The distribution of atoms in one-dimensional transverse laser cooling field

The distributions characteristics of chromium atoms are discussed in one-dimensional transverse laser cooling field. Base on semi-classical theory, the characteristics of Doppler cooling force on atoms is given, and the distributions of chromium atoms in different laser parameters are simulated. The results show that the best collimation appears at the detuning of the laser frequency equals to line-width of chromium atoms. For the blue-detuned laser, the atomic beam will diverge to some extent.     

An evaluation of a direct cooling method for the ex-vessel corium stabilization

An evaluation of the ex-vessel core catcher system of a sample advanced light water reactor was presented. The core catcher was designed to cool down the molten corium through a combined injection of water and gas from the bottom of the molten corium, which could be effective in the reduction of rapid steam generation. By using the MELCOR code, a scenario analysis was performed for a representative severe accident scenario of the ALWR, that is, the 6-in. large break loss of coolant accident without safe injection. The spreading characteristics of ejected corium at vessel breach were asymptotically evaluated on the core catcher horizontal surface. The composition of the molten corium, the decay power level, and the sacrificial concrete ablation depth with time were obtained by a sacrificial concrete ablation analysis. The corium cooling history in the core catcher during the coolant injection was evaluated to calculate the temporal steam generation rate by considering an energy conservation equation. These were used as the major inputs for the temporal calculations of containment pressure which was performed by using the GASFLOW code. Several cases with change of water and gas injection rates were calculated. It was confirmed that the bottom water/gas injection system was an effective corium cooling method in the ex-vessel core catcher to suppress the quick release of steam.     

Resonance ionization in a gas cell: a feasibility study for a laser ion source

A laser ion source based on resonance photo-ionization in a gas cell is proposed. The gas cell, filled with helium, consists of a target chamber in which the recoil products are stopped and neutralized, and an ionization chamber where the atoms of interest are selectively ionized by the laser light. The extraction of the ions from the ionization chamber through the exit hole-skimmer setup is similar to the ion-guide system. The conditions to obtain an optimal system are given. The results of a two-step one-laser resonance photo-ionization of nickel and the first results of laser ionization in a helium buffer gas cell are presented.     

Laser welding and ablation cutting process for hydraulic connections by remote handling in the ITER diagnostic port plug

To assess hydraulic connections between subcomponents of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) diagnostic port plug, we investigated the laser welding and ablation cutting process, which can be applied to remote handling maintenance. In this study, laser ablation cutting, which vaporizes a small amount of solid material directly into gas by focusing a laser beam of high-density energy, is adopted in order to overcome the limitation of the normal laser cutting technology that the head should be placed as close to the work piece as possible to blow out melt metal at a distance. Complete cutting of a work piece is obtained by repetitive multi-passes of the laser beam. The welding and cutting process were tested on the sample work pieces and finally on a prototype of a hydraulic connection module for remote handling. The results showed that this process can be a promising candidate for hydraulic connections by remote handling. Furthermore the design of the hydraulic connection module has been updated to resolve some technical difficulties that were found during the test.     

Dual chamber laser ion source at LISOL

A new type of gas cell for the resonance ionization laser ion source at the Leuven Isotope Separator On Line (LISOL) has been developed and tested under off-line and on-line conditions. Two-step selective laser ionization is applied to produce purified beams of radioactive isotopes. The selectivity of the ion source has been increased by more than one order of magnitude by separation of the stopping and laser ionization regions. This allows the use of electrical fields for further ion purification.     

Off-line studies of the laser ionization of yttrium at the IGISOL facility

A laser ion source is under development at the IGISOL facility, Jyväskylä, in order to address deficiencies in the ion guide technique. The key elements of interest are those of a refractory nature, whose isotopes and isomers are widely studied using both laser spectroscopic and high precision mass measurement techniques. Yttrium has been the first element of choice for the new laser ion source. In this work, we present a new coupled dye-Ti:Sapphire laser scheme and give a detailed discussion of the results obtained from laser ionization of yttrium atoms produced in an ion guide via resistive heating of a filament. The importance of not only gas purity, but indeed the baseline vacuum pressure in the environment outside the ion guide is discussed in light of the fast gas phase chemistry seen in the yttrium system. A single laser shot model is introduced and is compared to the experimental data in order to extract the level of impurities within the gas cell.     

Detailed studies of photocathodes based on Y thin films grown by PLD technique

The effects of laser fluence on the morphology of Y films in the regime characteristic of multiple-pulse laser deposition were investigated. Y thin films were deposited on silicon and copper substrates. The samples deposited on silicon substrate were used to deduce the morphology and the thickness of the deposited films. On the contrary, the samples deposited on copper were tested as photocathodes in a DC photodiode cell. The interest to produce Y-based photocathodes is due to the low work function of this metal with the possibility to drive such photocathodes with a visible radiation in the radio-frequency photo-injector. In this way it is possible to reduce the thermal emittance of the photoelectron beam and to increase the photocurrent intensity by utilizing the second harmonic of Ti:Sa driver laser. The quantum efficiency was measured for the first time by using a visible CW laser diode emitting at 406 nm.     

Micro-fluidic target chamber machined by proton beam writing for the in situ analysis of gas absorption in synthetic crystals

Many synthetic crystals used for chemical and industrial applications have special internal structures, e.g. nano-pores, which allow separating different gases and fluids. Ion beam analytical methods can be used to study the gas diffusion and absorption in these materials in situ and to visualize their inner surfaces which affect these processes. For this purpose, a small target chamber was constructed in PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) using proton beam writing (PBW). This micro-fluidic structure enables the establishment of a defined atmosphere around a crystal and allows the simultaneous ion beam analysis. In order to confine the gas from the high vacuum in the measurement chamber Si₃N₄-windows of 200 nm thickness were thermally bonded to the structured PMMA block yielding a closed target chamber with the possibility to accomplish PIXE and RBS measurements. In addition, two capillaries were connected to the chamber for gas inlet and evacuation. First tests showed that the construction is leak-proof and allows to establish a defined atmosphere. After that, the Argon gas diffusion into Zn(tbip)-crystals was studied. These measurements have shown unexpectedly high nickel concentrations in the host crystal which reduces the Argon density in these areas after absorption, because the Ni atoms decrease the pore size by replacing Zn-atoms in the Zn(tbip)-lattice. It could be demonstrated that gas diffusion and absorption in organic crystals can be studied in situ with high lateral resolution using ion beam analysis in a dedicated target chamber machined by PBW.     

Mn DEPLETION IN THE SURFACE LAYER OF STAINLESS STEEL 304 LN AT THE TEMPERATURE 1200 K

The Mn component of stainless steel 304 LN has been found to be severely depleted in the surface layer during heating at the temperature 1200 K. The surface concentrations of Mn were reduced by about 2- 3 orders of magnitude in comparison with the bulk value, as was revealed by a secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) system. And the Mn concentration gradient in the surface layer was examined, too, by SIMS. Massive preferential losses of Mn have been determined by using the catcher technique and proton induced X- ray emission (PIXE). A theoretical model has been proposed for calculating the surface concentration changes for a component in an alloy under heating. A comparison shows a good agreement between the calculation and experimental results from SIMS and catcher technique.     

Cesium (Cs) particle formation based on a laser photochemical reaction with a self-injection-seeded Ti:sapphire laser for Cs isotope separation

We studied laser isotope separation of cesium (Cs) on the basis of a laser photochemical reaction and two-photon excitation scheme using a narrow line width Ti:sapphire laser to reduce long-term radioactive toxicity of a long-lived fission product. Using resonant laser irradiation to Cs atoms in hydrogen gas, we observed cesium hydride fine particles and confirmed the formation by calculations using rate equations. Our results show that the process seems promising for efficient Cs isotope separation.     

Criticality safety analysis for a core catcher designed in Korea

Corium is a molten mixture of portions of a reactor core generated by a core melting accident. Corium includes fissionable materials; therefore, a criticality safety analysis must be performed for the core catcher design. This study analyzes the criticality safety of corium arranged in a core catcher developed in Korea. The corium composition was calculated for a 1400 MW_e nuclear power plant. There are several variables involved in the criticality evaluation of corium, thus conservative assumptions were used to reduce the number of variables. A criticality evaluation procedure was employed to assess the operational failure of the core catcher under different accident scenarios. Four kinds of scenarios were selected, and criticality evaluations were pursued for each case. The multiplication factors in each condition were calculated with MCNP5 code. Also, the code bias was calculated with the benchmark problems of 262 LEU experiments to account for the uncertainty of MCNP code. All evaluation results for the assumed scenarios showed that the core catcher satisfies the regulatory guidelines for criticality safety. The calculation results will be used in the design of a core catcher being developed in Korea. It is expected that the data calculated in this study can be used as reference data for criticality safety evaluations of core melting accidents. Also, the procedure for criticality safety evaluation proposed in this study can be utilized to establish regulatory guidelines in Korea.     

Study of density effect of large gas cluster impact by molecular dynamics simulations

Large gas cluster impacts cause unique surface modification effects because a large number of target atoms are moved simultaneously due to high-density particle collisions between cluster and surface atoms. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of large gas cluster impacts on solid targets were carried out in order to investigate the effect of high-density irradiation with a cluster ion beam from the viewpoint of crater formation and sputtering. An Ar cluster with the size of 2000 was accelerated with 20 keV (10 eV for each constituent atom) and irradiated on a Si(1 0 0) solid target consisting of 2 000 000 atoms. The radius of the Ar cluster was scaled by ranging from 2.3 nm (corresponding to the solid state of Ar) to 9.2 nm (64× lower density than solid state). When the Ar cluster was as dense as solid state, the incident cluster penetrated the target surface and generated crater-like damage. On the other hand, as the cluster radius increased and the irradiation particle density decreased, the depth of crater caused by cluster impact was reduced. MD results also revealed that crater depth was mainly dominated by the horizontal scaling rather than vertical scaling. A high sputtering yield of more than several tens of Si atoms per impact was observed with clusters of 4-20× lower volume density than solid state.     

Development of a laser-enhanced ion-guide ion source

For the purpose of achieving a good efficiency and pulsed output of short-lived reaction products, we propose a laser-enhanced ion-guide ion source for an on-line isotope separator. Two-step resonant, three-color resonance ionization of Ba atoms was established in an off-line experiment and the ionization efficiency per pulse was measured to be 1.9%. In an on-line ion-guide experiment, it was found that the use of heavy gas was effective to stop the recoil atoms and that most of them remain in the gas until evacuation. While enhancement of the ionization efficiency by introduction of a laser beam to the ion-guide chamber has not been achieved so far, possible improvements are discussed.     

Removal of Particles by ICRF Cleaning in HT-7 Superconducting Tokamak

1. IntroductionThe tokamak is a magnetically confined fusion device, Which demands ultra-vacuum and low impuritylevel for the plasma discharge. At the same time, therecycling of the working gas including its isotopesmust be decreased in favor of long pulse plasma discharge. For a larger superconducting tokamak of thefuture with a high power and a long pulse plasmadischarge, the recycling must be very low and theimpurity needs to be removed quickly.For decreasing the impurity content in the de…     

二硫化碳自由基中间体的瞬态研究

用激光光解和脉冲辐解瞬态吸收光谱技术研究了二硫化碳(CS2)的光解和辐解反应机理及相应动力学特性。光解机理研究结果表明,CS2在308nm激光下生成激发三线态,该三线态与基态CS2反应产生自由基中间体,并测得了相关反应速率常数。应用脉冲辐解法进一步验证了光解中产生的CS2阴、阳离子自由基。研究结果为CS2对生物大分子的氧化性损伤假说提供了直接证据。     

Effects of Nd:YAG laser irradiation on structural and magnetic properties of Li0.5Fe2.5O4

In the present paper we report our results on the effect of Nd:YAG laser irradiation on the structural and magnetic properties of Li_0.5Fe_2.5O₄ spinel ferrite prepared by solid-state reaction technique. X-ray diffraction analysis was carried out to confirm the formation of the single phase cubic spinel structure. The lattice constant calculated from X-ray diffraction data (XRD) goes on increasing with non irradiated phase to exceeding higher doses of irradiation. The distribution of the substituted ions over the different lattice sites is determined from XRD and infrared spectra. The damage structure and morphological investigations were carried out by using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy techniques. It has been observed from our data on magnetic properties that laser irradiation severely affects the magnetization. From the magnetization measurements it has been observed that the saturation magnetization decreases with increase in the laser dose rate. The observed reduction in the saturation magnetization after irradiation is understood on the basis of the partial formation of paramagnetic centers and rearrangement of cations in the lattice.     

Conceptual design of an in-vessel core catcher

An enhanced in-vessel core catcher is being designed and evaluated as part of a joint United States (US)–Korean International Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (INERI) investigating methods to insure retention of materials that may relocate to the lower head of a reactor vessel under severe accident conditions in advanced reactors. This enhanced core catcher design consists of several interlocking sections that are machined to fit together when inserted into the lower head. Each section of the core catcher consists of two material layers with an option to add a third layer (if deemed necessary): a base material, which has the capability to support and contain the mass of core materials that may relocate during a severe accident; an insulator coating material on top of the base material, which resists interactions with high-temperature core materials; and an optional coating on the bottom side of the base material to prevent any potential oxidation of the base material during the lifetime of the reactor. This paper summarizes results from thermal, flow, and structural analyses as well as initial scoping materials interaction tests that were completed to support the conceptual design of the core catcher.     

“Water window” compact, table-top laser plasma soft X-ray sources based on a gas puff target

We have developed compact, high repetition, table-top soft-X-ray sources, based on a gas puff target, emitting in “water window” spectral range at λ = 2.88 nm from nitrogen gas target or, in 2-4 nm range of wavelengths, from argon gas target. Double stream gas puff target was pumped optically by commercial Nd:YAG laser, energy 0.74 J, pulse time duration 4 ns. Spatial distribution of laser-produced plasma was imaged using a pinhole camera. Using transmission grating spectrometer, argon and nitrogen emission spectra were obtained, showing strong emission in the “water window” spectral range. Using AXUV100 detector the flux measurements of the soft-X-ray pulses were carried out and are presented.These debris free sources are table-top alternative for free electron lasers and synchrotron installations. They can be successfully employed in microscopy, spectroscopy and metrology experiments among others.     

原子激发光化学同位素分离理论计算

简要介绍了原子激发光化学同位素分离方法的基本原理,应用速率方程建立了双能级原子在激光作用下与气体分子相互作用的数学模型,并利用该模型进行了模拟计算。在分析了该方法的选择性之后,重点讨论了激光功率和激光中心频率对分离效果的影响。结果表明,原子光化学分离方法具有很高的分离选择性;不同同位素原子在反应腔内的消耗速率差异很大,当采用单光子失谐激发时,随着失谐量绝对值的增大,浓缩系数先增大后减小。     

Numerical simulation of nanosecond laser ablation and plasma characteristics considering a real gas equation of state

Based on the governing equations which include the heat conduction equation in the target and the fluid equations of the vapor plasma,a two-dimensional axisymmetric model for ns-laser ablation considering the Knudsen layer and plasma shielding effect is developed.The equations of state of the plasma are described by a real gas approximation,which divides the internal energy into the thermal energy of atoms,ions and electrons,ionization energy and the excitation energy of atoms and ions.The dynamic evolution of the silicon target and plasma during laser ablation is studied by using this model,and the distributions of the temperature,plasma density,Mach number related to the evaporation/condensation of the target surface,laser transmissivity as well as internal energy of the plasma are given.It is found that the evolution of the target surface during laser ablation can be divided into three stages:(1)the target surface temperature increases continuously;(2)the sonic and subsonic evaporation;and(3)the subsonic condensation.The result of the internal energy distribution indicates that the ionization and excitation energy plays an important role in the internal energy of the plasma during laser ablation.This model is suitable for the case that the temperature of the target surface is lower than the critical temperature.