X-ray Version of Davisson-Germer Experiment

Application of unitcell defined boundary conditions leads to the question on the formation of standing waves within unitcell. We design and propose X-ray version of Davisson-Germer experiment as the answer. In the proposed experiment, a tunable synchrotron beam replaces the variable de Broglie wavelength of incident electron beam. Among the two series of Davisson-Germer peaks from original experiments available in literature, first series shown in figure 1 demonstrates standing wave description and the second series shown in figure 2 demonstrates running wave description. Both running waves and standing waves cannot simultaneously exist within the unitcell and the proposed experiment alone can resolve between the two. The experiment can be conducted on a macromolecular crystal also.

Comparison of traditional and synchrotron beam methodologies in Mössbauer experiments in a rotating system

Recent Mössbauer experiments in a rotating system reported by others in the literature have involved the application of synchrotron radiation onto a spinning semi-circular resonant absorber. Here, the physical interpretation of these methodologies, and their alleged performance improvement, is analyzed in the light of our own team's past experience based instead on the traditional laboratory setup. It is shown that a number of fundamental shortcomings in the approach reported in the literature deprives it of any practical significance with respect to the improvement of the technique of Mössbauer rotor experiments with a synchrotron source. It is concluded that, at present, only Mössbauer experiments relying on an ordinary compact source of resonant radiation and a resonant absorber both fixed on the rotor promise to provide crucial information with respect to the physical origin of the observed energy shift between emitted and absorbed resonant radiation in a rotating system.

Nanoparticle dose enhancement of synchrotron radiation in PRESAGE dosimeters

The physical absorbed dose enhancement by the inclusion of gold and bismuth nanoparticles fabricated into water-equivalent PRESAGE dosimeters was investigated. Nanoparticle-loaded water-equivalent PRESAGE dosimeters were irradiated with superficial, synchrotron and megavoltage X-ray beams. The change in optical density of the dosimeters was measured using UV–Vis spectrophotometry pre- and post-irradiation using a wavelength of 630 nm. Dose enhancement was measured for 5 nm and 50 nm monodispersed gold nanoparticles, 5–50 nm polydispersed bismuth nanoparticles, and 80 nm monodispersed bismuth nanoparticles at concentrations from 0.25 mM to 2 mM. The dose enhancement was highest for the 95.3 keV mean energy synchrotron beam (16–32%) followed by the 150 kVp superficial beam (12–21%) then the 6 MV beam (2–5%). The bismuth nanoparticle-loaded dosimeters produced a larger dose enhancement than the gold nanoparticle-loaded dosimeters in the synchrotron beam for the same concentration. For the superficial and megavoltage beams the dose enhancement was similar for both species of nanoparticles. The dose enhancement increased with nanoparticle concentration in the dosimeters; however, there was no observed nanoparticle size dependence on the dose enhancement.

Crystal Structure and Thermal Behavior of SbC2O4OH and SbC2O4OD

The order of OH groups in the crystal structure of SbC2O4OH, a potential precursor in the synthesis of ternary oxides, was debated. Neutron diffraction on the deuteride SbC2O4OD revealed disordered OD groups with half occupation for deuterium atoms on either side of a mirror plane (SbC2O4OD at T = 298(1) K: Pnma, a = 582.07(3) pm, b = 1128.73(5) pm, c = 631.26(4) pm). O–H stretching frequencies are shifted by a factor of 1.35 from 3390 cm−1 in the hydride to 2513 cm−1 in the deuteride as seen in infrared spectra. SbC2O4OH suffers radiation damage in a synchrotron beam, which leaves a dark amorphous residue. Thermal decomposition at 564 K yields antimony oxide, carbon dioxide, carbon oxide, and water in an endothermic reaction. When using SbC2O4OH as a precursor in reactions, however, ternary oxides are only formed at much higher temperatures.

Isomer-sensitive characterization of low temperature oxidation reaction products by coupling a jet-stirred reactor to an electron/ion coincidence spectrometer: case of n-pentane

Using a tunable vacuum ultraviolet synchrotron beam line and first principle computations, a jet-stirred reactor was coupled for the first time to a photoionization mass spectrometer using electron/ion coincidence imaging.

First results from the XMCD facility at the Energy-Dispersive EXAFS beamline of the Indus-2 synchrotron source

Setting up of the X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD) measurement facility with hard X-rays at the Energy-Dispersive EXAFS beamline (BL-08) at the Indus-2 synchrotron source is reported. This includes the design and development of a water-cooled electromagnet having a highest magnetic field of 2 T in a good field volume of 125 mm3 and having a 10 mm hole throughout for passage of the synchrotron beam. This also includes the development of an (X–Z–θ) motion stage for the heavy electromagnet for aligning its axis and the beam hole along the synchrotron beam direction. Along with the above developments, also reported is the first XMCD signal measured on a thick Gd film in the above set-up which shows good agreement with the reported results. This is the first facility to carry out XMCD measurement with hard X-rays in India.