Performance of the PEP-II B-Factory Collider at SLAC
PEP-II is an e+e-asymmetric B-Factory Collider located at SLAC operating at the Upsilon 4S resonance (3.1 GeV x 9 GeV). It has reached a luminosity of 9.21×1033/cm2/s and has delivered an integrated luminosity of 710 pb-1in one day. PEP-II has delivered, over the past six years, an integrated luminosity to the BaBar detector of over 262 fb-1. PEP-II operates in continuous injection mode for both beams boosting the integrated luminosity. The peak positron current has reached 2.45 A in 1588 bunches. Steady progress is being made in reaching higher luminosity. The goal over the next several years is to reach a luminosity of 2.1x1034/cm2/s. The accelerator physics issues being addressed in PEP-II to reach this goal include the electron cloud instability, beam-beam effects, parasitic beam-beam effects, high RF beam loading, shorter bunches, loweryinteraction region operation, and coupling control. Figure 1 shows the PEP-II tunnel.
Lepton Collider Operation with Constant Currents
Electron-positron colliders have been operating in a top-up-and-coast fashion with a cycle time depending on the beam life time, typically one or more hours. Each top-up involves ramping detector systems in addition to the actual filling time. The loss in accumulated luminosity may be 20-50%. During the last year, both B-Factories have commissioned a continuous-injection mode of operation in which beam is injected without ramping the detector, thus raising luminosity integration by always operating at peak luminosity. Constant beam currents also reduce thermal drift and trips caused by change in beam loading. To achieve this level of operation, special efforts were made to reduce the injection losses and also to implement gating procedures in the detectors, minimizing dead time. Beam collimation can reduce injection noise but also cause an increase in background rates. A challenge can be determining beam lifetime, important to maintain tuning of the beams.
Applications of nanocomposite hydrogels for biomedical engineering and environmental protection
Nanocomposite hydrogels are polymeric networks that possess a unique property of hydration. The presence of alcohols, carboxylic acids and amides as hydrophilic moieties in structure of nanocomposite hydrogels enhances their stiffness and water-absorbing capacity. Addition of cross-linker in the synthesis of hydrogels increases their stability under extreme conditions of temperature, pH and pressure. Natural polymer-based nanocomposite hydrogels are biodegradable, highly hydrophilic and possess good mechanical strength. Gelatin, chitin, cellulose, pectin, carrageenan, starch and alginate are natural polymers commonly used to fabricate nanocomposite hydrogels. Nanocomposite hydrogels have special characteristics such as high swelling rate, selectivity and stimuli-sensitive nature. Here we review nanocomposite hydrogels for environmental protection and biomedical engineering. Applications in biomedical engineering include drug delivery agents, wound dressing, tissue engineering and antibacterials. Applications in environmental protection include ion exchangers, adsorption, photocatalysis and soil conditioning. Many nanocomposite hydrogels show excellent adsorption selectivity for heavy metal ions: Cu2+ up to 30.35 mg/g, Pb2+ up to 35.94 mg/g, and Zn2+ and Fe3+ up to 94.34 mg/g. Xanthan gum-based nanocomposite hydrogel has removed 96% dye from industrial effluent as reported. In addition, most of the nanocomposite hydrogels showed better adsorption capacity for pollutants in the pH range from 5 to 7. The nanocomposite hydrogels could also be regenerated and successfully utilized for several times. Nanocomposite hydrogels are therefore good bio-absorbent materials for environmental detoxification.