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Control of Laser Plasma Based Accelerators up to 1 GeV (open access)

Control of Laser Plasma Based Accelerators up to 1 GeV

This dissertation documents the development of a broadband electron spectrometer (ESM) for GeV class Laser Wakefield Accelerators (LWFA), the production of high quality GeV electron beams (e-beams) for the first time in a LWFA by using a capillary discharge guide (CDG), and a statistical analysis of CDG-LWFAs. An ESM specialized for CDG-LWFAs with an unprecedented wide momentum acceptance, from 0.01 to 1.1 GeV in a single shot, has been developed. Simultaneous measurement of e-beam spectra and output laser properties as well as a large angular acceptance (> {+-} 10 mrad) were realized by employing a slitless scheme. A scintillating screen (LANEX Fast back, LANEX-FB)--camera system allowed faster than 1 Hz operation and evaluation of the spatial properties of e-beams. The design provided sufficient resolution for the whole range of the ESM (below 5% for beams with 2 mrad divergence). The calibration between light yield from LANEX-FB and total charge, and a study on the electron energy dependence (0.071 to 1.23 GeV) of LANEX-FB were performed at the Advanced light source (ALS), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Using this calibration data, the developed ESM provided a charge measurement as well. The production of high quality electron beams up to 1 GeV …
Date: December 3, 2007
Creator: Nakamura, Kei
System: The UNT Digital Library
Alpha-Decay Studies in the Heavy Element Region (open access)

Alpha-Decay Studies in the Heavy Element Region

Thesis describing a research conducted to extend observations on nuclear energy levels and how they effect the nucleus itself, and an investigation on the gamma rays associated for the even-even isotopes and to obtain additional data for the oddmass neclei in the hope that more regularities will become apparent for that class of nuclides.
Date: July 3, 1956
Creator: Hummel, John Philip
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cellulose and cellobiose: adventures of a wandering organic chemist in theoretical chemistry (open access)

Cellulose and cellobiose: adventures of a wandering organic chemist in theoretical chemistry

The energies arising from the rotation of free hydroxyl groups in the central glucose residue of a cellulose crystalline assembly, calculated using RHF, DFT, and FMO2/MP2 methods, will be presented. In addition, interactions of this central glucose residue with some of the surrounding residues (selected on the basis of the interaction strengths) are analyzed. The mechanism of acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellobiose, which is the repeating unit of cellulose. Energies corresponding to the different steps of this mechanism calculated using RHF and DFT are compared with those previously reported using molecular dynamics calculations and with experimental data.
Date: April 3, 2012
Creator: Baluyut, John
System: The UNT Digital Library
Increasing the efficiency of organic solar cells by photonic and electrostatic-field enhancements (open access)

Increasing the efficiency of organic solar cells by photonic and electrostatic-field enhancements

Organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology is an attractive solar-electric conversion paradigm due to the promise of low cost roll-to-roll production and amenability to flexible substrates. Power conversion efficiency (PCE) exceeding 7% has recently been achieved. OPV cells suffer from low charge carrier mobilities of polymers, leading to recombination losses, higher series resistances and lower fill-factors. Thus, it is imperative to develop fabrication methodologies that can enable efficient optical absorption in films thinner than optical absorption length. Active layers conformally deposited on light-trapping, microscale textured, grating-type surfaces is one possible approach to achieve this objective. In this study, 40% theoretical increase in photonic absorption over flat OPVs is shown for devices with textured geometry by the simulation results. For verifying this theoretical result and improving the efficiency of OPVs by light trapping, OPVs were fabricated on grating-type textured substrates possessing t pitch and -coat PV active-layer on these textured substrates led to over filling of the valleys and shunts at the crest, which severely affected the performance of the resultant PV devices. Thus, it is established that although the optical design is important for OPV performance but the potential of light trapping can only be effectively tapped if the textures are amenable …
Date: November 3, 2012
Creator: Nalwa, Kanwar
System: The UNT Digital Library
A measurement of the 2 neutrino double beta decay rate of Te-130 in the CUORICINO experiment (open access)

A measurement of the 2 neutrino double beta decay rate of Te-130 in the CUORICINO experiment

CUORICINO was a cryogenic bolometer experiment designed to search for neutrinoless double beta decay and other rare processes, including double beta decay with two neutrinos (2{nu}{beta}{beta}). The experiment was located at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso and ran for a period of about 5 years, from 2003 to 2008. The detector consisted of an array of 62 TeO{sub 2} crystals arranged in a tower and operated at a temperature of #24;10 mK. Events depositing energy in the detectors, such as radioactive decays or impinging particles, produced thermal pulses in the crystals which were read out using sensitive thermistors. The experiment included 4 enriched crystals, 2 enriched with {sup 130}Te and 2 with {sup 128}Te, in order to aid in the measurement of the 2{nu}{beta}{beta} rate. The enriched crystals contained a total of #24;350 g {sup 130}Te. The 128-enriched (130-depleted) crystals were used as background monitors, so that the shared backgrounds could be subtracted from the energy spectrum of the 130- enriched crystals. Residual backgrounds in the subtracted spectrum were fit using spectra generated by Monte-Carlo simulations of natural radioactive contaminants located in and on the crystals. The 2{nu}{beta}{beta} half-life was measured to be T{sup 2{nu}}{sub 1/2} = [9.81{+-} #6;0.96(stat){+-} 0.49(syst)]#2;x10{sup …
Date: November 3, 2011
Creator: Kogler, Laura
System: The UNT Digital Library
Two-proton pickup studies with the (6Li,8B) reaction (open access)

Two-proton pickup studies with the (6Li,8B) reaction

The (/sup 6/Li,/sup 8/B) reaction has been investigated on targets of /sup 26/Mg, /sup 24/Mg, /sup 16/O, /sup 13/C, /sup 12/C, /sup 11/B, /sup 10/B, and /sup 9/Be at a bombarding energy of 80.0 MeV, and on targets of /sup 16/O, /sup 12/C, /sup 9/Be, /sup 7/Li, and /sup 6/Li at a bombarding energy of 93.3 MeV. Only levels consistent with direct, single-step two-proton pickup reaction mechanisms were observed to be strongly populated. On T/sub z/ = 0 targets, the spectroscopic selectivity of this reaction resembles that of the analogous (p,t) reaction. Additionally, these data demonstrate the dominance of spatially symmetric transfer of the two protons. On T/sub z/ greater than 0 targets the (/sup 6/Li,/sup 8/B) reaction was employed to locate two previously unreported levels (at 7.47 +- 0.05 MeV and 8.86 +- 0.07 MeV) in the T/sub z/ = 2 nuclide /sup 24/Ne and to establish the low-lying 1p-shell states in the T/sub z/ = /sup 3///sub 2/ nuclei /sup 11/Be, /sup 9/Li, and /sup 7/He. However, no evidence was seen for any narrow levels in the T/sub z/ = /sup 3///sub 2/ nuclide /sup 5/H nor for any narrow excited states in /sup 7/He. The angular distributions …
Date: December 3, 1976
Creator: Weisenmiller, Robert Benjamin
System: The UNT Digital Library
Perfluorodiethoxymethane on nickel and nickel oxide surfaces (open access)

Perfluorodiethoxymethane on nickel and nickel oxide surfaces

The interaction of perfluorodiethoxymethane with a nickel single crystal, Ni(100); a nickel crystal with chemisorbed oxygen, Ni(100)-c(2x2)O; and a nickel crystal with nickel oxide crystallites, NiO(100) is investigated in an ultra high vacuum environment using thermal desorption spectroscopy and high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy. Nickel, a component of hard disk drives and stainless steel, is used to represent metal surfaces in these {open_quotes}real{close_quotes} systems. Perfluorodiethoxymethane is used in this study as a model compound of industrial perfluoropolyether lubricants. These lubricants are known for their exceptional stability, except in the presence of metals. Perfluorodiethoxymethane contains the acetal group (-OCF{sub 2}O-), believed to be particularly vulnerable to attack in the presence of Lewis acids. Since the surfaces studied show increasing Lewis acidity at the nickel atom sites, one might expect to see increasing decomposition of perfluorodiethoxymethane due to acidic attack of the acetal group. No decomposition of perfluorodiethoxymethane is observed on the clean Ni(100) surface, while more research is needed to determine whether a small decomposition pathway is observed on the oxygenated surfaces, or whether sample impurities are interfering with results. The strength of the bonding of perfluorodiethoxymethane to the surface is found to increase as the nickel atoms sites become …
Date: March 3, 1994
Creator: Jacobson, J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Hamiltonian lattice field theory: Computer calculations using variational methods (open access)

Hamiltonian lattice field theory: Computer calculations using variational methods

I develop a variational method for systematic numerical computation of physical quantities -- bound state energies and scattering amplitudes -- in quantum field theory. An infinite-volume, continuum theory is approximated by a theory on a finite spatial lattice, which is amenable to numerical computation. I present an algorithm for computing approximate energy eigenvalues and eigenstates in the lattice theory and for bounding the resulting errors. I also show how to select basis states and choose variational parameters in order to minimize errors. The algorithm is based on the Rayleigh-Ritz principle and Kato`s generalizations of Temple`s formula. The algorithm could be adapted to systems such as atoms and molecules. I show how to compute Green`s functions from energy eigenvalues and eigenstates in the lattice theory, and relate these to physical (renormalized) coupling constants, bound state energies and Green`s functions. Thus one can compute approximate physical quantities in a lattice theory that approximates a quantum field theory with specified physical coupling constants. I discuss the errors in both approximations. In principle, the errors can be made arbitrarily small by increasing the size of the lattice, decreasing the lattice spacing and computing sufficiently long. Unfortunately, I do not understand the infinite-volume and continuum …
Date: December 3, 1991
Creator: Zako, R. L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Syntheses and Studies of Acetylenic Polymers (open access)

Syntheses and Studies of Acetylenic Polymers

Based on new diiodo aryl compounds a series of novel soluble polymers, poly(2,5-dialkoxy-1,4-phenyleneethynylene)s (PPE polymers) were synthesized using palladium-catalysis. The molecular weights (MW) range from 8,000 to 40,000. Properties such as absorption, fluorescence, and conductivity were studied. A PPE polymer with butoxy side chain exhibits a weak electrical conductivity ({sigma} = 10{sup {minus}3} S/cm) after doping with AsF{sub 5}. Absorption spectra in THF solution at room temperature (RT) show a maximum at 440 nm. However, absorption spectra of PPE polymers in the film state at (RT) show a maximum at 480 nm. PPE polymer-based light emitting diode (LED) devices have been prepared; greenish light from these LED devices can be observed. Poly(ethynylene-p-arylene-ethynylene-silylene)s were synthesized through the same palladium-catalyzed polymerization; MWs are between 6,000 and 82,000. Absorption and fluorescence were studied. Some of these polymers exhibit thermotropic liquid crystalline properties. In addition, nonlinear optical properties were briefly examined. Poly(silylene-ethynylene) homopolymers as well as alternating copolymers were synthesized through a novel palladium-catalyzed polymerization; MWs range from 56 {times} 10{sup 3} to 5.3 {times} 10{sup 3}. Thermal stability of these was also investigated; char yields range from 56 to 83%. One of these polymers exhibits thermotropic liquid crystalline properties.
Date: March 3, 1994
Creator: Ding, Yiwei
System: The UNT Digital Library
Wave propagation in photonic crystals and metamaterials: Surface waves, nonlinearity and chirality (open access)

Wave propagation in photonic crystals and metamaterials: Surface waves, nonlinearity and chirality

Photonic crystals and metamaterials, both composed of artificial structures, are two interesting areas in electromagnetism and optics. New phenomena in photonic crystals and metamaterials are being discovered, including some not found in natural materials. This thesis presents my research work in the two areas. Photonic crystals are periodically arranged artificial structures, mostly made from dielectric materials, with period on the same order of the wavelength of the working electromagnetic wave. The wave propagation in photonic crystals is determined by the Bragg scattering of the periodic structure. Photonic band-gaps can be present for a properly designed photonic crystal. Electromagnetic waves with frequency within the range of the band-gap are suppressed from propagating in the photonic crystal. With surface defects, a photonic crystal could support surface modes that are localized on the surface of the crystal, with mode frequencies within the band-gap. With line defects, a photonic crystal could allow the propagation of electromagnetic waves along the channels. The study of surface modes and waveguiding properties of a 2D photonic crystal will be presented in Chapter 1. Metamaterials are generally composed of artificial structures with sizes one order smaller than the wavelength and can be approximated as effective media. Effective macroscopic parameters …
Date: December 3, 2009
Creator: Wang, Bingnan
System: The UNT Digital Library
Absorption and emission properties of photonic crystals and metamaterials (open access)

Absorption and emission properties of photonic crystals and metamaterials

We study the emission and absorption properties of photonic crystals and metamaterials using Comsol Multiphysics and Ansoft HFSS as simulation tools. We calculate the emission properties of metallic designs using drude model and the results illustrate that an appropriate termination of the surface of the metallic structure can significantly increase the absorption and therefore the thermal emissivity. We investigate the spontaneous emission rate modifications that occur for emitters inside two-dimensional photonic crystals and find the isotropic and directional emissions with respect to different frequencies as we have expected.
Date: August 3, 2007
Creator: Peng, Lili
System: The UNT Digital Library
Mutiscale Modeling of Segregation in Granular Flows (open access)

Mutiscale Modeling of Segregation in Granular Flows

Modeling and simulation of segregation phenomena in granular flows are investigated. Computational models at different scales ranging from particle level (microscale) to continuum level (macroscale) are employed in order to determine the important microscale physics relevant to macroscale modeling. The capability of a multi-fluid model to capture segregation caused by density difference is demonstrated by simulating grain-chaff biomass flows in a laboratory-scale air column and in a combine harvester. The multi-fluid model treats gas and solid phases as interpenetrating continua in an Eulerian frame. This model is further improved by incorporating particle rotation using kinetic theory for rapid granular flow of slightly frictional spheres. A simplified model is implemented without changing the current kinetic theory framework by introducing an effective coefficient of restitution to account for additional energy dissipation due to frictional collisions. The accuracy of predicting segregation rate in a gas-fluidized bed is improved by the implementation. This result indicates that particle rotation is important microscopic physics to be incorporated into the hydrodynamic model. Segregation of a large particle in a dense granular bed of small particles under vertical. vibration is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. Wall friction is identified as a necessary condition for the segregation. Large-scale force …
Date: August 3, 2007
Creator: Sun, Jin
System: The UNT Digital Library
Detecting Molecular Properties by Various Laser-Based Techniques (open access)

Detecting Molecular Properties by Various Laser-Based Techniques

Four different laser-based techniques were applied to study physical and chemical characteristics of biomolecules and dye molecules. These techniques are liole burning spectroscopy, single molecule spectroscopy, time-resolved coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy and laser-induced fluorescence microscopy. Results from hole burning and single molecule spectroscopy suggested that two antenna states (C708 & C714) of photosystem I from cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC 6803 are connected by effective energy transfer and the corresponding energy transfer time is {approx}6 ps. In addition, results from hole burning spectroscopy indicated that the chlorophyll dimer of the C714 state has a large distribution of the dimer geometry. Direct observation of vibrational peaks and evolution of coumarin 153 in the electronic excited state was demonstrated by using the fs/ps CARS, a variation of time-resolved coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy. In three different solvents, methanol, acetonitrile, and butanol, a vibration peak related to the stretch of the carbonyl group exhibits different relaxation dynamics. Laser-induced fluorescence microscopy, along with the biomimetic containers-liposomes, allows the measurement of the enzymatic activity of individual alkaline phosphatase from bovine intestinal mucosa without potential interferences from glass surfaces. The result showed a wide distribution of the enzyme reactivity. Protein structural variation is one of the major reasons that …
Date: August 3, 2007
Creator: Hsin, Tse-Ming
System: The UNT Digital Library
Performance of Planted Herbaceous Species in Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) Plantations: Overstory Effects of Competition and Needlefall (open access)

Performance of Planted Herbaceous Species in Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) Plantations: Overstory Effects of Competition and Needlefall

Research to determine the separate effects of above-ground and below-ground competition and needlefall of over-story pines on under-story plant performance. Periodic monitoring of over-story crown closure, soil water content, temperature, and nutrients were conducted. Results indicate competition for light had a more determental effect on performance of herbaceous species in longleaf pine plantations than that resulting from competition for below-ground resources.
Date: July 3, 2001
Creator: Dagley, Christa Marie
System: The UNT Digital Library
Authenticated group Diffie-Hellman key exchange: theory and practice (open access)

Authenticated group Diffie-Hellman key exchange: theory and practice

Authenticated two-party Diffie-Hellman key exchange allows two principals A and B, communicating over a public network, and each holding a pair of matching public/private keys to agree on a session key. Protocols designed to deal with this problem ensure A (B resp.)that no other principals aside from B (A resp.) can learn any information about this value. These protocols additionally often ensure A and B that their respective partner has actually computed the shared secret value. A natural extension to the above cryptographic protocol problem is to consider a pool of principals agreeing on a session key. Over the years several papers have extended the two-party Diffie-Hellman key exchange to the multi-party setting but no formal treatments were carried out till recently. In light of recent developments in the formalization of the authenticated two-party Diffie-Hellman key exchange we have in this thesis laid out the authenticated group Diffie-Hellman key exchange on firmer foundations.
Date: October 3, 2002
Creator: Chevassut, Olivier
System: The UNT Digital Library
Ultrafast dynamics of electrons at interfaces (open access)

Ultrafast dynamics of electrons at interfaces

Electronic states of a thin layer of material on a surface possess unique physical and chemical properties. Some of these properties arise from the reduced dimensionality of the thin layer with respect to the bulk or the properties of the electric field where two materials of differing dielectric constants meet at an interface. Other properties are related to the nature of the surface chemical bond. Here, the properties of excess electrons in thin layers of Xenon, Krypton, and alkali metals are investigated, and the bound state energies and effective masses of the excess electrons are determined using two-photon photoemission. For Xenon, the dependence of bound state energy, effective mass, and lifetime on layer thickness from one to nine layers is examined. Not all quantities were measured at each coverage. The two photon photoemission spectra of thin layers of Xenon on a Ag(111) substrate exhibit a number of sharp, well-defined peaks. The binding energy of the excess electronic states of Xenon layers exhibited a pronounced dependence on coverage. A discrete energy shift was observed for each additional atomic layer. At low coverage, a series of states resembling a Rydberg series is observed. This series is similar to the image state series …
Date: May 3, 1999
Creator: McNeill, Jason D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Criticisms of Patriarchy in Women's Captivity Narratives: A Close Look at Mary Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God (1862) and Sarah Wakefield's Six Weeks in the Sioux Tepees: A Narrative of Indian Captivity (1862) (open access)

Criticisms of Patriarchy in Women's Captivity Narratives: A Close Look at Mary Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God (1862) and Sarah Wakefield's Six Weeks in the Sioux Tepees: A Narrative of Indian Captivity (1862)

Undergraduate thesis exploring criticisms of patriarchy in women's captivity narratives by examining Mary Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God (1862) and Sarah Wakefield's Six Weeks in the Sioux Tepees: A Narrative of Indian Captivity (1862). Both used their socially acceptable roles in order to assert their own ideas regarding the patriarchy. The author concludes that both narratives therefore assert that patriarchal societies did not necessarily produce justice for English or American women who were a part of these societies, or for the Dakota Indians who lived in close contact with a patriarchal society.
Date: May 3, 2013
Creator: Hansard, Chelsea
System: The UNT Digital Library
Concurrences in the U. S. Supreme Court (open access)

Concurrences in the U. S. Supreme Court

Thesis written by a student in the UNT Honors College discussing different types of opinions within the United States Supreme Court, with an emphasis on the history and practice of concurrences.
Date: April 3, 2000
Creator: Watson, Takiesha
System: The UNT Digital Library
My Spent Life's Breath: A Psychoanalytic Study of Don Carlo Gesualdo (open access)

My Spent Life's Breath: A Psychoanalytic Study of Don Carlo Gesualdo

Undergraduate thesis psychoanalyzing the composer Don Carlo Gesualdo. It focuses on the relationship between the composer and mastery of the musical task. The author examines the life and work of Don Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, who was commonly referred to as both musician and murderer.
Date: December 3, 2012
Creator: Coronado, Sam
System: The UNT Digital Library