Advancements in NRC’s Primary Spectral Irradiance Scale Realization

The National Research Council (NRC) of Canada has been working to establish new facilities and to improve measurement capabilities traceable to the International System of Units (SI units) in optical radiometry. The NRC primary spectral irradiance scale has transitioned from a detector-based approach in the range of 700 nm to 1600 nm to a detector and source-based realization from 250 nm to 2500 nm. A high temperature blackbody (HTBB) acts as the primary light source for the calibration of 1000 W FEL spectral irradiance standard lamps. The thermodynamic temperature of the HTBB is determined using an NRC-designed wide-band filter radiometer, with spectral responsivity SI-traceable to the NRC optical power scale. This new facility has significantly improved measurement uncertainties compared to the previous NRC spectral irradiance scale.

Synthesis of Colloidal Silver Using Lignosulfonates

Colloidal silver solutions can be used as catalysts for carrying out various chemical transformations of organic substances and solving the problems of disposal of toxic compounds, as well as antibacterial agents for combating pathogenic microflora, in the manufacture of lubricants and light-absorbing materials, coatings, sensors, conductive pastes, and high-performance electrode materials. The research purpose is to study the synthesis of colloidal silver using a solution of technical lignosulfonates (LST) as a stabilizer. Colloidal silver was synthesized as a result of the reduction-oxidation (redox) reaction of Ag(I) cations with glucose at 100 °C in the presence of lignosulfonates. The reaction was carried out in an alkaline medium, which is provided by the addition of ammonia water. Electronic spectroscopy was used to control the synthesis of colloidal silver. After the reaction, the solution turned dark brown and an intense absorption band with a maximum at 400 nm appeared on the electron spectra. The effects of reagent consumption and synthesis duration were studied. It was found that the optimal reagent consumption in the colloidal silver synthesis is as follows: 2.5–5 g glucose / g Ag, 0.3–1 g LST / g Ag, and 3–5 g NH3 / g Ag. The synthesis duration is 2–5 min. The resulting colloidal silver solution is stable for several months. Partial stratification without precipitation is observed during the solution storage. It is shown experimentally that the stratification is followed by a redistribution of colloidal silver particles. Electron spectroscopy confirmed the absence of colloidal silver particles in the upper layer. The reaction kinetics has been studied in experiments carried out under thermostatically controlled conditions at temperatures from 50 to 100 °C. The kinetic dependence is described by a first-order equation at the initial stage of the reaction, the duration of which depends on the temperature. The duration of the active part of the kinetic curves is 15–90 % of the total reaction time. The logarithm of the rate constant on the active section was proved to depend linearly on the reverse thermodynamic temperature (pair correlation coefficient is 0.9887). The activation energy was 47 kJ/mol. For citation: Plakhin V.A., Khabarov Yu.G., Veshnyakov V.A. Synthesis of Colloidal Silver Using Lignosulfonates. Lesnoy Zhurnal [Russian Forestry Journal], 2021, no. 6, pp. 184–195. DOI: 10.37482/0536-1036-2021-6-184-195

Realisation of the ITS-90 and thermodynamic temperature measurements above 960 °C using a monochromator-based radiance comparator

At LNE-Cnam, the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90) and thermodynamic temperature measurements above the silver point, are carried out with a radiance comparator. This instrument is, more generally, devoted to any radiance comparison in temperature range from the ambient to 3000 °C. The instrument developed in the early 1990s at LNE-Cnam has the advantage of being completely adjustable. Compared to compact radiation thermometers based on lenses and a narrow-band interference filter, the radiance comparator is only made of gold coated mirrors and a Czerny-Turner monochromator to select the spectral bandwidth. The instrument offers the possibility to tune the geometric extent and the slit scattering function. In return, the radiance comparator is a complex instrument that requires a complete and a regular characterisation at the highest level of accuracy. In the first part, this paper describes the instrument and its operating principle. In a second part, a complete study of the wavelength calibration, the slit scattering function, size of source effect, out-of-band transmittance, linearity and other main sources of uncertainty are presented and discussed. Their associated uncertainties are estimated separately and are grouped together to give an example of propagation of uncertainties when performing the ITS-90.

Advanced selection of ensemble control tools

We propose a method for generating a wide variety of increasingly complex microscopic temperature expressions in the form of functional polynomials in thermodynamic temperature. The motivation for study of such polynomials comes from thermostat theory. The connection of these polynomials with classical special functions, in particular, with Appell sequences, is revealed.

Influence of Initial Stress and Variable Thermal Conductivity on a Fiber-Reinforced Magneto-Thermoelastic Solid with Micro-Temperatures by Multi-Phase-Lags Model

This paper presents the theory of multi-phase-lags thermoelasticity that was used to study the wave propagation on a fiber-reinforced thermoelastic medium with micro-temperatures. The medium was considered to be homogeneous, isotropic and thermal conductivity as a linear function of thermodynamic temperature. The Fourier transform and Laplace transform are employed to solve the governing equations and obtained the solution of the physical quantities. The graphical illustrations of the impact that initial stress, variable thermal conductivity, magnetic field, and the phase-lags have on the field functions are presented. The variable thermal conductivity, initial stress, and magnetic field have a good impact in all the physical quantities.

Temperature-Dependent Broadening of the Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectrum of Au(110)

To determine the thermodynamic temperature of a solid surface from the electron energy distribution measured by photoelectron spectroscopy, it is necessary to accurately evaluate the energy broadening of the photoelectron spectrum and investigate its temperature dependence. Broadening functions in the photoelectron spectrum of Au(110)’s surface near the Fermi level were estimated successfully using the relationship between the Fourier transform and the convolution integral. The Fourier transform could simultaneously reduce the noise of the spectrum when the broadening function was derived. The derived function was in the form of a Gaussian, whose width depended on the thermodynamic temperature of the sample and became broader at higher temperatures. The results contribute to improve accuracy of the determination of thermodynamic temperature from the photoelectron spectrum and provide useful information on the temperature dependence of electron scattering in photoelectron emission processes.

The Effect of Hyperbolic Two-temperatures Model on Waves Propagation in a Semi-conductor Medium Containing Spherical Cavities

This article is interested in the study of the carrier density, the redial displacement, the conductive temperature, thermodynamic temperature and the stresses in a semi-conductor material containing a spherical hole. This investigation deals with the photo-thermo-elastic interactions in a semi-conductor medium in the context of the new hyperbolic two-temperatures model with one relaxation time. The Laplace transform technique are used to obtain the problem analytical solution by the eigenvalues methods and the inversions of the Laplace transform were performed numerically. Numerical results for semi-conductor materials are shown graphically and discussed.

Monitoring Protein Denaturation of Egg White Using Passive Microwave Radiometry (MWR)

Passive microwave radiometry (MWR) is a measurement technique based on the detection of passive radiation in the microwave spectrum from different objects. This radiation in equilibrium is known to be proportional to the thermodynamic temperature of an emitting body. We hypothesize that living systems feature other mechanisms of emission that are based on protein unfolding and water rotational transitions. To understand the nature of these emissions, microwave radiometry has been used in several in vitro experiments. In our study, we performed pilot measurements of microwave emissions from egg whites during denaturation induced by ethanol. Egg whites are 10% proteins such as albumins, mucoproteins, and globulins. We found a novel phenomenon that microwave emissions changed without a corresponding change of the water thermodynamic temperature. increase 100 times faster than thermodynamic temperature. We have also found striking differences between microwave emission and thermodynamic temperature kinetics. Therefore, we hypothesize that these two processes are unrelated, contrary to what was thought before. It is known that some pathologies like stroke or brain trauma feature increased microwave emissions. We hypothesize that this phenomenon originates from protein denaturation and is not related to the thermodynamic temperature. So, our finding could explain first time the reason for microwave emissions increase after trauma and postmortem. It could be used for the development of novel diagnostics methods. The MWR method is inexpensive, and it does not require fluorescent or radioactive labels. It can be used in different areas of basic and applied pharmaceutical research, including kinetics studies in biomedicine.