Browsing by study line "Kokeellinen materiaalifysiikka"
Now showing items 1-12 of 12
-
(2023)An optical data bus is a promising solution to provide a fast data transmission from room temperature to quantum devices at low temperatures, which would minimize the heat load into the cryogenic system compared to the conventional electrical cabling. Previously, a similar measurement setup was used to drive a Josephson junction array (JJA) with an optical pulse pattern generated with a mode-locked laser (MLL). A photodiode (PD) was used to convert optical signals to photocurrent signals to drive the JJA at low temperature. There was a long and non-ideal transmission line between the PD and the JJA at their operation temperature of 4 K. The experiments and simulations revealed that the non-idealities in the transmission line caused non-desired reflections. In this work the PD is integrated on a same chip as the JJA. The new on-chip integration provides shorter transmission line with less interfaces. The new compact transmission line promises less electrical signal reflections between the PD and the JJA. A custom-made MLL emitted an original optical single pulse to the optical pulse pair generator. The MLL was operated at a well-defined pulse frequency of 2.3 GHz to produce the single pulses in the desired frequency. An optical time delay circuit (OTD) was applied to the generated pulses in the MLL to time divide the pulses on the desired time delays. The generated optical pulse pair pattern was transmitted from room temperature to the PD in 4 K via an optical polarization maintaining fiber. The fiber was integrated on the top of the PD in 4 K, which was used to drive the JJA sample. The PD was biased with a reverse voltage and the JJA sample with a current. The amplification of optical twin pulses was varied during the measurements. We measured the DC voltage of the JJA sample and the DC photocurrent of the PD simultaneously. The measurement was repeated with several different manually defined optical time delayed twin pulses. The work included optimization of the optical setup. The optimization involved setting the reflective diffraction grating to the optimized position, which was used to filter away undesired wavelengths. The optical pulse pair method used in this work can be used to investigate the maximum speed of the data signals.
-
(2022)With their ability to convert chemical energy to electrical energy through electrochemical reactions, rechargeable batteries are widely used to store energy in various applications such as electronic mobile equipment, aerospace aviation, road transportation, power grid, and national defense industry Numerous battery types are available commercially. Lithium ion-based batteries stand out due to several key advantages such as high operating voltage, high specific energy, and long cycle life. They also have a market dominance in a wide range of electric vehicles. However, like all battery technologies, lithium ion-based ones suffer from the effects of aging-induced degradation which can lead to reduced capacity, lifetime, and in some cases even safety hazards. One method of preventing/slowing down these aging reactions is to modify the standard battery materials by using dopants and additives. They are specific impurities purposely introduced into the battery during the manufacturing process. In this master’s thesis, the effect of additives (Mg/Al) on the aging of Li-ion cells was examined by using X-ray absorption spectroscopy, more specifically x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES). For the experiment, 7 different cells, all containing lithium cobalt oxide as the major component (with 4 having a stoichiometric ration of Li/Co, and 3 being Li-rich), with 5 of them containing Mg/Al as dopants, and 2 containing no dopants were examined using XANES as a function of aging in terms of charge/discharge cycles. The dopants were introduced at different stages of the material preparation, either at the lithiation step or at the synthesis of the precursor. This thesis focuses on the XANES experiment and the data analysis, with extensive literature review on the topic of using additives and dopants. The cells were prepared by the Aalto University. The results showed that of the cells with dopant materials, the cells doped during lithiation stage aged slightly better after cycling than the undoped ones, whereas the cells doped during precursor stage aged worse than the undoped cells. This would suggest that doping might be more effective when done during the lithiation stage.
-
(2021)This thesis describes the data and data analysis concerning Compton scattering experiments to obtain the Compton profiles of metallic sodium (Na) as a function of temperature. The temperatures used in the experiment were 6 K and 300 K. The purpose of the work was to visualize the effect of temperature in the electron momentum density in a free electron gas. The effects of temperature were expected to be manifested through changes to the Fermi momentum according to the free-electron theory, but also more subtle changes could have been possible owing to possible deviations from the free electron theory. The measurements were done at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (Grenoble, France) beamline ID20. The data was analyzed with a help of a program written with Matlab, and it converted the measured Compton spectra from photon energy space to electron momentum space, while applying self-absorption corrections to the data, subtracting background, and normalizing the data using trapezoidal numerical integral to yield final Compton profiles. Results were obtained as valence Compton profiles and their differences between 300 K and 6 K, and compared with the prediction from free-electron gas theory. The Compton profiles followed the predictions of the free-electron gas theory well, although the theoretical profiles had a higher amplitude than the measured profiles. This is a commonly found phenomenon in Compton spectroscopy and assigned to originate from electron-electron correlations. The effect of the temperature in the Compton profiles is in good agreement with the free-electron theory.
-
(2021)X-ray absorption spectroscopy(XAS) measures the absorption response of the system as a function of incident X-ray photon energy. XAS can be a great tool for material characterization due to its ability to reveal characteristic information specific to chemical state of element by using the core level electrons as a probe for empty electronic states just above the Fermi level of the material (XANES) or for the neighboring atoms (EXAFS). For years, the highly brilliant synchrotron light sources remained the center of attention for these XAS experiments, but the increasing competition for available beamtime at these facilities led to an increased interest in laboratory scale X-ray spectroscopy instruments. However, the energy resolution of laboratory scale instruments still remains sometimes limited as compared to their synchrotron counterparts. When operating at low Bragg angles, the finite source size can greatly reduce the energy resolution by introducing the effects of dispersion in the beam focus at the detector. One method to overcome this loss in resolution can be to use a position sensitive detector and use the 'pixel compensation correction' method in the post-processing of the experimental data. The main focus of this study was to improve the energy resolution of a wavelength dispersive laboratory-scale X-ray absorption spectrometer installed at the University of Helsinki Center for X-ray Spectroscopy. The project focuses on the case of Fe K-absorption edge at 7.112 keV energy and a Bragg angle of 71.74 degrees when using Silicon (5 3 1) monochromator crystal. Our results showed that the data that had been corrected using this method showed sharper spectral features with reduced effects of broadening. Moreover, contribution of other geometrical factors to the energy resolution of this laboratory X-ray spectrometer were also estimated using ray-tracing simulation and an expected improvement in resolution due to pixel compensation correction was calculated. The same technique can be extended to other X-ray absorption edges where a combination of a large deviation of Bragg angle from 90 degrees and a large source size contributes a dominant factor to the energy resolution of the instrument.
-
(2020)Röntgenabsorptiospektroskopia (X-ray absorption spectroscopy, XAS) kuvaa röntgensäteilyn absorboitumistodennäköisyyttä tutkittavaan materiaaliin röntgenfotonien energian funktiona. XAS-spektroskopiaa hyödynnetään monilla tieteenaloilla kuten fysiikassa, materiaalitutkimuksessa, kemiassa ja biologiassa. Menetelmällä saadaan yksityiskohtaista tietoa valitun alkuaineen ympäristöstä ja materiaalin rakenteesta atomitasolla. Kun röntgenfotonin energia vastaa tutkittavan atomin sidosenergiaa, absorptio kasvaa jyrkästi. Tämän nousun eli absorptioreunan paikkaa ei ole yksiselitteisesti määritelty, vaan kirjallisuudessa esiintyy yhä toisistaan poikkeavia menetelmiä absorptioreunan paikan määritykseen XAS-spektristä. Tutkielmassa hyödynnetään XANES-spektroskopiaa (X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure), joka kuvaa absorptioreunan läheistä aluetta XAS-spektrissä, ja keskitytään koboltin K-kuoren XANES-spektroskopiaan. Työssä tutkitaan absorptioreunan paikan eri määritysmenetelmiä kobolttioksidien CoO, Co2O3, Co3O4 ja LiCoO2 XANES-spektreistä. Käytetyt reunan määritysmenetelmät ovat 1) absorptioreunan puolivälikorkeutta vastaavan energian etsiminen, 2) keskiarvon laskeminen niistä energioista, joilla reunan korkeus saavuttaa 20% ja 80% maksimiabsorptiosta, 3) reunan ensimmäisen käännepisteen etsiminen ja 4) reunan jyrkimmän käännepisteen etsiminen. Tutkielman kirjallisuuskatsauksessa käsitellään röntgenabsorptiospektroskopiaa keskittyen XANES-spektroskopiaan. Kirjallisuuskatsauksessa esitellään eri menetelmiä absorptioreunan määritykseen. Kokeellisessa osiossa mitataan kobolttioksidien spektrit ja verrataan eri menetelmillä määritettyjä absorptioreunojen paikkoja tunnettuihin hapetustiloihin ja pyritään etsimään lineaarista riippuvuutta reunan paikan ja hapetustilan välille. Pienin epätarkkuus, noin 10%, suoran sovituksessa saatiin hapetustilojen ja jyrkimmän käännepisteen menetelmällä määritettyjen reunan paikkojen välille. Tällä menetelmällä sovitussuoran kulmakerroin oli myös suurin, joten voidaan todeta tämän menetelmän herkkyyden olevan suurin. Toisaalta kulmakerroin poikkeaa myös selvästi muilla menetelmillä määritetyistä kulmakertoimista.
-
(2023)Lentoaika-rekyylispektrometria (TOF-ERDA) on materiaalin tutkimusmenetelmä, minkä avulla kyetään selvittämään näytteen alkuainepitoisuudet syvyyden funktiona. Menetelmässä on huomattu esiintyvän systemaattista poikkeamaa teoriasta. Poikkeaman syy on toistaiseksi epäselvä. Tutkielmassa tutkittiin poikkeaman syytä sekä suuruutta. Tutkimiseen käytettiin Helsingin yliopiston kiihdytinlaboratorion 5 MV EPG-10-II-tandemkiihdyttimeen liitettyä TOF-ERDA-laitteistoa. Laitteistolla tutkittiin ilmiön esiintymistä eri hiukkasilla, eri energioilla ja eri näytteillä. Kokeiden tuloksia verrattiin teorian ehdottamiin tuloksiin. Suurimmat poikkeamat kokeiden ja teorian välillä esiintyi pienienergisillä ja keveillä ammusioneilla, kun tutkittiin raskasalkuaineista näytettä. Kokeissa käytettyjen hiukkasten sirontaa TOF-ERDA-laitteiston lentoaikaporteista selvitettiin simuloinneilla. Simulointityökaluna työssä käytettiin SRIM-ohjelmistoa. Simulointien pohjalta hiukkasille laskettiin korjauskertoimet. Korjauskertoimen suuruuden huomattiin olevan riippuvainen hiukkasen energiasta sekä järjestysluvusta. Korjauskertoimista luotiin malli, jonka avulla kyetään arvioimaan ja korjaamaan kokeissa tapahtuvaa sirontaa lentoaikaporteista. Myös varjostumisen vaikutusta tuloksiin tutkittiin. Varjostumista tutkittiin jo olemassa olevan Andersenin mallin avulla. Andersenin mallin mukaan varjostumisen vaikutus tuloksiin on hyvin vähäistä sekä ilmiötä pienentävää, ei ilmiötä selittävää. Huomioitavaa kuitenkin on mallin soveltumattomuus kyseisiin vuorovaikutuksiin, täten varjostumisen vaikutusta ilmiöön ei voida kokonaan poissulkea. Tutkielman tulokset valottavat TOF-ERDA:n systemaattisen poikkeaman syitä. Lentoaikaporttisironnan vaikutus tuloksiin on merkittävä, selittäen noin puolet ilmiöstä. Tulosten pohjalta luotu malli on voimassa vain kyseiselle TOF-ERDA-laitteistolle, sillä sironnan suuruus on riippuvainen lentoaikaporttien materiaalista, paksuuksista sekä laitteiston geometriasta. Kuitenkin mille tahansa TOF-ERDA-laitteistolle on mahdollista luoda vastaava malli, noudattamalla tämän tutkielman prosesseja. Jäljelle jäävän selittämättömän poikkeaman huomattiin olevan myös riippuvainen energiasta sekä järjestysluvuista. Tämä viittaisi jäljelle jäävän poikkeaman aiheutuvan mahdollisesta monikertasironnasta näytteessä, ja tai varjostumisesta, jota Andersenin malli ei kykene huomioimaan.
-
(2021)Despite a vast body of knowledge that has already been accumulated on particle transport at both theoretical and experimental level, a simple method for estimating particle source impact on plasma density profile peaking has been lacking. Fable et al. presented a parameter for calculating the source strength (Sstr, the S parameter) in [1]. The parameter is derived from particle flux continuity equation, and after approximations takes as input parameters only the information on neutral beam injection (NBI) power, beam ions injection energy, effective core heat transport diffusivity and plasma density, radius, and volume together with a fitted coefficient from an ASDEX Upgrade experiment. The formula was applied to a database of 165 pulses in both high and low confinement mode, mostly with neutral beam heating, in JET, Joint European Torus, fusion experiment. The results appear reasonable considering the fitted parameter and the approximations in the formula. In addition to the S parameter values, also normalised density gradient dependence on neutral beam heating power and collisionality were investigated, to compare the results with those obtained at ASDEX Upgrade in [1]. Detailed studies of six gas puff modulation shots [2, 3, 4] at JET are used as reference. In [2] the source contribution for the H-mode shots was 50-60% and low confinement mode shots 10-20%. This is further validated in [3] and the high confinement mode shots are compared to similar shots DIII-D fusion experiment in [4], where the source impact on density peaking was negligible. Observed differences are attributed to different dominant turbulent environments. The average calculated level of S parameter values suggest mostly non-negligible source contribution to density peaking, and the values differ for high and low confinement mode plasmas, in line with [2, 3, 4]. However, the results imply that the coefficient 2000 is not constant across the database, and while a scalar correction to fit the coefficient to JET may be possible for low confinement mode plasmas, the high confinement mode plasmas require further research.
-
(2023)Radiation therapy is one of the key treatments for cancer, utilizing ionizing radiation to destroy cancer cells. Proton therapy uses high-energy proton beams since protons have a favorable depth-dose curve. Clinical proton beams must meet strict quality standards in order to maximise the efficacy of the treatment while ensuring the patient safety. Real-time knowledge of the beam’s intensity profile is essential for an accurate beam delivery. While gas-filled ionization chambers have traditionally been used as the standard beam monitor, the swift development of the beam delivery techniques demands for more accurate beam monitors. Semiconductor detectors potentially offer more accurate and efficient alternative for ionization chambers. In this study, the feasibility of using a silicon pixel detector in proton beams was investigated. The detector was originally designed for tracking minimum ionizing particles at the CMS experiment at CERN. Two experiments — one with an alpha source and one in a proton beam — were carried out to characterize the detector. The response to protons with different intensities and energies was investigated more closely in the proton beam. The results show that the detector response to different proton energies agrees with theoretical expectations. The saturation of the pixels limits measuring the full energy of the protons, however measuring the full energy is not essential in beam profile measurements. The detector also has a linear response to the beam intensity, although, the counting efficiency of the detector should be improved with new readout electronics. With different readout electronics, the detector might be a viable option for the beam profile measurements in clinical proton beams.
-
(2022)Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy is a powerful tool for defect characterisation, especially vacancies. Various defect properties can be studied, including defect behaviour at low and high temperatures. Despite the technique having its roots in the mid-20th century, there is little research on fundamental positron behaviour at ultralow temperatures. In this thesis, Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy and Doppler Broadening Spectroscopy, two sub-methods of the spectroscopy technique, were used to measure positron trap-free Ge in the temperature range of 14 mK-300 K. Since a positron trap-free sample was used, the purpose was not to study defect processes. Instead, the aim of the thesis was to investigate whether any interesting positron processes could be seen at ultralow temperatures in the annihilation data. Previous research in Al has shown no change in either lifetime or Doppler broadening below 77 K. Measuring the positron lifetime in the sample located in a cryostat required designing a special detector setup, as the count rate was greatly reduced due to geometry. To tackle this, lifetime detectors consisting of BaF2 scintillators and quartz-windowed photomultiplier tubes were used. In addition, both analogue and digital signal processing techniques were tested for the lifetime setup, with the digital method proving to be preferable. Doppler Broadening was measured with a high-purity germanium detector connected to a digital gamma spectrometer. The results show a decrease in S-parameter and an increase in W-parameter with decresing temprature, with the rate of change being greatest at ultralow temperatures. This behaviour is concluded to be due to incomplete positron thermalization. The positron lifetime results are more difficult to interpret, as setup challenges resulted in results of questionable accuracy. Still, the trend suggests no change in lifetime over the whole temperature interval, which is in accordance with previous research.
-
(2021)Chiral assemblies of metal nanoparticles absorb and/or scatter left and right handed circularly polarized light with different intensities usually from the visible light spectral region. This difference in the absorption called circular dichroism (CD) and closely related anisotropy factor (g-factor), which is the CD spectrum normalized with the overall absorption, describe the optical activity of the chiral assemblies. The aim of this thesis was to study and optimize the different structural parameters affecting the g-factor of a chiral gold nanorod (AuNR) dimer to reach the highest possible value. The structure consisted of two AuNRs bound together with a DNA origami in a crossed fingers conformation. The properties studied were silver as a coating material of the AuNRs, the dimensions of the AuNRs, angle between the long axes of the AuNRs and the interparticle distance. The dimensions comparison was studied with different sized AuNRs, the angle was controlled by changing the DNA strands working as a bridge between the two bundles in the DNA origami and the distance between the AuNRs was controlled by the length of the thiol treated DNA strands used for the AuNR binding to the origami. The experiments showed that the best g-factor was achieved with 33×74 nm sized AuNRs with an angle of approximately 55° and an interparticle distance of 24nm. Optimized assembly made a notable increase in the g-factor from 0.05 to 0.12. This is a highest g-factor recorded in a AuNR dimer structure up to date and thus the assembly could be of great use in the chiral sensing field in the future.
-
(2021)Maa-aineksessa fosfori on sitoutunut alkuaineisiin, joista rauta on merkittävässä osassa. Fosfori voi vapautua vedessä tai pohja-aineksessa liuenneeseen muotoon aiheuttaen rehevöitymistä. Fosforin vapautumiseen vesistössä vaikuttavat maa-aineksen koostumus, veden ominaisuudet ja hiilen saatavuus. Raudan pitoisuudet ja esiintymismuodot selittävät osittain vesistöjen välisiä eroja rehevöitymisessä. Röntgenabsorptiospektroskopialla voidaan tutkia alkuaineen atomien hapetustilaa, koordinaatiolukua, koordinaatiokemiaa ja atomien välisiä etäisyyksiä. Menetelmässä mitataan absorptiokerrointa energian funktiona. Näytteiden analysoinnissa käytetään yleensä vertailukohtana hyvin tunnettuja referenssien spektrejä. Tulokset ovat luotettavimmat, kun referenssien spektrit ovat mitattu samoilla asetuksilla yhdessä näytteiden kanssa. Tässä työssä on tutkittu yhtätoista (11) eri maa-ainesta röntgenabsorptiospektroskopialla raudan K-reunan lähiympäristössä. Maa-aineksista tutkittiin; 1. käsittelemätön, 2. oksalaattiuutettu, 3. poltettu sekä 4. oksalaattiuutettu ja poltettu versio. Oksalaattiuuton ja polton tarkoituksena oli selventää maa-ainesten välillä olevia eroja. Uuttaminen tarkoittaa oksalaattiuuttoa, jossa maa-aineksesta poistuu heikosti kiteistä rautaa. Polttaminen tarkoittaa näytteen kuumentamista 700 asteeseen, jolloin maa-aineksen rautaoksidit hapettuvat ja kiteytyvät. Näytteet, 44 kpl, mitattiin kolmeen kertaan. Eri maa-aineksien ja niiden eri käsittelyiden välillä havaittiin eroja absorptioreunan energiassa, joka on yhteydessä raudan hapetustilaan. Polttaminen teki absorptiospektreistä keskenään lähes samanlaisia ja tasoitti käsittelemättömissä näytteissä olleita eroja. Oksalaattiuuttamisella ei havaittu olevan vastaavaa vaikutusta. Näytteiden rautamineraalien spektripainoista voidaan päätellä näytteiden mineraalikoostumuksia. Jotta raudan merkitystä fosforin kierrossa voidaan tarkentaa, tarvitaan lisää tutkimusta.
-
(2023)X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) is an elemental characteristic x-ray technique that is used in studying the electronic properties of varied materials. It is based on an x-ray emission process that occurs due to an absorption process. First an x-ray photon is shot at the sample and electron in the inner core absorbs this x-ray photon. The electron gets kicked out of its place, creating an empty electronic state called an electron hole. This leaves the atom to an excited state that then de-excites by emitting an elemental characteristic x-ray photon. One of the main aspects of x-ray emission spectroscopy is to study sensitivity of XES towards different emission lines in different chemical environments and then compare the results. X-ray emission spectroscopy is a relatively easy technique to perform because it does not require a long-range crystal order and experiments can be done in an atmospheric pressure and in room temperature. A series of measurements were performed with non-resonant XES to study chemical properties of different uranium oxides. The experiment was done at the SOLEIL Synchrotron Facility in France. Main goal of the experiment was to study the sensitivity of XES to different uranium L3-emission lines by measuring different uranium oxides with different uranium oxidation states and compare the shape of each emission spectrum. The results showed that there are no visible differences between different samples when using non-resonant XES. However, the experiment also showed that when the resonant part is included in the measurements, then there are visible differences between different samples. This indicates the resonant part is required to collect to see differences in the spectrum when comparing the speciation of different samples.
Now showing items 1-12 of 12