The next generation of synchrotrons and free electron lasersrequires x-ray optical systems with extremely high-performance,generally, of diffraction limited quality. Fabrication and use of suchoptics requires highly accurate metrology. In the present paper, wediscuss a way to improve the performance of the Long Trace Profiler(LTP), a slope measuring instrument widely used at synchrotron facilitiesto characterize x-ray optics at high-spatial-wavelengths fromapproximately 2 mm to 1 m. One of the major sources of LTP systematicerror is the detector. For optimal functionality, the detector has topossess the smallest possible pixel size/spacing, a fast method ofshuttering, and minimal non-uniformity of pixel-to-pixel photoresponse.While the first two requirements are determined by choice of detector,the non-uniformity of photoresponse of typical detectors such as CCDcameras is around 2-3 percent. We describe a flat-field calibration setupspecially developed for calibration of CCD camera photo-response and darkcurrent with an accuracy of better than 0.5 percent. Such accuracy isadequate for use of a camera as a detector for an LTP with performance of~;0.1 microradian (rms). We also present the design details of thecalibration system and results of calibration of a DALSA CCD camera usedfor upgrading our LTP-II instrument at the ALS Optical MetrologyLaboratory.

Small carbon clusters (Cn, n = 2-15) are produced in amolecular beam by pulsed laser vaporization and studied with vacuumultraviolet (VUV) photoionization mass spectrometry. The required VUVradiation in the 8-12 eV range is provided by the Advanced Light Source(ALS) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Mass spectra atvarious ionization energies reveal the qualitative relative abundances ofthe neutral carbon clusters produced. By far the most abundant species isC3. Using the tunability of the ALS, ionization threshold spectra arerecorded for the clusters up to 15 atoms in size. The ionizationthresholds are compared to those measured previously with charge-transferbracketing methods. To interpret the ionization thresholds for differentcluster sizes, new ab initio calculations are carried out on the clustersfor n = 4-10. Geometric structures are optimized at the CCSD(T) levelwith cc-pVTZ (or cc-pVDZ) basis sets, and focal point extrapolations areapplied to both neutral and cation species to determine adiabatic andvertical ionization potentials. The comparison of computed and measuredionization potentials makes it possible to investigate the isomericstructures of the neutral clusters produced in this experiment. Themeasurements are inconclusive for the n = 4-6 species because ofunquenched excited electronic states. However, the data provide evidencefor the prominence of linear structures for the n = 7, 9, …

Ga-acceptor nanowires were embedded in crystalline Si using focused-ion beams. The dc current-voltage characteristics of these wires after annealing are highly nonlinear at low temperatures, and a threshold voltage of less than 50 mV is observed independent of Ga+ dosage and implant beam overlap. These features suggest a Coulomb blockade transport mechanism presumably caused by a network of Ga precipitates in the substrate. This granular scenario is further supported by measurements of gated nanowires. Nanowires with metallic conductance at low temperatures could be achieved by reducing the current density of the focused-ion beams.

Accelerator-based neutron sources offer many advantages, in particular tunability of the neutron beam in energy and width to match the needs of the application. Using a recently constructed neutron beam line at the 88-Inch Cyclotron at LBNL, tunable high-intensity sources of quasi-monoenergetic and broad spectrum neutrons from deuteron breakup are under development for a variety of applications.

We present results of direct numerical simulations of impact of hypervelocity particle stream with a target. The stream of interest consists of submillimeter (30-300 micron) brittle ceramic particles. Current supercomputer capabilities make it possible to simulate a realistic size of streams (up to 20 mm in diameter and 500 mm in length) while resolving each particle individually. Such simulations make possible to study the damage of the target from synergistic effects of individual impacts. In our research we fixed the velocity distribution along the axis of the stream (1-4 km/s) and volume fraction of the solid material (1-10%) and study effects of particle size variation, particle and target material properties and surrounding air properties. We ran 3D calibration simulations with up to 10 million individual particles and conducted sensitivity studies with 2D cylindrically symmetric simulations. We used an Eulerian Godunov hydrocode with adaptive mesh refinement. The particles, target material and air are represented with volume-of-fluid approach. Brittle particle and target material has been simulated with pressure-dependent yield strength and Steinberg model has been used for metal targets. Simulations demonstrated penetration depth and a hole diameter similar to experimental observations and can explain the influence of parameters of the stream on …

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) requires optical diagnostics for measuring shock velocities in shock physics experiments. The nature of the NIF facility requires the alignment of complex three-dimensional optical systems of very long distances. Access to the alignment mechanisms can be limited, and any alignment system must be operator friendly. The Velocity Interferometer System for Any Reflector measures shock velocities, shock breakout times, and emission of 1- to 5-mm targets at a location remote to the NIF target chamber. Three optical systems using the same vacuum chamber port each have a total track of 21 meters. All optical lenses are on kinematic mounts or sliding rails, enabling pointing accuracy of the optical axis to be checked. Counter-propagating laser beams (orange and red) align these diagnostics to a listing of tolerances. Movable aperture cards, placed before and after lens groups, show the spread of alignment spots created by the orange and red alignment lasers. Optical elements include 1-in. to 15-in. diameter mirrors, lenses with up to 10.5-in. diameters, beamsplitters, etalons, dove prisms, filters, and pellicles. Alignment of more than 75 optical elements must be verified before each target shot. Archived images from eight alignment cameras prove proper alignment before each shot.

The development of third generation light sources like theAdvanced Light Source (ALS) or BESSY II brought to a focus the need forhigh performance synchrotron optics with unprecedented tolerances forslope error and micro roughness. Proposed beam lines at Free ElectronLasers (FEL) require optical elements up to a length of one meter,characterized by a residual slope error in the range of 0.1murad (rms),and rms values of 0.1 nm for micro roughness. These optical elements mustbe inspected by highly accurate measuring instruments, providing ameasurement uncertainty lower than the specified accuracy of the surfaceunder test. It is essential that metrology devices in use at synchrotronlaboratories be precisely characterized and calibrated to achieve thistarget. In this paper we discuss a proposal for a Universal Test Mirror(UTM) as a realization of a high performance calibration instrument. Theinstrument would provide an ideal calibration surface to replicate aredundant surface under test of redundant figure. The application of asophisticated calibration instrument will allow the elimination of themajority of the systematic error from the error budget of an individualmeasurement of a particular optical element. We present the limitationsof existing methods, initial UTM design considerations, possiblecalibration algorithms, and an estimation of the expectedaccuracy.

We find that the high-Z crystal Barium Iodide is readily growable by the Bridgman growth technique and is less prone to crack compared to Lanthanum Halides. We have grown Barium Iodide crystals: undoped, doped with Ce{sup 3+}, and doped with Eu{sup 2+}. Radioluminescence spectra and time-resolved decay were measured. BaI{sub 2}(Eu) exhibits luminescence from both Eu{sup 2+} at 420 nm ({approx}450 ns decay), and a broad band at 550 nm ({approx}3 {micro}s decay) that we assign to a trapped exciton. The 550 nm luminescence decreases relative to the Eu{sup 2+} luminescence when the Barium Iodide is zone refined prior to crystal growth. We also describe the performance of BaI{sub 2}(Eu) crystals in experimental scintillator detectors.

We present results on bulk thermodynamic quantities as well as net baryon number, strangeness and electric charge fluctuations in QCD at non-zero density and temperature obtained from lattice calculations with almost physical quark masses for two values of the lattice cut-off aT = 1/4 and 1/6. We show that with our improved p4fa3-action the cut-off effects are under control when using lattices with a temporal extent of 6 or larger and that the contribution to the equation of state, which is due to a finite chemical potential is small for {mu}{sub q}/T < 1. Moreover, at vanishing chemical potential, i.e. under conditions almost realized at RHIC and the LHC, quartic fluctuations of net baryon number and strangeness are large in a narrow temperature interval characterizing the transition region from the low to high temperature phase. At non-zero baryon number density, strangeness fluctuations are enhanced and correlated to fluctuations of the net baryon number. If strangeness is furthermore forced to vanish, as it may be the case in systems created in heavy ion collisions, strangeness fluctuations are significantly smaller than baryon number fluctuations.

Ceramic and single crystal Lutetium Aluminum Garnet scintillators exhibit energy resolution with bialkali photomultiplier tube detection as good as 8.6% at 662 keV. Ceramic fabrication allows production of garnets that cannot easily be grown as single crystals, such as Gadolinium Aluminum Garnet and Terbium Aluminum Garnet. Measured scintillation light yields of Cerium-doped ceramic garnets indicate prospects for high energy resolution.

We present results for meson masses and decay constants measured on 24{sup 3} x 64 lattices using the domain wall fermion formulation with an extension of the fifth dimension of L{sub s} = 16 for N{sub f} 2 + 1 dynamical quark flavors. The lightest dynamical meson mass in our set-up is around 331MeV. while partially quenched mesons reach masses as low as 250MeV. The applicability of SU(3) x SU(3) and SU(2) x SU(2) (partially quenched) chiral perturbation theory will be compared and we quote values for the low-energy constants from both approaches. We will extract the average light quark and strange quark masses and use a non-perturbative renormalization technique (RI/MOM) to quote their physical values. The pion and kaon decay constants are determined at those values from our chiral fits and their ratio is used to obtain the CKM-matrix element |V{sub us}|. The results presented here include statistical errors only.

We investigate correlation functions of the Polyakov loop and static mesodiquark systems with the chiral condensate and the quark number density at finite temperature. In particular the latter observable can give insight into the mechanism of screening and string breaking at finite temperature. We use for our analysis gauge field configurations generated in 2+1 flavor QCD with an improved staggered fermion action with almost physical light quark masses and a physical value of the strange quark mass on lattices with temporal extent N{sub {tau}} = 4 and 6.

A novel algorithm is developed for the simulation of polymer chains suspended in a solvent. The polymers are represented as chains of hard spheres tethered by square wells and interact with the solvent particles with hard core potentials. The algorithm uses event-driven molecular dynamics (MD) for the simulation of the polymer chain and the interactions between the chain beads and the surrounding solvent particles. The interactions between the solvent particles themselves are not treated deterministically as in event-driven algorithms, rather, the momentum and energy exchange in the solvent is determined stochastically using the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. The coupling between the solvent and the solute is consistently represented at the particle level, however, unlike full MD simulations of both the solvent and the solute, the spatial structure of the solvent is ignored. The algorithm is described in detail and applied to the study of the dynamics of a polymer chain tethered to a hard wall subjected to uniform shear. The algorithm closely reproduces full MD simulations with two orders of magnitude greater efficiency. Results do not confirm the existence of periodic (cycling) motion of the polymer chain.

An extensive set of covariances for neutron cross sections has been developed to provide initial, low-fidelity but consistent uncertainty data for nuclear criticality safety applications. The methodology for the determination of such covariances in fast neutron region is presented. It combines the nuclear reaction code EMPIRE, which calculates sensitivity to nuclear reaction model parameters and the Bayesian code KALMAN to propagate uncertainty of the model parameters onto cross sections. Taking into account the large scale of the project (219 fission products), only partial reference to experimental data has been made. Therefore, the covariances are, to a large extent, derived from the perturbation of several critical model parameters selected through the sensitivity analysis. They define optical potential, level densities and pre-equilibrium emission. This exercise represents the first attempt to generate nuclear data covariances on such a scale.

The development of high resolution, room temperature semiconductor radiation detectors requires the introduction of materials with increased carrier mobility-lifetime ({mu}{tau}) product, while having a band gap in the 1.4-2.2 eV range. AlSb is a promising material for this application. However, systematic improvements in the material quality are necessary to achieve an adequate {mu}{tau} product. We are using a combination of simulation and experiment to develop a fundamental understanding of the factors which affect detector material quality. First principles calculations are used to study the microscopic mechanisms of mobility degradation from point defects and to calculate the intrinsic limit of mobility from phonon scattering. We use density functional theory (DFT) to calculate the formation energies of native and impurity point defects, to determine their equilibrium concentrations as a function of temperature and charge state. Perturbation theory via the Born approximation is coupled with Boltzmann transport theory to calculate the contribution toward mobility degradation of each type of point defect, using DFT-computed carrier scattering rates. A comparison is made to measured carrier concentrations and mobilities from AlSb crystals grown in our lab. We find our predictions in good quantitative agreement with experiment, allowing optimized annealing conditions to be deduced. A major result …

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We study the sign problem of the fermion determinant at nonzero baryon chemical potential. For this purpose we apply a simple model derived from Quantum Chromodynamics, in the limit of large chemical potential and mass. For SU(2) color, there is no sign problem and the mean-field approximation is similar to data from the lattice. For SU(3) color the sign problem is unavoidable, even in a mean-field approximation. We apply a phase-reweighting method, combined with the mean-field approximation, to estimate thermodynamic quantities. We also investigate the meanfield free energy using a saddle-point approximation [1].

A brief summary of the Surrogate reaction method, an indirect approach for determining compound-nuclear reaction cross sections, is presented. The possibilities for obtaining accurate (n,f) cross sections from Surrogate measurements that are analyzed in the Weisskopf-Ewing and Ratio approximations are considered. Theoretical studies and benchmark experiments that provide new insights into the validity and limitations of the Surrogate approach, are discussed.

Prochlorococcus is a marine cyanobacterium that numerically dominates the mid-latitude oceans and is the smallest known oxygenic phototroph. Numerous isolatesfrom diverse areas of the world's oceans have been studied and shown to be physiologically and genetically distinct. All isolates described thus far can be assigned to either a tightly clustered high-light (HL)-adapted clade, or a more divergent low-light (LL)-adapted group. The 16S rRNA sequences of the entire Prochlorococcus group differ by at most 3percent, and the four initially published genomes revealed patterns of genetic differentiation that help explain physiological differences among the isolates. Here we describe the genomes of eight newly sequenced isolates and combine them with the first four genomes for a comprehensive analysis of the core (shared by all isolates) and flexible genes of the Prochlorococcus group, and the patterns of loss and gain of the flexible genes over the course of evolution. There are 1,273 genes that represent the core shared by all 12 genomes. They are apparently sufficient, according to metabolic reconstruction, to encode a functional cell. We describe a phylogeny for all 12 isolates by subjecting their complete proteomes to three different phylogenetic analyses. For each non-core gene, we used a maximum parsimony method to …

We study the phase structure of the four-dimensional twisted Eguchi-Kawai model using numerical simulations. This model is an effective tool for studying SU(N) gauge theory in the large-N limit and provides a nonperturbative formulation of the gauge theory on noncommutative spaces. Recently it was found that its Z{sub n}{sup 4} symmetry, which is crucial for the validity of this model, can break spontaneously in the intermediate coupling region. We investigate in detail the symmetry breaking point from the weak coupling side. Our simulation results show that the continuum limit of this model cannot be taken.

We discuss the calculations of quarkonium spectral functions in potential models and their implications for the interpretation of the lattice data on quarkonium correlators. In particular, we find that melting of different quarkonium states does not lead to significant change in the Euclidean time correlators. The large change of the quarkonium correlators above deconfinement observed in the scalar and axial-vector channels appears to be due to the zero mode contribution.

We compare two renormalization procedures, one based on the short distance behavior of heavy quark-antiquark free energies and the other by using bare Polyakov loops at different temporal entent of the lattice and find that both prescriptions are equivalent, resulting in renormalization constants that depend on the bare coupling. Furthermore these renormalization constants show Casimir scaling for higher representations of the Polyakov loops. The analysis of Polyakov loops in different representations of the color SU(3) group indicates that a simple perturbative inspired relation in terms of the quadratic Casimir operator is realized to a good approximation at temperatures T{approx}>{Tc}, for renormalized as well as bare loops. In contrast to a vanishing Polyakov loop in representations with non-zero triality in the confined phase, the adjoint loops are small but non-zero even for temperatures below the critical one. The adjoint quark-antiquark pairs exhibit screening. This behavior can be related to the binding energy of glue-lump states.

The resolution of chemically amplified resists is becoming an increasing concern, especially for lithography in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) regime. Large-scale screening and performance-based down-selection is currently underway to identify resist platforms that can support shrinking feature sizes. Resist screening efforts, however, are hampered by the absence of reliable resolution metrics that can objectively quantify resist resolution in a high-throughput fashion. Here we examine two high-throughput metrics for resist resolution determination. After summarizing their details and justifying their utility, we characterize the sensitivity of both metrics to two of the main experimental uncertainties associated with lithographic exposure tools, namely: limited focus control and limited knowledge of optical aberrations. For an implementation at EUV wavelengths, we report aberration and focus limited error bars in extracted resolution of {approx} 1.25 nm RMS for both metrics making them attractive candidates for future screening and down-selection efforts.