Magnetic Probe Signals Research Articles

Contamination-free V-shaped ultrafast reaction cascade transferase signal amplification driven CRISPR/Cas12a magnetic relaxation switching biosensor for bacteria detection

Foodborne pathogenic bacteria seriously endanger human health and must be rapidly identified for control. Magnetic relaxation switching biosensors (MRS) are ideal for rapid bacteria detection due to their high signal-to-noise ratio and immunity to sample matrix signal interference. However, conventional MRS still has some challenges in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and stability due to insufficient cross-linking or non-specific binding of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) to the target. To address these challenges, we firstly proposed a novel contamination-free uracil-DNA glycosylase (UDG) assisted V-shaped PCR driven CRISPR/Cas12a-MRS (UPC-MRS) biosensor, which combines contamination-free ultrafast nucleic acid amplification and powerful CRISPR/Cas12a system. It has an extremely specific quadruple signal guarantee realized by the merits of UDG anti-contamination, PCR primer specificity matching, the CRISPR/Cas12a system's precise recognition abilities, and magnetic probe signal unaffected by the sample matrix. As a cascade combined with original terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (Tdt)-mediated signal amplification technology, this platform can achieve Salmonella detection at concentrations as low as 53 CFU/mL, which is more sensitive than most existing MRS sensors, and it displays accuracy and applicability in real sample detection. This novel UPC-MRS biosensors avoid the common aerosol pollution problem of previous CRISPR/Cas12a systems which after combining with nucleic acid amplification, hence not only offers an alternative toolbox for Salmonella and other pathogen detection with satisfactory specificity and sensitivity, but also has potential for future applications across diverse fields.

Magnetic-Separation-Assisted Magnetic Relaxation Switching Assay for Mercury Ion Based on the Concentration Change of Oligonucleotide-Functionalized Magnetic Nanoparticle.

Magnetic-separation-assisted magnetic relaxation switching (MRS) assay based on the concentration change of magnetic nanoparticles switches has been designed for bacteria, biological macromolecules, and small molecules detection because of its better analysis performance. As one of the most hazardous pollutants and highly dangerous elements, mercury ion (Hg2+) was employed as a model to further investigate the applicability of nanoparticle switches concentration change-based MRS assay mode for detecting metal ions in this study. The principle is based on the specific and strong interaction between mercury ion with the thymine-thymine(T-T) mismatch in double-stranded DNA duplexes by employing oligonucleotide functionalized magnetic nanoparticle as magnetic capture probe and MRS signal probe, respectively. The result shows that magnetic nanoparticles concentration-dependent MRS sensing mode could be facile applied to detect metal ion of Hg2+ in tap water, lake water and serum with wider detection range and higher accuracy. The as-presented magnetic-separation-assisted MRS assay of Hg2+ in complicated samples shows potential application values for Hg2+ assay in clinical and environmental monitoring, which broadens its application.

Influence of discharge parameters on pulsed discharge of coaxial gun in deflagration mode

Coaxial gun can produce high-speed and high-density plasma jet and has some potential applications in many research areas such as space thruster, space debris impact simulation, nuclear fusion, and material processing. The coaxial gun is usually composed of a pair of coaxial cylindrical and hollow electrodes. The pulsed discharge of coaxial gun has two discharge modes, i.e., deflagration mode and pre-fill mode. Compared with the pre-fill mode, deflagration discharge mode can induce a plasma jet with few impurities, high collimation, and fast speed. In this paper, the effect of gas injection mass and discharge voltage on the discharge characteristic of deflagration mode are studied with electrical and optical diagnosis including the emission spectrum, plasma velocity and discharge current measurements. The experimental results show that when the gas injection mass is relatively low, such as 1.4 mg, many plasma clusters eject from the muzzle. As the gas flowing into the coaxial gun bottom increases, the plasma density increases and the jet velocity decreases. Eventually, when the gas injection mass increases to 2.6 mg, one cluster of plasma is found and ejects from the muzzle of the gun. In the discharge process, as a small quantity of gas flows into the bottom of the coaxial gun through the electromagnetic valve continuously, new current paths will be generated at the bottom of the coaxial gun and move forward. This results in the observation of multiple plasma jet at the exit of the coaxial gun. It is noted that the plasma densities are different for different gas mass flowing into coaxial gun bottom, but the currents have little effect in the first discharge half cycle due to the small plasma inductance in discharge circuit. Meanwhile, the plasma characteristics under different voltages with the fixed gas mass of 2.6 mg flowing into the coaxial gun bottom are experimentally measured. The results show that the plasma density and speed increase with voltage increasing, which is attributed to the stronger discharge current and larger self-induced Lorentz force. More neutral particles can be ionized into plasma with discharge voltage increasing, and the transport speed becomes faster under the enhanced force. In addition, the multiple ionization phenomena are observed again when the discharge voltage increases from 5 kV to 8 kV. This study provides an insight into how to better apply the coaxial gun discharge plasma to practical engineering field. The article further verifies the phenomenon of multiple discharges at the bottom of the coaxial gun by changing the charging capacitance and analyzing the magnetic probe signals.

Improved sensing of vertical velocity for vertical position control using loop voltage signals on EAST

Vertical position control of shaped plasma is essential for all elongated tokamaks to achieve safe and stable plasma discharge. In EAST, the in-vessel coil (IC) is employed for fast control of plasma vertical motion which power supply capabilities limits the controllability of vertical instability. Besides, adequate signal-to-noise ratio of vertical position measurement can also realize an improvement in vertical control. In EAST, plasma vertical position Zp is produced nearly by all integrated magnetics, fast Z error signal is obtained by filtering from Zp. Then this fast Z error and its derivative term (dz/dt) are controlled by IC with a separate PD controller. However, it has a low signal-to-noise ratio which limits the gains that can be used successfully in the PD control loops. To provide less noisy dz/dt signal, the successful use of multiple up/down loop voltage pairs instead of derivative of z derived from magnetic probe signals will be discussed. Experiment show that even a single pair of loop voltage signal has better signal-to-noise ratio than differentiation of Zp. In addition, flux loop pickup signals from the IC current are also measured with series of positive and negative IC current pulses.

Estimation of magnetic island width by the fluctuations of electron cyclotron emission radiometer on J-TEXT

The width of a magnetic island is an important parameter for the quantitative analysis of magnetohydrodynamic-related physics. An electron cyclotron emission radiometer (ECE) is a powerful tool that can be used to obtain this width, which can usually be determined from the flat temperature distribution at the O-point phase or the maxima temperature perturbation. An improved method to estimate the width of a magnetic island is proposed in this paper, and it is independent of calibration. With this method and the existing 24-channel ECE system, the width of a rotation magnetic island can be estimated. Additionally, by filtering the fluctuation ECE signal, the evolution of the magnetic island can be obtained. The results of this method are consistent with those of the integrated magnetic probe signals, which represent the relative change of the magnetic island.

Current sheet characteristics of a parallel-plate electromagnetic plasma accelerator operated in gas-prefilled mode

The axial characteristics of a current sheet in a parallel-plate electromagnetic plasma accelerator operated in gas-prefilled mode are reported. The accelerator is powered by a fourteen stage pulse forming network. The capacitor and inductor in each stage are 1.5 μF and 300 nH, respectively, and yield a damped oscillation square wave of current with a pulse width of 20.6 μs. Magnetic probes and photodiodes are placed at various axial positions to measure the behavior of the current sheet. Both magnetic probe and photodiode signals reveal a secondary breakdown when the current reverses the direction. An increase in the discharge current amplitude and a decrease in pressure lead to a decrease in the current shedding factor. The current sheet velocity and thickness are nearly constant during the run-down phase under the first half-period of the current. The current sheet thicknesses are typically in the range of 25 mm to 40 mm. The current sheet velocities are in the range of 10 km/s to 45 km/s when the discharge current is between 10 kA and 55 kA and the gas prefill pressure is between 30 Pa and 800 Pa. The experimental velocities are about 75% to 90% of the theoretical velocities calculated with the current shedding factor. One reason for this could be that the idealized snowplow analysis model ignores the surface drag force.

Equilibrium reconstruction in an iron core tokamak using a deterministic magnetisation model

In many tokamaks ferromagnetic material, usually referred to as an iron-core, is present in order to improve the magnetic coupling between the solenoid and the plasma. The presence of the iron core in proximity to the plasma changes the magnetic topology with consequent effects on the magnetic field structure and the plasma boundary. This paper considers the problem of obtaining the free-boundary plasma equilibrium solution in the presence of ferromagnetic material based on measured constraints. The current approach employs a model described by O’Brien et al. (1992) in which the magnetisation currents at the iron–air boundary are represented by a set of free parameters and appropriate boundary conditions are enforced via a set of quasi-measurements on the material boundary. This can lead to the possibility of overfitting the data and hiding underlying issues with the measured signals. Although the model typically achieves good fits to measured magnetic signals there are significant discrepancies in the inferred magnetic topology compared with other plasma diagnostic measurements that are independent of the magnetic field. An alternative approach for equilibrium reconstruction in iron-core tokamaks, termed the deterministic magnetisation model is developed and implemented in EFIT++. The iron is represented by a boundary current with the gradients in the magnetisation dipole state generating macroscopic internal magnetisation currents. A model for the boundary magnetisation currents at the iron–air interface is developed using B-Splines enabling continuity to arbitrary order; internal magnetisation currents are allocated to triangulated regions within the iron, and a method to enable adaptive refinement is implemented. The deterministic model has been validated by comparing it with a synthetic 2-D electromagnetic model of JET. It is established that the maximum field discrepancy is less than 1.5 mT throughout the vacuum region enclosing the plasma. The discrepancies of simulated magnetic probe signals are accurate to within 1% for signals with absolute magnitude greater than 100mT; in all other cases agreement is to within 1mT. The effect of neglecting the internal magnetisation currents increases the maximum discrepancy in the vacuum region to >20mT, resulting in errors of 5%–10% in the simulated probe signals. The fact that the previous model neglects the internal magnetisation currents (and also has additional free parameters when fitting the measured data) makes it unsuitable for analysing data in the absence of plasma current. The discrepancy of the poloidal magnetic flux within the vacuum vessel is to within 0.1Wb. Finally the deterministic model is applied to an equilibrium force-balance solution of a JET discharge using experimental data. It is shown that the discrepancies of the outboard separatrix position, and the outer strike-point position inferred from Thomson Scattering and Infrared camera data are much improved beyond the routine equilibrium reconstruction, whereas the discrepancy of the inner strike-point position is similar.

The influence of the cathode array and the pressure variations on the current sheath dynamics of a small plasma focus device in the presence of an axial magnetic probe

In this research, the influence of the cathode array and the pressure variations on the current sheath dynamics of a small plasma focus device (450 J) was investigated. For this purpose, the signals of an axial magnetic probe for two different gases (argon and nitrogen) were studied. The magnetic probe signals showed the slower movement of the current sheath layer when the number of cathode rods decreased. This was related to the increase in the circuit inductance, which caused the longer discharge time of the capacitor bank followed by the creation of runaway electrons. These electrons in turn produced the impurities that led to the appearance of the instabilities inside the plasma. On the other hand, in order to investigate the effect of the cathode array variation on the instabilities produced inside the plasma, the wavelet technique was used. With the aid of frequency analysis, this technique showed the increase in these instabilities, which was due to the non-uniform formation of the current sheath layer during the breakdown phase, and finally, the higher values of the pressure caused the slower movement of the current sheath due to the inverse relation of the current sheath velocity to the square root of the pressure.

2D spatial profile measurements of potential fluctuation with heavy ion beam probe on the Large Helical Device.

Two-dimensional spatial profiles of potential fluctuation were measured with the heavy ion beam probe (HIBP) in the Large Helical Device (LHD). For 2D spatial profile measurements, the probe beam energy has to be changed, which requires the adjustment of many deflectors in the beam transport line to optimize the beam trajectory, since the transport line of LHD-HIBP system is long. The automatic beam adjustment system was developed, which allows us to adjust the beam trajectory easily. By analyzing coherence between potential fluctuation and magnetic probe signal, the noise level of the mode power spectrum of the potential fluctuation can be reduced. By using this method, the 2D spatial profile of potential fluctuation profile was successfully obtained.

Study of Current Sheath Velocity and Its Distribution Using Tridimensional Magnetic Probe in Sahand Plasma Focus

The current sheath velocity in 0.25 Torr gas pressure of Filippov type plasma focus is studied experimentally. By using two tridimensional magnetic probes on top of the anode surface, the current sheath velocity is measured for argon, oxygen and nitrogen. Additionally, the effect of charging voltage on the current sheath velocity is studied in both axial and radial phases. We found that, the maximum current sheath velocities at both radial and axial phases are respectively 4.33 ± 0.28 (cm/μs) and 3.92 ± 0.75 (cm/μs) with argon as the working gas at 17 kV. Also, the minimum values of current sheath velocity are 1.48 ± 0.15 (cm/μs) at the radial phase and 1.14 ± 0.09 (cm/μs) at the axial phase with oxygen at 12 kV. The current sheath velocity at the radial phase is higher than that at the axial phase for all gases and voltages. In this study, variation of the full width half maximum (FWHM) of magnetic probe signals with voltage is investigated for different gases at radial and axial phases.

Development of validation metrics using biorthogonal decomposition for the comparison of magnetic field measurements

The Helicity Injected Torus-Steady Inductive (HIT-SI) injectors have been operated experimentally and simulated with a 3D pressureless Hall magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code (NIMROD) at frequencies of 14.5, 36.8, 53.5 and 68.5 kHz. Simulations are compared to experimental data using biorthogonal decomposition (BD) of real and synthetic surface magnetic probe signals. First, the time-averaged magnetic field squared (B2), measured by the surface probes, is compared between experiment and simulation. Next, the spatial basis set from a reference shot is used to decompose other experimental and computational data sets. The output of the decomposition is compared back to the original basis set. This method reduces the comparison of the spatial distribution and time evolution of the magnetic signals to a single number. Finally, the modal distribution of the magnetic signals is compared using this data driven basis set.

Calculation of the Inductance of Plasma Column at PF-1000 Device with Assumed Current Distribution

Processed data is taken from the D-D fusion reaction experiments on PF-1000 at IFPILM Warsaw, operating with 2 MA, 1011 neutron yield, using interferometry, temporal resolved neutron diagnostics, magnetic probe diagnostics and X-ray diagnostics. The inductance is calculated under two different circumstances: with the known distribution function determined by the magnetic probe signal, and with the border of the plasma column determined from interferograms using Matlab. The inductance of the whole column is calculated using the formula for the inductance of a coaxial cylinder.

Correlation of magnetic probe and neutron signals with interferometry figures on the plasma focus discharge

In this paper the results of temporally resolved measurements using calibrated azimuthal and axial magnetic probes are presented, together with interferometry and neutron diagnostics performed on the PF-1000 (IPPLM, Warsaw, 2 MA) device with a deuterium filling and 1011 neutron yield. The probes located in the anode front at three different radial positions allow determination of the dominant part of the discharge current flows behind the imploding dense plasma layer. The current sheath is composed of both the axial and azimuthal components of the magnetic field. After reaching the minimum diameter, the current sheath continues in a radial motion to the axis and then penetrates into the dense plasma column. At the final phase of stagnation, the dominant current passes through the dense column. The probes located on the axis of the anode front registered an increase and a decrease in the pulse of the axial component of the magnetic field in correlation with the formation and decay of the dense plasmoidal structure. The estimated values of the axial component of the magnetic field at the center of the plasmoids in the first neutron pulse and close before its decay and dominant neutron production can reach 2 and 10 T; it is 10–30% of the value of the azimuthal magnetic field of the dense column boundary.

Peripheral plasma measurement during SMBI in Heliotron J using fast cameras

Since fueling technique is very important for maintaining fusion plasma, supersonic molecular beam injection (SMBI) was studied using mainly fast cameras, Hα measurement, Langmuir/magnetic probes, and electron density/diamagnetic measurement in Heliotron J. Using a fast camera with a tangential view a very bright stripe along the magnetic field line was observed during SMBI. Time-dependent FFT analysis of data from each pixel showed that the low frequency waves rotated around the magnetic field line in a left-handed sense at the initial stage of SMBI. After a few milliseconds they propagated towards the SMBI region along the magnetic field line, and their phase velocities were almost the same. Experimental evidence is consistent with the interpretation as the ion acoustic wave, and the peak frequency of these waves was the same as that of the power spectra of the magnetic probe signals. It suggests the slow magnetoacoustic wave may convert into the ion acoustic wave due to collisions with neutrals.

Correcting magnetic probe perturbations on current density measurements of current carrying plasmas

A method to infer the current density distribution in the current sheath of a plasma focus discharge from a magnetic probe is formulated and then applied to experimental data obtained in a 1.1 kJ device. Distortions on the magnetic probe signal caused by current redistribution and by a time-dependent total discharge current are considered simultaneously, leading to an integral equation for the current density. Two distinct, easy to implement, numerical procedures are given to solve such equation. Experimental results show the coexistence of at least two maxima in the current density structure of a nitrogen sheath.

Magnetic Measurements in LHD

This paper describes present status of magnetic measurements in the Large Helical Device (LHD). The magnetic measurements have been mainly applied for estimation of global parameters and for magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) study rather than the equilibrium control because of net current-free plasmas. The techniques of diamagnetic flux measurement and MHD mode analysis are introduced. The estimation of the diamagnetic flux strongly depends on the plasma currents inducing an eddy current on continuous helical coils. The obtained diamagnetic energy is almost consistent with kinetic energy within the measurement error. The MHD modes have been identified through comparison of magnetic probe signals with virtual perturbation generated by multifilament currents on Boozer coordinates based on three-dimensional MHD equilibria. The validity of this technique was considered through the pressure gradient control experiments.

Study of plasma sheath dynamics by using two magnetic probes in a low energy plasma focus device

The effects of the argon gas pressure, charging voltage and anode shape on the current sheath dynamics in a low energy (4.9 kJ) Mather type plasma focus (PF) were investigated. The formation and dynamics of the current sheath were monitored by using two magnetic probes, which were inserted radially and axially to explore the evolution of the plasma sheath and to estimate the range of its velocity during the break-down and run-down phases. The radial magnetic probe measurements showed a rather constant current sheath velocity near the insulator, which was more sensitive to the variations of the gas pressure than the charging voltage, and the current sheath did not lose its uniformity by expanding away from the insulator during the break-down phase. The results found from the axial magnetic probe signals revealed a higher current sheath velocity inside the step region of the step anode than the cylindrical one. The simulated axial current sheath trajectories (Lee's model) that were obtained after the fitting process of the current signals showed good agreement both for the cylindrical anode throughout the run-down phase and the step anode before the step region. Inside the step region, the separation between the simulated and the experimental trajectories of the step anode was increased at greater axial distances.

Studies of MHD Stability Using Data Mining Technique in Helical Plasmas

Data mining techniques, which automatically extract useful knowledge from large datasets, are applied to multichannel magnetic probe signals of several helical plasmas in order to identify and classify MHD instabilities in helical plasmas. This method is useful to find new MHD instabilities as well as previously identified ones. Moreover, registering the results obtained from data mining in a database allows us to investigate the characteristics of MHD instabilities with parameter studies. We introduce the data mining technique consisted of pre-processing, clustering and visualizations using results from helical plasmas in H-1 and Heliotron J. We were successfully able to classify the MHD instabilities using the criterion of phase differences of each magnetic probe and identify them as energetic-ion-driven MHD instabilities using parameter study in Heliotron J plasmas.

Anisotropic Investigation of Hard X-ray Emission with Flat Anode Tips in APF Plasma Focus Device

In this paper behavior of hard X-ray (HXR) anisotropy and its intensity along the anode bar from APF plasma focus facility (16 kV, 36 μf, and 115 nH) with different anode tip materials investigated experimentally. Magnetic probe signals registered to choose only discharges with high degree of current sheath symmetry. The signals obtained by scintillation detectors by a special arrangement at each angular position show that the employment of higher Z anode insert materials not only increase the intensity of HXR signal, but also result to high degree isotropic emission of HXR. The side on emitted intensity along the anode bar has been studied by moving the detector in the direction of central electrode axis. The results confirm the importance of anode tip material on HXR signal intensity.

Drift-Wave Eigenmodes and Spectral Gaps in Tandem Mirrors

In recent years, breakthroughs in the GAMMA-10 tandem mirror device and new designs such as the Kinetically Stabilized Tandem Mirror have renewed enthusiasm for investigation of mirror plasmas. With a discrete eigenmode solver and shooting code we calculate kinetic Alfvén waves in a model GAMMA-10 experiment, and then examine the nature of the spectral gaps. We validate the results of these calculations by comparing with magnetic probe signals recorded in the LAPD as a function of frequency of the antenna and the axial position.