Construction and qualification of the pre-series MQM superconducting quadrupoles for the LHC insertions

The LHC insertions will be equipped with individually powered MQM superconducting quadrupoles, produced in three versions with magnetic lengths of 2.4 m, 3.4 m, and 4.8 m. The quadrupoles feature a 56 mm aperture coil, designed on the basis of an 8.8 mm wide Rutherford-type NbTi cable for a nominal gradient of 200 T/m at 1.9 K and 5390 A. A total of 96 quadrupoles are in production in Tesla Engineering, UK. In this report we describe the construction of the pre-series MQM quadrupoles and present the results of the qualification tests.     

Residual stress in hydroxyapatite coating: nonlinear analysis and high-energy synchrotron measurements

The thermal deposition of hydroxyapatite (HA) on titanium alloy substrate (Ti-6A1-4V) leads to a structure that has very good osseointegration properties. However, clinical failures have been occasionally reported at the interface between substrate and coating. Lifetime is the main parameter in such prostheses; therefore, in order to improve their quality, it is necessary to evaluate the level of stresses near the interface. The high-energy synchrotron radiation combines the advantages of a bulk analysis and reduced volume of the gauge. The objective of our study was to calculate the residual stress using a nonlinear finite-element model and to measure residual stress level near the interface, in the hydroxyapatite coating and in titanium alloy substrate with a nondestructive and high-resolution experiment. The high-energy synchrotron radiation of the BM16 beam-line at ESRF (Grenoble-France) was used with a resolution of down to 10 micrometers. The experimental measurements validate the results found by means of nonlinear finite-element analysis of the plasma spraying induced stress.     

Extraction and analysis of T waves in electrocardiograms during atrial flutter

Analysis of T waves in the ECG is an essential clinical tool for diagnosis, monitoring, and follow-up of patients with heart dysfunction. During atrial flutter, this analysis has been so far limited by the perturbation of flutter waves superimposed over the T wave. This paper presents a method based on missing data interpolation for eliminating flutter waves from the ECG during atrial flutter. To cope with the correlation between atrial and ventricular electrical activations, the CLEAN deconvolution algorithm was applied to reconstruct the spectrum of the atrial component of the ECG from signal segments corresponding to TQ intervals. The locations of these TQ intervals, where the atrial contribution is presumably dominant, were identified iteratively. The algorithm yields the extracted atrial and ventricular contributions to the ECG. Standard T-wave morphology parameters (T-wave amplitude, T peak-T end duration, QT interval) were measured. This technique was validated using synthetic signals, compared to average beat subtraction in a patient with a pacemaker, and tested on pseudo-orthogonal ECGs from patients in atrial flutter. Results demonstrated improvements in accuracy and robustness of T-wave analysis as compared to current clinical practice.     

Supramolecular Order of Solution‐Processed Perylenediimide Thin Films: High‐Performance Small‐Channel n‐Type Organic Transistors

N,N′‐1H,1H‐perfluorobutyl dicyanoperylenecarboxydiimide (PDIF‐CN₂), a soluble and air stable n‐type molecule, undergoes significant reorganization upon thermal annealing after solution deposition on several substrates with different surface energies. Interestingly, this system exhibits an exceptional edge‐on orientation regardless of the substrate chemistry. This preferential orientation is rationalized in terms of strong intermolecular interactions between the PDIF‐CN₂ molecules. The presence of a pronounced π–π stacking is confirmed by combining near‐edge X‐ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (NEXAFS), dynamic scanning force microscopy (SFM) and surface energy measurements. The remarkable charge carrier mobility measured in field‐effect transistors, using both bottom‐ and top‐contact (bottom‐gate) configurations, underlines the importance of strong intermolecular interactions for the realization of high performing devices.     

Spirobifluorene Dimers: Understanding How The Molecular Assemblies Drive The Electronic Properties

Spirobifluorene (SBF) is one of the most important scaffolds used in the design of organic semi-conductors (OSCs) for electronics. In recent years, among all the structures developed for these applications, SBF dimers have been highlighted due to their great potential in thermally activated delayed fluorescence and in phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes. Attaching two SBF units generate 10 dimers, each possessing its own structural specificity, which in turn drives its electronic properties. These ten SBF dimers are gathered herein. Understanding how the molecular assembly determines the electronic properties has been one of the pillars of organic electronics. This is the goal of this article. As positional isomerism is a key tool to design OSCs, defining the design guidelines for the SBF scaffold appears of interest for the future of this building block. Herein, the importance of the two main parameters involved in the electrochemical and photophysical properties, namely the nature of the phenyl linkages and the steric congestion between the two SBF units is discussed. The combination of these two parameters drives the electronic properties but their respective weight is different as a function of the regioisomer involved or of the property considered (frontier orbitals energy level, absorption, fluorescence, phosphorescence).     

Thermomechanical fatigue behavior of Sn-Ag solder joints

Microstructural studies of thermomechanically fatigued actual electronic components consisting of metallized alumina substrate and tinned copper lead, soldered with Sn-Ag or 95.5Ag/4Ag/0.5Cu solder were carried out with an optical microscope and environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM). Damage characterization was made on samples that underwent 250 and 1000 thermal shock cycles between −40°C and 125°C, with a 20 min hold time at each extreme. Surface roughening and grain boundary cracking were evident even in samples thermally cycled for 250 times. The cracks were found to originate on the free surface of the solder joint. With increased thermal cycles these cracks grew by grain boundary decohesion. The crack that will affect the integrity of the solder joint was found to originate from the free surface of the solder very near the alumina substrate and progress towards and continue along the solder region adjacent to the Ag₃Sn intermetallic layer formed with the metallized alumina substrate. Re-examination of these thermally fatigued samples that were stored at room temperature after ten months revealed the effects of significant residual stress due to such thermal cycles. Such observations include enhanced surface relief effects delineating the grain boundaries and crack growth in regions inside the joint.     

Design and fabrication of a 1 m model of the 70 mm bore twinaperture superconducting quadrupole for the LHC insertions

For reasons of geometrical acceptance, 70 mm bore twin aperture quadrupoles are required in the LHC insertions. For an operating gradient of 160 T/m at 4.5 K, a design based on a four layer coil wound from two graded 8.2 mm NbTi conductors has been developed. Three 1 m single aperture quadrupoles of this design have been built and successfully tested. Thereafter, the magnets have been disassembled and the coils re-collared using self-supporting collars. In this paper, we describe the design features of the twin aperture quadrupole, and report on the initial collaring tests and procedures for collaring and final assembly of the 1 m magnet     

Survey and comparison of message authentication solutions on wireless sensor networks

Security is an important concern in any modern network. This also applies to Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), especially those used in applications that monitor sensitive information (e.g., health care applications). However, the highly constrained nature of sensors imposes a difficult challenge: their reduced availability of memory, processing power and energy hinders the deployment of many modern cryptographic algorithms considered secure. For this reason, the choice of the most memory-, processing- and energy-efficient security solutions is of vital importance in WSNs. To date, a number of extensive analyses comparing different encryption algorithms and key management schemes have been developed, while very little attention has been given to message authentication solutions. In this paper, aiming to close this gap, we identify cipher-based Message Authentication Codes (MACs) and Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data (AEAD) schemes suitable for WSNs and then evaluate their features and performance on a real platform (TelosB). As a result of this analysis, we identify the recommended choices depending on the characteristics of the target network and available hardware.     

Optimized ITO-free tri-layer electrode for organic solar cells

The optical properties of ZnO/Ag/ZnO (ZAZ) multilayer structures were numerically modeled and calculated by a FDTD method. Such tri-layers were also manufactured using an ion beam sputtering plant. A good agreement is obtained between modelizations and realizations. The impact of the oxide thicknesses on the optical properties of the ZAZ structures were experimentally and numerically investigated, and allow us to adjust the spectral position of the transmission maximum. The transmission of these structures is optimized up to around 74%, on the whole absorption spectral range of the photoactive P3HT:PCBM bulk heterojunction. The best electrode design is glass/ZnO (30 nm)/Ag (14 nm)/ZnO (30 nm), which presents a sheet resistance of 7 Ω/□. The optimized ZAZ structure was successfully integrated in an organic solar cell as anode. A photovoltaic efficiency of 2.58% is obtained and is compared to an organic solar cell integrating a traditional ITO anode with an efficiency of 2.99%. Numerical calculations of the intrinsic absorption inside each layer of the organic solar cells are performed. Alternative ITO-free electrodes for organic solar cells are demonstrated.