Bent Capillaries Research Articles

Large-Size KCa0.8Sr0.2I3:Eu2+ Crystals: Growth and Characterization of Scintillation Properties

The newly developed KCa0.8Sr0.2I3:Eu2+ scintillator with 2.5% energy resolution at 662 keV shows great potential for use in gamma-ray spectroscopy applications, but progress toward large-size crystal growth has been hindered by cracking and inclusion problems. In this paper, we report a detailed study on the role of process variables of Bridgman growth, including grain selector designs, ampule surface treatments, and temperature gradients. It was found that crystal cracking can be effectively prevented by using a carbon-coated quartz ampule with a bent capillary. A high temperature gradient of 45 °C/cm at the solid–liquid interface can positively contribute to the suppression of the formation of visible inclusions caused by constitutional supercooling. By using optimized growth parameters, high quality 22 mm diameter KCa0.8Sr0.2I3 single crystals doped with 0.5, 1, and 3 mol % Eu2+ and 38 mm diameter KCa0.8Sr0.2I3 single crystals doped with 0.5 mol % Eu2+ were grown by the Bridgman method. The scintillati...

Experimental and simulation investigation of ion transfer in different sampling capillaries.

Atmospheric pressure interfaces were a fundamental structure for transferring air generated ions into the vacuum manifold of a mass spectrometer. This work is devoted to the characterization of ion transfer in metal capillaries through both experimental and simulated investigations. The impact of capillary configurations on ion transmission efficiency was evaluated using an electrospray mass spectrometer with various bent capillaries as the transfer devices. In addition, a numerical model has been set up by coupling the SIMION 8.0 and the computational flow dynamics for simulation study of ion migration in the complex atmospheric system. The transfer efficiency was found to be highly affected by the variation in electric field and the capillary geometry, revealing that the hydrodynamic and electric force were both dominant and interactional during the transmission process. The consistency of the results from the experimental analysis and simulation modeling proved the validity of the model, which was helpful for understanding ion activity in transfer capillaries.

Study of the efficiency for ion transfer through bent capillaries

Discontinuous atmospheric pressure interfaces (DAPIs) with bent capillaries represent a highly simplified and flexible means for introducing ions into a vacuum manifold for mass analysis or gas phase ion reactions. In this work, a series of capillaries of different radians and curvatures were used with DAPI for studying the impact of the capillary bending on the ion transfer. The variation of transfer efficiency was systematically characterized for dry and solvated ions. The efficiency loss for dry ions was less than one order of magnitude, even with a three-turn bent capillary. The transfer of solvated ions generated by electrospray was found to be minimally impacted by the bending of the transfer capillary. For multiply protonated ions, the transfer efficiency for ions at lower charge states could be relatively well retained, presumably due to the lower reactivity associated with proton transfer reaction and the compensation in intensity by conversion of ions at higher charge states.

Tantalum-filament pulling device for fabrication of submicrometer fused-silica tips.

A simple and low-cost pulling device for fused-silica capillaries was developed. By using a tantalum heating filament and the self-tension in a bent capillary, tips and constricted regions with outer diameters of approximately 1 microm and inner diameters of a few hundred nanometers could be reproducibly pulled from 50-microm-i.d., 375-microm-o.d. capillaries. The tips can be used in different applications such as microinjection, micromanipulation, and single-channel patch-clamp, injection ends for CE or as electrospray tips. Constricted capillaries with optimized dimensions to minimize cylindrical lensing effects and to match the size of a diffraction-limited laser focus can be used as optical detection windows in CE and micro-HPLC. Fused silica has several advantages over other glasses such as high melting temperature and superior optical and mechanical properties.

Capillary Optics for X-Ray Analysis

Capillary collimators have found a number of uses in fluorescence, diffraction and other x-ray fields. Most of these applications are realized with single, straight glass capillaries. Focussing of synchrotron x-radiation beams has been shown with tapered capillaries. In addition, numerous straight and bent capillaries, bundled into lens-like optics, offer experimenters many other possibilities for better use of the x-radiation from tubes, synchrotron radiation, and plasma sources or the x-ray intensity collected from samples.

XXVI.— A Method for determining Boiling-Points under Constant Conditions

A method for determining the boiling-points of solids as well as liquids, such that little material is required, and only constant, easily reproducible conditions are involved, is much needed. None of these qualities is possessed by the distilling flask method.The apparatus suggested consists of a bulblet with a bent capillary not less than 1 mm. in diameter. This is attached to a thermometer and suspended in a beaker (fig. 1). The latter contains water (for substances boiling below 100°), sulphuric acid (up to 200°), melted paraffin (up to 280°), or a mixture of sodium and potassium nitrates (45·5, 54·5 parts) for use from 220° upwards. A stirrer is provided.