States Of Xenon Research Articles

The thermal equation of state of xenon: Implications for noble gas incorporation in serpentine minerals and their transport to depth

Isotopic signatures of heavy noble gases in the Earth's mantle contain a major component recycled by subduction. The experimental and field studies reported in the literature show increasing evidence that serpentine minerals can hold large quantities of noble gases, potentially serving as their primary vectors to depth. However, at present, their retention mechanism in these minerals is not fully understood. Additionally, noble gas solubilities from field and experimental studies show large differences in terms of elemental concentrations. Here, we performed crystal chemical modeling to evaluate the incorporation mechanism of noble gases and their solubilities in serpentine minerals along subduction zone geotherms. To this end, we determined the thermal equation of state of xenon using in situ X-ray diffraction and absorption up to 60 GPa and 728 K. In this range, the xenon equation of state is well-adjusted using the Mie-Grüneisen-Debye formalism with relevant fitting parameters. We show that the experimentally observed solubility trend, which follows the order Ne < He < Ar < Kr < Xe, can be explained by the incorporation of noble gases at two distinct crystallographic sites. The light noble gases He and Ne are most likely retained at the van der Waals hydrogen-oxygen bond position between the layers, while the heavy and larger noble gases enter the voids between the six-membered SiO4 rings. It should be noted that octahedral sites can potentially host xenon, but cannot accommodate argon and krypton. Indeed, this would require unrealistic flexibility of the crystal lattice. Our models extended to mantle wedge conditions predict decreasing solubilities, particularly for light noble gases, in agreement with observations from natural samples. Compared to the noble gas concentrations determined experimentally in serpentine, natural concentrations are much higher and very variable. Our solubility model confirms that equilibrium processes cannot explain these observations. We therefore suggest that the high and variable noble gas concentrations found in natural samples must be due to hybrid hydration processes in ultramafic rocks that involve different degrees of water activities.

Xenon Nanobubbles and Residual Defects in Annealed Xe‐Implanted Si(001): Analysis by the Combination of Advanced Synchrotron X‐Ray Diffraction and Transmission Electron Microscopy Techniques

AbstractResidual crystalline defects on the subsurface of Xe‐implanted Si(001) and post‐annealed substrates are investigated by advanced X‐ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy techniques. Local characterization highlights the features of recrystallization and structural evolution induced by thermal treatments resulting from the formation of gaseous Xe nanobubbles embedded in a heavily twinned surrounding Si matrix. Both mappings of conventional reciprocal space and X‐ray multiple‐beam diffraction exhibited different aspects from the kinematical and dynamical X‐ray theories, respectively, contributing to a better understanding and description approach of residual damage in ion‐beam implanted materials. A simple layered model is proposed based on the experimental Q‐Scans profiles and computational calculations, distinguishing host matrix structural strain artifacts from the Xe‐bubbles pressure probed by a Xe M4,5‐edge blue shift in EELS spectra. Bubble pressure is determined by extrapolating the equation of state for xenon at high temperatures. The study also supports an experimental constant CXeM‐edge for the ∆E ≅ C n theoretical expression.

Thermally Tunable Adsorption of Xenon in Crystalline Molecular Sorbent.

The thermostability of encapsulated xenon is investigated in a series of isostructural crystalline sorbents. These sorbents consist of metal-organic capsules, with the general formula of [ConFe4-nL6]4- (n = 1, 2, 3 and 4), where L2- is an organic linker with two sulfonate groups. In the crystalline sorbent, guanidinium cations form H-bond networks with the peripheral sulfonate groups in the solid state and trap xenon in the molecular cavities, which are at least 2.7 times the volume of xenon. When heated, the sorbent retains xenon up to 561 K, i.e., 396 K higher than the boiling point of xenon. Furthermore, the thermostability of trapped xenon can be modulated by varying the ratio of Co:Fe in the crystalline sorbent. Elemental analysis on a single crystal by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy confirms the homogeneous distribution of Co and Fe in the sorbent. Structural analyses reveal that the expansion of capsule cavity is proportional to the Co:Fe ratio, with increases of 0.049(1) Å and 6.4(8) Å3 in metal-metal distance and cavity volume, per substitution of Fe by Co center. Steric repulsion between peripheral sulfonate groups is found to render a hypothetical face-centered cubic structure of (C(NH2)3)4[Fe4L6] not accessible, which would have trapped xenon with exceptional thermostability. The stable and tunable trapping of xenon in crystalline sorbents by over-sized molecular cavities suggests a new strategy for separation and storage of xenon, through introduction of kinetic barriers, such as H-bond networks.

Laser-induced fluorescence-dip spectroscopy of Rydberg states of xenon for electric field measurement in plasma.

Laser-induced fluorescence-dip spectroscopy is considerably modified by using a special broad band dye laser. With a linewidth of the laser of 1nm, it is possible to detect a wide spectrum of the relevant Stark shifts in order to measure the weak electric fields in plasmas. Depending on the selection of the Rydberg level, the measuring range extends from about 100 V/cm to a few kV/cm. The main advantage of the newly developed method is the possibility to obtain the complete image of the field distribution in a wide spatial area over a few cm within one measurement step at a given time. This allows reliable electric field measurements for phenomena with poor pulse-to-pulse reproducibility on the microscale. The basics of the method and first experimental test results are presented in detail.

Coster-Kronig and super Coster-Kronig transitions from the Xe 4s core-hole state.

Coster-Kronig and super Coster-Kronig transitions from the Xe 4s core-hole state are investigated by coincidence detection of all the emitted electrons and product ions. The branching ratios of the transitions are determined by analyzing the coincidence data and comparing them to calculations. Subsequent decay pathways following these first-step Auger decays are also clarified.

Critical implications of ion-surface energy accommodation and neutralization mechanism in hollow cathode physics

Self-heating thermionic hollow cathodes are essential components in modern plasma thrusters. To fully understand their operation, three interdependent physical domains must be considered: plasma discharge physics, thermal response of the cathode structure, and chemical evolution of plasma exposed surfaces. In this work, we develop the first self-consistently coupled plasma–thermal–chemical simulation platform for hollow cathode operation using lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6) and Xe and study its performance against our experimentally determined temperature measurements. Results show that the customary assumptions of single-step resonant neutralization and full energy accommodation in ion-surface collisions fail to reproduce our empirical observations. We propose a two-step neutralization mechanism that consists of resonant neutralization to the first excited state of xenon followed by Auger de-excitation to the ground state, along with system specific accommodation factors. In this way, the agreement between the results of the simulations and experiments was achieved. These fundamental processes could govern neutralization in other cathode technologies where low work function emitters are employed and should therefore be accounted for in physical models. In addition, the new simulation platform allows us to better estimate the equilibrium work function of LaB6 hollow cathode emitters. In the cathode studied here, we found that the effective work function is 2.25 eV, which is significantly lower than previous estimates, and leads to better than expected cathode material performance with important implications for space missions.

Neutral atom density measurements of xenon plasma inside a μ10 microwave ion thruster using two-photon laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy

This paper reports measurements of the xenon ground state and excited state densities inside a μ10 microwave ion thruster. This thruster exhibits a 40% thrust enhancement upon changing from the waveguide to the discharge chamber propellant injection mode. In the present work, the associated mechanism was quantitatively evaluated using two-photon laser induced fluorescence (TALIF) spectroscopy to monitor the thruster waveguide. The 834.7 nm emission from excited state xenon was investigated with a 224.3 nm dye laser to excite the Xe I 5p61 S0 6pʹ [3/2]2 state, compared with the emission without the laser. The resulting data confirm that the neutral density exhibits a linear relationship with the propellant flow rate in the cold gas and ionized state, while the ion acceleration decreases the neutral density by the same order of magnitude as the propellant utilization efficiency is changed. As the propellant flow rate increases, the collisions of neutrals that generate excited states occur in the waveguide and, when this process plateaus, the ground state emission suddenly increases. Propellant injection from the discharge chamber is evidently effective at suppressing collisions with electrons in the waveguide that generate excited states and that potentially interfere with microwave propagation.

Measuring pulmonary gas exchange using compartment-selective xenon-polarization transfer contrast (XTC) MRI.

To demonstrate the feasibility of generating red blood cell (RBC) and tissue/plasma (TP)-specific gas-phase (GP) depolarization maps using xenon-polarization transfer contrast (XTC) MR imaging. Imaging was performed in three healthy subjects, an asymptomatic smoker, and a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patient. Single-breath XTC data were acquired through a series of three GP images using a 2D multi-slice GRE during a 12 s breath-hold. A series of 8 ms Gaussian inversion pulses spaced 30 ms apart were applied in-between the images to quantify the exchange between the GP and dissolved-phase (DP) compartments. Inversion pulses were either centered on-resonance to generate contrast, or off-resonance to correct for other sources of signal loss. For an alternative scheme, inversions of both RBC and TP resonances were inserted in lieu of off-resonance pulses. Finally, this technique was extended to a multi-breath protocol consistent with tidal breathing, involving 30 consecutive acquisitions. Inversion pulses shifted off-resonance by 20 ppm to mimic the distance between the RBC and TP resonances demonstrated selectivity, and initial GP depolarization maps illustrated stark magnitude and distribution differences between healthy and diseased subjects that were consistent with traditional approaches. The proposed DP-compartment selective XTC MRI technique provides information on gas exchange between all three detectable states of xenon in the lungs and is sufficiently sensitive to indicate differences in lung function between the study subjects. Investigated extensions of this approach to imaging schemes that either minimize breath-hold duration or the overall number of breath-holds open avenues for future research to improve measurement accuracy and patient comfort.

Multiple ionisation and Coulomb explosion in terawatt photoexcitation of Xenon clusters: An experimental and theoretical study

Multiple ionisation and Coulomb explosion following photoexcitation of xenon clusters has been studied at ∼1012 W/cm2 at three different wavelengths in UV and visible region. Multiply charged xenon ions (Xen+) up to +4, +6 and +10 states were observed in time-of-flight mass spectra at 266, 355 and 532 nm respectively. Energetic electrons were also detected and electron energy distribution was measured at all the three wavelengths. The maximum electron energy was found to be dependent on the ionising wavelength. It has been established that multiphoton ionisation creates Xe+ ions and the energised electrons cause secondary ionization of singly charged xenon ion (Xe+) to give rise to higher charged states of xenon. An analytical model has been developed to understand the multiple ionization of xenon clusters at terawatt laser intensity. It reveals that lowering of ionization potential and excitation to Rydberg states of ions are important factors to generate high charge states like Xe10+commensurate with the experimental results.

Maximizing optical production of metastable xenon.

The wide range of applications using metastable noble gas atoms has led to a number of different approaches for producing large metastable state densities. Here we investigate a recently proposed hybrid approach that combines RF discharge techniques with optical pumping from an auxiliary state in xenon. We study the effect of xenon pressure on establishing initial population in both the auxiliary state and metastable state via the RF discharge, and the role of the optical pumping beam power in transferring population between the states. We find experimental conditions that maximize the effects, and provide a robust platform for producing relatively large long-term metastable state densities.

Auger cascades leading to higher charged states in xenon driven by an X-ray free-electron-laser pulse

We study the interaction of xenon with an 850 eV photon energy FEL pulse. We compute single-photon ionisation cross sections and Auger rates by adopting to atoms a formalism we previously developed for diatomic molecules. In this formulation, a bound orbital is expressed as a sum of wave functions each corresponding to a different l quantum number. In contrast, in previous formulations only one l quantum number is associated with a bound orbital. As a result, in the non-relativistic regime, the description of the bound states is more accurate in our computations. Employing a Monte-Carlo technique, we find that our results for the ion state yields of xenon compare well with experimental results. Moreover, we find that when xenon is driven by two FEL pulses of the same energy but different pulse duration, higher-charged states are produced in the case of the longer duration and less intense laser pulse. An analysis of the ionization pathways reveals that less single-photon absorptions underlie the formation of each higher-charged state for the longer duration pulse compared to the shorter one. We find that the reason for the formation of higher-charged states for the longer duration pulse is the prevalence of Auger cascades.Graphical abstract

Investigation of convergent Richtmyer–Meshkov instability at tin/xenon interface with pulsed magnetic driven imploding**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11605183 and 11502254).

The Richtmyer–Meshkov instability at the interface of solid state tin material and xenon gases under cylinder geometry is studied in this paper. The experiments were conducted at FP-1 facility in Institute of Fluid Physics, China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP). The FP-1 facility is a pulsed power driver which could generate high amplitude magnetic field to drive metal liner imploding. Convergent shock wave was generated by impacting a magnetic-driven aluminium liner onto a inner mounted tin liner. The convergent evolution of the disturbance pre-machined onto the tin linerʼs inner surface was diagnosed by x-radiography. The spike amplitudes were derived from x-ray frames and were compared with linear theory. An analytical model containing material strength effect was derived and matched well to the experimental results. This sensibility of the disturbance evolution to material strength property shines light to the application of Richtmyer–Meshkov instability to infer material strength.

Microscopic simulation of xenon-based optical TPCs in the presence of molecular additives

We introduce a simulation framework for the transport of high and low energy electrons in xenon-based optical time projection chambers (OTPCs). The simulation relies on elementary cross sections (electron–atom and electron–molecule) and incorporates, in order to compute the gas scintillation, the reaction/quenching rates (atom–atom and atom–molecule) of the first 41 excited states of xenon and the relevant associated excimers, together with their radiative cascade. The results compare positively with observations made in pure xenon and its mixtures with CO2 and CF4 in a range of pressures from 0.1 to 10 bar. This work sheds some light on the elementary processes responsible for the primary and secondary xenon-scintillation mechanisms in the presence of additives, that are of interest to the OTPC technology.

Neutron activation of impurity seeding gases within a DEMO environment

In preparation for the design of a future tritium-handling plant for the DEMO fusion reactor, a study was undertaken to consider the activation of gases, in addition to those used as fuel, which are to be injected into DEMO for the purpose of reducing damage to the divertor. Likely impurity gases were identified as nitrogen, neon, argon, krypton and xenon, with no clear consensus as to which were preferred, and in what quantities these would be injected. Modelling with the FISPACT-II code, using the TENDL-2014 libraries as input, was performed to determine the products arising from their activation by the neutron flux expected at the DEMO first wall. The subsequent evolution of the progeny was investigated, along with a variation in the activation time.Results indicate a variety of progeny are produced, most of which are short lived. However, the gamma emission from some progeny such as argon-41 from argon injection, from some metastable states and other isotopes of krypton and bromine following krypton injection, and from some metastable states of xenon following injection of xenon, could potentially cause concern.

State-resolved attosecond reversible and irreversible dynamics in strong optical fields

Strong-field ionization (SFI) is a key process for accessing real-time quantum dynamics of electrons on the attosecond timescale. The theoretical foundation of SFI was pioneered in the 1960s, and later refined by various analytical models. While asymptotic ionization rates predicted by these models have been tested to be in reasonable agreement for a wide range of laser parameters, predictions for SFI on the sub-laser-cycle timescale are either beyond the scope of the models or show strong qualitative deviations from full quantum-mechanical simulations. Here, using the unprecedented state specificity of attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, we follow the real-time SFI process of the two valence spin–orbit states of xenon. The results reveal that the irreversible tunnelling contribution is accompanied by a reversible electronic population that exhibits an observable spin–orbit-dependent phase delay. A detailed theoretical analysis attributes this observation to transient ground-state polarization, an unexpected facet of SFI that cannot be captured by existing analytical models that focus exclusively on the production of asymptotic electron/ion yields. An experimental and theoretical study of the real-time dynamics in strong-field ionization of xenon atoms reveals the previously unknown role of transient ground-state polarization.

Novel xenon calibration scheme for two-photon absorption laser induced fluorescence of hydrogen.

Two photon absorption laser induced fluorescence (TALIF) measurements of neutral hydrogen and its isotopes are typically calibrated by performing TALIF measurements on krypton with the same diagnostic system and using the known ratio of the absorption cross sections [K. Niemi et al., J. Phys. D 34, 2330 (2001)]. Here we present the measurements of a new calibration method based on a ground state xenon scheme for which the fluorescent emission wavelength is nearly identical to that of hydrogen, thereby eliminating chromatic effects in the collection optics and simplifying detector calibration. We determine that the ratio of the TALIF cross sections of xenon and hydrogen is 0.024 ± 0.001.

Investigation of coupling mechanisms in attosecond transient absorption of autoionizing states: comparison of theory and experiment in xenon

Attosecond transient absorption spectra near the energies of autoionizing states are analyzed in terms of the photon coupling mechanisms to other states. In a recent experiment, the autoionization lifetimes of highly excited states of xenon were determined and compared to a simple expression based on a model of how quantum coherence determines the decay of a metastable state in the transient absorption spectrum. Here it is shown that this procedure for extracting lifetimes is more general and can be used in cases involving either resonant or nonresonant coupling of the attosecond-probed autoionizing state to either continua or discrete states by a time-delayed near infrared (NIR) pulse. The fits of theoretically simulated absorption signals for the 6p resonance in xenon (lifetime = 21.1 fs) to this expression yield the correct decay constant for all the coupling mechanisms considered, properly recovering the time signature of twice the autoionization lifetime due to the coherent nature of the transient absorption experiment. To distinguish between these two coupling cases, the characteristic dependencies of the transient absorption signals on both the photon energy and time delay are investigated. Additional oscillations versus delay-time in the measured spectrum are shown and quantum beat analysis is used to pinpoint the major photon-coupling mechanism induced by the NIR pulse in the current xenon experiment: the NIR pulse resonantly couples the attosecond-probed state, 6p, to an intermediate 8s (at 22.563 eV), and this 8s state is also coupled to a neighboring state (at 20.808 eV).

Stark shift and parity nonconservation for near-degenerate states of xenon

We identify a pair of near-degenerate states of opposite parity in atomic Xe, the $5p^5 10s \,\, ^2[3/2]_2^o$ at $\rm{E}=94759.927$ cm$^{-1}$ and $5p^5 6f \,\, ^2[5/2]_2$ at $\rm{E}= 94759.935$ cm$^{-1}$, for which parity- and time-odd effects are expected to be enhanced by the small energy separation. We present theoretical calculations which indicate narrow widths for both states and we report a calculated value for the weak matrix element, arising from configuration mixing, of $|W|=2.1$ Hz for $^{132}$Xe. In addition, we measured the Stark effect of the $5p^5\,6f$ $^2[5/2]_{2}$ and $5p^5 \,6f \ ^2[3/2]_2$ ($\rm{E} =94737.121\,\rm{cm}^{-1}$) states. The Stark-shift of the $6f$ states is observed to be negative, revealing the presence of nearby $6g$ states at higher energies, which have not been observed before. The Stark-shift measurements imply an upper limit on the weak matrix element of $|W|\!<\!5$ Hz for the near-degenerate states ($10s \,\, ^2[3/2]_2^o$ and $6f \,\, ^2[5/2]_2$), which is in agreement with the presented calculations.

High-spectral-resolution attosecond absorption spectroscopy of autoionization in xenon

The decay of highly excited states of xenon after absorption of extreme ultraviolet light is directly tracked via attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy using a time-delayed near-infrared perturbing pulse. The lifetimes of the autoionizing 5$s$5${p}^{6}$6$p$ and 5$s$5${p}^{6}$7$p$ channels are determined to be (21.9 \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{} 1.3) fs and (48.4 \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{} 5.0) fs, respectively. The observed values support lifetime estimates obtained by traditional linewidth measurements. The experiment additionally obtains the temporal evolution of the decay as a function of energy detuning from the resonance center, and a quantum mechanical formalism is introduced that correctly accounts for the observed energy dependence.

A superconfiguration approach to multi-electron ionization of Xe under strong x-ray irradiation

The production of highly ionized states in xenon under intense x-ray irradiation, is discussed with the help of specific calculations. The approach, which retains only one-photon absorption processes (photoionization and photoexcitation) as well as Auger and radiative relaxations, makes use of properly defined superconfigurations as a global ensemble of configurations. With a tractable number of (super)levels, we explain the occurrence of the highest charge states observed in experiments.