Laser ablation of nanoscale particles with 193 nm light
Laser interaction with nanoscale particles is distinct and different from laser-bulk material interaction, where a hot plasma is normally created. Here, we review our studies on 193 nm laser ablation of various nanoscale particles including NaCl, soot, polystyrene, and gold. The 20 ns laser beam with fluences up to 0.3 J/cm 2 irradiates nanoparticles in a gas stream at laser repetition rates from 10 to 100 Hz. The particle size distributions before and after irradiation are measured with a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS), and particle morphology is examined with electron microscopy. All the nanomaterials studied exhibit a similar disintegration pattern and similar particle formation characteristics. No broadband emission associated with particle heating or optical breakdown is observed. The nanoparticles formed after irradiation have a smaller mean diameter and an order of magnitude higher number concentration with a more spherical shape compared to the original particles. We use the photon-atom ratio (PAR) to interpret the laser-particle interaction energetics.
Soot inception in laminar coflow diffusion flames
Abstract This paper focuses on the soot inception region in laminar coflow diffusion flames of methane and ethylene stabilised on the Yale diffusion burner. Earlier studies of these flames have focused on the downstream regions where soot has already developed. Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and elastic scattering measurements from 266 nm excitation are combined with laser-induced incandescence (LII) excited at 1064 nm. The structure and evolution of the soot precursor particles are characterised using the LIF intensity, decay time and the relative spectral emission in the ultraviolet and visible. The LIF decay times indicate that the majority of 266 nm excited LIF originates from nanostructures rather than gas phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). A similarity in the particle evolution for the low and high sooting flames in the upstream regions is found, indicating a general transition towards larger structures with more aromatic features as the nanostructures advect downstream in the fuel rich pyrolytic conditions. Higher nanostructure concentrations are found to precede the higher soot volume fractions (SVF) found in fuel rich sootier flames, although not proportionally, suggesting that surface growth strongly contributes to SVF in the high sooting flames. In the heavier sooting flames the majority of particle formation shifts from the centreline to the wings at the outer edges of the flame closer to stoichiometry. Particle formation in the wings of the flames occurs in the presence of oxygen and higher temperatures, resulting in particles with spectroscopic properties resembling those formed toward the oxidiser side of counter-flow diffusion flames. In the heavier sooting flames, particles produced in the wings appear to mix with particles formed along the centreline of the flame at the flame tip, resulting in a broad range of nanostructures and soot occurring in this region.
A Hopewellian Burial Site in the Lower Republican Valley, Kansas
The senior author has for a number of years worked on the problem of the numerous and virtually unknown burial sites on the bluffs bordering the valley of the Republican River in Geary and Clay Counties, Kansas. This work has been a matter of some urgency, owing to the prevalence of unsystematic amateur excavation on the more prominent stone cairns found in the area. Fortunately, the complete excavation of the larger cairns involves too much labor for the merely curious, and it has often been possible to salvage material and information despite disturbance.