A refined Monte Carlo code for low-energy electron emission from gold material irradiated with sub-keV electrons

Considering the significance of low-energy electrons(LEEs;0–20 eV) in radiobiology, the sensitization potential of gold nanoparticles(AuNPs) as high-flux LEE emitters when irradiated with sub-keV electrons has been suggested. In this study, a track-structure Monte Carlo simulation code using the dielectric theory was developed to simulate the transport of electrons below 50 keV in gold. In this code, modifications, particularly for elastic scattering, are implemented for a more precise description of the LEE emission in secondary electron emission. This code was validated using the secondary electron yield and backscattering coefficient. To ensure dosimetry accuracy, we further verified the code for energy deposition calculations using the Monte Carlo toolkit, Geant4. The development of this code provides a basis for future studies regarding the role of AuNPs in targeted radionuclide radiotherapy.

Impact of Low-Energy Ion Beam Implantation on the Expression of Ty1-copia-like Retrotransposons in Wheat(Triticum aestivum)

Retrotransposon-like elements are major constituents of most eukaryotic genomes. For example, they account for roughly 90% of the wheat （Triticum aestivum） genome, Previous study on a wheat strain treated by low-energy N^＋ ions indicated the variations in AFLP （Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism ） markers, One such variation was caused by the re-activation of Tyl-copia-like retrotransposons, implying that the mutagenic effects of lowenergy ions might work through elevated activation of retrotransposons, In this paper an expression profile of Tyl-copia-like retrotransposons in wheat treated by low-energy N^＋ ions is reported, The reverse transcriptase （RT） domains of these retrotransposons were amplified by reverse-transcriptional polymerase chain reaction （RT-PCR） and sequentially cloned, 42 and 65 clones were obtained from the treated （CL） and control materials （CK）, respectively, Sequence analysis of each clone was performed by software. Phylogeny and classification were calculated responding to the sequences of the RT domains. All the results show that there is much difference in the RT domain between the control sample and the treated sample, Especially, the RT domains from the treated group encode significantly more functional ORF （open reading frames） than those from the control sample, This observation suggests that the treated sample has higher activation of retrotransposons, possibly as a consequence of low-energy ion beam irradiation, It also suggests that retrotransposons in the two groups impact the host gene expression in two different ways and carry out different functions in wheat cells.

Radiation-hardened property of single-walled carbon nanotube film-based field-effect transistors under low-energy proton irradiation

Strong C-C bonds,nanoscale cross-section and low atomic number make single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWCNTs)a potential candidate material for integrated circuits(ICs)applied in outer space.However,very little work combines the simulation calculations with the electrical measurements of SWCNT field-effect transistors(FETs),which limits further understanding on the mechanisms of radiation effects.Here,SWCNT film-based FETs were fabricated to explore the total ionizing dose(TID)and displacement damage effect on the electrical performance under low-energy proton irradiation with different fluences up to 1×1015 p/cm2.Large negative shift of the threshold voltage and obvious decrease of the on-state current verified the TID effect caused in the oxide layer.The stability of the subthreshold swing and the off-state current reveals that the displacement damage caused in the CNT layer is not serious,which proves that the CNT film is radiation-hardened.Specially,according to the simulation,we found the displacement damage caused by protons is different in the source/drain contact area and channel area,leading to varying degrees of change for the contact resistance and sheet resistance.Having analyzed the simulation results and electrical measurements,we explained the low-energy proton irradiation mechanism of the CNT FETs,which is essential for the construction of radiation-hardened CNT film-based ICs for aircrafts.

Damage of low-energy ion irradiation on copper nanowire:molecular dynamics simulation

Physical and chemical phenomena of low-energy ion irradiation on solid surfaces have been studied systematically for many years, due to the wide applications in surface modification, ion implantation and thin-film growth. Recently the bombardment of nano-scale materials with low-energy ions gained much attention. Comared to bulk materials, nano-scale materials show different physical and chemical properties. In this article, we employed molecular dynamics simulations to study the damage caused by low-energy ion irradiation on copper nanowires. By simulating the ion bombardment of 5 different incident energies, namely, 1 keV, 2 keV, 3 keV, 4 keV and 5 keV, we found that the sputtering yield of the incident ion is linearly proportional to the energies of incident ions. Low-energy impacts mainly induce surface damage to the nanowires, and only a few bulk defects were observed. Surface vacancies and adatoms accumulated to form defect clusters on the surface, and their distribution are related to the type of crystal plane, e.g. surface vacancies prefer to stay on （100） plane, while adatoms prefer （110） plane. These results reveal that the size effect will influence the interaction between low-energy ion and nanowire.

Improvement of L(+)-Lactic Acid Production of Rhizopus Oryzae by Low-Energy Ions and Analysis of Its Mechanism

The wild type strain Rhizopus oryzae PW352 was mutated by means of nitrogen ion implantation （15 keV, 7.8×10^14 ～ 2.08 ×10^15 ions/cm^2） to find an industrial strain with a higher L（＋）-lactic acid yield, and two mutants RE3303 and RF9052 were isolated. In order to discuss the mechanism primarily, Lactate Dehydrogenase of Rhizopus oryzae was studied. While the two mutants produced L（＋）-lactic acid by 75% more than the wild strain did, their specific activity of Lactate Dehydrogenase was found to be higher than that in the wild strain. The optimum temperature of Lactate Dehydrogenase in Rhizopus oryzae RF9052 was higher. Compared to the wild strain, the Michaelis constant （Km） value of Lactate Dehydrogenase in the mutants was Changed. All these changes show that L（＋）-lactic acid production has a correlation with the specific activity of Lactate Dehydrogenase. The low-energy ions, implanted into the strain, may improve the specific activity of Lactate Dehydrogenase by influencing its gene structure and protein structure.

The Coulomb effect on a low-energy structure in above-threshold ionization spectra induced by mid-infrared laser pulses

We investigate the low-energy structure （LES） in the above-threshold ionization spectrum at a mid-infrared laser wavelength with a semiclassical model. Using a softened Coulomb potential （CP） and changing the softening parameter, we show that though the very low-energy structure （VLES） and high low-energy structure （HLES） are both due to the interaction between the ionic CP and the electron, the two structures have different physical mechanisms： the VLES can be attributed to the electron-ion Coulomb interaction at a rather small distance and the HLES is more likely to be ascribed to the electron-ion Coulomb interaction at a large distance.

A segmented conical electric lens for optimization of the beam spot of the low-energy muon facility at PSI: a Geant4 simulation analysis

The low-energy muon facility at PSI provides nearly fully polarized positive muons with tunable energies in the ke V range to carry out muon spin rotation(LE-μSR)experiments with nanometer depth resolution on thin films,heterostructures, and near-surface regions. The low-energy muon beam is focused and transported to the sample by electrostatic lenses. In order to achieve a minimum beam spot size at the sample position and to enable the steering of the beam in the horizontal and vertical direction, a special electrostatic device has been implemented close to the sample position. It consists of a cylinder at ground potential followed by four conically shaped electrodes,which can be operated at different electric potential. In LE-μSR experiments, an electric field at the sample along the beam direction can be applied to accelerate/decelerate muons to different energies(0.5–30 keV). Additionally, a horizontal or vertical magnetic field can be superimposed for transverse or longitudinal field μSR experiments. The focusing properties of the conical lens in the presence of these additional electric and magnetic fields have been investigated and optimized by Geant4 simulations. Some experimental tests were also performed and show that the simulation well describes the experimental setup.

Experimental Investigation and Numerical Analysis to Develop Low-Energy Large-Midwater Trawls

Fuel consumption in fisheries is a primary concern because of its effects on the environment and the costs incurred by fishermen. Many studies have been conducted to reduce the fuel consumption in fishing operations. Fuel consumption due to fishing gear during a fishing operation is generally related to the hydrodynamic resistance on the gear. This means that fuel consumption is proportional to the drag created by the towing speed. Based on numerical methods, this study suggests a new approach to reduce fuel consumption in fisheries. The results of the simulation are in good agreement with those of model experiments. The total as well as partial resistance forces on the gear are calculated by simulation. The simulation results suggest improved materials and gear structure for reducing the hydrodynamic forces on the gear while maintaining gear performance. The method for assessing the gear performance involves measuring the height and width of the net mouth. Furthermore, this study investigates the efficiency of a low-energy trawl from an economic point of view. The findings of this study will be useful in reducing greenhouse gas （GHG） emissions in fishing operations, and thereby contribute toward lowering fishing costs by saving fuel.

A New Simulation of Track Structure of Low-Energy Electrons in Liquid Water:Considering the Condensed-Phase Effect on Electron Elastic Scattering

A new Monte Carlo simulation of the track structure of low-energy electrons （〈10keV） in liquid water is presented. The feature of the simulation is taken into consideration of the condensed-phase effect of liquid water on electron elastic scattering with the use of the Champion model, while the dielectric response formalism incorporating the optical-data model developed by Emfietzoglou et al. is applied for calculating the electron inelastic scattering. The spatial distributions of energy deposition and inelastic scattering events of low-energy electrons with different primary energies in liquid water are calculated and compared with other theoretical evaluations. The present work shows that the condensed-phase effect of liquid water on electron elastic scattering may be of the influence on the fraction of absorbed energy and distribution of inelastic scattering events at lower primary energies, which also indicate potential effects on the DNA damage induced by low-energy electrons.

Design of low-energy transfer from lunar orbit to asteroid in the Sun-Earth-Moon system

Asteroid exploration trajectories which start from a lunar orbit are investigated in this work.It is assumed that the probe departs from lunar orbit and returns to the vicinity of Earth,then escapes from the Earth by performing a perigee maneuver.A low-energy transfer in Sun-EarthMoon system is adopted.First,the feasible region of lowenergy transfer from lunar orbit to perigee within 5 000 km height above the Earth surface in Sun-Earth-Moon system is calculated and analyzed.Three transfer types are found,i.e.,large maneuver and fast transfers,small maneuver and fast transfers,and disordered and slow transfers.Most of feasibility trajectories belong to the first two types.Then,the lowenergy trajectory leg from lunar orbit to perigee and a heliocentric trajectory leg from perigee to asteroid are patched by a perigee maneuver.The optimal full-transfer trajectory is obtained by exploiting the differential evolution algorithm.Finally,taking 4179 Toutatis asteroid as the target,some low-energy transfer trajectories are obtained and analyzed.

Unusual thermodynamics of low-energy phonons in the Dirac semimetal Cd_(3)As_(2)

By studying the thermal conductivity,specific heat,elastic modulus,and thermal expansion as a function of temperature for Cd_(3)As_(2),we have unveiled a couple of important thermodynamic features of the low-energy phonons strongly interacting with Dirac electrons.The existence of soft optical phonons,as inferred from the extremely low thermal conductivity,is unambiguously confirmed by low-temperature specific heat revealing significant deviation from Debye's description.The estimated Debye temperature is small in the range of 100-200 K and varies significantly depending upon the measurement used in its experimental determination.The thermodynamic Gr¨uneisen ratioγreveals a remarkable reduction below about 100 K,an energy scale that is highly relevant to the Dirac states,towards negative values below about 10 K that are indicative of lattice instability.

Analysis of a Partial Male-Sterile Mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana Isolated from a Low-Energy Argon Ion Beam Mutagenized Pool

A screen for Arabidopsis fertility mutants, mutagenized by low-energy argon ion beam, yielded two partial male-sterile mutants tc243-1 and tc243-2 which have similar phenotypes. tc243-2 was investigated in detail. The segregation ratio of the mutant phenotypes in the M2 pools suggested that mutation behaved as single Mendelian recessive mutations, tc243 showed a series of mutant phenotypes, among which partial male-sterile was its striking mutant characteristic. Phenotype analysis indicates that there are four factors leading to male sterility, a. Floral organs normally develop inside the closed bud, but the anther filaments do not elongate sufficiently to position the locules above the stigma at anthesis, b. The anther locules do not dehisce at the time of flower opening （although limited dehiscence occurs later）, c. Pollens of mutant plants develop into several types of pollens at the trinucleated stage. as determined by staining with DAPI （4＇,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole）. which shows a variable size. shape and number of nucleus. d. The viability of pollens is lower than that of the wild type on the germination test in vivo and vitro.

Surface Etching and DNA Damage Induced by Low-Energy Ion Irradiation in Yeast

Bio-effects of survival and etching damage on cell surface and DNA strand breaks were investigated in the yeast saccharomyces cerevisiae after exposure by nitrogen ion with an energy below 40 keV. The result showed that 16% of trehalose provided definite protection for cells against vacuum stress compared with glycerol. In contrast to vacuum control, significant morpho- logical damage and DNA strand breaks were observed, in yeast cells bombarded with low-energy nitrogen, by scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase- mediated dUTP nick end labeling （TUNEL） immunofluorescence assays. Moreover, PI （propidium iodide） fluorescent staining indicated that cell integrity could be destroyed by ion irradiation. Cell damage eventually affected cell viability and free radicals were involved in cell damage as shown by DMSO （dimethyl sulfoxide） rescue experiment. Our primary experiments demonstrated that yeast cells can be used as an optional experimental model to study the biological effects of low energy ions and be applied to further investigate the mechanism（s） underlying the bio-effects of eukaryotic cells.

Measurement of the Low-Energy Rb+-Rb Total Collision Rate in an Ion-Neutral Hybrid Trap

An ion-neutral hybrid trap is built to study low-energy ion-atom collisions. The ion-neutral hybrid trap is combined with two spatially concentric traps: a linear Paul trap for the ionic species and a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for the neutral species. The total ion-atom collision rate coefficient k(ia) between Rb-87 atoms and optically dark Rb-87(+) ions is measured by monitoring the reduction of the steady-state MOT atoms by sequentially introducing various mechanisms, namely photoionization and ion-atom collisions. In contrast to other experiments, a concise experimental procedure is devised to obtain the loss rates of the MOT atoms due to photoionization and ion-atom collisions in one experimental cycle, and then the collision rate k(ia) of cold Rb-87 atoms with Rb-87(+) ions is deduced to 0.94(+/- 0.24) x 10(-13) m(3)/s with T-i = 3770(+/- 100) K measured by the time of flight of the ion signal. The measurements show good agreement with the collision rate derived from the Langevin model.

A Preliminary Study of the Application of a Model Animal-Caenorhabidity elegans'Exposure to a Low-Energy Ion Irradiation System

Because of the lack of suitable animal models adapted to high vacuum stress in the low-energy ion implantation system, the bio-effects ion irradiation with an energy less than 50 keV on multi-cellular animal individuals have never been investigated so far. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has proved to be an excellent animal model used for the study of a broad spectrum of biological issues. The purpose of this work was to investigate the viability of this animal under ion irradiation. We studied the protection effects of glycerol and trehalose on the enhancement of nematodes＇ ability to bear the vacuum stress. The results showed that the survival of the nematodes was enhanced remarkably under long and slow desiccation, even without glycerol and trehalose. 159 glycerol showed a better anti-vacuum stress effect on the nematodes than trehalose did under short-time desiccation. Low-temperature pre-treatment or post-treatment of the samples had no obvious effect on the survival scored after argon ion irradiation. Moreover, little effect was induced by 15% glycerol- and vacuum-exposure on germ cell apoptosis, compared to the untreated control sample. It issuggested that such treatment would provide relatively low background for genotoxic evaluations with ion irradiation.

Low-energy electronic states of carbon nanocones in an electric field

The low-energy electronic states and energy gaps of carbon nanocones in an electric field are studied using a single-?-band tight-binding model. The analysis considers five perfect carbon nanocones with disclination angles of 60°, 120°, 180°, 240° and 300°, respectively. The numerical results reveal that the low-energy electronic states and energy gaps of a carbon nanocones are highly sensitive to its geometric shape(i.e. the disclination angle and height), and to the direction and magnitude of an electric field. The electric field causes a strong modulation of the state energies and energy gaps of the nanocones, changes their Fermi levels, and induces zero-gap transitions. The energy-gap modulation effect becomes particularly pronounced at higher strength of the applied electric field, and is strongly related to the geometric structure of the nanocone.

Novel Iridium Complex with Carbazol-2-yl-β-diketone Derivative:Low-energy Excitation and Red Electrophosphorescent Devices

A novel iridium-complex,（BPPBI） 2 Ir（2-TFDBC）[BPPBI=2-（biphenyl-4-yl）-1-phenyl-1H-benzo[d]imidazole,2-TFDBC=1-（9-ethyl-9H-carbazol-2-yl）-4,4,4-trifluorobutane-1,3-dione],was synthesized,and its structure and component were confirmed by 1 H NMR and element analysis,respectively.UV-Vis absorption and photoluminescent（PL） spectra of（BPPBI） 2 Ir（2-TFDBC） in dichloromethane were investigated.The Ir-complex exhibited a long wavelength excitation of 470 nm,i.e.,low-energy excitation.So,it is a promising candidate for phosphorescent probe and PL material.（BPPBI） 2 Ir（2-TFDBC）-based electroluminescent devices,ITO/MoO 3（10 nm）/NPB（80 nm）/CBP：x（BPPBI） 2 Ir（2-TFDBC）（20 nm）/TPBi（45 nm）/LiF/Al,were fabricated,where x（%） was of 4% or 8% doping concentration（mass fraction）;ITO=indium tin oxides;NBP=N,N＇-bis-（1-naphthalenyl）-N,N＇-bis-phenyl-（1,1＇-biphenyl）4,4＇-diamine,CBP=4,4＇-bis（N-carbazolyl）-1,1＇-biphenyl,TPBi=1,3,5-tris（1-phenyl-1H-benzimidazol-2-yl）benzene.The devices showed a red emission of 620 nm.The maximum current efficiency and brightness were 1.7 cd/A and 4063 cd/m 2 for a device of 8%（mass fraction） doping level,respectively.The moderate luminous efficiency was due to the inadequate energy transfer from the host material to the guest material.

Analyses of Low-Energy <i>π</i>^--¹²C Elastic Scattering Data

A new updated simple local optical potential is proposed for analyzing low-energy π--12C elastic scattering data at 80 MeV and below. This potential is composed of two real terms and an imaginary term. The nature of the real part of the potential is repulsive at smaller radii and attractive at larger ones. In fact, the height of the repulsive term is found to change linearly with the incident pion kinetic energy. On the other hand, the imaginary part of the potential is attractive, shallow and non-monotonic with a dip at about 1.6 fm. Such a nature of the potential makes it feasible to predict π--12C cross sections at other energies in the energy region considered herein. Coulomb effects are incorporated by following Stricker’s prescription. This study will serve positively in studying both pionic atoms and the role of negative pions in radiotherapy.

Modeling of Inner Surface Modification of a Cylindrical Tube by Plasma-Based Low-Energy Ion Implantation

The inner surface modification process by plasma-based low-energy ion implantation（PBLEII）with an electron cyclotron resonance（ECR）microwave plasma source located at the central axis of a cylindrical tube is modeled to optimize the low-energy ion implantation parameters for industrial applications.In this paper,a magnetized plasma diffusion fluid model has been established to describe the plasma nonuniformity caused by plasma diffusion under an axial magnetic field during the pulse-off time of low pulsed negative bias.Using this plasma density distribution as the initial condition,a sheath collisional fluid model is built up to describe the sheath evolution and ion implantation during the pulse-on time.The plasma nonuniformity at the end of the pulse-off time is more apparent along the radial direction compared with that in the axial direction due to the geometry of the linear plasma source in the center and the difference between perpendicular and parallel plasma diffusion coefficients with respect to the magnetic field.The normalized nitrogen plasma densities on the inner and outer surfaces of the tube are observed to be about 0.39 and 0.24,respectively,of which the value is 1 at the central plasma source.After a 5μs pulse-on time,in the area less than 2 cm from the end of the tube,the nitrogen ion implantation energy decreases from 1.5 keV to 1.3 keV and the ion implantation angle increases from several degrees to more than 40°;both variations reduce the nitrogen ion implantation depth.However,the nitrogen ion implantation dose peaks of about 2×10^（10）-7×10^（10）ions/cm^2 in this area are 2-4 times higher than that of 1.18×10^（10）ions/cm^2 and 1.63×10^（10）ions/cm^2 on the inner and outer surfaces of the tube.The sufficient ion implantation dose ensures an acceptable modification effect near the end of the tube under the low energy and large angle conditions for nitrogen ion implantation,because the modification effect is mainly determined by the ion implantation dose,just as the mass transfer process in PBLEII is dominated by low-energy ion implantation and thermal diffusion.Therefore,a comparatively uniform surface modification by the low-energy nitrogen ion implantation is achieved along the cylindrical tube on both the inner and outer surfaces.

1-2 Nuclear Fragmentation in Low-energy Antiproton Induced Reactions

The dynamics of antiproton-nucleus collisions is complicated, which is associated with the mean-field potentials of hadrons in nuclear medium, and also with a number of reaction channels, i.e., the annihilation channels, chargeexchange reaction, elastic and inelastic collisions. Larger yields of strange particles in antiproton induced reactions are favorable to form hypernuclei in comparison to proton-nucleus and heavy-ion collisions.