Structure and Mechanical Properties of CrTiAlN/TiAlN Composite Coatings Deposited by Multi-Arc Ion Plating

CrTiAlN/TiAlN composite coatings were deposited on cemented carbide by using a home-made industrial scale multi-arc ion plating system. The samples were studied by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, microhardness and ball-on-disk testing. The properties of the CrTiAlN/TiAlN coatings were significantly influenced by the microstructure and the deposition time ratio of TiAlN over CrTiAlN layers. With the increase of deposition time ratio, the microhardness of CrTiAlN/TiAlN increased from 28.6 GPa to 37.5 GPa, much higher than that of CrTiAlN coatings. The friction coefficients of the CrTiAlN/TiAlN coatings were higher than those of CrTiAlN coatings against a cemented carbide ball. The microhardness of the CrTiAlN/TiAlN coatings was changed after annealing at 800 ℃, and the friction coefficients of the annealed coatings were increased against the cemented carbide ball.     

Competition between fusion-evaporation and multifragmentation in central collisions in 58Ni＋4SCa at 25A MeV

The experimental data concerning the 58Ni＋48Ca reaction at Elab（Ni）=25A MeV, collected by using the CHIMERA 4n device, have been analyzed in order to investigate the competition among different reaction mechanisms for central collisions in the Fermi energy domain. As a main criterion for centrality selection we have chosen the flow angle （Snow） method, making an event-by-event analysis that considers the shape of events, as it is determined by the eigenvectors of the experimental kinetic-energy tensor. For the selected central events （8~ow〉60~） some global variables, good to characterize the pattern of central collisions have been constructed. The main features of the reaction products were explored by using different constraints on some of the relevant observables, like mass and velocity distributions and their correlations. Much emphasis was devoted, for central collisions, to the competition between fusion-evaporation processes with subsequent identification of a heavy residue and a possible multifragmentation mechanism of a well defined （if any） transient nuclear system. Dynamical evolution of the system and pre-equilibrium emission were taken into account by simulating the reactions in the framework of transport theories. Different approaches have been envisaged （dynamical stochastic BNV calculations ＋ sequential SIMON code, QMD, CoMD, etc.）. Preliminary comparison of the experimental data with BNV calculations shows reasonable agreement with the assumption of sequential multifragmentation emission in the mass region of IMFs close to the heavy residues. Possible deviations from sequential processes were found for those IMFs in the region of masses intermediate between the mass of heavy residues and the mass of light IMFs. Further simulations are in progress. The experimental analysis will be enriched also by information obtained inspecting the IMF-IMF correlation function, in order to elucidated the nature of space-time decay property of the emitting source associated with events having the largest IMF multiplicity.     

Analysis and Optimization of Stability of CAS-LIBB Single Ion Microbeam

Single ion microbeam is the most advanced technology which can emit a single ion for precise localization. A single-ion microbeam facility has been constructed at the Key Laboratory of Ion Beam Bioengineering （LIBB）, Chinese Academy of Sciences （CAS）, with a spatial resolutions of about 5 μm. Based on CAS-LIBB microbeam, three key elements affecting the quality of the system are assessed： the size of beam spot, the energy range and the counting accuracy of implanting ions. Various contributions to the ion beam stability, including the ion source, the terminal voltage of electrostatic accelerator and the components in beam pipeline, are discussed. Analysis shows that the improvement of terminal voltage stability is the most important issue for future optimization of CAS-LIBB facility. Some preliminary investigations and project aimed at optimization and development are proposed as well.     

Experimental Study of Diagnosis Neutral Beam for HT-7 Tokamak

Parametrical effect on plasma discharge and beam extraction in the diagnosis neutral beam （DNB） system for HT-7 tokamak was studied experimentally. Useful results with an improved beam quality were obtained.     

Bioeffects of Low Energy Ion Beam Implantation： DNA Damage, Mutation and Gene Transter

Low-energy ion beam implantation （10 - 200 keV） has been proved to have a wide range of biological effects and is broadly used in the breeding of crops and micro-organisms.To understand its mechanisms better and facilitate its applications, the developments in the bioeffects of low energy ion beam implantation in the past twenty years are summarized in this paper.     

A New Three-Dimensional Code for Simulation of Ion Beam Extraction： Ion Optics Simulator

A new thee-dimensional code, ion optics simulator （IOS）, to simulate ion beam extraction is developed in visual C＋＋ language. The theoretical model, the flowchart of code, and the results of calculation as an example are presented.     

Study on a cold-cathode H- PIG-type ion source

A cold-cathode Penning Ion Gauge(PIG) type ion source as the internal ion source of an 11 MeV cyclotron is designed and tested at Institute of Fluid Physics.The design considerations and some testings are presented.Experimental results of Balmer-line-Emission show that the discharge characteristic,which is mainly determined by gas-flow rate,is not very sensitive to arc current and magnetic field in the operation ranges of the cyclotron.The arc power decreases and ascends while the gas-flow rate goes up from 0.5 SCCM to 20 SCCM.By improving the sealing design and reducing the machine tolerance of the source,the minimum power consumption reduces from 9 SCCM to 4 SCCM,thus having better energy efficiency and benefiting for the pumping system.Preliminary DC extractions show that H–microampere current ranges from several tens to hundreds under different operation conditions.Some problems during the experiments and future plan are discussed in the end.     

Simulation Studies of Rib Structure Effect on Discharge Characteristics of Plasma Display Panel

To investigate the effect of the rib structure on the discharge characteristics of the plasma display panel, the potential distribution, particles density distribution and ions incident angle distribution were examined by simulation of a two-dimensional particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision, with two kinds of rib structure： the stripe rib structure and the Waffle rib structure. The results showed that the distribution of electric potential at the corner of the discharge cell was almost the same for these two rib structures while in the centre there was a difference between these two rib structures. The striation phenomenon could be observed in both cases. The distribution of density also indicated that the striation phenomenon was accompanied by the firing of discharge, and the Waffle rib structure might reduce the density humps. In the cell with a stripe rib structure, the profiles of the surface charge density along the sustained dielectric layer presented a better fluctuating distribution than that in the cell with a Waffle rib structure. The spatial potential and particle density in the discharge bulk showed that the Waffle ribs could weaken the striation phenomenon, which could be explained by the decrease in the particle numbers in the discharge cell. The simulation results of the ion incident angle showed that most ions impacted the sustained dielectric layer in the normal stripe rib cell with an incident angle in the range of 6° to 19° while with the Waffle rib structure the incident angle of most ions was in the range of 4° to 19°. The Waffle rib structure did not affect the angle distribution of incident ions significantly.     

Using Adaptive Discrete-Time Gas Supply Control for Long Pulse Arc Discharge of Ion Source on NBI

A control model of gas supply system is introduced for ion source and an adaptive discrete-time control algorithm to regulate the hydrogen injection. A real-time feedback control system （RFCS） is designed to control the gas supply for ion source based on the control model and the discrete-time control algorithm. The experimental results have proved that RFCS could regulate the gas supply smoothly, suppress the arc＇s abrupt over-current at the end of the ion source discharging, prolong the discharge pulse and stabilize the ion concentration. With RFCS, the ion source for neutral beam injection has reached its longest pulse with a length of 4.5 seconds in a stable status.     

Analysis of a Partial Male-Sterile Mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana Isolated from a Low-Energy Argon Ion Beam Mutagenized Pool

A screen for Arabidopsis fertility mutants, mutagenized by low-energy argon ion beam, yielded two partial male-sterile mutants tc243-1 and tc243-2 which have similar phenotypes. tc243-2 was investigated in detail. The segregation ratio of the mutant phenotypes in the M2 pools suggested that mutation behaved as single Mendelian recessive mutations, tc243 showed a series of mutant phenotypes, among which partial male-sterile was its striking mutant characteristic. Phenotype analysis indicates that there are four factors leading to male sterility, a. Floral organs normally develop inside the closed bud, but the anther filaments do not elongate sufficiently to position the locules above the stigma at anthesis, b. The anther locules do not dehisce at the time of flower opening （although limited dehiscence occurs later）, c. Pollens of mutant plants develop into several types of pollens at the trinucleated stage. as determined by staining with DAPI （4＇,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole）. which shows a variable size. shape and number of nucleus. d. The viability of pollens is lower than that of the wild type on the germination test in vivo and vitro.     

Influence of Jet Angle and Ion Density of Cathode Side on Low Current Vacuum Arc Characteristics

In this study, the influence of the initial jet angles （IJAs） and ion number densities （INDs） at the cathode side on the low current vacuum arc （LCVA） characteristics is simulated and analysed. The results show that the ion temperature, electron temperature, ion number density, axial current density and plasma pressure all decrease with the increase of the cathode IJAs. It is also shown that LCVA can cause a current constriction for lower cathode IND, and the anode sheath potential is more nonuniform, which is mainly related to the nonuniform distribution of the axial current density at the anode side.     

Enhancement of Gongronella sp. JG Chitosanase Production by Ion Beam Implantation

Gongronella sp. JG was a fungal strain which expressed extracellular chitosanase of about 800 U/L during its growth in production medium. To improve its enzyme production, low energy N＋ implantation was employed to mutate spores of JG. The implantation condition was optimized and the parameters of 15 keV and 60 × breeding experiments. A mutant designated as SG 2.6 × 10^13 ions/cm^2 were selected for further was obtained. It showed increased chitosanase production （1800 U/L） and shortened cultivation period （from 72 h to 60 h）. Five-generation cultivation of SG indicated that its chitosanase production was stable at about 1800 U/L.     

Creation of High-Yield Polyhydroxyalkanoates Engineered Strains by Low Energy Ion Implantation

Polyhydroxyalkanoates （PHAs）, as a candidate for biodegradable plastic materials, can be synthesized by numerous microorganisms. However, as its production cost is high in comparison with those of chemically synthesized plastics, a lot of research has been focused on the efficient production of PHAs using different methods. In the present study, the mutation effects of PHAs production in strain pCB4 were investigated with implantation of low energy ions. It was found that under the implantation conditions of 7.8×10^14 N^＋/cm^2 at 10 keV, a high-yield PHAs strain with high genetic stability was generated from many mutants. After optimizing its fermentation conditions, the biomass, PHAs concentration and PHAs content of pCBH4 reached 2.26 g/L, 1.81 g/L, and 80.08% respectively, whereas its wild type controls were about 1.24 g/L, 0.61 g/L, and 49.20%. Moreover, the main constituent of PHAs was identified as poly-3-hydroxybutyrates （PHB） in the mutant stain and the yield of this compound was increased up to 41.33% in contrast to that of 27.78% in the wild type strain.     

Constraints on symmetry energy and n/p effective mass splitting with improved quantum molecular dynamics model

A new version of improved quantum molecular dynamics model that includes standard Skyrme interactions has been developed. Based on the new code, four commonly used parameter sets, SLy4, Ski2, SkM＊ and Gs are adopted in the improved quantum molecular dynamics model and the isospin sensitive observables, namely isospin transport ratios, single and double ratios of the yields of neutrons and protons are investigated. The isospin transport ratios are strongly sensitive to the slope of symmetry energy, and are not very sensitive to the nucleon effective mass splitting. On the other hand, the high energy neutrons and protons yields ratios from reactions at different incident energies provide a good observable to the momentum dependence of nucleon effective mass splitting. By comparing our calculations with the data, we find that the constrained L value （the slope of density dependence of symmetry energy） is about -46 MeV when the Skyrme type interaction is considered in transport models, and the isospin diffusion data prefer to mn 〉 mp, but it is not a strong constraint with deep Z2 minimum.     

Analysis of the Anomalous Phenomenon in the Retarding Potential Analyzer Measurements

An anomalous phenomenon was observed in the retarding potential analyzer （RPA） measurements of the energy of the ion beam from an 8 cm argon ion source. The current-voltage （Ⅰ- Ⅴ） curve, which should theoretically descend, went up as the ion retarding potential was increased. Various explanations, such as the Townsend discharge theory and secondary electron emission etc. were proposed but denied by the theory application condition or the experiment results. An angle of about -10° was found between the axes of the ion beam and the RPA according to the contours of the ion beam density and direction. The particle simulation and experiment of the sum of the collector and wall current were conducted at different incident ion angles. The trends of the Ⅰ- Ⅴ curve in simulation results conformed with the experimental results in most cases. The ion trajectories were simulated at different retarding potentials with an incident angle of -10°. According ：to these results, the reason for the anomalous phenomenon is that when there is a specific angle between the axes of the ion beam and the RPA, more ions are repelled from the vicinity of the ion retarding grid to avoid striking on the grid as the ion retarding potential increases. These redundant ions reach the plate and thus lead to the formation of an ascending Ⅰ- Ⅴ curve.     

Mutagenic Effects of BM302：GO112 Induced by Low-Energy Ion Beam Implantation

Mutant strains of GO112 and BM302 with a high 2-keto-L-gulonic acid （2KLG） transformation rate induced by ion beam implantation were separately and combinatorially compared with the original strains GO29 and BM80 to study the mutagenic effects of ion beam implantation. Both the sole GOl12 and mixed BM302：GOl12 demonstrated improved SNDH activity and 2KLG yield compared to the original strains. The mutant combinations of BM302：GOl12 showed a longer stationary phase and higher biomass than BM80：GO29. The mutant BM302 exhibited a stronger capacity to maintain a stable pH environment at mixed fermentation with Gluconobacter oxydans （G. oxydans） for 2KLG transformation and facilitated the growth of G. oxydans compared with the original strain BM80. The promotive capacity to L-sorbosone dehydrogenase （L-SNDH） from the supernate of BM302 was 1.6-fold higher than that of BM80. Genes encoded SNDH in GO29 and GOl12 were amplified and sequenced, and mutations including three transitions （CG →TA, CG →TA, GC → AT） and one transversion （AT→ TA） were confirmed from GO29 to GOl12. The corresponding amino acid was changed as Leu →Phe, Arg → Gln and Asn → Lys.     

Improvement of the Energy Stability of the Single Ion Microbeam

Energy instability strongly affects the state and the beam size of the single ion microbeam. A facility based on the Generating Voltmeter was developed to improve the energy stability of the CAS-LIBB （Chinese Academy of Sciences, key laboratory of ion beam bioengineering） single ion microbeam. This paper presents the analysis of the energy＇ instability of the single ion microbeam. A simplified theoretical model is set up to calculate the relationship between the energy instability and the beam spot size. By using this technique, the energy instability is adjusted to about 1%. Stable run-time is over 6 hours. The radius of the single ion beam is reduced by 10% compared to the previous olin.     

Enhancement of L（＋）-Lactic Acid Production of Immobilized Rhizopus Oryzae Implanted by Ion Beams

Immobilized Rhizopus oryzae culturing may be a solution to the inhibited production of L（＋）-lactic acid in submerged fermentation, which is caused by aggregated mycelia floc. In the present study, a R. oryzae mutant （RL6041） with a 90% conversion rate of glucose into L-lactic acid was obtained by N＋ implantation under the optimized conditions of a beam energy of 15 keV and a dose of 2.6 ×10^15 ions/cm^2. Using polyurethane foam as the immobilization matrix, the optimal L-lactic acid production conditions were determined as 4 mm polyurethane foam, 150 r/min, 50 g/L ～ 80 g/L of initial glucose, 38℃ and pH 6.0. 15-cycle repeated productions of L-lactic acid by immobilized RL6041 were performed under the optimized culturing conditions and over 80% of the glucose was converted into L-lactic acid in 30 hours on average. The results show that immobilized RL6041 is a promising candidate for continuous L-lactic acid production.     

Inter-Calibration Between Plasma Instruments Onboard DEMETER

The in-situ measurements of the ionospheric plasma that we use come from two instruments of the scientific payload of the satellite DEMETER; the plasma analyser IAP （Instrument d＇analyse du plasma） and the Langmuir probe ISL （Instrument Sonde de Langmuir）. DEMETER is a micro-satellite realized by the CNES（Centre National d＇Etudes Spatiales, France） with a principal objective to seek a possible influence of the seismic activity on the electromagnetic waves in the ionosphere and on the ionospheric plasma. The satellite was placed on June 29, 2004, in a circular and quasi helio-synchronous orbit at -710 km altitude. The experiments function primarily at mid-latitudes （from ＋60° to -60°）. The IAP data were analysed to deduce the ion population （densities of the dominant ions, i.e. generally O^＋, H^＋ and He^＋） therefore the total ion density. The use of data IAP thus requires some precaution to make sure that the electric equilibrium conditions of the satellite, such as the satellite potential （Фsat）, are obtained during the treatment of routine, does not induce an error of measurement. When this potential is negative, the minority light ions H^＋ and He^＋ can be measured in a reliable way when their proportion is above 3% to 5% of that of O^＋. The critical limitation is： under certain conditions, the satellite potential becomes positive and reach a value about -0.5 V so that it becomes impossible to measure H^＋ ions. This is likely to involve a significant error on the composition and the density of the plasma. Therefore we carried out a calibration to estimate the missing density. The ISL experiment （Langmuir probe） provided the collected current/polarized tension characteristics of a cylindrical probe from which both electron density Ne and temperature Te were obtained. In some situations it is necessary to examine the accuracy of the electron density using another technique, for instance the high frequency （HF） spectrogram, provided by ICE （instrument champ