Development of Novel Transparent Radiation Shielding Glasses by BaO Doping in Waste Soda Lime Silica (SLS) Glass

In the current study, BaO was doped in Bi2O3-ZnO-B2O3-SLS glass to develop lead-free radiation shielding glasses and to solve the dark brown of bismuth glass. The melt-quenching method was utilized to fabricate (x) BaO (1 − x)[0.3 ZnO 0.2 Bi2O3 0.2 B2O3 0.3 SLS] (where x are 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, and 0.05 mol) at 1200 °C. Soda lime silica glass waste (SLS), which is mostly composed of 74.1% SiO2, was used to obtain SiO2. The mass attenuation coefficient (μm) was investigated utilizing X-ray fluorescence (XRF) at 16.61, 17.74, 21.17, and 25.27 keV and narrow beam geometry at 59.54, 662, and 1333 keV. Moreover, the other parameters related to gamma ray shielding properties such as half-value layer (HVL), mean free path (MFP), and effective atomic number (Zeff) were computed depending on μm values. The results indicated that HVL and MFP decreased, whereas μm increased with an increase in BaO concentration. According to these results, it can be concluded that BaO doped in Bi2O3-ZnO-B2O3-SLS glass is a nontoxic, transparent to visible light, and a good shielding material against radiation.

Search for Tissue Equivalent Materials Based on Exposure and Energy Absorption Buildup Factor Computations

Tissue equivalent materials (TEM) are frequently used in research as a means to determine the delivered dose to patients undergoing various therapeutic procedures. They are used in routine quality assurance and quality control procedures in diagnostic and therapeutic physics. However, very few materials that are tissue equivalent have been developed for use in research at the low photon energies involved in diagnosis radiology. The objective of this study is to describe a series of TEMs designed to radiographically imitate human tissue at diagnostic photon energies. TEMs for adipose, cortical bone, fat, lung, and muscle tissues were investigated in terms of energy absorption and exposure buildup factors for photon energy range 15–150 keV and for penetration depths up to 40 mean free path. BUF was computed based on GP-fitting method. Moreover, we also compared some radiological properties, including the total attenuation and the energy-absorption attenuation, the effective atomic number, and the CT number at 30, 100, and 120 kVp. We found that SB3, Glycerol trioleate, and MS15 perfectly mimic cortical bone, fat, and muscle tissues, respectively. Additionally, AP6 and Stracey latex are good TEM for adipose and lung tissues, respectively. The results of this work should be useful in radiation diagnosis and dosimetry applications for the large physician researcher community.

Observation of a transition to a localized ultrasonic phase in soft matter

Anderson localization arises from the interference of multiple scattering paths in a disordered medium, and applies to both quantum and classical waves. Soft matter provides a unique potential platform to observe localization of non-interacting classical waves because of the order of magnitude difference in speed between fast and slow waves in conjunction with the possibility to achieve strong scattering over broad frequency bands while minimizing dissipation. Here, we provide long sought evidence of a localized phase spanning up to 246 kHz for fast (sound) waves in a soft elastic medium doped with resonant encapsulated microbubbles. We find the transition into the localized phase is accompanied by an anomalous decrease of the mean free path, which provides an experimental signature of the phase transition. At the transition, the decrease in the mean free path with changing frequency (i.e., disorder strength) follows a power law with a critical exponent near unity. Within the localized phase the mean free path is in the range 0.4–1.0 times the wavelength, the transmitted intensity at late times is well-described by the self-consistent localization theory, and the localization length decreases with increasing microbubble volume fraction. Our work sets the foundation for broadband control of localization and the associated phase transition in soft matter, and affords a comparison of theory to experiment.

Assessment of the impact of kinetic effect of ion parallel heat conduction on DEMO relevant SOL plasma using integrated SOL-divertor code SONIC

In plasmas of relatively lower collisionality, such as scrape-off layer (SOL) of fusion tokamak device, parallel heat conductivity of plasma ion becomes smaller than expected by the classical Spitzer-Harm model due to nonlocal kinetic effect. We have assessed, by simulation, impact and role of such kinetic effect of ion heat conductivity (abbreviated by ion KE in this paper) on DEMO relevant tokamak SOL plasma, supposing Japanese demonstration tokamak reactor concept JA DEMO. A series of test simulation, where the ion KE is modeled by a widely used Free-streaming energy (FSE) limited model, has demonstrated the following significant impact of the ion KE on JA DEMO SOL plasma at the baseline operation scenario: (1) the ion KE decreases the ion parallel heat flux density around X-point and further upstream of low field side (LFS) area along the separatrix, where the parallel collisionality tends to decrease due to combination of higher temperature, lower density (i.e. longer mean free path of ion collisions) and higher temperature gradient (shorter characteristic length). Up to 40-60 % of decrease, compared to the case w/o ion KE, is observed among the tested cases where the ion KE level, specified by parameter αi in the FSE-limited model, is scanned over the possible range 0.2 < αi < 2.0. (2) The ion KE leads to significant increase in the ion temperature Ti (up to 600 % of increase among the tested cases) and significant decrease in the ion density ni (up to -80 % of decrease among the tested cases), widely over SOL upstream. By energy balance analysis, it has been suggested that the ion KE affects the upstream ni and Ti, respectively by power of 0.4 and -0.4 of the flux limiting factor, around the separatrix upstream as far as spatial change in plasma parameters are moderate. The results of this study serve as a fundamental assessment of the ion KE for DEMO relevant SOL plasma, clarifying the need of further sophistication of the modeling toward quantitaive prediction.

Single-Step Fabrication and Characterization of Nanoscale Cu Thinfilms for Optoelectronic Applications

Nanostructured materials with optical transmittance with sufficient electrical conductivity are feasible for the transparent electrical devices and optoelectronic applications. Copper (Cu) possesses inherent superior electrical conductivity. Cu thin films on glass substrates provide the basic design understanding of the transparent electrodes for humidity sensors and solar cells applications. To understand the fundamental fabrication and electrical properties, a single-step facile fabrication approach was applied for Cu nanofilms through the DC sputtering method. Correlation of thickness of Cu nanofilms with optical and electrical properties was established. Parameters such as current, voltage, vacuum pressure, and time of coating were varied to develop different thickness of metal coating. Under optimized conditions of 10−1 torr vacuum, 1.45 KV voltage, and 4–6 min coating time, a conductive path is successfully established. A 1 min coated sample demonstrated resistance of 4000 ohm and conductance of a 6 min coated sample was raised to 56 m-mho. A higher surge of voltage assisted the production of relatively thick and uniform coatings with the crystallite size of 12 nm. The average coating thickness of 19.8 nm and roughness of 4.5 nm was obtained for a 5 min coated sample through AFM analysis. Further, it was observed that uniform nanostructured coating is essential to establish a mean free path of coated particles.

Transient, Sub-Continuum, Heat Conduction in Irregular Geometries

Phonon transfer in irregular shapes is important for assessing the influence of shape effect on thermal transport characteristics of low-scale films. It becomes critical for evaluating the contribution of the scattering phonons to the phonon intensity distribution inside the film. Hence, the sub-continuum ballistic-diffusive model is incorporated to formulate the phonon transport in an irregular geometry of low-size film adopting the transient, frequency-independent, equation of phonon radiative transfer. The discrete ordinate method is used in the numerical discretization of the governing transport equation. It is demonstrated that the geometric feature of the film influences the phonon intensity distribution within the film material. The transport characteristics obtained from the Fourier and the ballistic-diffusive models are markedly different in their spatial and temporal behavior. This is true when the device sizes are of the same order of magnitude as the mean-free path of the heat carriers.

Ultrahigh ON/Off Current Ratio γ-Graphyne-1 Nanotube Based Sub 10 nm TFET Modeling and Simulation

Utilizing γ-graphyne-1 nanotubes (GyNTs) in the Tunneling Field Effect Transistors (TFETs) suppresses ambipolarity and enhances subthreshold swing (SS) of TFETs which is because of large energy band gap and high electron effective mass of GyNTs. In this research analysis of structural, electronic and thermoelectric properties of γ-graphyne-1 family under the deformation potential (DP) approach reveals that electron-phonon mean free path (MFP) of an Armchair GyNT (3AGyNT) and Zigzag GyNT (2ZGyNT) are 45 and 290 nm, respectively. Therefore, ballistic transport of sub 10 nm 3AGyNT-TFETs and 2ZGyNT-TFETs in different channel lengths are investigated utilizing Non-Equilibrium Green’s Function (NEGF) formalism in the DFTB platform. Ultrahigh Current Ratio (OOCR) value of 1.6 x 1010 at VDD = 0.2 V and very low point SS of 5 mV/dec are belonged to the 3AGyNT-TFET with channel length of 9.6 nm. 2ZGyNT-TFETs shows higher on-state current and SS as well as lower OOCR than those of 3AGyNT-TFETs. A linear relationship between channel length and logarithmic off-state current is reported that is consistent with WKB approximation. The obtained results along with the ultralow power consumption of the suggested GyNT-TFETs, make them as replacement of digital silicon MOSFETs in the next generation nanoelectronic devices.

Исследование плазмонного резонанса в Bi-=SUB=-2-=/SUB=-Se-=SUB=-3-=/SUB=- и Sb-=SUB=-2-=/SUB=-Te-=SUB=-3-=/SUB=- методом инфракрасной спектральной эллипсометрии

In the infrared region of the spectrum (IR), the optical properties of single-crystal samples of narrow-gap degenerate semiconductors Bi2Se3 and Sb2Te3 are investigated by infrared spectral ellipsometry (SE). The transport properties of the Drude fitting of dielectric functions obtained by spectroscopic ellipsometry are studied. The behavior of the bulk and surface plasmon polaritons is investigated in detail. The dispersion and mean free path of the plasmon, the depth of the skin layer for the conducting and dielectric surfaces are calculated. The contribution of the plasmon to the optical properties is estimated from the spectral density for the Bi2Se3 and Sb2Te3 samples.

Теплофизические свойства мультиферроиков Bi-=SUB=-1-x-=/SUB=-Tm-=SUB=-x-=/SUB=-FeO-=SUB=-3-=/SUB=-

Investigations of the heat capacity, thermal diffusivity, and thermal conductivity of multiferroics Bi1-xTmxFeO3 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.20) have been carried out in the high temperature range of 300-1200 K. and thermal conductivity in the region of phase transitions. The temperature dependences of the specific heat for compositions with x = 0.10 and 0.20 exhibit an additional anomaly characteristic of the phase transition at T = 580 K. The dominant mechanisms of phonon heat transfer in the region of ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic phase transitions are considered. The temperature dependence of the average phonon mean free path is determined.