he atom
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Intermetallic alloy ZrCo is a good material for storing tritium (T). However, ZrCo is prone to disproportionation reactions during the process of charging and discharging T. Alloying atoms are often added in ZrCo, occupying the Zr or Co site, in order to restrain disproportionation reactions. Meanwhile, T often decays into helium (He), and the purity of T seriously decreases once He escapes from ZrCo. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the influence of alloying atoms on the basic stability property of He. In this work, we perform systematical ab initio calculations to study the stability property of He in ZrCoH3 (ZrCo adsorbs the H isotope, forming ZrCoH3). The results suggest that the He atom will undergo displacements of 0.31 and 0.12 Å when it substitutes for Co and Zr, respectively. In contrast, the displacements are very large, at 0.67–1.09 Å, for He replacing H. Then, we introduce more than 20 alloying atoms in ZrCo to replace Co and Zr in order to examine the influence of alloying atoms on the stability of He at H sites. It is found that Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Zn, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Ta, W, Re, and Os replacing Co can increase the substitution energy of H by the He closest to the alloying atom, whereas only Cr, Mn, Fe, Mo, Tc, Ru, Ta, W, Re, and Os replacing Co can increase the substitution energy of H by the He next closest to the alloying atom. The influence of the alloying atom substituting Zr site on the substitution energies is inconspicuous, and only Nb, Mo, Ru, Ta, and W increase the substitution energies of H by the He closest to the alloying atom. The increase in the substitution energy may suggest that these alloy atoms are conducive to fix the He atom in ZrCo and avoid the reduction in tritium purity.

The thermal desorption experiments were carried out to study the process of helium outgassing from the stainless steel 12Cr18Ni10Ti after exposure to a steady state glow discharge (GD) plasma in He atmosphere. The currentvoltage characteristics in different plasma regimes have been measured and estimation of He ions energy has been made. Measurements of He release from the stainless steel probes showed the saturation of probe surface with He after the fluencies of ~ 4 ∙ 1019 ion/cm2. The value of He outgassing strongly depends on the regime of GD plasma: pressure of work gas, discharge voltage, etc. Several maximums, including the maximum at the temperature of 100…150 °C, were registered in the He desorption curves that indicated different He atom states on the surface and in the nearest surface bulk. Physical mechanisms of such He outgassing are discussed.

AbstractWe have measured depletion spectra of the heteronuclear (85Rb87Rb+) dimer cation complexed with up to 10 He atoms. Two absorption bands are observed between 920 and 250 nm. The transition into the repulsive 12Σu+ state of HeRb2+ gives rise to a broad feature at 790 nm (12,650 cm−1); it exhibits a blueshift of 98 cm−1 per added He atom. The transition into the bound 12Πu state of HeRb2+ reveals vibrational structure with a band head at ≤ 15,522 cm−1, a harmonic constant of 26 cm−1, and a spin–orbit splitting of ≤ 183 cm−1. The band experiences an average redshift of − 38 cm−1 per added He atom. Ab initio calculations rationalize the shape of the spectra and spectral shifts with respect to the number of helium atoms attached. For a higher number of solvating helium atoms, symmetric solvation on both ends of the Rb2+ ion is predicted.

Quantum dynamics of rotational transitions of the diisocyanogen (CNNC) molecule undergoing collision with helium (He) atom occurring in the interstellar medium (ISM) has been studied. The rotational deexcitation cross sections...

AbstractThe contributions of Otto Stern to the discovery of wave-particle duality of matter particles predicted by de Broglie are reviewed. After a short introduction to the early matter-vs-wave ideas about light, the events are highlighted which lead to de Broglie’s idea that all particles, also massive particles, should exhibit wave behavior with a wavelength inversely proportional to their mass. The first confirming experimental evidence came for electrons from the diffraction experiments of Davisson and Germer and those of Thomson. The first demonstration for atoms, with three orders of magnitude smaller wave lengths, came from Otto Stern’s laboratory shortly afterwards in 1929 in a remarkable tour de force experiment. After Stern’s forced departure from Hamburg in 1933 it took more than 40 years to reach a similar level of experimental perfection as achieved then in Stern’s laboratory. Today He atom diffraction is a powerful tool for studying the atomic and electronic structure and dynamics of surfaces. With the advent of nanotechnology nanoscopic transmission gratings have led to many new applications of matter waves in chemistry and physics, which are illustrated with a few examples and described in more detail in the following chapters.

AbstractA rare mistake by Otto Stern led to a confusion between density and flux in his first measurement of a Maxwellian speed distribution. This error reveals the key role of speed itself in Stern’s development of “the method of molecular rays”. What if the gas-phase speed distributions are not Maxwellian to begin with? The molecular beam technique so beautifully advanced by Stern can also be used to explore the speed distribution of gases evaporating from liquid microjets, a tool developed by Manfred Faubel. We employ liquid water and alkane microjets containing dissolved helium atoms to monitor the speed of evaporating He atoms into vacuum. While most dissolved gases evaporate in Maxwellian speed distributions, the He evaporation flux is super-Maxwellian, with energies up to 70% higher than the flux-weighted average energy of 2 RTliq. The explanation of this high-energy evaporation involves two beautiful concepts in physical chemistry: detailed balancing between He atom evaporation and condensation (starting with gas-surface collisions) and the potential of mean force on the He atom (starting with He atoms just below the surface). We hope that these measurements continue to fulfill Stern’s dream of the “directness and simplicity of the molecular ray method.”