Research into laser-driven inertial confinement fusion is now entering a critical juncture with the construction of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Many of the remaining unanswered questions concerning NIF involve interactions between lasers and plasmas. With the eventual goal of fusion power in mind, laser-plasma interactions relevant to laser fusion schemes is an important topic in need of further research. This work experimentally addresses some potential shortcuts and pitfalls on the road to laser-driven fusion power. Current plans on NIF have 192 laser beams directed into a small cylindrical cavity which will contain the fusion fuel; to accomplish this the beams must cross in the entrance holes, and this intersection will be in the presence of outward-flowing plasma. To investigate the physics involved, interactions of crossing laser beams in flowing plasmas are investigated with experiments on the Nova laser facility at LLNL. It was found that in a flowing plasma, energy is transferred between two crossing laser beams, and this may have deleterious consequences for energy balance and ignition in NIF. Possible solutions to this problem are presented. A recently-proposed alternative to standard laser-driven fusion, the ''fast ignitor'' concept, is also experimentally addressed in …

This thesis showed that it is possible to achieve well ordered growth at low temperatures when chaing fluxes during the course of the deposition. It was also demonstrated that nucleation theory fails to predict or explain at least part of the results, in particular when deposition takes place at an initially low rate, with presumably a relatively low nucleation density, followed by a change to a high flux rate. This points to an inherent lack of nucleation theory; alternative explanations are presented based on flux-independent growth as reported by Roos (Surf. Sci. 302 (1994) 37).

Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE), a powerful separation method based on the differential migration of charged species under the influence of an electric field, has been widely used for separations covering from small ions to big biomolecules. Chapter 1 describes the method, then discusses detection of the separated analytes by laser induced fluorescence and by chemical derivatization, and the use of O-phthaldialdehyde (OPA) as a post-column reagent. Chapter 2 describes a post-column reactor which uses two narrow bore capillaries connected coaxially. This reactor differs from other coaxial reactors in terms of capillary dimensions, reagent flow control, ease of construction and most importantly, better limits of detection. The derivatization reagent is electroosmotically driven into the reaction capillary and the reagent flow rate is independently controlled by a high voltage power supply. Amino acids, amines and proteins, derivatized by OPA/2-mercaptoethanol using this post-column reactor coupled with LIF detection, show low attomole mass limits of detection, and for the first time, the authors demonstrate single cell capability with a post-column derivatization scheme. The single cell capability shows that this reactor could find applications in assaying non-fluorescent or electrochemically inactive components in individual biological cells in the future.

In the first part of the thesis, the electric resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, and Hall effect were measured in X{sub y}(Y{sub 2}S{sub 3}){sub 1-y} (X = Cu, B, or Al), for y = 0.05 (Cu, B) or 0.025-0.075 for Al, in order to determine their potential as high- temperature (HT)(300-1000 C) thermoelectrics. Results indicate that Cu, B, Al- doped Y{sub 2}S{sub 3} are not useful as HT thermoelectrics. In the second part, phase stability of {gamma}-cubic LaSe{sub 1.47-1.48} and NdSe{sub 1.47} was measured periodically during annealing at 800 or 1000 C for the same purpose. In the Nd selenide, {beta} phase increased with time, while the Nd selenide showed no sign of this second phase. It is concluded that the La selenide is not promising for use as HT thermoelectric due to the {gamma}-to-{beta} transformation, whereas the Nd selenide is promising.

Fermilab Experiment 769 used a charge-selected, hadron beam of mean energy 250 GeV/c, composed of pions, kaons, and protons, impinging on beryllium, aluminum, copper and tungsten targets. Using a sample of approximately 4000 {Xi}{sub s}{sup {minus}} {yields} {Lambda}{sup 0}{pi}{sup {minus}} decays, measurements of the charm baryon forward cross sections times branching ratio {pi}{sup {+-}}N {yields} {Xi}{sub c}{sup +}X and {pi}{sup {+-}}N {yields} {Xi}{sub c}{sup 0}X are presented. Upper limits on {alpha} x BR are also determined for the states {Xi}{sub c}{sup +} {yields} {Xi}{sub s}{sup {minus}}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup +} and {Xi}{sub c}{sup 0} {yields} {Xi}{sub s}{sup {minus}}{pi}{sup +} produced in (p, {pi}{sup +}, {pi}{sup {minus}}, K{sup +}, K{sup {minus}})-nucleon interactions.

The Standard Model of particle physics, together with the Big Bang model of the early universe, constitute a framework which encompasses our current understanding of fundamental laws and beginning of our universe. Despite recent speculative trends, quantum field theory remains the theoretical tool of choice for investigating new physics either at high energy colliders, or in the early universe. In this dissertation, several field theoretic phenomena relevant to cosmology or particle physics are explored. A common theme in these explorations is the structure of the vacuum state in quantum field theory. First, we discuss first-order phase transitions in the early universe, in which the effective vacuum state of the universe shifts discontinuously as the temperature drops below some critical point. We find that the dynamics of a certain type of first-order phase transition can lead to production of primordial black holes, which could constitute the dark matter of our universe. Alternatively, supercooled first-order phase transitions may be the cause of an extended inflationary epoch in the early universe, which is generally regarded as necessary to solve several cosmological puzzles. We derive limits on such scenarios based on nearly model-independent percolation properties of the transition. We also study some nonperturbative aspects …