Air breakdown induced by the microwave with two mutually orthogonal and heterophase electric field components

The air breakdown is easily caused by the high-power microwave, which can have two mutually orthogonal and heterophase electric field components. For this case, the electron momentum conservation equation is employed to deduce the electric field power and effective electric field for heating electrons. Then the formula of the electric field power is introduced into the global model to simulate the air breakdown. The breakdown prediction from the global model agrees well with the experimental data. Simulation results show that the electron temperature is sensitive to the phase difference between the two electron field components, while the latter can affect obviously the growth of the electron density at low electron temperature amplitudes. The ionization of nitrogen and oxygen induces the growth of electron density, and the density loss due to the dissociative attachment and dissociative recombination is obvious only at low electron temperatures.

Wind power airs growth plan

The Dabancheng Windpower Farm in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the largest of its kind in China, plans to increase its present generating capacity of 10 MW to 100 MW by the year 2000. Situated in the vast desert to the southeast of Urumqi, capital city of Xinjiang, the farm has bountiful wind energy resources, with wind speeds as high as 38 metres per second. First built with the help of Danish Government loans in 1992, the farm now provides electricity for local people, especially those in remote areas which are not connected to a power grid. The farm is now seeking both domestic and overseas cooperation for technological improvements and expansion, according

Effect of aperture field distribution on the maximum radiated power at atmospheric pressure

The air breakdown in the high-power antenna near-field region limits the enhancement of the radiated power. A model coupling the field equivalent principle and the electron number density equation is presented to study the breakdown process in the near-field region of the circular aperture antenna at atmospheric pressure. Simulation results show that, although the electric field in the near-field region is nonuniform, the electron diffusion has small influence on the breakdown process when the initial electron number density is uniform in space. The field magnitude distribution on the aperture plays an important role in the maximum radiated power above which the air breakdown occurs. The maximum radiated power also depends on the phase difference of the fields at the center and edge of the aperture, especially for the uniform field magnitude distribution.

Competition between multiphoton/tunnel ionization and filamentation induced by powerful femtosecond laser pulses in air

In this work we present experiments by focusing 42 femtosecond laser pulses in air using three differentfocal length lenses: f=100, 30 and 5 cm. For the longest focal length, only the filament, which is aweak plasma column,is observed. When the shorter focal length lens is used, a high density plasma isgenerated near the geometrical focus and coexists with a weak plasma channel of the filamemt. Under thetightest focusing condition, filamentation is prevented and only a strong plasma volume appears at tehgeometrical focus.

Efectiveness of national air pollution control policies on the air quality in metropolitan areas of China

Understanding the effectiveness of national air pollution controls is important for control policy design to improve the future air quality in China. This study evaluated the effectiveness of major national control policies implemented recently in China through a modeling analysis. The sulfur dioxide （SO2） control policy during the llth Five Year Plan period （2006-2010） had succeeded in reducing the national SO2 emission in 2010 by 14% from its 2005 level, which correspondingly reduced ambient SO2 and sulfate （SO42-） concentrations by 13%-15% and 8%-10% respectively over east China. The nitrogen oxides （NOx） control policy during the 12th Five Year Plan period （2011-2015） targets the reduction of the national NOx emission in 2015 by 10% on the basis of 2010. The simulation results suggest that such a reduction in NOx emission will reduce the ambient nitrogen dioxide （NO2）, nitrate （NO3-）, 1-hr maxima ozone （03） concentrations and total nitrogen deposition by 8%, 3%-14%, 2% and 2%--4%, respectively over east China. The application of new emission standards for power plants will further reduce the NO2, NO3-, 1-hr maxima 03 concentrations and total nitrogen deposition by 2%-4%, 1%-%, 0-2% and 1%-2%, respectively. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to evaluate the inter-provincial impacts of emission reduction in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the Yangtze River Delta, which indicated the need to implement joint regional air pollution control.

Polarization effect on critical power and luminescence in an air filament

We demonstrate that the filamentation process is strongly influenced by the polarization state of the driver laser. When the laser polarization changes from linear to circular, the critical power for the self-focusing of a Ti：Sapphire laser （800 nm, 40 fs） in air increases from about 9.6 ± 1.0 to 14.9± 1.5 GW, while the second nonlinear refractive index n2 of air decreases from 9.9 × 10-2o to 6.4 ×10-20 cm2/W. We also demonstrate that the luminescence from the neutral nitrogen molecules at 337 nm is dependent on both the laser intensity and plasma density inside the filament.