A technique has been developed for measuring the properties of discharge-based plasma channels by monitoring the centroid location of a laser beam exiting the channel as a function of input alignment offset between the laser and the channel. The centroid position of low-intensity (<10{sup 14}Wcm{sup -2}) laser pulses focused at the input of a hydrogen-filled capillary discharge waveguide was scanned and the exit positions recorded to determine the channel shape and depth with an accuracy of a few %. In addition, accurate alignment of the laser beam through the plasma channel can be provided by minimizing laser centroid motion at the channel exit as the channel depth is scanned either by scanning the plasma density or the discharge timing. The improvement in alignment accuracy provided by this technique will be crucial for minimizing electron beam pointing errors in laser plasma accelerators.

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This work is at a relatively early stage, however it has been demonstrated that we can reliably probe basic network architectures using the MQ-NMR technique. The initial results are in good agreement with what is known from standard network theory and will serve as a basis for the study of progressively increasing structural complexity in Siloxane network systems.

The Main Injector Particle Production Experiment at Fermilab uses particle beams of charged pions, kaons, proton and anti-proton with beam momenta of 5 to 90 GeV/c and thin targets spanning the periodic table from (liquid) hydrogen to uranium to measure particle production cross sections in a full acceptance spectrometer with charged particle identification for particles from 0.1 to 120 GeV/c using Time Projection Chamber, Time of Flight, multicell Cherenkov, and Ring Imaging Cherenkov detectors and Calorimeter for neutrons. Particle production using 120 GeV/c protons from Main Injector on the MINOS target was also measured. We describe the physics motivation to perform such cross section measurements and highlight the impact of hadronic interaction data on neutrino physics. Recent results on forward neutron cross sections and analysis of MINOS target data are also presented.

We develop a model based on simulation and experiment that explains the behavior of solid-state laser-supported absorption fronts generated in fused silica during high intensity (up to 5GW/cm{sup 2}) laser exposure. We find that the absorption front velocity is constant in time and is nearly linear in laser intensity. Further, this model can explain the dependence of laser damage site size on these parameters. This behavior is driven principally by the temperature-activated deep sub band-gap optical absorptivity, free electron transport and thermal diffusion in defect-free silica for temperatures up to 15,000K and pressures < 15GPa. The regime of parameter space critical to this problem spans and extends that measured by other means. It serves as a platform for understanding general laser-matter interactions in dielectrics under a variety of conditions.

These lectures concern the properties of strongly interacting matter at very high energy density. I begin with the Color Glass Condensate and the Glasma, matter that controls the earliest times in hadronic collisions. I then describe the Quark Gluon Plasma, matter produced from the thermalized remnants of the Glasma. Finally, I describe high density baryonic matter, in particular Quarkyonic matter. The discussion will be intuitive and based on simple structural aspects of QCD. There will be some discussion of experimental tests of these ideas.

The recently developed code FREYA (Fission Reaction Event Yield Algorithm) generates large samples of complete fission events, consisting of two receding product nuclei as well as a number of neutrons and photons, all with complete kinematic information. Thus it is possible to calculate arbitrary correlation observables whose behavior may provide unique insight into the fission process. The presentation first discusses the present status of FREYA, which has now been extended up to energies where pre-equilibrium emission becomes significant and one or more neutrons may be emitted prior to fission. Concentrating on {sup 239}Pu(n,f), we discuss the neutron multiplicity correlations, the dependence of the neutron energy spectrum on the neutron multiplicity, and the relationship between the fragment kinetic energy and the number of neutrons and their energies. We also briefly suggest novel fission observables that could be measured with modern detectors.

The 2010 Gordon Conference on Single-Molecule Approaches to Biology focuses on cutting-edge research in single-molecule science. Tremendous technical developments have made it possible to detect, identify, track, and manipulate single biomolecules in an ambient environment or even in a live cell. Single-molecule approaches have changed the way many biological problems are addressed, and new knowledge derived from these approaches continues to emerge. The ability of single-molecule approaches to avoid ensemble averaging and to capture transient intermediates and heterogeneous behavior renders them particularly powerful in elucidating mechanisms of biomolecular machines: what they do, how they work individually, how they work together, and finally, how they work inside live cells. The burgeoning use of single-molecule methods to elucidate biological problems is a highly multidisciplinary pursuit, involving both force- and fluorescence-based methods, the most up-to-date advances in microscopy, innovative biological and chemical approaches, and nanotechnology tools. This conference seeks to bring together top experts in molecular and cell biology with innovators in the measurement and manipulation of single molecules, and will provide opportunities for junior scientists and graduate students to present their work in poster format and to exchange ideas with leaders in the field. A number of excellent poster presenters will be …

The Probabilistic Shock Threshold Criterion (PSTC) Project at LLNL develops phenomenological criteria for estimating safety or performance margin on high explosive (HE) initiation in the shock initiation regime, creating tools for safety assessment and design of initiation systems and HE trains in general. Until recently, there has been little foundation for probabilistic assessment of HE initiation scenarios. This work attempts to use probabilistic information that is available from both historic and ongoing tests to develop a basis for such assessment. Current PSTC approaches start with the functional form of the James Initiation Criterion as a backbone, and generalize to include varying areas of initiation and provide a probabilistic response based on test data for 1.8 g/cc (Ultrafine) 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) and LX-17 (92.5% TATB, 7.5% Kel-F 800 binder). Application of the PSTC methodology is presented investigating the safety and performance of a flying plate detonator and the margin of an Ultrafine TATB booster initiating LX-17.

Progress in the last few decades has left neutrino physics with several vexing issues. Among them are the following questions: (1) Why are lepton mixing angles so different from those in the quark sector? (2) What is the most probable range of the reactor mixing angle? (3) Is the atmospheric mixing angle maximal? (4) What is the number of fermion generations? These are some of the issues that neutrino science hopes to study; this article will explore these questions as part of a more general scientific landscape, and will discuss the part MiniBooNE might play in this exploration. We discuss the current state of measurements taken by MiniBooNE, and emphasize the uniqueness of neutrino oscillations as an important probe into the 'Windows on the Universe.'

Amorphous silicon nanowires (a-SiNWs) were prepared by electrospinning cyclohexasilane (Si{sub 6}H{sub 12}) admixed with polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) in toluene. Raman spectroscopy characterization of these wires (d {approx} 50-2000 nm) shows 350 C treatment yields a-SiNWs. Porous a-SiNWs are obtained using a volatile polymer.

An instrument has been developed to measure X-ray bang-time for inertial confinement fusion capsules; the time interval between the start of the laser pulse and peak X-ray emission from the fuel core. The instrument comprises chemical vapor deposited polycrystalline diamond photoconductive X-ray detectors with highly ordered pyrolytic graphite X-ray monochromator crystals at the input. Capsule bang-time can be measured in the presence of relatively high thermal and hard X-ray background components due to the selective band pass of the crystals combined with direct and indirect X-ray shielding of the detector elements. A five channel system is being commissioned at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for implosion optimization measurements as part of the National Ignition Campaign. Characteristics of the instrument have been measured demonstrating that X-ray bang-time can be measured with {+-} 30ps precision, characterizing the soft X-ray drive to +/- 1eV or 1.5%.

We analyzed spectral data of Fe XXII and Ar XIV from laboratory sources in which the electron density varies by several orders of magnitude to help benchmark density-sensitive emission lines useful for astrophysics and to test the atomic models underlying the diagnostic line ratios. We found excellent agreement for Fe XXII, but poorer agreement for Ar XIV. A number of astrophysically important emission lines are sensitive to electron density in the EUV and soft X-ray regions. Lines from Fe XXII, for example, have been used in recent years as diagnostics of stellar coronae, such as the active variable AB Dor, Capella, and EX Hya (Sanz-Forcada et al. 2003, Mewe et al. 2001, Mauche et al. 2003). Here we report spectral data of Fe XXII and Ar XIV from laboratory sources in which the electron density is known from either K-shell density diagnostics (for electron beam ion traps) or from non-spectroscopic means (tokamaks), ranging from 5 x 10{sup 10} cm{sup -3} to 5 x 10{sup 14} cm{sup -3}. These measurements were used to test the atomic data underlying the density diagnostic line ratios, complementing earlier work (Chen et al. 2004).

Spun-cast films of polystyrene (PS) blended with polylactide (PLA) were visualized and characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and synchrotron-based X-ray photoemission electron microscopy (X-PEEM). The composition of the two polymers in these systems was determined by quantitative chemical analysis of near-edge X-ray absorption signals recorded with X-PEEM. The surface morphology depends on the ratio of the two components, the total polymer concentration, and the temperature of vacuum annealing. For most of the blends examined, PS is the continuous phase with PLA existing in discrete domains or segregated to the air?polymer interface. Phase segregation was improved with further annealing. A phase inversion occurred when films of a 40:60 PS:PLA blend (0.7 wt percent loading) were annealed above the glass transition temperature (Tg) of PLA.

Current state-of-the-art and next generation laser systems - such as those used in the NIF and LIFE experiments at LLNL - depend on ever larger optical elements. The need for wide aperture optics that are tolerant of high power has placed many demands on material growers for such diverse materials as crystalline sapphire, quartz, and laser host materials. For such materials, it is either prohibitively expensive or even physically impossible to fabricate monolithic pieces with the required size. In these cases, it is preferable to optically bond two or more elements together with a technique such as Chemically Activated Direct Bonding (CADB{copyright}). CADB is an epoxy-free bonding method that produces bulk-strength bonded samples with negligible optical loss and excellent environmental robustness. The authors have demonstrated CADB for a variety of different laser glasses and crystals. For this project, they will bond quartz samples together to determine the suitability of the resulting assemblies for large aperture high power laser optics. The assemblies will be evaluated in terms of their transmitted wavefront error, and other optical properties.

Plutonium(VI) sorption on the surface of well-characterized synthetic manganese-substituted goethite minerals (Fe1-xMnxOOH) was studied using X-ray absorption spectroscopy. We chose to study the influence of manganese as a minor component in goethite, because goethite rarely exists as a pure phase in nature. Manganese X-ray absorption near-edge structure measurements indicated that essentially all the Mn in the goethite existed as Mn(III), even though Mn was added during mineral synthesis as Mn(II). Importantly, energy dispersive X-ray analysis demonstrated that Mn did not exist as discrete phases and that it was homogeneously mixed into the goethite to within the limit of detection of the method. Furthermore, Mössbauer spectra demonstrated that all Fe existed as Fe(III), with no Fe(II) present. Plutonium(VI) sorption experiments were conducted open to air and no attempt was made to exclude carbonate. The use of X-ray absorption spectroscopy allows us to directly and unambiguously measure the oxidation state of plutonium in situ at the mineral surface. Plutonium X-ray absorption near-edge structure measurements carried out on these samples showed that Pu(VI) was reduced to Pu(IV) upon contact with the mineral. This reduction appears to be strongly correlated with mineral solution pH, coinciding with pH transitions across the point of zero charge …

Marine microbes include representatives from all three kingdoms of life and collectively carry out virtually all forms of metabolisms found on the planet. Because of this metabolic and genetic diversity, these microbes mediate many of the reactions making up global biogeochemical cycles which govern the flow of energy and material in the biosphere. The goal of this conference is to bring together approaches and concepts from studies of microbial evolution, genomics, ecology, and oceanography in order to gain new insights into marine microbes and their biogeochemical functions. The integration of scales, from genes to global cycles, will result in a better understanding of marine microbes and of their contribution to the carbon cycle and other biogeochemical processes.

Magnetic domain evolution at the spin reorientation transition (SRT) of (Fe/Ni)/Cu/Ni/Cu(001) is investigated using photoemission electron microscopy. While the (Fe/Ni) layer exhibits the SRT, the interlayer coupling of the perpendicularly magnetized Ni layer to the (Fe/Ni) layer serves as a virtual perpendicular magnetic field exerted on the (Fe/Ni) layer. We find that the perpendicular virtual magnetic field breaks the up-down symmetry of the (Fe/Ni) stripe domains to induce a net magnetization in the normal direction of the film. Moreover, as the virtual magnetic field increases to exceed a critical field, the stripe domain phase evolves into a bubble domain phase. Although the critical field depends on the Fe film thickness, we show that the area fraction of the minority domain exhibits a universal value that determines the stripe-to-bubble phase transition.

Semi-insulating (Cd,Mn)Te crystals offer a material that may compete well with the commonly used (Cd,Zn)Te crystals for manufacturing large-area X- and gamma-ray detectors. The Bridgman growth method yields good quality, high-resistivity (10{sup 9} - 10{sup 10} {Omega} {center_dot} cm) crystals of (Cd,Mn)Te:V. Doping the as-grown crystals with the compensating agent vanadium ({approx} 10{sup 16} cm{sup -3}) ensures their high resistivity; thereafter, annealing them in cadmium vapors reduces the number of cadmium vacancies. Applying the crystals as detectors necessitates having satisfactory electrical contacts. Accordingly, we explored various techniques of ensuring good electrical contacts to these semi-insulating (Cd,Mn)Te crystals, assessing metallic layers, monocrystalline semiconductor layers, and amorphous (or nanocrystalline) semiconductor layers. We found that ZnTe heavily doped ({approx} 10{sup 18} cm{sup -3}) with Sb, and CdTe heavily doped ({approx} 10{sup 17} cm{sup -3}) with In, proved satisfactory semiconductor contact layers. They subsequently enabled us to establish good contacts (with only narrow tunneling barriers) to the Au layer that usually constitutes the most external contact layer. We outline our technology of applying electrical contacts to semi-insulating (Cd,Mn)Te, and describe some important properties.

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