High-density Particles Research Articles

A subwavelength spot and a three-dimensional optical trap formed by a single planar element with azimuthal light

The generation of subwavelength spots smaller than the Abbe diffraction limit has attracted great interest due to the various applications in many fields, such as high-density optical data storage and particle manipulation. Planar optics that can miniaturize conventional refractive optics have become increasingly attractive. In this work, we first formed a subwavelength bright spot and a three-dimensional optical trap under the illumination of an azimuthally polarized (AP) beam by only a single planar element, a spiral zone plate (SZP). Initially, the SZP was proposed as a computer-generated hologram to generate optical phase singularities. However, the SZP in this work was used to focus and modulate the incident AP beam with a vortex phase simultaneously. Therefore, no additional vortex phase modulating element was introduced in our method. The SZP has an ultra-long focal length of 250λ for a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.95 and an incident wavelength of 632.8 nm. The generated spot is purely transversely polarized with a lateral full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 0.43λ beyond the diffraction limit of 0.54λ. The generated focal field formed a stable optical trap for a Rayleigh dielectric particle in three dimensions.

Relative Yields and Nuclear Modification of ψ′ to J/ψ mesons in p+p, p(3He)+A Collisions at [formula omitted], measured in PHENIX

The PHENIX collaboration has measured the ratio of ψ′ to J/ψ in p+p and p(3He)+A collisions at forward and backward rapidity. We find that in p+p collisions, the data are consistent with expectations from a modified color evaporation model of quarkonia formation. In p(3He)+A collisions, in the p(3He)-going direction, the ψ′ to J/ψ ratio is the same as found in p+p within uncertainties. However, in the A-going direction, the weaker bound ψ′ is suppressed by a factor of 2 compared to the J/ψ. Since these states are not fully formed until after they exit the nucleus, interactions between the fully formed charmonia and co-moving matter may be responsible for this effect, consistent with the higher particle density in the A-going direction relative to the p(3He)-going direction. This mechanism may compete with color screening in a deconfined plasma in A+A collisions to produce sequential suppression of excited quarkonia states.

Drying-mediated optical assembly of silica spheres in a symmetrical metallic waveguide structure.

We describe the optical trapping application of a simple metallic slab optical waveguide structure, and demonstrate the influence of the excited guided modes on the aggregation behavior of silica particles during the irreversible evaporation process. Periodic horizontal stripes are formed by the highly ordered assemblies of the silica spheres, which is explained via the interference effect between the forward propagating modes and its reflection at the solvent surface. Particularly, several layers consisting of high-density particles are discernible in the stripe zones due to the optical binding, while no particles locate between these stripes. Completely different from the self-assembly patterns in the evaporating solvent without excitation of optical modes, this Letter demonstrates the versatility in the possible patterns of the optical assembly by a coupling waveguide with more complex structures.

Multi-step nucleation in Al–Si liquids catalyzed by a Ni–Si master alloy

Multi-step nucleation catalyzed by a Ni–Si master alloy in Al–Si liquids was investigated. Instead of enhancing heterogeneous nucleation, the master alloy triggers pre-nucleation clusters before initiating stable phase nucleation. The pre-nucleation clusters manifest themselves by a high number density of nano-sized silicon particles with rhombohedral (9R, ABCBCACAB…) and hexagonal (2H, ABAB…) stacking sequences, which have higher energies than diamond-cubic phase. Thermal analysis in Al–Si alloys with different Si concentration and inoculation time shows the effect of pre-nucleation clusters varying with the amount of local ordering (NiSi) clusters. In addition, the growth of silicon crystal is changed due to the presence of pre-nucleation clusters by suppressing the twin plane re-entrant mechanism.

Increased AAA-TOB3 correlates with lymph node metastasis and advanced stage of lung adenocarcinoma.

This study was to investigate the differential mitochondrial protein expressions in human lung adenocarcinoma and provide preliminary data for further exploration of the carcinogenic mechanism. Total proteins of A549 and 16HBE mitochondria were extracted through 2D polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-DE). The differential mitochondria proteins were identified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and were further confirmed by Western blot, immunoelectron microscopy and immunohistochemistry (IHC) in A549 cells as well as lung adenocarcinoma tissues. A total of 41 differentially expressed protein spots were found in A549 mitochondria. Of them, 15 proteins were highly expressed and 26 proteins were lowly expressed in the mitochondria of A549 (by more than 1.5 times). Among the 15 more highly expressed proteins, AAA-TOB3 (by more than 3 times) was highly expressed in the mitochondria of A549 compared with the 16HBE, by LC-MS/MS identification. High electron density and clear circular colloidal gold-marked AAA-TOB3 particles were observed in the A549 cells via immunoelectron microscopy. Besides, AAA-TOB3 was confirmed to be elevated in lung adenocarcinoma by Western blot and IHC. Moreover, increased AAA-TOB3 correlated with lymph node metastasis and advanced stage of lung adenocarcinoma (p<0.05). AAA-TOB3 was highly expressed in lung adenocarcinoma, and the up-regulation of AAA-TOB3 correlated with lymph node metastasis and advanced stage of lung adenocarcinoma, which suggested that it could serve as a potential molecular marker for lung adenocarcinoma.

Optimal design and non–linear computation of mechanical behavior of sphere reinforced composites

Abstract This paper presents an efficient method to automatically generate and mesh random non–periodic three dimensional (3D) microstructures for three classes of complex heterogeneous media having a wide range of important engineering applications, porous media, composites with interfacial debonding and composites with high density particles. The resulting 3D microstructure is intentionally constructed to be easily and efficiently implemented in standard finite element computational codes. Several examples of 3D representative volume elements are shown. The performance of the proposal in finite element analysis is demonstrated in numerical implementation to predict the effective non–linear elastic–plastic response of two–phase particulate composites reinforced with spherical particles. The main result achieved is the estimation of the effective plastic tangent modulus by a simple linear regression equation for different volume fractions.

Challenges in Additive Manufacturing of Space Parts: Powder Feedstock Cross-Contamination and Its Impact on End Products.

This work studies the tensile properties of Ti-6Al-4V samples produced by laser powder bed based Additive Manufacturing (AM), for different build orientations. The results showed high scattering of the yield and tensile strength and low fracture elongation. The subsequent fractographic investigation revealed the presence of tungsten particles on the fracture surface. Hence, its detection and impact on tensile properties of AM Ti-6Al-4V were investigated. X-ray Computed Tomography (X-ray CT) scanning indicated that these inclusions were evenly distributed throughout the samples, however the inclusions area was shown to be larger in the load-bearing plane for the vertical specimens. A microstructural study proved that the mostly spherical tungsten particles were embedded in the fully martensitic Ti-6Al-4V AM material. The particle size distribution, the flowability and the morphology of the powder feedstock were investigated and appeared to be in line with observations from other studies. X-ray CT scanning of the powder however made the high density particles visible, where various techniques, commonly used in the certification of powder feedstock, failed to detect the contaminant. As the detection of cross contamination in the powder feedstock proves to be challenging, the use of only one type of powder per AM equipment is recommended for critical applications such as Space parts.

Granulation of coal fly ash by using different types of granule agents

The use of coal produces about 5% solid pollutant in the form of ash (fly ash and bottom ash). Of the total ash produced, about 10–20% is bottom ash and 80–90% is fly ash. This study was aimed at obtaining a type of adhesive which could be used as a fly granulation material for soil conditioner. The study was conducted at the pilot plant of Surfactant and Bioenergy Research Center (SBRC) LPPM IPB from April to August 2016. The fly ash used in this study was obtained from Kalimantan. A pan granulator was used in fly ash granule making process. Granule agent materials were diluted in the concentration of 5, 10, and 15%. Different types of granule agents, namely SBRC-M, SBRC-T, and SBRC-SC were used. The formed fly ash granules were then analyzed for their physical properties including particle density, fly ash granule pH, fly ash granule durability, and fly ash granule water holding capacity. Results showed that fly ash granules made from 15% of SBRC-M had the highest particle density (0.75 g/cm3). Fly ash granules made with SBRC-M had higher pH (10) than those made by using SBRC-SC adhesive (9.3) and SBRC-T (9). SBRC-T was found as the granule agent material which produced fly ash granules with the highest durability levels on average. In this study, the use of SBRC-M granule agent resulted in higher water holding capacity (WHC) (40.62%) than did SBRC-SC (38.79%) and SBRC-T (36.85%). As a granule agent, compared to SBRC-SC and SBRC-T, SBRC-M could produce fly ash granules with highest particle density, highest pH, good durability, and best water holding capacity.

Performance of the ATLAS Transition Radiation Tracker in Run 1 of the LHC: tracker properties

The tracking performance parameters of the ATLAS Transition Radiation Tracker (TRT) as part of the ATLAS inner detector are described in this paper for different data-taking conditions in proton-proton, proton-lead and lead-lead collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The performance is studied using data collected during the first period of LHC operation (Run 1) and is compared with Monte Carlo simulations. The performance of the TRT, operating with two different gas mixtures (xenon-based and argon-based) and its dependence on the TRT occupancy is presented. These studies show that the tracking performance of the TRT is similar for the two gas mixtures and that a significant contribution to the particle momentum resolution is made by the TRT up to high particle densities.

Numerical Simulations of the High-Velocity Impact of a Single Polymer Particle During Cold-Spray Deposition

In this paper, deposition of polymer powders was studied numerically for the cold-spray deposition technique. In cold spray, a solid particle is impacted on a substrate at high velocity. The deformation and heating upon impact have been shown to be enough to result in particle deposition and adhesion even without melting the particle. Here, a systematic analysis of a single high-density polyethylene particle impacting a semi-infinite high-density polyethylene substrate was carried out for initial velocities ranging between 150 and 250 m/s using the finite element analysis software ABAQUS Explicit. A series of numerical simulations were performed to study the effect of a number of key parameters on the particle impact dynamics. These key parameters include particle impact velocity, particle temperature, particle diameter, composition of the polyethylene particle, surface composition and the thickness of a polyethylene film on a hard metal substrate. The effect of these parameter variations on the particle impact dynamics were quantified by tracking the particle temperature, deformation, plastic strain and rebound kinetic energy. The trends observed through variation of these parameters provided physical insight into the experimentally observed window of deposition where cold-sprayed particles are mostly likely to adhere to a substrate.

Transversely polarized sub-diffraction optical needle with ultra-long depth of focus

We generated purely transversely polarized sub-diffraction optical needles with ultra-long depth of focus (DOF) by focusing azimuthally polarized (AP) beams that were modulated by a vortex 0–2π phase plate and binary phase diffraction optical elements (DOEs). The concentric belts’ radii of the DOEs were optimized by a hybrid genetic particle swarm optimization (HGPSO) algorithm. For the focusing system with the numerical aperture (NA) of 0.95, an optical needle with the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 0.40λ and the DOF of 6.23λ was generated. Similar optical needles were also generated by binary phase DOEs with different belts. The results demonstrated that the binary phase DOEs could achieve smaller FWHMs and longer DOFs simultaneously. The generated needles were circularly polarized on the z-axis and there were no longitudinally polarized components in the focal fields. The radius fabrication errors of a DOE have little effect on the optical needle produced by itself. The generated optical needles can be applied to the fields of photolithography, high-density optical data storage, microscope imaging and particle trapping.

Computational Investigation of Nonideal Higher Ionization Carbon Plasma Under Simulated High Heat Fluxes in Fusion Tokamak Reactors

Plasma-facing materials in future large tokamaks will suffer from ablation due to expected hard disruptions, which affects the reactor interior lining tiles and the divertor modules. Ablation and surface evaporation due to the intense heat flux from disruption is associated with ionization of the evolved particulates. Generated ions at such plasma conditions may allow for higher ionization states such that the plasma at the boundary can be composed of electrons, ions (first, second and third ionization) and excited atoms. The boundary layer is dense and tends to be weakly nonideal. The NC State University electrothermal plasma code ETFLOW used to simulate the high heat flux conditions in which the carbon liner tested for simulated heat fluxes for transient discharge period of 100 μs, with FWHM of ~50 μs, to provide a wide range for obtaining reasonable good fits for the scaling laws. Transient events with ~10 MJ/m2 energy deposition over short transient of 50–100 μs would produce heat fluxes of 100–200 GW/m2. The heat flux range in this simulation is up to 288 GW/m2 to explore the generation of carbon plasma up to the third ionization C+++. The generation of such heat fluxes in the electrothermal plasma source requires discharge currents of up to 250 kA over a 100 μs pulse length with ~50 μs FWHM. The number density of the third ionization is six orders of magnitude less than the first ionization at the lowest heat flux and two orders of magnitude less at the highest heat flux. Plasma temperature varies from 31,600 K (2.722 eV) to 47,500 K (4.092 eV) at the lowest and highest heat fluxes, respectively. The plasma temperature and number density indicate typical high-density weakly nonideal plasma. The evolution of such high-density plasma particles into the reactor vacuum chamber will spread into the vessel and nucleate on the other interior components. The lifetime of the PFCs will shorten if the number of hard disruptions at such extreme heat fluxes would be increasing, resulting in major deterioration of the armor tiles.

Mean-field analysis of two-species totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP) with attachment and detachment

In the field of statistical physics, unidirectional motion of a large number of particles along a single track can be described by totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP), from which many meaningful properties, such as the appearance of domain wall (defined as the borderline of high particle density and low particle density along the motion track) and boundary layers, can be obtained. However, it is biologically general that a single track may be occupied by different particle species. For example, in cells each microtubule protofilament is usually occupied by different species of motor protein. So previous studies about TASEP that included only one particle species may not be reasonable enough to describe more detailed properties of particle motion processes in a real cell environment. To address this problem, TASEP including two particle species is discussed in this study. Theoretical methods to get particle densities of each species are provided. By which, phase transition related properties of particle densities are obtained. Our analysis shows that domain wall and boundary layers of single species densities always appear simultaneously with those of the total particle density. The height of the domain wall of total particle density is equal to the summation of those of single particle species. Phase diagrams for typical model parameters are also presented. The methods presented in this study can be generalized to analyze TASEP with more particle species.

Rheological studies on liquid-crystal colloids prepared by dispersing spherical microparticles with homeotropic surface anchoring

ABSTRACTWe report rheological studies on the liquid-crystal colloids prepared by dispersing silica microparticles with homeotropic surface anchoring in 8CB liquid crystal. In nematic colloids, a shear-thickening behaviour is observed in low shear rate region. The apparent yield stress of both the nematic and smectic-A (SmA) phases increases with increasing volume fraction of particles . The critical strain amplitude (, i.e., crossover of and ) in SmA colloids decreases significantly with increasing . The frequency-dependent storage modulus of SmA colloids show a power-law behaviour and the loss modulus exhibits a shallow minimum. The optical rheomicroscopy shows that the nematic colloids form a network structure which are stretched and broken at high shear rate. When the temperature is decreased to SmA phase, the networks collapse showing regions of high-density particles. The variation of storage modulus with indicates that the SmA colloids response is dominated by defects.

Tailoring the (Ni 1/6 Co 1/6 Mn 4/6 )CO 3 precursors of Li-rich layered oxides for advanced lithium-ion batteries with the seed-mediated method

Abstract To enhance the energy density of Li-rich layered oxide Li1.2(Ni0.133Co0.133Mn0.533)O2 (LNCMO), the seed-mediated method is explored to prepare the (Ni1/6Co1/6Mn4/6)CO3 precursors. The nucleation and growth of the spherical precursors are successfully separated and controlled with the seed-mediated method in the co-precipitation process. Therefore, the particle size distribution and then the tap density of the precursors can be tailored by the seed-mediated method. To further manipulate the properties of the carbonate precursors, (Ni1/6Co1/6Mn4/6)CO3 is prepared by the seed-mediated method at different pH values. The influences of the feeding ways and pH values in the co-precipitation process on the morphologies, particle size distributions and tap densities of the precursors are investigated. As a result, the (Ni1/6Co1/6Mn4/6)CO3 precursor with a high tap density and moderate particle size distribution is obtained. After lithiated, the LNCMO samples deliver high discharge capacities, high volumetric energy densities and stable cycle stabilities. The main reasons for these improvement are preliminarily discussed in this paper.

How Actuated Particles Effectively Capture Biomolecular Targets.

Because of their high surface-to-volume ratio and adaptable surface functionalization, particles are widely used in bioanalytical methods to capture molecular targets. In this article, a comprehensive study is reported of the effectiveness of protein capture by actuated magnetic particles. Association rate constants are quantified in experiments as well as in Brownian dynamics simulations for different particle actuation configurations. The data reveal how the association rate depends on the particle velocity, particle density, and particle assembly characteristics. Interestingly, single particles appear to exhibit target depletion zones near their surface, caused by the high density of capture molecules. The depletion effects are even more limiting in cases with high particle densities. The depletion effects are overcome and protein capture rates are enhanced by applying dynamic particle actuation, resulting in an increase in the association rate constants by up to 2 orders of magnitude.

Adsorption of Human Serum Albumin (HSA) on a mixed-mode adsorbent: equilibrium and kinetics

The adsorption equilibrium and kinetics of Human Serum albumin (HSA) onto a novel high particle density multimodal adsorbent were studied by batch adsorption experiments. MabDirect MM, from Upfront Chromatography A/S, is an agarose-tungsten carbide composite adsorbent with an anionic mixed mode ligand. The effects of ionic strength (by addition of salt) and of pH are assessed. Langmuir isotherms parameters are obtained along with pore diffusivity values by fitting the batch experiments using a pore diffusion model. Under the studied conditions for pH 5.0, without salt, it was obtained the largest adsorption capacity (36.0 ± 3.5 mg·gadsorbent,dry −1) a typical behavior for a mixed mode adsorbent. Effective pore diffusivity (Dpe) was estimated as (2.2 ± 0.1) × 10−6 cm2·min−1 for this condition. Additionally, the lowest adsorption capacity (8.6 ± 2.1 mg·gadsorbent,dry −1) and an estimation of Dpe equal to (2.4 ± 0.6) × 10−6 cm2·min−1 were obtained for pH 7.0 without salt. An alternative method of Dpe estimation is used and validate the results obtained by simulations. Furthermore, several experiments were carried out in a fixed bed column with the aim to understand the kinetics and hydrodynamics, and to validate the batch adsorption results. For a feed concentration of ±0.92 g·L−1, pH 5.0, without salt, for cleaned and fresh adsorbent, fixed bed dynamic binding capacities of 13.84 and 14.37 mg·gadsorbent,dry −1 were obtained, respectively, representing near 50% of saturation capacity.

Excitation of gap discrete breathers in an A3B crystal with a flux of particles

The generation of discrete breathers in an A3B crystal has been modeled by the method of molecular dynamics using Pt3Al as an example via the application of random unidirectional momenta, which simulate the action of a particle flux, to atoms. Two possible mechanisms of the excitation of gap discrete breathers with a soft type of nonlinearity have been revealed depending on the energy of particles in a flux. If a particle is able to transfer energy of more than 1.4 eV to the Al atom, a discrete breather can be excited by the only particle. Otherwise, a discrete breather is formed upon numerous particle–Al atom collisions, which are possible only at a sufficiently high density of particles, as each following particle must transfer its momentum to the Al atom before its oscillations provoked by previous particles attenuate.

Characteristics of amino acids during the process of algae-originated particles decomposition in Lake Taihu

在实验条件下研究了高浓度蓝藻堆积后水体中的藻源性颗粒物中氨基酸的分解速率、分解量和氨基酸态氮形态的变化情况.在自然光照组中，颗粒态氨基酸（PAA）的浓度从实验前的0.46 mmol/L降至实验后的0.30 mmol/L；而在无光分解组中PAA从0.44 mmol/L降至0.06 mmol/L.两种处理下PAA的降解速率常数分别为0.03916和0.17424 d^-1.溶解态氨基酸（DAA）在分解过程中浓度比较低，随时间的变化表现出先增大后减小的趋势，在两种不同的处理下，最大值分别为10.94和7.94 μmol/L，21 d后减小到与实验开始时持平，甚至低于初始值.实验初期，PAA所占比例高达74%~80%，但迅速被分解转化为DAA和铵态氮（NH₄⁺-N），随着实验的进行NH₄⁺-N又逐渐转化为硝态氮，其中无光分解组中的分解更为彻底，而自然光照组中PAA分解量小于无光分解组.实验结果表明，氨基酸作为水体中浮游植物的潜在氮源，可以被分解为水华过程中藻类所需的NH₄⁺-N，对水华的维持具有一定的促进作用.;The characteristics of decomposition rate and quantity of amino acids, as well as the change of nitrogen forms, were explored during the process of decomposition of high-density cyanobacterial particles in this study. The results showed that the initial concentrations of particulate amino acids (PAA) were 0.46 mmol/L in natural light group and 0.44 mmol/L in the aphotic group. At the end of the experiment, the PAA was much stable with a concentration of 0.30 mmol/L in natural light group, while decreased dramatically to 0.06 mmol/L in the aphotic group. The degradation rate constants were 0.03916 and 0.17424 d^-1, respectively. The concentration of dissolved amino acids (DAA) was much lower in comparison to PAA in the process of decomposition. In detail, the DAA increased gradually and peaked at 10.94 and 7.94 μmol/L for the two groups, respectively, and then declined to around the initial value in the end of the 21st day. At the beginning of the experiment, PAA accounted for 74%-80% of the total amino acids, then PAA was transformed to DAA and ammonia (NH₄⁺-N) quickly, and finally the NH₄⁺-N was transformed gradually to NO₃^--N by nitrification. Compared with the natural light group, the decomposition of particles in aphotic group was more complete. Algal photosynthesis inhibited the decomposition of cyanobacterial particles in the natural group. Our results demonstrated that amino acids are potential nitrogen sources of phytoplankton and could be demineralized to NH₄⁺-N to support phytoplankton growth during cyanobacterial blooms. Therefore, the decomposition of high-density algal particles plays a key role in the maintenance of cyanobacterial blooms.

Metabolites distinguishing visceral fat obesity and atherogenic traits in individuals with overweight.

To screen the metabolomes of both overweight subjects with low visceral fat area (LFO) and high visceral fat area (HFO) to identify potential metabolites that are associated with the different metabolic characteristics. The metabolic characteristics of 112 overweight (25 kg/m2 ≤ BMI < 30 kg/m2 ) Korean individuals aged 30 to 65 years were examined. Plasma metabolomic profiling of HFO [visceral fat area (VFA) at L4 ≥ 100 cm2 ] and LFO (L4 VFA <100 cm2 ) individuals matched for age, gender, and BMI was performed. HFO subjects showed higher VFA at L1 and L4 than LFO subjects. The HFO group showed higher blood pressure, lipid profile, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, malondialdehyde, oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance and lower high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels. In plasma metabolite identification, the HFO group showed significantly higher levels of long-chain (C14:1, C16:1, C16) acylcarnitines (ACs), medium-chain (C12:1, C12) ACs, urobilinogen, docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6ω3), lysoPE (22:6), lysoPC (22:6), lysoPC (22:5), methoxybenzenepropanoic acid, and isodesmosine. All five ACs correlated positively with VFA and oxidized LDL levels and negatively with high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels and LDL particle size. Twelve major metabolites, including three long-chain fatty acids and two medium-chain ACs, are important for distinguishing HFO and LFO. Chronic lipid surplus from visceral fat in HFO is likely associated with substantial increases in plasma medium-chain ACs and long-chain fatty acids, which are closely related to atherogenic traits.