An atom passing through a hole in a dielectric membrane: Impact of dispersion forces on mask-based matter-wave lithography

Fast, large area patterning of arbitrary structures down to the nanometre scale is of great interest for a range of applications including the semiconductor industry, quantum electronics, nanophotonics and others. It was recently proposed that nanometre-resolution mask lithography can be realised by sending metastable helium atoms through a binary holography mask consisting of a pattern of holes. However, these first calculations were done using a simple scalar wave approach, which did not consider the dispersion force interaction between the atoms and the mask material. To access the true potential of the idea, it is necessary to access how this interaction affects the atoms. Here we present a theoretical study of the dispersion force interaction between an atom and a dielectric membrane with a hole. We look at metastable and ground state helium, using experimentally realistic wavelengths (0.05-1 nm) and membrane thicknesses (5-50 nm). We find that the effective hole radius is reduced by around 1-7 nm for metastable helium and 0.5-3.5 nm for ground-state helium. As expected, the reduction is largest for thick membranes and slow atoms.

Formation and destruction of striation plasmas in helium glow discharge at medium pressures

The striation plasmas are usually generated in positive column of glow discharge, in which abundant and complex physics are involved, especially, in medium or high pressures. This paper was aimed at investigating the formation and deformation of helium striation plasmas at kPa level pressures. The characteristics of helium striation plasmas, especially, the optical emission characteristics were investigated. The emission lines of 706.52 nm and 391.44 nm related to energetic electrons and high energy metastable helium atoms were focused on during the discharge process. Formation of striation plasmas in helium glow discharge, is mainly associated with the instability resulting from stepwise ionization vis high energy metastable state atoms, Maxwellization of electron distribution functions and gas heating. The deformation effect of helium striation plasmas is very significant when a small amount of nitrogen or oxygen is mixed into the discharge plasmas. The reduction of mean electron energy and the consumption of high energy metastable helium atoms are the potential reasons for deformation of striation plasmas.

Movement and Diffusion of the Helium Atom in Nanostructures (in Pores) with Water

The influence of water-filled nanoscale defects on the total movement of helium atoms through a quartz crystal is considered. The approximation of local chains is used, the interaction constant of which characterizes the interaction of the helium atom with the environment. The appearance of water molecules in defects (pores) leads to the renormalization of this interaction. The D'Alembert principle is used to evaluate this renormalization. The effect of such a renormalization of the interaction on the diffusion coefficient of helium through a crystal with defects filled with water is considered.

A NOVEL DESIGN OF PERISTALTIC CARBON NANO PUMP AND AN ANALYSIS OF HELIUM FLOW

A novel nano-scale pump that can transport atoms or small molecules with a peristaltic motion is designed. It is proven by molecular-dynamics simulations that the introduced nano-pump design works properly. The designed nano-pump consists of one main carbon nanotube named the flow tube and two rotors where multi-walled carbon nanotubes are attached. The pumping of helium atoms by the designed peristaltic carbon nano-pump is investigated by molecular-dynamics simulations. For varying rotor speeds and blade counts, time-averaged velocity, temperature, and pressure results of pumped helium atoms are calculated, and relationships between them are modeled as polynomial surfaces. The results showed that rotor frequency increases the velocity of helium linearly and the temperature and pressure of helium non-linearly. Furthermore, the blade count of the proposed mechanism does not substantially affect the velocity as per the previous studies in the literature.

Effect of Electron Correlation and Breit Interaction on Energies, Oscillator Strengths, and Transition Rates for Low-Lying States of Helium

The transition energies, E1 transitional oscillator strengths of the spin-allowed as well as the spin-forbidden and the corresponding transition rates, and complete M1, E2, M2 forbidden transition rates for 1s 2, 1s2s, and 1s2p states of He I, are investigated using the multi-configuration Dirac–Hartree–Fock method. In the subsequent relativistic configuration interaction computations, the Breit interaction and the QED effect are considered as perturbation, separately. Our transition energies, oscillator strengths, and transition rates are in good agreement with the experimental and other theoretical results. As a result, the QED effect is not important for helium atoms, however, the effect of the Breit interaction plays a significant role in the transition energies, the oscillator strengths and transition rates.

Nonlinear thermal vibration of a nanoplate attached to a cavity

Dynamic problems of a nanocircular plate-cavity system are investigated using molecular dynamics (MD) method. A nonlinear plate model considering gas action is developed. The results of the MD simulation show that the helium atoms adsorb on the wall of the cavity at low temperature, resulting in a negative deflection of the molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) plate. As the temperature increases, the pressure in the cavity increases, leading to a gradual rise in the deflection of the plate. A nonlinear phenomenon of stiffness hardening is shown with increasing temperature. The nonlinear plate model can give a relatively good prediction compared with the results of MD simulations. The natural frequency of the plate is affected by temperature and the presence of gas in the cavity. The phenomenon of stiffness hardening and softening can be well simulated by the nonlinear plate model and MD method. The present study provides a reference for vibration experiments of two-dimensional nanostructures.

Effects of He-D Interaction on Irradiation-Induced Swelling in Fe9Cr Alloys

The atomic-scale defects such as (deuterium, helium)-vacancy clusters in nuclear energy materials are one of the causes for the deterioration of the macroscopic properties of materials. Unfortunately, they cannot be observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) before they grow to the nanometer scale. Positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) has been proven to be sensitive to open-volume defects, and could characterize the evolution of the size and concentration of the vacancy-like nanoclusters. We have investigated the effects of He-D interaction on the formation of nanoscale cavities in Fe9Cr alloys by PAS and TEM. The results show that small-sized bubbles are formed in the specimen irradiated with 5 × 1016 He+/cm2, and the subsequent implanted D-ions contribute to the growth of these helium bubbles. The most likely reason is that helium bubbles previously formed in the sample captured deuterium injected later, causing bubbles to grow. In the lower dose He-irradiated samples, a large number of small dislocations and vacancies are generated and form helium-vacancy clusters with the helium atoms.

Interaction of plasma with beryllium

In this work shows some results of studying the microstructure of HP-56 beryllium after plasma irradiation. The experiments revealed a change in the microstructure of beryllium after irradiation with hydrogen, deuterium and helium atoms. The pore diameter and their bulk density increase depending on the plasma parameters.

Adsorption of helium on a charged propeller molecule: hexaphenylbenzene

Physisorption on planar or curved graphitic surfaces or aromatic rings has been investigated by various research groups, but in these studies, the substrate was usually strictly rigid. Here, we report a combined experimental and theoretical study of helium adsorption on cationic hexaphenylbenzene (HPB), a propeller-shaped molecule. The orientation of its propeller blades is known to be sensitive to the environment, with substantial differences between the molecule in the gas phase and in the crystalline solid. Mass spectra of He$$_{n}$$ n HPB$$^{+}$$ + , synthesized in helium nanodroplets, indicate enhanced stability for ions containing $$n = 2, 4, 14, 28, 42, 44$$ n = 2 , 4 , 14 , 28 , 42 , 44 , or 46 helium atoms. Path-integral molecular dynamics simulations reveal a significant dependence of the dissociation energy on the details of the HPB geometry. Good agreement between the experimental data and calculated dissociation energies is obtained, provided that the symmetry of HPB$$^{+}$$ + is reduced from $$D_{6}$$ D 6 to $$D_{2}$$ D 2 , such a lower symmetry being suggested from quantum chemical calculations as arising upon electron removal. Graphic Abstract