Heavy Ion Species Research Articles

Comparative study of magnetic field effect on fast plasma flow of heavy and light species investigated by spectroscopic measurement

To understand the effects of magnetic fields on the propagating plasma flows of heavy and light ion species, a laboratory-scale experiment was conducted using a pulsed-power discharge. The plasma drift velocity and electron temperature were estimated by time-of-flight and line-pair methods, respectively, using spectroscopic measurements. Ion current waveforms were measured using an ion collector. When a magnetic field was applied, the plasma drift velocity decreased and the electron temperature increased in both heavy and light plasmas. The magnetic Reynolds number, pressure balance between the plasma and magnetic field, and ion current waveforms show that heavy plasma has a high possibility of deforming the magnetic field and generating accelerated ions through interaction with the magnetic field.

Validation of the diamond detectors for the Super Fragment Separator beam diagnostics

The Super-FRS at the FAIR accelerator complex will adopt Chemical Vapor Deposition diamond detectors as radiation-hard particle rate counters. Their role will be to monitor the beam transmission for beams with ions rates up to 107 ions/spill and to calibrate the other beam diagnostics devices that are in duty at higher beam intensities. The target vacuum chamber of the Super-FRS hosts a 7 × 7 mm2 single crystal diamond and a 25 × 25 mm2 polycrystalline diamond: they are required to detect crossing particles with high efficiency (> 98%) in the case of heavy ion species (Ar to U), and to stand for several years in an environment in which they can potentially accumulate a dose of a few MGy per year. Laboratory measurements and beam test campaigns were arranged in the past years for the validation of the proposed sensors, in particular for the case of the polycrystalline technology. Here we report the outcome of the irradiation of a sensor based on a 20 × 20 mm2 polycrystalline diamond produced by Element Six, with high intensity 1 GeV/nucleon Pb and U beams at GSI (Darmstadt). The detector signal shape characteristics and the ion counting efficiency have been monitored by interleaving periods of low ions rates, to evaluate possible damages or performance degradation during and after a total bombardment of about 6 × 1011 heavy ions.

Forward Modeling of 3‐D Ion Properties in Jupiter’s Magnetosphere Using Juno/JADE‐I Data

AbstractThe Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment Ion sensor (JADE‐I) on NASA’s Juno mission provides in‐situ measurements of ions from 0.1 to 46.2 keV/q inside Jupiter’s magnetosphere. JADE‐I is used to study the plasma with two types of datasets from the same measurement: Time‐of‐flight (TOF) and SPECIES. The TOF dataset provides mass‐per‐charge measurements with a range of 1–64 amu/q but oversamples particles over 6π steradian viewing per spacecraft spin and has little directional information. On the other hand, the SPECIES dataset can provide a good measurement of the flow direction but does not provide mass‐per‐charge information due to the telemetry limit. In this study, we developed a 2‐step forward modeling method that combines the advantages and avoids the disadvantages of TOF and SPECIES data to derive the 3‐D properties of heavy ions. Assuming that the ion velocity distribution can be described with the kappa distribution, we first perform the forward model fit of the TOF data to calculate the relative abundance of heavy ion species. Then we fix the relative abundance and perform the second forward model fit on the SPECIES data. Using this method, we obtain the densities of different heavy ions, the shared temperature and kappa value, and the 3‐D flow velocity vector. Some data examples of the equatorial plasma disk before Perijove 24 are included to demonstrate the method. Plasma properties can then be mapped to explore spatial and temporal variabilities in Jupiter’s magnetosphere.

A review of N+ observations in the ionosphere-magnetosphere system

Most studies have yet to consider and assess the transport and energization of N+ ions throughout the ionosphere-magnetosphere system, in addition to that of O+ and other heavy ion species. The limited observational record of N+ presence in near-Earth plasma, partly due to instrument limitations to distinguish ion species of similar masses, has obscured its significant contribution to the near-Earth plasma. This letter reviews the most notable observations of N+ ions, starting from the early low altitude measurements from Sputnik III in the ionosphere to the measurements reported by the Enhanced Polar Outflow Probe (e-POP) mission. The available observational data set suggests that nitrogen ions are constant companions of outflowing oxygen ions, and their abundances vary with season, solar cycle, time of day, and geomagnetic activity. This strong record of nitrogen presence in the ionosphere-magnetosphere system raises the question of ionic composition and the need for caution when interpreting O+ measurements from current missions.

Effects of Different Factors on Single Event Effects Introduced by Heavy Ions in SiGe Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor: A TCAD Simulation

In this paper, the effects of different factors, including the heavy ions striking location, incident angle, linear energy transfer (LET) value, projected range, ambient temperature and bias state, on the single event transient introduced by heavy ions irradiation in the SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) were investigated by the TCAD simulation. The results show that the current transient peak value, collected charge and carrier type of each terminal are changed by the striking location, incident angle and bias state. The current transient peak value and collected charge increase with the LET value, while they decrease with the ambient temperature. When heavy ions vertically irradiate the collector and substrate, the current transient peak value and collected charge increase with the projected range; therefore, the species of heavy ions should be considered in studying the single event effects of the SiGe HBT induced by heavy ions irradiation. The microphysical mechanism of these factors influencing the single event effects of the SiGe HBT is discussed in this work.

Magnetically driven coupling in relativistic radiation-mediated shocks

ABSTRACT The radiation drag in photon-rich environments of cosmic explosions can seed kinetic instabilities by inducing velocity spreads between relativistically streaming plasma components. Such microturbulence is likely imprinted on the breakout signals of radiation-mediated shocks. However, large-scale, transverse magnetic fields in the deceleration region of the shock transition can suppress the dominant kinetic instabilities by preventing the development of velocity separations between electron–positron pairs and a heavy ion species. We use a 1D five-fluid radiative transfer code to generate self-consistent profiles of the radiation drag force and plasma composition in the deceleration region. For increasing magnetization, our models predict rapidly growing pair multiplicities and a substantial radiative drag developing self-similarly throughout the deceleration region. We extract the critical magnetization parameter σc, determining the limiting magnetic field strength at which a three-species plasma can develop kinetic instabilities before reaching the isotropized downstream. For a relativistic, single ion plasma drifting with γu = 10 in the upstream of a relativistic radiation-mediated shock, we find the threshold σc ≈ 10−7 for the onset of microturbulence. Suppression of plasma instabilities in the case of multi-ion composition would likely require much higher values of σc. Identifying high-energy signatures of microturbulence in shock breakout signals and combining them with the magnetization limits provided in this work will allow a deeper understanding of the magnetic environment of cosmic explosions like supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and neutron star binary mergers.

The need for accurate measurements of thermal velocity distribution functions in the solar wind

The current state of the art thermal particle measurements in the solar wind are insufficient to address many long standing, fundamental physical processes. The solar wind is a weakly collisional ionized gas experiencing collective effects due to long-range electromagnetic forces. Unlike a collisionally mediated fluid like Earth’s atmosphere, the solar wind is not in thermodynamic or thermal equilibrium. For that reason, the solar wind exhibits multiple particle populations for each particle species. We can mostly resolve the three major electron populations (e.g., core, halo, strahl, and superhalo) in the solar wind. For the ions, we can sometimes separate the proton core from a secondary proton beam and heavier ion species like alpha-particles. However, as the solar wind becomes cold or hot, our ability to separate these becomes more difficult. Instrumental limitations have prevented us from properly resolving features within each ion population. This destroys our ability to properly examine energy budgets across transient, discontinuous phenomena (e.g., shock waves) and the evolution of the velocity distribution functions. Herein we illustrate both the limitations of current instrumentation and why higher resolutions are necessary to properly address the fundamental kinetic physics of the solar wind. This is accomplished by directly comparing to some current solar wind observations with calculations of velocity moments to illustrate the inaccuracy and incompleteness of poor resolution data.

Gas-dynamic approach to the theory of non-linear ion-acoustic waves in plasma with Kaniadakis’ distributed species

The non-linear theory of ion-acoustic waves in two-spesies isotropic collisionless plasma is developed. Both light electron and heavy ion species in the plasma are distributed with Kaniadakis’ statistics. Kaniadakis’ gas law is derived. The exact formula for the Sagdeev pseudopotential in parametric form is derived by the method based on the integration of the inverse function. The pseudopotential is analyzed. It is shown that periodic ion-acoustic waves and solitons are possible in the studied plasma. The differential equation describing the profile of the ion concentration in the wave is derived. The profiles of this concentration in the periodic ion-acoustic wave and soliton are calculated.

Highlighting the Importance of Characterization Techniques Employed in Adsorption Using Metal-Organic Frameworks for Water Treatment.

The accumulation of toxic heavy metal ions continues to be a global concern due to their adverse effects on the health of human beings and animals. Adsorption technology has always been a preferred method for the removal of these pollutants from wastewater due to its cost-effectiveness and simplicity. Hence, the development of highly efficient adsorbents as a result of the advent of novel materials with interesting structural properties remains to be the ultimate objective to improve the adsorption efficiencies of this method. As such, advanced materials such as metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) that are highly porous crystalline materials have been explored as potential adsorbents for capturing metal ions. However, due to their diverse structures and tuneable surface functionalities, there is a need to find efficient characterization techniques to study their atomic arrangements for a better understanding of their adsorption capabilities on heavy metal ions. Moreover, the existence of various species of heavy metal ions and their ability to form complexes have triggered the need to qualitatively and quantitatively determine their concentrations in the environment. Hence, it is crucial to employ techniques that can provide insight into the structural arrangements in MOF composites as well as their possible interactions with heavy metal ions, to achieve high removal efficiency and adsorption capacities. Thus, this work provides an extensive review and discussion of various techniques such as X-ray diffraction, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller theory, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy employed for the characterization of MOF composites before and after their interaction with toxic metal ions. The review further looks into the analytical methods (i.e., inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and atomic absorption spectroscopy) used for the quantification of heavy metal ions present in wastewater treatment.

Resolving Space Plasma Species With Electrostatic Analyzers

Electrostatic analyzers resolve the energy-per-charge distributions of charged plasma particles. Some space plasma instruments use electrostatic analyzers among other units, such as aperture deflectors and position sensitive detectors, in order to resolve the three-dimensional energy (velocity) distribution functions of plasma particles. When these instruments do not comprise a mass analyzer unit, different species can be resolved only if there are measurable differences in their energy-per-charge distributions. This study examines the ability of single electrostatic analyzer systems in resolving co-moving plasma species with different mass-per-charge ratios. We consider examples of static plasma consisting of two species of heavy negative ions measured by a typical electrostatic analyzer design, similar to the electron spectrometer on board Cassini spacecraft. We demonstrate an appropriate modeling technique to simulate the basic features of the instrument response in the specific plasma conditions and we quantify its ability to resolve the key species as a function of the spacecraft speed and the plasma temperature. We show that for the parameter range we examine, the mass resolution increases with increasing spacecraft speed and decreasing plasma temperature. We also demonstrate how our model can analyze real measurements and drive future instrument designs.

Electrostatic Ion-cyclotron Wave Excitation by a Gyrating Ion Beam in a Magnetized Plasma Containing Heavy Positive Ions

In the present paper, we have developed a theoretical model of cylindrical magnetized plasma column consisting of electrons, ions & heavy positive ion species. A gyrating ion beam of potassium having radius ~1.5 cm and energy 10eV is launched through one end of the cylinder parallel to the static magnetic field and the electrostatic ion cyclotron wave is assumed to propagate nearly perpendicular to the magnetic field. The presence of heavy positive ions in the collisionless magnetized plasma decreases the critical drift for the excitation of EIC waves and hence the injected beam drives the electrostatic ion cyclotron (EIC) waves to instability through Cerenkov interaction. Therefore, the plasma is observed to contains two excited EIC wave modes; a (light positive) ion mode and a (heavy positive) ion mode. The frequencies and growth rates for both the positive unstable modes are worked out using fluid theory for the typical existing experimental parameters which are found to increase with the increase in ion beam energy and beam density. It is also observed that the unstable wave frequency and growth rate for both the modes increases with the increase in relative ion concentration of and heavy positive ions respectively. Magnetic field is also one of the important factors which influence the plasma instabilities appreciably. As the magnetic field increases, the frequency of both the ion modes increases linearly.

MAVEN Observations of Low Frequency Steepened Magnetosonic Waves and Associated Heating of the Martian Nightside Ionosphere

AbstractWe present Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) observations of low frequency steepened fast magnetosonic waves in the Martian magnetosphere and ionosphere. Solar wind pressure pulses generated in the upstream foreshock region impact the magnetopause and generate the magnetosonic waves within the magnetosphere, in a process analogous to the production of magnetic Pc pulsations in the terrestrial magnetosphere. The draped nature of the IMF about Mars, combined with the near‐perpendicular propagation of these waves across the magnetic field, act to channel these waves into the nightside ionosphere, where they are observed in their non‐linear steepened form. Coincident‐in‐time ion observations show that the light (H+) and heavy (O+, O2+, CO2+) planetary ion distribution functions possess significant suprathermal energetic tails, arising from wave‐particle interactions with the steepened waves. The short gyro period and small gyro radius of the protons, relative to the steepened waves, results in proton heating via adiabatic compression. In contrast, the long gyro period of the heavy ions relative to the wave frequency leads to nonadiabatic heating via wave‐trapping processes. The light and heavy ion species are heated above escape energy by these waves, even down close to the exobase. A limited statistical study of 101 neighboring orbits found that similar wave events occurred on 28% of orbits analyzed, suggesting that such wave‐heating events may be important drivers of the Mars nightside ionospheric dynamics and energy budget. Our discussion includes placing our results in the context of solar wind energy transfer to the ionospheres of unmagnetized and magnetized bodies in general.

A Single Crystal Hybrid Ligand Framework of Copper(II) with Stable Intrinsic Blue-Light Luminescence in Aqueous Solution.

Single-crystal solid–liquid dual-phase hybrid organic–inorganic ligand frameworks with reversible sensing response facilitated by external stimuli have received significant attention in recent years. This report presents a significant leap in designing electronic structures that display reversible dual-phase photoluminescence properties from single-crystal hybrid ligand frameworks. Three-dimensional Cu(C3N2H4)4Cl2 complex frameworks were formed through the intermolecular hydrogen bonding and π⋯π stacking supramolecular interactions. The absorption band peaks at 627 nm were assigned to d–d transition showing 10Dq = 15,949 cm−1 and crystal field stabilization energy (CFSE) = 0.6 × 10Dq = 114.4 kJmol−1, while the ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) of complexes was displayed at 292 nm. The intense luminescence band results from LMCT present at 397 nm. Considering its structure, air stability, framework forming and stable luminescence in aqueous solution, the Cu(C3N2H4)4Cl2 complex shows potential for luminescence Cu-based sensors using emission intensity to detect heavy metal ion species.

A Review of Membrane-Facilitated Liquid-Solid Conversion: Adding Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) Multi-Applicability for Metal Analysis

Water splashing and evaporation are challenging aspects in Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) analysis when it comes to aqueous analyte. By converting the liquid sample into solid, among many other methods, one can improve the analytical performance of LIBS. Membrane is a type of material which can be used to facilitate liquid-solid conversion through various procedures; drop-wising, adsorption, filtration, and phase inversion. In a spotlight, ion exchange membrane allows LIBS technique to analyze the specific heavy metal ion species. This review article reports on advancement of membrane-facilitated liquid-solid conversion to enhance LIBS quantitative analysis of aqueous metals. Such method had been reported to generate low limit of detections (LODs), even up to sub µg/kg. The accuracy and precision produced by the reported methods were not significantly different to that obtained from conventional analytical techniques, such as Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). In conclusion, the use of membrane to convert the analyte can add the application of LIBS for multiple purposes with a satisfying analytical performance.

Generalized impurity pinch in partially magnetized multi-ion plasma

In a two-ion-species plasma with disparate ion masses, heavy ions tend to concentrate in the low-temperature region of collisionally magnetized plasma and in the high-temperature region of collisionally unmagnetized plasma, respectively. Moreover, collisional magnetization can be determined as the ratio of the light ion gyrofrequency to the collision frequency of light and heavy ion species, and the behavior of this effect in the intermediate regime of partially magnetized plasma is predominantly dependent on this Hall parameter. Multi-ion cross-field transport has been described before in the collisionally magnetized plasma regime, and generalized pinch relations, which describe densities of ion species in equilibrium in that plasma, are found in the literature. In this paper, the role of collisional magnetization and Larmor magnetization in multi-ion collisional transport is clarified, and generalized pinch relations are extended to the partially magnetized regime in which the ion Hall parameter may be small, as long as electrons remain collisionally magnetized. Equilibrium ion density profiles have the same dependence on external forces and on each other regardless of collisional magnetization of ions. The expansion of the range of validity of multi-ion collisional transport models makes them applicable to a wider range of laboratory plasma conditions. In particular, ion density profiles evolve sufficiently fast for radial impurity transport to be observable around stagnation on MagLIF, leading to expulsion of heavy ion impurities from the hotspot as long as plasma becomes sufficiently collisionally magnetized during the implosion.

Impact of heavy ion energy and species on single-event upset in commercial floating gate cells

The impact of heavy ion energy and species on single-event upsets (SEU) sensitivity in state-of-the-art NAND Flash memories is investigated in this paper. Experimental results indicate that the heavy ion with the same linear-energy-transfer (LET) but higher energy and mass will cause a decrease in the SEU cross-section of the three kinds of floating gate cells when the device surface LET value is 37.6 and 50.3 MeV·cm2/mg. The Geant4 simulation analysis show that the influence of the sensitive layer depth on LET and the difference in ion track structure are the main mechanisms for this experimental result. Some typical satellite orbits are also selected to study the influence of heavy ion energy and species on predicting the on-orbit error rate using SPACE RADIATION software.

Nonlinear kinetic simulation study of the ion–ion streaming instability in single- and multi-ion species plasmas

The nonlinear evolution of the ion–ion streaming instability (IISI) is studied using numerical techniques novel to this problem that afford direct insight into the evolution of the particle distributions of each species. During the linear phase of the instability, we demonstrate quantitative agreement with linear kinetic theory. Subsequently, the electrostatic field generated by the IISI causes ring-like velocity distributions of ions to form that are both heated and slowed to varying degrees relative to their initial flows. Due to variation in the trapping conditions for ion species of differing charge-to-mass ratio, when flows of multiple species interact, the nonlinear evolution of each species can be starkly different: we show a case where a lighter ion species is completely stopped by a heavier ion species via the IISI alone (i.e., without collisions) and, for the first time, demonstrate how the IISI can introduce a relative flow between ion species that initially have the same flow velocities, thereby separating them.

Enhanced collective stopping and drift of electron beams in fusion plasmas with heavy-ion species

The transport and energy deposition of relativistic electron beams in transversely nonuniform plasmas are investigated with two-dimensional electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations. For the beam with radius much larger than plasma skin depth, the current filamentation instability excited by the electron beam can be observed, which breaks the beam into filaments and leads to the formation of strong magnetic fields consequently. The effects of plasma ion species are significant and asymmetric transverse magnetic fields are formed in plasmas with heavy-ion species due to the asymmetric neutralization of beam space charge by plasma ions. The asymmetric transverse magnetic fields contribute to the directional drift of beam electrons to lower plasma density regions, which may accelerate the filaments merger process and lead to highly localized beam-energy deposition in plasmas.

Suprathermal Fe in the Earth's Plasma Environment: Cluster RAPID Observations

AbstractBaryonic matter in geospace is almost exclusively in a plasma state, with protons (H ) and to some extent ionized helium (He) and oxygen (O) being the dominant ion species. But also other heavier ion species and even molecular ions are present in geospace. The Research with Adaptive Particle Imaging Detectors (RAPID) on board the Cluster satellites can identify and characterize some of these ions by utilizing their measured time of flight and energy. Usually, the measurements are then assigned into three discrete species channels; protons (H ), helium (He), and a common channel for carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen (CNO), each with flux, energy, and angular information. But RAPID also has a Direct Event (DE) diagnostic mode in which the full time of flight and energy information for a limited number of incident particles are stored. With knowledge about energy losses in the various detector parts, it is then possible to derive the atomic mass of the incident particle. In this paper we report on results from a study of Cluster DE events during the years 2001–2018, with a particular emphasis of iron (Fe) ions. We show that suprathermal Fe ions can be found all over geospace covered by Cluster, and that the time variation is consistent with modulation by geomagnetic disturbances and solar activity. We do not find any clear correlations between detection of suprathermal Fe and meteor showers or sputtering off the moon.

Data for secondary-electron production from ion precipitation at Jupiter III: Target and projectile processes in H[formula omitted], H, and H[formula omitted] + H[formula omitted] collisions

To extend the range of data required for modeling the secondary-electron production from ion precipitation into the upper atmosphere of Jupiter, inelastic processes for collisions of 1 keV to 25 MeV H+, H, and H− with H2 are considered. As in other work treating the dominant heavy-ion species of magnetospheric origin, O and S ions (Schultz et al., 2017, 2019; Gharibnejad et al., 2019) the classical trajectory Monte Carlo method is employed to describe the secondary-electron-producing channels (single and double ionization, transfer ionization, and single and double stripping) as well as the other inelastic channels (single and double charge transfer and projectile and target excitation) required to model the energy loss and charge state evolution of the precipitating ions in their passage through the atmospheric gas. Data is described and tabulated both as directly obtained from these calculations and normalized to widely accepted recommended values (Hunter et al., 1990) for channels for which recommendations exist. As in the previous work, the overall accuracy and completeness of the data presented is verified by use of a Monte Carlo ion-transport simulation to obtain the stopping power and ion-fraction populations as a function of impact energy in comparison with accepted values. The addition of the present data to models of secondary-electron production in Jupiter’s atmosphere improves such model’s ability to interpret in situ observations of the precipitating ions’ effect by the spacecraft Juno as well as enhancing the physical reality of models of the coupling of the Jovian magnetosphere, ionosphere, and atmosphere.