A Newly Developed Non, Destructive Tritium Measurement Technique and Its Application to V-4Cr-4Ti Alloy

A non-destructive and in-situ technique for the measurement of tritium in materials, namely β-ray-induced X-ray spectrometry （BIXS）, has been developed recently. In the present study a V-4Cr-4Ti alloy was pre-heated at 1000℃ for 2 h to form a recrystallization structure before the tritium absorption experiments were conducted. Firstly the hydrogen isotope gas was charazterized by means of a quadrupole mass spectrometer （QMS） and a small-sized ionization chamber. Then hydrogen isotope absorption tests of V-4Cr-4Ti alloy were performed at 400 ℃ and the atomic concentration of hydrogen isotope in V-4Cr-4Ti alloy was estimated as 0.17% with a tritium content of approximately 2.5 ppm. Experimental results indicate that BIXS is a quite useful tool for quantitatively measuring the tritium content and tritium distribution in the surface layers of vanadium alloys and no strong trapping effects of tritium exist in the pre-heated V-4Cr-4Ti alloy.     

BIOCHEMICAL DIFFERENCES IN SOCKEYE SALMON THAT ARE OCEAN FEEDING AND ON THE SPAWNING GROUNDS

Various biochemical parameters measured in sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka, feeding in the Gulf of Alaska in July during the maturation process were contrasted with those obtained from mature sockeye salmon in Steep Creek, a small salmon stream near Juneau, Alaska. Degenerative changes in muscles, such as decrease in total lipid and protein contents in mature salmon were attributed both to the progressed activation of lipid hydrolytic enzymes and to autolytic activity, in addition to the inactivation of lipid and protein syntheses in muscle and liver. The depletion of lipid is associated with the energy utilization for migration and gonadal maturation as a result of the cessation of feeding.     

Schwarzschild microscopes in vacuum ultraviolet and soft X-ray regions

Microscopes in vacuum ultraviolet and soft X-ray regions using a normal incidence type of Schwarzschild objective are reviewed. The objective consists of a concave mirror and a convex mirror coated with a high reflectance multilayer, having a large numerical aperture comparing with other objectives. The microscopes have been used to diagnose inertia-confinement-fusion plasmas, and to investigate small samples or microstructures of inorganic and organic materials by imaging them using laboratory light sources. Synchrotron radiation has been also used to obtain a microbeam for a photoelectron scanning microscope with a spatial resolution of 0.1 μm. The structure and performance of two laboratory microscopes developed at Tohoku University are demonstrated. One of them is a soft X-ray emission imaging microscope, An image of an artificial pattern made of W and SiO2 on Si wafer by focusing Si L emission was presented, The other is an ultraviolet photoelectron scanning microscope using a He (helium) gas discharge lamp. The valence band spectra of a microcrystal of FeWO4 were presented, Furthermore other applications such as demagnifying optics for lithography and optics to gather fluorescence for emission spectroscopy are introduced.     

Multilayer polarization elements and their applications to polarimetric studies in vacuum ultraviolet and soft X-ray regions

Multilayer polarization elements and their applications to polarimetric studies in 20～400 eV region are mainly reviewed.General principle of selecting material combinations to get high linear polarizance multilayers of reflection type is given with practical examples,with periodic or non-periodic layer structures depending on the usage.Transmission type is introduced as linear polarizer and phase shifter.Their applications include polarization diagnosis of laboratory optical systems and synchrotron radiation beamlines of linear and circular polarization,magnetic rotation experiments such as Faraday rotation and magnetic Kerr rotation on magnetic films and multilayers,and ellipsometry to measure optical constants of thin films precisely.Polarization analysis of soft X-ray fluorescence using multilayer-coated grating is also mentioned.Finally this review is summarized with outlook of further developments.