Role of Ion Beam Irradiation and Annealing Effect on the Deposition of AlON Nanolayers by Using Plasma Focus Device

AlON nanolayers are synthesized on Al substrate by the irradiation of energetic nitrogen ions using plasma focusing. Samples are exposed to multiple （5, 10, 15, 20 and 25） focus shots. Ion energy and ion number density range from 80 keV to 1.4 MeV and 5.6×10^19 m^- 3 to 1.3×10^19 m ^-3, respectively. Moreover, the effect of continuous annealing （473 K and 523 K） on an AlN surface layer synthesized with 25 focus shots is also examined. The main features of the X-ray diffraction （XRD） patterns with increasing focus shots are： （i） variation in the crystallinity of AlN along （111）, （200） and （311） planes, （ii） increasing average crystallite size of AlN （111） plane, and （iii） stress relaxation observed in AlN （111） and （200） planes. The crystallinity of AlN surface layer is comparatively better at 473 K annealing temperature. A broadened diffraction peak related to an aluminium oxide phase showing weak crystallinity is observed for 15 focus shots while non-bounded oxides are present in all other deposited layers. Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FTIR） analysis confirm the presence of AlN and Al203 for the surface layer annealed at 473 K temperature. Raman analysis shows that the overlapping of AlN and Al2Oa results in the development of residual stresses. Scanning electron microscope （SEM） results demonstrate that the formation of rounded grains （range from 20 nm to 200 nm） and variations in their microstructures features depend on the increasing number of focus shots. Decomposition of larger clusters into smaller ones is observed.     

Synthesis of Crystalline Carbon Nitride Thin Films by Pulsed Arc Discharge at Atmospheric Pressure

The preparation of crystalline C3N4 films was investigated using pulsed arc discharge from mixed methanol and ammonia water at atmospheric pressure. The X-ray diffraction （XRD） patterns of the films prepared at a substrate temperature of 450℃ suggested that the film was composed of α-C3N4 and fl-C3N4 crystallites. Raman spectra exhibited distinct peaks which are in good agreement with those predicted theoretically for C3N4 crystallites.     

Growth of Fluorocarbon Films by Low-Pressure Dielectric Barrier Discharge

Plasma polymerized fluorocarbon （FC） films have been deposited on silicon substrates from dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） plasma of C4Fs at room temperature under a pressure of 25～125 Pa. The effects of the discharge pressure and frequency of power supply on the films have been systematically investigated. FC films with a less cross linked structure may be formed at a relatively high pressure. Increase in the frequency of power supply leads to a significant increase in the deposition rate. Static contact angle measurements show that deposited FC films have a stable, hydrophobic surface property. All deposited films show smooth surfaces with an atomic surface roughness. The relationship between plasma parameters and the properties of the deposited FC films are discussed.     

Secondary ion emission from beryllium surfaces by Ar and /or (Ar+D2) mixed ion bombardments

With respect to the impurity emission and erosion of a Be first wall, a secondary ion mass spectrometric investigation was carried out along with surface characterization with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was found that Be is emitted as distinct types of chemical forms from the surface owing to sputtering with Ar⁺ and an (Ar⁺+ D⁺₂) mixture: (i) Be and Be-cluster, (ii) oxide and hydroxide, and (iii) hydride and/or deuteride.     

Surface Modification of Fluororubber Using Atmospheric Pressure Dielectric Barrier Discharge （DBD）

Fluoride rubber F2311 film, an alternating copolymer of CF2-CFC1 （CTFE） and CH2-CF2 （VF2） components, was treated by atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） in air. The surface structure, topography and surface chemistry of the treated F2311 films were characterized by contact angle measurement, atomic force microscopy （AFM）, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS）, respectively. The experimental results showed that a short time air plasma treatment led to morphological, wettability and chemical changes in the F2311 films. The surface hydrophilicity increased greatly after the plasma treatment, the static water contact angle decreased from 98.6° to 32°, and oxygen containing groups （C=O, O-C=O, etc. ） were introduced. Atomic force microscopy revealed that plasma produced by DBD etched F2311 films obviously. The roughness of the samples increased remarkably with the formation of peaks and valleys on the treated surfaces. The increased surface wettability may be correlated with both the introduction of hydrophilic groups due to air plasma oxidation of the surface and the change in surface morphology etched by DBD.     

Observation of cavitation and water-refilling processes in plants with X-ray phase contrast microscopy

With the spatial coherence of X-rays and high flux and brightness of the 3rd generation synchrotron radiation facility, X-ray phase contrast microscopy （XPCM） at Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility （SSRF） can provide high resolution dynamic imaging of low electron density materials in principle. In this paper, we investigated the cavitation and water-refilling processes in rice and bamboo leaves utilizing XPCM at SSRF. The occurrence of xylem cavitation was recorded in vivo. The study also revealed that under different dehydration conditions, cavitation occurs in different degrees, and therefore, the refilling process is different. The results demonstrate that SSRF can provide high enough fluxes to study dynamic processes in plants in real-time, and XPCM is expected to be a promising method to reveal the mechanisms of cavitation and its repair in plants nondestructively.     

Analytic fitting and simulation methods for characteristic X-ray peaks from Si-PIN detector

A semi-empirical detector response function （DRF） model is established to fit characteristic X-ray peaks recorded in Si-PIN spectra, which is mainly composed of four components： a truncated step function, a Gaussian-shaped full-energy peak, a Gaussian-shaped Si escape peak and an exponential tail. A simple but useful statistical distribution-based analytic method （SDA） is proposed to achieve accurate values of standard deviation for characteristic X-ray peaks. And the values of the model parameters except for the standard deviation are obtained by weighted least-squares fitting of the pulse-height spectra from a number of pure-element samples. A Monte Carlo model is also established to simulate the X-ray measurement setup. The simulated flux spectrum can be transformed by Si-PIN detector response function to real pulse height spectrum as studied in this work. Finally, the fitting result for a copper alloy sample was compared with experimental spectra, and the validity of the present method was demonstrated.     

Development of Data Acquisition Card Driver for ICRH System on EAST

Presented in this paper is the development of the driver for the data acquisition card with a peripheral component interconnection （PCI） local bus on the ion cyclotron range of frequency heating （1CRH） system. The driver is mainly aimed at the embedded VxWorks system （real-time operating system） which is widely used in various fields of real-time systems. An efficient way is employed to develop this driver, which will advance the real-time control of the ICRH system on the experimental advanced superconductor tokamak （EAST）. The driver is designed using the TORNADO integrated development environment （IDE）, and implemented in C plus language. The details include the hardware configuration, analogue/digital （A/D） and digital/analogue （D/A） conversion, input and output （I/O） operation of the driver to support over five cards. The data acquisition card can be manipulated in a low-level program and meet the requirements of A/D conversion and D/A outputs.     

Simultaneous Oxidization of NOx and SO2 by a New Non-thermal Plasma Reactor Enhanced by Catalyst and Additive

The non-thermal plasma as one of the most promising technologies for removing NOx and SO2 has attrm~ted much attention. In this study, a new plasma reactor combined with catalyst and additive was developed to effectively oxidize and remove NOx and SO2 in the flue gas. The experimental results showed that TiO2 could improve the oxidation efficiency of SO2 in the case of applying plasma while having a negative effect on the oxidation process of NO and NOx. With the addition of NH3, the oxidation rates of NOx, NO and SO2 were slightly increased. However, the effect of adding NH3 on NOx oxidation was negative when the temperature was above 200℃.     

Effect of Cold Plasma Treatment on Seed Germination and Growth of Wheat简

This study investigated the effect of cold helium plasma treatment on seed germina- tion, growth and yield of wheat. The effects of different power of cold plasma on the germination of treated wheat seeds were studied. We found that the treatment of 80 W could significantly improve seed germination potential （6.0%） and germination rate （6.7%） compared to the control group. Field experiments were carried out for wheat seeds treated with 80 W cold plasma. Com- pared with the control, plant height （20.3%）, root length （9.0%） and fresh weight （21.8%） were improved significantly at seedling stage. At booting stage, plant height, root length, fresh weight, stem diameter, leaf area and leaf thickness of the treated plant were respectively increased by 21.8%, 11.0%, 7.0%, 9.0%, 13.0% and 25.5%. At the same time, the chlorophyll content （9.8%）, nitrogen （10.0%） and moisture content （10.0%） were higher than those of the control, indicating that cold plasma treatment could promote the growth of wheat. The yield of treated wheat was 7.55 t-ha-1, 5.89% more than that of the control. Therefore, our results show that cold plasma has important application prospects for increasing wheat yield.     

Simulation of Electron-Beam Generating Plasma at Atmospheric Pressure

As electron-beam generating plasma is widely applied, the software tool EGS4 （Electron-Gamma Shower） was used to simulate the transmission and energy deposition of electron-beam in air. The simulation results indicated that the range of the electron-beam was inversely proportional to the gas pressure in a wide range of gas pressure, and the electron-beam of 200 keV could generate a plasma with a density 10^11 cm^-3 in air of latm. In addition, the energy distribution of the beam-electron and plasma density profile produced by the beam were achieved.     

Mechanical Properties of Thermoplastic Polyurethanes Laminated Glass Treated by Acid Etching Combined with Cold Plasma

To overcome the problem of interlaminar delamination of thermoplastic polyurethane laminated glass, silicate glass was etched with hydrofluoric acid and thermoplastic polyurethane was then treated with cold plasma. Compared with the untreated samples, the interlaminar shear strength of acid etching samples, cold plasma-treated samples and acid etching combined with cold plasma-treated samples increased by 97%, 84% and 341%, respectively. Acid etching combined with cold plasma-treated samples exhibited a higher flexural strength and strain as compared with the untreated samples. The impact energy of acid etching samples, cold plasmatreated samples and acid etching combined with cold plasma-treated samples increased by 8.7%, 8.1% and 11.6%, respectively, in comparison with the untreated samples. FT-IR analysis showed that a large number of -C-O, CO N and CO O C groups appeared on the surface of cold plasma-treated thermoplastic polyurethane, which resulted in the formation of hydrogen bonds. SEM results showed that some pittings formed on the surface of the silicate glass treated by acid etching, which resulted in the formation of a three-dimensional interface structure between tile silicate glass and polyurethane. Hydrogen bonds combined with the three-dimensional interface between silicate glass and polyurethanes co-improved the mechanical properties of thermoplastic polyurethanes laminated glass.     

Density and temperature of fermions and bosons from quantum fluctuations

A novel method to determine the density and temperature of a system constituted by fermions and/or bosons is proposed based on quantum fluctuations. For fermions system, the results in the limit where the reached temperature T is small and where there is no constraint for the reached temperature T compared to the Fermi energy ~f at a given density p are given, respectively. Quadrupole and multiplicity fluctuation relations are derived in terms of T/6f. We compared the two set results in the limit when Tis much smaller compared to Fermi energy Cf and they are consistent, as expected. The classical limit is also obtained for high temperatures and low densities. For bosons system, quadrupole and multiplicity fluctuations using Landau＇s theory of fluctuations near the critical point for a Bose-Einstein condensate （BEC） at a given density p are derived. As an example, we apply our approach to heavy ion collisions using the Constrained Molecular Dynamics model （CoMD） which includes the fermionic statistics. The multiplicity fluctuation quenching for fermions is found in the model and confirmed by experimental data. To reproduce the available experimental data better, we propose a modification of the collision term in the approach to include the possibility of ct-a collisions. The relevant Bose-Einstein factor in the collision term is properly taken into account. This approach increases the yields of bosons relative to fermions closer to data. Boson fluctuations become larger than one as expected.     

Thermal Analysis and Optimization for Cryopanel of NBI Cryocondensation Pump

Excellent vacuum performance ensures a high beam transmission efficiency of the neutral beam injector （NBI）. The vacuum performance is mainly determined by the cryoperformance of the cryopanel of the cryocondensation pumps which are the main vacuum pumps of NBI. In order to optimize the cryoperformance, the requirements for the temperature distribution and the heat load of the cryopanel are analysed and the factors that affect the cryopanel＇s temperature distribution are studied. The results indicate that the temperature difference of the cryopanel can be reduced by fabricating the cryopanel with high thermal conductivity material, increasing its thickness and cutting the distance between the two upward cooling pipes. The results may be applied to a cryopanel cooled by forced flow liquid helium.     

Experimental Study on Indoor Air Cleaning Technique of Nano-Titania Catalysis Under Plasma Discharge

In this study, a new technique of air cleaning by plasma combined with catalyst was proposed, which consisted of electrostatic precipitation, volatile organic compounds （VOCs） decomposition and sterilization. A novel indoor air purifier based on this technique was adopted. The experimental results showed that formaldehyde decomposition by the plasma-catalyst hybrid system was more efficient than that by plasma only, Positive discharge was better than negative discharge in formaldehyde removal. Meanwhile, the outlet concentration of ozone byproduct was effectively reduced by the nano-titania catalyst.     

Reaction mechanisms in massive nuclei collisions and perspectives for synthesis of heavier superheavy elements

We discuss a hardship in synthesis of heaviest super heavy elements in massive nuclei reactions due to the hindrance to complete fusion of reacting nuclei caused on the onset of quasifission process which strongly competes with complete fusion and due to the strong increase of fission yields along the de-excitation cascade of the compound nucleus in comparison with the evaporation residue formation. The hindrance to formation of compound nucleus and evaporation residue is determined by the characteristic of the entrance channel.     

Structure and Mechanical Properties of CrTiAlN/TiAlN Composite Coatings Deposited by Multi-Arc Ion Plating

CrTiAlN/TiAlN composite coatings were deposited on cemented carbide by using a home-made industrial scale multi-arc ion plating system. The samples were studied by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, microhardness and ball-on-disk testing. The properties of the CrTiAlN/TiAlN coatings were significantly influenced by the microstructure and the deposition time ratio of TiAlN over CrTiAlN layers. With the increase of deposition time ratio, the microhardness of CrTiAlN/TiAlN increased from 28.6 GPa to 37.5 GPa, much higher than that of CrTiAlN coatings. The friction coefficients of the CrTiAlN/TiAlN coatings were higher than those of CrTiAlN coatings against a cemented carbide ball. The microhardness of the CrTiAlN/TiAlN coatings was changed after annealing at 800 ℃, and the friction coefficients of the annealed coatings were increased against the cemented carbide ball.     

Development of a 140 GHz Steerable Launcher for the HL-2A ECRH System

A new electron cyclotron resonance launcher system has been designed and installed on heating and current drive （ECRH/ECCD） the HL-2A tokamak to inject four beams and enable continuous millimeter-wave beam scanning independently in the toroidal and poloidal direc- tions for ECRH/ECCD experiments. The launcher is connected to four mm-wave lines capable of transmitting high power up to 3 MW with two 1 MW/140 GHz/3 s and two 0.5 MW/68 GHz/1 s beams. Based on ray tracing simulation using the TORAY-GA code, tile scanning range of wave beams is -15~~15~ in the toroidal direction and 0~~10~ in the poloidal one for 140 GHz beams, which could cover half of the cross section of plasmas and can satisfy the requirements of advanced physical experiments. The beam radii in the plasma is 17.1 mm and 20 mm for the two 140 GHz beams and 29.5 nnn for the two 68 GHz beams, respectively, allowing a very high localization of the absorbed power. The performance of the steering system was proven to be reliable and the linearity is perfect between the displacement of drive shaft and rotate angle of mirror. Addition- ally the injection performance of the wave beams was optinfized by simultaneously setting the injection angle and the polarization to realize desirable pure O- or X-mode injection.     

Second Discharge Characteristics of Aluminum Wire Electrical Explosion Under Various Argon Pressures

Electrical wire explosion is a promising method for the preparation of metal nanopowder, but the properties of metal nanopowder are affected by the second discharge process of electrical wire explosion. The second discharge characteristics of aluminum wire electrical ex- plosion under variant argon pressures were studied in a RLC discharge circuit. The results show that the curve of the second discharge voltages versus the pressure presents a U-shape. To clarify the roles of aluminum vapor and argon in the process of the second discharge, a spectrograph and a high speed framing camera were used to study the radiation spectrum and spatial distribution of the electrical explosion plasma. It is observed that argon participates in the second discharge process under low pressure. A discharge channel develops along the surface of the aluminum vapor. Under higher pressure, a second discharge takes place in the aluminum vapor and the discharge channel is inside the aluminum vapor.     

A practical image reconstruction and processing method for symmetrically off-center detector CBCT system

CBCT scanners have been widely used in angiography, radiotherapy guidance, mammography and oral maxillofacial imaging. To cut detector size, reduce manufacturing costs and radiation dose while keeping a reasonable FOV, the flat panel detector can be placed off-center horizontally. This scanning configuration extends the FOV effectively. However, each projection is transversely truncated, bringing errors and artifacts in reconstruction. In this paper, a simple but practical method is proposed for this scanning geometry based on truncation compensation and the modified FDK algorithm. Numerical simulations with jaw phantom were conducted to evaluate the accuracy and practicability of the proposed method. A novel CBCT system for maxillofacial imaging is used for clinical test, which is equipped with an off-center small size flat panel detector. Results show that reconstruction accuracy is acceptable for clinical use, and the image quality appears sufficient for specific diagnostic requirements. It provides a novel solution for clinical CBCT system, in order to reduce radiation dose and manufacturing cost.