The present invention relates generally to metal foils and methods of making the same. More particularly, this invention pertains to the fabrication of very thin, unbacked metal foils.

Method and apparatus for amplification of a laser pulse in a free-electron-laser amplifier where the laser pulse duration may be a small fraction of the electron-beam-pulse duration used for amplification. An electron-beam pulse is passed through a first wiggler magnet and a short laser pulse to be amplified is passed through the same wiggler so that only the energy of the last fraction, f, (f < 1) of the electron-beam pulse is consumed in amplifying the laser pulse. After suitable delay of the electron beam, the process is repeated in a second wiggler magnet, a third, ..., where substantially the same fraction f of the remainder of the electron-beam pulse is consumed in amplification of the given short laser pulse in each wiggler magnet region until the useful electron-beam energy is substantially completely consumed by amplification of the laser pulse.

The present invention is directed to a cutting fluid for machining fissionable material. The cutting fluid is formed of glycol, water and a boron compound in an adequate concentration for effective neutron attenuation so as to inhibit criticality incidents during machining.

A plurality of pivotal reflectors direct a high-power laser beam onto a workpiece, and a rotatable reflector is movable to a position wherein it intercepts the beam and deflects a major portion thereof away from its normal path, the remainder of the beam passing to the pivotal reflectors through an aperture in the rotating reflector. A plurality of targets are movable to positions intercepting the path of light traveling to the pivotal reflectors, and a preliminary adjustment of the latter is made by use of a low-power laser beam reflected from the rotating reflector, after which the same targets are used to make a final adjustment of the pivotal reflectors with the portion of the high-power laser beam passed through the rotating reflector. The system was developed to cut the casings of spent nuclear fuel elements into segments as the initial step in recovering usable fuel. (WHK)

This invention provides an antenna arrangement for accurately measuring the magnetic permeability of earth formations. It provides a high-resolution coil array of a transmitting coil and six receiving coils to enable self-consistency checks for evaluating tight gas and oil-bearing strata. (DLC)

The disclosure relates to a portable device adapted to handle objects which are not to be touched by hand. A piston and bore wall form a vacuum chamber communicating with an adaptor sealably engageable with an object to be lifted. The piston is manually moved and set to establish vacuum. A valve is manually actuable to apply the vacuum to lift the object.

For a plasma device, a surface of a first wall or limiter with reduced loss of metal by erosion is provided by forming a monolayer of an alkali or alkaline earth metal on a substrate of a more negative metal. The surface exhibits a reduced loss of metal by erosion and particularly by sputtering and an increased secondary ion/neutral ratio resulting in a greater return of atoms escaping from the surface. In another aspect of the invention, the substrate includes a portion of the second metal and serves to replenish the surface layer with atoms of the second metal. In one process associated with self-generating desired surface, the metals as an alloy are selected to provide a first layer having a high concentration of the second metal in contrast to a very low concentration in the second layer and bulk to result in a surface with a monolayer of the second metal. When the combination of metals results in an intermetallic compound, selective removal of the first metal during an initial bombardment stage provides the surface layer with a predominance of the second metal.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a capacitively-coupled inductive shunt current sensor. To achieve the other object, and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the apparatus of this invention may comprise a capacitively coupled inductive shunt current sensor comprising: annular inductive channel means formed in a conductor carrying a high voltage pulsed current; an electrode capacitively coupled to said conductor on opposite sides of said annular inductive channel means; voltage dividing capacitor means connected in series with said electrode for reducing the magnitude of the detected output signal; output coupling means connected to said voltage dividing capacitor means for producing an output signal representative of said high voltage pulsed current.

Apparatus for forming and utilizing a sequence of electron beam segments, each of the same temporal length (substantially 15 nsec), with consecutive beams being separated by a constant time interval of the order of 3 nsec is described. The beam sequence is used for simultaneous inputs to a plurality of wiggler magnet systems that also accept the laser beams to be amplified by interaction with the co-propagating electron beams. The electron beams are arranged substantially in a circle to allow proper distribution of and simultaneous switching out of the beam segments to their respective wiggler magnets.

This invention, which resulted from a contract with the United States Department of Energy, relates to a means for shifting the wavelength of light and, more particularly, to a means for changing the wavelength of a laser beam so that the beam can be effectively used in a process for separation uranium isotopes. As disclosed in US Patent 3,940,615, /sup 235/U can be separated from /sup 238/U by selectively ionizing the /sup 235/U isotope in a vapor containing both /sup 235/U and /sup 238/U, this ionization being effected by passing a laser beam having a proper frequency (or wavelength) through the vapor. Doppler shifting of the wavelength of a laser beam to obtain an optimal light wavelength for ionizing /sup 235/U in such a separation process has been proposed heretofore. However, the applicants are aware of no apparatus for Doppler shifting of the wavelength of light that has the features or advantages of apparatus constructed in accordance with the principles of their invention. A light beam is reflected back and forth between a rotating body having a retroreflection corner at opposite ends thereof and a fixed mirror to change the wavelength of the light beam by the Doppler effect.

This negative ion generator comprises a magnetically insulated transmission line having at least one hole in the cathode to permit negative ions to escape the transmission line, and a device for removing electrons from the negative ion flow.

This invention pertains to energy absorbers for solar collectors, and more particularly to high performance thin film absorbers. The solar collectors comprising the absorber of this invention overcome several problems seen in current systems, such as excessive hardware, high cost and unreliability. In the preferred form, the apparatus features a substantially rigid planar frame with a thin film window bonded to one planar side of the frame. An absorber in accordance with the present invention is comprised of two thin film layers that are sealed perimetrically. In a preferred embodiment, thin film layers are formed from a metal/plastic laminate. The layers define a fluid-tight planar envelope of large surface area to volume through which a heat transfer fluid flows. The absorber is bonded to the other planar side of the frame. The thin film construction of the absorber assures substantially full envelope wetting and thus good efficiency. The window and absorber films stress the frame adding to the overall strength of the collector.

Adiabatic ion bunching is achieved in a cyclotron axial ion injection system through the incorporation of a radio frequency quadrupole system, which receives ions from an external ion source via an accelerate-decelerate system and a focusing einzel lens system, and which adiabatically bunches and then injects the ions into the median plane of a cyclotron via an electrostatic quadrupole system and an inflection mirror.

An oxygen stabilized intermetallic compound is described which has the formula (Zr/sub 1-x/Ti/sub x/)/sub 2-u/(V/sub 1-y/Fe/sub y/)O/sub z/ where x = 0.0 to 0.9, y = 0.01 to 0.9, z = 0.25 to 0.5 and u = 0 to 1. The compound is capable of reversibly sorbing hydrogen at temperatures from -196/sup 0/C to 200/sup 0/C at pressures down to 10/sup -8/ torr. The compound is suitable for use as a hydrogen getter in low pressure, high temperature applications such as magnetic confinement fusion devices.

Rhenium is recovered from an alloy containing that metal and either one or both of the metals molybdenum and tungsten by the following steps: (1) heating the alloy in the presence of O/sub 2/ to remove the Re from the alloy as gaseous Re/sub 2/O/sub 7/; (2) condensing the gaseous Re/sub 2/O/sub 7/; (3) dissolving the obtained solid Re/sub 2/O/sub 7/ in H/sub 2/O; (4) treating the solution of Re/sub 2/O/sub 7/ and H/sub 2/O with KCl to form KReO/sub 4/; and (5) heating the KReO/sub 4/ in the presence of H/sub 2/ to form Re.

This invention is a novel portable charger for dosimeters of the electrometer type. The charger does not require batteries or piezoelectric crystals and is of rugged construction. In a preferred embodiment, the charge includes a housing which carries means for mounting a dosimeter to be charged. The housing also includes contact means for impressing a charging voltage across the mounted dosimeter. Also, the housing carries a trigger for operating a charging system mounted in the housing. The charging system includes a magnetic loop including a permanent magnet for establishing a magnetic field through the loop. A segment of the loop is coupled to the trigger for movement thereby to positions opening and closing the loop. A coil inductively coupled with the loop generates coil-generated voltage pulses when the trigger is operated to open and close the loop. The charging system includes an electrical circuit for impressing voltage pulses from the coil across a capacitor for integrating the pulses and applying the resulting integrated voltage across the above-mentioned contact means for charging the dosimeter.

A cutting apparatus includes a support table mounted for movement toward and away from a workpiece and carrying a mirror which directs a cutting laser beam onto the workpiece. A carrier is rotatably and pivotally mounted on the support table between the mirror and workpiece and supports a conduit discharging gas toward the point of impingement of the laser beam on the workpiece. Means are provided for rotating the carrier relative to the support table to place the gas discharging conduit in the proper positions for cuts made in different directions on the workpiece.

The novel compounds 1-/sup 11/C-D-glucose, 1-/sup 11/C-D-mannose, 1-/sup 11/C-D-galactose, 2-/sup 11/C-D-glucose, 2-/sup 11/C-D-mannose and 2-/sup 11/C-D-galactose which can be used in nuclear medicine to monitor the metabolism of glucose and galactose can be rapidly prepared by reaction of the appropriate aldose substrate with an alkali metal /sup 11/C-labeled cyanide followed by reduction with a Raney alloy in formic acid.

Microspheres for nuclear waste storage are formed by gelling droplets containing the waste in a gelation fluid, transferring the gelled droplets to a furnace without the washing step previously used, and heating the unwashed gelled droplets in the furnace under temperature or humidity conditions that result in a substantially linear rate of removal of volatile components therefrom. Fuel particles were also produced using this method.

A ball mounting fixture for a roundness gage is disclosed. The fixture includes a pair of chuck assemblies oriented substantially transversely with respect to one another and mounted on a common base. Each chuck assembly preferably includes a rotary stage and a wobble plate affixed thereto. A ball chuck affixed to each wobble plate is operable to selectively support a ball to be measured for roundness, with the wobble plate permitting the ball chuck to be tilted to center the ball on the axis of rotation of the rotary stage. In a preferred embodiment, each chuck assembly includes a vacuum chuck operable to selectively support the ball to be measured for roundness. The mounting fixture enables a series of roundness measurements to be taken with a conventional rotating gagehead roundness instrument, which measurements can be utilized to determine the sphericity of the ball.

A roundness calibration standard is provided with a first arc constituting the major portion of a circle and a second arc lying between the remainder of the circle and the chord extending between the ends of said first arc.

The invention is an improvement to an intruder-detection system of the kind where intruder-induced signals are transmitted through a medium whose conductance varies with certain climatic conditions. The improved system includes means coupled to the medium for converting the intruder-induced signals received therefrom to a first electrical signal. Means also are provided for generating a reference signal proportional to the climate-induced changes in the signal-conductance of the medium. Means are provided for generating, from the first electrical signal and the reference signal, an electrical output signal which is unaffected by the changes in signal-conductance. Means are provided to give warning when the output signal exceeds a selected value. In another aspect, the invention is a method for operating an intruder-detection system of the kind wherein an intrusion-generated signal transmitted through a detection medium is converted to a first electrical signal. The first electrical signal contains variations resulting from climate-induced changes in the medium. The method of the invention comprises generating an electrical reference signal proportional to the climate-induced changes in the medium; conditioning the first signal with the reference signal to produce an electrical output signal which is unaffected by the climate-induced changes in the medium; and impressing the resulting …

In one form of the invention, hydrogen is produced by providing a reactor containing a body of water. The water contains photolytic material, i.e., photoactive material containing a hydrogen-catalyst. The interior of the reactor is isolated from atmosphere and includes a volume for receiving gases evolved from the body of water. The photolytic material is exposed to light to effect photosynthetic splitting of the water into gaseous hydrogen and oxygen. The gas-receiving volume is continuously evacuated by pumping to promote evolution of gaseous hydrogen and oxygen into that volume and to withdraw them therefrom. In another form of the invention, separation of the hydrogen and oxygen is effected by selectively diffusing the hydrogen through a heated semipermeable membrane in a separation zone while maintaining across the zone a magnetic field gradient biasing the oxygen away from the membrane. In a third form of the invention, the withdrawn gas is contacted with a membrane blocking flow of water vapor to the region for effecting recovery of the hydrogen. In a fourth embodiment, the invention comprises a process for selectively recovering hydrogen from a gas mixture comprising hydrogen and oxygen. The process is conducted in a separation zone and comprises contacting the …

This disclosure relates generally to nondestructive testing for identifying structural characteristics of an object by scanned holographic techniques using a known source of radiation, such as electromagnetic or acoustical radiation. It is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus and method for synthetic aperture expansion in holographic imaging applications to construct fringe patterns capable of holographic reproduction where aperture restrictions in nondestructive testing applications would conventionally make such imaging techniques impossible. The apparatus and method result in the production of a sharply defined frontal image of structural characteristics which could not otherwise be imaged because they occur either near the surface of the object or are confined by geometry restricting aperture dimensions available for scanning purposes. The depth of the structural characteristic below the surface of the object can also be determined by the reconstruction parameters which produce the sharpest focus. Lateral resolution is established by simulated reduction in the radiation wavelength and may easily be an order of magnitude less than the electromagnetic wavelength in the material or 2 times the standard depth of penetration. Since the phase multiplication technique is performed on the detected data, the penetration depth available due to the longer wavelength signals applied …