Recent microfabrication technologies based on LIGA (German acronym for Lithographe, Galvanoformung, und Abformung) have been applied to build high-aspect-ratio, metallic or dielectric, planar structures suitable for high-frequency rf cavity structures. The cavity structures would be used as parts of linear accelerators, microwave undulators, and mm-wave amplifiers. The microfabrication process includes manufacturing of precision x-ray masks, exposure of positive resist by x-rays through the mask, resist development, and electroforming of the final microstructure. Prototypes of a 32-cell, 108-GHz constant impedance cavity and a 66-cell, 94-GHz constant-gradient cavity were fabricated using the synchrotron radiation sources at APS. Preliminary design parameters for a 91-GHz modulator klystron along with an overview of the new technology are discussed.

There are several lines of evidence which suggest that the relativistic outflows in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are collimated into narrow jets. The jet structure has important implications for the true energy release and the event rate of GRBs, and can constrain the mechanism responsible for the acceleration and collimation of the jet. Nevertheless, the jet structure and its dynamics as it sweeps up the external medium and decelerates, are not well understood. In this review I discuss our current understanding of GRB jets, stressing their structure and dynamics.

Analysis of poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG)-containing particles by online single particle aerosol mass spectrometers equipped with laser desorption ionization (LDI) is reported. We demonstrate that PEG-containing particles are useful in the development of aerosol mass spectrometers because of their ease of preparation, low cost, and inherently recognizable mass spectra. Solutions containing millimolar quantities of PEGs were nebulized and, after drying, the resultant micrometer-sized PEG containing particles were sampled. LDI (266 nm) of particles containing NaCl and PEG molecules of average molecular weight <500 generated mass spectra reminiscent of mass spectra of PEG collected by other MS schemes including the characteristic distribution of positive ions (Na{sup +} adducts) separated by the 44 Da of the ethylene oxide units separating each degree of polymerization. PEGs of average molecular weight >500 were detected from particles that also contained t the tripeptide tyrosine-tyrosine-tyrosine or 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid, which were added to nebulized solutions to act as matrices to assist LDI using pulsed 266 nm and 355 nm lasers, respectively. Experiments were performed on two aerosol mass spectrometers, one reflectron and one linear, that each utilize two time-of-flight mass analyzers to detect positive and negative ions created from a single particle. PEG-containing particles are currently being employed in …

Article about a photo shoot held in the streets of New York for the December 2006 issue of Brilliant Magazine.