Solid-state Plasma Research Articles

Thermal and Thermomechanical Analysis of Amorphous Metals: A Compact Review

Metallic glasses are amorphous metals that are supercooled to a frozen, glassy state and lack long-range order, in contrast to conventional metal structures. The lack of a well-ordered structure largely contributes to the unique properties exhibited by these materials. However, their synthesis and processability are defined and thereby constrained by a plethora of thermal and mechanical parameters. Therefore, their broader utilization in the scientific field and particularly in the related industry is somewhat hindered by the limitations related to preparing them in higher amounts. This may be overcome by changing the approach of metal glass formation to a bottom-up approach by utilizing solid-state plasma techniques, such as spark plasma ablation. Another important aspect of amorphous metals, inherently related to their non-equilibrium metastable nature, is the necessity to understand their thermal transformations, which requires unconventional thermal analysis methods. Therefore, this minute review aims to highlight the most important conceptual parameters behind configuring and performing conventional and advanced thermal analysis techniques. The importance of calorimetry methods (differential and fast scanning calorimetry) for the determination of key thermal properties (critical cooling rate, glass-forming ability, heat capacity, relaxation, and rejuvenation) is underscored. Moreover, the contributions of thermomechanical analysis and in situ temperature-dependent structural analysis are also mentioned. Namely, all of the mentioned temperature-dependent mechanical and structural analyses may give rise to the discovery of new glass systems with low critical cooling rates.

Optimization of Plasma-Propelled Drone Performance Parameters

Recently, the world’s first plasma-propelled drone was successfully flown, demonstrating that plasma propulsion technology is suitable for drone flight. The research on plasma propulsion drones has sparked a surge of interest. This study utilized a proxy model and the NSGA-II multi-objective genetic algorithm to optimize the geometric parameters based on staggered thrusters that affect the performance of electroaerodynamics (EAD) thrusters used for solid-state plasma aircraft. This can help address key issues, such as the thrust density and the thrust-to-power ratio of solid-state plasma aircraft, promoting the widespread application of plasma propulsion drones. An appropriate sample set was established using Latin hypercube sampling, and the thrust and current data were collected using a customized experimental setup. The proxy model employed a genetically optimized Bayesian regularization backpropagation neural network, which was trained to predict the effects of variations in the geometric parameters of the electrode assembly on the performance parameters of the plasma aircraft. Based on this information, the maximum achievable value for a given performance parameter and its corresponding geometric parameters were determined, showing a significant increase compared to the sample data. Finally, the optimal parameter combination was determined by using the NSGA-II multi-objective genetic algorithm and the Analytic Hierarchy Process. These findings can serve as a basis for future researchers in the design of EAD thrusters, helping them produce plasma propulsion drones that better meet specific requirements.

Frequency reconfigurable slot antenna utilizing solid-state plasma S-PIN diodes: simulation and experimental analysis

This article examines the feasibility of integrating solid-state plasma surface p-i-n (S-PIN) diodes into on-chip slots using silicon-on-insulator technology. Two categories of solid-state plasma S-PIN diodes are characterized. Simulations analyze the current–voltage (I–V) characteristics, carrier concentrations, potential distribution, and thermal considerations of both single and dual S-PIN diodes, with optimization of their structural parameters and sizes. Experimental tests on fabricated S-PIN diodes of varying sizes with bias lines embedded in the on-chip slots show favorable I–V characteristics for both types of diodes. The measured results closely align with simulation predictions for the diodes’ conduction onset voltages. Additionally, a cavity-backed slot antenna is proposed to evaluate and compare radiation characteristics resulting from integrating different types of S-PIN diodes.

Efficient extreme ultraviolet emission by multiple laser pulses

We demonstrated an efficient extreme ultraviolet (EUV) source at a wavelength of 13.5 nm using spatially separated multiple solid-state-laser pulse irradiation. The maximum conversion efficiency (CE) achieved was 3.8% for ±30° oblique laser pulse injection, which was about twice as high as that for single laser pulse irradiation of 1.7%, with an EUV source size of about 100 μm for two spatially separated laser pulses with a total laser energy of 500 mJ at a laser intensity of 2×1011 W/cm2. In addition, we achieved an EUV CE of 4.7% for ±60° oblique laser pulse injection, which was one of the highest values ever reported, in the case of a 1-μm solid-state laser-produced planar Sn target plasma by multiple laser pulse irradiation. This result suggests that multiple laser-pulse irradiation at high repetition rate operation could credibly provide the next technology for future high-power EUV sources and exposure tools toward future EUV technology nodes.

Optical probing of ultrafast laser-induced solid-to-overdense-plasma transitions

Understanding the solid target dynamics resulting from the interaction with an ultrashort laser pulse is a challenging fundamental multi-physics problem involving atomic and solid-state physics, plasma physics, and laser physics. Knowledge of the initial interplay of the underlying processes is essential to many applications ranging from low-power laser regimes like laser-induced ablation to high-power laser regimes like laser-driven ion acceleration. Accessing the properties of the so-called pre-plasma formed as the laser pulse’s rising edge ionizes the target is complicated from the theoretical and experimental point of view, and many aspects of this laser-induced transition from solid to overdense plasma over picosecond timescales are still open questions. On the one hand, laser-driven ion acceleration requires precise control of the pre-plasma because the efficiency of the acceleration process crucially depends on the target properties at the arrival of the relativistic intensity peak of the pulse. On the other hand, efficient laser ablation requires, for example, preventing the so-called “plasma shielding”. By capturing the dynamics of the initial stage of the interaction, we report on a detailed visualization of the pre-plasma formation and evolution. Nanometer-thin diamond-like carbon foils are shown to transition from solid to plasma during the laser rising edge with intensities < 1016 W/cm². Single-shot near-infrared probe transmission measurements evidence sub-picosecond dynamics of an expanding plasma with densities above 1023 cm−3 (about 100 times the critical plasma density). The complementarity of a solid-state interaction model and kinetic plasma description provides deep insight into the interplay of initial ionization, collisions, and expansion.

Spectral control of beyond extreme ultraviolet emission from a dual-laser-produced plasma

We demonstrated spectral control of beyond extreme ultraviolet (B-EUV) emission at a central wavelength of 6.76 nm from a gadolinium (Gd) laser-produced plasma. The highest spectral purity (SP) was 5.1% under dual 1-μm laser pulse irradiation. It doubled compared to a value of 2.4% attained under single laser pulse irradiation of solid density Gd because of the reduction in optical depth. The highest maximum SP was higher than that obtained using a mid-infrared laser at 10.6 μm. The SP for the 150-ps main laser was also higher than that for 6-ns main laser irradiation. Our approach can be extended to mid-infrared solid-state laser-produced plasmas (LPPs) using driving laser wavelengths ranging from 2 to 9 μm for efficient B-EUV source development.

Design and Optimization of a High-Power Solid-State Plasma RF Switch

Design and Optimization of a High-Power Solid-State Plasma RF Switch

A Reconfigurable Three-Dimensional Electromagnetically Induced Transparency Metamaterial with Low Loss and Large Group Delay

In this paper, a solid-state plasma (SSP) metamaterial for an analog of the electromagnetically induced transparency phenomenon is designed and investigated. This electromagnetically induced transparency metamaterial has the ability to interact with both incident electric and magnetic fields, and its low-loss characteristics, slow-wave effect, band reconfigurability, and polarization-insensitive characteristics are researched and explored. According to the tunable SSP, we have successfully implemented two modes of operation (mode 1 and mode 2) by whether the SSP resonance unit is excited or not. Low-loss characteristics and polarization-insensitive properties are achieved by rotating the split-ring resonator (SRR) by 180° in the plane and rotating the overall plane framework 90° to form a three-dimensional structure. After that, the maximum group delay of 261.51 ps and 785.09 ps as well as the delay bandwidth product of 17.51 and 62.96 at mode 1 and mode 2, respectively, are discussed respectively. This indicates a good slow-wave effect as well as a high efficiency of communication devices. After all, in mode 1, a transmission peak at 0.541 THz is observed for a transmission ratio of 92.05%; and in mode 2, a transmission peak at 0.741 THz is observed for a transmission ratio of 93.01%, resulting in a bandwidth shift of 0.2 THz. Due to the uniqueness of the developed metamaterial, it holds potential for a wide range of applications in slow-wave devices, modulators, sensors, and communications equipment.

A wideband and high-gain circularly polarized reconfigurable antenna array based on the solid-state plasma

In this paper, a wideband and high-gain circularly polarized (CP) antenna array with polarization-reconfigurable characteristics is presented based on the solid-state plasma (SSP). The proposed antenna is composed of switchable rotating radiation structures and a switchable feed network by simulating the different SSP branches. To investigate the CP operating mechanism, a reconfigurable CP element is designed through characteristic mode analysis (CMA). A switchable sequential-phase feed network is then proposed which can provide separately two rotational excitations. A spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) is adopted for radiation patches to improve gain and axial ratio (AR) bandwidth. Finally, a high-gain and wideband 2 × 2 CP reconfigurable antenna array is designed. This array achieves left-hand circular polarization (LHCP) and right-hand circular polarization (RHCP) modes when different SSP branches are excited. The array has an overlapped impedance bandwidth of 61.9 % (3.17 to 6.01 GHz) and an overlapped AR bandwidth of 40.2 % (4.01 to 6.03 GHz) in two CP states, and the peak gain is 11.68 dBic.

Effect of TiB2 content on microstructure and mechanical properties of SiC composite ceramics by solid-state spark plasma sintering

Effect of TiB2 content on microstructure and mechanical properties of SiC composite ceramics by solid-state spark plasma sintering

Study of solid state plasma reconfigurable dipole based on SPiN diodes for high-integration communications

A new solid state plasma reconfigurable dipole based on surface PiN diodes is presented for high-integration communications in this paper. The proposed antenna consists of several solid state plasma diode elements, which use the microwave characteristics of solid state plasma to realize the radiation and reception of electromagnetic waves. The plasma diode is designed and fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator wafer, and its size is 50 × 100 μm2. Measured results show that the plasma region appeared to be metal-like (carrier concentration is exceeding 1018 cm−3) when a forward bias is applied, and its steady-state current can reach 0.02 A. Based on these results, a high-integration reconfigurable dipole is designed with two working states at 2.21 and 3.01 GHz, and the overall dimensions of this dipole are 40 × 40 mm2. Other radiation performances are also discussed in this paper, which lay a good foundation for further studies.

Magnetic bias field driven ferro- and antiferromagnetic semiconductors as double negative media for microwave and terahertz ranges

In this work, a theoretical study of the backward electromagnetic waves (BEMWs) existing in the bigyrotropic left-handed media controlled by a magnetic bias field is presented. The bigyrotropic media are both longitudinally and transversely magnetized ferromagnetic (FM) or antiferromagnetic (AFM) semiconductors (SCs) with electric and magnetic loss. It is shown that the BEMWs are observed both in the microwave and terahertz frequency ranges, in which the effective material parameters of the FM or AFM SCs are double negative. We demonstrate the control of the BEMW dispersion characteristics not only by changing the magnetic bias field direction and strength, but also by variation a material magnetization and thickness, an electron concentration in a solid-state plasma, as well as the electric and magnetic loss.

Research on plasma devices and antenna systems based on superlattice structures

To decrease the effect of carrier concentration on the skin depth, a new SPiN diode based on superlattice structure is discussed. Compared with traditional plasma diode, the intrinsic region of the SPiN diode is designed with SiGe/Si superlattices layer, and the thickness of the plasma islands is reduced from 80 μm to 5 μm, which dramatically reduced the design complexity and technical difficulty of microwave devices. Besides, a high-integration solid-state plasma inverted-F antenna based on this diode is also demonstrated in this paper. The resonant frequency of the inverted-F plasma antenna is in the order of 2.45 GHz, and the maximum gain reaches to 2 dB, which verify the effectiveness of the designed superlattice SPiN diode.

How Green Hydrogen and Ammonia Are Revolutionizing the Future of Energy Production: A Comprehensive Review of the Latest Developments and Future Prospects

As the need for clean and sustainable energy sources grows rapidly, green hydrogen and ammonia have become promising sources of low-carbon energy and important key players in the transition to green energy. However, production and storage problems make it hard to use them widely. The goal of this review paper is to give a complete overview of the latest technology for the manufacture and storage of hydrogen and ammonia. This paper deals with hydrogen and ammonia synthesis and storage. It examines the most recent technological breakthroughs in areas such as electrolysis, reforming, C-ZEROS, HYSATA, DAE, sulfide, and SRBW, as well as novel storage techniques, such as solid-state storage, plasma kinetics, and POWERPASTE. This article examines the history of ammonia production and discusses some of the newer and more sustainable techniques for producing ammonia, such as electrochemical and biological approaches. This study also looks at how artificial intelligence (AI) and additive manufacturing (AM) could be used to revolutionize the way green hydrogen and ammonia are produced, with an emphasis on recent breakthroughs in AI-assisted catalyst design and 3D-printed reactors, as well as considering major investments in the shift to green energy, such as Moroccan government programs, and how they may affect future hydrogen and ammonia production.

β→α Phase Transformation and Properties of Solid-State-Sintered SiC Ceramics with TaC Addition.

Dense SiC-based composite ceramics were fabricated by means of the ex situ addition of TaC using solid-state spark plasma sintering (SPS). Commercially available β-SiC and TaC powders were chosen as raw materials. Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) analysis was conducted to investigate the grain boundary mapping of SiC-TaC composite ceramics. With the increase in TaC, the misorientation angles of the α-SiC phase shifted to a relatively small range. It was deduced that the ex situ pinning stress from TaC greatly suppressed the growth of α-SiC grains. The low β→α transformability of the specimen with the composition of SiC-20 vol.% TaC (ST-4) implied that a possible microstructure of newly nucleated α-SiC embedded within metastable β-SiC grains, which could have been responsible for the improvement in strength and fracture toughness. The as-sintered SiC-20 vol.% TaC (ST-4) composite ceramic had a relative density of 98.0%, a bending strength of 708.8 ± 28.7 MPa, a fracture toughness of 8.3 ± 0.8 MPa·m1/2, an elastic modulus of 384.9 ± 28.3 GPa and a Vickers hardness of 17.5 ± 0.4 GPa.

Exploring ultra-high-intensity wakefields in carbon nanotube arrays: An effective plasma-density approach

Charged particle acceleration using solid-state nanostructures has attracted attention in recent years as a method of achieving ultra-high-gradient acceleration in the TV/m domain. More concretely, metallic hollow nanostructures could be suitable for particle acceleration through the excitation of wakefields by a laser or a high-intensity charged particle beam in a high-density solid-state plasma. For instance, due to their special channeling properties as well as optoelectronic and thermo-mechanical properties, carbon nanotubes could be an excellent medium for this purpose. This article investigates the feasibility of generating ultra-high-gradient acceleration using carbon nanotube arrays, modeled as solid-state plasmas in conventional particle-in-cell simulations performed in a two-dimensional axisymmetric (quasi-3D) geometry. The generation of beam-driven plasma wakefields depending on different parameters of the solid structure is discussed in detail. Furthermore, by adopting an effective plasma-density approach, existing analytical expressions, originally derived for homogeneous plasmas, can be used to describe wakefields driven in periodic non-uniform plasmas.

Wave propagation and soliton solutions of the Allen–Cahn model

The Allen–Cahn equation (ACE), which has applications in solid-state physics, imaging, plasma physics, material science and other fields, is one of the most important models of the modern era for describing the dynamics of oil pollution, reaction-diffusion mechanisms, and the mechanics of crystalline solids. By using the [Formula: see text]-expansion method (GEM) and the Bernoulli sub-ODE schemes, some new traveling wave solutions for the governing model are created in this study (BSODE). The reduced integrable ordinary differential equation is produced using the traveling wave hypothesis. To better understand their behavior, the 3D, contour, and 2D graphs are displayed for a number of fascinating exact solutions. Additionally, we use numerical simulation to confirm the stability of the derived analytical solutions. It results the propagation of temporal soliton for long time of simulation. These results will be used to explain physical phenomenon in crystalline solids and others fields.

TeV/m catapult acceleration of electrons in graphene layers

Recent nanotechnology advances enable fabrication of layered structures with controllable inter-layer gap, giving the ultra-violet (UV) lasers access to solid-state plasmas which can be used as medium for electron acceleration. By using a linearly polarized 3 fs-long laser pulse of 100 nm wavelength and 10^{21} W/cm^2 peak intensity, we show numerically that electron bunches can be accelerated along a stack of ionized graphene layers. Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations reveal a new self-injection mechanism based on edge plasma oscillations, whose amplitude depends on the distance between the graphene layers. Nanometre-size electron ribbons are electrostatically catapulted into buckets of longitudinal electric fields in less than 1 fs, as opposed to the slow electrostatic pull, common to laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) schemes in gas-plasma. Acceleration then proceeds in the blowout regime at a gradient of 4.79 TeV/m yielding a 0.4 fs-long bunch with a total charge in excess of 2.5 pC and an average energy of 6.94 MeV, after travelling through a graphene target as short as 1.5 upmu m. These parameters are unprecedented within the LWFA research area and, if confirmed experimentally, may have an impact on fundamental femtosecond research.

Interaction of a tubular charged-particle beam with eigenwaves of a plasma solid-state cylinder located in strong longitudinal magnetic field

An electrodynamic system in which a magnetized tubular electron beam blows around a cylindrical solid-state plasma waveguide located coaxially in a longitudinal magnetic field is theoretically studied. It has been established, when quasi-stationary conditions are satisfied, hybrid bulk-surface or surface electromagnetic waves of helicon origin are excited in the waveguide. The waveguide eigenwaves are excited by the space-charge field of beam with matching of the longitudinal spectral components of electric field. It is noted that helicons and waves of their nature are formed in a conducting plasma medium in the assistance of an external magnetic field. It is shown the instability of coupled waves of the electrodynamic system is due to the Vavilov–Cherenkov effect.

SYNTHESIS AND LUMINESCENCE OF CERIUM DOPED KSrY(BO3)2

The rare-earth borate compounds are widely used in various fields of science and technology as solid-state lasers, LEDs, and plasma panels. Development of blue emitting phosphors typically involves doping with cerium ions various matrices, exhibiting high photoluminescence quantum yields for LEDs. However, the main problem of such compounds, in addition to the concentration quenching, is the presence in the matrix of both the trivalent Ce3+ and tetravalent Ce4+ states of cerium ions. The goal. Study of the luminescent properties of the new KSrY0.95(BO3)2:0.05Ce3+ compound. Experimental. New phosphors based on complex borate KSrY(BO3)2 doped with cerium ions have been obtained by the solid-phase synthesis. The mixture of the starting materials after grinding in an agate mortar has been calcined at 700°C in a platinum crucible for 12 hours. The calcination temperature has been increased in steps of 50°C with re-ground of the mixture at each stage. The KSrY0.95(BO3)2:0.05Ce3+sample has been annealed in hydrogen at 900°C for 8 hours. Results and discussion. The X-ray phase analysis has shown that the new compound crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/m. The calculated unit cell parameters for KSrY0.95(BO3)2:0.05Ce3+are: a = 9.2861(23) Å, b = 5.3654(6) Å, c = 6.5854(14) Å, V = 289.7(1) Å3. In the crystal structure of KSrY(BO3)2, each B atom is connected to three O atoms, forming a BO3 triangle. The planar groups (BO3)3 are distributed layer by layer in the plane. The Y atoms are surrounded by six oxygen atoms, forming an octahedral structure and occupying interlayer positions.Ce3+ ions in the crystal lattice mainly replace the Y+3positions based on the similarity of the ionic radius and valency of Y+3 (r = 0.90 Å, CN = VI), Ce3+ (r = 1.01 Å, CN = VI). Conclusion. At a wavelength of 440 nm, the excitation spectrum exhibits one absorption band with the 2F7/2 → 5D1 energy transition, which corresponds to the excitation of the cerium ion from the ground state to the excited state. A decrease in the luminescence intensity of the KSrY0.95(BO3)2:0.05Ce3+ sample has been found for 3 hours after its annealing.