1995-01-01

A photometrically calibrated polychromator utilizing layered synthetic microstructure coated flats (also known as multilayer mirrors, MLMs) as dispersive elements is operating on the Alcator C-Mod tokamak to measure the molybdenum emissions in the XUV. Molybdenum, the first wall material in C-Mod, is the dominant high Z impurity in the plasma. Three spectral regions are measured by three separate MLM-detector channels. The characteristic charge states in the region between 30-40 Å are Mo xv to Mo xx, between 65-90 Å are Mo xxiv to Mo xxvi, and between 110-130 Å are Mo xxxi and Mo xxxii. The instrument's spectral resolution varies from 0.4 Å at λ=30 Å to 7 Å at λ=130 Å. The temporal resolution is typically 1.0 ms, but sampling rates of less than 1 ms are possible. The instrument was photometrically calibrated at The Johns Hopkins University using a Manson soft x-ray light source. Power loss estimates from Mo xxiv to Mo xxvi, Mo xxxi, and Mo xxxii have been obtained during ohmic and ICRF plasmas using the mist transport code to model the molybdenum charge state distributions in the plasma. The Mo concentrations have also been determined. Mo contributes ˜0.1 to the Zeff of 1.3 during ohmic plasmas. This contribution increases during ICRF heating to ˜0.5 of the Zeff of 2. The polychromator functions as a time-resolved soft x-ray emission power loss monitor.

Mesoscopic modelling and simulation of soft matter.

PubMed

Schiller, Ulf D; Krüger, Timm; Henrich, Oliver

2017-12-20

The deformability of soft condensed matter often requires modelling of hydrodynamical aspects to gain quantitative understanding. This, however, requires specialised methods that can resolve the multiscale nature of soft matter systems. We review a number of the most popular simulation methods that have emerged, such as Langevin dynamics, dissipative particle dynamics, multi-particle collision dynamics, sometimes also referred to as stochastic rotation dynamics, and the lattice-Boltzmann method. We conclude this review with a short glance at current compute architectures for high-performance computing and community codes for soft matter simulation.

Tuning Magnetic Properties of Soft Ferromagnetic Thin Films for High Frequency Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rementer, Colin Richard

This work focuses on the design, synthesis, characterization and integration of soft ferromagnetic multilayer structures for their applications in high frequency applications. Presently, the form factor of current telecommunication devices, i.e., antenna, is fundamentally limited by the wavelength it is designed to transmit or receive. In order to adapt to new technologies, a method for subverting this paradigm has been developed by use of magnetoelectric, strain-coupled multiferroic systems, which requires optimized ferroic materials, especially ferromagnetic thin films. Two approaches were considered to achieve this goal, doping (boron) and multilayer (NiFe) heterostructures, where FeGa was selected as the reference phase for both approaches. Doping magnetic materials with boron has been shown to enhance the magnetic softness while maintaining magnetostriction. Multilayer heterostructures offer the possibility of tuning magnetic responses by taking advantage of materials with complementary magnetic properties. Iron-gallium-boron (FeGaB) was synthesized via co-sputtering of Fe 75Ga25 and boron. The addition of boron to Fe75Ga 25 reduced the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy, enhancing the high frequency properties. Magnetometry studies showed that the coercivity was reduced by 70% with 15% boron (at. %) while maintaining 90% of the magnetization of FeGa. Fixed frequency FMR studies showed that the addition of boron reduced the linewidth by up to 70% to a value of 210 Oe. Electrically poled hysteresis measurements showed that the film has a saturation magnetostriction of 50 microepsilon. FeGaB's properties were shown to be tunable and can be optimized by controlling the boron concentration within 11-15% but this approach did not yield the desired FMR linewidth. Multilayers of sputtered Fe85Ga15/Ni81Fe 19, or FeGa/NiFe, were examined to tailor their magnetic softness, loss at microwave frequencies, permeability, and magnetoelasticity, leveraging the magnetic softness and low loss of NiFe, and the high saturation magnetostriction (lambdas) and magnetization (MS) of FeGa. A systematic change was observed as the number of bilayers or interfaces increases: a seven-bilayer structure results in an 88% reduction in coercivity and a 55% reduction in FMR linewidth at X-band compared to a single phase FeGa film, while maintaining a high relative permeability of 700. The magnetostriction was slightly reduced by the addition of NiFe but still maintained up to 70% that of single phase FeGa. Analyses of the domain size revealed that this effect is a function of the layer thicknesses: thinner layers have larger in-plane domains, leading to lower coercivity. The depth-dependent composition and magnetization of these heterostructures as a function of magnetic and electric fields were assessed via polarized neutron reflectometry and the rotation of magnetization of the individual layers with applied strain was found to be deterministic. The tunability of these magnetic heterostructures makes them suitable candidates for RF magnetic applications requiring strong magnetoelastic coupling and low loss. Device functionality was assessed by integrating multilayer samples into two different antenna architectures. A surface acoustic wave (SAW) structure was used to determine the magnitude of absorption of acoustic wave energy from piezoelectric LiNbO3. Samples with the optimized 5 BL structure, 5 BL(SAW1) (50 nm) and 5 BL(SAW2) (100 nm), were fabricated and evaluated and absorbed 17 % of the acoustic energy from the strain wave. A bulk acoustic wave (BAW) structure was used to study how the material could convert the energy from an electromagnetic wave into an acoustic wave. A thick 12 BL(BAW) sample was integrated into a device and showed a low FMR linewidth and high permeability. This work provided the proof of concept that both doping and interfacial engineering are viabl approaches for tuning the magnetic properties of FeGa, and could be extended to other magnetoelastic systems. Multilayer magnetic materials are a promising alternative to single phase ferromagnetic materials as well as doped material systems for resonator or sensor applications. The low coercivity, high permeability, and high strain sensitivity of these samples make them promising candidates for high frequency, strain-coupled multiferroic systems.

Analysis of coating structures and interfaces in solid oral dosage forms by three dimensional terahertz pulsed imaging.

PubMed

Zeitler, J Axel; Shen, Yaochun; Baker, Colin; Taday, Philip F; Pepper, Michael; Rades, Thomas

2007-02-01

Three dimensional terahertz pulsed imaging (TPI) was evaluated as a novel tool for the nondestructive characterization of different solid oral dosage forms. The time-domain reflection signal of coherent pulsed light in the far infrared was used to investigate film-coated tablets, sugar-coated tablets, multilayered controlled release tablets, and soft gelatin capsules. It is possible to determine the spatial and statistical distribution of coating thickness in single and multiple coated products using 3D TPI. The measurements are nondestructive even for layers buried underneath other coating structures. The internal structure of coating materials can be analyzed. As the terahertz signal penetrates up to 3 mm into the dosage form interfaces between layers in multilayered tablets can be investigated. In soft gelatin capsules it is possible to measure the thickness of the gelatin layer and to characterize the seal between the gelatin layers for quality control. TPI is a unique approach for the nondestructive characterization and quality control of solid dosage forms. The measurements are fast and fully automated with the potential for much wider application of the technique in the process analytical technology scheme. Copyright (c) 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Mitigation of substrate defects in reticles using multilayer buffer layers

DOEpatents

Mirkarimi, Paul B.; Bajt, Sasa; Stearns, Daniel G.

2001-01-01

A multilayer film is used as a buffer layer to minimize the size of defects on a reticle substrate prior to deposition of a reflective coating on the substrate. The multilayer buffer layer deposited intermediate the reticle substrate and the reflective coating produces a smoothing of small particles and other defects on the reticle substrate. The reduction in defect size is controlled by surface relaxation during the buffer layer growth process and by the degree of intermixing and volume contraction of the materials at the multilayer interfaces. The buffer layers are deposited at near-normal incidence via a low particulate ion beam sputtering process. The growth surface of the buffer layer may also be heated by a secondary ion source to increase the degree of intermixing and improve the mitigation of defects.

A multilayer ΔE-E R telescope for breakup reactions at energies around the Coulomb barrier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Nan-Ru; Lin, Cheng-Jian; Wang, Jian-Song; Yang, Lei; Wang, Dong-Xi; Zheng, Lei; Xu, Shi-Wei; Sun, Li-Jie; Jia, Hui-Ming; Ma, Jun-Bing; Ma, Peng; Jin, Shi-Lun; Bai, Zhen; Yang, Yan-Yun; Xu, Xin-Xing; Zhang, Gao-Long; Yang, Feng; He, Jian-Jun; Zhang, Huan-Qiao; Liu, Zu-Hua

2016-11-01

The breakup reactions of weakly-bound nuclei at energies around the Coulomb barrier and the corresponding coupling effect on the other reaction channels are hot topics nowadays. To overcome the difficulty in identifying both heavier and lighter fragments simultaneously, a new kind of ionization-chamber based detector telescope has been designed and manufactured. It consists of a PCB ionization chamber and three different thickness silicon detectors installed inside the chamber, which form a multilayer ΔE-E R telescope. The working conditions were surveyed by using an α source. An in-beam test experiment shows that the detector has good particle identification for heavy particles like 17F and 16O as well as light particles like protons and alpha particles. The measured quasi-elastic scattering angular distribution and the related discussions for 17F+208Pb are presented. Supported by National Key Basic Research Development Program of China (2013CB834404) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (11375268, 11475263, U1432127, U1432246).

Assembly of multilayer microcapsules on CacO3 particles from biocompatible polysaccharides.

PubMed

Zhao, Qinghe; Mao, Zhengwei; Gao, Changyou; Shen, Jiacong

2006-01-01

Multilayer microcapsules were fabricated by layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly of natural polysaccharides onto CaCO3 particles, following with core removal. The micron-sized CaCO3 particles were synthesized by reaction between Ca(NO3)2 and Na2CO3 solutions in the existence of carboxylmethyl cellulose (CMC). The incorporated amount of CMC in the CaCO3 particles was found to be 5.3 wt% by thermogravimetric analysis. Two biocompatible polysaccharides, chitosan and sodium alginate were alternately deposited onto the CaCO3(CMC) templates to obtain hollow microcapsules. Regular oscillation of surface charge as detected by zeta potential demonstrated that the assembly proceeded surely in a LbL manner. The stability of the microcapsules was effectively improved by cross-linking of chitosan with glutaraldehyde. The chemical reaction was verified by infrared spectroscopy. The microcapsules thus fabricated could be spontaneously filled with positively charged low molecular weight substances such as rhodamine 6G and showed good biocompatibility, as detected by in vitro cell culture.

Isoelectric point is an inadequate descriptor of MS2, Phi X 174 and PRD1 phages adhesion on abiotic surfaces.

PubMed

Dika, Christelle; Duval, Jérôme F L; Francius, Gregory; Perrin, Aline; Gantzer, Christophe

2015-05-15

MS2, Phi X 174 and PRD1 bacteriophages are commonly used as surrogates to evaluate pathogenic virus behavior in natural aquatic media. The interfacial properties of these model soft bioparticles are herein discussed in connection with their propensities to adhere onto abiotic surfaces that differ in terms of surface charges and hydrophobicities. The phages considered in this work exhibit distinct multilayered surface structures and their electrostatic charges are evaluated from the dependence of their electrophoretic mobilities on electrolyte concentration at neutral pH on the basis of electrokinetic theory for soft (bio)particles. The charges of the viruses probed by electrokinetics vary according to the sequence Phi X 174⩽PRD1≪MS2, where '<' stands for 'less charged than'. The hydrophobic/hydrophilic balances of the phages are further derived from their adhesions onto model hydrophobic and hydrophilic self-assembled mono-layers. The corresponding results lead to the following hydrophobicity sequence Phi X 174≪MS2

Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) behavior of electrodeposited NiFe/Cu multilayers: Dependence of non-magnetic and magnetic layer thicknesses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuru, Hilal; Kockar, Hakan; Alper, Mursel

2017-12-01

Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) behavior in electrodeposited NiFe/Cu multilayers was investigated as a function of non-magnetic (Cu) and ferromagnetic (NiFe) layer thicknesses, respectively. Prior to the GMR analysis, structural and magnetic analyses of the multilayers were also studied. The elemental analysis of the multilayers indicated that the Cu and Ni content in the multilayers increase with increasing Cu and NiFe layer thickness, respectively. The structural studies by X-ray diffraction revealed that all multilayers have face centred cubic structure with preferred (1 1 0) crystal orientation as their substrates. The magnetic properties studied with the vibrating sample magnetometer showed that the magnetizations of the samples are significantly affected by the layer thicknesses. Saturation magnetisation, Ms increases from 45 to 225 emu/cm3 with increasing NiFe layer thickness. The increase in the Ni content of the multilayers with a small Fe content causes an increase in the Ms. And, the coercivities ranging from 2 to 24 Oe are between the soft and hard magnetic properties. Also, the magnetic easy axis of the multilayers was found to be in the film plane. Magnetoresistance measurements showed that all multilayers exhibited the GMR behavior. The GMR magnitude increases with increasing Cu layer thickness and reaches its maximum value of 10% at the Cu layer thickness of 1 nm, then it decreases. And similarly, the GMR magnitude increases and reaches highest value of pure GMR (10%) for the NiFe layer thickness of 3 nm, and beyond this point GMR decreases with increasing NiFe layer thickness. Some small component of the anisotropic magnetoresistance was also observed at thin Cu and thick NiFe layer thicknesses. It is seen that the highest GMR values up to 10% were obtained in electrodeposited NiFe/Cu multilayers up to now. The structural, magnetic and magnetoresistance properties of the NiFe/Cu were reported via the variations of the thicknesses of Cu and NiFe layers with stressing the role of layer thicknesses on the high GMR behavior.

Heterogeneous activation in 2D colloidal glass-forming liquids classified by machine learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Xiaoguang; Davidson, Zoey; Still, Tim; Ivancic, Robert; Schoenholz, Sam S.; Sussman, Daniel M.; Liu, A. J.; Yodh, A. G.

The trajectories of particles in colloidal glass-forming liquids are often characterized by long periods of ``in-cage'' fluctuations and rapid ``cage-breaking'' rearrangements. We study the rate of such rearrangements and its connection with local cage structures in a 2D binary mixture of poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) spheres. We use the hopping function, Phop (t) , to identify rearrangements within particle trajectories. Then we obtain distributions of the residence time tR between consecutive rearrangements. The mean residence time tR (S) is found to correlate with the local configurations for the rearranging particles, characterized by 70 radial structural features and softness S, which ranks the structural similarities with respect to rearranging particles. Furthermore, tR (S) for particles with similar softness decays monotonically with increasing softness, indicating correlation between rearrangement rates and softness S. Finally we find that the conditional and full probability distribution functions, P (tR | S) and P (tR) , are well explained by a thermal activation model. We acknowledge financial supports from NSF-MRSEC DMR11-20901, NSF DMR16-07378, and NASA NNX08AO0G.

Morphology control of anisotropic BaTiO 3 and BaTiOF 4 using organic-inorganic interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masuda, Yoshitake; Tanaka, Yuki; Gao, Yanfeng; Koumoto, Kunihito

2009-01-01

We proposed a novel concept for morphology control of barium titanate precursor to fabricate platy particles. Organic molecules play an essential role in the crystallization of BaTiOF 4 to synthesize multi-needle particles, polyhedron particles or platy particles in an aqueous solution. Precursors were successfully transformed to barium titanate single phase by annealing. Platy barium titanate precursor particles are expected for future multilayer ceramic capacitors.

Calibration and standards beamline 6.3.2 at the ALS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Underwood, J.H.; Gullikson, E.M.; Koike, M.

1997-04-01

More sophisticated optics for the x-ray, soft x-ray and far ultraviolet spectral regions being developed for synchrotron radiation research and many other applications, require accurate calibration and standards facilities for measuring reflectivity of mirrors and multilayer coatings, transmission of thin films, bandpass of multilayers, efficiency of gratings or detectors, etc. For this purpose beamline 6.3.2 was built at the ALS. Its energy coverage, versatility, simplicity and convenience also make it useful for a wide range of other experiments. The paper describes the components of this beamline, consisting of: a four jaw aperture; a horizontal focusing mirror; a monochromator; exit slit;more » vertical focusing mirror; mechanical and vacuum system; reflectometer; filter wheels; and data acquisition system.« less

Performance of the Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array. III - Optical characteristics of the Ritchey-Chretien and Cassegrain telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoover, Richard B.; Baker, Phillip C.; Hadaway, James B.; Johnson, R. B.; Peterson, Cynthia; Gabardi, David R.; Walker, Arthur B., Jr.; Lindblom, J. F.; Deforest, Craig; O'Neal, R. H.

1991-12-01

The Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array (MSSTA), which is a sounding-rocket-borne observatory for investigating the sun in the soft X-ray/EUV and FUV regimes of the electromagnetic spectrum, utilizes single reflection multilayer coated Herschelian telescopes for wavelengths below 100 A, and five doubly reflecting multilayer coated Ritchey-Chretien and two Cassegrain telescopes for selected wavelengths in the EUV region between 100 and 1000 A. The paper discusses the interferometric alignment, testing, focusing, visible light testing, and optical performance characteristics of the Ritchey-Chretien and Cassegrain telescopes of MSSTA. A schematic diagram of the MSSTA Ritchey-Chretien telescope is presented together with diagrams of the system autocollimation testing.

Multilayer X-ray imaging systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shealy, D. L.; Hoover, R. B.; Gabardi, D. R.

1986-01-01

An assessment of the imaging properties of multilayer X-ray imaging systems with spherical surfaces has been made. A ray trace analysis was performed to investigate the effects of using spherical substrates (rather than the conventional paraboloidal/hyperboloidal contours) for doubly reflecting Cassegrain telescopes. These investigations were carried out for mirrors designed to operate at selected soft X-ray/XUV wavelengths that are of significance for studies of the solar corona/transition region from the Stanford/MSFC Rocket X-Ray Telescope. The effects of changes in separation of the primary and secondary elements were also investigated. These theoretical results are presented as well as the results of ray trace studies to establish the resolution and vignetting effects as a function of field angle and system parameters.

Structure and Transport Anomalies in Soft Colloids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srivastava, Samanvaya; Archer, Lynden A.; Narayanan, Suresh

2013-04-01

Anomalous trends in nanoparticle correlation and motion are reported in soft nanoparticle suspensions using static and dynamic x-ray scattering measurements. Contrary to normal expectations, we find that particle-particle correlations decrease and particle dynamics become faster as volume fraction rises above a critical particle loading associated with overlap. Our observations bear many similarities to the cascade of structural and transport anomalies reported for complex, network forming molecular fluids such as water, and are argued to share similar physical origins.

Influence of the multilayer coating obtained by the HVOF method on behavior of the steel barrier at dynamic loading

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Radchenko, Pavel; Radchenko, Andrey; Batuev, Stanislav

2013-06-01

The high velocity (supersonic) oxy-fuel (HVOF) thermal spray technology is a rather recent addition to family of thermal spray processes. This technique is considered most modern of technologies of spraying. The increase in velocity of the particles at lower temperatures allowed reducing level of oxidation of the particles and to increase the density of a powder coating. In HVOF dry dusting applicators of the first and second generations was used the cylindrical nozzle, whereas in the third generation expanding Laval nozzles are used. This method allows the velocity of a gas flow to exceed to 2000 m/sec, and the velocities of the powder particles 800 m/sec. Recently many results on elastic and strength properties of the multilayer coatings obtained by supersonic flame spraying method are received. But the main part of works on research of the coating obtained by the HVOF method is devoted to research of their stress-strain state at static loadings. In this work the behavior of the steel barrier with the multilayer coating applied by HVOF is researched, at dynamic loading of projectile structure at different velocities of interaction. The problem was solved numerically within Lagrangian approach, a finite element method with the use of the explicit finite difference scheme of G. Johnson.

Effect of pectin charge density on formation of multilayer films with chitosan.

PubMed

Kamburova, Kamelia; Milkova, Viktoria; Petkanchin, Ivana; Radeva, Tsetska

2008-04-01

The effect of pectin charge density on the formation of multilayer films with chitosan (PEC/CHI) is studied by means of electro-optics. Pectins of low (21%) and high (71%) degrees of esterification, which are inversely proportional to the pectin charge density, are used to form films on colloidal beta-FeOOH particles at pH 4.0 when the CHI is fully ionized. We find that, after deposition of the first 3-4 layers, the film thickness increases linearly with the number of adsorbed layers. However, the increase in the film thickness is larger when the film is terminated with CHI. Irregular increase of the film thickness is more marked for the PEC with higher density of charge. Oscillation in the electrical polarizability of the film-coated particles with the number of deposited layers is also registered in the PEC/CHI films. The charge balance of the multilayers, calculated from electrical polarizability of the film-coated particles, is positive, with larger excess of positive charge within the film constructed from CHI and less charged PEC. This is attributed to the ability of CHI to diffuse into the film at each deposition step. Despite the CHI diffusion, the film thickness increases linearly due to the dissolution of unstable PEC/CHI complexes from the film surface.

Graphene-based multilayer resonance structure to enhance the optical pressure on a Mie particle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hassanzadeh, Abdollah; Mohammadnezhad, Mohammadbagher

2016-04-01

We theoretically investigate the optical force exerted on a Mie dielectric particle in the evanescent field of a graphene-based resonance multilayer structure using the arbitrary beam theory and the theory of multilayer films. The resonance structure consists of several thin films including a dielectric film (MgF2), a metal film (silver or gold), and several graphene layers which are located on a prism base. The effects of the metal film thickness and the number of graphene layers on the optical force are numerically investigated. The thickness of the metal layer and the number of graphene layers are optimized to reach the highest optical force. The numerical results show that an optimized composition of graphene and gold leads to a higher optical force compared to that of the graphene and silver. The optical force was enhanced resonantly by four orders of magnitude for the resonance structure containing graphene and a gold film and by three orders of magnitude for the structure containing graphene and a silver film compared to other similar resonance structures. We hope that the results presented in this paper can provide an excellent means of improving the optical manipulation of particles and enable the provision of effective optical tweezers, micromotors, and microaccelelators.

Soft template synthesis of yolk/silica shell particles.

PubMed

Wu, Xue-Jun; Xu, Dongsheng

2010-04-06

Yolk/shell particles possess a unique structure that is composed of hollow shells that encapsulate other particles but with an interstitial space between them. These structures are different from core/shell particles in that the core particles are freely movable in the shell. Yolk/shell particles combine the properties of each component, and can find potential applications in catalysis, lithium ion batteries, and biosensors. In this Research News article, a soft-template-assisted method for the preparation of yolk/silica shell particles is presented. The demonstrated method is simple and general, and can produce hollow silica spheres incorporated with different particles independent of their diameters, geometry, and composition. Furthermore, yolk/mesoporous silica shell particles and multishelled particles are also prepared through optimization of the experimental conditions. Finally, potential applications of these particles are discussed.

Magnetoresponsive discoidal photonic crystals toward active color pigments.

PubMed

Lee, Hye Soo; Kim, Ju Hyeon; Lee, Joon-Seok; Sim, Jae Young; Seo, Jung Yoon; Oh, You-Kwan; Yang, Seung-Man; Kim, Shin-Hyun

2014-09-03

Photonic microdisks with a multilayered structure are designed from photocurable suspensions by step-by-step photolithography. In each step of photolithography, either a colloidal photonic crystal or a magnetic-particle-laden layer is stacked over the windows of a photomask. Sequential photolithography enables the creation of multilayered photonic microdisks that have brilliant structural colors that can be switched by an external magnetic field. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Soft sensor for real-time cement fineness estimation.

PubMed

Stanišić, Darko; Jorgovanović, Nikola; Popov, Nikola; Čongradac, Velimir

2015-03-01

This paper describes the design and implementation of soft sensors to estimate cement fineness. Soft sensors are mathematical models that use available data to provide real-time information on process variables when the information, for whatever reason, is not available by direct measurement. In this application, soft sensors are used to provide information on process variable normally provided by off-line laboratory tests performed at large time intervals. Cement fineness is one of the crucial parameters that define the quality of produced cement. Providing real-time information on cement fineness using soft sensors can overcome limitations and problems that originate from a lack of information between two laboratory tests. The model inputs were selected from candidate process variables using an information theoretic approach. Models based on multi-layer perceptrons were developed, and their ability to estimate cement fineness of laboratory samples was analyzed. Models that had the best performance, and capacity to adopt changes in the cement grinding circuit were selected to implement soft sensors. Soft sensors were tested using data from a continuous cement production to demonstrate their use in real-time fineness estimation. Their performance was highly satisfactory, and the sensors proved to be capable of providing valuable information on cement grinding circuit performance. After successful off-line tests, soft sensors were implemented and installed in the control room of a cement factory. Results on the site confirm results obtained by tests conducted during soft sensor development. Copyright © 2014 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nanoparticle flotation collectors--the influence of particle softness.

PubMed

Yang, Songtao; Razavizadeh, Bi Bi Marzieh; Pelton, Robert; Bruin, Gerard

2013-06-12

The ability of polymeric nanoparticles to promote glass bead and pentlandite (Pn, nickel sulfide mineral) attachment to air bubbles in flotation was measured as a function of the nanoparticle glass transition temperature using six types of nanoparticles based on styrene/N-butylacrylate copolymers. Nanoparticle size, surface charge density, and hydrophobicity were approximately constant over the series. The ability of the nanoparticles to promote air bubble attachment and perform as flotation collectors was significantly greater for softer nanoparticles. We propose that softer nanoparticles were more firmly attached to the glass beads or mineral surface because the softer particles had a greater glass/polymer contact areas and thus stronger overall adhesion. The diameters of the contact areas between polymeric nanoparticles and glass surfaces were estimated with the Young-Laplace equation for soft, liquidlike particles, whereas JKR adhesion theory was applied to the harder polystyrene particles. The diameters of the contact areas were estimated to be more than an order of magnitude greater for the soft particles compared to harder polystyrene particles.

Shock compression response of highly reactive Ni + Al multilayered thin foils

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kelly, Sean C.; Thadhani, Naresh N., E-mail: naresh.thadhani@mse.gatech.edu

2016-03-07

The shock-compression response of Ni + Al multilayered thin foils is investigated using laser-accelerated thin-foil plate-impact experiments over the pressure range of 2 to 11 GPa. The foils contain alternating Ni and Al layers (parallel but not flat) of nominally 50 nm bilayer spacing. The goal is to determine the equation of state and shock-induced reactivity of these highly reactive fully dense thin-foil materials. The laser-accelerated thin-foil impact set-up involved combined use of photon-doppler-velocimetry to monitor the acceleration and impact velocity of an aluminum flyer, and VISAR interferometry was used to monitor the back free-surface velocity of the impacted Ni + Al multilayered target. The shock-compressionmore » response of the Ni + Al target foils was determined using experimentally measured parameters and impedance matching approach, with error bars identified considering systematic and experimental errors. Meso-scale CTH shock simulations were performed using real imported microstructures of the cross-sections of the multilayered Ni + Al foils to compute the Hugoniot response (assuming no reaction) for correlation with their experimentally determined equation of state. It was observed that at particle velocities below ∼150 m/s, the experimentally determined equation of state trend matches the CTH-predicted inert response and is consistent with the observed unreacted state of the recovered Ni + Al target foils from this velocity regime. At higher particle velocities, the experimentally determined equation of state deviates from the CTH-predicted inert response. A complete and self-sustained reaction is also seen in targets recovered from experiments performed at these higher particle velocities. The deviation in the measured equation of state, to higher shock speeds and expanded volumes, combined with the observation of complete reaction in the recovered multilayered foils, confirmed via microstructure characterization, is indicative of the occurrence of shock-induced chemical reaction occurring in the time-scale of the high-pressure state. TEM characterization of recovered shock-compressed (unreacted) Ni + Al multilayered foils exhibits distinct features of constituent mixing revealing jetted layers and inter-mixed regions. These features were primarily observed in the proximity of the undulations present in the alternating layers of the Ni + Al starting foils, suggesting the important role of such instabilities in promoting shock-induced intermetallic-forming reactions in the fully dense highly exothermic multilayered thin foils.« less

Prospect of space-based interferometry at EUV and soft X-ray wavelengths

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Welsh, Barry Y.; Chakrabarti, Supriya

1992-01-01

We review the current capabilities of high-resolution, spectroscopic, space-borne instrumentation available for both solar and stellar observations in the EUV and soft X-ray wavelength regimes, and describe the basic design of a compact, all-reflection interferometer based on the spatial heterodyne technique; this is capable of producing a resolving power (lambda/Delta-lambda) of about 20,000 in the 100-200 A region using presently available multilayer optical components. Such an instrument can be readily constructed with existing technology. Due to its small size and lack of moving parts, it is ideally suited to spaceborne applications. Based on best estimates of the efficiency of this instrument at soft X-ray wavelengths, we review the possible use of this high-resolution interferometer in obtaining high-resolution full-disk spectroscopy of the sun. We also discuss its possible use for observations of diffuse sources such as the EUV interstellar background radiation.

Soft-type trap-induced degradation of MoS2 field effect transistors.

PubMed

Cho, Young-Hoon; Ryu, Min-Yeul; Lee, Kook Jin; Park, So Jeong; Choi, Jun Hee; Lee, Byung-Chul; Kim, Wungyeon; Kim, Gyu-Tae

2018-06-01

The practical applicability of electronic devices is largely determined by the reliability of field effect transistors (FETs), necessitating constant searches for new and better-performing semiconductors. We investigated the stress-induced degradation of MoS 2 multilayer FETs, revealing a steady decrease of drain current by 56% from the initial value after 30 min. The drain current recovers to the initial state when the transistor is completely turned off, indicating the roles of soft-traps in the apparent degradation. The noise current power spectrum follows the model of carrier number fluctuation-correlated mobility fluctuation (CNF-CMF) regardless of stress time. However, the reduction of the drain current was well fitted to the increase of the trap density based on the CNF-CMF model, attributing the presence of the soft-type traps of dielectric oxides to the degradation of the MoS 2 FETs.

Soft-type trap-induced degradation of MoS2 field effect transistors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cho, Young-Hoon; Ryu, Min-Yeul; Lee, Kook Jin; Park, So Jeong; Choi, Jun Hee; Lee, Byung-Chul; Kim, Wungyeon; Kim, Gyu-Tae

2018-06-01

The practical applicability of electronic devices is largely determined by the reliability of field effect transistors (FETs), necessitating constant searches for new and better-performing semiconductors. We investigated the stress-induced degradation of MoS2 multilayer FETs, revealing a steady decrease of drain current by 56% from the initial value after 30 min. The drain current recovers to the initial state when the transistor is completely turned off, indicating the roles of soft-traps in the apparent degradation. The noise current power spectrum follows the model of carrier number fluctuation–correlated mobility fluctuation (CNF–CMF) regardless of stress time. However, the reduction of the drain current was well fitted to the increase of the trap density based on the CNF–CMF model, attributing the presence of the soft-type traps of dielectric oxides to the degradation of the MoS2 FETs.

Electrophoresis of a charged soft particle in a charged cavity with arbitrary double-layer thickness.

PubMed

Chen, Wei J; Keh, Huan J

2013-08-22

An analysis for the quasi-steady electrophoretic motion of a soft particle composed of a charged spherical rigid core and an adsorbed porous layer positioned at the center of a charged spherical cavity filled with an arbitrary electrolyte solution is presented. Within the porous layer, frictional segments with fixed charges are assumed to distribute uniformly. Through the use of the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation and the Laplace equation, the equilibrium double-layer potential distribution and its perturbation caused by the applied electric field are separately determined. The modified Stokes and Brinkman equations governing the fluid flow fields outside and inside the porous layer, respectively, are solved subsequently. An explicit formula for the electrokinetic migration velocity of the soft particle in terms of the fixed charge densities on the rigid core surface, in the porous layer, and on the cavity wall is obtained from a balance between its electrostatic and hydrodynamic forces. This formula is valid for arbitrary values of κa, λa, r0/a, and a/b, where κ is the Debye screening parameter, λ is the reciprocal of the length characterizing the extent of flow penetration inside the porous layer, a is the radius of the soft particle, r0 is the radius of the rigid core of the particle, and b is the radius of the cavity. In the limiting cases of r0 = a and r0 = 0, the migration velocity for the charged soft sphere reduces to that for a charged impermeable sphere and that for a charged porous sphere, respectively, in the charged cavity. The effect of the surface charge at the cavity wall on the particle migration can be significant, and the particle may reverse the direction of its migration.

Soft-X-Ray-Enhanced Electrostatic Precipitation for Protection against Inhalable Allergens, Ultrafine Particles, and Microbial Infections

PubMed Central

Kettleson, Eric M.; Schriewer, Jill M.; Buller, R. Mark L.

2013-01-01

Protection of the human lung from infectious agents, allergens, and ultrafine particles is difficult with current technologies. High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters remove airborne particles of >0.3 μm with 99.97% efficiency, but they are expensive to maintain. Electrostatic precipitation has been used as an inexpensive approach to remove large particles from airflows, but it has a collection efficiency minimum in the submicrometer size range, allowing for a penetration window for some allergens and ultrafine particles. Incorporating soft X-ray irradiation as an in situ component of the electrostatic precipitation process greatly improves capture efficiency of ultrafine particles. Here we demonstrate the removal and inactivation capabilities of soft-X-ray-enhanced electrostatic precipitation technology targeting infectious agents (Bacillus anthracis, Mycobacterium bovis BCG, and poxviruses), allergens, and ultrafine particles. Incorporation of in situ soft X-ray irradiation at low-intensity corona conditions resulted in (i) 2-fold to 9-fold increase in capture efficiency of 200- to 600-nm particles and (ii) a considerable delay in the mean day of death as well as lower overall mortality rates in ectromelia virus (ECTV) cohorts. At the high-intensity corona conditions, nearly complete protection from viral and bacterial respiratory infection was afforded to the murine models for all biological agents tested. When optimized for combined efficient particle removal with limited ozone production, this technology could be incorporated into stand-alone indoor air cleaners or scaled for installation in aircraft cabin, office, and residential heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. PMID:23263945

Soft-X-ray-enhanced electrostatic precipitation for protection against inhalable allergens, ultrafine particles, and microbial infections.

PubMed

Kettleson, Eric M; Schriewer, Jill M; Buller, R Mark L; Biswas, Pratim

2013-02-01

Protection of the human lung from infectious agents, allergens, and ultrafine particles is difficult with current technologies. High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters remove airborne particles of >0.3 μm with 99.97% efficiency, but they are expensive to maintain. Electrostatic precipitation has been used as an inexpensive approach to remove large particles from airflows, but it has a collection efficiency minimum in the submicrometer size range, allowing for a penetration window for some allergens and ultrafine particles. Incorporating soft X-ray irradiation as an in situ component of the electrostatic precipitation process greatly improves capture efficiency of ultrafine particles. Here we demonstrate the removal and inactivation capabilities of soft-X-ray-enhanced electrostatic precipitation technology targeting infectious agents (Bacillus anthracis, Mycobacterium bovis BCG, and poxviruses), allergens, and ultrafine particles. Incorporation of in situ soft X-ray irradiation at low-intensity corona conditions resulted in (i) 2-fold to 9-fold increase in capture efficiency of 200- to 600-nm particles and (ii) a considerable delay in the mean day of death as well as lower overall mortality rates in ectromelia virus (ECTV) cohorts. At the high-intensity corona conditions, nearly complete protection from viral and bacterial respiratory infection was afforded to the murine models for all biological agents tested. When optimized for combined efficient particle removal with limited ozone production, this technology could be incorporated into stand-alone indoor air cleaners or scaled for installation in aircraft cabin, office, and residential heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems.

Ultra-high density diffraction grating

DOEpatents

Padmore, Howard A.; Voronov, Dmytro L.; Cambie, Rossana; Yashchuk, Valeriy V.; Gullikson, Eric M.

2012-12-11

A diffraction grating structure having ultra-high density of grooves comprises an echellette substrate having periodically repeating recessed features, and a multi-layer stack of materials disposed on the echellette substrate. The surface of the diffraction grating is planarized, such that layers of the multi-layer stack form a plurality of lines disposed on the planarized surface of the structure in a periodical fashion, wherein lines having a first property alternate with lines having a dissimilar property on the surface of the substrate. For example, in one embodiment, lines comprising high-Z and low-Z materials alternate on the planarized surface providing a structure that is suitable as a diffraction grating for EUV and soft X-rays. In some embodiments, line density of between about 10,000 lines/mm to about 100,000 lines/mm is provided.

The friction coefficient evolution of a MoS2/WC multi-layer coating system during sliding wear

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, T. Y.; Hu, Y.; Gharbi, Mohammad M.; Politis, D. J.; Wang, L.

2016-08-01

This paper discusses the evolution of friction coefficient for the multi-layered Molybdenum Disulphide (MoS2) and WC coated substrate during sliding against Aluminium AA 6082 material. A soft MoS2 coating was prepared over a hard WC coated G3500 cast iron tool substrate and underwent friction test using a pin-on-disc tribometer. The lifetime of the coating was reduced with increasing load while the Aluminium debris accumulated on the WC hard coating surfaces, accelerated the breakdown of the coatings. The lifetime of the coating was represented by the friction coefficient and the sliding distance before MoS2 coating breakdown and was found to be affected by the load applied and the wear mechanism.

Spectroscopic characterization of novel multilayer mirrors intended for astronomical and laboratory applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ragozin, Eugene N.; Mednikov, Konstantin N.; Pertsov, Andrei A.; Pirozhkov, Alexander S.; Reva, Anton A.; Shestov, Sergei V.; Ul'yanov, Artem S.; Vishnyakov, Eugene A.

2009-05-01

We report measurements of the reflection spectra of (i) concave (spherical and parabolic) Mo/Si, Mg/Si, and Al/Zr multilayer mirrors (MMs) intended for imaging solar spectroscopy in the framework of the TESIS/CORONAS-FOTON Satellite Project and of (ii) an aperiodic Mo/Si MM optimized for maximum uniform reflectivity in the 125-250 Å range intended for laboratory applications. The reflection spectra were measured in the configuration of a transmission grating spectrometer employing the radiation of a tungsten laser-driven plasma as the source. The function of detectors was fulfilled by backside-illuminated CCDs coated with Al or Zr/Si multilayer absorption filters. High-intensity second-order interference reflection peaks at wavelengths of about 160 Å were revealed in the reflection spectra of the 304-Å Mo/Si MMs. By contrast, the second-order reflection peak in the spectra of the new-generation narrow-band (~12 Å FWHM) 304-Å Mg/Si MMs is substantially depressed. Manifestations of the NEXAFS structure of the L2, 3 absorption edges of Al and Al2O3 were observed in the spectra recorded. The broadband Mo/Si MM was employed as the focusing element of spectrometers in experiments involving (i) the charge exchange of multiply charged ions with the donor atoms of a rare-gas jet; (ii) the spectroscopic characterization of a debris-free soft X-ray radiation source excited by Nd laser pulses in a Xe jet (iii) near-IR-to-soft-X-ray frequency conversion (double Doppler effect) occurring in the retroreflection from the relativistic electron plasma wake wave (flying mirror) driven by a multiterawatt laser in a pulsed helium jet.

The design of a Li-ion full cell battery using a nano silicon and nano multi-layer graphene composite anode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eom, KwangSup; Joshi, Tapesh; Bordes, Arnaud; Do, Inhwan; Fuller, Thomas F.

2014-03-01

In this study, a Si-graphene composite, which is composed of nano Si particles and nano-sized multi-layer graphene particles, and micro-sized multi-layer graphene plate conductor, was used as the anode for Li-ion battery. The Si-graphene electrode showed the high capacity and stable cyclability at charge/discharge rate of C/2 in half cell tests. Nickel cobalt aluminum material (NCA) was used as a cathode in the full cell to evaluate the practicality of the new Si-graphene material. Although the Si-graphene anode has more capacity than the NCA cathode in this designed full cell, the Si-graphene anode had a greater effect on the full-cell performance due to its large initial irreversible capacity loss and continuous SEI formation during cycling. When fluoro-ethylene carbonate was added to the electrolyte, the cyclability of the full cell was much improved due to less SEI formation, which was confirmed by the decreases in the 1st irreversible capacity loss, overpotential for the 1st lithiation, and the resistance of the SEI.

A Broadband X-Ray Imaging Spectroscopy with High-Angular Resolution: the FORCE Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mori, Koji; Tsuru, Takeshi Go; Nakazawac, Kazuhiro; Ueda, Yoshihiro; Okajima, Takashi; Murakami, Hiroshi; Awaki, Hisamitsu; Matsumoto, Hironori; Fukazawai, Yasushi; Tsunemi, Hiroshi;

A broadband x-ray imaging spectroscopy with high-angular resolution: the FORCE mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mori, Koji; Tsuru, Takeshi Go; Nakazawa, Kazuhiro; Ueda, Yoshihiro; Okajima, Takashi; Murakami, Hiroshi; Awaki, Hisamitsu; Matsumoto, Hironori; Fukazawa, Yasushi; Tsunemi, Hiroshi; Takahashi, Tadayuki; Zhang, William W.

2016-07-01

We are proposing FORCE (Focusing On Relativistic universe and Cosmic Evolution) as a future Japan-lead Xray observatory to be launched in the mid 2020s. Hitomi (ASTRO-H) possesses a suite of sensitive instruments enabling the highest energy-resolution spectroscopy in soft X-ray band, a broadband X-ray imaging spectroscopy in soft and hard X-ray bands, and further high energy coverage up to soft gamma-ray band. FORCE is the direct successor to the broadband X-ray imaging spectroscopy aspect of Hitomi (ASTRO-H) with significantly higher angular resolution. The current design of FORCE defines energy band pass of 1-80 keV with angular resolution of < 15 in half-power diameter, achieving a 10 times higher sensitivity above 10 keV compared to any previous missions with simultaneous soft X-ray coverage. Our primary scientific objective is to trace the cosmic formation history by searching for "missing black holes" in various mass-scales: "buried supermassive black holes (SMBHs)" (> 104 M⊙) residing in the center of galaxies in a cosmological distance, "intermediate-mass black holes" (102-104 M⊙) acting as the possible seeds from which SMBHs grow, and "orphan stellar-mass black holes" (< 102 M⊙) without companion in our Galaxy. In addition to these missing BHs, hunting for the nature of relativistic particles at various astrophysical shocks is also in our scope, utilizing the broadband X-ray coverage with high angular-resolution. FORCE are going to open a new era in these fields. The satellite is proposed to be launched with the Epsilon vehicle that is a Japanese current solid-fuel rocket. FORCE carries three identical pairs of Super-mirror and wide-band X-ray detector. The focal length is currently planned to be 10 m. The silicon mirror with multi-layer coating is our primary choice to achieve lightweight, good angular optics. The detector is a descendant of hard X-ray imager onboard Hitomi (ASTRO-H) replacing its silicon strip detector with SOI-CMOS silicon pixel detector, allowing an extension of the low energy threshold down to 1 keV or even less.

Multilayer Films and Capsules of Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose and Polyhexamethylenguanidine Hydrochloride

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guzenko, Nataliia; Gabchak, Oleksandra; Pakhlov, Evgenij

The complexation of polyhexamethylenguanidine hydrochloride (PHMG) and sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) was investigated for different conditions. Mixing of equiconcentrated aqueous solutions of the polyelectrolytes was found to result in the formation of an insoluble interpolyelectrolyte complex with an overweight of carboxymethylcellulose. A step-by-step formation of stable, irreversibly adsorbed multilayer film of the polymers was demonstrated using the quartz crystal microbalance method. Unusually thick polymer shells with a large number of loops and tails of the polyanion were formed by the method of layer-by-layer self-assembly of PHMG and CMC on spherical CaCO3 particles. Hollow multilayer capsules stable in neutral media were obtained by dissolution of the inorganic matrix in EDTA solution.

An Avoidance Model for Short-Range Order Induced by Soft Repulsions in Systems of Rigid Rods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Jining; Herzfeld, Judith

1996-03-01

The effects of soft repulsions on hard particle systems are calculated using an avoidance model which improves upon the simple mean field approximation. Avoidance reduces, but does not eliminate, the energy due to soft repulsions. On the other hand, it also reduces the configurational entropy. Under suitable conditions, this simple trade-off yields a free energy that is lower than the mean field value. In these cases, the variationally determined avoidance gives an estimate for the short-range positional order induced by soft repulsions. The results indicate little short-range order for isotropically oriented rods. However, for parallel rods, short-range order increases to significant levels as the particle axial ratio increases. The implications for long- range positional ordering are also discussed. In particular, avoidance may explain the smectic ordering of tobacco mosaic virus at volume fractions lower than those necessary for smectic ordering of hard particles.

Computation of stress on the surface of a soft homogeneous arbitrarily shaped particle.

PubMed

Yang, Minglin; Ren, Kuan Fang; Wu, Yueqian; Sheng, Xinqing

2014-04-01

Prediction of the stress on the surface of an arbitrarily shaped particle of soft material is essential in the study of elastic properties of the particles with optical force. It is also necessary in the manipulation and sorting of small particles with optical tweezers, since a regular-shaped particle, such as a sphere, may be deformed under the nonuniform optical stress on its surface. The stress profile on a spherical or small spheroidal soft particle trapped by shaped beams has been studied, however little work on computing the surface stress of an irregular-shaped particle has been reported. We apply in this paper the surface integral equation with multilevel fast multipole algorithm to compute the surface stress on soft homogeneous arbitrarily shaped particles. The comparison of the computed stress profile with that predicted by the generalized Lorenz-Mie theory for a water droplet of diameter equal to 51 wavelengths in a focused Gaussian beam show that the precision of our method is very good. Then stress profiles on spheroids with different aspect ratios are computed. The particles are illuminated by a Gaussian beam of different waist radius at different incidences. Physical analysis on the mechanism of optical stress is given with help of our recently developed vectorial complex ray model. It is found that the maximum of the stress profile on the surface of prolate spheroids is not only determined by the reflected and refracted rays (orders p=0,1) but also the rays undergoing one or two internal reflections where they focus. Computational study of stress on surface of a biconcave cell-like particle, which is a typical application in life science, is also undertaken.

Functionalizable hydrogel microparticles of tunable size and stiffness for soft-tissue filler applications

PubMed Central

Chan, Ka Man Carmen; Li, Randolph H.; Chapman, Joseph W.; Trac, Eric M.; Kobler, James B.; Zeitels, Steven M.; Langer, Robert; Karajanagi, Sandeep S.

2014-01-01

Particle size, stiffness and surface functionality are important in determining the injection site, safety and efficacy of injectable soft-tissue fillers. Methods to produce soft injectable biomaterials with controlled particle characteristics are therefore desirable. Here we report a method based on suspension photopolymerization and semi-interpenetrating network (semi-IPN) to synthesize soft, functionalizable, spherical hydrogel microparticles (MP) of independently tunable size and stiffness. MP were prepared using acrylated forms of polyethylene glycol (PEG), gelatin and hyaluronic acid. Semi-IPN MP of PEG-diacrylate and PEG were used to study the effect of process parameters on particle characteristics. The process parameters were systematically varied to produce MP with size ranging from 115 to 515 μm and stiffness ranging from 190 to 1600 Pa. In vitro studies showed that the MP thus prepared were cytocompatible. The ratio and identity of the polymers used to make the semi-IPN MP were varied to control their stiffness and to introduce amine groups for potential functionalization. Slow-release polymeric particles loaded with Rhodamine or dexamethasone were incorporated in the MP as a proof-of-principle of drug incorporation and release from the MP. This work has implications in preparing injectable biomaterials of natural or synthetic polymers for applications as soft-tissue fillers. PMID:24561708

Acoustic radiation force on a multilayered sphere in a Gaussian standing field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Haibin; Liu, Xiaozhou; Gao, Sha; Cui, Jun; Liu, Jiehui; He, Aijun; Zhang, Gutian

2018-03-01

We develop a model for calculating the radiation force on spherically symmetric multilayered particles based on the acoustic scattering approach. An expression is derived for the radiation force on a multilayered sphere centered on the axis of a Gaussian standing wave propagating in an ideal fluid. The effects of the sound absorption of the materials and sound wave on acoustic radiation force of a multilayered sphere immersed in water are analyzed, with particular emphasis on the shell thickness of every layer, and the width of the Gaussian beam. The results reveal that the existence of particle trapping behavior depends on the choice of the non-dimensional frequency ka, as well as the shell thickness of each layer. This study provides a theoretical basis for the development of acoustical tweezers in a Gaussian standing wave, which may benefit the improvement and development of acoustic control technology, such as trapping, sorting, and assembling a cell, and drug delivery applications. Project supported by National Key R&D Program (Grant No. 2016YFF0203000), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11774167 and 61571222), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (Grant No. 020414380001), the Key Laboratory of Underwater Acoustic Environment, Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. SSHJ-KFKT-1701), and the AQSIQ Technology R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2017QK125).

Multilayer coating of optical substrates by ion beam sputtering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daniel, M. V.; Demmler, M.

2017-10-01

Ion beam sputtering is well established in research and industry, despite its relatively low deposition rates compared to electron beam evaporation. Typical applications are coatings of precision optics, like filters, mirrors and beam splitter. Anti-reflective or high-reflective multilayer stacks benefit from the high mobility of the sputtered particles on the substrate surface and the good mechanical characteristics of the layers. This work gives the basic route from single layer optimization of reactive ion beam sputtered Ta2O5 and SiO2 thin films towards complex multilayer stacks for high-reflective mirrors and anti-reflective coatings. Therefore films were deposited using different oxygen flow into the deposition chamber Afterwards, mechanical (density, stress, surface morphology, crystalline phases) and optical properties (reflectivity, absorption and refractive index) were characterized. These knowledge was used to deposit a multilayer coating for a high reflective mirror.

Dr. John H. Hopps Jr. Defense Research Scholars Program

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-16

Summer 2011) Post -Graduation Plans • Employed as a mechanical engineer at Allegion. • Applying to graduate programs in industrial design and mechanical...Summer 2010) • Multi-Layer Mirror Design for Ultra-Soft X-Rays, Ecole Polytechnique (Summer 2011) Post -Graduation Plans • Post Baccalaureate Research...the year off to work while others planned on strengthening their applications by broadening their research skills in post baccalaureate programs

An Integrated Multi-layer Approach for Seamless Soft Handoff in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

network to showcase how to leverage the IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover ( MIH ) framework [3] in our handoff solution. Moreover, to further...to the seamless handoff problem. The architecture leverages the IEEE 802.21 MIH standard to facilitate handover related decisions on multiple...provided by the MIH function (MIHF), the topology control manager dynamically activates/deactivates the wireless interfaces to ensure the network is

Pressure driven digital logic in PDMS based microfluidic devices fabricated by multilayer soft lithography.

PubMed

Devaraju, Naga Sai Gopi K; Unger, Marc A

2012-11-21

Advances in microfluidics now allow an unprecedented level of parallelization and integration of biochemical reactions. However, one challenge still faced by the field has been the complexity and cost of the control hardware: one external pressure signal has been required for each independently actuated set of valves on chip. Using a simple post-modification to the multilayer soft lithography fabrication process, we present a new implementation of digital fluidic logic fully analogous to electronic logic with significant performance advances over the previous implementations. We demonstrate a novel normally closed static gain valve capable of modulating pressure signals in a fashion analogous to an electronic transistor. We utilize these valves to build complex fluidic logic circuits capable of arbitrary control of flows by processing binary input signals (pressure (1) and atmosphere (0)). We demonstrate logic gates and devices including NOT, NAND and NOR gates, bi-stable flip-flops, gated flip-flops (latches), oscillators, self-driven peristaltic pumps, delay flip-flops, and a 12-bit shift register built using static gain valves. This fluidic logic shows cascade-ability, feedback, programmability, bi-stability, and autonomous control capability. This implementation of fluidic logic yields significantly smaller devices, higher clock rates, simple designs, easy fabrication, and integration into MSL microfluidics.

Robust Multilayer Insulation for Cryogenic Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fesmire, J. E.; Scholtens, B. F.; Augustynowicz, S. D.

2007-01-01

New requirements for thermal insulation include robust Multilayer insulation (MU) systems that work for a range of environments from high vacuum to no vacuum. Improved MLI systems must be simple to install and maintain while meeting the life-cycle cost and thermal performance objectives. Performance of actual MLI systems has been previously shown to be much worse than ideal MLI. Spacecraft that must contain cryogens for both lunar service (high vacuum) and ground launch operations (no vacuum) are planned. Future cryogenic spacecraft for the soft vacuum environment of Mars are also envisioned. Industry products using robust MLI can benefit from improved cost-efficiency and system safety. Novel materials have been developed to operate as excellent thermal insulators at vacuum levels that are much less stringent than the absolute high vacuum requirement of current MLI systems. One such robust system, Layered Composite Insulation (LCI), has been developed by the Cryogenics Test Laboratory at NASA Kennedy Space Center. The experimental testing and development of LCI is the focus of this paper. LCI thermal performance under cryogenic conditions is shown to be six times better than MLI at soft vacuum and similar to MLI at high vacuum. The experimental apparent thermal conductivity (k-value) and heat flux data for LCI systems are compared with other MLI systems.

Soft, thin skin-mounted power management systems and their use in wireless thermography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Jung Woo; Xu, Renxiao; Lee, Seungmin; Jang, Kyung-In; Yang, Yichen; Banks, Anthony; Yu, Ki Jun; Kim, Jeonghyun; Xu, Sheng; Ma, Siyi; Jang, Sung Woo; Won, Phillip; Li, Yuhang; Kim, Bong Hoon; Choe, Jo Young; Huh, Soojeong; Kwon, Yong Ho; Huang, Yonggang; Paik, Ungyu; Rogers, John A.

2016-05-01

Power supply represents a critical challenge in the development of body-integrated electronic technologies. Although recent research establishes an impressive variety of options in energy storage (batteries and supercapacitors) and generation (triboelectric, piezoelectric, thermoelectric, and photovoltaic devices), the modest electrical performance and/or the absence of soft, biocompatible mechanical properties limit their practical use. The results presented here form the basis of soft, skin-compatible means for efficient photovoltaic generation and high-capacity storage of electrical power using dual-junction, compound semiconductor solar cells and chip-scale, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, respectively. Miniaturized components, deformable interconnects, optimized array layouts, and dual-composition elastomer substrates, superstrates, and encapsulation layers represent key features. Systematic studies of the materials and mechanics identify optimized designs, including unusual configurations that exploit a folded, multilayer construct to improve the functional density without adversely affecting the soft, stretchable characteristics. System-level examples exploit such technologies in fully wireless sensors for precision skin thermography, with capabilities in continuous data logging and local processing, validated through demonstrations on volunteer subjects in various realistic scenarios.

Soft, thin skin-mounted power management systems and their use in wireless thermography.

PubMed

Lee, Jung Woo; Xu, Renxiao; Lee, Seungmin; Jang, Kyung-In; Yang, Yichen; Banks, Anthony; Yu, Ki Jun; Kim, Jeonghyun; Xu, Sheng; Ma, Siyi; Jang, Sung Woo; Won, Phillip; Li, Yuhang; Kim, Bong Hoon; Choe, Jo Young; Huh, Soojeong; Kwon, Yong Ho; Huang, Yonggang; Paik, Ungyu; Rogers, John A

2016-05-31

Power supply represents a critical challenge in the development of body-integrated electronic technologies. Although recent research establishes an impressive variety of options in energy storage (batteries and supercapacitors) and generation (triboelectric, piezoelectric, thermoelectric, and photovoltaic devices), the modest electrical performance and/or the absence of soft, biocompatible mechanical properties limit their practical use. The results presented here form the basis of soft, skin-compatible means for efficient photovoltaic generation and high-capacity storage of electrical power using dual-junction, compound semiconductor solar cells and chip-scale, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, respectively. Miniaturized components, deformable interconnects, optimized array layouts, and dual-composition elastomer substrates, superstrates, and encapsulation layers represent key features. Systematic studies of the materials and mechanics identify optimized designs, including unusual configurations that exploit a folded, multilayer construct to improve the functional density without adversely affecting the soft, stretchable characteristics. System-level examples exploit such technologies in fully wireless sensors for precision skin thermography, with capabilities in continuous data logging and local processing, validated through demonstrations on volunteer subjects in various realistic scenarios.

Soft, thin skin-mounted power management systems and their use in wireless thermography

PubMed Central

Lee, Jung Woo; Xu, Renxiao; Lee, Seungmin; Jang, Kyung-In; Yang, Yichen; Banks, Anthony; Yu, Ki Jun; Kim, Jeonghyun; Xu, Sheng; Ma, Siyi; Jang, Sung Woo; Won, Phillip; Li, Yuhang; Kim, Bong Hoon; Choe, Jo Young; Huh, Soojeong; Kwon, Yong Ho; Huang, Yonggang; Paik, Ungyu; Rogers, John A.

2016-01-01

Power supply represents a critical challenge in the development of body-integrated electronic technologies. Although recent research establishes an impressive variety of options in energy storage (batteries and supercapacitors) and generation (triboelectric, piezoelectric, thermoelectric, and photovoltaic devices), the modest electrical performance and/or the absence of soft, biocompatible mechanical properties limit their practical use. The results presented here form the basis of soft, skin-compatible means for efficient photovoltaic generation and high-capacity storage of electrical power using dual-junction, compound semiconductor solar cells and chip-scale, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, respectively. Miniaturized components, deformable interconnects, optimized array layouts, and dual-composition elastomer substrates, superstrates, and encapsulation layers represent key features. Systematic studies of the materials and mechanics identify optimized designs, including unusual configurations that exploit a folded, multilayer construct to improve the functional density without adversely affecting the soft, stretchable characteristics. System-level examples exploit such technologies in fully wireless sensors for precision skin thermography, with capabilities in continuous data logging and local processing, validated through demonstrations on volunteer subjects in various realistic scenarios. PMID:27185907

Limiting diffusion current at rotating disk electrode with dense particle layer.

PubMed

Weroński, P; Nosek, M; Batys, P

2013-09-28

Exploiting the concept of diffusion permeability of multilayer gel membrane and porous multilayer we have derived a simple analytical equation for the limiting diffusion current at rotating disk electrode (RDE) covered by a thin layer with variable tortuosity and porosity, under the assumption of negligible convection in the porous film. The variation of limiting diffusion current with the porosity and tortuosity of the film can be described in terms of the equivalent thickness of stagnant solution layer, i.e., the average ratio of squared tortuosity to porosity. In case of monolayer of monodisperse spherical particles, the equivalent layer thickness is an algebraic function of the surface coverage. Thus, by means of cyclic voltammetry of RDE with a deposited particle monolayer we can determine the monolayer surface coverage. The effect of particle layer adsorbed on the surface of RDE increases non-linearly with surface coverage. We have tested our theoretical results experimentally by means of cyclic voltammetry measurements of limiting diffusion current at the glassy carbon RDE covered with a monolayer of 3 μm silica particles. The theoretical and experimental results are in a good agreement at the surface coverage higher than 0.7. This result suggests that convection in a monolayer of 3 μm monodisperse spherical particles is negligibly small, in the context of the coverage determination, in the range of very dense particle layers.

Controlling particle properties in {{YBa}}_{2}{{Cu}}_{3}{{\\rm{O}}}_{7-\\delta } nanocomposites by combining PLD with an inert gas condensation system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sparing, M.; Reich, E.; Hänisch, J.; Gottschall, T.; Hühne, R.; Fähler, S.; Rellinghaus, B.; Schultz, L.; Holzapfel, B.

2017-10-01

The critical current density {J}{{c}} in {{YBa}}2{{Cu}}3{{{O}}}7-δ thin films, which limits their application in external magnetic fields, can be enhanced by the introduction of artificial pinning centers such as non-superconducting nanoparticles inducing additional defects and local strain in the superconducting matrix. To understand the correlation between superconductivity, defect structures and particles, a controlled integration of particles with adjustable properties is essential. A powerful technique for the growth of isolated nanoparticles in the range of 10 nm is dc-magnetron sputtering in an inert gas flow. The inert gas condensation (IGC) of particles allows for an independent control of both the particle diameter distribution and the areal density. We report on the integration of such gas-phase-condensed {{HfO}}2 nanoparticles into pulsed laser deposited (PLD) {{YBa}}2{{Cu}}3{{{O}}}7-δ thin film multilayers with a combined PLD-IGC system. The particles and the structure of the multilayers are analyzed by transmission electron microscopy on cross-sectional FIB lamellae. As a result of the IGC particle implementation, randomly as well as biaxially oriented {{BaHfO}}3 precipitates are formed in the {{YBa}}2{{Cu}}3{{{O}}}7-δ thin films. With as few as three interlayers of nanoparticles, the pinning force density is enhanced in the low-field region.

High concentration agglomerate dynamics at high temperatures.

PubMed

Heine, M C; Pratsinis, S E

2006-11-21

The dynamics of agglomerate aerosols are investigated at high solids concentrations that are typical in industrial scale manufacture of fine particles (precursor mole fraction larger than 10 mol %). In particular, formation and growth of fumed silica at such concentrations by chemical reaction, coagulation, and sintering is simulated at nonisothermal conditions and compared to limited experimental data and commercial product specifications. Using recent chemical kinetics for silica formation by SiCl4 hydrolysis and neglecting aerosol polydispersity, the evolution of the diameter of primary particles (specific surface area, SSA), hard- and soft-agglomerates, along with agglomerate effective volume fraction (volume occupied by agglomerate) is investigated. Classic Smoluchowski theory is fundamentally limited for description of soft-agglomerate Brownian coagulation at high solids concentrations. In fact, these high concentrations affect little the primary particle diameter (or SSA) but dominate the soft-agglomerate diameter, structure, and volume fraction, leading to gelation consistent with experimental data. This indicates that restructuring and fragmentation should affect product particle characteristics during high-temperature synthesis of nanostructured particles at high concentrations in aerosol flow reactors.

Development of soft-sphere contact models for thermal heat conduction in granular flows

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Morris, A. B.; Pannala, S.; Ma, Z.

2016-06-08

Conductive heat transfer to flowing particles occurs when two particles (or a particle and wall) come into contact. The direct conduction between the two bodies depends on the collision dynamics, namely the size of the contact area and the duration of contact. For soft-sphere discrete-particle simulations, it is computationally expensive to resolve the true collision time because doing so would require a restrictively small numerical time step. To improve the computational speed, it is common to increase the 'softness' of the material to artificially increase the collision time, but doing so affects the heat transfer. In this work, two physically-basedmore » correction terms are derived to compensate for the increased contact area and time stemming from artificial particle softening. By including both correction terms, the impact that artificial softening has on the conductive heat transfer is removed, thus enabling simulations at greatly reduced computational times without sacrificing physical accuracy.« less

The orientation of iron–sulphur clusters in membrane multilayers prepared from aerobically-grown Escherichia coli K12 and a cytochrome-deficient mutant

PubMed Central

Blum, Haywood; Poole, Robert K.; Ohnishi, Tomoko

1980-01-01

1. Membrane particles prepared from ultrasonically-disrupted, aerobically-grown Escherichia coli were centrifuged on to a plastic film that was supported perpendicular to the centrifugal field to yield oriented membrane multilayers. In such preparations, there is a high degree of orientation of the planes of the membranes such that they lie parallel to each other and to the supporting film. 2. When dithionite- or succinate-reduced multilayers are rotated in the magnetic field of an e.p.r. spectrometer, about an axis lying in the membrane plane, angular-dependent signals from an iron–sulphur cluster at gx=1.92, gy=1.93 and gz=2.02 are seen. The g=1.93 signal has maximal amplitude when the plane of the multilayer is perpendicular to the magnetic field. Conversely, the g=2.02 signal is maximal when the plane of the multilayer is parallel with the magnetic field. 3. Computer simulations of the experimental data show that the cluster lies in the cytoplasmic membrane with the gy axis perpendicular to the membrane plane and with the gx and gz axes lying in the membrane plane. 4. In partially-oxidized multilayers, a signal resembling the mitochondrial high-potential iron–sulphur protein (Hipip) is seen whose gz=2.02 axis may be deduced as lying perpendicular to the membrane plane. 5. Appropriate choice of sample temperature and receiver gain reveals two further signals in partially-reduced multilayers: a g=2.09 signal arises from a cluster with its gz axis in the membrane plane, whereas a g=2.04 signal is from a cluster with the gz axis lying along the membrane normal. 6. Membrane particles from a glucose-grown, haem-deficient mutant contain dramatically-lowered levels of cytochromes and exhibit, in addition to the iron–sulphur clusters seen in the parental strain, a major signal at g=1.90. 7. Only the latter may be demonstrated to be oriented in multilayer preparations from the mutant. 8. Comparisons are drawn between the orientations of the iron–sulphur proteins in the cytoplasmic membrane of E. coli and those in mitochondrial membranes. The effects of diminished cytochrome content on the properties of the iron–sulphur proteins are discussed. PMID:6258566

Rearrangements and Yielding in Concentrated Suspensions of Hard and Soft Colloids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petekidis, Georgios; Carrier, Vincent; Vlassoppoulos, Dimitris; Pusey, Peter; Ballauff, Matthias

2004-03-01

The rheology and microscopic particle rearrangements of concentrated colloidal suspensions were studied by a combination of conventional rheology and Light Scattering under shear (LS Echo). In particular we studied the rheological response and the microscopic particle dynamics under shear near and above the glass transitions concentration. Measurements were done in model hard and soft sphere particles (sterically stabilized PMMA and PS-PNIPA microgels respectively) to assess the effect of inter-particle interactions. Creep and recovery measurements and dynamic strain sweeps showed that glasses of hard particles can tolerate surprisingly large strains, up to at least 15probes the extent of irreversible particle rearrangement under oscillatory shear, verified that within their cage particles move reversibly at least up to such a strain. Such a behavior was attributed to 'cage elasticity', the ability of a particle and its neighbors to retain their relative positions within the cage under quite large distortion [1]. The onset of irreversible rearrangements measured by LS echo decreased with decreasing frequency revealing an interplay between shear and Brownian forces. The effects of interparticle interactions were studied using soft thermoreversible migrogel particles where a glass state may be reached either increasing the particle concentration or decreasing the temperature. Here, although particle rearrangements appear to be reversible up to strains as high as 100sweep is observed at much lower strains. [1] G. Petekidis, D. Vlassopoulos and P.N. Pusey, Faraday Discuss., 123, 287 (2003)

Multilayer Semiconductor Charged-Particle Spectrometers for Accelerator Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gurov, Yu. B.; Lapushkin, S. V.; Sandukovsky, V. G.; Chernyshev, B. A.

2018-03-01

The current state of studies in the field of development of multilayer semiconductor systems (semiconductor detector (SCD) telescopes), which allow the energy to be precisely measured within a large dynamic range (from a few to a few hundred MeV) and the particles to be identified in a wide mass range (from pions to multiply charged nuclear fragments), is presented. The techniques for manufacturing the SCD telescopes from silicon and high-purity germanium are described. The issues of measuring characteristics of the constructed detectors and their impact on the energy resolution of the SCD telescopes and on the quality of the experimental data are considered. Much attention is given to the use of the constructed semiconductor devices in experimental studies at accelerators of PNPI (Gatchina), LANL (Los Alamos) and CELSIUS (Uppsala).

Development of multi-layer crystal detector and related front end electronics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cardarelli, R.; Di Ciaccio, A.; Paolozzi, L.

2014-05-01

A crystal (diamond) particle detector has been developed and tested, whose constitute elements are a multi-layer polycrystalline diamond and a pick-up system capable of collecting in parallel the charge produced in the layers. The charge is read with a charge-to-voltage amplifier (5-6 mV/fC) realized with bipolar junction transistors in order to minimize the effect of the detector capacitance. The tests performed with cosmic rays and at the beam test facility of Frascati with 500 MeV electrons in single electron mode operation have shown that a detector with 4-5 layers of 250 μm thickness each and 9 mm2 active area exhibits an upper limit of 150 ps time resolution for minimum ionizing particles at an operating voltage of about 350 V.

Transfer matrix method for four-flux radiative transfer.

PubMed

Slovick, Brian; Flom, Zachary; Zipp, Lucas; Krishnamurthy, Srini

2017-07-20

We develop a transfer matrix method for four-flux radiative transfer, which is ideally suited for studying transport through multiple scattering layers. The model predicts the specular and diffuse reflection and transmission of multilayer composite films, including interface reflections, for diffuse or collimated incidence. For spherical particles in the diffusion approximation, we derive closed-form expressions for the matrix coefficients and show remarkable agreement with numerical Monte Carlo simulations for a range of absorption values and film thicknesses, and for an example multilayer slab.

The surface properties of Shewanella putrefaciens 200 and S. oneidensis MR-1: the effect of pH and terminal electron acceptors.

PubMed

Furukawa, Yoko; Dale, Jason R

2013-04-08

We investigated the surface characteristics of two strains of Shewanella sp., S. oneidensis MR-1 and S. putrefaciens 200, that were grown under aerobic conditions as well as under anaerobic conditions with trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) as the electron acceptor. The investigation focused on the experimental determination of electrophoretic mobility (EPM) under a range of pH and ionic strength, as well as by subsequent modeling in which Shewanella cells were considered to be soft particles with water- and ion-permeable outermost layers. The soft layer of p200 is significantly more highly charged (i.e., more negative) than that of MR-1. The effect of electron acceptor on the soft particle characteristics of Shewanella sp. is complex. The fixed charge density, which is a measure of the deionized and deprotonated functional groups in the soft layer polymers, is slightly greater (i.e., more negative) for aerobically grown p200 than for p200 grown with TMAO. On the other hand, the fixed charge density of aerobically grown MR1 is slightly less than that of p200 grown with TMAO. The effect of pH on the soft particle characteristics is also complex, and does not exhibit a clear pH-dependent trend. The Shewanella surface characteristics were attributed to the nature of the outermost soft layer, the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in case of p200 and lypopolysaccharides (LPS) in case of MR1 which generally lacks EPS. The growth conditions (i.e., aerobic vs. anaerobic TMAO) have an influence on the soft layer characteristics of Shewanella sp. cells. Meanwhile, the clear pH dependency of the mechanical and morphological characteristics of EPS and LPS layers, observed in previous studies through atomic force microscopy, adhesion tests and spectroscopies, cannot be corroborated by the electrohydrodynamics-based soft particle characteristics which does not exhibited a clear pH dependency in this study. While the electrohydrodynamics-based soft-particle model is a useful tool in understanding bacteria's surface properties, it needs to be supplemented with other characterization methods and models (e.g., chemical and micromechanical) in order to comprehensively address all of the surface-related characteristics important in environmental and other aqueous processes.

Laser plasma source for soft x-ray imaging in CIOM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shao, Zhongxing; Wang, Zhanshan; Xu, Fengming; Lu, Junxia; Chen, Xingdan

1997-10-01

We previously reported 18 nm Schwartzchild microscope by using a laser plasma source. Now we are planning to improve our Nd:YAG laser system and the multilayers mirror of Mo/B4C instead of Mo/Si, for producing shorter wavelength radiation and developing a new soft x-ray imaging setup. To compress the pulse width of the laser, the SBS (Stimulated Brillouin Scattering) cells is available. To short the wavelength to the 4th harmonics of the laser with high as 0.4 J energy per pulse, the hindrance is the low, less than 20%, nonlinear conversion efficiency. In this paper we are going to briefly introduce the new method to overcome the hindrance and the configuration of the SBS cell.

Normal-incidence soft X-ray telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spiller, Eberhard; Mccorkle, R. A.; Wilczynski, J. S.; Golub, Leon; Nystrom, G.; Takacs, P. Z.; Welch, C.

1991-01-01

Photos obtained during 5 min of observation time from the flight of a 25-cm-diameter normal-incidence soft-X-ray (63.5 A) telescope on September 11, 1989, are analyzed, and the data are compared to the results expected from tests of the mirror surfaces. These tests cover a range of spatial periods from 25 cm to 1 A. The photos demonstrate a resolution close to the photon shot-noise limit and a reduction in the scattering of the multilayer mirror compared to a single surface for scattering angles above 1 arcmin, corrresponding to surface irregularities with spatial periods below 10 microns. These results are used to predict the possible performance of future telescopes. Sounding rocket observations might be able to reach a resolution around 0.1 arcsec.

Electroosmotic velocity in an array of parallel soft cylinders in a salt-free medium.

PubMed

Ohshima, Hiroyuki

2004-11-15

A theory of electroosmosis in an array of parallel soft cylinders (i.e. polyelectrolyte-coated cylinders) in a salt-free medium is presented. It is shown that there is a certain critical value of the particle charge and that if the particle charge is greater than the critical value, then the electroosmotic velocity becomes constant independent of the particle charge due to the counterion condensation effects, as in the case of other electrokinetic phenomena in salt-free media.

Multilayered nano-architecture of variable sized graphene nanosheets for enhanced supercapacitor electrode performance.

PubMed

Biswas, Sanjib; Drzal, Lawrence T

2010-08-01

The diverse physical and chemical aspects of graphene nanosheets such as particle size surface area and edge chemistry were combined to fabricate a new supercapacitor electrode architecture consisting of a highly aligned network of large-sized nanosheets as a series of current collectors within a multilayer configuration of bulk electrode. Capillary driven self-assembly of monolayers of graphene nanosheets was employed to create a flexible, multilayer, free-standing film of highly hydrophobic nanosheets over large macroscopic areas. This nanoarchitecture exhibits a high-frequency capacitative response and a nearly rectangular cyclic voltammogram at 1000 mV/s scanning rate and possesses a rapid current response, small equivalent series resistance (ESR), and fast ionic diffusion for high-power electrical double-layer capacitor (EDLC) application.

Background-reducing X-ray multilayer mirror

DOEpatents

Bloch, Jeffrey J.; Roussel-Dupre', Diane; Smith, Barham W.

1992-01-01

Background-reducing x-ray multilayer mirror. A multiple-layer "wavetrap" deposited over the surface of a layered, synthetic-microstructure soft x-ray mirror optimized for reflectivity at chosen wavelengths is disclosed for reducing the reflectivity of undesired, longer wavelength incident radiation incident thereon. In three separate mirror designs employing an alternating molybdenum and silicon layered, mirrored structure overlaid by two layers of a molybdenum/silicon pair anti-reflection coating, reflectivities of near normal incidence 133, 171, and 186 .ANG. wavelengths have been optimized, while that at 304 .ANG. has been minimized. The optimization process involves the choice of materials, the composition of the layer/pairs as well as the number thereof, and the distance therebetween for the mirror, and the simultaneous choice of materials, the composition of the layer/pairs, and their number and distance for the "wavetrap."

Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array. IV - The soft X-ray and extreme ultraviolet filters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lindblom, Joakim F.; O'Neal, Ray H.; Walker, Arthur B. C., Jr.; Powell, Forbes R.; Barbee, Troy W., Jr.; Hoover, Richard B.

1991-01-01

NASA's Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array uses various combinations of thin foil filters composed of Al, C, Te, Be, Mo, Rh, and phthalocyanine to achieve the requisite radiation-rejection characteristics. Such rejection is demanded by the presence of strong EUV radiation at longer wavelengths where the specular reflectivity of multilayer mirrors can cause 'contamination' of the image in the narrow band defined by the Bragg condition.

Dehomogenized Elastic Properties of Heterogeneous Layered Materials in AFM Indentation Experiments.

PubMed

Lee, Jia-Jye; Rao, Satish; Kaushik, Gaurav; Azeloglu, Evren U; Costa, Kevin D

2018-06-05

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is used to study mechanical properties of biological materials at submicron length scales. However, such samples are often structurally heterogeneous even at the local level, with different regions having distinct mechanical properties. Physical or chemical disruption can isolate individual structural elements but may alter the properties being measured. Therefore, to determine the micromechanical properties of intact heterogeneous multilayered samples indented by AFM, we propose the Hybrid Eshelby Decomposition (HED) analysis, which combines a modified homogenization theory and finite element modeling to extract layer-specific elastic moduli of composite structures from single indentations, utilizing knowledge of the component distribution to achieve solution uniqueness. Using finite element model-simulated indentation of layered samples with micron-scale thickness dimensions, biologically relevant elastic properties for incompressible soft tissues, and layer-specific heterogeneity of an order of magnitude or less, HED analysis recovered the prescribed modulus values typically within 10% error. Experimental validation using bilayer spin-coated polydimethylsiloxane samples also yielded self-consistent layer-specific modulus values whether arranged as stiff layer on soft substrate or soft layer on stiff substrate. We further examined a biophysical application by characterizing layer-specific microelastic properties of full-thickness mouse aortic wall tissue, demonstrating that the HED-extracted modulus of the tunica media was more than fivefold stiffer than the intima and not significantly different from direct indentation of exposed media tissue. Our results show that the elastic properties of surface and subsurface layers of microscale synthetic and biological samples can be simultaneously extracted from the composite material response to AFM indentation. HED analysis offers a robust approach to studying regional micromechanics of heterogeneous multilayered samples without destructively separating individual components before testing. Copyright © 2018 Biophysical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Relating structure and flow of soft colloids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kundu, S. K.; Gupta, S.; Stellbrink, J.; Willner, L.; Richter, D.

2013-11-01

To relate the complex macroscopic flow of soft colloids to details of its microscopic equilibrium and non-equilibrium structure is still one big challenge in soft matter science. We investigated several well-defined colloidal model systems like star polymers or diblock copolymer micelles by linear/non-linear rheology, static/dynamic light scattering (SLS/DLS) and small angle neutron scattering (SANS). In addition, in-situ SANS experiments during shear (Rheo-SANS) revealed directly shear induced structural changes on a microscopic level. Varying the molecular architecture of the individual colloidal particle as well as particle-particle interactions and covering at the same time a broad concentration range from the very dilute to highly concentrated, glassy regime, we could separate contributions from intra- and inter-particle softness. Both can be precisely "tuned" by varying systematically the functionality, 6 ≤ f≤ 64, for star polymers or aggregation number, 30 ≤ N agg ≤ 1000 for diblock copolymer micelles, as well as the degree of polymerization of the individual polymer arm 100 ≤ D p ≤ 3000. In dilute solutions, the characteristic shear rate at which deformation of the soft colloid is observed can be related to the Zimm time of the polymeric corona. In concentrated solutions, we validated a generalized Stokes-Einstein approach to describe the increase in macroscopic viscosity and mesoscopic self diffusion coefficient on approaching the glassy regime. Both can be explained in terms of an ultra-soft interaction potential. Moreover, non-equilibrium structure factors are obtained by Rheo-SANS. All experimental results are in excellent quantitative agreement with recent theoretical predictions.

Interrelation of soft and hard X-ray emissions during solar flares. II - Simulation model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Winglee, R. M.; Dulk, G. A.; Bornmann, P. L.; Brown, J. C.

1991-01-01

Two-dimensional electrostatic particle simulations are presented which incorporate the effect of quasi-static electric fields on particle dynamics as well as effects associated with wave-particle interactions induced by the accelerated particles. The properties of the soft and hard X-ray and microwave emissions from such systems are examined. In particular, it is shown that acceleration by quasi-static electric fields and heating via wave-particle interactions produces electron distributions with a broken-power law, similar to those inferred from hard X-ray spectra. Also, heating of the ambient plasma gives rise to a region of hot plasma propagating down to the chromosphere at about the ion sound speed.

The effect of concentration in the patterning of silica particles by the soft lithographic technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Akanksha; Malek, Chantal Khan; Kulkarni, Sulabha K.

2008-12-01

Soft lithography provides remarkable surface patterning techniques to organize colloidal particles for a wide variety of applications. In particular, micromolding in capillaries (MIMIC) has emerged as a patterning method in the nanometer to micrometer scale in a single step by using templating and directing nanoparticles via capillary forces in the channel. The present work reports the results of the micropatterning of monodispersed silica particles of ~338 ± 2 nm size in ethanol medium, using MIMIC on silicon substrates. The effect of the concentration of silica particles on the patterning has been investigated. The patterns are well aligned and completely filled at 2 wt% concentration of silica particles.

Preparation and Layer-by-Layer Solution Deposition of Cu(In,Ga)O2 Nanoparticles with Conversion to Cu(In,Ga)S2 Films

PubMed Central

Dressick, Walter J.; Soto, Carissa M.; Fontana, Jake; Baker, Colin C.; Myers, Jason D.; Frantz, Jesse A.; Kim, Woohong

2014-01-01

We present a method of Cu(In,Ga)S2 (CIGS) thin film formation via conversion of layer-by-layer (LbL) assembled Cu-In-Ga oxide (CIGO) nanoparticles and polyelectrolytes. CIGO nanoparticles were created via a novel flame-spray pyrolysis method using metal nitrate precursors, subsequently coated with polyallylamine (PAH), and dispersed in aqueous solution. Multilayer films were assembled by alternately dipping quartz, Si, and/or Mo substrates into a solution of either polydopamine (PDA) or polystyrenesulfonate (PSS) and then in the CIGO-PAH dispersion to fabricate films as thick as 1–2 microns. PSS/CIGO-PAH films were found to be inadequate due to weak adhesion to the Si and Mo substrates, excessive particle diffusion during sulfurization, and mechanical softness ill-suited to further processing. PDA/CIGO-PAH films, in contrast, were more mechanically robust and more tolerant of high temperature processing. After LbL deposition, films were oxidized to remove polymer and sulfurized at high temperature under flowing hydrogen sulfide to convert CIGO to CIGS. Complete film conversion from the oxide to the sulfide is confirmed by X-ray diffraction characterization. PMID:24941104

MULPEX: a compact multi-layered polymer foil collector for micrometeoroids and orbital debris.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kearsley, A. T.; Graham, G. A.; Burchell, M. J.; Taylor, E. A.; Drolshagen, G.; Chater, R. J.; McPhail, D.

Detailed studies of preserved hypervelocity impact residues on spacecraft multi-layer insulation foils have yielded important information about the flux of small particles from different sources in low-Earth orbit (LEO). We have extended our earlier research on impacts occurring in LEO to design and testing of a compact capture device. MULPEX (MUlti-Layer Polymer EXperiment) is simple, cheap to build, lightweight, of no power demand, easy to deploy, and optimised for the efficient collection of impact residue for analysis on return to Earth. The capture medium is a stack of very thin (8 micron and 40 micron) polyimide foils, supported on poly-tetrafluoroethylene sheet frames, surrounded by a protective aluminium casing. The uppermost foil has a very thin metallic coating for thermal protection and resistance to atomic oxygen and ultra-violet exposure. The casing provides a simple detachable interface for deployment on the spacecraft, facing into the desired direction for particle collection. On return to the laboratory, the stacked foils are separated for examination in a variable pressure scanning electron microscope, without need for surface coating. Analysis of impact residue is performed using energy dispersive X-ray spectrometers. Our laboratory experiments, utilising buck-shot firings of analogues to micrometeoroids (35-38 micron olivine) and space debris (4 micron alumina and 1mm stainless steel) in a light gas gun, have shown that impact residue is abundant within the foil layers, and preserves a record of the impacting particle, whether of micrometer or millimetre dimensions. Penetrations of the top foil are easily recognised, and act as a proxy for dimensions of the penetrating particle. Impact may cause disruption and melting, but some residue retains sufficient crystallographic structure to show clear Raman lines, diagnostic of the original mineral.

Development of three-dimensional integrated microchannel-electrode system to understand the particles' movement with electrokinetics

PubMed Central

Obara, H.; Sapkota, A.; Takei, M.

2016-01-01

An optical transparent 3-D Integrated Microchannel-Electrode System (3-DIMES) has been developed to understand the particles' movement with electrokinetics in the microchannel. In this system, 40 multilayered electrodes are embedded at the 2 opposite sides along the 5 square cross-sections of the microchannel by using Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems technology in order to achieve the optical transparency at the other 2 opposite sides. The concept of the 3-DIMES is that the particles are driven by electrokinetic forces which are dielectrophoretic force, thermal buoyancy, electrothermal force, and electroosmotic force in a three-dimensional scope by selecting the excitation multilayered electrodes. As a first step to understand the particles' movement driven by electrokinetic forces in high conductive fluid (phosphate buffer saline (PBS)) with the 3-DIMES, the velocities of particles' movement with one pair of the electrodes are measured three dimensionally by Particle Image Velocimetry technique in PBS; meanwhile, low conductive fluid (deionized water) is used as a reference. Then, the particles' movement driven by the electrokinetic forces is discussed theoretically to estimate dominant forces exerting on the particles. Finally, from the theoretical estimation, the particles' movement mainly results from the dominant forces which are thermal buoyancy and electrothermal force, while the velocity vortex formed at the 2 edges of the electrodes is because of the electroosmotic force. The conclusions suggest that the 3-DIMES with PBS as high conductive fluid helps to understand the three-dimensional advantageous flow structures for cell manipulation in biomedical applications. PMID:27042247

Microstructures and magnetic properties of Co-Al-O granular thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohnuma, M.; Hono, K.; Onodera, H.; Ohnuma, S.; Fujimori, H.; Pedersen, J. S.

2000-01-01

The microstructures of Co-Al-O thin films of wide varieties of compositions are studied by transmission electron microscopy and small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). In the superparamagnetic specimens, high resolution electron microscope images reveal that isolated spherical Co particles are surrounded by an amorphous aluminum oxide matrix. However, in the soft ferromagnetic films, the shape of the Co particles is prolate ellipsoidal. SAXS intensities from the soft magnetic specimens decrease inversely with the wave vector, q, in a low wave-vector region, while an interparticle interference peak is observed for the superparamagnetic specimens. The scattering profiles of the soft magnetic films imply that the Co particles have a cylindrical shape and are randomly oriented. The correlation between the magnetic properties and the microstructures is discussed.

Low-voltage, large-strain soft electrothermal actuators based on laser-reduced graphene oxide/Ag particle composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Qian; Li, Yu-Tao; Zhang, Tian-Yu; Wang, Dan-Yang; Tian, Ye; Yan, Jun-Chao; Tian, He; Yang, Yi; Yang, Fan; Ren, Tian-Ling

2018-03-01

In this paper, low-voltage, large-strain flexible electrothermal actuators (ETAs) based on laser-reduced graphene oxide (LRGO)/Ag particle composites were fabricated in a simple and cost-efficient process. By adding Ag particles to the LRGO, the sheet resistance decreased effectively. Under a driving voltage of 28 V, the actuator obtained a bending angle of 192° within 6 s. Besides, the bending deformation could be precisely controlled by the driving voltage ranging from 10° to 192°. Finally, a gripper composed of two actuators was demonstrated to manipulate a piece of polydimethylsiloxane block. With the advantages of low-voltage, fast-response, and easy-to-manufacture, the graphene based ETAs have a promising application in soft robotics and soft machines.

A deformation mechanism of hard metal surrounded by soft metal during roll forming

PubMed Central

YU, Hailiang; TIEU, A. Kiet; LU, Cheng; LIU, Xiong; GODBOLE, Ajit; LI, Huijun; KONG, Charlie; QIN, Qinghua

2014-01-01

It is interesting to imagine what would happen when a mixture of soft-boiled eggs and stones is deformed together. A foil made of pure Ti is stronger than that made of Cu. When a composite Cu/Ti foil deforms, the harder Ti will penetrate into the softer Cu in the convex shapes according to previously reported results. In this paper, we describe the fabrication of multilayer Cu/Ti foils by the roll bonding technique and report our observations. The experimental results lead us to propose a new deformation mechanism for a hard metal surrounded by a soft metal during rolling of a laminated foil, particularly when the thickness of hard metal foil (Ti, 25 μm) is much less than that of the soft metal foil (Cu, 300 μm). Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) imaging results show that the hard metal penetrates into the soft metal in the form of concave protrusions. Finite element simulations of the rolling process of a Cu/Ti/Cu composite foil are described. Finally, we focus on an analysis of the deformation mechanism of Ti foils and its effects on grain refinement, and propose a grain refinement mechanism from the inside to the outside of the laminates during rolling. PMID:24853192

High resolution spectroscopic mapping imaging applied in situ to multilayer structures for stratigraphic identification of painted art objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karagiannis, Georgios Th.

2016-04-01

The development of non-destructive techniques is a reality in the field of conservation science. These techniques are usually not so accurate, as the analytical micro-sampling techniques, however, the proper development of soft-computing techniques can improve their accuracy. In this work, we propose a real-time fast acquisition spectroscopic mapping imaging system that operates from the ultraviolet to mid infrared (UV/Vis/nIR/mIR) area of the electromagnetic spectrum and it is supported by a set of soft-computing methods to identify the materials that exist in a stratigraphic structure of paint layers. Particularly, the system acquires spectra in diffuse-reflectance mode, scanning in a Region-Of-Interest (ROI), and having wavelength range from 200 up to 5000 nm. Also, a fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm, i.e., the particular soft-computing algorithm, produces the mapping images. The evaluation of the method was tested on a byzantine painted icon.

Analysis of Soft Error Rates in 65- and 28-nm FD-SOI Processes Depending on BOX Region Thickness and Body Bias by Monte-Carlo Based Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Kuiyuan; Umehara, Shigehiro; Yamaguchi, Junki; Furuta, Jun; Kobayashi, Kazutoshi

2016-08-01

This paper analyzes how body bias and BOX region thickness affect soft error rates in 65-nm SOTB (Silicon on Thin BOX) and 28-nm UTBB (Ultra Thin Body and BOX) FD-SOI processes. Soft errors are induced by alpha-particle and neutron irradiation and the results are then analyzed by Monte Carlo based simulation using PHITS-TCAD. The alpha-particle-induced single event upset (SEU) cross-section and neutron-induced soft error rate (SER) obtained by simulation are consistent with measurement results. We clarify that SERs decreased in response to an increase in the BOX thickness for SOTB while SERs in UTBB are independent of BOX thickness. We also discover SOTB develops a higher tolerance to soft errors when reverse body bias is applied while UTBB become more susceptible.

The role of ions in the self-healing behavior of soft particle suspensions

PubMed Central

Scotti, Andrea; Gasser, Urs; Herman, Emily S.; Pelaez-Fernandez, Miguel; Han, Jun; Menzel, Andreas; Lyon, L. Andrew; Fernández-Nieves, Alberto

2016-01-01

Impurities in crystals generally cause point defects and can even suppress crystallization. This general rule, however, does not apply to colloidal crystals formed by soft microgel particles [Iyer ASJ, Lyon LA (2009) Angew Chem Int Ed 48:4562–4566], as, in this case, the larger particles are able to shrink and join the crystal formed by a majority of smaller particles. Using small-angle X-ray scattering, we find the limit in large-particle concentration for this spontaneous deswelling to persist. We rationalize our data in the context of those counterions that are bound to the microgel particles as a result of the electrostatic attraction exerted by the fixed charges residing on the particle periphery. These bound counterions do not contribute to the suspension osmotic pressure in dilute conditions, as they can be seen as internal degrees of freedom associated with each microgel particle. In contrast, at sufficiently high particle concentrations, the counterion cloud of each particle overlaps with that of its neighbors, allowing these ions to freely explore the space outside the particles. We confirm this scenario by directly measuring the osmotic pressure of the suspension. Because these counterions are then no longer bound, they create an osmotic pressure difference between the inside and outside of the microgels, which, if larger than the microgel bulk modulus, can cause deswelling, explaining why large, soft microgel particles feel the squeeze when suspended with a majority of smaller particles. We perform small-angle neutron scattering measurements to further confirm this remarkable behavior. PMID:27125854

On the theory of hysteretic magnetostriction of soft ferrogels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zubarev, Andrey; Chirikov, Dmitry; Stepanov, Gennady; Borin, Dmitry; Lopez-Lopez, M. T.

2018-05-01

The paper deals with theoretical study of hysteretic magnetostriction of soft ferrogels - composite materials, consisting of the micron-sized magnetizable particles embedded into gel matrices. It is supposed that initially, before application of an external magnetic field, the particles are homogeneously and isotropically distributed in an elastic matrix. The theoretical explanation of the hysteresis phenomena is based on the conception that, under the field action, the particles rearrange into the linear chain-like aggregates. The typical length of the chains is determined by the competition between the force of magnetic attraction of the particles and the force of elastic deformation of the matrix.

Hollow multilayer microcapsules for pH-/thermally responsive drug delivery using aliphatic poly(urethane-amine) as smart component.

PubMed

Shi, Jun; Du, Chao; Shi, Jin; Wang, Yaming; Cao, Shaokui

2013-04-01

Hollow multilayer microcapsules made of aliphatic poly(urethane-amine) (PUA) and sodium poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS), templated on PSS-doped CaCO3 particles, are prepared for pH-/thermally responsive drug delivery. The electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonding under weak-acid conditions between aliphatic PUA and PSS contribute to the formation of multilayer microcapsules. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results demonstrate an obvious variation of the hollow multilayer microcapsules in response to changes in temperature and pH value. Drug-release behaviors using DOX as a model drug demonstrate that the drug release increases on decreasing the pH value because of the interaction weakness between aliphatic PUA and PSS in acidic conditions. Moreover, the drug release is higher at 55 °C than that at 37 °C for the sake of the shrinkage of aliphatic PUA above its lower critical solution temperature (LCST). Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Evolution of network architecture in a granular material under compression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papadopoulos, Lia; Puckett, James G.; Daniels, Karen E.; Bassett, Danielle S.

2016-09-01

As a granular material is compressed, the particles and forces within the system arrange to form complex and heterogeneous collective structures. Force chains are a prime example of such structures, and are thought to constrain bulk properties such as mechanical stability and acoustic transmission. However, capturing and characterizing the evolving nature of the intrinsic inhomogeneity and mesoscale architecture of granular systems can be challenging. A growing body of work has shown that graph theoretic approaches may provide a useful foundation for tackling these problems. Here, we extend the current approaches by utilizing multilayer networks as a framework for directly quantifying the progression of mesoscale architecture in a compressed granular system. We examine a quasi-two-dimensional aggregate of photoelastic disks, subject to biaxial compressions through a series of small, quasistatic steps. Treating particles as network nodes and interparticle forces as network edges, we construct a multilayer network for the system by linking together the series of static force networks that exist at each strain step. We then extract the inherent mesoscale structure from the system by using a generalization of community detection methods to multilayer networks, and we define quantitative measures to characterize the changes in this structure throughout the compression process. We separately consider the network of normal and tangential forces, and find that they display a different progression throughout compression. To test the sensitivity of the network model to particle properties, we examine whether the method can distinguish a subsystem of low-friction particles within a bath of higher-friction particles. We find that this can be achieved by considering the network of tangential forces, and that the community structure is better able to separate the subsystem than a purely local measure of interparticle forces alone. The results discussed throughout this study suggest that these network science techniques may provide a direct way to compare and classify data from systems under different external conditions or with different physical makeup.

A multilayer shallow water system for polydisperse sedimentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernández-Nieto, E. D.; Koné, E. H.; Morales de Luna, T.; Bürger, R.

2013-04-01

This work considers the flow of a fluid containing one disperse substance consisting of small particles that belong to different species differing in size and density. The flow is modelled by combining a multilayer shallow water approach with a polydisperse sedimentation process. This technique allows one to keep information on the vertical distribution of the solid particles in the mixture, and thereby to model the segregation of the particle species from each other, and from the fluid, taking place in the vertical direction of the gravity body force only. This polydisperse sedimentation process is described by the well-known Masliyah-Lockett-Bassoon (MLB) velocity functions. The resulting multilayer sedimentation-flow model can be written as a hyperbolic system with nonconservative products. The definitions of the nonconservative products are related to the hydrostatic pressure and to the mass and momentum hydrodynamic transfer terms between the layers. For the numerical discretization a strategy of two steps is proposed, where the first one is also divided into two parts. In the first step, instead of approximating the complete model, we approximate a reduced model with a smaller number of unknowns. Then, taking advantage of the fact that the concentrations are passive scalars in the system, we approximate the concentrations of the different species by an upwind scheme related to the numerical flux of the total concentration. In the second step, the effect of the transference terms defined in terms of the MLB model is introduced. These transfer terms are approximated by using a numerical flux function used to discretize the 1D vertical polydisperse model, see Bürger et al. [ R. Bürger, A. García, K.H. Karlsen, J.D. Towers, A family of numerical schemes for kinematic flows with discontinuous flux, J. Eng. Math. 60 (2008) 387-425]. Finally, some numerical examples are presented. Numerical results suggest that the multilayer shallow water model could be adequate in situations where the settling takes place from a suspension that undergoes horizontal movement.

Preparation and properties of DLC/MoS2 multilayer coatings for high humidity tribology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Xiaoyu; Lu, Zhibin; Wu, Guizhi; Zhang, Guangan; Wang, Liping; Xue, Qunji

2016-06-01

The DLC/MoS2 multilayer coatings with different modulus ratios were deposited by magnetron sputtering in this study. The morphology, structure, composition, mechanical properties and tribological properties were investigated using several analytical techniques (FESEM, AFM, TEM, AES, XPS, nanoindentation and high humidity tribological test). The results showed that the well-defined multilayer coatings were composed of densely packed particles in which many nanocrystallines with some kinds of defects were distributed in matrix. The incorporation of oxygen into the lattice led to the degraded chemical stability. The coating’s hardness and elastic modulus were almost in the same range. Moderate improvement on the high humidity tribological properties were obtained, which was important for the extension of the service life of MoS2 in humid air.

Nanomechanical investigation of thin-film electroceramic/metal-organic framework multilayers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Best, James P.; Michler, Johann; Liu, Jianxi; Wang, Zhengbang; Tsotsalas, Manuel; Maeder, Xavier; Röse, Silvana; Oberst, Vanessa; Liu, Jinxuan; Walheim, Stefan; Gliemann, Hartmut; Weidler, Peter G.; Redel, Engelbert; Wöll, Christof

2015-09-01

Thin-film multilayer stacks of mechanically hard magnetron sputtered indium tin oxide (ITO) and mechanically soft highly porous surface anchored metal-organic framework (SURMOF) HKUST-1 were studied using nanoindentation. Crystalline, continuous, and monolithic surface anchored MOF thin films were fabricated using a liquid-phase epitaxial growth method. Control over respective fabrication processes allowed for tuning of the thickness of the thin film systems with a high degree of precision. It was found that the mechanical indentation of such thin films is significantly affected by the substrate properties; however, elastic parameters were able to be decoupled for constituent thin-film materials (EITO ≈ 96.7 GPa, EHKUST-1 ≈ 22.0 GPa). For indentation of multilayer stacks, it was found that as the layer thicknesses were increased, while holding the relative thickness of ITO and HKUST-1 constant, the resistance to deformation was significantly altered. Such an observation is likely due to small, albeit significant, changes in film texture, interfacial roughness, size effects, and controlling deformation mechanism as a result of increasing material deposition during processing. Such effects may have consequences regarding the rational mechanical design and utilization of MOF-based hybrid thin-film devices.

Protein-Nanoparticle Interactions: Improving Immobilized Lytic Enzyme Activity and Surface Energy Effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Downs, Emily Elizabeth

Protein-nanostructure conjugates, particularly particles, are a subject of significant interest due to changes in their fundamental behavior compared to bulk surfaces. As the size scale of nano-structured materials and proteins are on the same order of magnitude, nanomaterial properties can heavily influence how proteins adsorb and conform to the surface. Previous work has demonstrated the ability of nanoscale surfaces to modulate protein activity, conformation, and retention by modifying the particle surface curvature, morphology, and surface charge. This work has improved our understanding of the protein material interactions, but a complete understanding is still lacking. The goal of this thesis is to investigate two missing areas of understanding using two distinct systems. The first system utilizes a particle with controlled surface energy to observe the impact of surface energy on protein-particle interactions, while the second system uses a modified Listeria-specific protein to determine how protein structure and flexibility affects protein adsorption and activity on particles. Spherical, amorphous, and uniformly doped Zn-silica particles with tailored surface energies were synthesized to understand the impact of surface energy on protein adsorption behavior. Particle surface energy increased with a decrease in particle size and greater dopant concentrations. Protein adsorption and structural loss increased with both particle size and particle surface energy. Higher surface energies promoted protein-particle association and increased protein unfolding. Particle curvature and protein steric hindrance effects limited adsorption and structural loss on smaller particles. Protein surface charge heterogeneity was also found to be linked to both protein adsorption and unfolding behavior on larger particles. Greater surface charge heterogeneity led to higher adsorption concentrations and multilayer formation. These multilayers transitioned from protein-particle interactions to protein-protein interactions and were thicker with greater surface energy, which resulted in the recovery of secondary structure in the outermost layer. To help understand the impact of protein structure on nano-bio conjugate interactions, a listeria specific protein was used. This system was chosen as it has applications in the food industry in preventing bacterial contamination. The insertion of an amino acid linker between the enzymatic and binding domain of the protein improved the flexibility between domains, leading to increased adsorption, and improved activity in both cell-wall and plating assays. Additionally, linker modified protein incorporated into the silica-polymer nanocomposite showed significant activity in a real-world example of contaminated lettuce. This thesis study has isolated the impact of surface energy and protein flexibility on protein adsorption and structure. Particle surface energy affects adsorbed protein concentration and conformation. Coupled with protein surface charge, surface energy was also found to dictate multilayer thickness. The conformational flexibility of the protein was shown to help in controlling not only protein adsorption concentration but also in retaining protein activity after immobilization. Also, a controllable synthesis method for particles with adjustable surface energy, an ideal platform for studying protein-particle interactions, has been established.

Design and analysis of aspherical multilayer imaging X-ray microscope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shealy, David L.; Jiang, WU; Hoover, Richard B.

1991-01-01

Spherical Schwarzschild microscopes for soft X-ray applications in microscopy and projection lithography employ two concentric spherical mirrors that are configured such that the third-order spherical aberration and coma are zero. Based on incoherent, sine-wave MTF calculations, the object-plane resolution of a magnification-factor-20 microscope is presently analyzed as a function of object height and numerical aperture of the primary for several spherical Schwarzschild, conic, and aspherical two-mirror microscope configurations.

Integrated Microfluidic Variable Optical Attenuator

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-11-28

Quantum Electron. 5, pp. 1289–1297 (1999). 5. G. Z. Xiao, Z. Zhang, and C. P. Grover, “A variable optical attenuator based on a straight polymer –silica...1998). 18. Y. Huang, G.T. Paloczi, J. K. S. Poon, and A. Yariv, “Bottom-up soft-lithographic fabrication of three- dimensional multilayer polymer ...quality without damaging polymer materials under high temperatures, resulting in a core index of 1.561 and cladding index of 1.546. The refractive

Towards human-controlled, real-time shape sensing based flexible needle steering for MRI-guided percutaneous therapies.

PubMed

Li, Meng; Li, Gang; Gonenc, Berk; Duan, Xingguang; Iordachita, Iulian

2017-06-01

Accurate needle placement into soft tissue is essential to percutaneous prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment procedures. This paper discusses the steering of a 20 gauge (G) FBG-integrated needle with three sets of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors. A fourth-order polynomial shape reconstruction method is introduced and compared with previous approaches. To control the needle, a bicycle model based navigation method is developed to provide visual guidance lines for clinicians. A real-time model updating method is proposed for needle steering inside inhomogeneous tissue. A series of experiments were performed to evaluate the proposed needle shape reconstruction, visual guidance and real-time model updating methods. Targeting experiments were performed in soft plastic phantoms and in vitro tissues with insertion depths ranging between 90 and 120 mm. Average targeting errors calculated based upon the acquired camera images were 0.40 ± 0.35 mm in homogeneous plastic phantoms, 0.61 ± 0.45 mm in multilayer plastic phantoms and 0.69 ± 0.25 mm in ex vivo tissue. Results endorse the feasibility and accuracy of the needle shape reconstruction and visual guidance methods developed in this work. The approach implemented for the multilayer phantom study could facilitate accurate needle placement efforts in real inhomogeneous tissues. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Long-chain amine-templated synthesis of gallium sulfide and gallium selenide nanotubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seral-Ascaso, A.; Metel, S.; Pokle, A.; Backes, C.; Zhang, C. J.; Nerl, H. C.; Rode, K.; Berner, N. C.; Downing, C.; McEvoy, N.; Muñoz, E.; Harvey, A.; Gholamvand, Z.; Duesberg, G. S.; Coleman, J. N.; Nicolosi, V.

2016-06-01

We describe the soft chemistry synthesis of amine-templated gallium chalcogenide nanotubes through the reaction of gallium(iii) acetylacetonate and the chalcogen (sulfur, selenium) using a mixture of long-chain amines (hexadecylamine and dodecylamine) as a solvent. Beyond their role as solvent, the amines also act as a template, directing the growth of discrete units with a one-dimensional multilayer tubular nanostructure. These new materials, which broaden the family of amine-stabilized gallium chalcogenides, can be tentatively classified as direct large band gap semiconductors. Their preliminary performance as active material for electrodes in lithium ion batteries has also been tested, demonstrating great potential in energy storage field even without optimization.We describe the soft chemistry synthesis of amine-templated gallium chalcogenide nanotubes through the reaction of gallium(iii) acetylacetonate and the chalcogen (sulfur, selenium) using a mixture of long-chain amines (hexadecylamine and dodecylamine) as a solvent. Beyond their role as solvent, the amines also act as a template, directing the growth of discrete units with a one-dimensional multilayer tubular nanostructure. These new materials, which broaden the family of amine-stabilized gallium chalcogenides, can be tentatively classified as direct large band gap semiconductors. Their preliminary performance as active material for electrodes in lithium ion batteries has also been tested, demonstrating great potential in energy storage field even without optimization. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c6nr01663d

Modeling multi-layer effects in passive microwave remote sensing of dry snow using Dense Media Radiative Transfer Theory (DMRT) based on quasicrystalline approximation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Liang, D.; Xu, X.; Tsang, L.; Andreadis, K.M.; Josberger, E.G.

2008-01-01

The Dense Media Radiative Transfer theory (DMRT) of Quasicrystalline Approximation of Mie scattering by sticky particles is used to study the multiple scattering effects in layered snow in microwave remote sensing. Results are illustrated for various snow profile characteristics. Polarization differences and frequency dependences of multilayer snow model are significantly different from that of the single-layer snow model. Comparisons are also made with CLPX data using snow parameters as given by the VIC model. ?? 2007 IEEE.

Responsive and Adaptive Micro Wrinkles on Organic-inorganic Hybrid Materials.

PubMed

Takahashi, Masahide

2018-04-24

A buckling induced wrinkling is a general phenomenon in daily life, which is induced by mechanical instability at the interface of multi-layered systems. Variety of applications have been proposed for wrinkles in nano to micrometer periodicity on the surface of soft materials. In recent decades, researchers are trying to use wrinkles for variety of sophisticated applications such as micro pattern fabrication, control of wettability, templating/directing substrate for elongated nano materials or virus, size-selective adsorption/desorption of functional objects, cells or microorganisms, delamination induced material fabrication such as micro-rolls, substrates for stretchable electronics, valves for microfluidic devices and soft actuators. Herein, recent advances on the fabrication and application of micro-wrinkles are reviewed. © 2018 The Chemical Society of Japan & Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Soft x-ray reduction camera for submicron lithography

DOEpatents

Hawryluk, Andrew M.; Seppala, Lynn G.

1991-01-01

Soft x-ray projection lithography can be performed using x-ray optical components and spherical imaging lenses (mirrors), which form an x-ray reduction camera. The x-ray reduction is capable of projecting a 5x demagnified image of a mask onto a resist coated wafer using 4.5 nm radiation. The diffraction limited resolution of this design is about 135 nm with a depth of field of about 2.8 microns and a field of view of 0.2 cm.sup.2. X-ray reflecting masks (patterned x-ray multilayer mirrors) which are fabricated on thick substrates and can be made relatively distortion free are used, with a laser produced plasma for the source. Higher resolution and/or larger areas are possible by varying the optic figures of the components and source characteristics.

Programmable and Bidirectional Bending of Soft Actuators Based on Janus Structure with Sticky Tough PAA-Clay Hydrogel.

PubMed

Zhao, Lei; Huang, Jiahe; Zhang, Yuancheng; Wang, Tao; Sun, Weixiang; Tong, Zhen

2017-04-05

Facile preparation, rapid actuating, and versatile actions are great challenges in exploring new kinds of hydrogel actuators. In this paper, we presented a facile sticking method to prepare Janus bilayer and multilayer hydrogel actuators that benefited from a special tough and adhesive PAA-clay hydrogel. Combining physical and chemical cross-linking reagents, we endowed the PAA gel with both toughness and adhesion. This PAA gel was reinforced by further cross-linking with Fe 3+ . These two hydrogels with different cross-linking densities exhibited different swelling capabilities and moduli in the media manipulated by pH and ionic strength, thus acting as promising candidates for soft actuators. On the basis of these gels, we designed hydrogel actuators of rapid response in several minutes and precisely controlled actuating direction by sticking two hydrogel layers together. Elaborate soft actuators such as bidirectional bending flytrap, gel hand with grasp, open, and gesturing actions as well as word-writing actuator were prepared. This method could be generalized by using other stimuli-responsive hydrogels combined with the adhesive PAA gel, which would open a new way to programmable and versatile soft actuators.

Soft-Bake Purification of SWCNTs Produced by Pulsed Laser Vaporization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yowell, Leonard; Nikolaev, Pavel; Gorelik, Olga; Allada, Rama Kumar; Sosa, Edward; Arepalli, Sivaram

2013-01-01

The "soft-bake" method is a simple and reliable initial purification step first proposed by researchers at Rice University for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) produced by high-pressure carbon mon oxide disproportionation (HiPco). Soft-baking consists of annealing as-produced (raw) SWCNT, at low temperatures in humid air, in order to degrade the heavy graphitic shells that surround metal particle impurities. Once these shells are cracked open by the expansion and slow oxidation of the metal particles, the metal impurities can be digested through treatment with hydrochloric acid. The soft-baking of SWCNT produced by pulsed-laser vaporization (PLV) is not straightforward, because the larger average SWCNT diameters (.1.4 nm) and heavier graphitic shells surrounding metal particles call for increased temperatures during soft-bake. A part of the technology development focused on optimizing the temperature so that effective cracking of the graphitic shells is balanced with maintaining a reasonable yield, which was a critical aspect of this study. Once the ideal temperature was determined, a number of samples of raw SWCNT were purified using the soft-bake method. An important benefit to this process is the reduced time and effort required for soft-bake versus the standard purification route for SWCNT. The total time spent purifying samples by soft-bake is one week per batch, which equates to a factor of three reduction in the time required for purification as compared to the standard acid purification method. Reduction of the number of steps also appears to be an important factor in improving reproducibility of yield and purity of SWCNT, as small deviations are likely to get amplified over the course of a complicated multi-step purification process.

[Electron microscopic study on the petechial hemorrhagic spots in patients with epidemic hemorrhage fever (EHF)].

PubMed

Wang, S Q; Feng, M; Yang, L

1994-12-01

EHF viral particles were found in the squamous epithelial cells and capillary endothelial cells of the petechial spots located at the mucous membrane of the soft palate in cases of early stage of severe type EHF by transmission electron microscopy. The viral particles are round or oval in shape, about 100 nm in diameter with a lipid bilayer envelope from which spikes are protruding. The virions matured by budding through the intracytoplasmic membranes into the smooth surfaced vesicles. The morphological characteristics of the virion coincided with the viral particles of Family Bunyaviridae. It was the first time to demonstrate that the squamous epithelial cells of the soft palate is one of the target cells in EHF virus infection and to describe the subcellular morphological evidence of the petechial spots at the soft palate by EM.

Study of interface correlation in W/C multilayer structure by specular and non-specular grazing incidence X-ray reflectivity measurements

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Biswas, A., E-mail: arupb@barc.gov.in; Bhattacharyya, D.; Sahoo, N. K.

2015-10-28

W/C/W tri-layer thin film samples have been deposited on c-Si substrates in a home-built Ion Beam Sputtering system at 1.5 × 10{sup −3} Torr Ar working pressure and 10 mA grid current. The tri-layer samples have been deposited at different Ar{sup +} ion energies between 0.6 and 1.2 keV for W layer deposition and the samples have been characterized by specular and non-specular grazing incidence X-ray reflectivity (GIXR) measurements. By analyzing the GIXR spectra, various interface parameters have been obtained for both W-on-C and C-on-W interfaces and optimum Ar{sup +} ion energy for obtaining interfaces with low imperfections has been found. Subsequently, multilayermore » W/C samples with 5-layer, 7-layer, 9-layer, and 13-layer have been deposited at this optimum Ar{sup +} ion energy. By fitting the specular and diffused GIXR data of the multilayer samples with the parameters of each interface as fitting variables, different interface parameters, viz., interface width, in-plane correlation length, interface roughness, and interface diffusion have been estimated for each interface and their variation across the depth of the multilayers have been obtained. The information would be useful in realizing W/C multilayers for soft X-ray mirror application in the <100 Å wavelength regime. The applicability of the “restart of the growth at the interface” model in the case of these ion beam sputter deposited W/C multilayers has also been investigated in the course of this study.« less

[Diagnosis and therapy of particle disease in total hip arthroplasty].

PubMed

Müller, M; Wassilew, G; Perka, C

2015-04-01

Particle disease is caused by periarticular accumulation of attrition particles and the inflammatory reaction of the body's tissue. This process may result in osteolysis or soft tissue transformation which presents itself symptomless in the beginning and can proceed to aseptic implant loosening, fracture, implant breaking as a result of the inappropriate osseous support and to algetic and destructive soft tissue reactions as well. Attrition particles originate from tribological pairing, and the extent of the attrition or the particle concentration depend on different factors as there are the tribological pairing's material, the head size, the patient's level of activity, and the implant position. Attrition particles can also be found in the range of any modular connection. Particle disease and its resulting morphological alterations of the tribological pairing is one of the most frequent reasons for re-operation in hip endoprosthetics. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Soft particles at a fluid interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mehrabian, Hadi; Harting, Jens; Snoeijer, Jacco H.

2015-11-01

Particles added to a fluid interface can be used as a surface stabilizer in the food, oil and cosmetic industries. As an alternative to rigid particles, it is promising to consider highly deformable particles that can adapt their conformation at the interface. In this study, we compute the shapes of soft elastic particles using molecular dynamics simulations of a cross-linked polymer gel, complemented by continuum calculations based on the linear elasticity. It is shown that the particle shape is not only affected by the Young's modulus of the particle, but also strongly depends on whether the gel is partially or completely wetting the fluid interface. We find that the molecular simulations for the partially wetting case are very accurately described by the continuum theory. By contrast, when the gel is completely wetting the fluid interface the linear theory breaks down and we reveal that molecular details have a strong influence on the equilibrium shape.

Particle Hydrodynamics with Material Strength for Multi-Layer Orbital Debris Shield Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fahrenthold, Eric P.

1999-01-01

Three dimensional simulation of oblique hypervelocity impact on orbital debris shielding places extreme demands on computer resources. Research to date has shown that particle models provide the most accurate and efficient means for computer simulation of shield design problems. In order to employ a particle based modeling approach to the wall plate impact portion of the shield design problem, it is essential that particle codes be augmented to represent strength effects. This report describes augmentation of a Lagrangian particle hydrodynamics code developed by the principal investigator, to include strength effects, allowing for the entire shield impact problem to be represented using a single computer code.

Methods for producing complex films, and films produced thereby

DOEpatents

Duty, Chad E.; Bennett, Charlee J. C.; Moon, Ji -Won; Phelps, Tommy J.; Blue, Craig A.; Dai, Quanqin; Hu, Michael Z.; Ivanov, Ilia N.; Jellison, Jr., Gerald E.; Love, Lonnie J.; Ott, Ronald D.; Parish, Chad M.; Walker, Steven

2015-11-24

A method for producing a film, the method comprising melting a layer of precursor particles on a substrate until at least a portion of the melted particles are planarized and merged to produce the film. The invention is also directed to a method for producing a photovoltaic film, the method comprising depositing particles having a photovoltaic or other property onto a substrate, and affixing the particles to the substrate, wherein the particles may or may not be subsequently melted. Also described herein are films produced by these methods, methods for producing a patterned film on a substrate, and methods for producing a multilayer structure.

Importance of pH-regulated charge density on the electrophoresis of soft particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gopmandal, Partha P.; Ohshima, H.

2017-02-01

The present study deals with the electrophoresis of spherical soft particles consisting of an ion and liquid-penetrable but liquid-flow-impenetrable inner core surrounded by an ion and fluid-penetrable polyelectrolyte layer. The inner core is considered to be dielectric and bearing basic functional group coated with polyelectrolyte layer containing acidic functional group. An approximate expression for the electrophoretic mobility of such a particle is obtained under a low potential limit. The electrophoretic behaviour of the undertaken particle is investigated for a wide range of bulk pH values and electrolyte concentrations. Our study also indicates some remarkable features of the electrophoresis e.g., occurrence of zero mobility, mobility reversal etc.

A long-term ultrahigh temperature application of layered silicide coated Nb alloy in air

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Jia; Fu, Qian-Gang; Li, Tao; Wang, Chen; Huo, Cai-Xia; Zhou, Hong; Yang, Guan-Jun; Sun, Le

2018-05-01

Nb-based alloy possessed limited application service life at ultrahigh temperature (>1400 °C) in air even taking the effective protective coating strategy into consideration for last decades. In this work a long duration of above 128 h at 1500 °C in air was successfully achieved on Nb-based alloy thanked to multi-layered silicide coating. Through optimizing interfaces, the MoSi2/NbSi2 silicide coating with Al2O3-adsorbed-particles layer exhibited three-times higher of oxidation resistance capacity than the one without it. In MoSi2-Al2O3-NbSi2 multilayer coating, the Al2O3-adsorbed-particles layer playing as an element-diffusion barrier role, as well as the formed porous Nb5Si3 layer as a stress transition zone, contributed to the significant improvement.

The effects of layers in dry snow on its passive microwave emissions using dense media radiative transfer theory based on the quasicrystalline approximation (QCA/DMRT)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Liang, D.; Xu, X.; Tsang, L.; Andreadis, K.M.; Josberger, E.G.

2008-01-01

A model for the microwave emissions of multilayer dry snowpacks, based on dense media radiative transfer (DMRT) theory with the quasicrystalline approximation (QCA), provides more accurate results when compared to emissions determined by a homogeneous snowpack and other scattering models. The DMRT model accounts for adhesive aggregate effects, which leads to dense media Mie scattering by using a sticky particle model. With the multilayer model, we examined both the frequency and polarization dependence of brightness temperatures (Tb's) from representative snowpacks and compared them to results from a single-layer model and found that the multilayer model predicts higher polarization differences, twice as much, and weaker frequency dependence. We also studied the temporal evolution of Tb from multilayer snowpacks. The difference between Tb's at 18.7 and 36.5 GHz can be S K lower than the single-layer model prediction in this paper. By using the snowpack observations from the Cold Land Processes Field Experiment as input for both multi- and single-layer models, it shows that the multilayer Tb's are in better agreement with the data than the single-layer model. With one set of physical parameters, the multilayer QCA/DMRT model matched all four channels of Tb observations simultaneously, whereas the single-layer model could only reproduce vertically polarized Tb's. Also, the polarization difference and frequency dependence were accurately matched by the multilayer model using the same set of physical parameters. Hence, algorithms for the retrieval of snowpack depth or water equivalent should be based on multilayer scattering models to achieve greater accuracy. ?? 2008 IEEE.

Photocatalytic degradation effect of malachite green and catalytic hydrogenation by UV-illuminated CeO2/CdO multilayered nanoplatelet arrays: Investigation of antifungal and antimicrobial activities.

PubMed

Maria Magdalane, C; Kaviyarasu, K; Judith Vijaya, J; Jayakumar, C; Maaza, M; Jeyaraj, B

2017-04-01

CeO 2 /CdO multi-layered nanoplatelet arrays have been synthesized by sol-gel method at two different temperatures using Citrus limonum fruit extract and the effect of particle size on the photocatalytic performance is studied. The particle size and phases was analysed by X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD) which brought out the formation of cubic phase in the synthesized samples. Field Emission Scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) revealed the surface morphology and made up of cumulative form of platelet shaped arrays with an average size of 10nm. The elemental composition and the purity of the nanomaterials were confirmed by Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). CeO 2 /CdO multilayered binary metal oxide nanoplatelet arrays were formed which was further explored with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), it reveals that the nanocomposites contain CeO and CdO bonds. Determination of the direct and indirect bandgap energy of the nanoplatelet arrays was carried out by UV-Vis-DRS studies. In MG degradation, both the hole (h + ) and hydroxyl radical (OH) played a major role than the superoxide radical (O 2 - ). Possible photo degradation mechanisms are proposed and discussed in this article. CeO 2 /CdO multi-layered nanoplatelet arrays showed antibacterial activity and among the tested ones, it showed better growth inhibition towards P. aeruginosa MTCC73. Thus, this greener synthetic procedure was a highly effective method due to low-cost, highly effective UV light responsive material for environmental safety. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

pH-controlled drug loading and release from biodegradable microcapsules.

PubMed

Zhao, Qinghe; Li, Bingyun

2008-12-01

Microcapsules made of biopolymers are of both scientific and technological interest and have many potential applications in medicine, including their use as controlled drug delivery devices. The present study makes use of the electrostatic interaction between polycations and polyanions to form a multilayered microcapsule shell and also to control the loading and release of charged drug molecules inside the microcapsule. Micron-sized calcium carbonate (CaCO3) particles were synthesized and integrated with chondroitin sulfate (CS) through a reaction between sodium carbonate and calcium nitrate tetrahydrate solutions suspended with CS macromolecules. Oppositely charged biopolymers were alternately deposited onto the synthesized particles using electrostatic layer-by-layer self-assembly, and glutaraldehyde was introduced to cross-link the multilayered shell structure. Microcapsules integrated with CS inside the multilayered shells were obtained after decomposition of the CaCO3 templates. The integration of a matrix (i.e., CS) permitted the subsequent selective control of drug loading and release. The CS-integrated microcapsules were loaded with a model drug, bovine serum albumin labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC-BSA), and it was shown that pH was an effective means of controlling the loading and release of FITC-BSA. Such CS-integrated microcapsules may be used for controlled localized drug delivery as biodegradable devices, which have advantages in reducing systemic side effects and increasing drug efficacy.

Method for Fabricating Soft Tissue Implants with Microscopic Surface Roughness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Banks, Bruce A. (Inventor); Rutledge, Sharon K. (Inventor)

1999-01-01

A method for fabricating soft tissue implants using a mold. The cavity surface of an initially untextured mold. made of an organic material such as epoxy. is given a thin film coating of material that has pinholes and is resistant to atomic particle bombardment. The mold cavity surface is then subjected to atomic particle bombardment, such as when placed in an isotropic atomic oxygen environment. Microscopic depressions in the mold cavity surface are created at the pinhole sites on the thin film coating. The thin film coating is removed and the mold is then used to cast the soft tissue implant. The thin film coating having pinholes may be created by chilling the mold below the dew point such that water vapor condenses upon it; distributing particles, that can partially dissolve and become attached to the mold cavity surface, onto the mold cavity surface; removing the layer of condensate, such as by evaporation; applying the thin film coating over the entire mold surface; and, finally removing the particles, such as by dissolving or brushing it off. Pinholes are created in the thin film coating at the sites previously occupied by the particles.

Binary nanoparticle superlattices of soft-particle systems

DOE PAGES

Travesset, Alex

2015-08-04

The solid-phase diagram of binary systems consisting of particles of diameter σ A=σ and σ B=γσ (γ≤1) interacting with an inverse p = 12 power law is investigated as a paradigm of a soft potential. In addition to the diameter ratio γ that characterizes hard-sphere models, the phase diagram is a function of an additional parameter that controls the relative interaction strength between the different particle types. Phase diagrams are determined from extremes of thermodynamic functions by considering 15 candidate lattices. In general, it is shown that the phase diagram of a soft repulsive potential leads to the morphological diversitymore » observed in experiments with binary nanoparticles, thus providing a general framework to understand their phase diagrams. In addition, particular emphasis is shown to the two most successful crystallization strategies so far: evaporation of solvent from nanoparticles with grafted hydrocarbon ligands and DNA programmable self-assembly.« less

Glass transition of soft colloids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Philippe, Adrian-Marie; Truzzolillo, Domenico; Galvan-Myoshi, Julian; Dieudonné-George, Philippe; Trappe, Véronique; Berthier, Ludovic; Cipelletti, Luca

2018-04-01

We explore the glassy dynamics of soft colloids using microgels and charged particles interacting by steric and screened Coulomb interactions, respectively. In the supercooled regime, the structural relaxation time τα of both systems grows steeply with volume fraction, reminiscent of the behavior of colloidal hard spheres. Computer simulations confirm that the growth of τα on approaching the glass transition is independent of particle softness. By contrast, softness becomes relevant at very large packing fractions when the system falls out of equilibrium. In this nonequilibrium regime, τα depends surprisingly weakly on packing fraction, and time correlation functions exhibit a compressed exponential decay consistent with stress-driven relaxation. The transition to this novel regime coincides with the onset of an anomalous decrease in local order with increasing density typical of ultrasoft systems. We propose that these peculiar dynamics results from the combination of the nonequilibrium aging dynamics expected in the glassy state and the tendency of colloids interacting through soft potentials to refluidize at high packing fractions.

Disintegration kinetics of food gels during gastric digestion and its role on gastric emptying: an in vitro analysis.

PubMed

Guo, Qing; Ye, Aiqian; Lad, Mita; Ferrua, Maria; Dalgleish, Douglas; Singh, Harjinder

2015-03-01

The understanding of the disintegration and gastric emptying of foods in the stomach is important for designing functional foods. In this study, a dynamic stomach model (human gastric simulator, HGS) was employed to investigate the disintegration and subsequent emptying of two differently structured whey protein emulsion gels (soft and hard gels).The gels were mechanically ground into fragments to reproduce the particle size distribution of an in vivo gel bolus. The simulated gel bolus was prepared by mixing gel fragments and artificial saliva, and exposed to 5 hours of simulated gastric digestion in the presence and absence of pepsin. Results showed that regardless of pepsin, the soft gel always disintegrated faster than the hard gel. The presence of pepsin significantly accelerated the disintegration of both gels. In particular, it enhanced abrasion of the soft gel into fine particles (<0.425 mm) after 180 min of processing. The emptying of the gels was influenced by the combined effects of the original particle size of the gel boluses and their disintegration kinetics in the HGS. In the presence or absence of pepsin, the larger particles of the soft gel emptied slower than the hard one during the first 120 min of process. However, in the presence of pepsin, the soft gel emptied faster than the hard one after 120 min because of a higher level of disintegration. These findings highlight the role of food structure, bolus properties and biochemical effects on the disintegration and gastric emptying patterns of gels during gastric digestion.

Modeling of magnetic hystereses in soft MREs filled with NdFeB particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalina, K. A.; Brummund, J.; Metsch, P.; Kästner, M.; Borin, D. Yu; Linke, J. M.; Odenbach, S.

2017-10-01

Herein, we investigate the structure-property relationships of soft magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) filled with remanently magnetizable particles. The study is motivated from experimental results which indicate a large difference between the magnetization loops of soft MREs filled with NdFeB particles and the loops of such particles embedded in a comparatively stiff matrix, e.g. an epoxy resin. We present a microscale model for MREs based on a general continuum formulation of the magnetomechanical boundary value problem which is valid for finite strains. In particular, we develop an energetically consistent constitutive model for the hysteretic magnetization behavior of the magnetically hard particles. The microstructure is discretized and the problem is solved numerically in terms of a coupled nonlinear finite element approach. Since the local magnetic and mechanical fields are resolved explicitly inside the heterogeneous microstructure of the MRE, our model also accounts for interactions of particles close to each other. In order to connect the microscopic fields to effective macroscopic quantities of the MRE, a suitable computational homogenization scheme is used. Based on this modeling approach, it is demonstrated that the observable macroscopic behavior of the considered MREs results from the rotation of the embedded particles. Furthermore, the performed numerical simulations indicate that the reversion of the sample’s magnetization occurs due to a combination of particle rotations and internal domain conversion processes. All of our simulation results obtained for such materials are in a good qualitative agreement with the experiments.

Predicting the dry deposition of atmospheric aerosol particles onto forests using a size-resolved multi-layer second-order closure model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, C.; Launianen, S.; Gronholm, T.; Katul, G. G.

2013-12-01

Biological aerosol particles are now receiving significant attention given their role in air quality, climate change, and spreading of allergens and other communicable diseases. A major uncertainty in their quantification is associated with complex transport processes governing their generation and removal inside canopies. It has been known for some time now that the commonly used first-order closure to link mean concentration gradients with turbulent fluxes is problematic. The presence of a mean counter-gradient momentum transport in an open trunk space exemplifies such failure. Here, instead of employing K-theory, a size-resolved second-order multilayer model for dry particle deposition is proposed. The starting point of the proposed model is a particle flux budget in which the production, transport, and dissipation terms are modeled. Because these terms require higher-order velocity statistics, this flux budget is coupled with a conventional second-order closure scheme for the flow field within the canopy sub-layer. The failure of conventional K-theory for particle fluxes are explicitly linked to the onset of a mean counter or zero - gradient flow attributed to a significant particle flux transport term. The relative importance of these terms in the particle flux budget and their effects on the foliage particle collection terms for also discussed for each particle size. The proposed model is evaluated against published multi-level measurements of sized-resolved particle fluxes and mean concentration profiles collected within and above a tall Scots pine forest in Hyytiala, Southern Finland. The main findings are that (1) first-order closure schemes may be still plausible for modeling particle deposition velocity, especially in the particle size range smaller than 1 μm when the turbulent particle diffusivity is estimated from higher order flow statistics; (2) the mechanisms leading to the increased trend of particle deposition velocity with increasing friction velocity differ for different particle sizes and different levels (i.e. above and below the canopy); (3) the partitioning of particle deposition onto foliage and forest floor appears insensitive to friction velocity for particles smaller than 100 nm, but decreases with increasing friction velocity for particles large than 100 nm.

Fabricating optical phantoms to simulate skin tissue properties and microvasculatures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheng, Shuwei; Wu, Qiang; Han, Yilin; Dong, Erbao; Xu, Ronald

2015-03-01

This paper introduces novel methods to fabricate optical phantoms that simulate the morphologic, optical, and microvascular characteristics of skin tissue. The multi-layer skin-simulating phantom was fabricated by a light-cured 3D printer that mixed and printed the colorless light-curable ink with the absorption and the scattering ingredients for the designated optical properties. The simulated microvascular network was fabricated by a soft lithography process to embed microchannels in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) phantoms. The phantoms also simulated vascular anomalies and hypoxia commonly observed in cancer. A dual-modal multispectral and laser speckle imaging system was used for oxygen and perfusion imaging of the tissue-simulating phantoms. The light-cured 3D printing technique and the soft lithography process may enable freeform fabrication of skin-simulating phantoms that embed microvessels for image and drug delivery applications.

A New Hybrid Viscoelastic Soft Tissue Model based on Meshless Method for Haptic Surgical Simulation

PubMed Central

Bao, Yidong; Wu, Dongmei; Yan, Zhiyuan; Du, Zhijiang

2013-01-01

This paper proposes a hybrid soft tissue model that consists of a multilayer structure and many spheres for surgical simulation system based on meshless. To improve accuracy of the model, tension is added to the three-parameter viscoelastic structure that connects the two spheres. By using haptic device, the three-parameter viscoelastic model (TPM) produces accurate deformationand also has better stress-strain, stress relaxation and creep properties. Stress relaxation and creep formulas have been obtained by mathematical formula derivation. Comparing with the experimental results of the real pig liver which were reported by Evren et al. and Amy et al., the curve lines of stress-strain, stress relaxation and creep of TPM are close to the experimental data of the real liver. Simulated results show that TPM has better real-time, stability and accuracy. PMID:24339837

Soft x-ray reduction camera for submicron lithography

DOEpatents

Hawryluk, A.M.; Seppala, L.G.

1991-03-26

Soft x-ray projection lithography can be performed using x-ray optical components and spherical imaging lenses (mirrors), which form an x-ray reduction camera. The x-ray reduction is capable of projecting a 5x demagnified image of a mask onto a resist coated wafer using 4.5 nm radiation. The diffraction limited resolution of this design is about 135 nm with a depth of field of about 2.8 microns and a field of view of 0.2 cm[sup 2]. X-ray reflecting masks (patterned x-ray multilayer mirrors) which are fabricated on thick substrates and can be made relatively distortion free are used, with a laser produced plasma for the source. Higher resolution and/or larger areas are possible by varying the optic figures of the components and source characteristics. 9 figures.

Surfactant-stable and pH-sensitive liposomes coated with N-succinyl-chitosan and chitooligosaccharide for delivery of quercetin.

PubMed

Seong, Joon Seob; Yun, Mid Eum; Park, Soo Nam

2018-02-01

Layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly of multilayered liposomes is used to improve the stability of conventional liposomes. In this study, the LbL technology was used to prepare novel multilayered liposomes from chitooligosaccharide and N-succinyl-chitosan. We propose that this preparation can be used as a transdermal drug delivery system (TDDS) to enhance stability against surfactants and control drug release. Particle size increased with the number of layers in the multilayer and the zeta potential varied between positive and negative values with alternate deposition of polyelectrolytes. Finally, approximately 300-400nm-thick four-layered liposomes were prepared. These liposomes were more stable against surfactants and showed a relatively high release of quercetin at pH 5.5 than the uncoated liposomes as assessed via in vitro drug release and skin permeation studies. In summary, the multilayered liposomes showed potential for use as a surfactant-stable TDDS that effectively enhanced the permeation of quercetin, a poorly soluble drug, into the skin. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Holographic diagnostics of biological microparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dyomin, Victor V.; Sokolov, Vladimir V.

1996-05-01

Problem of studies of biological microojects is actual one for ecology, medicine, biology. Holographic techniques are useful to solve the problem. The above microojects are transparent or semitransparent ones in a visible light rather often. The case of an optically soft particle, (that is of a particle whose substance has the refractive index close to that of the surrounding medium) is quite probable in biological water suspensions. Some peculiarities of holographing optically soft microparticles are analyzed in this paper. We propose a technique to calculate a light intensity distribution in the plane of a hologram and in the plane of a holographic image of a particle of an arbitrary shape at an arbitrary distance from the latter plane. The efficiency of the approach proposed is demonstrated by calculational results obtained analytically for some simple cases. In a more complicated cases the technique can make a basis for numerical computations. The method of determining of refractive index of transparent and semitransparent microparticles is proposed. We also present in this paper some experimental results on holographic detection of the water drops and such optically soft particles as ovums of helmints in human jaundice.

Tailoring superelasticity of soft magnetic materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cremer, Peet; Löwen, Hartmut; Menzel, Andreas M.

2015-10-01

Embedding magnetic colloidal particles in an elastic polymer matrix leads to smart soft materials that can reversibly be addressed from outside by external magnetic fields. We discover a pronounced nonlinear superelastic stress-strain behavior of such materials using numerical simulations. This behavior results from a combination of two stress-induced mechanisms: a detachment mechanism of embedded particle aggregates and a reorientation mechanism of magnetic moments. The superelastic regime can be reversibly tuned or even be switched on and off by external magnetic fields and thus be tailored during operation. Similarities to the superelastic behavior of shape-memory alloys suggest analogous applications, with the additional benefit of reversible switchability and a higher biocompatibility of soft materials.

Soft Particle Spectrometer, Langmuir Probe, and Data Analysis for Aerospace Magnetospheric/Thermospheric Coupling Rocket Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sharber, J. R.; Frahm, R. A.; Scherrer, J. R.

1997-01-01

Under this grant two instruments, a soft particle spectrometer and a Langmuir probe, were refurbished and calibrated, and flown on three instrumented rocket payloads as part of the Magnetosphere/Thermosphere Coupling program. The flights took place at the Poker Flat Research Range on February 12, 1994 (T(sub o) = 1316:00 UT), February 2, 1995 (T(sub o) = 1527:20 UT), and November 27, 1995 (T(sub o) = 0807:24 UT). In this report the observations of the particle instrumentation flown on all three of the flights are described, and brief descriptions of relevant geophysical activity for each flight are provided. Calibrations of the particle instrumentation for all ARIA flights are also provided.

Soft x-ray coherent diffraction imaging on magnetic nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Xiaowen; Lee, James; Mishra, Shrawan; Parks, Daniel; Tyliszczak, Tolek; Shapiro, David; Roy, Sujoy; Kevan, Steve; Stxm Team At Als Collaboration; Soft X-Ray Microscopy Group At Als Collaboration; Soft X-ray scattering at ALS, LBL Team

2014-03-01

Coherent soft X-rays diffraction imaging enable coherent magnetic resonance scattering at transition metal L-edge to be probed so that magnetic domains could be imaged with very high spatial resolution with phase contrast, reaching sub-10nm. One of the overwhelming advantages of using coherent X-rays is the ability to resolve phase contrast images with linearly polarized light with both phase and absorption contrast comparing to real-space imaging, which can only be studied with circularly polarized light with absorption contrast only. Here we report our first results on high-resolution of magnetic domains imaging of CoPd multilayer thin film with coherent soft X-ray ptychography method. We are aiming to resolve and understand magnetic domain wall structures with the highest obtainable resolution here at Advanced Light Source. In principle types of magnetic domain walls could be studied so that Neel or Bloch walls can be distinguished by imaging. This work at LBNL was supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the US Department of Energy (contract no. DE-AC02- 05CH11231).

Atomic-layer soft plasma etching of MoS2

PubMed Central

Xiao, Shaoqing; Xiao, Peng; Zhang, Xuecheng; Yan, Dawei; Gu, Xiaofeng; Qin, Fang; Ni, Zhenhua; Han, Zhao Jun; Ostrikov, Kostya (Ken)

2016-01-01

Transition from multi-layer to monolayer and sub-monolayer thickness leads to the many exotic properties and distinctive applications of two-dimensional (2D) MoS2. This transition requires atomic-layer-precision thinning of bulk MoS2 without damaging the remaining layers, which presently remains elusive. Here we report a soft, selective and high-throughput atomic-layer-precision etching of MoS2 in SF6 + N2 plasmas with low-energy (<0.4 eV) electrons and minimized ion-bombardment-related damage. Equal numbers of MoS2 layers are removed uniformly across domains with vastly different initial thickness, without affecting the underlying SiO2 substrate and the remaining MoS2 layers. The etching rates can be tuned to achieve complete MoS2 removal and any desired number of MoS2 layers including monolayer. Layer-dependent vibrational and photoluminescence spectra of the etched MoS2 are also demonstrated. This soft plasma etching technique is versatile, scalable, compatible with the semiconductor manufacturing processes, and may be applicable for a broader range of 2D materials and intended device applications. PMID:26813335

Feed-Forward Neural Network Soft-Sensor Modeling of Flotation Process Based on Particle Swarm Optimization and Gravitational Search Algorithm

PubMed Central

Wang, Jie-Sheng; Han, Shuang

2015-01-01

For predicting the key technology indicators (concentrate grade and tailings recovery rate) of flotation process, a feed-forward neural network (FNN) based soft-sensor model optimized by the hybrid algorithm combining particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm and gravitational search algorithm (GSA) is proposed. Although GSA has better optimization capability, it has slow convergence velocity and is easy to fall into local optimum. So in this paper, the velocity vector and position vector of GSA are adjusted by PSO algorithm in order to improve its convergence speed and prediction accuracy. Finally, the proposed hybrid algorithm is adopted to optimize the parameters of FNN soft-sensor model. Simulation results show that the model has better generalization and prediction accuracy for the concentrate grade and tailings recovery rate to meet the online soft-sensor requirements of the real-time control in the flotation process. PMID:26583034

Synthesis, microstructure and magnetic properties of Fe{sub 3}Si{sub 0.7}Al{sub 0.3}@SiO{sub 2} core–shell particles and Fe{sub 3}Si/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} soft magnetic composite core

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Jian, E-mail: snove418562@163.com; Key Laboratory for Ferrous Metallurgy and Resources Utilization of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430081; Fan, Xi’an, E-mail: groupfxa@163.com

2015-11-15

Fe{sub 3}Si{sub 0.7}Al{sub 0.3}@SiO{sub 2} core–shell particles and Fe{sub 3}Si/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} soft magnetic composite core have been synthesized via a modified stöber method combined with following high temperature sintering process. Most of conductive Fe{sub 3}Si{sub 0.7}Al{sub 0.3} particles could be uniformly coated by insulating SiO{sub 2} using the modified stöber method. The Fe{sub 3}Si{sub 0.7}Al{sub 0.3}@SiO{sub 2} core–shell particles exhibited good soft magnetic properties with low coercivity and high saturation magnetization. The reaction 4Al+3SiO{sub 2}=2α-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}+3Si took place during the sintering process. As a result the new Fe{sub 3}Si/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} composite was formed. The Fe{sub 3}Si/Al{sub 2}O{submore » 3} composite core displayed more excellent soft magnetic properties, better frequency stability at high frequencies, much higher electrical resistivity and lower core loss than the pure Fe{sub 3}Si{sub 0.7}Al{sub 0.3} core. The method of introducing insulating layers surrounding magnetic particles provides a promising route to develop new and high compact soft magnetic materials with good magnetic and electric properties. - Graphical abstract: In Fe{sub 3}Si/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} composite, Fe{sub 3}Si phases are separated by Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} layers and the eddy currents are confined in Fe{sub 3}Si phases, thus increasing resistivity and reducing core loss. - Highlights: • Fe{sub 3}Si{sub 0.7}Al{sub 0.3}@SiO{sub 2} core–shell particles and Fe{sub 3}Si/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} cores were prepared. • Fe{sub 3}Si{sub 0.7}Al{sub 0.3} particles could be uniformly coated by nano-sized SiO{sub 2} clusters. • Fe{sub 3}Si{sub 0.7}Al{sub 0.3}@SiO{sub 2} particles and Fe{sub 3}Si/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} cores showed good soft magnetic properties. • Fe{sub 3}Si/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} had lower core loss and better frequency stability than Fe{sub 3}Si{sub 0.7}Al{sub 0.3} cores.« less

Nanoscale Chemical Imaging of an Individual Catalyst Particle with Soft X-ray Ptychography

DOE PAGES

Wise, Anna M.; Weker, Johanna Nelson; Kalirai, Sam; ...

2016-02-26

Understanding Fe deposition in fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysis is critical for the mitigation of catalyst degradation. We employ soft X-ray ptychography to determine at the nanoscale the distribution and chemical state of Fe in an aged FCC catalyst particle. We also show that both particle swelling due to colloidal Fe deposition and Fe penetration into the matrix as a result of precracking of large organic molecules occur. Furthermore, the application of ptychography allowed us to provide direct visual evidence for these two distinct Fe-based deactivation mechanisms, which have so far been proposed only on the basis of indirect evidence.

Soft-x-ray magneto-optical Kerr effect and element-specific hysteresis measurement

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kortright, J.B.; Rice, M.

1997-04-01

Interest in the utilization of x-ray magneto-optical properties to provide element-specific magnetic information, combined with recent development of tunable linear polarizers for spectroscopic polarization measurement, have led the authors to the study of magneto-optical rotation (MOR) near core levels of magnetic atoms in magnetic multilayer and alloy films. Their initial observation of Faraday rotation (in transmission) demonstrated that for Fe MOR is easily measured and is larger at its L{sub 3} resonance than in the near-visible spectral regions. This work also demonstrated that the spectroscopic behavior of the MOR signal in transmission, resulting from the differential reaction of left- andmore » right-circular components of a linearly polarized beam, is related to the magnetic circular dichroism (MCD), or differential absorption, as expected by a Kramers-Kronig transformation. Thus MCD measurements using circular polarization and MOR measurements using linear polarization can provide complementary, and in some cases equivalent, information. On beamline 6.3.2 the authors have begun to investigate soft x-ray MOR in the reflection geometry, the x-ray magneto-optic Kerr effect (XMOKE). Early measurements have demonstrated the ability to measure element-specific hysteresis loops and large rotations compared to analogous near-visible measurements. The authors are investigating the spectral dependence of the XMOKE signal, and have initiated systematic materials studies of sputter-deposited films of Fe, Fe{sub x}Cr{sub 1{minus}x} alloys, and Fe/Cr multilayers.« less

Finger-powered microfluidic systems using multilayer soft lithography and injection molding processes.

PubMed

Iwai, Kosuke; Shih, Kuan Cheng; Lin, Xiao; Brubaker, Thomas A; Sochol, Ryan D; Lin, Liwei

2014-10-07

Point-of-care (POC) and disposable biomedical applications demand low-power microfluidic systems with pumping components that provide controlled pressure sources. Unfortunately, external pumps have hindered the implementation of such microfluidic systems due to limitations associated with portability and power requirements. Here, we propose and demonstrate a 'finger-powered' integrated pumping system as a modular element to provide pressure head for a variety of advanced microfluidic applications, including finger-powered on-chip microdroplet generation. By utilizing a human finger for the actuation force, electrical power sources that are typically needed to generate pressure head were obviated. Passive fluidic diodes were designed and implemented to enable distinct fluids from multiple inlet ports to be pumped using a single actuation source. Both multilayer soft lithography and injection molding processes were investigated for device fabrication and performance. Experimental results revealed that the pressure head generated from a human finger could be tuned based on the geometric characteristics of the pumping system, with a maximum observed pressure of 7.6 ± 0.1 kPa. In addition to the delivery of multiple, distinct fluids into microfluidic channels, we also employed the finger-powered pumping system to achieve the rapid formation of both water-in-oil droplets (106.9 ± 4.3 μm in diameter) and oil-in-water droplets (75.3 ± 12.6 μm in diameter) as well as the encapsulation of endothelial cells in droplets without using any external or electrical controllers.

Mechanical loading regulates human MSC differentiation in a multi-layer hydrogel for osteochondral tissue engineering.

PubMed

Steinmetz, Neven J; Aisenbrey, Elizabeth A; Westbrook, Kristofer K; Qi, H Jerry; Bryant, Stephanie J

2015-07-01

A bioinspired multi-layer hydrogel was developed for the encapsulation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) as a platform for osteochondral tissue engineering. The spatial presentation of biochemical cues, via incorporation of extracellular matrix analogs, and mechanical cues, via both hydrogel crosslink density and externally applied mechanical loads, were characterized in each layer. A simple sequential photopolymerization method was employed to form stable poly(ethylene glycol)-based hydrogels with a soft cartilage-like layer of chondroitin sulfate and low RGD concentrations, a stiff bone-like layer with high RGD concentrations, and an intermediate interfacial layer. Under a compressive load, the variation in hydrogel stiffness within each layer produced high strains in the soft cartilage-like layer, low strains in the stiff bone-like layer, and moderate strains in the interfacial layer. When hMSC-laden hydrogels were cultured statically in osteochondral differentiation media, the local biochemical and matrix stiffness cues were not sufficient to spatially guide hMSC differentiation after 21 days. However dynamic mechanical stimulation led to differentially high expression of collagens with collagen II in the cartilage-like layer, collagen X in the interfacial layer and collagen I in the bone-like layer and mineral deposits localized to the bone layer. Overall, these findings point to external mechanical stimulation as a potent regulator of hMSC differentiation toward osteochondral cellular phenotypes. Copyright © 2015 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Forecasting PM10 in Algiers: efficacy of multilayer perceptron networks.

PubMed

Abderrahim, Hamza; Chellali, Mohammed Reda; Hamou, Ahmed

2016-01-01

Air quality forecasting system has acquired high importance in atmospheric pollution due to its negative impacts on the environment and human health. The artificial neural network is one of the most common soft computing methods that can be pragmatic for carving such complex problem. In this paper, we used a multilayer perceptron neural network to forecast the daily averaged concentration of the respirable suspended particulates with aerodynamic diameter of not more than 10 μm (PM10) in Algiers, Algeria. The data for training and testing the network are based on the data sampled from 2002 to 2006 collected by SAMASAFIA network center at El Hamma station. The meteorological data, air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed, are used as inputs network parameters in the formation of model. The training patterns used correspond to 41 days data. The performance of the developed models was evaluated on the basis index of agreement and other statistical parameters. It was seen that the overall performance of model with 15 neurons is better than the ones with 5 and 10 neurons. The results of multilayer network with as few as one hidden layer and 15 neurons were quite reasonable than the ones with 5 and 10 neurons. Finally, an error around 9% has been reached.

Nanomechanical investigation of thin-film electroceramic/metal-organic framework multilayers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Best, James P., E-mail: james.best@empa.ch, E-mail: engelbert.redel@kit.edu, E-mail: christof.woell@kit.edu; Michler, Johann; Maeder, Xavier

2015-09-07

Thin-film multilayer stacks of mechanically hard magnetron sputtered indium tin oxide (ITO) and mechanically soft highly porous surface anchored metal-organic framework (SURMOF) HKUST-1 were studied using nanoindentation. Crystalline, continuous, and monolithic surface anchored MOF thin films were fabricated using a liquid-phase epitaxial growth method. Control over respective fabrication processes allowed for tuning of the thickness of the thin film systems with a high degree of precision. It was found that the mechanical indentation of such thin films is significantly affected by the substrate properties; however, elastic parameters were able to be decoupled for constituent thin-film materials (E{sub ITO} ≈ 96.7 GPa, E{sub HKUST−1} ≈ 22.0 GPa).more » For indentation of multilayer stacks, it was found that as the layer thicknesses were increased, while holding the relative thickness of ITO and HKUST-1 constant, the resistance to deformation was significantly altered. Such an observation is likely due to small, albeit significant, changes in film texture, interfacial roughness, size effects, and controlling deformation mechanism as a result of increasing material deposition during processing. Such effects may have consequences regarding the rational mechanical design and utilization of MOF-based hybrid thin-film devices.« less

Three-Dimensional Microphase Separation and Synergistic Permeability in Stacked Lipid–Polymer Hybrid Membranes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kang, Minjee; Lee, Byeongdu; Leal, Cecilia

Here, we present new structures of soft-material thin films that augment the functionality of substrate-mediated delivery systems. A hybrid material composed of phospholipids and block copolymers adopts a multilayered membrane structure supported on a solid surface. The hybrid films comprise intentional intramembrane heterogeneities that register across multilayers. These stacked domains convey unprecedented enhancement and control of permeability of solutes across micrometer-thick films. Using grazing incidence X-ray scattering, phase contrast atomic force microscopy, and confocal microscopy, we observed that in each lamella, lipid and polymers partition unevenly within the membrane plane segregating into lipid- or polymer-rich domains. Interestingly, we found evidencemore » that like-domains align in registry across multilayers, thereby making phase separation three-dimensional. Phase boundaries exist over extended length scales to compensate the height mismatch between lipid and polymer molecules. We show that microphase separation in hybrid films can be exploited to augment the capability of drug-eluting substrates. Lipid–polymer hybrid films loaded with paclitaxel show synergistic permeability of drug compared to single-component counterparts. We present a thorough structural study of stacked lipid–polymer hybrid membranes and propose that the presence of registered domains and domain boundaries impart enhanced drug release functionality. This work offers new perspectives in designing thin films for controlled delivery applications« less

Three-Dimensional Microphase Separation and Synergistic Permeability in Stacked Lipid–Polymer Hybrid Membranes

DOE PAGES

Kang, Minjee; Lee, Byeongdu; Leal, Cecilia

2017-10-20

Here, we present new structures of soft-material thin films that augment the functionality of substrate-mediated delivery systems. A hybrid material composed of phospholipids and block copolymers adopts a multilayered membrane structure supported on a solid surface. The hybrid films comprise intentional intramembrane heterogeneities that register across multilayers. These stacked domains convey unprecedented enhancement and control of permeability of solutes across micrometer-thick films. Using grazing incidence X-ray scattering, phase contrast atomic force microscopy, and confocal microscopy, we observed that in each lamella, lipid and polymers partition unevenly within the membrane plane segregating into lipid- or polymer-rich domains. Interestingly, we found evidencemore » that like-domains align in registry across multilayers, thereby making phase separation three-dimensional. Phase boundaries exist over extended length scales to compensate the height mismatch between lipid and polymer molecules. We show that microphase separation in hybrid films can be exploited to augment the capability of drug-eluting substrates. Lipid–polymer hybrid films loaded with paclitaxel show synergistic permeability of drug compared to single-component counterparts. We present a thorough structural study of stacked lipid–polymer hybrid membranes and propose that the presence of registered domains and domain boundaries impart enhanced drug release functionality. This work offers new perspectives in designing thin films for controlled delivery applications« less

Jammed elastic shells - a 3D experimental soft frictionless granular system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jose, Jissy; Blab, Gerhard A.; van Blaaderen, Alfons; Imhof, Arnout

2015-03-01

We present a new experimental system of monodisperse, soft, frictionless, fluorescent labelled elastic shells for the characterization of structure, universal scaling laws and force networks in 3D jammed matter. The interesting fact about these elastic shells is that they can reversibly deform and therefore serve as sensors of local stress in jammed matter. Similar to other soft particles, like emulsion droplets and bubbles in foam, the shells can be packed to volume fractions close to unity, which allows us to characterize the contact force distribution and universal scaling laws as a function of volume fraction, and to compare them with theoretical predictions and numerical simulations. However, our shells, unlike other soft particles, deform rather differently at large stresses. They deform without conserving their inner volume, by forming dimples at contact regions. At each contact one of the shells buckled with a dimple and the other remained spherical, closely resembling overlapping spheres. We conducted 3D quantitative analysis using confocal microscopy and image analysis routines specially developed for these particles. In addition, we analysed the randomness of the process of dimpling, which was found to be volume fraction dependent.

Phase transformation in SiOx/SiO₂ multilayers for optoelectronics and microelectronics applications.

PubMed

Roussel, M; Talbot, E; Pratibha Nalini, R; Gourbilleau, F; Pareige, P

2013-09-01

Due to the quantum confinement, silicon nanoclusters (Si-ncs) embedded in a dielectric matrix are of prime interest for new optoelectronics and microelectronics applications. In this context, SiO(x)/SiO₂ multilayers have been prepared by magnetron sputtering and subsequently annealed to induce phase separation and Si clusters growth. The aim of this paper is to study phase separation processes and formation of nanoclusters in SiO(x)/SiO₂ multilayers by atom probe tomography. Influences of the silicon supersaturation, annealing temperature and SiO(x) and SiO₂ layer thicknesses on the final microstructure have been investigated. It is shown that supersaturation directly determines phase separation regime between nucleation/classical growth and spinodal decomposition. Annealing temperature controls size of the particles and interface with the surrounding matrix. Layer thicknesses directly control Si-nc shapes from spherical to spinodal-like structures. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of the Energetic Igniters Through Integrating B/Ti Nano-Multilayers on TaN Film Bridge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, YiChao; Shi, Wei; Jiang, HongChuan; Cai, XianYao; Deng, XinWu; Xiong, Jie; Zhang, WanLi

2015-05-01

The energetic igniters through integrating B/Ti nano-multilayers on tantalum nitride (TaN) ignition bridge are designed and fabricated. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) results show that nitrogen content has a great influence on the crystalline structure and TCR. TaN films under nitrogen ratio of 0.99 % exhibit a near-zero TCR value of approximately 10 ppm/°C. The scanning electron microscopy demonstrates that the layered structure of the B/Ti multilayer films is clearly visible with sharp and smooth interfaces. The electrical explosion characteristics employing a capacitor discharge firing set at the optimized charging voltage of 45 V reveal an excellent explosion performance by (B/Ti) n /TaN integration film bridge with small ignition delay time, high explosion temperature, much more bright flash of light, and much large quantities of the ejected product particles than TaN film bridge.

Deformation of Soft Tissue and Force Feedback Using the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics

PubMed Central

Liu, Xuemei; Wang, Ruiyi; Li, Yunhua; Song, Dongdong

2015-01-01

We study the deformation and haptic feedback of soft tissue in virtual surgery based on a liver model by using a force feedback device named PHANTOM OMNI developed by SensAble Company in USA. Although a significant amount of research efforts have been dedicated to simulating the behaviors of soft tissue and implementing force feedback, it is still a challenging problem. This paper introduces a kind of meshfree method for deformation simulation of soft tissue and force computation based on viscoelastic mechanical model and smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). Firstly, viscoelastic model can present the mechanical characteristics of soft tissue which greatly promotes the realism. Secondly, SPH has features of meshless technique and self-adaption, which supply higher precision than methods based on meshes for force feedback computation. Finally, a SPH method based on dynamic interaction area is proposed to improve the real time performance of simulation. The results reveal that SPH methodology is suitable for simulating soft tissue deformation and force feedback calculation, and SPH based on dynamic local interaction area has a higher computational efficiency significantly compared with usual SPH. Our algorithm has a bright prospect in the area of virtual surgery. PMID:26417380

Soft particles at fluid interfaces: wetting, structure, and rheology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Isa, Lucio

Most of our current knowledge concerning the behavior of colloidal particles at fluid interfaces is limited to model spherical, hard and uniform objects. Introducing additional complexity, in terms of shape, composition or surface chemistry or by introducing particle softness, opens up a vast range of possibilities to address new fundamental and applied questions in soft matter systems at fluid interfaces. In this talk I will focus on the role of particle softness, taking the case of core-shell microgels as a paradigmatic example. Microgels are highly swollen and cross-linked hydrogel particles that, in parallel with their practical applications, e.g. for emulsion stabilization and surface patterning, are increasingly used as model systems to capture fundamental properties of bulk materials. Most microgel particles develop a core-shell morphology during synthesis, with a more cross-linked core surrounded by a corona of loosely linked and dangling polymer chains. I will first discuss the difference between the wetting of a hard spherical colloid and a core-shell microgel at an oil-water interface, pinpointing the interplay between adsorption at the interface and particle deformation. I will then move on to discuss the interplay between particle morphology and the microstructure and rheological properties of the interface. In particular, I will demonstrate that synchronizing the compression of a core-shell microgel-laden fluid interface with the deposition of the interfacial monolayer makes it possible to transfer the 2D phase diagram of the particles onto a solid substrate, where different positions correspond to different values of the surface pressure and the specific area. Using atomic force microscopy, we analyzed the microstructure of the monolayer and discovered a phase transition between two crystalline phases with the same hexagonal symmetry, but with two different lattice constants. The two phases correspond to shell-shell or core-core inter-particle contacts, respectively, where with increasing surface pressure the former mechanically fail enabling the particle cores to come into contact. In the phase-transition region, clusters of particles in core-core contacts nucleate, melting the surrounding shell-shell crystal, until the whole monolayer moves into the second phase. We furthermore extended our analysis to measure the interfacial rheology of the monolayers as a function of the surface pressure using an interfacial microdisk rheometer; the interfaces always show a strong elastic response, with a dip in the elastic modulus in correspondence of the melting of the shell-shell phase, followed by a steep increase upon formation of a percolating network of the core-core contacts. The presented results highlight the complex interplay between the wetting and deformation of individual soft particles at fluid interfaces and the overall interface microstructure and mechanics. They show strong connections to fundamental studies on phase transitions in two-dimensional systems and pave the way for novel nanoscale surface patterning routes. The author acknowledges financial support from the Swiss National Science Foundation Grant PP00P2-144646/1.

Cryogenic Insulation System for Soft Vacuum

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Augustynowicz, S. D.; Fesmire, J. E.

1999-01-01

The development of a cryogenic insulation system for operation under soft vacuum is presented in this paper. Conventional insulation materials for cryogenic applications can be divided into three levels of thermal performance, in terms of apparent thermal conductivity [k-value in milliwatt per meter-kelvin (mW/m-K)]. System k-values below 0.1 can be achieved for multilayer insulation operating at a vacuum level below 1 x 10(exp -4) torr. For fiberglass or powder operating below 1 x 10(exp -3) torr, k-values of about 2 are obtained. For foam and other materials at ambient pressure, k-values around 30 are typical. New industry and aerospace applications require a versatile, robust, low-cost thermal insulation with performance in the intermediate range. The target for the new composite insulation system is a k-value below 4.8 mW/m-K (R-30) at a soft vacuum level (from 1 to 10 torr) and boundary temperatures of approximately 77 and 293 kelvin (K). Many combinations of radiation shields, spacers, and composite materials were tested from high vacuum to ambient pressure using cryostat boiloff methods. Significant improvement over conventional systems in the soft vacuum range was demonstrated. The new layered composite insulation system was also shown to provide key benefits for high vacuum applications as well.

Control of soft machines using actuators operated by a Braille display.

PubMed

Mosadegh, Bobak; Mazzeo, Aaron D; Shepherd, Robert F; Morin, Stephen A; Gupta, Unmukt; Sani, Idin Zhalehdoust; Lai, David; Takayama, Shuichi; Whitesides, George M

2014-01-07

One strategy for actuating soft machines (e.g., tentacles, grippers, and simple walkers) uses pneumatic inflation of networks of small channels in an elastomeric material. Although the management of a few pneumatic inputs and valves to control pressurized gas is straightforward, the fabrication and operation of manifolds containing many (>50) independent valves is an unsolved problem. Complex pneumatic manifolds-often built for a single purpose-are not easily reconfigured to accommodate the specific inputs (i.e., multiplexing of many fluids, ranges of pressures, and changes in flow rates) required by pneumatic systems. This paper describes a pneumatic manifold comprising a computer-controlled Braille display and a micropneumatic device. The Braille display provides a compact array of 64 piezoelectric actuators that actively close and open elastomeric valves of a micropneumatic device to route pressurized gas within the manifold. The positioning and geometries of the valves and channels in the micropneumatic device dictate the functionality of the pneumatic manifold, and the use of multi-layer soft lithography permits the fabrication of networks in a wide range of configurations with many possible functions. Simply exchanging micropneumatic devices of different designs enables rapid reconfiguration of the pneumatic manifold. As a proof of principle, a pneumatic manifold controlled a soft machine containing 32 independent actuators to move a ball above a flat surface.

Control of Soft Machines using Actuators Operated by a Braille Display

PubMed Central

Mosadegh, Bobak; Mazzeo, Aaron D.; Shepherd, Robert F.; Morin, Stephen A.; Gupta, Unmukt; Sani, Idin Zhalehdoust; Lai, David; Takayama, Shuichi; Whitesides, George M.

2013-01-01

One strategy for actuating soft machines (e.g., tentacles, grippers, and simple walkers) uses pneumatic inflation of networks of small channels in an elastomeric material. Although the management of a few pneumatic inputs and valves to control pressurized gas is straightforward, the fabrication and operation of manifolds containing many (>50) independent valves is an unsolved problem. Complex pneumatic manifolds—often built for a single purpose—are not easily reconfigured to accommodate the specific inputs (i.e., multiplexing of many fluids, ranges of pressures, and changes in flow rates) required by pneumatic systems. This paper describes a pneumatic manifold comprising a computer-controlled braille display and a micropneumatic device. The braille display provides a compact array of 64 piezoelectric actuators that actively close and open elastomeric valves of a micropneumatic device to route pressurized gas within the manifold. The positioning and geometries of the valves and channels in the micropneumatic device dictate the functionality of the pneumatic manifold, and the use of multi-layer soft lithography permits the fabrication of networks in a wide range of configurations with many possible functions. Simply exchanging micropneumatic devices of different designs enables rapid reconfiguration of the pneumatic manifold. As a proof of principle, a pneumatic manifold controlled a soft machine containing 32 independent actuators to move a ball above a flat surface. PMID:24196070

Multiaxial mechanical properties and constitutive modeling of human adipose tissue: a basis for preoperative simulations in plastic and reconstructive surgery.

PubMed

Sommer, Gerhard; Eder, Maximilian; Kovacs, Laszlo; Pathak, Heramb; Bonitz, Lars; Mueller, Christoph; Regitnig, Peter; Holzapfel, Gerhard A

2013-11-01

A preoperative simulation of soft tissue deformations during plastic and reconstructive surgery is desirable to support the surgeon's planning and to improve surgical outcomes. The current development of constitutive adipose tissue models, for the implementation in multilayer computational frameworks for the simulation of human soft tissue deformations, has proved difficult because knowledge of the required mechanical parameters of fat tissue is limited. Therefore, for the first time, human abdominal adipose tissues were mechanically investigated by biaxial tensile and triaxial shear tests. The results of this study suggest that human abdominal adipose tissues under quasi-static and dynamic multiaxial loadings can be characterized as a nonlinear, anisotropic and viscoelastic soft biological material. The nonlinear and anisotropic features are consequences of the material's collagenous microstructure. The aligned collagenous septa observed in histological investigations causes the anisotropy of the tissue. A hyperelastic model used in this study was appropriate to represent the quasi-static multiaxial mechanical behavior of fat tissue. The constitutive parameters are intended to serve as a basis for soft tissue simulations using the finite element method, which is an apparent method for obtaining promising results in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery. Copyright © 2013 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

REDSoX: Monte-Carlo ray-tracing for a soft x-ray spectroscopy polarimeter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Günther, Hans M.; Egan, Mark; Heilmann, Ralf K.; Heine, Sarah N. T.; Hellickson, Tim; Frost, Jason; Marshall, Herman L.; Schulz, Norbert S.; Theriault-Shay, Adam

2017-08-01

X-ray polarimetry offers a new window into the high-energy universe, yet there has been no instrument so far that could measure the polarization of soft X-rays (about 17-80 Å) from astrophysical sources. The Rocket Experiment Demonstration of a Soft X-ray Polarimeter (REDSoX Polarimeter) is a proposed sounding rocket experiment that uses a focusing optic and splits the beam into three channels. Each channel has a set of criticalangle transmission (CAT) gratings that disperse the x-rays onto a laterally graded multilayer (LGML) mirror, which preferentially reflects photons with a specific polarization angle. The three channels are oriented at 120 deg to each other and thus measure the three Stokes parameters: I, Q, and U. The period of the LGML changes with position. The main design challenge is to arrange the gratings so that they disperse the spectrum in such a way that all rays are dispersed onto the position on the multi-layer mirror where they satisfy the local Bragg condition despite arriving on the mirror at different angles due to the converging beam from the focusing optics. We present a polarimeteric Monte-Carlo ray-trace of this design to assess non-ideal effects from e.g. mirror scattering or the finite size of the grating facets. With mirror properties both simulated and measured in the lab for LGML mirrors of 80-200 layers we show that the reflectivity and the width of the Bragg-peak are sufficient to make this design work when non-ideal effects are included in the simulation. Our simulations give us an effective area curve, the modulation factor and the figure of merit for the REDSoX polarimeter. As an example, we simulate an observation of Mk 421 and show that we could easily detect a 20% linear polarization.

Aerogel Beads as Cryogenic Thermal Insulation System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fesmire, J. E.; Augustynowicz, S. D.; Rouanet, S.; Thompson, Karen (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

An investigation of the use of aerogel beads as thermal insulation for cryogenic applications was conducted at the Cryogenics Test Laboratory of NASA Kennedy Space Center. Steady-state liquid nitrogen boiloff methods were used to characterize the thermal performance of aerogel beads in comparison with conventional insulation products such as perlite powder and multilayer insulation (MLI). Aerogel beads produced by Cabot Corporation have a bulk density below 100 kilograms per cubic meter (kg/cubic m) and a mean particle diameter of 1 millimeter (mm). The apparent thermal conductivity values of the bulk material have been determined under steady-state conditions at boundary temperatures of approximately 293 and 77 kelvin (K) and at various cold vacuum pressures (CVP). Vacuum levels ranged from 10(exp -5) torr to 760 torr. All test articles were made in a cylindrical configuration with a typical insulation thickness of 25 mm. Temperature profiles through the thickness of the test specimens were also measured. The results showed the performance of the aerogel beads was significantly better than the conventional materials in both soft-vacuum (1 to 10 torr) and no-vacuum (760 torr) ranges. Opacified aerogel beads performed better than perlite powder under high-vacuum conditions. Further studies for material optimization and system application are in progress.

Dynamical density functional theory analysis of the laning instability in sheared soft matter.

PubMed

Scacchi, A; Archer, A J; Brader, J M

2017-12-01

Using dynamical density functional theory (DDFT) methods we investigate the laning instability of a sheared colloidal suspension. The nonequilibrium ordering at the laning transition is driven by nonaffine particle motion arising from interparticle interactions. Starting from a DDFT which incorporates the nonaffine motion, we perform a linear stability analysis that enables identification of the regions of parameter space where lanes form. We illustrate our general approach by applying it to a simple one-component fluid of soft penetrable particles.

Bremsstrahlung from colour charges as a source of soft particle production in hadronic collisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bialas, A.; Jezabek, M.

2004-06-01

It is proposed that soft particle production in hadronic collisions is dominated by multiple gluon exchanges between partons from the colliding hadrons, followed by radiation of hadronic clusters from the coloured partons distributed uniformly in rapidity. This explains naturally two dominant features of the data: (a) the linear increase of rapidity spectra in the regions of limiting fragmentation and, (b) the proportionality between the increasing width of the limiting fragmentation region and the height of the central plateau.

Functionalization of calcium carbonate microparticles as a combined sensor and transport system for active agents in cells.

PubMed

Reibetanz, Uta; Chen, Min Hui Averil; Mutukumaraswamy, Shaillender; Liaw, Zi Yen; Oh, Bernice Hui Lin; Donath, Edwin; Neu, Björn

2011-01-01

In recent years colloidal particles and capsules, layer-by-layer (LbL) coated with biocompatible polyelectrolytes, have received much attention as drug-delivery systems. In this study an LbL-assembled, biopolymer-based multilayer system was established as a combined transporter and sensor for monitoring intracellular degradation and processing. CaCO(3) cores were functionalized with fluorescein isothiocyanatelabelled poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (FITC-PAH). This pH-sensitive fluorescent dye allows identifying the location of these LbL-coated particles in cell compartments of different pH, like the endo-lysosome and cytoplasm. The labelled core was then coated with consecutive layers of protamine (PRM) and dextran sulfate (DXS). Finally, plasmid DNA (pEGFP-C1) as a reporter agent for drug release in the cytoplasm was integrated into the biocompatible and degradable PRM/DXS multilayer. The system was tested regarding its long-term stability and interaction with HEK 293T/17 cells. These multifunctional microparticles allow the simultaneous investigation of particle localization and processing within cells, and should thus provide a valuable tool for studying and improving the controlled LbL-based release of active agents into cells. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2011

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Samant, Saumil P.; Grabowski, Christopher A.; Kisslinger, Kim

Emerging needs for fast charge/discharge yet high-power, lightweight, and flexible electronics requires the use of polymer-film-based solid-state capacitors with high energy densities. Fast charge/discharge rates of film capacitors on the order of microseconds are not achievable with slower charging conventional batteries, supercapacitors and related hybrid technologies. However, the current energy densities of polymer film capacitors fall short of rising demand, and could be significantly enhanced by increasing the breakdown strength (E BD) and dielectric permittivity (ε r) of the polymer films. Co-extruded two-homopolymer component multilayered films have demonstrated much promise in this regard showing higher E BD over that ofmore » component polymers. Multilayered films can also help incorporate functional features besides energy storage, such as enhanced optical, mechanical, thermal and barrier properties. In this work, we report accomplishing multilayer, multicomponent block copolymer dielectric films (BCDF) with soft-shear driven highly oriented self-assembled lamellar diblock copolymers (BCP) as a novel application of this important class of self-assembling materials. Results of a model PS-b-PMMA system show ~50% enhancement in E BD of self-assembled multilayer lamellar BCP films compared to unordered as-cast films, indicating that the breakdown is highly sensitive to the nanostructure of the BCP. The enhancement in E BD is attributed to the “barrier effect”, where the multiple interfaces between the lamellae block components act as barriers to the dielectric breakdown through the film. The increase in E BD corresponds to more than doubling the energy storage capacity using a straightforward directed self-assembly strategy. This approach opens a new nanomaterial paradigm for designing high energy density dielectric materials.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Samant, Saumil P.; Grabowski, Christopher A.; Kisslinger, Kim

Emerging needs for fast charge/discharge yet high-power, lightweight, and flexible electronics requires the use of polymer-film-based solid-state capacitors with high energy densities. Fast charge/discharge rates of film capacitors on the order of microseconds are not achievable with slower charging conventional batteries, supercapacitors and related hybrid technologies. However, the current energy densities of polymer film capacitors fall short of rising demand, and could be significantly enhanced by increasing the breakdown strength (E BD) and dielectric permittivity (ε r) of the polymer films. Co-extruded two-homopolymer component multilayered films have demonstrated much promise in this regard showing higher E BD over that ofmore » component polymers. Multilayered films can also help incorporate functional features besides energy storage, such as enhanced optical, mechanical, thermal and barrier properties. In this work, we report accomplishing multilayer, multicomponent block copolymer dielectric films (BCDF) with soft-shear driven highly oriented self-assembled lamellar diblock copolymers (BCP) as a novel application of this important class of self-assembling materials. Results of a model PS- b-PMMA system show ~50% enhancement in E BD of self-assembled multilayer lamellar BCP films compared to unordered as-cast films, indicating that the breakdown is highly sensitive to the nanostructure of the BCP. The enhancement in E BD is attributed to the “barrier effect”, where the multiple interfaces between the lamellae block components act as barriers to the dielectric breakdown through the film. The increase in E BD corresponds to more than doubling the energy storage capacity using a straightforward directed self-assembly strategy. Lastly, this approach opens a new nanomaterial paradigm for designing high energy density dielectric materials.« less

High-resolution high-efficiency multilayer Fresnel zone plates for soft and hard x-rays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanli, Umut T.; Keskinbora, Kahraman; Gregorczyk, Keith; Leister, Jonas; Teeny, Nicolas; Grévent, Corinne; Knez, Mato; Schütz, Gisela

2015-09-01

X-ray microscopy enables high spatial resolutions, high penetration depths and characterization of a broad range of materials. Calculations show that nanometer range resolution is achievable in the hard X-ray regime by using Fresnel zone plates (FZPs) if certain conditions are satisfied. However, this requires, among other things, aspect ratios of several thousands. The multilayer (ML) type FZPs, having virtually unlimited aspect ratios, are strong candidates to achieve single nanometer resolutions. Our research is focused on the fabrication of ML-FZPs which encompasses deposition of multilayers over a glass fiber via the atomic layer deposition (ALD), which is subsequently sliced in the optimum thickness for the X-ray energy by a focused ion beam (FIB). We recently achieved aberration free imaging by resolving 21 nm features with an efficiency of up to 12.5 %, the highest imaging resolution achieved by an ML-FZP. We also showed efficient focusing of 7.9 keV X-rays down to 30 nm focal spot size (FWHM). For resolutions below ~10 nm, efficiencies would decrease significantly due to wave coupling effects. To compensate this effect high efficiency, low stress materials have to be researched, as lower intrinsic stresses will allow fabrication of larger FZPs with higher number of zones, leading to high light intensity at the focus. As a first step we fabricated an ML-FZP with a diameter of 62 μm, an outermost zone width of 12 nm and 452 active zones. Further strategies for fabrication of high resolution high efficiency multilayer FZPs will also be discussed.

Shock wave driven microparticles for pharmaceutical applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menezes, V.; Takayama, K.; Gojani, A.; Hosseini, S. H. R.

2008-10-01

Ablation created by a Q-switched Nd:Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Nd:YAG) laser beam focusing on a thin aluminum foil surface spontaneously generates a shock wave that propagates through the foil and deforms it at a high speed. This high-speed foil deformation can project dry micro- particles deposited on the anterior surface of the foil at high speeds such that the particles have sufficient momentum to penetrate soft targets. We used this method of particle acceleration to develop a drug delivery device to deliver DNA/drug coated microparticles into soft human-body targets for pharmaceutical applications. The device physics has been studied by observing the process of particle acceleration using a high-speed video camera in a shadowgraph system. Though the initial rate of foil deformation is over 5 km/s, the observed particle velocities are in the range of 900-400 m/s over a distance of 1.5-10 mm from the launch pad. The device has been tested by delivering microparticles into liver tissues of experimental rats and artificial soft human-body targets, modeled using gelatin. The penetration depths observed in the experimental targets are quite encouraging to develop a future clinical therapeutic device for treatments such as gene therapy, treatment of cancer and tumor cells, epidermal and mucosal immunizations etc.

Studies on stabilization mechanism and stealth effect of poloxamer 188 onto PLGA nanoparticles.

PubMed

Jain, Darshana; Athawale, Rajani; Bajaj, Amrita; Shrikhande, Shruti; Goel, Peeyush N; Gude, Rajiv P

2013-09-01

In nanoparticulate engineering for drug delivery systems, poloxamers tri block copolymers are employed as adsorbing molecules to modify the aggregation state and impart stability to products. The aim was to prepare nanoparticles using poloxamer188 as stabiliser and investigate the mechanism of stabilisation of the prepared particles. Nanoparticles were prepared by solvent diffusion method with poloxamer 188 as stabiliser. Hydrodynamic thickness and zeta potential of the prepared nanoparticles were determined by photon correlation spectroscopy. To study the extent of adsorption of poloxamer onto the prepared nanoparticles, adsorption isotherms were constructed. The adsorbed amount of poloxamer 188 onto the particles was determined by depletion method. Macrophageal uptake study was performed to assess the uptake of the prepared nanoparticles using RAW 264.7 cell lines. Nanoparticles were prepared with slight increase in particle size and in absolute value of zeta potential compared to uncoated particles suggesting that this effect was due to adsorption of poloxamer 188. TEM studies and surface area analysis supported the results obtained from particle size analysis indicating preparation of particles with a thin layer of adsorbed poloxamer 188. Adsorption kinetics modeling suggested that at low concentrations (0.001-0.010 g/L), Langmuir monolayer equation fits quite well and at higher concentrations (above 0.010 g/L) multilayer adsorption of poloxamer 188 onto the prepared particles occurred. Thus the nanoparticles had multilayer of poloxamer 188 adsorbed onto the non uniform surface of PLGA. Results of macrophageal uptake and liver cell study exhibits adsorbed concentration dependent bypass of RES uptake of nanoparticles. Hence, results substantiate the application of adsorption isotherms for designing nanoparticles possessing potential to exhibit prolonged circulation when administered in vivo. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Tuning structure and mobility of solvation shells surrounding tracer additives

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carmer, James; Jain, Avni; Bollinger, Jonathan A.

2015-03-28

Molecular dynamics simulations and a stochastic Fokker-Planck equation based approach are used to illuminate how position-dependent solvent mobility near one or more tracer particle(s) is affected when tracer-solvent interactions are rationally modified to affect corresponding solvation structure. For tracers in a dense hard-sphere fluid, we compare two types of tracer-solvent interactions: (1) a hard-sphere-like interaction, and (2) a soft repulsion extending beyond the hard core designed via statistical mechanical theory to enhance tracer mobility at infinite dilution by suppressing coordination-shell structure [Carmer et al., Soft Matter 8, 4083–4089 (2012)]. For the latter case, we show that the mobility of surroundingmore » solvent particles is also increased by addition of the soft repulsive interaction, which helps to rationalize the mechanism underlying the tracer’s enhanced diffusivity. However, if multiple tracer surfaces are in closer proximity (as at higher tracer concentrations), similar interactions that disrupt local solvation structure instead suppress the position-dependent solvent dynamics.« less

Tuning structure and mobility of solvation shells surrounding tracer additives.

PubMed

Carmer, James; Jain, Avni; Bollinger, Jonathan A; van Swol, Frank; Truskett, Thomas M

2015-03-28

Molecular dynamics simulations and a stochastic Fokker-Planck equation based approach are used to illuminate how position-dependent solvent mobility near one or more tracer particle(s) is affected when tracer-solvent interactions are rationally modified to affect corresponding solvation structure. For tracers in a dense hard-sphere fluid, we compare two types of tracer-solvent interactions: (1) a hard-sphere-like interaction, and (2) a soft repulsion extending beyond the hard core designed via statistical mechanical theory to enhance tracer mobility at infinite dilution by suppressing coordination-shell structure [Carmer et al., Soft Matter 8, 4083-4089 (2012)]. For the latter case, we show that the mobility of surrounding solvent particles is also increased by addition of the soft repulsive interaction, which helps to rationalize the mechanism underlying the tracer's enhanced diffusivity. However, if multiple tracer surfaces are in closer proximity (as at higher tracer concentrations), similar interactions that disrupt local solvation structure instead suppress the position-dependent solvent dynamics.

Localization switching of a large object in a crowded cavity: A rigid/soft object prefers surface/inner positioning.

PubMed

Shew, Chwen-Yang; Oda, Soutaro; Yoshikawa, Kenichi

2017-11-28

For living cells in the real world, a large organelle is commonly positioned in the inner region away from membranes, such as the nucleus of eukaryotic cells, the nucleolus of nuclei, mitochondria, chloroplast, Golgi body, etc. It contradicts the expectation by the current depletion-force theory in that the larger particle should be excluded from the inner cell space onto cell boundaries in a crowding media. Here we simply model a sizable organelle as a soft-boundary large particle allowing crowders, which are smaller hard spheres in the model, to intrude across its boundary. The results of Monte Carlo simulation indicate that the preferential location of the larger particle switches from the periphery into the inner region of the cavity by increasing its softness. An integral equation theory is further developed to account for the structural features of the model, and the theoretical predictions are found consistent with our simulation results.

Microfluidic techniques for the study of self-assembly of soft materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguade Cabanas, Rafael

This research is an approach to the study of soft condensed matter where the use of new microfluidic technology plays a central role. Often, in the study of soft matter, the sample volumes are very small, of the order of nanoliters. Therefore to quantitatively measure the equilibrium or non-equilibrium phase behavior requires microfluidics. Presented here are (1) a new way of producing aqueous drops of order 1 nl volume, in oil, (2) a new fabrication protocol to make microfluidic devices out of epoxy glue, and (3) a new microfluidic flow cell to study colloidal self-assembly. Also presented here is a new kind of colloidal particle, consisting of single strands of DNA linked to the surface of fd virus. This new particle may serve as a liquid crystalline colloid with a temperature dependent tunable potential. The fabrication process is the first step in the study of the self-assembly of rod-like particles with a temperature dependent potential.

Localization switching of a large object in a crowded cavity: A rigid/soft object prefers surface/inner positioning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shew, Chwen-Yang; Oda, Soutaro; Yoshikawa, Kenichi

2017-11-01

For living cells in the real world, a large organelle is commonly positioned in the inner region away from membranes, such as the nucleus of eukaryotic cells, the nucleolus of nuclei, mitochondria, chloroplast, Golgi body, etc. It contradicts the expectation by the current depletion-force theory in that the larger particle should be excluded from the inner cell space onto cell boundaries in a crowding media. Here we simply model a sizable organelle as a soft-boundary large particle allowing crowders, which are smaller hard spheres in the model, to intrude across its boundary. The results of Monte Carlo simulation indicate that the preferential location of the larger particle switches from the periphery into the inner region of the cavity by increasing its softness. An integral equation theory is further developed to account for the structural features of the model, and the theoretical predictions are found consistent with our simulation results.

pH-controlled drug loading and release from biodegradable microcapsules

PubMed Central

Zhao, Qinghe; Li, Bingyun

2013-01-01

Microcapsules made of biopolymers are of both scientific and technological interest and have many potential applications in medicine including their use as controlled drug delivery devices. The present study employs the electrostatic interaction between polycations and polyanions to form a multilayered microcapsule shell and also to control the loading and release of charged drug molecules inside the microcapsule. Micron-sized CaCO3 particles were synthesized and integrated with chondroitin sulfate (CS) through a reaction between Na2CO3 and Ca(NO3)2 solutions suspended with CS macromolecules. Oppositely-charged biopolymers were alternately deposited onto the synthesized particles using electrostatic layer-by-layer self-assembly, and glutaraldehyde was introduced to crosslink the multilayered shell structure. Microcapsules integrated with CS inside the multilayered shells were obtained after decomposition of the CaCO3 templates. The integration of a matrix, i.e. CS, enabled the subsequent selective control of drug loading and release. The CS integrated microcapsules were loaded with a model drug, i.e. bovine serum albumin labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC-BSA), and it was shown that pH was an effective means of controlling the loading and release of FITC-BSA. Such CS integrated microcapsules may be used for controlled localized drug delivery as biodegradable devices, which have advantages in reducing systemic side effects and increasing drug efficacy. PMID:18657478

Thin and Flexible Fe-Si-B/Ni-Cu-P Metallic Glass Multilayer Composites for Efficient Electromagnetic Interference Shielding.

PubMed

Zhang, Jijun; Li, Jiawei; Tan, Guoguo; Hu, Renchao; Wang, Junqiang; Chang, Chuntao; Wang, Xinmin

2017-12-06

Thin and flexible materials that can provide efficient electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding are urgently needed, especially if they can be easily processed and withstand harsh environments. Herein, layer-structured Fe-Si-B/Ni-Cu-P metallic glass composites have been developed by simple electroless plating Ni-Cu-P coating on commercial Fe-Si-B metallic glasses. The 0.1 mm-thick composite shows EMI shielding effectiveness of 40 dB over the X-band frequency range, which is higher than those of traditional metals, metal oxides, and their polymer composites of larger thickness. Most of the applied electromagnetic waves are proved to be absorbed rather than bounced back. This performance originates from the combination of a superior soft magnetic property, excellent electrical conductivity, and multiple internal reflections from multilayer composites. In addition, the flexible composites also exhibit good corrosion resistance, high thermal stability, and excellent tensile strength, making them suitable for EMI shielding in harsh chemical or thermal environments.

Short-wavelength ablation of polymers in the high-fluence regime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liberatore, Chiara; Mann, Klaus; Müller, Matthias; Pina, Ladislav; Juha, Libor; Vyšín, Ludek; Rocca, Jorge J.; Endo, Akira; Mocek, Tomas

2014-05-01

Short-wavelength ablation of poly(1,4-phenylene ether-ether-sulfone) (PPEES) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) was investigated using extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and soft x-ray (SXR) radiation from plasma-based sources. The initial experiment was performed with a 10 Hz desktop capillary-discharge XUV laser lasing at 46.9 nm. The XUV laser beam was focused onto the sample by a spherical mirror coated with a Si/Sc multilayer. The same materials were irradiated with 13.5 nm radiation emitted by plasmas produced by focusing an optical laser beam onto a xenon gas-puff target. A Schwarzschild focusing optics coated with a Mo/Si multilayer was installed at the source to achieve energy densities exceeding 0.1 J cm-2 in the tight focus. The existing experimental system at the Laser Laboratorium Göttingen was upgraded by implementing a 1.2 J driving laser. An increase of the SXR fluence was secured by improving the alignment technique.

Enhancing performance of next generation FSO communication systems using soft computing-based predictions.

PubMed

Kazaura, Kamugisha; Omae, Kazunori; Suzuki, Toshiji; Matsumoto, Mitsuji; Mutafungwa, Edward; Korhonen, Timo O; Murakami, Tadaaki; Takahashi, Koichi; Matsumoto, Hideki; Wakamori, Kazuhiko; Arimoto, Yoshinori

2006-06-12

The deterioration and deformation of a free-space optical beam wave-front as it propagates through the atmosphere can reduce the link availability and may introduce burst errors thus degrading the performance of the system. We investigate the suitability of utilizing soft-computing (SC) based tools for improving performance of free-space optical (FSO) communications systems. The SC based tools are used for the prediction of key parameters of a FSO communications system. Measured data collected from an experimental FSO communication system is used as training and testing data for a proposed multi-layer neural network predictor (MNNP) used to predict future parameter values. The predicted parameters are essential for reducing transmission errors by improving the antenna's accuracy of tracking data beams. This is particularly essential for periods considered to be of strong atmospheric turbulence. The parameter values predicted using the proposed tool show acceptable conformity with original measurements.

Ultra-thin, conformal, and hydratable color-absorbers using silk protein hydrogel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Umar, Muhammad; Min, Kyungtaek; Jo, Minsik; Kim, Sunghwan

2018-06-01

Planar and multilayered photonic devices offer unprecedented opportunities in biological and chemical sensing due to strong light-matter interactions. However, uses of rigid substances such as semiconductors and dielectrics confront photonic devices with issues of biocompatibility and a mechanical mismatch for their application on humid, uneven, and soft biological surfaces. Here, we report that favorable material traits of natural silk protein led to the fabrication of an ultra-thin, conformal, and water-permeable (hydratable) metal-insulator-metal (MIM) color absorber that was mapped on soft, curved, and hydrated biological interfaces. Strong absorption was induced in the MIM structure and could be tuned by hydration and tilting of the sample. The transferred MIM color absorbers reached the exhibition of a very strong resonant absorption in the visible and near infra-red ranges. In addition, we demonstrated that the conformal resonator could function as a refractometric glucose sensor applied on a contact lens.

Multilayer on-chip stacked Fresnel zone plates: Hard x-ray fabrication and soft x-ray simulations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Kenan; Wojcik, Michael J.; Ocola, Leonidas E.

2015-11-01

Fresnel zone plates are widely used as x-ray nanofocusing optics. To achieve high spatial resolution combined with good focusing efficiency, high aspect ratio nanolithography is required, and one way to achieve that is through multiple e-beam lithography writing steps to achieve on-chip stacking. A two-step writing process producing 50 nm finest zone width at a zone thickness of 1.14 µm for possible hard x-ray applications is shown here. The authors also consider in simulations the case of soft x-ray focusing where the zone thickness might exceed the depth of focus. In this case, the authors compare on-chip stacking with, andmore » without, adjustment of zone positions and show that the offset zones lead to improved focusing efficiency. The simulations were carried out using a multislice propagation method employing Hankel transforms.« less

Soft Coulomb gap and asymmetric scaling towards metal-insulator quantum criticality in multilayer MoS2.

PubMed

Moon, Byoung Hee; Bae, Jung Jun; Joo, Min-Kyu; Choi, Homin; Han, Gang Hee; Lim, Hanjo; Lee, Young Hee

2018-05-24

Quantum localization-delocalization of carriers are well described by either carrier-carrier interaction or disorder. When both effects come into play, however, a comprehensive understanding is not well established mainly due to complexity and sparse experimental data. Recently developed two-dimensional layered materials are ideal in describing such mesoscopic critical phenomena as they have both strong interactions and disorder. The transport in the insulating phase is well described by the soft Coulomb gap picture, which demonstrates the contribution of both interactions and disorder. Using this picture, we demonstrate the critical power law behavior of the localization length, supporting quantum criticality. We observe asymmetric critical exponents around the metal-insulator transition through temperature scaling analysis, which originates from poor screening in insulating regime and conversely strong screening in metallic regime due to free carriers. The effect of asymmetric scaling behavior is weakened in monolayer MoS 2 due to a dominating disorder.

Electrically switchable organo–inorganic hybrid for a white-light laser source

PubMed Central

Huang, Jui-Chieh; Hsiao, Yu-Cheng; Lin, Yu-Ting; Lee, Chia-Rong; Lee, Wei

2016-01-01

We demonstrate a spectrally discrete white-light laser device based on a photonic bandgap hybrid, which is composed of a soft photonic crystal; i.e., a layer of dye-doped cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC), sandwiched between two imperfect but identical, inorganic multilayer photonic crystals. With a sole optical pump, a mono-, bi-, or tri-chromatic laser can be obtained and, through the soft photonic crystal regulated by an applied voltage, the hybrid possesses electrical tunability in laser wavelength. The three emitted spectral peaks originate from two bandedges of the CLC reflection band as well as one of the photonic defect modes in dual-mode lasing. Thanks to the optically bistable nature of CLC, such a white-light laser device can operate in quite an energy-saving fashion. This technique has potential to fulfill the present mainstream in the coherent white-light source. PMID:27324219

Tailoring of the soft magnetic property and uniaxial anisotropy of magnetostrictive films by interlayer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wen, Dandan; Bai, Feiming; Wang, Yicheng; Zhong, Zhiyong; Zhang, Huaiwu

2013-05-01

Laminated amorphous FeSiBC films with various spacer layers, including Cu, Co0.45Cu0.55, Co0.8Cu0.2, and CoFe, were prepared in order to study the effect of interface structure and magnetic exchange interaction on the magnetic softness and uniaxial anisotropy of multilayered film. It is found that laminating FeSiBC film with thin nonmagnetic or weak magnetic spacers yields much lower coercivity and higher remanent magnetization than those with magnetic spacers. Optimal films with the desired properties of Hc ˜ 1.5 Oe, Mr/Ms = 95%, and Hk ˜ 16 Oe were obtained. Therefore, it is confirmed that the exchange interaction constant of spacer layer plays a more important role than that of interface structure. Furthermore, laminating FeSiBC with nonmagnetic layers only slightly changes magnetostrictive coefficient.

Characteristics of extreme ultraviolet emission from high-Z plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohashi, H.; Higashiguchi, T.; Suzuki, Y.; Kawasaki, M.; Suzuki, C.; Tomita, K.; Nishikino, M.; Fujioka, S.; Endo, A.; Li, B.; Otsuka, T.; Dunne, P.; O'Sullivan, G.

2016-03-01

We demonstrate the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and soft x-ray sources in the 2 to 7 nm spectral region related to the beyond EUV (BEUV) question at 6.x nm and the water window source based on laser-produced high-Z plasmas. Resonance emission from multiply charged ions merges to produce intense unresolved transition arrays (UTAs), extending below the carbon K edge (4.37 nm). An outline of a microscope design for single-shot live cell imaging is proposed based on high-Z plasma UTA source, coupled to multilayer mirror optics.

Application of a Meso-scale Based Ballistic Fabric Model to the Development of Advanced Lightweight Engine Fan Blade-Out Containment Structure

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

composed of a basic metallic shell structure with a dry Kevlar wrap around it is considered. The fan blade is made of titanium alloy modeled by a Johnson...material. A multilayered Kevlar woven dry fabric structure is wrapped around the thin aluminum shell to form a soft hybrid fan case. A woven fabric material...debris protection fan case composed of a basic metallic shell structure with a dry Kevlar wrap around it is considered. The fan blade is made of titanium

Tuning the bridging attraction between large hard particles by the softness of small microgels.

PubMed

Luo, Junhua; Yuan, Guangcui; Han, Charles C

2016-09-20

In this study, the attraction between large hard polystyrene (PS) spheres is studied by using three types of small microgels as bridging agents. One is a purely soft poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) microgel, the other two have a non-deformable PS hard core surrounded by a soft PNIPAM shell but are different in the core-shell ratio. The affinity for bridging the large PS spheres is provided and thus affected by the PNIPAM constituent in the microgels. The bridging effects caused by the microgels can be indirectly incorporated into their influence on the effective attraction interaction between the large hard spheres, since the size of the microgels is very small in comparison to the size of the PS hard spheres. At a given volume fraction of large PS spheres, they behave essentially as hard spheres in the absence of small microgels. By gradually adding the microgels, the large spheres are connected to each other through the bridging of small particles until the attraction strength reaches a maximum value, after which adding more small particles slowly decreases the effective attraction strength and eventually the large particles disperse individually when saturated adsorption is achieved. The aggregation and gelation behaviors triggered by these three types of small microgels are compared and discussed. A way to tune the strength and range of the short-range attractive potential via changing the softness of bridging microgels (which can be achieved either by using core-shell microgels or by changing the temperature) is proposed.

The Effect of Particles on Electrolytically Polymerized Thin Natural MCF Rubber for Soft Sensors Installed in Artificial Skin.

PubMed

Shimada, Kunio; Mochizuki, Osamu; Kubota, Yoshihiro

2017-04-19

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of particles as filler in soft rubber sensors installed in artificial skin. We examine sensors made of natural rubber (NR-latex) that include magnetic particles of Ni and Fe₃O₄ using magnetic compound fluid (MCF). The 1-mm thickness of the electrolytically polymerized MCF rubber makes production of comparatively thin rubber sensors feasible. We first investigate the effect of magnetic particles Ni and Fe₃O₄ on the curing of MCF rubber. Next, in order to adjust the electric properties of the MCF rubber, we adopt Al₂O₃ dielectric particles. We investigate the effect of Al₂O₃ particles on changes in electric current, voltage and temperature of electrolytically polymerized MCF rubber liquid, and on the electric properties under the application of normal and shear forces. By adjusting the ratio of Ni, Fe₃O₄, Al₂O₃ and water in MCF rubber with Al₂O₃, it is possible to change the electric properties.

Electrostatic formation of liquid marbles and agglomerates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liyanaarachchi, K. R.; Ireland, P. M.; Webber, G. B.; Galvin, K. P.

2013-07-01

We report observations of a sudden, explosive release of electrostatically charged 100 μm glass beads from a particle bed. These cross an air gap of several millimeters, are engulfed by an approaching pendant water drop, and form a metastable spherical agglomerate on the bed surface. The stability transition of the particle bed is explained by promotion of internal friction by in-plane electrostatic stresses. The novel agglomerates formed this way resemble the "liquid marbles" formed by coating a drop with hydrophobic particles. Complex multi-layered agglomerates may also be produced by this method, with potential industrial, pharmaceutical, environmental, and biological applications.

Basis for selecting soft wheat for end-use quality

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Within the United States, end-use quality of soft wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is determined by several genetically controlled components: milling yield, flour particle size, and baking characteristics related to flour water absorption caused by glutenin macropolymer, non-starch polysaccharides, and...

Effect of fiber source on cecal fermentation and nitrogen recycled through cecotrophy in rabbits.

PubMed

García, J; Carabaño, R; Pérez-Alba, L; de Blas, J C

2000-03-01

The influence of fiber source on fiber digestion in rabbits was investigated. Six fibrous feedstuffs with wide differences in chemical composition and particle size were selected: paprika meal, olive leaves, alfalfa hay, soybean hulls, sodium hydroxide-treated barley straw, and sunflower hulls. Six diets were formulated to contain one of these ingredients as the sole source of fiber. To avoid nutrient imbalances, fiber sources were supplemented with different proportions of a fiber-free concentrate, based on soy protein isolate, wheat flour, lard, and a vitamin and mineral mix, to obtain diets containing at least 3% nitrogen and 5% starch. Daily soft feces excretion, and its NDF, and total and microbial nitrogen content were determined in 60 fattening rabbits (10 per diet). Seven days after the last cecotrophy control, the same animals were used to determine weight of stomach, cecum and their contents, and cecal fermentation traits (pH, VFA and ammonia concentrations, and buffer properties of cecal contents). Stepwise regression analysis showed a positive effect (P < .001) on soft feces excretion, total and microbial nitrogen concentrations in soft feces, cecal acidity, and total VFA in the cecum of dietary pectic constituents (2.9, 3.5, 2.5, .9, and 6.6%) and proportion of fine particles (< .315 mm) (1.8, .9, 1.3, .15, and .9%) per each increment of one percentage unit of the independent variables. Proportion of fine particles also increased weight of cecal contents (P < .001). Soft feces excretion and weight of stomach and of its contents increased (P < .001) by 5.2, 2.8, and 10.2% per each percentage unit increment of proportion of large particles (> 1.25 mm). Degree of lignification of NDF decreased total nitrogen concentration in soft feces and cecal VFA concentration (P < .001). Source of fiber affected cecal pH not only by its influence on the cecal concentrations of the final products of fermentation, but also through its effect on the pH of dry cecal contents (P < .001). The latter was negatively correlated with dietary proportion of fine particles, degree of lignification of NDF, and base-buffering capacity of dry cecal contents (r = -.52, -.37, and -.49, respectively). From these results, we conclude that pectic constituent concentration, degree of lignification of NDF, and particle size are the variables that best characterize the influence of the source of fiber on soft feces excretion and cecal fermentation traits in rabbits.

USING METEOROLOGICAL MODEL OUTPUT AS A SURROGATE FOR ON-SITE OBSERVATIONS TO PREDICT DEPOSITION VELOCITY

EPA Science Inventory

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Multi-Layer Model (NOAA-MLM) is used by several operational dry deposition networks for estimating the deposition velocity of O , SO , HNO , and particles. The NOAA-MLM requires hourly values of meteorological variables and...

Magnetic separator having a multilayer matrix, method and apparatus

DOEpatents

Kelland, David R.

1980-01-01

A magnetic separator having multiple staggered layers of porous magnetic material positioned to intercept a fluid stream carrying magnetic particles and so placed that a bypass of each layer is effected as the pores of the layer become filled with material extracted from the fluid stream.

Technological aspects of GEM detector design and assembling for soft x-ray application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kowalska-Strzeciwilk, E.; Chernyshova, M.

2016-09-01

Various types of Micro Pattern Gas Detectors (MPGDs) found applications as tracking detectors in high energy particle physics experiments and as well as imaging detectors, especially for soft X-rays. These detectors offer several advantages like high count rate capability, good spatial and energy resolution, low cost and possibility of constructing large area detectors with very small dead area. Construction, like the triple Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector has become a standard detector, which is widely used for different imaging applications. Some examples of such applications are: monitoring the impurity in plasma, imaging system for mapping of some parameters like pigment distributions using X-ray fluorescence technique[1], proton range radiography system for quality assurance in hadron therapy. Measuring of the Soft X-Ray (SXR) radiation of magnetic fusion plasma is a standard way of accessing valuable information, for example, about particle transport and MHD. The paper is focused on the design of GEM based soft Xray radiation detecting system which is under development. It is dedicated to study soft X-ray emission of plasma radiation with focus on tungsten emission lines energy region. The paper presents the designing, construction and assembling of a prototype of two triple-GEM detectors for soft-X ray application on the WEST device.

Structure and interactions in biomaterials based on membrane-biopolymer self-assembly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koltover, Ilya

Physical and chemical properties of artificial pure lipid membranes have been extensively studied during the last two decades and are relatively well understood. However, most real membrane systems of biological and biotechnological importance incorporate macromolecules either embedded into the membranes or absorbed onto their surfaces. We have investigated three classes of self-assembled membrane-biopolymer biomaterials: (i) Structure, interactions and stability of the two-dimensional crystals of the integral membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin (bR). We have conducted a synchrotron x-ray diffraction study of oriented bR multilayers. The important findings were as follows: (1) the protein 2D lattice exhibited diffraction patterns characteristic of a 2D solid with power-law decay of in-plane positional correlations, which allowed to measure the elastic constants of protein crystal; (2) The crystal melting temperature was a function of the multilayer hydration, reflecting the effect of inter-membrane repulsion on the stability of protein lattice; (3) Preparation of nearly perfect (mosaicity < 0.04° ) multilayers of fused bR membranes permitted, for the first time, application of powerful interface-sensitive x-ray scattering techniques to a membrane-protein system. (ii) Interactions between the particles chemically attached or absorbed onto the surfaces of flexible giant phospholipid vesicles. Using video-enhanced light microscopy we have observed a membrane-distortion induced attraction between the particles with the interaction range of the order of particle diameter. Fluid membranes decorated with many particles exhibited: (i) a finite-sized two-dimensional closed packed aggregates and (ii) a one-dimensional ring-like aggregates. (iii) Structure, stability and interactions in the cationic lipid-DNA complexes. Cationic liposomes complexed with DNA are among the most promising synthetic non-viral carriers of DNA vectors currently used in gene therapy applications. We have established that DNA complexes with cationic lipid (DOTAP) and a neutral lipid (DOPC) have a compact multilayer liquid crystalline structure ( L ca ) with DNA intercalated between the lipid bilayers in a periodic 2D smectic phase. Furthermore, a different 2D columnar phase of complexes was found in mixtures with a transfectionen-hancing lipid DOPE. This structure ( HcII ) derived from synchrotron x-ray diffraction consists of DNA coated by cationic lipid monolayers and arranged on a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice. Optical microscopy revealed that the L ca complexes bind stably to anionic vesicles (models of cellular membranes), whereas the more transfectant HcII complexes are unstable, rapidly fusing and releasing DNA upon adhering to anionic vesicles.

Final state interactions in single- and multiparticle inclusive cross sections for hadronic collisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitov, Alexander; Sterman, George

2012-12-01

We study the role of low momentum transfer (soft) interactions between high transverse momentum heavy particles and beam remnants (spectators) in hadronic collisions. Such final state interactions are power suppressed for single-particle inclusive cross sections whenever that particle is accompanied by a recoiling high-pT partner whose momentum is not fixed. An example is the single-top inclusive cross section in top-pair production. Final state soft interactions in multiparticle inclusive cross sections, including transverse momentum distributions, however, produce leading-power corrections in the absence of hard recoiling radiation. Nonperturbative corrections due to scattering from spectators are generically suppressed by powers of Λ/pT', where Λ is a hadronic scale and pT' is the largest transverse momentum of radiation recoiling against the particles whose momenta are observed.

Multiple emulsions as soft templates for the synthesis of multifunctional silicone porous particles.

PubMed

Vilanova, Neus; Kolen'ko, Yury V; Solans, Conxita; Rodríguez-Abreu, Carlos

2015-01-01

Multiple emulsion templating is a versatile strategy for the synthesis of porous particles. The present work addresses the synthesis of multifunctional poly(dimethylsiloxane) porous particles using multiple water-in-oil-in-water emulsions as soft templates with an oil phase constituted by a crosslinkable poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) oil. Herewith, the impact of the viscosity of PDMS oil (i.e., molecular weight) on the properties of both the emulsion templates and the resulting particles was evaluated. The viscosity of PDMS oil has a strong effect on the size and polydispersity of the emulsion templates as well as on the mechanical properties of the derived particles. The elastic modulus can be tuned by mixing PDMS oils of different viscosities to form bimodal crosslinked networks. Iron oxide nanoparticles can be readily incorporated into the emulsion templates to provide additional functionalities to the silicone particles, such as magnetic separation or magnetic hyperthermia. The synthesized composite magnetic particles were found to be useful as recoverable absorbent materials (e.g., for oil spills) by taking advantage of their high buoyancy and high hydrophobicity. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Representing Precipitation Ice Species With Both Spherical and Nonspherical Particles for Radiative Transfer Modeling of Microphysics-Consistent Cloud Microwave Scattering Properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sieron, Scott B.; Zhang, Fuqing; Clothiaux, Eugene E.; Zhang, Lily N.; Lu, Yinghui

2018-04-01

Cloud microwave scattering properties for the Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) have previously been created to be consistent with the particle size distributions specified by the WSM6 single-moment microphysics scheme. Here substitution of soft sphere scattering properties with nonspherical particle scattering properties is explored in studies of Hurricane Karl (2010). A nonsphere replaces a sphere of the same maximum dimension, and the number of particles of a given size is scaled by the ratio of the sphere to nonsphere mass to keep the total mass of a given particle size unchanged. The replacement of homogeneous soft sphere snow particles is necessary to resolve a highly evident issue in CRTM simulations: precipitation-affected brightness temperatures are generally warmer at 183 GHz than at 91.7 GHz, whereas the reverse is seen in observations. Using sector snowflakes resolve this issue better than using columns/plates, bullet rosettes, or dendrites. With sector snowflakes, both of these high frequencies have low simulated brightness temperatures compared to observations, providing a clear and consistent suggestion that snow is being overproduced in the examined simulation using WSM6 microphysics. Graupel causes cold biases at lower frequencies which can be reduced by either reducing graupel water contents or replacing the microphysics-consistent spherical graupel particles with sector snowflakes. However, soft spheres are likely the better physical representation of graupel particles. The hypotheses that snow and graupel are overproduced in simulations using WSM6 microphysics shall be examined more systematically in future studies through additional cases and ensemble data assimilation of all-sky microwave radiance observations.

Quark degrees of freedom in the production of soft pion jets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Okorokov, V. A., E-mail: VAOkorokov@mephi.ru, E-mail: Okorokov@bnl.gov

2015-05-15

Experimental results obtained by studying the properties of soft jets in the 4-velocity space at √s ∼ 2 to 20 GeV are presented. The changes in the mean distance from the jet axis to the jet particles, the mean kinetic energy of these particles, and the cluster dimension in response to the growth of the collision energy are consistent with the assumption that quark degrees of freedom manifest themselves in processes of pion-jet production at intermediate energies. The energy at which quark degrees of freedom begin to manifest themselves experimentally in the production of soft pion jets is estimated formore » the first time. The estimated value of this energy is 2.8 ± 0.6 GeV.« less

Close packing in curved space by simulated annealing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wille, L. T.

1987-12-01

The problem of packing spheres of a maximum radius on the surface of a four-dimensional hypersphere is considered. It is shown how near-optimal solutions can be obtained by packing soft spheres, modelled as classical particles interacting under an inverse power potential, followed by a subsequent hardening of the interaction. In order to avoid trapping in high-lying local minima, the simulated annealing method is used to optimise the soft-sphere packing. Several improvements over other work (based on local optimisation of random initial configurations of hard spheres) have been found. The freezing behaviour of this system is discussed as a function of particle number, softness of the potential and cooling rate. Apart from their geometric interest, these results are useful in the study of topological frustration, metallic glasses and quasicrystals.

A d-dimensional stress tensor for Minkd+2 gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kapec, Daniel; Mitra, Prahar

2018-05-01

We consider the tree-level scattering of massless particles in ( d+2)-dimensional asymptotically flat spacetimes. The S -matrix elements are recast as correlation functions of local operators living on a space-like cut ℳ d of the null momentum cone. The Lorentz group SO( d + 1 , 1) is nonlinearly realized as the Euclidean conformal group on ℳ d . Operators of non-trivial spin arise from massless particles transforming in non-trivial representations of the little group SO( d), and distinguished operators arise from the soft-insertions of gauge bosons and gravitons. The leading soft-photon operator is the shadow transform of a conserved spin-one primary operator J a , and the subleading soft-graviton operator is the shadow transform of a conserved spin-two symmetric traceless primary operator T ab . The universal form of the soft-limits ensures that J a and T ab obey the Ward identities expected of a conserved current and energy momentum tensor in a Euclidean CFT d , respectively.

Study on friction coefficient of soft soil based on particle flow code

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lei, Xiaohong; Zhang, Zhongwei

2017-04-01

There has no uniform method for determining the micro parameters in particle flow code, and the corresponding formulas obtained by each scholar can only be applied to similar situations. In this paper, the relationship between the micro parameters friction coefficient and macro parameters friction angle is established by using the two axis servo compression as the calibration experiment, and the corresponding formula is fitted to solve the difficulties of determining the PFC micro parameters which provide a reference for determination of the micro parameters of soft soil.

On the symmetry foundation of double soft theorems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zhi-Zhong; Lin, Hung-Hwa; Zhang, Shun-Qing

2017-12-01

Double-soft theorems, like its single-soft counterparts, arises from the underlying symmetry principles that constrain the interactions of massless particles. While single soft theorems can be derived in a non-perturbative fashion by employing current algebras, recent attempts of extending such an approach to known double soft theorems has been met with difficulties. In this work, we have traced the difficulty to two inequivalent expansion schemes, depending on whether the soft limit is taken asymmetrically or symmetrically, which we denote as type A and B respectively. The soft-behaviour for type A scheme can simply be derived from single soft theorems, and are thus non-perturbatively protected. For type B, the information of the four-point vertex is required to determine the corresponding soft theorems, and thus are in general not protected. This argument can be readily extended to general multi-soft theorems. We also ask whether unitarity can be emergent from locality together with the two kinds of soft theorems, which has not been fully investigated before.

Search for gluon saturation at Bjorken-x of 10-6-10-5 with the LHCb detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

da Silva, Cesar; LHCb Collaboration

2017-09-01

Gluon saturation at small Byorken- x has been in the minds of particle and nuclear physicists for decades. This state can explain several recent observations such as 1) particle collectivity observed in p+p, p+A and A+A collisions at RHIC and LHC; and 2) depleted yield of particles coming from soft gluons. Previous results from DIS experiments at HERA show a fast increase of gluons as their fractional momentum x decreases. The LHCb experiment is a forward spectrometer with vertexing, tracking, p, K, pi , e, μ identification and calorimetry in the rapidity region 1.6 < η < 4.9. LHCb is the only experiment in the world which can probe x 10-6 -10-5 , up to two orders of magnitude smaller than HERA. A direct probe of gluons at small-x and small Q2 can be performed with γ+jet correlation measurements. The current detector acceptance is not optimized for soft particles coming from Q2 < 10 [GeV/c]2 processes, where gluon saturation is expected. R&D is underway for a new tracking detector to be placed inside the LHCb magnet, the Magnet Station (MS), which will enable measurements of these soft particles. This talk is going to report the status of the analysis efforts aimed at finding the gluon saturation scale at LHCb, and details of the MS. Los Alamos National Lab LDRD program.

Tailoring the soft magnetic properties of sputtered multilayers by microstructure engineering for high frequency applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falub, Claudiu V.; Rohrmann, Hartmut; Bless, Martin; Meduňa, Mojmír; Marioni, Miguel; Schneider, Daniel; Richter, Jan H.; Padrun, Marco

2017-05-01

Soft magnetic Ni78.5Fe21.5, Co91.5Ta4.5Zr4 and Fe52Co28B20 thin films laminated with SiO2, Al2O3, AlN, and Ta2O5 dielectric interlayers were deposited on 8" Si wafers using DC, pulsed DC and RF cathodes in the industrial, high-throughput Evatec LLS-EVO-II magnetron sputtering system. A typical multilayer consists of a bilayer stack up to 50 periods, with alternating (50-100) nm thick magnetic layers and (2-20) nm thick dielectric interlayers. We introduced the in-plane magnetic anisotropy in these films during sputtering by a combination of a linear magnetic field, seed layer texturing by means of linear collimators, and the oblique incidence inherent to the geometry of the sputter system. Depending on the magnetic material, the anisotropy field for these films was tuned in the range of ˜(7-120) Oe by choosing the appropriate interlayer thickness, the aspect ratios of the linear collimators in front of the targets, and the sputter process parameters (e.g. pressure, power, DC pulse frequency), while the coercivity was kept low, ˜(0.05-0.9) Oe. The alignment of the easy axis (EA) on the 8" wafers was typically between ±1.5° and ±4°. We discuss the interdependence of structure and magnetic properties in these films, as revealed by atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray reflectivity (XRR) with reciprocal space mapping (RSM) and magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) measurements.

An evaluation of multilayer mirrors for the soft x ray and extreme ultraviolet wavelength range that were irradiated with neutrons

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Regan, S.P.; May, M.J.; Soukhanovskii, V.

1997-01-01

The Plasma Spectroscopy Group at the Johns Hopkins University develops high photon throughput multilayer mirror (MLM) based soft x ray and extreme ultraviolet (XUV 10 {Angstrom}{lt}{lambda}{lt}304 {Angstrom}) spectroscopic diagnostics for magnetically confined fusion plasmas. The D-T reactions in large fusion reactor type devices such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor will produce neutrons at a rate as high as 5{times}10{sup 19} ns{sup -1}. The MLMs, which are used as dispersive and focusing optics, will not be shielded from these neutrons. In an effort to assess the potential radiation damage, four MLMs (No. 1: Mo/Si, d=87.8 {Angstrom}, Zerodur substrate with 50more » cm concave spherical curvature; No. 2: W/B{sub 4}C, d=22.75 {Angstrom}, Si wafer substrate; No. 3: W/C, d=25.3 {Angstrom}, Si wafer substrate; and No. 4: Mo/Si, d=186.6 {Angstrom}, Si wafer substrate) were irradiated with fast neutrons at the Los Alamos Spallation Radiation Effects Facility (LASREF). The neutron beam at LASREF has an energy distribution that peaks at 1{endash}2 MeV with a tail that extends out to 100 MeV. The MLMs were irradiated to a fast neutron fluence of 1.1{times}10{sup 19} ncm{sup {minus}2} at 270{endash}300{degree}C. A comparison between the dispersive and reflective characteristics of the irradiated MLMs and the corresponding qualities of control samples will be given. {copyright} {ital 1997 American Institute of Physics.}« less

Cryogenic Testing of Different Seam Concepts for Multilayer Insulation Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Wesley L.; Fesmire, J. E.

2009-01-01

Recent testing in a cylindrical, comparative cryostat at the Cryogenics Test Laboratory has focused on various seam concepts for multilayer insulation systems. Three main types of seams were investigated: straight overlap, fold-over, and roll wrapped. Each blanket was comprised of 40 layer pairs of reflector and spacer materials. The total thickness was approximately 12.5-mm, giving an average layer density of 32 layers per centimeter. The blankets were tested at high vacuum, soft vacuum, and no vacuum using liquid nitrogen to maintain the cold boundary temperature at 77 K. Test results show that all three seam concepts are all close in thermal performance; however the fold-over method provides the lowest heat flux. For the first series of tests, seams were located 120 degrees around the circumference of the cryostat from the previous seam. This technique appears to have lessened the degradation of the blanket due to the seams. In a follow-on test, a 20 layer blanket was tested in a roll wrapped configuration and then cut down the side of the cylinder, taped together, and re-tested. This test result shows the thermal performance impact of having the seams all in one location versus having the seams clocked around the vessel. This experimental investigation indicates that the method of joining the seams in multilayer insulation systems is not as critical as the quality of the installation process.

Directed Self-Assembly of Block Copolymers for High Breakdown Strength Polymer Film Capacitors.

PubMed

Samant, Saumil P; Grabowski, Christopher A; Kisslinger, Kim; Yager, Kevin G; Yuan, Guangcui; Satija, Sushil K; Durstock, Michael F; Raghavan, Dharmaraj; Karim, Alamgir

2016-03-01

Emerging needs for fast charge/discharge yet high-power, lightweight, and flexible electronics requires the use of polymer-film-based solid-state capacitors with high energy densities. Fast charge/discharge rates of film capacitors on the order of microseconds are not achievable with slower charging conventional batteries, supercapacitors and related hybrid technologies. However, the current energy densities of polymer film capacitors fall short of rising demand, and could be significantly enhanced by increasing the breakdown strength (EBD) and dielectric permittivity (εr) of the polymer films. Co-extruded two-homopolymer component multilayered films have demonstrated much promise in this regard showing higher EBD over that of component polymers. Multilayered films can also help incorporate functional features besides energy storage, such as enhanced optical, mechanical, thermal and barrier properties. In this work, we report accomplishing multilayer, multicomponent block copolymer dielectric films (BCDF) with soft-shear driven highly oriented self-assembled lamellar diblock copolymers (BCP) as a novel application of this important class of self-assembling materials. Results of a model PS-b-PMMA system show ∼50% enhancement in EBD of self-assembled multilayer lamellar BCP films compared to unordered as-cast films, indicating that the breakdown is highly sensitive to the nanostructure of the BCP. The enhancement in EBD is attributed to the "barrier effect", where the multiple interfaces between the lamellae block components act as barriers to the dielectric breakdown through the film. The increase in EBD corresponds to more than doubling the energy storage capacity using a straightforward directed self-assembly strategy. This approach opens a new nanomaterial paradigm for designing high energy density dielectric materials.

Directed self-assembly of block copolymers for high breakdown strength polymer film capacitors

DOE PAGES

Samant, Saumil P.; Grabowski, Christopher A.; Kisslinger, Kim; ...

2016-03-04

Emerging needs for fast charge/discharge yet high-power, lightweight, and flexible electronics requires the use of polymer-film-based solid-state capacitors with high energy densities. Fast charge/discharge rates of film capacitors on the order of microseconds are not achievable with slower charging conventional batteries, supercapacitors and related hybrid technologies. However, the current energy densities of polymer film capacitors fall short of rising demand, and could be significantly enhanced by increasing the breakdown strength (E BD) and dielectric permittivity (ε r) of the polymer films. Co-extruded two-homopolymer component multilayered films have demonstrated much promise in this regard showing higher E BD over that ofmore » component polymers. Multilayered films can also help incorporate functional features besides energy storage, such as enhanced optical, mechanical, thermal and barrier properties. In this work, we report accomplishing multilayer, multicomponent block copolymer dielectric films (BCDF) with soft-shear driven highly oriented self-assembled lamellar diblock copolymers (BCP) as a novel application of this important class of self-assembling materials. Results of a model PS- b-PMMA system show ~50% enhancement in E BD of self-assembled multilayer lamellar BCP films compared to unordered as-cast films, indicating that the breakdown is highly sensitive to the nanostructure of the BCP. The enhancement in E BD is attributed to the “barrier effect”, where the multiple interfaces between the lamellae block components act as barriers to the dielectric breakdown through the film. The increase in E BD corresponds to more than doubling the energy storage capacity using a straightforward directed self-assembly strategy. Lastly, this approach opens a new nanomaterial paradigm for designing high energy density dielectric materials.« less

Electrically charged: An effective mechanism for soft EOS supporting massive neutron star

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jing, ZhenZhen; Wen, DeHua; Zhang, XiangDong

2015-10-01

The massive neutron star discoverer announced that strange particles, such as hyperons should be ruled out in the neutron star core as the soft Equation of State (EOS) can-not support a massive neutron star. However, many of the nuclear theories and laboratory experiments support that at high density the strange particles will appear and the corresponding EOS of super-dense matters will become soft. This situation promotes a challenge between the astro-observation and nuclear physics. In this work, we introduce an effective mechanism to answer this challenge, that is, if a neutron star is electrically charged, a soft EOS will be equivalently stiffened and thus can support a massive neutron star. By employing a representative soft EOS, it is found that in order to obtain an evident effect on the EOS and thus increasing the maximum stellar mass by the electrostatic field, the total net charge should be in an order of 1020 C. Moreover, by comparing the results of two kind of charge distributions, it is found that even for different distributions, a similar total charge: ~ 2.3 × 1020 C is needed to support a ~ 2.0 M ⊙ neutron star.

Xiphinema americanum as Affected by Soil Organic Matter and Porosity.

PubMed

Ponchillia, P E

1972-07-01

The effects of four soil types, soil porosity, particle size, and organic matter were tested on survival and migration of Xiphinema americanum. Survival and migration were significantly greater in silt loam than in clay loam and silty clay soils. Nematode numbers were significantly greater in softs planted with soybeans than in fallow softs. Nematode survival was greatest at the higher of two pore space levels in four softs. Migration of X. americanum through soft particle size fractions of 75-150, 150-250, 250-500, 500-700, and 700-1,000 mu was significantly greater in the middle three fractions, with the least occurring in the smallest fraction. Additions of muck to silt loam and loamy sand soils resulted in reductions in survival and migration of the nematode. The fulvic acid fraction of muck, extracted with sodium hydroxide, had a deleterious effect on nematode activity. I conclude that soils with small amounts of air-filled pore space, extremes in pore size, or high organic matter content are deleterious to the migration and survival of X. americanum, and that a naturally occurring toxin affecting this species may be present in native soft organic matter.

Multi-bits error detection and fast recovery in RISC cores

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jing, Wang; Xing, Yang; Yuanfu, Zhao; Weigong, Zhang; Jiao, Shen; Keni, Qiu

2015-11-01

The particles-induced soft errors are a major threat to the reliability of microprocessors. Even worse, multi-bits upsets (MBUs) are ever-increased due to the rapidly shrinking feature size of the IC on a chip. Several architecture-level mechanisms have been proposed to protect microprocessors from soft errors, such as dual and triple modular redundancies (DMR and TMR). However, most of them are inefficient to combat the growing multi-bits errors or cannot well balance the critical paths delay, area and power penalty. This paper proposes a novel architecture, self-recovery dual-pipeline (SRDP), to effectively provide soft error detection and recovery with low cost for general RISC structures. We focus on the following three aspects. First, an advanced DMR pipeline is devised to detect soft error, especially MBU. Second, SEU/MBU errors can be located by enhancing self-checking logic into pipelines stage registers. Third, a recovery scheme is proposed with a recovery cost of 1 or 5 clock cycles. Our evaluation of a prototype implementation exhibits that the SRDP can successfully detect particle-induced soft errors up to 100% and recovery is nearly 95%, the other 5% will inter a specific trap.

Collective dynamics of soft active particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Drongelen, Ruben; Pal, Anshuman; Goodrich, Carl P.; Idema, Timon

2015-03-01

We present a model of soft active particles that leads to a rich array of collective behavior found also in dense biological swarms of bacteria and other unicellular organisms. Our model uses only local interactions, such as Vicsek-type nearest-neighbor alignment, short-range repulsion, and a local boundary term. Changing the relative strength of these interactions leads to migrating swarms, rotating swarms, and jammed swarms, as well as swarms that exhibit run-and-tumble motion, alternating between migration and either rotating or jammed states. Interestingly, although a migrating swarm moves slower than an individual particle, the diffusion constant can be up to three orders of magnitude larger, suggesting that collective motion can be highly advantageous, for example, when searching for food.

Dissipation and Rheology of Sheared Soft-Core Frictionless Disks Below Jamming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vâgberg, Daniel; Olsson, Peter; Teitel, S.

2014-05-01

We use numerical simulations to investigate the effect that different models of energy dissipation have on the rheology of soft-core frictionless disks, below jamming in two dimensions. We find that it is not necessarily the mass of the particles that determines whether a system has Bagnoldian or Newtonian rheology, but rather the presence or absence of large connected clusters of particles. We demonstrate the key role that tangential dissipation plays in the formation of such clusters and in several models find a transition from Bagnoldian to Newtonian rheology as the packing fraction ϕ is varied. For each model, we show that appropriately scaled rheology curves approach a well defined limit as the mass of the particles decreases and collisions become strongly inelastic.

Soft-Collinear Mode for Jet Rates in Soft-Collinear Effective Theory

DOE PAGES

Chien, Yang-Ting; Lee, Christopher; Hornig, Andrew

2016-01-29

We propose the addition of a new "soft-collinear" mode to soft collinear effective theory (SCET) below the usual soft scale to factorize and resum logarithms of jet radii R in jet cross sections. We consider exclusive 2-jet cross sections in e +e - collisions with an energy veto Λ on additional jets. The key observation is that there are actually two pairs of energy scales whose ratio is R: the transverse momentum QR of the energetic particles inside jets and their total energy Q, and the transverse momentum ΛR of soft particles that are cut out of the jet cones and their energy Λ. The soft-collinear mode is necessary to factorize and resum logarithms of the latter hierarchy. We show how this factorization occurs in the jet thrust cross section for cone and k T-type algorithms at O(α s) and using the thrust cone algorithm at O(αmore » $$2\\atop{s}$$). We identify the presence of hard-collinear, in-jet soft, global (veto) soft, and soft-collinear modes in the jet thrust cross section. We also observe here that the in-jet soft modes measured with thrust are actually the "csoft" modes of the theory SCET +. We dub the new theory with both csoft and soft-collinear modes "SCET ++". We go on to explain the relation between the "unmeasured" jet function appearing in total exclusive jet cross sections and the hard-collinear and csoft functions in measured jet thrust cross sections. We do not resum logs that are non-global in origin, arising from the ratio of the scales of soft radiation whose thrust is measured at Q$${{\\tau}}$$/R and of the soft-collinear radiation at 2ΛR. Their resummation would require the introduction of additional operators beyond those we consider here. The steps we outline here are a necessary part of summing logs of R that are global in nature and have not been factorized and resummed beyond leading-log level previously.« less

Soft-Collinear Mode for Jet Rates in Soft-Collinear Effective Theory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chien, Yang-Ting; Lee, Christopher; Hornig, Andrew

We propose the addition of a new "soft-collinear" mode to soft collinear effective theory (SCET) below the usual soft scale to factorize and resum logarithms of jet radii R in jet cross sections. We consider exclusive 2-jet cross sections in e +e - collisions with an energy veto Λ on additional jets. The key observation is that there are actually two pairs of energy scales whose ratio is R: the transverse momentum QR of the energetic particles inside jets and their total energy Q, and the transverse momentum ΛR of soft particles that are cut out of the jet cones and their energy Λ. The soft-collinear mode is necessary to factorize and resum logarithms of the latter hierarchy. We show how this factorization occurs in the jet thrust cross section for cone and k T-type algorithms at O(α s) and using the thrust cone algorithm at O(αmore » $$2\\atop{s}$$). We identify the presence of hard-collinear, in-jet soft, global (veto) soft, and soft-collinear modes in the jet thrust cross section. We also observe here that the in-jet soft modes measured with thrust are actually the "csoft" modes of the theory SCET +. We dub the new theory with both csoft and soft-collinear modes "SCET ++". We go on to explain the relation between the "unmeasured" jet function appearing in total exclusive jet cross sections and the hard-collinear and csoft functions in measured jet thrust cross sections. We do not resum logs that are non-global in origin, arising from the ratio of the scales of soft radiation whose thrust is measured at Q$${{\\tau}}$$/R and of the soft-collinear radiation at 2ΛR. Their resummation would require the introduction of additional operators beyond those we consider here. The steps we outline here are a necessary part of summing logs of R that are global in nature and have not been factorized and resummed beyond leading-log level previously.« less

Ultrahigh resolution photographic films for X-ray/EUV/FUV astronomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoover, Richard B.; Walker, Arthur B. C., Jr.; Deforest, Craig E.; Watts, Richard; Tarrio, Charles

1993-01-01

The quest for ultrahigh resolution full-disk images of the sun at soft X-ray/EUV/FUV wavelengths has increased the demand for photographic films with broad spectral sensitivity, high spatial resolution, and wide dynamic range. These requirements were made more stringent by the recent development of multilayer telescopes and coronagraphs capable of operating at normal incidence at soft X-ray/EUV wavelengths. Photographic films are the only detectors now available with the information storage capacity and dynamic range such as is required for recording images of the solar disk and corona simultaneously with sub arc second spatial resolution. During the Stanford/MSFC/LLNL Rocket X-Ray Spectroheliograph and Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array (MSSTA) programs, we utilized photographic films to obtain high resolution full-disk images of the sun at selected soft X-ray/EUV/FUV wavelengths. In order to calibrate our instrumentation for quantitative analysis of our solar data and to select the best emulsions and processing conditions for the MSSTA reflight, we recently tested several photographic films. These studies were carried out at the NIST SURF II synchrotron and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory. In this paper, we provide the results of those investigations.

Sensor Applications of Soft Magnetic Materials Based on Magneto-Impedance, Magneto-Elastic Resonance and Magneto-Electricity

PubMed Central

García-Arribas, Alfredo; Gutiérrez, Jon; Kurlyandskaya, Galina V.; Barandiarán, José M.; Svalov, Andrey; Fernández, Eduardo; Lasheras, Andoni; de Cos, David; Bravo-Imaz, Iñaki

2014-01-01

The outstanding properties of selected soft magnetic materials make them successful candidates for building high performance sensors. In this paper we present our recent work regarding different sensing technologies based on the coupling of the magnetic properties of soft magnetic materials with their electric or elastic properties. In first place we report the influence on the magneto-impedance response of the thickness of Permalloy films in multilayer-sandwiched structures. An impedance change of 270% was found in the best conditions upon the application of magnetic field, with a low field sensitivity of 140%/Oe. Second, the magneto-elastic resonance of amorphous ribbons is used to demonstrate the possibility of sensitively measuring the viscosity of fluids, aimed to develop an on-line and real-time sensor capable of assessing the state of degradation of lubricant oils in machinery. A novel analysis method is shown to sensitively reveal the changes of the damping parameter of the magnetoelastic oscillations at the resonance as a function of the oil viscosity. Finally, the properties and performance of magneto-electric laminated composites of amorphous magnetic ribbons and piezoelectric polymer films are investigated, demonstrating magnetic field detection capabilities below 2.7 nT. PMID:24776934

Characteristics of the Energetic Igniters Through Integrating B/Ti Nano-Multilayers on TaN Film Bridge.

PubMed

Yan, YiChao; Shi, Wei; Jiang, HongChuan; Cai, XianYao; Deng, XinWu; Xiong, Jie; Zhang, WanLi

2015-12-01

The energetic igniters through integrating B/Ti nano-multilayers on tantalum nitride (TaN) ignition bridge are designed and fabricated. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) results show that nitrogen content has a great influence on the crystalline structure and TCR. TaN films under nitrogen ratio of 0.99 % exhibit a near-zero TCR value of approximately 10 ppm/°C. The scanning electron microscopy demonstrates that the layered structure of the B/Ti multilayer films is clearly visible with sharp and smooth interfaces. The electrical explosion characteristics employing a capacitor discharge firing set at the optimized charging voltage of 45 V reveal an excellent explosion performance by (B/Ti) n /TaN integration film bridge with small ignition delay time, high explosion temperature, much more bright flash of light, and much large quantities of the ejected product particles than TaN film bridge.

Application Prospects of Multilayer Film Shields for Space Research Instrumentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nyunt, P. W.; Vlasik, K. F.; Grachev, V. M.; Dmitrenko, V. V.; Novikov, A. S.; Petrenko, D. V.; Ulin, S. E.; Uteshev, Z. M.; Chernysheva, I. V.; Shustov, A. E.

We have studied the magnetic properties of multilayer film cylindrical configuration shields (MFS) based on NiFe / Cu. The studied samples were prepared by electrode position. MFS were constituted by alternating layers of NiFe and Cu, deposited on an aluminum cylinder with diameter of 4 cm, length of 13 cm and 0.5 cm thickness. The thickness of each ferromagnetic layer varied from 10 to 150 μm, and the thickness of Cu layers was 5 μm. Five-samples in which the number of ferromagnetic layers varied from 3 to 45 and copper - from 2 to 44 were tested. The best shielding efficiency was achieved at the maximum number of layers and comprised about 102. Permalloy multilayer foil shield at the same total thickness has several times less efficiency in comparison with MFS. The description of a prototype of the charged particles telescope for space application is presented. Results of its testing regarding sensitivity to the constant magnetic field are described.

Microstructure characteristics of Ni/WC composite cladding coatings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Gui-rong; Huang, Chao-peng; Song, Wen-ming; Li, Jian; Lu, Jin-jun; Ma, Ying; Hao, Yuan

2016-02-01

A multilayer tungsten carbide particle (WCp)-reinforced Ni-based alloy coating was fabricated on a steel substrate using vacuum cladding technology. The morphology, microstructure, and formation mechanism of the coating were studied and discussed in different zones. The microstructure morphology and phase composition were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. In the results, the coating presents a dense and homogeneous microstructure with few pores and is free from cracks. The whole coating shows a multilayer structure, including composite, transition, fusion, and diffusion-affected layers. Metallurgical bonding was achieved between the coating and substrate because of the formation of the fusion and diffusion-affected layers. The Ni-based alloy is mainly composed of γ-Ni solid solution with finely dispersed Cr7C3/Cr23C6, CrB, and Ni+Ni3Si. WC particles in the composite layer distribute evenly in areas among initial Ni-based alloying particles, forming a special three-dimensional reticular microstructure. The macrohardness of the coating is HRC 55, which is remarkably improved compared to that of the substrate. The microhardness increases gradually from the substrate to the composite zone, whereas the microhardness remains almost unchanged in the transition and composite zones.

Design and construction of a multi-layer CsI(Tl) telescope for high-energy reaction studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, D.; Sun, Z. Y.; Yue, K.; Wang, S. T.; Zhang, X. H.; Yu, Y. H.; Chen, J. L.; Tang, S. W.; Fang, F.; Zhou, Y.; Sun, Y.; Wang, Z. M.; Sun, Y. Z.

2017-01-01

A prototype of a new CsI(Tl) telescope, which will be used in the reaction studies of light isotopes with energy of several hundred AMeV, was constructed and tested at the Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The telescope has a multi-layer structure, and the range information was obtained to improve the particle identification performance. This prototype has seven layers of different thickness. An energy resolution of 5.0% (FWHM) was obtained for one of the layers in a beam test experiment. Positive improvement for the identification of 14O and 15O isotopes was achieved using the range information.

Fick's second law transformed: one path to cloaking in mass diffusion.

PubMed

Guenneau, S; Puvirajesinghe, T M

2013-06-06

Here, we adapt the concept of transformational thermodynamics, whereby the flux of temperature is controlled via anisotropic heterogeneous diffusivity, for the diffusion and transport of mass concentration. The n-dimensional, time-dependent, anisotropic heterogeneous Fick's equation is considered, which is a parabolic partial differential equation also applicable to heat diffusion, when convection occurs, for example, in fluids. This theory is illustrated with finite-element computations for a liposome particle surrounded by a cylindrical multi-layered cloak in a water-based environment, and for a spherical multi-layered cloak consisting of layers of fluid with an isotropic homogeneous diffusivity, deduced from an effective medium approach. Initial potential applications could be sought in bioengineering.

Dynamic heterogeneities and non-Gaussian behavior in two-dimensional randomly confined colloidal fluids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schnyder, Simon K.; Skinner, Thomas O. E.; Thorneywork, Alice L.; Aarts, Dirk G. A. L.; Horbach, Jürgen; Dullens, Roel P. A.

2017-03-01

A binary mixture of superparamagnetic colloidal particles is confined between glass plates such that the large particles become fixed and provide a two-dimensional disordered matrix for the still mobile small particles, which form a fluid. By varying fluid and matrix area fractions and tuning the interactions between the superparamagnetic particles via an external magnetic field, different regions of the state diagram are explored. The mobile particles exhibit delocalized dynamics at small matrix area fractions and localized motion at high matrix area fractions, and the localization transition is rounded by the soft interactions [T. O. E. Skinner et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 128301 (2013), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.128301]. Expanding on previous work, we find the dynamics of the tracers to be strongly heterogeneous and show that molecular dynamics simulations of an ideal gas confined in a fixed matrix exhibit similar behavior. The simulations show how these soft interactions make the dynamics more heterogeneous compared to the disordered Lorentz gas and lead to strong non-Gaussian fluctuations.

Fast calculation of the light differential scattering cross section of optically soft and convex bodies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gruy, Frédéric

2014-02-01

Depending on the range of size and the refractive index value, an optically soft particle follows Rayleigh-Debye-Gans or RDG approximation or Van de Hulst approximation. Practically the first one is valid for small particles whereas the second one works for large particles. Klett and Sutherland (Klett JD, Sutherland RA. App. Opt. 1992;31:373) proved that the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin or WKB approximation leads to accurate values of the differential scattering cross section of sphere and cylinder over a wide range of size. In this paper we extend the work of Klett and Sutherland by proposing a method allowing a fast calculation of the differential scattering cross section for any shape of particle with a given orientation and illuminated by unpolarized light. Our method is based on a geometrical approximation of the particle by replacing each geometrical cross section by an ellipse and then by exactly evaluating the differential scattering cross section of the newly generated body. The latter one contains only two single integrals.

Bat head contains soft magnetic particles: evidence from magnetism.

PubMed

Tian, Lanxiang; Lin, Wei; Zhang, Shuyi; Pan, Yongxin

2010-10-01

Recent behavioral observations have indicated that bats can sense the Earth's magnetic field. To unravel the magnetoreception mechanism, the present study has utilized magnetic measurements on three migratory species (Miniopterus fuliginosus, Chaerephon plicata, and Nyctalus plancyi) and three non-migratory species (Hipposideros armiger, Myotis ricketti, and Rhinolophus ferrumequinum). Room temperature isothermal remanent magnetization acquisition and alternating-field demagnetization showed that the bats' heads contain soft magnetic particles. Statistical analyses indicated that the saturation isothermal remanent magnetization of brains (SIRM(1T_brain)) of migratory species is higher than those of non-migratory species. Furthermore, the SIRM(1T_brain) of migratory bats is greater than their SIRM(1T_skull). Low-temperature magnetic measurements suggested that the magnetic particles are likely magnetite (Fe3O4). This new evidence supports the assumption that some bats use magnetite particles for sensing and orientation in the Earth's magnetic field.

Interfacial effect on physical properties of composite media: Interfacial volume fraction with non-spherical hard-core-soft-shell-structured particles.

PubMed

Xu, Wenxiang; Duan, Qinglin; Ma, Huaifa; Chen, Wen; Chen, Huisu

2015-11-02

Interfaces are known to be crucial in a variety of fields and the interfacial volume fraction dramatically affects physical properties of composite media. However, it is an open problem with great significance how to determine the interfacial property in composite media with inclusions of complex geometry. By the stereological theory and the nearest-surface distribution functions, we first propose a theoretical framework to symmetrically present the interfacial volume fraction. In order to verify the interesting generalization, we simulate three-phase composite media by employing hard-core-soft-shell structures composed of hard mono-/polydisperse non-spherical particles, soft interfaces, and matrix. We numerically derive the interfacial volume fraction by a Monte Carlo integration scheme. With the theoretical and numerical results, we find that the interfacial volume fraction is strongly dependent on the so-called geometric size factor and sphericity characterizing the geometric shape in spite of anisotropic particle types. As a significant interfacial property, the present theoretical contribution can be further drawn into predicting the effective transport properties of composite materials.

Interfacial effect on physical properties of composite media: Interfacial volume fraction with non-spherical hard-core-soft-shell-structured particles

PubMed Central

Xu, Wenxiang; Duan, Qinglin; Ma, Huaifa; Chen, Wen; Chen, Huisu

2015-01-01

Interfaces are known to be crucial in a variety of fields and the interfacial volume fraction dramatically affects physical properties of composite media. However, it is an open problem with great significance how to determine the interfacial property in composite media with inclusions of complex geometry. By the stereological theory and the nearest-surface distribution functions, we first propose a theoretical framework to symmetrically present the interfacial volume fraction. In order to verify the interesting generalization, we simulate three-phase composite media by employing hard-core-soft-shell structures composed of hard mono-/polydisperse non-spherical particles, soft interfaces, and matrix. We numerically derive the interfacial volume fraction by a Monte Carlo integration scheme. With the theoretical and numerical results, we find that the interfacial volume fraction is strongly dependent on the so-called geometric size factor and sphericity characterizing the geometric shape in spite of anisotropic particle types. As a significant interfacial property, the present theoretical contribution can be further drawn into predicting the effective transport properties of composite materials. PMID:26522701

Direct Visualization of Conformation and Dense Packing of DNA-Based Soft Colloids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jing; Lettinga, Paul M.; Dhont, Jan K. G.; Stiakakis, Emmanuel

2014-12-01

Soft colloids—such as polymer-coated particles, star polymers, block-copolymer micelles, microgels—constitute a broad class of materials where microscopic properties such as deformability and penetrability of the particle play a key role in tailoring their macroscopic properties which is of interest in many technological areas. The ability to access these microscopic properties is not yet demonstrated despite its great importance. Here we introduce novel DNA-coated colloids with star-shaped architecture that allows accessing the above local structural information by directly visualizing their intramolecular monomer density profile and arm's free-end locations with confocal fluorescent microscopy. Compression experiments on a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice formed by these macromolecular assemblies reveal an exceptional resistance to mutual interpenetration of their charged corona at pressures approaching the MPa range. Furthermore, we find that this lattice, in a close packing configuration, is surprisingly tolerant to particle size variation. We anticipate that these stimuli-responsive materials could aid to get deeper insight in a wide range of problems in soft matter, including the study and design of biomimetic lubricated surfaces.

Neutralization by a Corona Discharge Ionizer in Nitrogen Atmosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ikeuchi, Toru; Takahashi, Kazunori; Ohkubo, Takahiro; Fujiwara, Tamiya

An electrostatic neutralization of multilayer-loading silicon wafers is demonstrated using a corona discharge ionizer in nitrogen atmosphere, where ac and dc voltages are applied to two needle electrodes for generation of the negative- and positive-charged particles, respectively. We observe a surface potential of the silicon wafer decreases from ±1kV to ±20V within three seconds. Moreover, the density profiles of the charged particles generated by the electrodes are experimentally and theoretically investigated in nitrogen and air atmospheres. Our results show the possibility that the negative-charged particles contributing to the electrostatic neutralization are electrons and negative ions in nitrogen and air atmospheres, respectively.

Selective, high-energy beta scintillation sensor for real-time, in situ characterization of uranium-238 and strontium-90

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schilk, A. J.; Abel, K. H.; Brown, D. P.; Thompson, R. C.; Knopf, M. A.; Hubbard, C. W.

1994-04-01

A novel scintillating-fiber sensor for detecting high-energy beta particles has been designed and built at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory to characterize U-238 and Sr-90 in surface soils. High-energy betas generate unique signals as they pass through multiple layers of scintillating fibers that make up the active region of the detector. Lower-energy beta particles, gamma rays, and cosmic-ray-generated particles comprise the majority of the background interferences. The resulting signals produced by these latter phenomena are effectively discriminated against due to the combination of the sensor's multilayer configuration and its interlayer coincidence/anticoincidence circuitry.

Reduced graphene oxide aerogel networks with soft interfacial template for applications in bone tissue regeneration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asha, S.; Ananth, A. Nimrodh; Jose, Sujin P.; Rajan, M. A. Jothi

2018-05-01

Reduced Graphene Oxide aerogels (A-RGO), functionalized with chitosan, were found to induce and/or accelerate the mineralization of hydroxyapatite. The functionalized chitosan acts as a soft interfacial template on the surface of A-RGO assisting the growth of hydroxyapatite particles. The mineralization on these soft aerogel networks was performed by soaking the aerogels in simulated body fluid, relative to time. Polymer-induced mineralization exhibited an ordered arrangement of hydroxyapatite particles on reduced graphene oxide aerogel networks with a higher crystalline index (IC) of 1.7, which mimics the natural bone formation indicating the importance of the polymeric interfacial template. These mineralized aerogels which mimic the structure and composition of natural bone exhibit relatively higher rate of cell proliferation, osteogenic differentiation and osteoid matrix formation proving it to be a potential scaffold for bone tissue regeneration.

The Effect of Particles on Electrolytically Polymerized Thin Natural MCF Rubber for Soft Sensors Installed in Artificial Skin

PubMed Central

Shimada, Kunio; Mochizuki, Osamu; Kubota, Yoshihiro

2017-01-01

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of particles as filler in soft rubber sensors installed in artificial skin. We examine sensors made of natural rubber (NR-latex) that include magnetic particles of Ni and Fe3O4 using magnetic compound fluid (MCF). The 1-mm thickness of the electrolytically polymerized MCF rubber makes production of comparatively thin rubber sensors feasible. We first investigate the effect of magnetic particles Ni and Fe3O4 on the curing of MCF rubber. Next, in order to adjust the electric properties of the MCF rubber, we adopt Al2O3 dielectric particles. We investigate the effect of Al2O3 particles on changes in electric current, voltage and temperature of electrolytically polymerized MCF rubber liquid, and on the electric properties under the application of normal and shear forces. By adjusting the ratio of Ni, Fe3O4, Al2O3 and water in MCF rubber with Al2O3, it is possible to change the electric properties. PMID:28422061

Role of cell deformability in the two-dimensional melting of biological tissues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yan-Wei; Ciamarra, Massimo Pica

2018-04-01

The size and shape of a large variety of polymeric particles, including biological cells, star polymers, dendrimes, and microgels, depend on the applied stresses as the particles are extremely soft. In high-density suspensions these particles deform as stressed by their neighbors, which implies that the interparticle interaction becomes of many-body type. Investigating a two-dimensional model of cell tissue, where the single particle shear modulus is related to the cell adhesion strength, here we show that the particle deformability affects the melting scenario. On increasing the temperature, stiff particles undergo a first-order solid/liquid transition, while soft ones undergo a continuous solid/hexatic transition followed by a discontinuous hexatic/liquid transition. At zero temperature the melting transition driven by the decrease of the adhesion strength occurs through two continuous transitions as in the Kosterlitz, Thouless, Halperin, Nelson, and Young scenario. Thus, there is a range of adhesion strength values where the hexatic phase is stable at zero temperature, which suggests that the intermediate phase of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition could be hexatic type.

Functionalized gold nanoparticles: a detailed in vivo multimodal microscopic brain distribution study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sousa, Fernanda; Mandal, Subhra; Garrovo, Chiara; Astolfo, Alberto; Bonifacio, Alois; Latawiec, Diane; Menk, Ralf Hendrik; Arfelli, Fulvia; Huewel, Sabine; Legname, Giuseppe; Galla, Hans-Joachim; Krol, Silke

2010-12-01

In the present study, the in vivo distribution of polyelectrolyte multilayer coated gold nanoparticles is shown, starting from the living animal down to cellular level. The coating was designed with functional moieties to serve as a potential nano drug for prion disease. With near infrared time-domain imaging we followed the biodistribution in mice up to 7 days after intravenous injection of the nanoparticles. The peak concentration in the head of mice was detected between 19 and 24 h. The precise particle distribution in the brain was studied ex vivo by X-ray microtomography, confocal laser and fluorescence microscopy. We found that the particles mainly accumulate in the hippocampus, thalamus, hypothalamus, and the cerebral cortex.In the present study, the in vivo distribution of polyelectrolyte multilayer coated gold nanoparticles is shown, starting from the living animal down to cellular level. The coating was designed with functional moieties to serve as a potential nano drug for prion disease. With near infrared time-domain imaging we followed the biodistribution in mice up to 7 days after intravenous injection of the nanoparticles. The peak concentration in the head of mice was detected between 19 and 24 h. The precise particle distribution in the brain was studied ex vivo by X-ray microtomography, confocal laser and fluorescence microscopy. We found that the particles mainly accumulate in the hippocampus, thalamus, hypothalamus, and the cerebral cortex. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Fig. S1-S6. See DOI: 10.1039/c0nr00345j

Dynamic and rheological properties of soft biological cell suspensions

PubMed Central

Yazdani, Alireza; Li, Xuejin

2016-01-01

Quantifying dynamic and rheological properties of suspensions of soft biological particles such as vesicles, capsules, and red blood cells (RBCs) is fundamentally important in computational biology and biomedical engineering. In this review, recent studies on dynamic and rheological behavior of soft biological cell suspensions by computer simulations are presented, considering both unbounded and confined shear flow. Furthermore, the hemodynamic and hemorheological characteristics of RBCs in diseases such as malaria and sickle cell anemia are highlighted. PMID:27540271

Aqueous Lubrication, Structure and Rheological Properties of Whey Protein Microgel Particles.

PubMed

Sarkar, Anwesha; Kanti, Farah; Gulotta, Alessandro; Murray, Brent S; Zhang, Shuying

2017-12-26

Aqueous lubrication has emerged as an active research area in recent years due to its prevalence in nature in biotribological contacts and its enormous technological soft-matter applications. In this study, we designed aqueous dispersions of biocompatible whey-protein microgel particles (WPM) (10-80 vol %) cross-linked via disulfide bonding and focused on understanding their rheological, structural and biotribological properties (smooth polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) contacts, R a < 50 nm, ball-on-disk set up). The WPM particles (D h = 380 nm) displayed shear-thinning behavior and good lubricating performance in the plateau boundary as well as the mixed lubrication regimes. The WPM particles facilitated lubrication between bare hydrophobic PDMS surfaces (water contact angle 108°), leading to a 10-fold reduction in boundary friction force with increased volume fraction (ϕ ≥ 65%), largely attributed to the close packing-mediated layer of particles between the asperity contacts acting as "true surface-separators", hydrophobic moieties of WPM binding to the nonpolar surfaces, and particles employing a rolling mechanism analogous to "ball bearings", the latter supported by negligible change in size and microstructure of the WPM particles after tribology. An ultralow boundary friction coefficient, μ ≤ 0.03 was achieved using WPM between O 2 plasma-treated hydrophilic PDMS contacts coated with bovine submaxillary mucin (water contact angle 47°), and electron micrographs revealed that the WPM particles spread effectively as a layer of particles even at low ϕ∼ 10%, forming a lubricating load-bearing film that prevented the two surfaces from true adhesive contact. However, above an optimum volume fraction, μ increased in HL+BSM surfaces due to the interpenetration of particles that possibly impeded effective rolling, explaining the slight increase in friction. These effects are reflected in the highly shear thinning nature of the WPM dispersions themselves plus the tendency for the apparent viscosity to fall as dispersions are forced to very high volume fractions. The present work demonstrates a novel approach for providing ultralow friction in soft polymeric surfaces using proteinaceous microgel particles that satisfy both load bearing and kinematic requirements. These findings hold great potential for designing biocompatible particles for aqueous lubrication in numerous soft matter applications.

Templated biomimetic multifunctional coatings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Chih-Hung; Gonzalez, Adriel; Linn, Nicholas C.; Jiang, Peng; Jiang, Bin

2008-02-01

We report a bioinspired templating technique for fabricating multifunctional optical coatings that mimic both unique functionalities of antireflective moth eyes and superhydrophobic cicada wings. Subwavelength-structured fluoropolymer nipple arrays are created by a soft-lithography-like process. The utilization of fluoropolymers simultaneously enhances the antireflective performance and the hydrophobicity of the replicated films. The specular reflectivity matches the optical simulation using a thin-film multilayer model. The dependence of the size and the crystalline ordering of the replicated nipples on the resulting antireflective properties have also been investigated by experiment and modeling. These biomimetic materials may find important technological application in self-cleaning antireflection coatings.

At-wavelength metrology facility for soft X-ray reflection optics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sokolov, A., E-mail: andrey.sokolov@helmholtz-berlin.de; Bischoff, P.; Eggenstein, F.

2016-05-15

A new Optics Beamline coupled to a versatile UHV reflectometer is successfully operating at BESSY-II. It is used to carry out at-wavelength characterization and calibration of in-house produced gratings and novel nano-optical devices as well as mirrors and multilayer systems in the UV and XUV spectral region. This paper presents most recent commissioning data of the beamline and shows their correlation with initial beamline design calculations. Special attention is paid to beamline key parameters which determine the quality of the measurements such as high-order suppression and stray light behavior. The facility is open to user operation.

Influence of cellulose nanocrystals concentration and ionic strength on the elaboration of cellulose nanocrystals-xyloglucan multilayered thin films.

PubMed

Dammak, Abir; Moreau, Céline; Azzam, Firas; Jean, Bruno; Cousin, Fabrice; Cathala, Bernard

2015-12-15

The effect of the variation of CNC concentration on the growth pattern of CNC-XG films is investigated. We found that a transition in the growth slope occurs at a CNC concentration of roughly 3-4gL(-1). A close effect can be obtained by the increase of the ionic strength of the CNC suspensions, suggesting that electrostatic interactions are involved. Static light scattering investigation of CNC dispersions at increasing concentrations demonstrated that the particle-particle interactions change as the CNC concentration increases. Neutron Reflectivity (NR) was used to probe the internal structure of the films. The increase of the CNC concentration as well as the increase of the ionic strength in the CNC suspension were found to induce a densification of the adsorbed CNC layers, even though the mechanisms are not strictly identical in both cases. Small changes in these parameters provide a straightforward way of controlling the architecture of CNC-based multilayered thin films and, as a result, their functional properties. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Laser micromachining of biofactory-on-a-chip devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burt, Julian P.; Goater, Andrew D.; Hayden, Christopher J.; Tame, John A.

2002-06-01

Excimer laser micromachining provides a flexible means for the manufacture and rapid prototyping of miniaturized systems such as Biofactory-on-a-Chip devices. Biofactories are miniaturized diagnostic devices capable of characterizing, manipulating, separating and sorting suspension of particles such as biological cells. Such systems operate by exploiting the electrical properties of microparticles and controlling particle movement in AC non- uniform stationary and moving electric fields. Applications of Biofactory devices are diverse and include, among others, the healthcare, pharmaceutical, chemical processing, environmental monitoring and food diagnostic markets. To achieve such characterization and separation, Biofactory devices employ laboratory-on-a-chip type components such as complex multilayer microelectrode arrays, microfluidic channels, manifold systems and on-chip detection systems. Here we discuss the manufacturing requirements of Biofactory devices and describe the use of different excimer laser micromachined methods both in stand-alone processes and also in conjunction with conventional fabrication processes such as photolithography and thermal molding. Particular attention is given to the production of large area multilayer microelectrode arrays and the manufacture of complex cross-section microfluidic channel systems for use in simple distribution and device interfacing.

Monte Carlo study of one-dimensional confined fluids with Gay-Berne intermolecular potential

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moradi, M.; Hashemi, S.

2011-11-01

The thermodynamic quantities of a one dimensional system of particles with Gay-Berne model potential confined between walls have been obtained by means of Monte Carlo computer simulations. For a number of temperatures, the systems were considered and their density profiles, order parameter, pressure, configurational temperature and average potential energy per particle are reported. The results show that by decreasing the temperature, the soft particles become more ordered and they align to the walls and also they don't show any tendency to be near the walls at very low temperatures. We have also changed the structure of the walls by embedding soft ellipses in them, this change increases the total density near the wall whereas, increasing or decreasing the order parameter depend on the angle of embedded ellipses.

Exploring the Dynamics and Structure of Soft Colloids at Oil-water Interfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwok, Man Hin

The ability of solid colloidal particles to physically stabilize emulsions, also referred to as Pickering emulsions, has been studied for a long time since their activity at the interface was discovered one hundred years ago. Pickering emulsions display various interesting phenomena because of it high desorption energy at the interface compared with conventional surfactant stabilizers. In addition, Pickering emulsions are considered to be 'surfactant free' emulsion and the adverse effects of using surfactants could be eliminated. In the past few years, the use of submicrometer, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM)-based mcirogel particles for stabilizing emulsions has captured the interest of many scientists. Being soft, the microgels, which are spherical in solution, become deformed at the oil-water interface. This deformability leads to the special dynamic properties of interfacial layers and packing structures, which in turn alters the interfacial tension and the rheological properties of the interface. In addition, being responsiveness, PNIPAM microgels enable emulsions to be prepared and broken on demand. Despite all of the practical advantages and unique properties that have already been demonstrated, the mechanisms that govern emulsion stabilization and destabilization using microgels are far from completely understood. The study of soft colloids at the interface thus is of great academic interest and the fundamental understanding of them is the key to achieve the application potential of such novel materials. This thesis focuses on the dynamics and structure of soft colloidal particles at the oil-water interfaces. First, in order to prepare tailored colloids for the study, the syntheses of multi-responsive PNIPAM microgels with different size, co-monomers, deformability and morphologies were thoroughly investigated. The combination of semi-batch synthesis and temperature-programmed technique resulted in a novel preparation of micron-sized PNIPAM microgels. Various experimental parameters were tested and modified in order to give microgels with optimized quality. The thermo- and pH- responsiveness of these microgels were characterized by laser diffraction and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Next, a novel labeling technique of the soft PNIPAM microgel particles was developed. This technique was based on the physical adsorption of small fluorescent molecules. Instead of chemically bonded dye molecules, these adsorbed fluorescent dyes could move freely inside the polymer network of the microgel particle. It was also found that the fluorescent dye interacted with different parts of the microgel differently. Therefore, the internal structure and morphology of microgels could be directly visualized by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) in aqueous environment. The improvement of imaging techniques of microgel particles is essential for studying their behavior at the oil-water interface. It is because conventional scanning electron microscopy (SEM) requires dried sample, which might not reflects the actual states of microgels in aqueous environment. With the improved labeling method under CLSM mentioned above, the conformation of micron-sized PNIPAM microgel particles was captured at the oil-water interface. Particularly, anisotropic deformation of soft pH-responsive microgels was observed at the oil-water interface. Nevertheless, it was found that microgels were not likely to deform significantly unless they were extremely swollen. We also use Langmuir trough to study the dynamics of microgel at an interface with changing area. Forced desorption-spontaneous adsorption cycles of microgel particles at the oil-water interface were successfully demonstrated. More interestingly, it was discovered that the microgel particles would be desorbed before having a significant deformation in Langmuir trough compression. Finally, the emulsion stability of the microgel stabilized Pickering emulsion was characterized by centrifugation. By comparing the stability of different microgels in different conditions, the correlation between the microgel properties and the corresponding Pickering emulsion stability was found. The emulsion stability and the interfacial behaviors of PNIPAM based microgels can now be better controlled and predicted, which gives great advantages for future applications using soft colloids as stabilizers.

Terrestrial ecosystem process model Biome-BGCMuSo v4.0: summary of improvements and new modeling possibilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hidy, Dóra; Barcza, Zoltán; Marjanović, Hrvoje; Zorana Ostrogović Sever, Maša; Dobor, Laura; Gelybó, Györgyi; Fodor, Nándor; Pintér, Krisztina; Churkina, Galina; Running, Steven; Thornton, Peter; Bellocchi, Gianni; Haszpra, László; Horváth, Ferenc; Suyker, Andrew; Nagy, Zoltán

2016-12-01

The process-based biogeochemical model Biome-BGC was enhanced to improve its ability to simulate carbon, nitrogen, and water cycles of various terrestrial ecosystems under contrasting management activities. Biome-BGC version 4.1.1 was used as a base model. Improvements included addition of new modules such as the multilayer soil module, implementation of processes related to soil moisture and nitrogen balance, soil-moisture-related plant senescence, and phenological development. Vegetation management modules with annually varying options were also implemented to simulate management practices of grasslands (mowing, grazing), croplands (ploughing, fertilizer application, planting, harvesting), and forests (thinning). New carbon and nitrogen pools have been defined to simulate yield and soft stem development of herbaceous ecosystems. The model version containing all developments is referred to as Biome-BGCMuSo (Biome-BGC with multilayer soil module; in this paper, Biome-BGCMuSo v4.0 is documented). Case studies on a managed forest, cropland, and grassland are presented to demonstrate the effect of model developments on the simulation of plant growth as well as on carbon and water balance.

Observation of skull-guided acoustic waves in a water-immersed murine skull using optoacoustic excitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Estrada, Héctor; Rebling, Johannes; Razansky, Daniel

2017-02-01

The skull bone, a curved solid multilayered plate protecting the brain, constitutes a big challenge for the use of ultrasound-mediated techniques in neuroscience. Ultrasound waves incident from water or soft biological tissue are mostly reflected when impinging on the skull. To this end, skull properties have been characterized for both high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) operating in the narrowband far-field regime and optoacoustic imaging applications. Yet, no study has been conducted to characterize the near-field of water immersed skulls. We used the thermoelastic effect with a 532 nm pulsed laser to trigger a wide range of broad-band ultrasound modes in a mouse skull. In order to capture the waves propagating in the near-field, a thin hydrophone was scanned in close proximity to the skull's surface. While Leaky pseudo-Lamb waves and grazing-angle bulk water waves are clearly visible in the spatio-temporal data, we were only able to identify skull-guided acoustic waves after dispersion analysis in the wavenumber-frequency space. The experimental data was found to be in a reasonable agreement with a flat multilayered plate model.

Rapid prototyping of microchannels with surface patterns for fabrication of polymer fibers

DOE PAGES

Goodrich, Payton J.; Sharifi, Farrokh; Hashemi, Nastaran

2015-08-14

Microfluidic technology has provided innovative solutions to numerous problems, but the cost of designing and fabricating microfluidic channels is impeding its expansion. In this study, Shrinky-Dink thermoplastic sheets are used to create multilayered complex templates for microfluidic channels. We also used inkjet and laserjet printers to raise a predetermined microchannel geometry by depositing several layers of ink for each feature consecutively. We achieved feature heights over 100 μm, which were measured and compared with surface profilometry. Templates closest to the target geometry were then used to create microfluidic devices from soft-lithography with the molds as a template. These microfluidic devicesmore » were, futhermore used to fabricate polymer microfibers using the microfluidic focusing approach to demonstrate the potential that this process has for microfluidic applications. Finally, an economic analysis was conducted to compare the price of common microfluidic template manufacturing methods. We showed that multilayer microchannels can be created significantly quicker and cheaper than current methods for design prototyping and point-of-care applications in the biomedical area.« less

Light dosimetry for focused and defocused beam irradiation in multi-layered tissue models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrova, Kremena S.; Stoykova, Elena V.

2006-09-01

Treatment of acupuncture points, trigger points, joint inflammations in low level laser therapy as well as various applications of lasers for treatment of soft tissues in dental medicine, require irradiation by a narrow converging laser beam. The aim of this study is to compare light delivery produced by focused or defocused narrow beam irradiation in a multi-layered skin tissue model at increasing depth of the target. The task is solved by 3-D Monte-Carlo simulation for matched and mismatched refractive indices at the tissue/ambient medium interface. The modeled light beams have a circular cross-section at the tissue entrance with uniform or Gaussian intensity distribution. Three are the tissue models used in simulation : i) a bloodless skin layer; ii) a bloodless skin layer with embedded scattering object; iii) a skin layer with small blood vessels of varying size, which are modeled as infinite cylinders parallel to the tissue surface located at different depths. Optical properties (absorption coefficient, scattering coefficient, anisotropy factor, g, and index of refraction) of different tissue constituents are chosen from the literature.

Multi-layer accretion disks around black holes and formation of a hot ion-torus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hujeirat, A.; Camenzind, M.

2000-08-01

We present the first 2D steady-state numerical radiative hydrodynamical calculations showing the formation of a low-density hot torus in the very inner region of accretion disks around a black hole. The inner part of the disk is found to be thermally unstable when Bremsstrahlung is the dominant cooling mechanism. Within the parameter regime used and in the absence of magnetic fields, the torus-plasma is highly time-dependent with supersonic oscillating motion with respect to the electron temperature. When the soft photons from the disk comptonize the electrons efficiently, the ion-pressure supported torus shrinks in volume, but decelerates further the inward motion into the hole. We speculate that magnetic fields would stabilize the tori by lowering its energy package through initiating jets and/or outflows. In the outer region, we find that the scale height of the angular velocity HΩ largely exceeds the scale height of the density Hρ. This yields a multi-layer flow-structure in the vertical direction which slows the inwards motion into the BH significantly, enhancing further the formation of the hot torus.

Stratification of a two-phase monodisperse system in a plane laminar flow

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fedoseev, V. B., E-mail: vbfedoseev@yandex.ru

2016-05-15

A thermodynamic approach is used to describe the distribution of particles of a disperse phase in a plane laminar flow. The effect of the density, shape, and velocity of disperse particles in the flow is considered. Conditions are described under which various modes of stratification of the flow (near-wall, central, intermediate, and multilayer modes) arise. The equilibrium distributions obtained are self-similar; this allows one to compare the behavior of colloidal, highly disperse, coarsely disperse, and coarse-grain systems for various shear velocities and flow widths.

Analysis of soft magnetic materials by electron backscatter diffraction as a powerful tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuller, David; Hohs, Dominic; Loeffler, Ralf; Bernthaler, Timo; Goll, Dagmar; Schneider, Gerhard

2018-04-01

The current work demonstrates that electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is a powerful and versatile characterization technique for investigating soft magnetic materials. The properties of soft magnets, e.g., magnetic losses strongly depend on the materials chemical composition and microstructure, including grain size and shape, texture, degree of plastic deformation and elastic strain. In electrical sheet stacks for e-motor applications, the quality of the machined edges/surfaces of each individual sheet is of special interest. Using EBSD, the influence of the punching process on the microstructure at the cutting edge is quantitatively assessed by evaluating the crystallographic misorientation distribution of the deformed grains. Using an industrial punching process, the maximum affected deformation depth is determined to be 200 - 300 μm. In the case of laser cutting, the affected deformation depth is determined to be approximately zero. Reliability and detection limits of the developed EBSD approach are evaluated on non-affected sample regions and model samples containing different indentation test bodies. A second application case is the investigation of the recrystallization process during the annealing step of soft magnetic composites (SMC) toroids produced by powder metallurgy as a function of compaction pressure, annealing parameters and powder particle size. With increasing pressure and temperature, the recrystallized area fraction (e.g., grains with crystallographic misorientations < 3°) increases from 71 % (200 MPa, 800°C) to 90% (800 MPa, 800°C). Recrystallization of the compacted powder material starts at the particle boundaries or areas with existing plastic deformation. The progress of recrystallization is visualized as a function of time and of different particle to grain size distributions. Here, large particles with coarse internal grain structures show a favorable recrystallization behavior which results in large bulk permeability of up to 600 - 700 and lower amount of residual misorientations (>3°).

Soft Landing of Bare Nanoparticles with Controlled Size, Composition, and Morphology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnson, Grant E.; Colby, Robert J.; Laskin, Julia

2015-01-01

A kinetically-limited physical synthesis method based on magnetron sputtering and gas aggregation has been coupled with size-selection and ion soft landing to prepare bare metal nanoparticles on surfaces with controlled coverage, size, composition, and morphology. Employing atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), it is demonstrated that the size and coverage of bare nanoparticles soft landed onto flat glassy carbon and silicon as well as stepped graphite surfaces may be controlled through size-selection with a quadrupole mass filter and the length of deposition, respectively. The bare nanoparticles are observed with AFM to bind randomly to the flat glassymore » carbon surface when soft landed at relatively low coverage (1012 ions). In contrast, on stepped graphite surfaces at intermediate coverage (1013 ions) the soft landed nanoparticles are shown to bind preferentially along step edges forming extended linear chains of particles. At the highest coverage (5 x 1013 ions) examined in this study the nanoparticles are demonstrated with both AFM and SEM to form a continuous film on flat glassy carbon and silicon surfaces. On a graphite surface with defects, however, it is shown with SEM that the presence of localized surface imperfections results in agglomeration of nanoparticles onto these features and the formation of neighboring depletion zones that are devoid of particles. Employing high resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy in the high angular annular dark field imaging mode (STEM-HAADF) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) it is demonstrated that the magnetron sputtering/gas aggregation synthesis technique produces single metal particles with controlled morphology as well as bimetallic alloy nanoparticles with clearly defined core-shell structure. Therefore, this kinetically-limited physical synthesis technique, when combined with ion soft landing, is a versatile complementary method for preparing a wide range of bare supported nanoparticles with selected properties that are free of the solvent, organic capping agents, and residual reactants present with nanoparticles synthesized in solution.« less

Investigation of Stabilised Batu Pahat Soft Soil Pertaining on its CBR and Permeability Properties for Road Construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohd Idrus, M. M.; Singh, J. S. M.; Musbah, A. L. A.; Wijeyesekera, D. C.

2016-07-01

Soil stabilization by adding materials such as cement, lime and bitumen is one of the effective methods for improving the geotechnical properties of soils [11] Nano-particle is one of the newest additives and many studies about using nano-particle in soil improvement has been done but it was given less attention when soft clay soils stabilization is concerned. To evaluate the strength characteristics of stabilized Batu Pahat soft clay, laboratory investigation on early strength gained by the stabilized soil must be conducted to formulate a suitable and economical mix design [10]. To achieve such purpose, the study examined the effect of NanoClay on the California Bearing Ratio and the Permeability of soft clay. The results gained shows that the Nano-Clay is able to increase the strength of the soft clay [9]. The California Bearing Ratio of the soil is increase significantly where the results for the highest percentage of admixture is 14.4% while the permeability of the soil decreases significantly with increasing Nano-Clay whereby the results of the highest percentage of admixture is 2.0187x10-11 m/s. After doing this research, it is proven that Nano-clay can contribute towards better soil stabilization and enhance the quality of soil as subgrade and foundation at large.

Redox reaction triggered nanomotors based on soft-oxometalates with high and sustained motility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mallick, Apabrita; Laskar, Abhrajit; Adhikari, R.; Roy, Soumyajit

2018-05-01

The recent interest in self-propulsion raises an immediate challenge in facile and single-step synthesis of active particles. Here, we address this challenge and synthesize soft oxometalate nanomotors that translate ballistically in water using the energy released in a redox reaction of hydrazine fuel with the soft-oxometalates. Our motors reach a maximum speed of ̴ 370 body lengths per second and remain motile over a period of approximately three days. We report measurements of the speed of a single motor as a function of the concentration of hydrazine. It is also possible to induce a transition from single-particle translation to collective motility with biomimetic bands simply by tuning the loading of the fuel. We rationalize the results from a physicochemical hydrodynamic theory. Our nanomotors may also be used for transport of catalytic materials in harsh chemical environments that would otherwise passivate the active catalyst.

Effects of wheat source and particle size in meal and pelleted diets on finishing pig growth performance, carcass characteristics, and nutrient digestibility.

PubMed

De Jong, J A; DeRouchey, J M; Tokach, M D; Dritz, S S; Goodband, R D; Paulk, C B; Woodworth, J C; Jones, C K; Stark, C R

2016-08-01

Two experiments were conducted to test the effects of wheat source and particle size in meal and pelleted diets on finishing pig performance, carcass characteristics, and diet digestibility. In Exp. 1, pigs (PIC 327 × 1050; = 288; initially 43.8 kg BW) were balanced by initial BW and randomly allotted to 1 of 3 treatments with 8 pigs per pen (4 barrows and 4 gilts) and 12 pens per treatment. The 3 dietary treatments were hard red winter wheat ground with a hammer mill to 728, 579, or 326 μm, respectively. From d 0 to 40, decreasing wheat particle size decreased (linear, < 0.033) ADFI but improved (quadratic, < 0.014) G:F. From d 40 to 83, decreasing wheat particle size increased (quadratic, < 0.018) ADG and improved (linear, < 0.002) G:F. Overall from d 0 to 83, reducing wheat particle size improved (linear, < 0.002) G:F. In Exp. 2, pigs (PIC 327 × 1050; = 576; initially 43.4 ± 0.02 kg BW) were used to determine the effects of wheat source and particle size of pelleted diets on finishing pig growth performance and carcass characteristics. Pigs were randomly allotted to pens, and pens of pigs were balanced by initial BW and randomly allotted to 1 of 6 dietary treatments with 12 replications per treatment and 8 pigs/pen. The experimental diets used the same wheat-soybean meal formulation, with the 6 treatments using hard red winter or soft white winter wheat that were processed to 245, 465, and 693 μm and 258, 402, and 710 μm, respectively. All diets were pelleted. Overall, feeding hard red winter wheat increased ( < 0.05) ADG and ADFI when compared with soft white winter wheat. There was a tendency ( < 0.10) for a quadratic particle size × wheat source interaction for ADG, ADFI, and both DM and GE digestibility, as they were decreased for pigs fed 465-μm hard red winter wheat and were greatest for pigs fed 402-μm soft white winter wheat. There were no main or interactive effects of particle size or wheat source on carcass characteristics. In summary, fine grinding hard red winter wheat fed in meal form improved G:F and nutrient digestibility, whereas reducing particle size of wheat from approximately 700 to 250 μm in pelleted diets did not influence growth or carcass traits. Finally, feeding hard red winter wheat improved ADG and ADFI compared with feeding soft white winter wheat.

Calculation of absorbed dose and biological effectiveness from photonuclear reactions in a bremsstrahlung beam of end point 50 MeV.

PubMed

Gudowska, I; Brahme, A; Andreo, P; Gudowski, W; Kierkegaard, J

1999-09-01

The absorbed dose due to photonuclear reactions in soft tissue, lung, breast, adipose tissue and cortical bone has been evaluated for a scanned bremsstrahlung beam of end point 50 MeV from a racetrack accelerator. The Monte Carlo code MCNP4B was used to determine the photon source spectrum from the bremsstrahlung target and to simulate the transport of photons through the treatment head and the patient. Photonuclear particle production in tissue was calculated numerically using the energy distributions of photons derived from the Monte Carlo simulations. The transport of photoneutrons in the patient and the photoneutron absorbed dose to tissue were determined using MCNP4B; the absorbed dose due to charged photonuclear particles was calculated numerically assuming total energy absorption in tissue voxels of 1 cm3. The photonuclear absorbed dose to soft tissue, lung, breast and adipose tissue is about (0.11-0.12)+/-0.05% of the maximum photon dose at a depth of 5.5 cm. The absorbed dose to cortical bone is about 45% larger than that to soft tissue. If the contributions from all photoparticles (n, p, 3He and 4He particles and recoils of the residual nuclei) produced in the soft tissue and the accelerator, and from positron radiation and gammas due to induced radioactivity and excited states of the nuclei, are taken into account the total photonuclear absorbed dose delivered to soft tissue is about 0.15+/-0.08% of the maximum photon dose. It has been estimated that the RBE of the photon beam of 50 MV acceleration potential is approximately 2% higher than that of conventional 60Co radiation.

Element-selective investigation of domain structure in CoPd and FePd alloys using small-angle soft X-ray scattering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weier, C.; Adam, R.; Frömter, R.; Bach, J.; Winkler, G.; Kobs, A.; Oepen, H. P.; Grychtol, P.; Kapteyn, H. C.; Murnane, M. M.; Schneider, C. M.

2014-03-01

Recent optical pump-probe experiments on magnetic multilayers and alloys identified perpendicular spin superdiffusion as one of possible mechanisms responsible for femtosecond magnetization dynamics. On the other hand, no strong evidence for the ultrafast lateral spin transport has been reported, so far. To address this question, we studied magnetic domain structure of CoPd and FePd thin films using small-angle scattering of soft X-rays. By tuning the synchrotron-generated X-rays to the absorption edges of Fe or Co we recorded Fourier images of the magnetic domain structure corresponding to a chosen element. Applying in - situ magnetic fields resulted in pronounced rearrangement of domain structure that was clearly observed in scattering images. Our analysis of both the stand-alone, as well as magnetically coupled CoPd/FePd layers provides insight into the formation of domains under small magnetic field perturbations and pave the way to better understanding of transient changes expected in magneto-dynamic measurements.

Surface Modification of Dental Titanium Implant by Layer-by-Layer Electrostatic Self-Assembly

PubMed Central

Shi, Quan; Qian, Zhiyong; Liu, Donghua; Liu, Hongchen

2017-01-01

In vivo implants that are composed of titanium and titanium alloys as raw materials are widely used in the fields of biology and medicine. In the field of dental medicine, titanium is considered to be an ideal dental implant material. Good osseointegration and soft tissue closure are the foundation for the success of dental implants. Therefore, the enhancement of the osseointegration and antibacterial abilities of titanium and its alloys has been the focus of much research. With its many advantages, layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly is a self-assembly technique that is used to develop multilayer films based on complementary interactions between differently charged polyelectrolytes. The LbL approach provides new methods and applications for the surface modification of dental titanium implant. In this review, the application of the LbL technique to surface modification of titanium including promoting osteogenesis and osseointegration, promoting the formation and healing of soft tissues, improving the antibacterial properties of titanium implant, achieving local drug delivery and sustained release is summarized. PMID:28824462

Polarization and angle independent magneto-electric Fano resonance in multilayer hetero-nanoshells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Wudeng; Xiong, Li; Zheng, Li; Li, Wei; Shi, Ying; Qi, Jianguang

2018-05-01

In this work, we have demonstrated that the Si-SiO2 -Au multilayer hetero-nanoshells can support the polarization and angle independent magneto-electric Fano resonance. Such Fano resonance arises from the direct destructive interference between the orthogonal electric dipole mode of Au core and magnetic dipole mode of the Si shell and is independent of the angle due to the high structural symmetry. In contrast to metal particle arrays, here is a possibility to generate controllable interaction between the electric and magnetic dipole resonances of individual nanoshell with the structural features. The discrete magnetic responses provided directly by the Si shell pave the groundwork for designing the magnetic responses at optical frequencies and enable many fascinating applications in nanophotonics.

Preparation of insulin-containing microcapsules by a layer-by-layer deposition of concanavalin A and glycogen.

PubMed

Sato, Katsuhiko; Kodama, Daisuke; Endo, Yoshihiro; Anzai, Jun-ichi

2009-01-01

The sugar sensitive microcapsules were prepared by a layer-by-layer deposition of concanavalin A (Con A) and glycogen on a calcium carbonate particle containing fluorescein-labeled insulin (F-insulin). The Con A/glycogen multilayer capsules were formed through sugar-lectin interactions by using inner and outer poly(ethyleneimine)/poly(vinyl sulfate) multilayers as supports, while without the supports the microcapsules could not be formed. Fluorescent microscope observations revealed that the capsules thus prepared are spherical in shape with 3-10 microm diameter. The microcapsules released encapsulated F-insulin upon addition of sugars. This is because the added sugars replace glycogen in the binding site of Con A, resulting in the enhanced permeability of the microcapsules to insulin.

THE MECHANISM OF THE INFLAMMATORY PROCESS : III. ELECTROPHORETIC MIGRATION OF INERT PARTICLES AND BLOOD CELLS IN GELATIN SOLS AND GELS WITH REFERENCE TO LEUCOCYTE EMIGRATION THROUGH THE CAPILLARY WALL.

PubMed

Abramson, H A

1928-07-20

1. Quartz particles and certain other particles move cataphoretically in certain soft gelatin gels, with the same velocity as in the sol. The speed is a function of the true viscosity of the sol or gel, and it is See PDF for Structure apparently not altered in these soft gels by the presence of gel structure. It is proportional to the applied difference of potential. 2. This finding is compatible with the fact that certain sols undergo gelation with no increase of the true viscosity although a marked change in the apparent viscosity takes place. 3. Red cells in soft gelatin-serum gels show a distinct difference in behavior. They migrate through the sol or gel with a speed that is about twice as great as the leucocytes and quartz particles, which latter particles migrate with the same velocity. This ratio has been found to hold for serum and plasma. The absolute velocities are comparatively slightly decreased by the presence of the gel. 4. In more concentrated or stiffer gels, leucocytes, red cells and quartz particles all move at first with the same velocity. By producing mechanical softening of these gels (shearing from cataphoretic movement of the micells within the cell) the red cells presently resume their previous property of independent migration through the gel. 5. The movements of particles in gelatin gels produced by a magnetic force or the force of gravity are of a different nature than those movements produced by cataphoresis. 6. The mechanical nature of obstruction to the cataphoretic migration of leucocytes and red cells in fibrin gels is briefly described. 7. The correlation of cataphoresis of microscopic particles in gels with the order of magnitude and nature of the potential differences in the capillary wall, lends additional evidence to the theory that polymorphonuclear leucocyte emigration and migration are dependent upon these potential differences.

Molecular building blocks and their architecture in biologically/environmentally compatible soft matter chemical machinery.

PubMed

Toyota, Taro; Banno, Taisuke; Nitta, Sachiko; Takinoue, Masahiro; Nomoto, Tomonori; Natsume, Yuno; Matsumura, Shuichi; Fujinami, Masanori

2014-01-01

This review briefly summarizes recent developments in the construction of biologically/environmentally compatible chemical machinery composed of soft matter. Since environmental and living systems are open systems, chemical machinery must continuously fulfill its functions not only through the influx and generation of molecules but also via the degradation and dissipation of molecules. If the degradation or dissipation of soft matter molecular building blocks and biomaterial molecules/polymers can be achieved, soft matter particles composed of them can be used to realize chemical machinery such as selfpropelled droplets, drug delivery carriers, tissue regeneration scaffolds, protocell models, cell-/tissuemarkers, and molecular computing systems.

Effects of Particle Size on the Shear Behavior of Coarse Grained Soils Reinforced with Geogrid.

PubMed

Kim, Daehyeon; Ha, Sungwoo

2014-02-07

In order to design civil structures that are supported by soils, the shear strength parameters of soils are required. Due to the large particle size of coarse-grained soils, large direct shear tests should be performed. In this study, large direct shear tests on three types of coarse grained soils (4.5 mm, 7.9 mm, and 15.9 mm) were performed to evaluate the effects of particle size on the shear behavior of coarse grained soils with/without geogrid reinforcements. Based on the direct shear test results, it was found that, in the case of no-reinforcement, the larger the maximum particle size became, the larger the friction angle was. Compared with the no-reinforcement case, the cases reinforced with either soft geogrid or stiff geogrid have smaller friction angles. The cohesion of the soil reinforced with stiff geogrid was larger than that of the soil reinforced with soft geogrid. The difference in the shear strength occurs because the case with a stiff geogrid has more soil to geogrid contact area, leading to the reduction in interlocking between soil particles.

Multilayered micro/nanocrystalline CVD diamond coatings for biotribology =

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salgueiredo, Ermelinda da Conceicao Portela

In the present work multilayered micro/nanocrystalline (MCD/NCD) diamond coatings were developed by Hot Filament Chemical Vapour Deposition (HFCVD). The aim was to minimize the surface roughness with a top NCD layer, to maximize adhesion onto the Si3N4 ceramic substrates with a starting MCD coating and to improve the mechanical resistance by the presence of MCD/NCD interfaces in these composite coatings. This set of features assures high wear resistance and low friction coefficients which, combined to diamond biocompatibility, set this material as ideal for biotribological applications. The deposition parameters of MCD were optimized using the Taguchi method, and two varieties of NCD were used: NCD-1, grown in a methane rich gas phase, and NCD-2 where a third gas, Argon, was added to the gas mixture. The best combination of surface pre-treatments in the Si3N4 substrates is obtained by polishing the substrates with a 15 mum diamond slurry, further dry etching with CF4 plasma for 10 minutes and final ultrasonic seeding in a diamond powder suspension in ethanol for 1 hour. The interfaces of the multilayered CVD diamond films were characterized with high detail using HRTEM, STEM-EDX and EELS. The results show that at the transition from MCD to NCD a thin precursor graphitic film is formed. On the contrary, the transition of the NCD to MCD grade is free of carbon structures other than diamond, as a result of the richer atomic hydrogen content and of the higher substrate temperature for MCD deposition. At those transitions, WC nanoparticles were found due to contamination from the filament, being also present at the first interface of the MCD layer with the silicon nitride substrate. In order to study the adhesion and mechanical resistance of the diamond coatings, indentation and particle jet blasting tests were conducted, as well as tribological experiments with homologous pairs. Indentation tests proved the superior behaviour of the multilayered coatings that attained a load of 800 N without delamination, when compared to the mono and bilayered ones. The multilayered diamond coatings also reveal the best solid particle erosion resistance, due to the MCD/NCD interfaces that act as crack deflectors. These results were confirmed by an analytical model on the stress field distribution based on the von Mises criterion. Regarding the tribological testing under dry sliding, multilayered coatings also exhibit the highest critical load values (200N for Multilayers with NCD-2). Low friction coefficient values in the range mu=0.02- 0.09 and wear coefficient values in the order of 10. -7 mm3 N-1 m-1 were obtained for the ball and flat specimensindicating a mild wear regime. Under lubrication with physiological fluids (HBSS e FBS), lower wear coefficient values 10. -9-10. -8 mm3 N-1 m-1) wereachieved, governed by the initial surface roughness and the effective contact pressure.

A Biogeotechnical approach to Stabilize Soft Marine Soil with a Microbial Organic Material called Biopolymer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, I.; Cho, G. C.; Kwon, Y. M.; Im, J.

2017-12-01

The importance and demands of offshore and coastal area development are increasing due to shortage of usable land and to have access to valuable marine resources. However, most coastal soils are soft sediments, mainly composed with fines (silt and clay) and having high water and organic contents, which induce complicated mechanical- and geochemical- behaviors and even be insufficient in Geotechnical engineering aspects. At least, soil stabilization procedures are required for those soft sediments, regardless of the purpose of usage on the site. One of the most common soft soil stabilization method is using ordinary cement as a soil strengthening binder. However, the use of cement in marine environments is reported to occur environmental concerns such as pH increase and accompanying marine ecosystem disturbance. Therefore, a new environmentally-friendly treatment material for coastal and offshore soils. In this study, a biopolymer material produced by microbes is introduced to enhance the physical behavior of a soft tidal flat sediment by considering the biopolymer rheology, soil mineralogy, and chemical properties of marine water. Biopolymer material used in this study forms inter-particle bonds between particles which is promoted through cation-bridges where the cations are provided from marine water. Moreover, biopolymer treatment renders unique stress-strain relationship of soft soils. The mechanical stiffness (M) instantly increase with the presence of biopolymer, while time-dependent settlement behavior (consolidation) shows a big delay due to the viscous biopolymer hydrogels in pore spaces.

Interface waves in multilayered plates.

PubMed

Li, Bing; Li, Ming-Hang; Lu, Tong

2018-04-01

In this paper, the characteristic equation of interface waves in multilayered plates is derived. With a reasonable assumption undertaken for the potential functions of longitudinal and shear waves in the nth layer medium, the characteristic equation of interface waves in the N-layered plate is derived and presented in a determinant form. The particle displacement and stress components are further presented in explicit forms. The dispersion curves and wave structures of interface waves in both a three-layered Al-Steel-Ti and a four-layered Steel-Al-Steel-Ti plate are displayed subsequently. It is observed in dispersion curves that obvious dispersion occurs on the low frequency band, whereas the phase velocities converge to the corresponding true Stoneley wave mode velocities at high frequency, and the number of interface wave modes equals the number of interfaces in multilayered plates (if all individual interfaces satisfy the existence condition of Stoneley waves). The wave structures reveal that the displacement components of interface waves are relatively high at interfaces, and the amplitude distribution varies from frequency to frequency. In the end, a similarly structured three-layered Al-Steel-Ti plate is tested. In this experiment, theoretical group velocity and experimental group velocity are compared. According to the discussion and comparison, the predicted group velocities are in good agreement with the experimental results. Thus, the theory of interface wave in multilayered plates is proved. As a result, the proposed theoretical approach represents a leap forward in the understanding of how to promote the characteristic study and practical applications of interface waves in multilayered structures.

Gastric pH distribution and mixing of soft and rigid food particles in the stomach using a dual-marker technique

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Mixing of a particle-laden material during peristaltic flow in the stomach has not been quantified in vivo. Gastric mixing plays a key role in the overall gastric digestion process; it determines the availability of acid and enzymes to individual solid food particles and controls the length of time ...

Evaluation of micron-sized wood and bark particles as filler in thermoplastic composites

Treesearch

David P. Harper; Thomas L. Eberhardt

2010-01-01

Micron-sized particles, prepared from loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) wood and bark, were evaluated for use in wood-plastic composites (WPCs). Particles were also prepared from hard (periderm) and soft (obliterated phloem) components in the bark and compared to whole wood (without bark) filler commonly used by the WPC industry. All bark fillers had...

Polypeptide multilayer films on colloidal particles: an in situ electro-optical study.

PubMed

Radeva, Tsetska; Kamburova, Kamelia

2007-04-15

The buildup of poly(L-glutamic acid) (PGA) and poly(L-lysine) (PLL) multilayers on beta-FeOOH colloidal particles was investigated by means of electro-optics and electrophoresis. The films were built at different (acidic) pH in the absence of salt. We found that the thickness of the film grows linearly when the fully charged PLL (at pH 5.5) is combined with almost fully charged PGA (at pH 6.5), with a thickness of about 2 nm per single layer. When the fully charged PLL is combined with weakly charged PGA (at pH 4.5), the film thickness increases exponentially with the number of deposited layers. The thickness of the exponentially growing film increases to 300 nm after deposition of 16 layers. The exponential film growth is attributed to the ability of the PLL to diffuse "in" and "out" of the film bulk at each deposition step. The variation in the electrical polarizability of the film-coated particles was also monitored as a function of the number of adsorbed layers. The result reveals that the PLL chains, which can diffuse into the film bulk, have no measurable contribution to the electro-optical effect of the films terminated with PLL. It is only due to the polarization of counterions of the PLL adsorbed on the film surface.

Inorganic particle analysis of dental impression elastomers.

PubMed

Carlo, Hugo Lemes; Fonseca, Rodrigo Borges; Soares, Carlos José; Correr, Américo Bortolazzo; Correr-Sobrinho, Lourenço; Sinhoreti, Mário Alexandre Coelho

2010-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine quantitatively and qualitatively the inorganic particle fraction of commercially available dental elastomers. The inorganic volumetric fraction of two addition silicones (Reprosil Putty/Fluid and Flexitime Easy Putty/Fluid), three condensation silicones (Clonage Putty/Fluid, Optosil Confort/Xantopren VL and Silon APS Putty/Fluid), one polyether (Impregum Soft Light Body) and one polysulfide (Permlastic Light Body) was accessed by weighing a previously determined mass of each material in water before and after burning samples at 600 ºC, during 3 h. Unsettled material samples were soaked in acetone and chloroform for removal of the organic portion. The remaining filler particles were sputter-coated with gold evaluation of their morphology and size, under scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Flexitime Easy Putty was the material with the highest results for volumetric particle fraction, while Impregum Soft had the lowest values. Silon 2 APS Fluid presented the lowest mean filler size values, while Clonage Putty had the highest values. SEM micrographs of the inorganic particles showed several morphologies - lathe-cut, spherical, spherical-like, sticks, and sticks mixed to lathe-cut powder. The results of this study revealed differences in particle characteristics among the elastometic materials that could lead to different results when testing mechanical properties.

Heavy ion therapy: Bevalac epoch

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Castro, J.R.

1993-10-01

An overview of heavy ion therapy at the Bevelac complex (SuperHILac linear accelerator + Bevatron) is given. Treatment planning, clinical results with helium ions on the skull base and uveal melanoma, clinical results with high-LET charged particles, neon radiotherapy of prostate cancer, heavy charged particle irradiation for unfavorable soft tissue sarcoma, preliminary results in heavy charged particle irradiation of bone sarcoma, and irradiation of bile duct carcinoma with charged particles and-or photons are all covered. (GHH)

Swelling, Structure, and Phase Stability of Soft, Compressible Microgels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Denton, Alan R.; Urich, Matthew

Microgels are soft colloidal particles that swell when dispersed in a solvent. The equilibrium particle size is governed by a delicate balance of osmotic pressures, which can be tuned by varying single-particle properties and externally controlled conditions, such as temperature, pH, ionic strength, and concentration. Because of their tunable size and ability to encapsulate dye or drug molecules, microgels have practical relevance for biosensing, drug delivery, carbon capture, and filtration. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we model suspensions of microgels that interact via Hertzian elastic interparticle forces and can expand or contract via trial size changes governed by the Flory-Rehner free energy of cross-linked polymer gels. We analyze the influence of particle compressibility and size fluctuations on bulk structural and thermal properties by computing swelling ratios, radial distribution functions, static structure factors, osmotic pressures, and freezing densities. With increasing density, microgels progressively deswell and their intrinsic polydispersity broadens, while compressibility acts to forestall crystallization. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMR- 1106331.

Innovative diffraction gratings for high-resolution resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering spectroscopy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Voronov, D.L.; Warwick, T.; Gullikson, E. M.

2016-07-27

High-resolution Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) requires diffraction gratings with very exacting characteristics. The gratings should provide both very high dispersion and high efficiency which are conflicting requirements and extremely challenging to satisfy in the soft x-ray region for a traditional grazing incidence geometry. To achieve high dispersion one should increase the groove density of a grating; this however results in a diffraction angle beyond the critical angle range and results in drastic efficiency loss. The problem can be solved by use of multilayer coated blazed gratings (MBG). In this work we have investigated the diffraction characteristics of MBGs viamore » numerical simulations and have developed a procedure for optimization of grating design for a multiplexed high resolution imaging spectrometer for RIXS spectroscopy to be built in sector 6 at the Advanced Light Source (ALS). We found that highest diffraction efficiency can be achieved for gratings optimized for 4{sup th} or 5{sup th} order operation. Fabrication of such gratings is an extremely challenging technological problem. We present a first experimental prototype of these gratings and report its performance. High order and high line density gratings have the potential to be a revolutionary new optical element that should have great impact in the area of soft x-ray RIXS.« less

Controllable liquid colour-changing lenses with microfluidic channels for vision protection, camouflage and optical filtering based on soft lithography fabrication.

PubMed

Zhang, Min; Li, Songjing

2016-01-01

In this work, liquid colour-changing lenses for vision protection, camouflage and optical filtering are developed by circulating colour liquids through microfluidic channels on the lenses manually. Soft lithography technology is applied to fabricate the silicone liquid colour-changing layers with microfluidic channels on the lenses instead of mechanical machining. To increase the hardness and abrasion resistance of the silicone colour-changing layers on the lenses, proper fabrication parameters such as 6:1 (mass ration) mixing proportion and 100 °C curing temperature for 2 h are approved for better soft lithography process of the lenses. Meanwhile, a new surface treatment for the irreversible bonding of silicone colour-changing layer with optical resin (CR39) substrate lens by using 5 % (volume ratio) 3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane solution is proposed. Vision protection, camouflage and optical filtering functions of the lenses are investigated with different designs of the channels and multi-layer structures. Each application can not only well achieve their functional demands, but also shows the advantages of functional flexibility, rapid prototyping and good controllability compared with traditional ways. Besides optometry, some other designs and applications of the lenses are proposed for potential utility in the future.

Thermodynamic compatibility and interactions between Speckled Sugar bean protein and xanthan gum for production of multilayer O/W emulsion.

PubMed

Rahmati, Nazanin Fatemeh; Koocheki, Arash; Varidi, Mehdi; Kadkhodaee, Rassoul

2018-03-01

Thermodynamic compatibility and probable interactions between Speckled Sugar been protein (SSBP) and xanthan gum for production of multilayer O/W emulsion (30% oil) were investigated. Different interactions were observed between SSBP and xanthan at different pH (3-7) including electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding. These interactions were predominant at pH 3. When low xanthan gum concentration (0.1%) was used, phase separation and complex coacervation observed at this pH (negative effect of interactions). However, at pH 5, only 0.1% xanthan was enough to drastically reduce non-dissolved protein and its precipitation which normally occurs at this pH. In addition, incompatibility or segregative phase behavior which normally occurs when protein and polysaccharide have same charges was not observed (positive effects of interactions). Protein-gum interactions influenced emulsion properties (zeta potential, particle size, PDI, rheology, emulsion capacity, heat stability and creaming rate). Interactions had considerable influence on emulsion shelf life and produced completely stable emulsions at all pH values. Results confirmed that SSBP-xanthan gum mixture has a high potential for production of multilayer emulsions.

Micromechanics of Ultrafine Particle Adhesion—Contact Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tomas, Jürgen

2009-06-01

Ultrafine, dry, cohesive and compressible powders (particle diameter d<10 μm) show a wide variety of flow problems that cause insufficient apparatus and system reliability of processing plants. Thus, the understanding of the micromechanics of particle adhesion is essential to assess the product quality and to improve the process performance in particle technology. Comprehensive models are shown that describe the elastic-plastic force-displacement and frictional moment-angle behavior of adhesive contacts of isotropic smooth spheres. By the model stiff particles with soft contacts, a sphere-sphere interaction of van der Waals forces without any contact deformation describes the stiff attractive term. But, the soft micro-contact response generates a flattened contact, i.e. plate-plate interaction, and increasing adhesion. These increasing adhesion forces between particles directly depend on this frozen irreversible deformation. Thus, the adhesion force is found to be load dependent. It contributes to the tangential forces in an elastic-plastic frictional contact with partially sticking and micro-slip within the contact plane. The load dependent rolling resistance and torque of mobilized frictional contact rotation (spin around its principal axis) are also shown. This reasonable combination of particle contact micromechanics and powder continuum mechanics is used to model analytically the macroscopic friction limits of incipient powder consolidation, yield and cohesive steady-state shear flow on physical basis.

Subleading soft graviton theorem for loop amplitudes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sen, Ashoke

2017-11-01

Superstring field theory gives expressions for heterotic and type II string loop amplitudes that are free from ultraviolet and infrared divergences when the number of non-compact space-time dimensions is five or more. We prove the subleading soft graviton theorem in these theories to all orders in perturbation theory for S-matrix elements of arbitrary number of finite energy external states but only one external soft graviton. We also prove the leading soft graviton theorem for arbitrary number of finite energy external states and arbitrary number of soft gravitons. Since our analysis is based on general properties of one particle irreducible effective action, the results are valid in any theory of quantum gravity that gives finite result for the S-matrix order by order in perturbation theory without violating general coordinate invariance.

Soft Pion Processes

DOE R&D Accomplishments Database

Nambu, Y.

1968-01-01

My talk is concerned with a review, not necessarily of the latest theoretical developments, but rather of an old idea which has contributed to recent theoretical activities. By soft pion processes I mean processes in which low energy pions are emitted or absorbed or scattered, just as we use the word soft photon in a similar context. Speaking more quantitatively, we may call a pion soft if its energy is small compared to a natural scale in the reaction. This scale is determined by the particular dynamics of pion interaction, and one may roughly say that a pion is soft if its energy is small compared to the energies of the other individual particles that participate in the reaction. It is important to note at this point that pion is by far the lightest member of all the hadrons, and much of the success of the soft pion formulas depends on this fact.

Co layer fragmentation effect on magnetoresistive and structural properties of nanogranular Co/Cu multilayers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Spizzo, F.; Ronconi, F.; Ferrero, C.

We deposited nanogranular Co/Cu multilayers made of thin fragmented Co layers separated by thicker Cu layers to study how the structure and the microstructure of magnetic nanogranular samples change as the average particle size is reduced and how these changes affect the giant magnetoresistive response of the samples. Indeed, thanks to the vertical periodicity of the structure, namely, to the fact that Co/Cu interfaces display an ordered stacking and are not randomly distributed within the samples as in conventional granular materials, their self-correlation and cross correlation can be investigated. In this way, the characteristic length scale of the Co/Cu interfacialmore » roughness that is strictly related to the giant magnetoresistive response of the samples and the universality class of the growth mechanism that affects the systems structure can be both accessed. The Co/Cu nanogranular multilayers were characterized using different x-ray techniques, from specular reflectivity, which allows to probe the multilayer development in the vertical direction, to grazing incidence small angle diffuse scattering, which provides information on the self-correlation and cross correlation of the Co/Cu interfaces. Furthermore, diffraction measurements indicate that the degree of structural disorder increases by decreasing the thickness of the Co layers. Magnetoresistive and magnetization measurements are as well presented and discussed with the results of the structural characterization.« less

Very high resolution UV and X-ray spectroscopy and imagery of solar active regions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bruner, M.; Brown, W. A.; Haisch, B. M.

1987-01-01

A scientific investigation of the physics of the solar atmosphere, which uses the techniques of high resolution soft X-ray spectroscopy and high resolution UV imagery, is described. The experiments were conducted during a series of three sounding rocket flights. All three flights yielded excellent images in the UV range, showing unprecedented spatial resolution. The second flight recorded the X-ray spectrum of a solar flare, and the third that of an active region. A normal incidence multi-layer mirror was used during the third flight to make the first astronomical X-ray observations using this new technique.

Experimental evidence for an absorbing phase transition underlying yielding of a soft glass

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagamanasa, K. Hima; Gokhale, Shreyas; Sood, A. K.; Ganapathy, Rajesh

2014-03-01

A characteristic feature of solids ranging from foams to atomic crystals is the existence of a yield point, which marks the threshold stress beyond which a material undergoes plastic deformation. In hard materials, it is well-known that local yield events occur collectively in the form of intermittent avalanches. The avalanche size distributions exhibit power-law scaling indicating the presence of self-organized criticality. These observations led to predictions of a non-equilibrium phase transition at the yield point. By contrast, for soft solids like gels and dense suspensions, no such predictions exist. In the present work, by combining particle scale imaging with bulk rheology, we provide a direct evidence for a non-equilibrium phase transition governing yielding of an archetypal soft solid - a colloidal glass. The order parameter and the relaxation time exponents revealed that yielding is an absorbing phase transition that belongs to the conserved directed percolation universality class. We also identified a growing length scale associated with clusters of particles with high Debye-Waller factor. Our findings highlight the importance of correlations between local yield events and may well stimulate the development of a unified description of yielding of soft solids.

On the possibility of non-invasive multilayer temperature estimation using soft-computing methods.

PubMed

Teixeira, C A; Pereira, W C A; Ruano, A E; Ruano, M Graça

2010-01-01

This work reports original results on the possibility of non-invasive temperature estimation (NITE) in a multilayered phantom by applying soft-computing methods. The existence of reliable non-invasive temperature estimator models would improve the security and efficacy of thermal therapies. These points would lead to a broader acceptance of this kind of therapies. Several approaches based on medical imaging technologies were proposed, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) being appointed as the only one to achieve the acceptable temperature resolutions for hyperthermia purposes. However, MRI intrinsic characteristics (e.g., high instrumentation cost) lead us to use backscattered ultrasound (BSU). Among the different BSU features, temporal echo-shifts have received a major attention. These shifts are due to changes of speed-of-sound and expansion of the medium. The originality of this work involves two aspects: the estimator model itself is original (based on soft-computing methods) and the application to temperature estimation in a three-layer phantom is also not reported in literature. In this work a three-layer (non-homogeneous) phantom was developed. The two external layers were composed of (in % of weight): 86.5% degassed water, 11% glycerin and 2.5% agar-agar. The intermediate layer was obtained by adding graphite powder in the amount of 2% of the water weight to the above composition. The phantom was developed to have attenuation and speed-of-sound similar to in vivo muscle, according to the literature. BSU signals were collected and cumulative temporal echo-shifts computed. These shifts and the past temperature values were then considered as possible estimators inputs. A soft-computing methodology was applied to look for appropriate multilayered temperature estimators. The methodology involves radial-basis functions neural networks (RBFNN) with structure optimized by the multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA). In this work 40 operating conditions were considered, i.e. five 5-mm spaced spatial points and eight therapeutic intensities (I(SATA)): 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0, 1.3, 1.5, 1.7 and 2.0W/cm(2). Models were trained and selected to estimate temperature at only four intensities, then during the validation phase, the best-fitted models were analyzed in data collected at the eight intensities. This procedure leads to a more realistic evaluation of the generalisation level of the best-obtained structures. At the end of the identification phase, 82 (preferable) estimator models were achieved. The majority of them present an average maximum absolute error (MAE) inferior to 0.5 degrees C. The best-fitted estimator presents a MAE of only 0.4 degrees C for both the 40 operating conditions. This means that the gold-standard maximum error (0.5 degrees C) pointed for hyperthermia was fulfilled independently of the intensity and spatial position considered, showing the improved generalisation capacity of the identified estimator models. As the majority of the preferable estimator models, the best one presents 6 inputs and 11 neurons. In addition to the appropriate error performance, the estimator models present also a reduced computational complexity and then the possibility to be applied in real-time. A non-invasive temperature estimation model, based on soft-computing technique, was proposed for a three-layered phantom. The best-achieved estimator models presented an appropriate error performance regardless of the spatial point considered (inside or at the interface of the layers) and of the intensity applied. Other methodologies published so far, estimate temperature only in homogeneous media. The main drawback of the proposed methodology is the necessity of a-priory knowledge of the temperature behavior. Data used for training and optimisation should be representative, i.e., they should cover all possible physical situations of the estimation environment.

Neural Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwindling, Jerome

2010-04-01

This course presents an overview of the concepts of the neural networks and their aplication in the framework of High energy physics analyses. After a brief introduction on the concept of neural networks, the concept is explained in the frame of neuro-biology, introducing the concept of multi-layer perceptron, learning and their use as data classifer. The concept is then presented in a second part using in more details the mathematical approach focussing on typical use cases faced in particle physics. Finally, the last part presents the best way to use such statistical tools in view of event classifers, putting the emphasis on the setup of the multi-layer perceptron. The full article (15 p.) corresponding to this lecture is written in french and is provided in the proceedings of the book SOS 2008.

Development of Coatings for Radar Absorbing Materials at X-band

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Abhishek; Singh, Samarjit

2018-03-01

The present review gives a brief account on some of the technical features of radar absorbing materials (RAMs). The paper has been presented with a concentrated approach towards the material aspects for achieving enhanced radar absorption characteristics for its application as a promising candidate in stealth technology and electromagnetic interference (EMI) minimization problems. The effect of metal particles doping/dispersion in the ferrites and dielectrics has been discussed for obtaining tunable radar absorbing characteristics. A short theoretical overview on the development of absorber materials, implementation of genetic algorithm (GA) in multi-layering and frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) based multi-layer has also been presented for the development of radar absorbing coatings for achieving better absorption augmented with broadband features in order to counter the radar detection systems.

Pharmacological aspects of release from microcapsules - from polymeric multilayers to lipid membranes.

PubMed

Wuytens, Pieter; Parakhonskiy, Bogdan; Yashchenok, Alexey; Winterhalter, Mathias; Skirtach, Andre

2014-10-01

This review is devoted to pharmacological applications of principles of release from capsules to overcome the membrane barrier. Many of these principles were developed in the context of polymeric multilayer capsule membrane modulation, but they are also pertinent to liposomes, polymersomes, capsosomes, particles, emulsion-based carriers and other carriers. We look at these methods from the physical, chemical or biological driving mechanisms point of view. In addition to applicability for carriers in drug delivery, these release methods are significant for another area directly related to pharmacology - modulation of the permeability of the membranes and thus promoting the action of drugs. Emerging technologies, including ionic current monitoring through a lipid membrane on a nanopore, are also highlighted. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Overcoming limits to near-field radiative heat transfer in uniform planar media through multilayer optimization.

PubMed

Jin, Weiliang; Messina, Riccardo; Rodriguez, Alejandro W

2017-06-26

Radiative heat transfer between uniform plates is bounded by the narrow range and limited contribution of surface waves. Using a combination of analytical calculations and numerical gradient-based optimization, we show that such a limitation can be overcome in complicated multilayer geometries, allowing the scattering and coupling rates of slab resonances to be altered over a broad range of evanescent wavevectors. We conclude that while the radiative flux between two inhomogeneous slabs can only be weakly enhanced, the flux between a dipolar particle and an inhomogeneous slab-proportional to the local density of states-can be orders of magnitude larger, albeit at the expense of increased frequency selectivity. A brief discussion of hyperbolic metamaterials shows that they provide far less enhancement than optimized inhomogeneous slabs.

Laser as a Tool to Study Radiation Effects in CMOS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ajdari, Bahar

Energetic particles from cosmic ray or terrestrial sources can strike sensitive areas of CMOS devices and cause soft errors. Understanding the effects of such interactions is crucial as the device technology advances, and chip reliability has become more important than ever. Particle accelerator testing has been the standard method to characterize the sensitivity of chips to single event upsets (SEUs). However, because of their costs and availability limitations, other techniques have been explored. Pulsed laser has been a successful tool for characterization of SEU behavior, but to this day, laser has not been recognized as a comparable method to beam testing. In this thesis, I propose a methodology of correlating laser soft error rate (SER) to particle beam gathered data. Additionally, results are presented showing a temperature dependence of SER and the "neighbor effect" phenomenon where due to the close proximity of devices a "weakening effect" in the ON state can be observed.

Coherent soft X-ray diffraction imaging of coliphage PR772 at the Linac coherent light source

PubMed Central

Reddy, Hemanth K.N.; Yoon, Chun Hong; Aquila, Andrew; Awel, Salah; Ayyer, Kartik; Barty, Anton; Berntsen, Peter; Bielecki, Johan; Bobkov, Sergey; Bucher, Maximilian; Carini, Gabriella A.; Carron, Sebastian; Chapman, Henry; Daurer, Benedikt; DeMirci, Hasan; Ekeberg, Tomas; Fromme, Petra; Hajdu, Janos; Hanke, Max Felix; Hart, Philip; Hogue, Brenda G.; Hosseinizadeh, Ahmad; Kim, Yoonhee; Kirian, Richard A.; Kurta, Ruslan P.; Larsson, Daniel S.D.; Duane Loh, N.; Maia, Filipe R.N.C.; Mancuso, Adrian P.; Mühlig, Kerstin; Munke, Anna; Nam, Daewoong; Nettelblad, Carl; Ourmazd, Abbas; Rose, Max; Schwander, Peter; Seibert, Marvin; Sellberg, Jonas A.; Song, Changyong; Spence, John C.H.; Svenda, Martin; Van der Schot, Gijs; Vartanyants, Ivan A.; Williams, Garth J.; Xavier, P. Lourdu

2017-01-01

Single-particle diffraction from X-ray Free Electron Lasers offers the potential for molecular structure determination without the need for crystallization. In an effort to further develop the technique, we present a dataset of coherent soft X-ray diffraction images of Coliphage PR772 virus, collected at the Atomic Molecular Optics (AMO) beamline with pnCCD detectors in the LAMP instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source. The diameter of PR772 ranges from 65–70 nm, which is considerably smaller than the previously reported ~600 nm diameter Mimivirus. This reflects continued progress in XFEL-based single-particle imaging towards the single molecular imaging regime. The data set contains significantly more single particle hits than collected in previous experiments, enabling the development of improved statistical analysis, reconstruction algorithms, and quantitative metrics to determine resolution and self-consistency. PMID:28654088

The Versatile Elastohydrodynamics of a Free Particle near a Thin Soft Wall

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salez, Thomas; Saintyves, Baudouin; Mahadevan, L.

2015-03-01

We address the free motion of a buoyant particle inside a viscous fluid, in the vicinity of a thin compressible elastic wall. After discussing the main scalings, we obtain analytically the dominant drag forces within the soft lubrication approximation. By including those into the equations of motion of the particle, we establish a general governing system of three coupled nonlinear and singular differential equations, that describe the three essential motions: sedimentation, hydroplaning, and hydrospinning, through four dimensionless control parameters. Numerical integration allows us to predict a wide zoology of exotic solutions - despite the low-Reynolds feature of the flow - including: spontaneous oscillation, Magnus-like effect, enhanced sedimentation, and boomerang-like effect. We compare these predictions to experiments. The presented elementary approach could be of interest in the description of a broad variety of elastohydrodynamical phenomena, including: landslides, ageing of cartilaginous joints, and motion of a cell in a microfluidic channel or in a blood vessel.

Coherent soft X-ray diffraction imaging of coliphage PR772 at the Linac coherent light source

DOE PAGES

Reddy, Hemanth K. N.; Yoon, Chun Hong; Aquila, Andrew; ...

2017-06-27

Single-particle diffraction from X-ray Free Electron Lasers offers the potential for molecular structure determination without the need for crystallization. In an effort to further develop the technique, we present a dataset of coherent soft X-ray diffraction images of Coliphage PR772 virus, collected at the Atomic Molecular Optics (AMO) beamline with pnCCD detectors in the LAMP instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source. The diameter of PR772 ranges from 65–70 nm, which is considerably smaller than the previously reported ~600 nm diameter Mimivirus. This reflects continued progress in XFEL-based single-particle imaging towards the single molecular imaging regime. As a result, themore » data set contains significantly more single particle hits than collected in previous experiments, enabling the development of improved statistical analysis, reconstruction algorithms, and quantitative metrics to determine resolution and self-consistency.« less

Coherent soft X-ray diffraction imaging of coliphage PR772 at the Linac coherent light source.

PubMed

Reddy, Hemanth K N; Yoon, Chun Hong; Aquila, Andrew; Awel, Salah; Ayyer, Kartik; Barty, Anton; Berntsen, Peter; Bielecki, Johan; Bobkov, Sergey; Bucher, Maximilian; Carini, Gabriella A; Carron, Sebastian; Chapman, Henry; Daurer, Benedikt; DeMirci, Hasan; Ekeberg, Tomas; Fromme, Petra; Hajdu, Janos; Hanke, Max Felix; Hart, Philip; Hogue, Brenda G; Hosseinizadeh, Ahmad; Kim, Yoonhee; Kirian, Richard A; Kurta, Ruslan P; Larsson, Daniel S D; Duane Loh, N; Maia, Filipe R N C; Mancuso, Adrian P; Mühlig, Kerstin; Munke, Anna; Nam, Daewoong; Nettelblad, Carl; Ourmazd, Abbas; Rose, Max; Schwander, Peter; Seibert, Marvin; Sellberg, Jonas A; Song, Changyong; Spence, John C H; Svenda, Martin; Van der Schot, Gijs; Vartanyants, Ivan A; Williams, Garth J; Xavier, P Lourdu

2017-06-27

Single-particle diffraction from X-ray Free Electron Lasers offers the potential for molecular structure determination without the need for crystallization. In an effort to further develop the technique, we present a dataset of coherent soft X-ray diffraction images of Coliphage PR772 virus, collected at the Atomic Molecular Optics (AMO) beamline with pnCCD detectors in the LAMP instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source. The diameter of PR772 ranges from 65-70 nm, which is considerably smaller than the previously reported ~600 nm diameter Mimivirus. This reflects continued progress in XFEL-based single-particle imaging towards the single molecular imaging regime. The data set contains significantly more single particle hits than collected in previous experiments, enabling the development of improved statistical analysis, reconstruction algorithms, and quantitative metrics to determine resolution and self-consistency.

Study of meteoroid impact craters on various materials (AO 138-1). Attempt at dust debris collection with stacked detectors (AO 138-2)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mandeville, Jean Claude

1991-01-01

Part of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) tray allocated to French experiments, known as FRECOPA payload, was devoted to the study of dust particles. Two passive experiments were flown: one composed of a set of glass and metallic samples and one composed of multilayer thin foils detectors. In addition to these experiments, a broad variety of materials were exposed to the bombardment of microparticles and provide more data. Thick target experiment comprises selected metallic (Al, Au, Cu, W, Stainless Steel) 250 microns thick and glass surfaces 1.5 mm thick. Crater size distribution from these thick target experiments enable, with the aid of lab calibrations by solid particle accelerators, the evaluation of the incident microparticle flux in the near earth environment. The aim of the multiple foil penetration and collection experiment is primarily to study the feasibility of multilayer thin film detectors acting as energy sorters in order to collect micrometeoroids, if not in their original shape, at least as 'breakup' fragments suitable for chemical analysis. Foil thicknesses range from 0.75 to 5 microns of Al.

Sunspot: A program to model the behavior of hypervelocity impact damaged multilayer insulation in the Sunspot thermal vacuum chamber of Marshall Space Flight Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rule, W. K.; Hayashida, K. B.

1992-01-01

The development of a computer program to predict the degradation of the insulating capabilities of the multilayer insulation (MLI) blanket of Space Station Freedom due to a hypervelocity impact with a space debris particle is described. A finite difference scheme is used for the calculations. The computer program was written in Microsoft BASIC. Also described is a test program that was undertaken to validate the numerical model. Twelve MLI specimens were impacted at hypervelocities with simulated debris particles using a light gas gun at Marshall Space Flight Center. The impact-damaged MLI specimens were then tested for insulating capability in the space environment of the Sunspot thermal vacuum chamber at MSFC. Two undamaged MLI specimens were also tested for comparison with the test results of the damaged specimens. The numerical model was found to adequately predict behavior of the MLI specimens in the Sunspot chamber. A parameter, called diameter ratio, was developed to relate the nominal MLI impact damage to the apparent (for thermal analysis purposes) impact damage based on the hypervelocity impact conditions of a specimen.

Modelling of particle-laden flow inside nanomaterials.

PubMed

Chan, Yue; Wylie, Jonathan J; Xia, Liang; Ren, Yong; Chen, Yung-Tsang

2016-08-01

In this paper, we demonstrate the usage of the Nernst-Planck equation in conjunction with mean-field theory to investigate particle-laden flow inside nanomaterials. Most theoretical studies in molecular encapsulation at the nanoscale do not take into account any macroscopic flow fields that are crucial in squeezing molecules into nanostructures. Here, a multi-scale idea is used to address this issue. The macroscopic transport of gas is described by the Nernst-Planck equation, whereas molecular interactions between gases and between the gas and the host material are described using a combination of molecular dynamics simulation and mean-field theory. In particular, we investigate flow-driven hydrogen storage inside doubly layered graphene sheets and graphene-oxide frameworks (GOFs). At room temperature and with slow velocity fields, we find that a single molecular layer is formed almost instantaneously on the inner surface of the graphene sheets, while molecular ligands between GOFs induce multi-layers. For higher velocities, multi-layers are also formed between graphene. For even larger velocities, the cavity of graphene is filled entirely with hydrogen, whereas for GOFs there exist two voids inside each periodic unit. The flow-driven hydrogen storage inside GOFs with various ligand densities is also investigated.

Modelling of particle-laden flow inside nanomaterials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Yue; Wylie, Jonathan J.; Xia, Liang; Ren, Yong; Chen, Yung-Tsang

2016-08-01

In this paper, we demonstrate the usage of the Nernst-Planck equation in conjunction with mean-field theory to investigate particle-laden flow inside nanomaterials. Most theoretical studies in molecular encapsulation at the nanoscale do not take into account any macroscopic flow fields that are crucial in squeezing molecules into nanostructures. Here, a multi-scale idea is used to address this issue. The macroscopic transport of gas is described by the Nernst-Planck equation, whereas molecular interactions between gases and between the gas and the host material are described using a combination of molecular dynamics simulation and mean-field theory. In particular, we investigate flow-driven hydrogen storage inside doubly layered graphene sheets and graphene-oxide frameworks (GOFs). At room temperature and with slow velocity fields, we find that a single molecular layer is formed almost instantaneously on the inner surface of the graphene sheets, while molecular ligands between GOFs induce multi-layers. For higher velocities, multi-layers are also formed between graphene. For even larger velocities, the cavity of graphene is filled entirely with hydrogen, whereas for GOFs there exist two voids inside each periodic unit. The flow-driven hydrogen storage inside GOFs with various ligand densities is also investigated.

Influence of boundary on the effect of double-layer polarization and the electrophoretic behavior of soft biocolloids.

PubMed

Yeh, Li-Hsien; Fang, Kuo-Ying; Hsu, Jyh-Ping; Tseng, Shiojenn

2011-12-01

The electrophoresis of a soft particle comprising a rigid core and a charged porous membrane layer in a narrow space is modeled. This simulates, for example, the capillary electrophoresis of biocolloids such as cells and microorganisms, and biosensor types of device. We show that, in addition to the boundary effect, the effects of double-layer polarization (DLP) and the electroosmotic retardation flow can be significant, yielding interesting electrophoretic behaviors. For example, if the friction coefficient of the membrane layer and/or the boundary is large, then the DLP effect can be offset by the electroosmotic retardation flow, making the particle mobility to decrease with increasing double layer thickness, which is qualitatively consistent with many experimental observations in the literature, but has not been explained clearly in previous analyses. In addition, depending upon the thickness of double layer, the friction of the membrane layer of a particle can either retard or accelerate its movement, an interesting result which has not been reported previously. This work is the first attempt to show solid evidence for the influence of a boundary on the effect of DLP and the electrophoretic behavior of soft particles. The model proposed is verified by the experimental data in the literature. The results of numerical simulation provide valuable information for the design of bio-analytical apparatus such as nanopore-based sensing applications and for the interpretation of relevant experimental data. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Tuned, driven, and active soft matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menzel, Andreas M.

2015-02-01

One characteristic feature of soft matter systems is their strong response to external stimuli. As a consequence they are comparatively easily driven out of their ground state and out of equilibrium, which leads to many of their fascinating properties. Here, we review illustrative examples. This review is structured by an increasing distance from the equilibrium ground state. On each level, examples of increasing degree of complexity are considered. In detail, we first consider systems that are quasi-statically tuned or switched to a new state by applying external fields. These are common liquid crystals, liquid crystalline elastomers, or ferrogels and magnetic elastomers. Next, we concentrate on systems steadily driven from outside e.g. by an imposed flow field. In our case, we review the reaction of nematic liquid crystals, of bulk-filling periodically modulated structures such as block copolymers, and of localized vesicular objects to an imposed shear flow. Finally, we focus on systems that are "active" and "self-driven". Here our range spans from idealized self-propelled point particles, via sterically interacting particles like granular hoppers, via microswimmers such as self-phoretically driven artificial Janus particles or biological microorganisms, via deformable self-propelled particles like droplets, up to the collective behavior of insects, fish, and birds. As we emphasize, similarities emerge in the features and behavior of systems that at first glance may not necessarily appear related. We thus hope that our overview will further stimulate the search for basic unifying principles underlying the physics of these soft materials out of their equilibrium ground state.

On the theory and simulation of multiple Coulomb scattering of heavy-charged particles.

PubMed

Striganov, S I

2005-01-01

The Moliere theory of multiple Coulomb scattering is modified to take into account the difference between processes of scattering off atomic nuclei and electrons. A simple analytical expression for angular distribution of charged particles passing through a thick absorber is found. It does not assume any special form for a differential scattering cross section and has a wider range of applicability than a gaussian approximation. A well-known method to simulate multiple Coulomb scatterings is based on treating 'soft' and 'hard' collisions differently. An angular deflection in a large number of 'soft' collisions is sampled using the proposed distribution function, a small number of 'hard' collision are simulated directly. A boundary between 'hard' and 'soft' collisions is defined, providing a precise sampling of a scattering angle (1% level) and a small number of 'hard' collisions. A corresponding simulating module takes into account projectile and nucleus charged distributions and exact kinematics of a projectile-electron interaction.

Diagnosing hyperuniformity in two-dimensional, disordered, jammed packings of soft spheres.

PubMed

Dreyfus, Remi; Xu, Ye; Still, Tim; Hough, L A; Yodh, A G; Torquato, Salvatore

2015-01-01

Hyperuniformity characterizes a state of matter for which (scaled) density fluctuations diminish towards zero at the largest length scales. However, the task of determining whether or not an image of an experimental system is hyperuniform is experimentally challenging due to finite-resolution, noise, and sample-size effects that influence characterization measurements. Here we explore these issues, employing video optical microscopy to study hyperuniformity phenomena in disordered two-dimensional jammed packings of soft spheres. Using a combination of experiment and simulation we characterize the possible adverse effects of particle polydispersity, image noise, and finite-size effects on the assignment of hyperuniformity, and we develop a methodology that permits improved diagnosis of hyperuniformity from real-space measurements. The key to this improvement is a simple packing reconstruction algorithm that incorporates particle polydispersity to minimize the free volume. In addition, simulations show that hyperuniformity in finite-sized samples can be ascertained more accurately in direct space than in reciprocal space. Finally, our experimental colloidal packings of soft polymeric spheres are shown to be effectively hyperuniform.

Diagnosing hyperuniformity in two-dimensional, disordered, jammed packings of soft spheres

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dreyfus, Remi; Xu, Ye; Still, Tim; Hough, L. A.; Yodh, A. G.; Torquato, Salvatore

2015-01-01

Hyperuniformity characterizes a state of matter for which (scaled) density fluctuations diminish towards zero at the largest length scales. However, the task of determining whether or not an image of an experimental system is hyperuniform is experimentally challenging due to finite-resolution, noise, and sample-size effects that influence characterization measurements. Here we explore these issues, employing video optical microscopy to study hyperuniformity phenomena in disordered two-dimensional jammed packings of soft spheres. Using a combination of experiment and simulation we characterize the possible adverse effects of particle polydispersity, image noise, and finite-size effects on the assignment of hyperuniformity, and we develop a methodology that permits improved diagnosis of hyperuniformity from real-space measurements. The key to this improvement is a simple packing reconstruction algorithm that incorporates particle polydispersity to minimize the free volume. In addition, simulations show that hyperuniformity in finite-sized samples can be ascertained more accurately in direct space than in reciprocal space. Finally, our experimental colloidal packings of soft polymeric spheres are shown to be effectively hyperuniform.

Amphiphilic Soft Janus Particles as Interfacial Stabilizers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Wenda; Niu, Sunny; Sosa, Chris; Prud'Homme, Robert; Priestley, Rodney; Priestley Polymer Group Team; Prud'homme Research Group Team

Janus particles, which incorporate two or more ``faces'' with different chemical functionality, have attracted great attention in scientific research. Amphiphilic Janus particles have two faces with distinctly different hydrophobicity. This can be thought of as colloidal surfactants. Theoretical studies on the stabilization of emulsions using Janus particles have confirmed higher efficiency. Herein we synthesize the narrow distributed amphiphilic polymeric Janus particles via Precipitation-Induced Self-Assembly (PISA). The efficiency of the amphiphilic Janus particles are tested on different oil/water systems. Biocompatible polymers can also be used on this strategy and may potentially have wide application for food emulsion, cosmetics and personal products.

Effect of wheat flour characteristics on sponge cake quality.

PubMed

Moiraghi, Malena; de la Hera, Esther; Pérez, Gabriela T; Gómez, Manuel

2013-02-01

To select the flour parameters that relate strongly to cake-making performance, in this study the relationship between sponge cake quality, solvent retention capacity (SRC) profile and flour physicochemical characteristics was investigated using 38 soft wheat samples of different origins. Particle size average, protein, damaged starch, water-soluble pentosans, total pentosans, SRC and pasting properties were analysed. Sponge cake volume and crumb texture were measured to evaluate cake quality. Cluster analysis was applied to assess differences in flour quality parameters among wheat lines based on the SRC profile. Cluster 1 showed significantly higher sponge cake volume and crumb softness, finer particle size and lower SRC sucrose, SRC carbonate, SRC water, damaged starch and protein content. Particle size, damaged starch, protein, thickening capacity and SRC parameters correlated negatively with sponge cake volume, while total pentosans and pasting temperature showed the opposite effect. The negative correlations between cake volume and SRC parameters along with the cluster analysis results indicated that flours with smaller particle size, lower absorption capacity and higher pasting temperature had better cake-making performance. Some simple analyses, such as SRC, particle size distribution and pasting properties, may help to choose flours suitable for cake making. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry.

Laser-induced Microparticle Impact Experiments on Soft Materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kooi, Steven; Veysset, David; Maznev, Alexei; Yang, Yun Jung; Olsen, Bradley; Nelson, Keith

High-velocity impact testing is used to study fundamental aspects of materials behavior under high strain rates as well as in applications ranging from armor testing to the development of novel drug delivery platforms. In this work, we study high-velocity impact of micron-size projectiles on soft viscoelastic materials including synthetic hydrogels and gelatin samples. In an all optical laser-induced projectile impact test (LIPIT), a monolayer of microparticles is placed on a transparent substrate coated with a laser absorbing polymer layer. Ablation of a laser-irradiated polymer region accelerates the microparticles which are ejected from the launching pad into free space, reaching controllable speeds up to 1.5 km/s depending on the laser pulse energy and particle characteristics. The particles are monitored while in free space and after impact on the target surface with an ultrahigh-speed multi-frame camera that can record up to 16 images with time resolution of each frame as short as 3 ns. We present images and movies capturing individual particle impact and penetration in gels, and discuss the observed dynamics in the case of high Reynolds and Weber numbers. The results can provide direct input for modeling of high-velocity impact responses and high strain rate deformation in gels and other soft materials..

Bizarre behavior of heat capacity in crystals due to interplay between two types of anharmonicities.

PubMed

Yurchenko, Stanislav O; Komarov, Kirill A; Kryuchkov, Nikita P; Zaytsev, Kirill I; Brazhkin, Vadim V

2018-04-07

The heat capacity of classical crystals is determined by the Dulong-Petit value C V ≃ D (where D is the spatial dimension) for softly interacting particles and has the gas-like value C V ≃ D/2 in the hard-sphere limit, while deviations are governed by the effects of anharmonicity. Soft- and hard-sphere interactions, which are associated with the enthalpy and entropy of crystals, are specifically anharmonic owing to violation of a linear relation between particle displacements and corresponding restoring forces. Here, we show that the interplay between these two types of anharmonicities unexpectedly induces two possible types of heat capacity anomalies. We studied thermodynamics, pair correlations, and collective excitations in 2D and 3D crystals of particles with a limited range of soft repulsions to prove the effect of interplay between the enthalpy and entropy types of anharmonicities. The observed anomalies are triggered by the density of the crystal, changing the interaction regime in the zero-temperature limit, and can provide about 10% excess of the heat capacity above the Dulong-Petit value. Our results facilitate understanding effects of complex anharmonicity in molecular and complex crystals and demonstrate the possibility of new effects due to the interplay between different types of anharmonicities.

Bizarre behavior of heat capacity in crystals due to interplay between two types of anharmonicities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yurchenko, Stanislav O.; Komarov, Kirill A.; Kryuchkov, Nikita P.; Zaytsev, Kirill I.; Brazhkin, Vadim V.

2018-04-01

The heat capacity of classical crystals is determined by the Dulong-Petit value CV ≃ D (where D is the spatial dimension) for softly interacting particles and has the gas-like value CV ≃ D/2 in the hard-sphere limit, while deviations are governed by the effects of anharmonicity. Soft- and hard-sphere interactions, which are associated with the enthalpy and entropy of crystals, are specifically anharmonic owing to violation of a linear relation between particle displacements and corresponding restoring forces. Here, we show that the interplay between these two types of anharmonicities unexpectedly induces two possible types of heat capacity anomalies. We studied thermodynamics, pair correlations, and collective excitations in 2D and 3D crystals of particles with a limited range of soft repulsions to prove the effect of interplay between the enthalpy and entropy types of anharmonicities. The observed anomalies are triggered by the density of the crystal, changing the interaction regime in the zero-temperature limit, and can provide about 10% excess of the heat capacity above the Dulong-Petit value. Our results facilitate understanding effects of complex anharmonicity in molecular and complex crystals and demonstrate the possibility of new effects due to the interplay between different types of anharmonicities.

Dynamics of gold nanoparticles in synthetic and biopolymer solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohli, Indermeet

Soft matter systems of colloidal particles, polymers, amphiphiles and liquid crystals are ubiquitous in our everyday life. Food, plastics, soap and even human body is comprised of soft materials. Research conducted to understand the behavior of these soft matter systems at molecular level is essential for many interdisciplinary fields of study as well as important for many technological applications. We used gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) to investigate the length-scale dependent dynamics in semidilute poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-water, bovine serum albumin (BSA)-phosphate buffer, dextran and particulate solutions. In case of PEG-water solutions, fluctuation correlation spectroscopy was used to measure the diffusion coefficients (D) of the NPs as a function of their radius, Ro (2.5-10 nm), PEG volume fraction, φ (0-0.37) and molecular weight, Mw (5 kg/mol and 35 kg/mol). Our results indicate that the radius of gyration, Rg of the polymer chain is the crossover length scale for the NPs experiencing nanoviscosity or macroviscosity. In BSA-phosphate buffer solutions, we observed a monolayer formation at the NP surface with a thickness of 3.8 nm. The thickness of the adsorbed layer was independent of NP size. Best fit was obtained by the anticooperative binding model with the Hill coefficient of n = 0.63. Dissociation constant (KD) increased with particle size indicating stronger interaction of BSA with smaller sized NPs. We also contrasted the diffusion of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in crowded solutions of randomly branched polymer (dextran) and rigid, spherical particles (silica) to understand the roles played by the probe size and structure of the crowding agent in determining the probe diffusion. AuNPs of two different sizes (2.5 nm & 10 nm), dextran of molecular weight 70 kDa and silica particles of radius 10 nm were used. Our results indicated that the AuNP diffusion can be described using the bulk viscosity of the matrix and hydrodynamically dextran behaved similar to soft colloid. In all situations, we observed normal diffusion except for 2.5 nm sized AuNP particles in dextran solution at higher volume fraction. This was caused by transient trapping of particles within the random branches. The results showed the importance of macromolecular architecture in determining the transport properties in intracellular matrix and in cells with spiny dendrites.

Assembly, Elasticity, and Structure of Lyotropic Chromonic Liquid Crystals and Disordered Colloids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davidson, Zoey S.

This dissertation describes experiments which explore the structure and dynamics in two classes of soft materials: lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals and colloidal glasses and super-cooled liquids. The first experiments found that the achiral LCLCs, sunset yellow FCF (SSY) and disodium cromoglycate (DSCG) both exhibit spontaneous mirror symmetry breaking in the nematic phase driven by a giant elastic anisotropy of their twist modulus compared to their splay and bend moduli. Resulting structures of the confined LCLCs display interesting director configurations due to interplay of topologically required defects and twisted director fields. At higher concentrations, the LCLC compounds form columnar phases. We studied the columnar phase confined within spherical drops and discovered and understood configurations of the LC that sometimes led to non-spherical droplet shapes. The second experiments with SSY LCLCs confined in hollow cylinders uncovered director configurations which were driven in large measure by an exotic elastic modulus known as saddle-splay. We measured this saddle-splay modulus in a LCLC for the first time and found it to be more than 50 times greater than the twist elastic modulus. This large relative value of the saddle-splay modulus violates a theoretical result/assumption known as the Ericksen inequality. A third group of experiments on LCLCs explored the drying process of sessile drops containing SSY solutions, including evaporation dynamics, morphology, and deposition patterns. These drops differ from typical, well-studied evaporating colloidal drops primarily due to the LCLC's concentration-dependent isotropic, nematic, and columnar phases. Phase separation occurs during evaporation, creating surface tension gradients and significant density and viscosity variation within the droplet. Thus, the drying multiphase drops exhibit new convective currents, drop morphologies, deposition patterns, as well as a novel ordered crystalline phase. Finally, experiments in colloidal glasses and super-cooled liquids were initiated to probe the relationship between structure and dynamics in their constituent particles. The displacements of individual particles in the colloids can be decomposed into small cage fluctuations and large rearrangements into new cages. We found a correlation between the rate of rearrangement and the local cage structure associated with each particle. Particle trajectories of a two-dimensional binary mixture of soft colloids are captured by video microscopy. We use a machine learning method to calculate particle "softness'', which indicates the likelihood of rearrangement based on many radial structural features for each particle. We measured the residence time between consecutive rearrangements and related probability distribution functions (PDFs). The softness-dependent conditional PDF is well fit by an exponential with decay time decreasing monotonically with increasing softness. Using these data and a simple thermal activation model, we determined activation energies for rearrangements.

Interfacial Stacks of Polymeric Nanofilms on Soft Biological Surfaces that Release Multiple Agents.

PubMed

Herron, Maggie; Schurr, Michael J; Murphy, Christopher J; McAnulty, Jonathan F; Czuprynski, Charles J; Abbott, Nicholas L

2016-10-03

We report a general and facile method that permits the transfer (stacking) of multiple independently fabricated and nanoscopically thin polymeric films, each containing a distinct bioactive agent, onto soft biomedically relevant surfaces (e.g., collagen-based wound dressings). By using polyelectrolyte multilayer films (PEMs) formed from poly(allyl amine hydrochloride) and poly(acrylic acid) as representative polymeric nanofilms and micrometer-thick water-soluble poly(vinyl alcohol) sacrificial films to stack the PEMs, we demonstrate that it is possible to create stacked polymeric constructs containing multiple bioactive agents (e.g., antimicrobial and antibiofilm agents) on soft and chemically complex surfaces onto which PEMs cannot be routinely transferred by stamping. We illustrate the characteristics and merits of the approach by fabricating stacks of Ga 3+ (antibiofilm agent)- and Ag + (antimicrobial agent)-loaded PEMs as prototypical examples of agent-containing PEMs and demonstrate that the stacked PEMs incorporate precise loadings of the agents and provide flexibility in terms of tuning release rates. Specifically, we show that simultaneous release of Ga 3+ and Ag + from the stacked PEMs on collagen-based wound dressings can lead to synergistic effects on bacteria, killing and dispersing biofilms formed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (two strains: ATCC 27853 and MPAO1) at sufficiently low loadings of agents such that cytotoxic effects on mammalian cells are avoided. The approach is general (a wide range of bioactive agents other than Ga 3+ and Ag + can be incorporated into PEMs), and the modular nature of the approach potentially allows end-user functionalization of soft biological surfaces for programmed release of multiple bioactive agents.

Gamma-ray mirror technology for NDA of spent fuel

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Descalle, M. A.; Ruz-Armendariz, J.; Decker, T.

Direct measurements of gamma rays emitted by fissile material have been proposed as an alternative to measurements of the gamma rays from fission products. From a safeguards applications perspective, direct detection of uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu) K-shell fluorescence emission lines and specific lines from some of their isotopes could lead to improved shipper-receiver difference or input accountability at the start of Pu reprocessing. However, these measurements are difficult to implement when the spent fuel is in the line-of-sight of the detector, as the detector is exposed to high rates dominated by fission product emissions. To overcome the combination ofmore » high rates and high background, grazing incidence multilayer mirrors have been proposed as a solution to selectively reflect U and Pu hard X-ray and soft gamma rays in the 90 to 420 keV energy into a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector shielded from the direct line-of-sight of spent fuel. Several groups demonstrated that K-shell fluorescence lines of U and Pu in spent fuel could be detected with Ge detectors. In the field of hard X-ray optics the performance of reflective multilayer coated reflective optics was demonstrated up to 645 keV at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. Initial measurements conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory with sealed sources and scoping experiments conducted at the ORNL Irradiated Fuels Examination Laboratory (IFEL) with spent nuclear fuel further demonstrated the pass-band properties of multilayer mirrors for reflecting specific emission lines into 1D and 2D HPGe detectors, respectively.« less

MULPEX: A compact multi-layered polymer foil collector for micrometeoroids and orbital debris

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kearsley, A. T.; Graham, G. A.; Burchell, M. J.; Taylor, E. A.; Drolshagen, G.; Chater, R. J.; McPhail, D.

Detailed studies of preserved hypervelocity impact residues on spacecraft multi-layer insulation foils have yielded important information about the flux of small particles from different sources in low-Earth orbit (LEO). We have extended our earlier research on impacts occurring in LEO to design and testing of a compact capture device. MUlti- Layer Polymer EXperiment (MULPEX) is simple, cheap to build, lightweight, of no power demand, easy to deploy, and optimised for the efficient collection of impact residue for analysis on return to Earth. The capture medium is a stack of very thin (8 and 40 μm) polyimide foils, supported on poly-tetrafluoroethylene sheet frames, surrounded by a protective aluminium casing. The uppermost foil has a very thin metallic coating for thermal protection and resistance to atomic oxygen and ultra-violet exposure. The casing provides a simple detachable interface for deployment on the spacecraft, facing into the desired direction for particle collection. On return to the laboratory, the stacked foils are separated for examination in a variable pressure scanning electron microscope, without need for surface coating. Analysis of impact residue is performed using energy dispersive X-ray spectrometers. Our laboratory experiments, utilising buck-shot firings of analogues to micrometeoroids (35-38 μm olivine) and space debris (4 μm alumina and 1 mm stainless steel) in a light gas gun, have shown that impact residue is abundant within the foil layers, and preserves a record of the impacting particle, whether of micrometer or millimetre dimensions. Penetrations of the top foil are easily recognised, and act as a proxy for dimensions of the penetrating particle. Impact may cause disruption and melting, but some residue retains sufficient crystallographic structure to show clear Raman lines, diagnostic of the original mineral.

Metal/ceramic interface structures and segregation behavior in aluminum-based composites

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Xinming; Hu, Tao; Rufner, Jorgen F.; ...

2015-06-14

Trimodal Al alloy (AA) matrix composites consisting of ultrafine-­grained (UFG) and coarse-­ grained (CG) Al phases and micron-­sized B 4C ceramic reinforcement particles exhibit combinations of strength and ductility that render them useful for potential applications in the aerospace, defense and automotive industries. Tailoring of microstructures with specific mechanical properties requires a detailed understanding of interfacial structures to enable strong interface bonding between ceramic reinforcement and metal matrix, and thereby allow for effective load transfer. Trimodal AA metal matrix composites typically show three characteristics that are noteworthy: nanocrystalline grains in the vicinity of the B4C reinforcement particles; Mg segregation atmore » AA/B 4C interfaces; and the presence of amorphous interfacial layers separating nanocrystalline grains from B 4C particles. Interestingly, however, fundamental information related to the mechanisms responsible for these characteristics as well as information on local compositions and phases are absent in the current literature. Here in this study, we use high-­resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy-­dispersive X-­ray spectroscopy, electron energy-­loss spectroscopy, and precession assisted electron diffraction to gain fundamental insight into the mechanisms that affect the characteristics of AA/B 4C interfaces. Specifically, we determined interfacial structures, local composition and spatial distribution of the interfacial constituents. Near atomic resolution characterization revealed amorphous multilayers and a nanocrystalline region between Al phase and B 4C reinforcement particles. The amorphous multilayers consist of nonstoichiometric Al xO y, while the nanocrystalline region is comprised of MgO nanograins. The experimental results are discussed in terms of the possible underlying mechanisms at AA/B 4C interfaces.« less

Limitations of high dose carrier based formulations.

PubMed

Yeung, Stewart; Traini, Daniela; Tweedie, Alan; Lewis, David; Church, Tanya; Young, Paul M

2018-06-10

This study was performed to investigate how increasing the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) content within a formulation affects the dispersion of particles and the aerosol performance efficiency of a carrier based dry powder inhalable (DPI) formulation, using a custom dry powder inhaler (DPI) development rig. Five formulations with varying concentrations of API beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) between 1% and 30% (w/w) were formulated as a multi-component carrier system containing coarse lactose and fine lactose with magnesium stearate. The morphology of the formulation and each component were investigated using scanning electron micrographs while the particle size was measured by laser diffraction. The aerosol performance, in terms of aerodynamic diameter, was assessed using the British pharmacopeia Apparatus E cascade impactor (Next generation impactor). Chemical analysis of the API was observed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Increasing the concentration of BDP in the blend resulted in increasing numbers and size of individual agglomerates and densely packed BDP multi-layers on the surface of the lactose carrier. BDP present within the multi-layer did not disperse as individual primary particles but as dense agglomerates, which led to a decrease in aerosol performance and increased percentage of BDP deposition within the Apparatus E induction port and pre-separator. As the BDP concentration in the blends increases, aerosol performance of the formulation decreases, in an inversely proportional manner. Concurrently, the percentage of API deposition in the induction port and pre-separator could also be linked to the amount of micronized particles (BDP and Micronized composite carrier) present in the formulation. The effect of such dose increase on the behaviour of aerosol dispersion was investigated to gain greater insight in the development and optimisation of higher dosed carrier-based formulations. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Stimuli sensitive changes in electrical surface properties of soft membranes: from a synthesized polymer to a biological system].

PubMed

Makino, K

1997-01-01

The electrical surface properties of biological cells have been studied, which provided us with the fundamental knowledge about the cell surface. The change in shape or biological functions of cells may affect the surface properties and can be detected by electrokinetic measurements. Biological cell surfaces are covered with polysaccharide chains, some are charged and some are not. Some polysaccharides produce a hydrogel matrixes under a proper condition. We thus consider it reasonable that cell surface is approximated by a hydrogel surface. Electrophoretic mobility measurements are useful for studying the surface properties of biological cells suspended as colloidal particles in an electrolyte solution. The electro-osmotic velocity measurements on the other hand are advantageous to the study of the surface properties of slab-shaped biological systems such as membranes. This work was started with a hydrogel, as a model material. As a hydrogel, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) poly(NIPAAm), abbreviated as hereafter, was chosen, because this hydrogel changes its volume depending on temperature. The dependence of the electrophoretic mobility of latex particles covered with poly(NIPAAm) hydrogel layer or of the electro-osmotic mobility on poly(NIPAAm) plate upon temperature and ionic strength of the dispersing medium was well explained with an electrophoretic mobility formula for "soft particles" developed by Ohshima. The electrokinetic measurements and the explanation of data with an electrophoretic mobility formula for "soft particles" give us information about the surface charge density and the "softness" of soft surfaces. On the basis of the findings with hydrogels, we have discussed the relationship between the changes in shape or function of the biological cells and the change in physicochemical surface properties using these measurements. To study the change in physicochemical properties of the cell surface caused by apoptosis, we have measured the electrophoretic mobilities of intact and apoptotic human promyelocytic leukemia cell lines, HL-60RG cells. We have also studied the differences observed in surface properties of malignant lymphosarcoma cell line, RAW117-P, and its variant, RAW117-H10, with a high metastatic property to the liver. In both cases, the cell surfaces became softer by the changes of biological functions. We have applied electrophoresis and electro-osmosis measurements to the study of the electrokinetic surface properties of rat basophilic leukemia cells, RBL cells. It was also found that the surface of Human umbilical vein endothelial cells, HUVEC, is considerably soft as compared with those of other biological cells we have studied before.

Gas chimney detection based on improving the performance of combined multilayer perceptron and support vector classifier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hashemi, H.; Tax, D. M. J.; Duin, R. P. W.; Javaherian, A.; de Groot, P.

2008-11-01

Seismic object detection is a relatively new field in which 3-D bodies are visualized and spatial relationships between objects of different origins are studied in order to extract geologic information. In this paper, we propose a method for finding an optimal classifier with the help of a statistical feature ranking technique and combining different classifiers. The method, which has general applicability, is demonstrated here on a gas chimney detection problem. First, we evaluate a set of input seismic attributes extracted at locations labeled by a human expert using regularized discriminant analysis (RDA). In order to find the RDA score for each seismic attribute, forward and backward search strategies are used. Subsequently, two non-linear classifiers: multilayer perceptron (MLP) and support vector classifier (SVC) are run on the ranked seismic attributes. Finally, to capitalize on the intrinsic differences between both classifiers, the MLP and SVC results are combined using logical rules of maximum, minimum and mean. The proposed method optimizes the ranked feature space size and yields the lowest classification error in the final combined result. We will show that the logical minimum reveals gas chimneys that exhibit both the softness of MLP and the resolution of SVC classifiers.

Single-pulse coherent diffraction imaging using soft x-ray laser.

PubMed

Kang, Hyon Chol; Kim, Hyung Taek; Kim, Sang Soo; Kim, Chan; Yu, Tae Jun; Lee, Seong Ku; Kim, Chul Min; Kim, I Jong; Sung, Jae Hee; Janulewicz, Karol A; Lee, Jongmin; Noh, Do Young

2012-05-15

We report a coherent diffraction imaging (CDI) using a single 8 ps soft x-ray laser pulse at a wavelength of 13.9 nm. The soft x-ray pulse was generated by a laboratory-scale intense pumping laser providing coherent x-ray pulses up to the level of 10(11) photons/pulse. A spatial resolution below 194 nm was achieved with a single pulse, and it was shown that a resolution below 55 nm is feasible with improved detector capability. The single-pulse CDI might provide a way to investigate dynamics of nanoscale molecules or particles.

Inhomogeneities in particle composition of single, levitated aerosol particles observed by Mie resonance spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krieger, Ulrich; Lienhard, Daniel; Bastelberger, Sandra; Steimer, Sarah

2014-05-01

Recent observations have indicated that organic aerosol particles in the atmosphere may exist in an amorphous semi-solid or even solid (i.e. glassy) state, e.g. [1]. The influence of highly viscous and glassy states on the timescale of aerosol particle equilibration with respect to water vapor have been investigated for some model systems of atmospheric aerosol, e.g. [2,3]. In particular, it has been shown that the kinetics of the water absorption/desorption process is controlled entirely by liquid-phase diffusion of water molecules for a highly viscous aerosol particle. A liquid phase diffusion model based on numerically solving the non-linear diffusion equation predicts strong internal gradients in water concentration when condensed phase diffusion impedes the water uptake from the gas phase [2]. Here we observe and quantify the internal concentration gradients in single, levitated, micron size aerosol particles of aqueous shikimic acid using elastic Mie resonance spectroscopy. A single, aqueous particle is levitated in an electro-dynamic balance (for details see [2]), dried for several days at room temperature, cooled to the target temperature and exposed to a rapid change in relative humidity. In addition to measuring the elastically backscattered light of a "white light" LED source and recording the full spectrum with a spectrograph as in [2], we use a tunable diode laser (TDL) to scan high resolution TE- and TM spectra. This combination allows observing various Mie resonance mode orders simultaneously. Since we perform the experiment at low temperatures and low humidities the changes in the Mie-spectra due to water uptake are sufficiently slow to resolve the kinetics. Experimental Mie resonance spectra are inverted to concentration profiles of water within the particle by applying the numerical diffusion model [2] in conjunction with Mie calculations of multilayered spheres [4]. [1] A. Virtanen et al. (2010): An amorphous solid state of biogenic secondary organic aerosol particles, Nature 467, 824-827. [2] B. Zobrist et al. (2011): Ultra-slow water diffusion in aqueous sucrose glasses, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 13, 3514-3526. [3] D. L. Bones, J. P. Reid, D. M. Lienhard, and U. K. Krieger (2012): Comparing the mechanism of water condensation and evaporation in glassy aerosol, PNAS 109, 11613-11618. [4] O. Peña and U. Pal (2009): Scattering of electromagnetic radiation by a multilayered sphere, Comput. Phys. Commun. 180, 2348-2354.

New Homogeneous Standards by Atomic Layer Deposition for Synchrotron X-ray Fluorescence and Absorption Spectroscopies.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Butterworth, A.L.; Becker, N.; Gainsforth, Z.

2012-03-13

Quantification of synchrotron XRF analyses is typically done through comparisons with measurements on the NIST SRM 1832/1833 thin film standards. Unfortunately, these standards are inhomogeneous on small scales at the tens of percent level. We are synthesizing new homogeneous multilayer standards using the Atomic Layer Deposition technique and characterizing them using multiple analytical methods, including ellipsometry, Rutherford Back Scattering at Evans Analytical, Synchrotron X-ray Fluorescence (SXRF) at Advanced Photon Source (APS) Beamline 13-ID, Synchrotron X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) at Advanced Light Source (ALS) Beamlines 11.0.2 and 5.3.2.1 and by electron microscopy techniques. Our motivation for developing much-needed cross-calibration of synchrotronmore » techniques is borne from coordinated analyses of particles captured in the aerogel of the NASA Stardust Interstellar Dust Collector (SIDC). The Stardust Interstellar Dust Preliminary Examination (ISPE) team have characterized three sub-nanogram, {approx}1{micro}m-sized fragments considered as candidates to be the first contemporary interstellar dust ever collected, based on their chemistries and trajectories. The candidates were analyzed in small wedges of aerogel in which they were extracted from the larger collector, using high sensitivity, high spatial resolution >3 keV synchrotron x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (SXRF) and <2 keV synchrotron x-ray transmission microscopy (STXM) during Stardust ISPE. The ISPE synchrotron techniques have complementary capabilities. Hard X-ray SXRF is sensitive to sub-fg mass of elements Z {ge} 20 (calcium) and has a spatial resolution as low as 90nm. X-ray Diffraction data were collected simultaneously with SXRF data. Soft X-ray STXM at ALS beamline 11.0.2 can detect fg-mass of most elements, including cosmochemically important oxygen, magnesium, aluminum and silicon, which are invisible to SXRF in this application. ALS beamline 11.0.2 has spatial resolution better than 25 nm. Limiting factors for Stardust STXM analyses were self-imposed limits of photon dose due to radiation damage concerns, and significant attenuation of <1500 eV X-rays by {approx}80{micro}m thick, {approx}25 mg/cm{sup 3} density silica aerogel capture medium. In practice, the ISPE team characterized the major, light elements using STXM (O, Mg, Al, Si) and the heavier minor and trace elements using SXRF. The two data sets overlapped only with minor Fe and Ni ({approx}1% mass abundance), providing few quantitative cross-checks. New improved standards for cross calibration are essential for consortium-based analyses of Stardust interstellar and cometary particles, IDPs. Indeed, they have far reaching application across the whole synchrotron-based analytical community. We have synthesized three ALD multilayers simultaneously on silicon nitride membranes and silicon and characterized them using RBS (on Si), XRF (on Si{sub 3}N{sub 4}) and STXM/XAS (holey Si{sub 3}N{sub 4}). The systems we have started to work with are Al-Zn-Fe and Y-Mg-Er. We have found these ALD multi-layers to be uniform at {micro}m- to nm scales, and have found excellent consistency between four analytical techniques so far. The ALD films can also be used as a standard for e-beam instruments, eg., TEM EELS or EDX. After some early issues with the consistency of coatings to the back-side of the membrane windows, we are confident to be able to show multi-analytical agreement to within 10%. As the precision improves, we can use the new standards to verify or improve the tabulated cross-sections.« less

Soft matter strategies for controlling food texture: formation of hydrogel particles by biopolymer complex coacervation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Bi-cheng; Degner, Brian; McClements, David Julian

2014-11-01

Soft matter physics principles can be used to address important problems in the food industry. Starch granules are widely used in foods to create desirable textural attributes, but high levels of digestible starch may pose a risk of diabetes. Consequently, there is a need to find healthier replacements for starch granules. The objective of this research was to create hydrogel particles from protein and dietary fiber with similar dimensions and functional attributes as starch granules. Hydrogel particles were formed by mixing gelatin (0.5 wt%) with pectin (0 to 0.2 wt%) at pH values above the isoelectric point of the gelatin (pH 9, 30 °C). When the pH was adjusted to pH 5, the biopolymer mixture spontaneously formed micron-sized particles due to electrostatic attraction of cationic gelatin with anionic pectin through complex coacervation. Differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy showed that the hydrogel particles were translucent and spheroid, and that their dimensions were determined by pectin concentration. At 0.01 wt% pectin, hydrogel particles with similar dimensions to swollen starch granules (D3,2 ≈ 23 µm) were formed. The resulting hydrogel suspensions had similar appearances to starch pastes and could be made to have similar textural attributes (yield stress and shear viscosity) by adjusting the effective hydrogel particle concentration. These hydrogel particles may therefore be used to improve the texture of reduced-calorie foods and thereby help tackle obesity and diabetes.

Bubble, Drop and Particle Unit (BDPU)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

This section of the Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS) publication includes the following articles entitled: (1) Oscillatory Thermocapillary Instability; (2) Thermocapillary Convection in Multilayer Systems; (3) Bubble and Drop Interaction with Solidification Front; (4) A Liquid Electrohydrodynamics Experiment; (5) Boiling on Small Plate Heaters under Microgravity and a Comparison with Earth Gravity; (6) Thermocapillary Migration and Interactions of Bubbles and Drops; and (7) Nonlinear Surface Tension Driven Bubble Migration

Snowfall retrieval at X, Ka and W bands: consistency of backscattering and microphysical properties using BAECC ground-based measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tecla Falconi, Marta; von Lerber, Annakaisa; Ori, Davide; Silvio Marzano, Frank; Moisseev, Dmitri

2018-05-01

Radar-based snowfall intensity retrieval is investigated at centimeter and millimeter wavelengths using co-located ground-based multi-frequency radar and video-disdrometer observations. Using data from four snowfall events, recorded during the Biogenic Aerosols Effects on Clouds and Climate (BAECC) campaign in Finland, measurements of liquid-water-equivalent snowfall rate S are correlated to radar equivalent reflectivity factors Ze, measured by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) cloud radars operating at X, Ka and W frequency bands. From these combined observations, power-law Ze-S relationships are derived for all three frequencies considering the influence of riming. Using microwave radiometer observations of liquid water path, the measured precipitation is divided into lightly, moderately and heavily rimed snow. Interestingly lightly rimed snow events show a spectrally distinct signature of Ze-S with respect to moderately or heavily rimed snow cases. In order to understand the connection between snowflake microphysical and multi-frequency backscattering properties, numerical simulations are performed by using the particle size distribution provided by the in situ video disdrometer and retrieved ice particle masses. The latter are carried out by using both the T-matrix method (TMM) applied to soft-spheroid particle models with different aspect ratios and exploiting a pre-computed discrete dipole approximation (DDA) database for rimed aggregates. Based on the presented results, it is concluded that the soft-spheroid approximation can be adopted to explain the observed multi-frequency Ze-S relations if a proper spheroid aspect ratio is selected. The latter may depend on the degree of riming in snowfall. A further analysis of the backscattering simulations reveals that TMM cross sections are higher than the DDA ones for small ice particles, but lower for larger particles. The differences of computed cross sections for larger and smaller particles are compensating for each other. This may explain why the soft-spheroid approximation is satisfactory for radar reflectivity simulations under study.

BioRef: A versatile time-of-flight reflectometer for soft matter applications at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Strobl, M.; Kreuzer, M.; Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Hahn-Meitner-Platz 1, 14109 Berlin

2011-05-15

BioRef is a versatile novel time-of-flight reflectometer featuring a sample environment for in situ infrared spectroscopy at the reactor neutron source BER II of the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin fuer Materialien und Energie (HZB). After two years of design and construction phase the instrument has recently undergone commissioning and is now available for specular and off-specular neutron reflectivity measurements. BioRef is especially dedicated to the investigation of soft matter systems and studies at the solid-liquid interface. Due to flexible resolution modes and variable addressable wavelength bands that allow for focusing onto a selected scattering vector range, BioRef enables a broad rangemore » of surface and interface investigations and even kinetic studies with subsecond time resolution. The instrumental settings can be tailored to the specific requirements of a wide range of applications. The performance is demonstrated by several reference measurements, and the unique option of in situ on-board infrared spectroscopy is illustrated by the example of a phase transition study in a lipid multilayer film.« less

Estimating soft tissue thickness from light-tissue interactions––a simulation study

PubMed Central

Wissel, Tobias; Bruder, Ralf; Schweikard, Achim; Ernst, Floris

2013-01-01

Immobilization and marker-based motion tracking in radiation therapy often cause decreased patient comfort. However, the more comfortable alternative of optical surface tracking is highly inaccurate due to missing point-to-point correspondences between subsequent point clouds as well as elastic deformation of soft tissue. In this study, we present a proof of concept for measuring subcutaneous features with a laser scanner setup focusing on the skin thickness as additional input for high accuracy optical surface tracking. Using Monte-Carlo simulations for multi-layered tissue, we show that informative features can be extracted from the simulated tissue reflection by integrating intensities within concentric ROIs around the laser spot center. Training a regression model with a simulated data set identifies patterns that allow for predicting skin thickness with a root mean square error of down to 18 µm. Different approaches to compensate for varying observation angles were shown to yield errors still below 90 µm. Finally, this initial study provides a very promising proof of concept and encourages research towards a practical prototype. PMID:23847741

Facial animation on an anatomy-based hierarchical face model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yu; Prakash, Edmond C.; Sung, Eric

2003-04-01

In this paper we propose a new hierarchical 3D facial model based on anatomical knowledge that provides high fidelity for realistic facial expression animation. Like real human face, the facial model has a hierarchical biomechanical structure, incorporating a physically-based approximation to facial skin tissue, a set of anatomically-motivated facial muscle actuators and underlying skull structure. The deformable skin model has multi-layer structure to approximate different types of soft tissue. It takes into account the nonlinear stress-strain relationship of the skin and the fact that soft tissue is almost incompressible. Different types of muscle models have been developed to simulate distribution of the muscle force on the skin due to muscle contraction. By the presence of the skull model, our facial model takes advantage of both more accurate facial deformation and the consideration of facial anatomy during the interactive definition of facial muscles. Under the muscular force, the deformation of the facial skin is evaluated using numerical integration of the governing dynamic equations. The dynamic facial animation algorithm runs at interactive rate with flexible and realistic facial expressions to be generated.

Review of rigorous coupled-wave analysis and of homogeneous effective medium approximations for high spatial-frequency surface-relief gratings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Glytsis, Elias N.; Brundrett, David L.; Gaylord, Thomas K.

1993-01-01

A review of the rigorous coupled-wave analysis as applied to the diffraction of electro-magnetic waves by gratings is presented. The analysis is valid for any polarization, angle of incidence, and conical diffraction. Cascaded and/or multiplexed gratings as well as material anisotropy can be incorporated under the same formalism. Small period rectangular groove gratings can also be modeled using approximately equivalent uniaxial homogeneous layers (effective media). The ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices of these layers depend on the gratings filling factor, the refractive indices of the substrate and superstrate, and the ratio of the freespace wavelength to grating period. Comparisons of the homogeneous effective medium approximations with the rigorous coupled-wave analysis are presented. Antireflection designs (single-layer or multilayer) using the effective medium models are presented and compared. These ultra-short period antireflection gratings can also be used to produce soft x-rays. Comparisons of the rigorous coupled-wave analysis with experimental results on soft x-ray generation by gratings are also included.

Designing Thin, Ultrastretchable Electronics with Stacked Circuits and Elastomeric Encapsulation Materials.

PubMed

Xu, Renxiao; Lee, Jung Woo; Pan, Taisong; Ma, Siyi; Wang, Jiayi; Han, June Hyun; Ma, Yinji; Rogers, John A; Huang, Yonggang

2017-01-26

Many recently developed soft, skin-like electronics with high performance circuits and low modulus encapsulation materials can accommodate large bending, stretching, and twisting deformations. Their compliant mechanics also allows for intimate, nonintrusive integration to the curvilinear surfaces of soft biological tissues. By introducing a stacked circuit construct, the functional density of these systems can be greatly improved, yet their desirable mechanics may be compromised due to the increased overall thickness. To address this issue, the results presented here establish design guidelines for optimizing the deformable properties of stretchable electronics with stacked circuit layers. The effects of three contributing factors (i.e., the silicone inter-layer, the composite encapsulation, and the deformable interconnects) on the stretchability of a multilayer system are explored in detail via combined experimental observation, finite element modeling, and theoretical analysis. Finally, an electronic module with optimized design is demonstrated. This highly deformable system can be repetitively folded, twisted, or stretched without observable influences to its electrical functionality. The ultrasoft, thin nature of the module makes it suitable for conformal biointegration.

Designing Thin, Ultrastretchable Electronics with Stacked Circuits and Elastomeric Encapsulation Materials

PubMed Central

Xu, Renxiao; Lee, Jung Woo; Pan, Taisong; Ma, Siyi; Wang, Jiayi; Han, June Hyun; Ma, Yinji

2017-01-01

Many recently developed soft, skin-like electronics with high performance circuits and low modulus encapsulation materials can accommodate large bending, stretching, and twisting deformations. Their compliant mechanics also allows for intimate, nonintrusive integration to the curvilinear surfaces of soft biological tissues. By introducing a stacked circuit construct, the functional density of these systems can be greatly improved, yet their desirable mechanics may be compromised due to the increased overall thickness. To address this issue, the results presented here establish design guidelines for optimizing the deformable properties of stretchable electronics with stacked circuit layers. The effects of three contributing factors (i.e., the silicone inter-layer, the composite encapsulation, and the deformable interconnects) on the stretchability of a multilayer system are explored in detail via combined experimental observation, finite element modeling, and theoretical analysis. Finally, an electronic module with optimized design is demonstrated. This highly deformable system can be repetitively folded, twisted, or stretched without observable influences to its electrical functionality. The ultrasoft, thin nature of the module makes it suitable for conformal biointegration. PMID:29046624

Relationship between local structure and relaxation in out-of-equilibrium glassy systems

DOE PAGES

Schoenholz, Samuel S.; Cubuk, Ekin D.; Kaxiras, Efthimios; ...

2016-12-27

The dynamical glass transition is typically taken to be the temperature at which a glassy liquid is no longer able to equilibrate on experimental timescales. Consequently, the physical properties of these systems just above or below the dynamical glass transition, such as viscosity, can change by many orders of magnitude over long periods of time following external perturbation. During this progress toward equilibrium, glassy systems exhibit a history dependence that has complicated their study. In previous work, we bridged the gap between structure and dynamics in glassy liquids above their dynamical glass transition temperatures by introducing a scalar field calledmore » “softness,” a quantity obtained using machine-learning methods. Softness is designed to capture the hidden patterns in relative particle positions that correlate strongly with dynamical rearrangements of particle positions. Here we show that the out-of-equilibrium behavior of a model glass-forming system can be understood in terms of softness. We first demonstrate that the evolution of behavior following a temperature quench is a primarily structural phenomenon: The structure changes considerably, but the relationship between structure and dynamics remains invariant. We then show that the relaxation time can be robustly computed from structure as quantified by softness, with the same relation holding both in equilibrium and as the system ages. Together, these results show that the history dependence of the relaxation time in glasses requires knowledge only of the softness in addition to the usual state variables.« less

Relationship between local structure and relaxation in out-of-equilibrium glassy systems.

PubMed

Schoenholz, Samuel S; Cubuk, Ekin D; Kaxiras, Efthimios; Liu, Andrea J

2017-01-10

The dynamical glass transition is typically taken to be the temperature at which a glassy liquid is no longer able to equilibrate on experimental timescales. Consequently, the physical properties of these systems just above or below the dynamical glass transition, such as viscosity, can change by many orders of magnitude over long periods of time following external perturbation. During this progress toward equilibrium, glassy systems exhibit a history dependence that has complicated their study. In previous work, we bridged the gap between structure and dynamics in glassy liquids above their dynamical glass transition temperatures by introducing a scalar field called "softness," a quantity obtained using machine-learning methods. Softness is designed to capture the hidden patterns in relative particle positions that correlate strongly with dynamical rearrangements of particle positions. Here we show that the out-of-equilibrium behavior of a model glass-forming system can be understood in terms of softness. To do this we first demonstrate that the evolution of behavior following a temperature quench is a primarily structural phenomenon: The structure changes considerably, but the relationship between structure and dynamics remains invariant. We then show that the relaxation time can be robustly computed from structure as quantified by softness, with the same relation holding both in equilibrium and as the system ages. Together, these results show that the history dependence of the relaxation time in glasses requires knowledge only of the softness in addition to the usual state variables.

Doxorubicin-loaded poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles coated with chitosan/alginate by layer by layer technology for antitumor applications.

PubMed

Chai, Fujuan; Sun, Linlin; He, Xinyi; Li, Jieli; Liu, Yuanfen; Xiong, Fei; Ge, Liang; Webster, Thomas J; Zheng, Chunli

2017-01-01

Natural polyelectrolyte multilayers of chitosan (CHI) and alginate (ALG) were alternately deposited on doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) with layer by layer self-assembly to control drug release for antitumor activity. Numerous factors which influenced the multilayer growth on nano-colloidal particles were studied: polyelectrolyte concentration, NaCl concentration and temperature. Then the growth regime of the CHI/ALG multilayers was elucidated. The coated NPs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction and a zeta potential analyzer. In vitro studies demonstrated an undesirable initial burst release of DOX-loaded PLGA NPs (DOX-PLGA NPs), which was relieved from 55.12% to 5.78% through the use of the layer by layer technique. The release of DOX increased more than 40% as the pH of media decreased from 7.4 to 5.0. More importantly, DOX-PLGA (CHI/ALG) 3 NPs had superior in vivo tumor inhibition rates at 83.17% and decreased toxicity, compared with DOX-PLGA NPs and DOX in solution. Thus, the presently formulated PLGA-polyelectrolyte NPs have strong potential applications for numerous controlled anticancer drug release applications.

Q-factor control of multilayer micromembrane using PZT composite material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Čekas, Elingas; Janušas, Giedrius; Palevicius, Arvydas; Janušas, Tomas; Ciganas, Justas

2018-02-01

Cantilever and membrane based sensors, which are capable of providing accurate detection of target analytes have been always an important research topic of medical diagnostics, food testing, and environmental monitoring fields. Here, the mechanical detection is achieved by micro- and nano-scale cantilevers for stress sensing and mass sensing, or micro- and nano-scale plates or membranes. High sensitivity is a major issue for the active element and it could be achieved via increased Q-factor. The ability to control the Q factor expands the range of application of the device and allows to achieve more accurate results. The aim of this paper is to investigate the mechanical and electrical properties, as well as, the ability to control the Q factor of the membrane with PZT nanocomposite. This multilayered membrane was formatted using the n-type <100> silicon substrate by implementing the Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD), photolithography by using photomask with defined dimensions, deep etching, and e-beam evaporation techniques. Dynamic and electrical characteristics of the membrane were numerically investigated using COMSOL Multiphysics software. The use of the multilayered membrane can range from simple monitoring of particles concentration in a closed environment to inspecting glucose levels in human fluids (blood, tears, sweat, etc.).

High-resolution TEM Studies of Carbon Nanotubes and Catalyst Nanoparticles Produced During CVD from Metal Multilayer Films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howe, Jane Y.; Puretzky, Alex A.; Geohegan, David B.; Cui, Hongtao; Eres, Varela; Maria, Alex A.; Lowndes, Douglas H.

2003-03-01

The structure of single-wall and multiwall carbon nanotubes and associated metal catalyst nanoparticles produced during chemical vapor deposition from multilayered metal films deposited on Si and Mo substrates were studied by high-resolution TEM and EDS. Electron beam-evaporated metal multilayer films (e.g. Al-Fe-Mo, typically 11-50 nm total thickness) roughen upon heat treatment to form a variety of catalyst particle sizes suitable for carbon nanotube growth by chemical vapor deposition using acetylene, hydrogen, and argon flow gases. This study investigates these nanoparticles, the type of nanotubes grown, their wall, tip, and basal structures, as well as the associated amounts of amorphous carbon deposited on their walls in different temperature and pressure ranges. Mixtures of SWNT and MWNT are found even for low growth temperatures (650-700 C), while rapid growth of vertically-aligned multiwall nanotubes (VA-MWNTs) predominate in a narrow temperature range at a given pressure. Arrested growth experiments were performed to determine the time periods for SWNT vs. MWNT growth. The nature of the catalyst nanoparticles, their support structure, and insights on the mechanisms of growth will be discussed.

Water adsorption on goethite: Application of multilayer adsorption models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hatch, C. D.; Tumminello, R.; Meredith, R.

2016-12-01

Adsorbed water on the surface of atmospheric mineral dust has recently been shown to significantly affect the ability of mineral dust aerosol to act as cloud condensation nuclei. We have studied water adsorption as a function of relative humidity (RH) on goethite (α-FeO(OH)), a common component of atmospheric mineral dust. The goethite surface area and particle size was determined using BET analysis and with N2 as an adsorbate and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. Water adsorption on the sample was monitored using horizontal attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (HATR-FTIR) spectroscopy equipped with a flow cell. Water content was determined using Beer's law and the optical constants for bulk water. The results were analyzed using Type II adsorption isotherms to model multilayer adsorption, including BET (Brunauer, Emmet and Teller), FHH (Frenkel, Halsey and Hill) and Freundlich. BET fits to experimental data provide parameters of monolayer coverage, while the FHH and Freundlich isotherms provide insights into multilayer adsorption mechanisms. Results indicate that goethite contains 5% H2O by mass at 50% RH, which increases to 12% by mass at 90% RH. Adsorption parameters and experimental results will be presented.

Temperature induced CuInSe2 nanocrystal formation in the Cu2Se-In3Se2 multilayer thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohan, A.; Rajesh, S.

2017-04-01

The paper deals with the impact of annealing on Cu2Se-In3Se2 multilayer structure and discusses the quantum confinements. Thermal evaporation technique was used to prepare multilayer films over the glass substrates. The films were annealed at different temperatures (150 °C-350 °C) under vacuum atmosphere. The XRD pattern reveals that the films exhibit (112) peaks with CuInSe2 Chalcopyrite structure and upon annealing crystallinity improved. The grain size comes around 13-19 nm. The optical band gap value was found to be 2.21 to 2.09 eV and band gap splitting was observed for higher annealing temperatures. The increase in the band gap is related to quantum confinement effect. SEM image shows nano crystals spread over the entire surface for higher annealing temperatures. Optical absorption and PL spectra shows the blue shift during annealing. The HR-TEM shows the particle size in the nano range and which confirms the CuInSe2 nanocrystal formation. AFM image shows the rough surface with homogenous grains for the as deposited films and smooth surface for annealed films.

Retrieval of Haze Properties in Pluto's Atmosphere from New Horizons Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, S.; Gao, P.; Yung, Y. L.

2017-12-01

On July 14th, 2015, New Horizons performed its historic close approach of Pluto, giving humanity unprecedented observations of the dwarf planet's atmosphere. One of the amazing features seen was the multi-layered haze in its atmosphere. The haze was detected both at visible wavelengths by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) from direct imaging and in the ultraviolet by the Alice spectrograph from solar occultations. Preliminary analysis using simplified models showed that neither spherical nor 2-dimensional aggregate particles could satisfy both sets of observations. In this work, we present a joint retrieval of haze particles using both LORRI and Alice data, which examines various size distributions and dimensions of aggregate particles. We map out the haze particles' phase function by the forward scattering and extinction properties by the occultation. With the combination of these two approaches, the Haze's properties of size and shape are constrained.

Particle size reduction to the nanometer range: a promising approach to improve buccal absorption of poorly water-soluble drugs

PubMed Central

Rao, Shasha; Song, Yunmei; Peddie, Frank; Evans, Allan M

2011-01-01

Poorly water-soluble drugs, such as phenylephrine, offer challenging problems for buccal drug delivery. In order to overcome these problems, particle size reduction (to the nanometer range) and cyclodextrin complexation were investigated for permeability enhancement. The apparent solubility in water and the buccal permeation of the original phenylephrine coarse powder, a phenylephrine–cyclodextrin complex and phenylephrine nanosuspensions were characterized. The particle size and particle surface properties of phenylephrine nanosuspensions were used to optimize the size reduction process. The optimized phenylephrine nanosuspension was then freeze dried and incorporated into a multi-layered buccal patch, consisting of a small tablet adhered to a mucoadhesive film, yielding a phenylephrine buccal product with good dosage accuracy and improved mucosal permeability. The design of the buccal patch allows for drug incorporation without the need to change the mucoadhesive component, and is potentially suited to a range of poorly water-soluble compounds. PMID:21753876

Particle size reduction to the nanometer range: a promising approach to improve buccal absorption of poorly water-soluble drugs.

PubMed

Rao, Shasha; Song, Yunmei; Peddie, Frank; Evans, Allan M

2011-01-01

Poorly water-soluble drugs, such as phenylephrine, offer challenging problems for buccal drug delivery. In order to overcome these problems, particle size reduction (to the nanometer range) and cyclodextrin complexation were investigated for permeability enhancement. The apparent solubility in water and the buccal permeation of the original phenylephrine coarse powder, a phenylephrine-cyclodextrin complex and phenylephrine nanosuspensions were characterized. The particle size and particle surface properties of phenylephrine nanosuspensions were used to optimize the size reduction process. The optimized phenylephrine nanosuspension was then freeze dried and incorporated into a multi-layered buccal patch, consisting of a small tablet adhered to a mucoadhesive film, yielding a phenylephrine buccal product with good dosage accuracy and improved mucosal permeability. The design of the buccal patch allows for drug incorporation without the need to change the mucoadhesive component, and is potentially suited to a range of poorly water-soluble compounds.

Tunable thick porous silica coating fabricated by multilayer-by-multilayer bonding of silica nanoparticles for open-tubular capillary chromatographic separation.

PubMed

Qu, Qishu; Liu, Yuanyuan; Shi, Wenjun; Yan, Chao; Tang, Xiaoqing

2015-06-19

A simple coating procedure employing a multilayer-by-multilayer process to modify the inner surface of bare fused-silica capillaries with silica nanoparticles was established. The silica nanoparticles were adsorbed onto the capillary wall via a strong electrostatic interaction between amino functional groups and silica particles. The thickness of the coating could be tuned from 130 to 600 nm by increasing the coating cycles from one to three. Both the retention factor and the resolution were greatly increased with increasing coating cycles. The loading capacity determined by naphthalene in the column with three coating cycles is 152.1 pmol. The effects of buffer concentration and pH value on the stability of the coating were evaluated. The retention reproducibility of the separation of toluene was 0.8, 1.2, 2.3, and 4.5%, respectively, for run-to-run, day-to-day, column-to-column, and batch-to-batch, respectively. The chromatographic performance of these columns was evaluated by both capillary liquid chromatography and open-tubular capillary electrochromatography (OT-CEC). Separation of aromatic hydrocarbons in the column with three coating cycles provided high theoretical plate numbers (up to 269,280 plates m(-1) for toluene) and short separation time (<15 min) by using OT-CEC mode. The method was also used to separate egg white proteins. Both acidic and basic proteins as well as four glycoisoforms were separated in a single run. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Clover: Compiler directed lightweight soft error resilience

DOE PAGES

Liu, Qingrui; Lee, Dongyoon; Jung, Changhee; ...

2015-05-01

This paper presents Clover, a compiler directed soft error detection and recovery scheme for lightweight soft error resilience. The compiler carefully generates soft error tolerant code based on idem-potent processing without explicit checkpoint. During program execution, Clover relies on a small number of acoustic wave detectors deployed in the processor to identify soft errors by sensing the wave made by a particle strike. To cope with DUE (detected unrecoverable errors) caused by the sensing latency of error detection, Clover leverages a novel selective instruction duplication technique called tail-DMR (dual modular redundancy). Once a soft error is detected by either themore » sensor or the tail-DMR, Clover takes care of the error as in the case of exception handling. To recover from the error, Clover simply redirects program control to the beginning of the code region where the error is detected. Lastly, the experiment results demonstrate that the average runtime overhead is only 26%, which is a 75% reduction compared to that of the state-of-the-art soft error resilience technique.« less

Impact of Spacecraft Shielding on Direct Ionization Soft Error Rates for sub-130 nm Technologies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pellish, Jonathan A.; Xapsos, Michael A.; Stauffer, Craig A.; Jordan, Michael M.; Sanders, Anthony B.; Ladbury, Raymond L.; Oldham, Timothy R.; Marshall, Paul W.; Heidel, David F.; Rodbell, Kenneth P.

2010-01-01

We use ray tracing software to model various levels of spacecraft shielding complexity and energy deposition pulse height analysis to study how it affects the direct ionization soft error rate of microelectronic components in space. The analysis incorporates the galactic cosmic ray background, trapped proton, and solar heavy ion environments as well as the October 1989 and July 2000 solar particle events.

Impact of Spacecraft Shielding on Direct Ionization Soft Error Rates for Sub-130 nm Technologies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pellish, Jonathan A.; Xapsos, Michael A.; Stauffer, Craig A.; Jordan, Thomas M.; Sanders, Anthony B.; Ladbury, Raymond L.; Oldham, Timothy R.; Marshall, Paul W.; Heidel, David F.; Rodbell, Kenneth P.

2010-01-01

We use ray tracing software to model various levels of spacecraft shielding complexity and energy deposition pulse height analysis to study how it affects the direct ionization soft error rate of microelectronic components in space. The analysis incorporates the galactic cosmic ray background, trapped proton, and solar heavy ion environments as well as the October 1989 and July 2000 solar particle events.

Programmable Phase Transitions in a Photonic Microgel System: Linking Soft Interactions to a Temporal pH Gradient.

PubMed

Go, Dennis; Rommel, Dirk; Chen, Lisa; Shi, Feng; Sprakel, Joris; Kuehne, Alexander J C

2017-02-28

Soft amphoteric microgel systems exhibit a rich phase behavior. Crystalline phases of these material systems are of interest because they exhibit photonic stop-gaps, giving rise to iridescent color. Such microgel systems are promising for applications in soft, switchable, and programmable photonic filters and devices. We here report a composite microgel system consisting of a hard and fluorescently labeled core and a soft, amphoteric microgel shell. At pH above the isoelectric point (IEP), these colloids easily crystallize into three-dimensional colloidal assemblies. By adding a cyclic lactone to the system, the temporal pH profile can be controlled, and the microgels can be programmed to melt, while they lose charge. When the microgels gain the opposite charge, they recrystallize into assemblies of even higher order. We provide a model system to study the dynamic phase behavior of soft particles and their switchable and programmable photonic effects.

Multicolor, time-gated, soft x-ray pinhole imaging of wire array and gas puff Z pinches on the Z and Saturn pulsed power generators.

PubMed

Jones, B; Coverdale, C A; Nielsen, D S; Jones, M C; Deeney, C; Serrano, J D; Nielsen-Weber, L B; Meyer, C J; Apruzese, J P; Clark, R W; Coleman, P L

2008-10-01

A multicolor, time-gated, soft x-ray pinhole imaging instrument is fielded as part of the core diagnostic set on the 25 MA Z machine [M. E. Savage et al., in Proceedings of the Pulsed Power Plasma Sciences Conference (IEEE, New York, 2007), p. 979] for studying intense wire array and gas puff Z-pinch soft x-ray sources. Pinhole images are reflected from a planar multilayer mirror, passing 277 eV photons with <10 eV bandwidth. An adjacent pinhole camera uses filtration alone to view 1-10 keV photons simultaneously. Overlaying these data provides composite images that contain both spectral as well as spatial information, allowing for the study of radiation production in dense Z-pinch plasmas. Cu wire arrays at 20 MA on Z show the implosion of a colder cloud of material onto a hot dense core where K-shell photons are excited. A 528 eV imaging configuration has been developed on the 8 MA Saturn generator [R. B. Spielman et al., and A. I. P. Conf, Proc. 195, 3 (1989)] for imaging a bright Li-like Ar L-shell line. Ar gas puff Z pinches show an intense K-shell emission from a zippering stagnation front with L-shell emission dominating as the plasma cools.

Multicoaxial cylindrical inclusions in locally resonant phononic crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larabi, H.; Pennec, Y.; Djafari-Rouhani, B.; Vasseur, J. O.

2007-06-01

It is known that the transmission spectrum of the so-called locally resonant phononic crystal can exhibit absolute sharp dips in the sonic frequency range due to the resonance scattering of elastic waves. In this paper, we study theoretically, using a finite difference time domain method, the propagation of acoustic waves through a two-dimensional locally resonant crystal in which the matrix is a fluid (such as water) instead of being a solid as in most of the previous papers. The transmission is shown to be dependent upon the fluid or solid nature of the matrix as well as upon the nature of the coating material in contact with the matrix. The other main purpose of this paper is to consider inclusions constituted by coaxial cylindrical multilayers consisting of several alternate shells of a soft material (such as a soft rubber) and a hard material (such as steel). With respect to the usual case of a hard core coated with a soft rubber, the transmission spectrum can exhibit in the same frequency range several peaks instead of one. If two or more phononic crystals are associated together, we find that the structure displays all the zeros of transmission resulting from each individual crystal. Moreover, we show that it is possible to overlap the dips by an appropriate combination of phononic crystals and create a larger acoustic stop band.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gasser, U., E-mail: urs.gasser@psi.ch; Hyatt, J. S.; Lietor-Santos, J.-J.

We study the form factor of thermoresponsive microgels based on poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) at high generalized volume fractions, ζ, where the particles must shrink or interpenetrate to fit into the available space. Small-angle neutron scattering with contrast matching techniques is used to determine the particle form factor. We find that the particle size is constant up to a volume fraction roughly between random close packing and space filling. Beyond this point, the particle size decreases with increasing particle concentration; this decrease is found to occur with little interpenetration. Noteworthily, the suspensions remain liquid-like for ζ larger than 1, emphasizing the importance ofmore » particle softness in determining suspension behavior.« less

Elemental mercury oxidation in an electrostatic precipitator enhanced with in situ soft X-ray irradiation.

PubMed

Jing, He; Wang, Xiaofei; Wang, Wei-Ning; Biswas, Pratim

2015-04-01

Corona discharge based techniques are promising approaches for oxidizing elemental mercury (Hg0) in flue gas from coal combustion. In this study, in-situ soft X-rays were coupled to a DC (direct current) corona-based electrostatic precipitator (ESP). The soft X-rays significantly enhanced Hg0 oxidation, due to generation of electrons from photoionization of gas molecules and the ESP electrodes. This coupling technique worked better in the positive corona discharge mode because more electrons were in the high energy region near the electrode. Detailed mechanisms of Hg0 oxidation are proposed and discussed based on ozone generation measurements and Hg0 oxidation behavior observations in single gas environments (O2, N2, and CO2). The effect of O2 concentration in flue gas, as well as the effects of particles (SiO2, TiO2, and KI) was also evaluated. In addition, the performance of a soft X-rays coupled ESP in Hg0 oxidations was investigated in a lab-scale coal combustion system. With the ESP voltage at +10 kV, soft X-ray enhancement, and KI addition, mercury oxidation was maximized. Mercury is a significant-impact atmospheric pollutant due to its toxicity. Coal-fired power plants are the primary emission sources of anthropogenic releases of mercury; hence, mercury emission control from coal-fired power plant is important. This study provides an alternative mercury control technology for coal-fired power plants. The proposed electrostatic precipitator with in situ soft X-rays has high efficiency on elemental mercury conversion. Effects of flue gas conditions (gas compositions, particles, etc.) on performance of this technology were also evaluated, which provided guidance on the application of the technology for coal-fired power plant mercury control.

Advanced water window x-ray microscope design and analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shealy, D. L.; Wang, C.; Jiang, W.; Lin, J.

1992-01-01

The project was focused on the design and analysis of an advanced water window soft-x-ray microscope. The activities were accomplished by completing three tasks contained in the statement of work of this contract. The new results confirm that in order to achieve resolutions greater than three times the wavelength of the incident radiation, it will be necessary to use aspherical mirror surfaces and to use graded multilayer coatings on the secondary (to accommodate the large variations of the angle of incidence over the secondary when operating the microscope at numerical apertures of 0.35 or greater). The results are included in a manuscript which is enclosed in the Appendix.

Removal of nanoaerosol during the bubbling of the salt melt of beryllium and lithium fluorides for the preparation of reactor radioisotopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zagnit'ko, A. V.; Chuvilin, D. Yu.

2010-06-01

The parameters of aerosol particles formed in the course of the spontaneous thermal condensation of vapors and bubbling a 66LiF-34BeF2 (mol %) eutectic salt mixture with helium have been studied. For this purpose, a vertical bubbling mode at T ≈ 900 K and an ampule device for obtaining reactor radioisotopes for medical applications were used. The rate of the bulk removal and the chemical composition of aerosols were measured. The size distribution of the aerosol particles was bimodal, and the mass concentration of the particles exceeded by far the maximum permissible concentration (MPC). The characteristics of regenerated nickel multilayer nanofilters for ultrahigh filtration of aerosols from the salt liquid melt were analyzed.

Study of dust re-suspension at low pressure in a dedicated wind-tunnel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rondeau, Anthony; Sabroux, Jean-Christophe; Chassefière, Eric

2015-04-01

The atmosphere of several telluric planets or satellites are dusty. Such is the case of Earth, Venus, Mars and Titan, each bearing different aeolian processes linked principally to the kinematic viscosity of the near-surface atmosphere. Studies of the Martian atmosphere are particularly relevant for the understanding of the dust re-suspension phenomena at low pressure (7 mbar). It turns out that operation of fusion reactors of the tokamak design produces significant amount of dust through the erosion of plasma-facing components. Such dust is a key issue, both regarding the performance and the safety of a fusion reactor such as ITER, under construction in Cadarache, France. Indeed, to evaluate the explosion risk in the ITER fusion reactor, it is essential to quantify the re-suspended dust fraction as a function of the dust inventory that can be potentially mobilized during a loss of vacuum accident (LOVA), with air or water vapour ingress. A complete accident sequence will encompass dust re-suspension from near-vacuum up to atmospheric pressure. Here, we present experimental results of particles re-suspension fractions measured at 1000, 600 and 300 mbar in the IRSN BISE (BlowIng facility for airborne releaSE) wind tunnel. Both dust monolayer deposits and multilayer deposits were investigated. In order to obtain experimental re-suspension data of dust monolayer deposits, we used an optical microscope allowing to measure the re-suspended particles fraction by size intervals of 1 µm. The deposits were made up of tungsten particles on a tungsten surface (an ubiquitous plasma facing component) and alumina particles on a glass plate, as a surrogate. A comparison of the results with the so-called Rock'nRoll dust re-suspension model (Reeks and Hall, 2001) is presented and discussed. The multilayer deposits were made in a vacuum sedimentation chamber allowing to obtain uniform deposits in terms of thickness. The re-suspension experimental data of such deposits were obtained thanks to a photovoltaic cell on which the alumina dust was deposited, taking advantage of the well-known loss of efficiency of dusty solar panels (e.g., Spirit Mars Rover before and after a "cleaning event"). The short circuit intensity of the cell being a function of the amount (mg/cm2) of dust deposited, it is possible to determine directly on-line the fraction of dust re-suspended during an experiment in the wind tunnel. Thus, we highlighted two kinds of mechanisms, with a transition region. Above a threshold and at each step increase of airflow velocity, a fraction of the deposit is quickly mobilised (in a few seconds). After a transition gap (approximately two minutes), a low linear increase of the re-suspension fraction is observed. This phenomenon is likely due to random bursts characterizing turbulent airflows. In addition, we brought to light a dust mobilisation mechanism by particle clustering, likely due to the adhesion forces between particles outmatching the adhesion forces between particles and the panel surface. These experimental data will allow to validate a re-suspension model for multi-layer deposits taking into account the effect of low pressure and of dust mobilisation by particles clustering. Reeks, M.W. and Hall, D., 2001. Kinetic models for particle resuspension in turbulent flows: theory and measurement. J. Aerosol Sci., 32: 1-31.

Gadolinium chelate coated gold nanoparticles as contrast agents for both X-ray computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging.

PubMed

Alric, Christophe; Taleb, Jacqueline; Le Duc, Géraldine; Mandon, Céline; Billotey, Claire; Le Meur-Herland, Alice; Brochard, Thierry; Vocanson, Francis; Janier, Marc; Perriat, Pascal; Roux, Stéphane; Tillement, Olivier

2008-05-07

Functionalized gold nanoparticles were applied as contrast agents for both in vivo X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging. These particles were obtained by encapsulating gold cores within a multilayered organic shell which is composed of gadolinium chelates bound to each other through disulfide bonds. The contrast enhancement in MRI stems from the presence of gadolinium ions which are entrapped in the organic shell, whereas the gold core provides a strong X-ray absorption. This study revealed that these particles suited for dual modality imaging freely circulate in the blood vessels without undesirable accumulation in the lungs, spleen, and liver.

Multilayer ultra-high-temperature ceramic coatings

DOEpatents

Loehman, Ronald E [Albuquerque, NM; Corral, Erica L [Tucson, AZ

2012-03-20

A coated carbon-carbon composite material with multiple ceramic layers to provide oxidation protection from ultra-high-temperatures, where if the carbon-carbon composite material is uninhibited with B.sub.4C particles, then the first layer on the composite material is selected from ZrB.sub.2 and HfB.sub.2, onto which is coated a layer of SiC coated and if the carbon-carbon composite material is inhibited with B.sub.4C particles, then protection can be achieved with a layer of SiC and a layer of either ZrB.sub.2 and HfB.sub.2 in any order.

The role of engineered materials in superconducting tunnel junction X-ray detectors - Suppression of quasiparticle recombination losses via a phononic band gap

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rippert, Edward D.; Ketterson, John B.; Chen, Jun; Song, Shenian; Lomatch, Susanne; Maglic, Stevan R.; Thomas, Christopher; Cheida, M. A.; Ulmer, Melville P.

1992-01-01

An engineered structure is proposed that can alleviate quasi-particle recombination losses via the existence of a phononic band gap that overlaps the 2-Delta energy of phonons produced during recombination of quasi-particles. Attention is given to a 1D Kronig-Penny model for phonons normally incident to the layers of a multilayered superconducting tunnel junction as an idealized example. A device with a high density of Bragg resonances is identified as desirable; both Nb/Si and NbN/SiN superlattices have been produced, with the latter having generally superior performance.

Histomorphometric and immunohistochemical analysis of human maxillary sinus-floor augmentation using porous β-tricalcium phosphate for dental implant treatment.

PubMed

Miyamoto, Shinji; Shinmyouzu, Kouhei; Miyamoto, Ikuya; Takeshita, Kenji; Terada, Toshihisa; Takahashi, Tetsu

2013-08-01

This study utilized the constitution and expression of Runx2/Cbfa1 to conduct 6-month-post-operation histomorphometrical and histochemical analysis of osteocalcin in bone regeneration following sinus-floor augmentation procedures using β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) and autogenous cortical bone. Thirteen sinuses of nine patients were treated with sinus-floor augmentation using 50% β-TCP and 50% autogenous cancellous bone harvested from the ramus of the mandible. Biopsies of augmented sinuses were taken at 6 months for histomorphometric and immunohistochemical measurements. Runx2/Cbfa1- and osteocalcin-positive cells were found around TCP particles and on the bone surface. Approximately 60% of cells found around TCP particles stained positive for Runx2/Cbfa1. Fewer cells stained positive for osteocalcin. These positive cells decreased apically with increasing vertical distance from the maxillary bone surface. Histomorphometric analysis showed that the augmented site close to residual bone and periosteum contained approximately 42% bony tissue and 42% soft connective tissue, and the remaining 16% consisted of TCP particles. On the other hand, the augmented bone far from residual bone and periosteum contained 35% bony tissue and 50% soft connective tissue. Our data suggest that TCP particles attract osteoprogenitor cells that migrate into the interconnecting micropores of the bone-substitute material by 6 months. The augmented site close to residual bone contained a higher proportion of bony tissue and a lower proportion of soft connective tissue than did the augmented site far from residual bone. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

How to Measure Squeeze Out

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Longacre, R. S.

2016-09-01

Squeeze out happen when the expanding central fireball flows around a large surface flux tube in a central Au-Au collision at RHIC. We model such an effect in a flux tube model. Two particle correlations with respect to the v 2 axis formed by the soft fireball particles flowing around this large flux tube is a way of measuring the effect.

Megaquakes, prograde surface waves and urban evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lomnitz, C.; Castaños, H.

2013-05-01

Cities grow according to evolutionary principles. They move away from soft-ground conditions and avoid vulnerable types of structures. A megaquake generates prograde surface waves that produce unexpected damage in modern buildings. The examples (Figs. 1 and 2) were taken from the 1985 Mexico City and the 2010 Concepción, Chile megaquakes. About 400 structures built under supervision according to modern building codes were destroyed in the Mexican earthquake. All were sited on soft ground. A Rayleigh wave will cause surface particles to move as ellipses in a vertical plane. Building codes assume that this motion will be retrograde as on a homogeneous elastic halfspace, but soft soils are intermediate materials between a solid and a liquid. When Poisson's ratio tends to ν→0.5 the particle motion turns prograde as it would on a homogeneous fluid halfspace. Building codes assume that the tilt of the ground is not in phase with the acceleration but we show that structures on soft ground tilt into the direction of the horizontal ground acceleration. The combined effect of gravity and acceleration may destabilize a structure when it is in resonance with its eigenfrequency. Castaños, H. and C. Lomnitz, 2013. Charles Darwin and the 1835 Chile earthquake. Seismol. Res. Lett., 84, 19-23. Lomnitz, C., 1990. Mexico 1985: the case for gravity waves. Geophys. J. Int., 102, 569-572. Malischewsky, P.G. et al., 2008. The domain of existence of prograde Rayleigh-wave particle motion. Wave Motion 45, 556-564.; Figure 1 1985 Mexico megaquake--overturned 15-story apartment building in Mexico City ; Figure 2 2010 Chile megaquake Overturned 15-story R-C apartment building in Concepción

Bamboo leaf ash as the stabilizer for soft soil treatment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahman, A. S. A.; Jais, I. B. M.; Sidek, N.; Ahmad, J.; Rosli, M. I. F.

2018-04-01

Soft soil is a type of soil that have the size of particle less than 0.063mm. The strength of the soft soil does not fulfil the requirement for construction. The present of soft soil at the construction site always give a lot of problems and issues to geotechnical sector. Soil settlement is one of the problems that related to soft soil. The determination of the soft soil physical characteristics will provide a detail description on its characteristic. Soft soil need to be treated in order to gain the standard strength for construction. One of the method to strengthen the soft soil is by using pozzolanic material as a treatment method for soft soil. Furthermore bamboo leaf ash is one of the newly founded materials that contain pozzolanic material. Any material that consist of Silicon Dioxide (SiO2) as the main component and followed by Aluminium Oxide (Al2O3) and Iron Oxide (Fe2O3) are consider as pozzolanic material. Bamboo leaf ash is mix with the cement as the treatment material. Bamboo leaf ash will react with the cement to produce additional cement binder. Thus, it will increase the soil strength and will ease the geotechnical sector to achieve high quality of construction product.