scholarly journals Structural Analysis of Pyrolytic Graphite Optics for the HiPEP Ion Thruster

Author(s):  
Nicole Meckel ◽  
Jonathan Polaha ◽  
Nils Juhlin
Author(s):  
Long-Fei Ma ◽  
Li Duan ◽  
Jian-Wu He ◽  
Qi Kang ◽  

In the initial stage of a radio frequency ion thruster (RIT) ignition, an influx of electrons is required from an external source into the discharge chamber and ionization of the neutral gas propellant. A neutralizer-free method for Townsend breakdown discharge ignition based on Paschen’s law was developed in this study. The feasibility of the ignition method was confirmed by performing thousands of ignition experiments. Metallic Molybdenum (Mo), pyrolytic graphite (PG) and Zr[Formula: see text]Ti[Formula: see text]Cu[Formula: see text]Ni[Formula: see text]Be[Formula: see text]alloy acceleration grids were prepared, and ignition-induced damage on the grids was investigated. A field-emission scanning electron microscope was used to inspect surface damage on the grids after multiple ignitions and to analyze the influence of the ignition method on the lifetime of the ion optical system. Grid materials for space missions that require multiple RIT ignitions (10[Formula: see text] should be high-strength blocks that are resistant to sputtering corrosion and high temperature.


1994 ◽  
Vol 358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Li ◽  
Klaus Sattler

ABSTRACTWe have generated 20 to 100 nm sized silicon nanoparticles and analyzed their morphologies using an atomic force microscope (AFM). The particles are formed by deposition of silicon vapor onto silicon wafers and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). On silicon substrates, the particles are close to spherical with relatively narrow size distributions and they are randomly located. On graphite substrates the particles are arranged in chains. Within the chains they show strong deformations in the contact areas. We relate this to covalent inter-particle interactions.


Author(s):  
George H. N. Riddle ◽  
Benjamin M. Siegel

A routine procedure for growing very thin graphite substrate films has been developed. The films are grown pyrolytically in an ultra-high vacuum chamber by exposing (111) epitaxial nickel films to carbon monoxide gas. The nickel serves as a catalyst for the disproportionation of CO through the reaction 2C0 → C + CO2. The nickel catalyst is prepared by evaporation onto artificial mica at 400°C and annealing for 1/2 hour at 600°C in vacuum. Exposure of the annealed nickel to 1 torr CO for 3 hours at 500°C results in the growth of very thin continuous graphite films. The graphite is stripped from its nickel substrate in acid and mounted on holey formvar support films for use as specimen substrates.The graphite films, self-supporting over formvar holes up to five microns in diameter, have been studied by bright and dark field electron microscopy, by electron diffraction, and have been shadowed to reveal their topography and thickness. The films consist of individual crystallites typically a micron across with their basal planes parallel to the surface but oriented in different, apparently random directions about the normal to the basal plane.


Author(s):  
W. H. Wu ◽  
R. M. Glaeser

Spirillum serpens possesses a surface layer protein which exhibits a regular hexagonal packing of the morphological subunits. A morphological model of the structure of the protein has been proposed at a resolution of about 25 Å, in which the morphological unit might be described as having the appearance of a flared-out, hollow cylinder with six ÅspokesÅ at the flared end. In order to understand the detailed association of the macromolecules, it is necessary to do a high resolution structural analysis. Large, single layered arrays of the surface layer protein have been obtained for this purpose by means of extensive heating in high CaCl2, a procedure derived from that of Buckmire and Murray. Low dose, low temperature electron microscopy has been applied to the large arrays.As a first step, the samples were negatively stained with neutralized phosphotungstic acid, and the specimens were imaged at 40,000 magnification by use of a high resolution cold stage on a JE0L 100B. Low dose images were recorded with exposures of 7-9 electrons/Å2. The micrographs obtained (Fig. 1) were examined by use of optical diffraction (Fig. 2) to tell what areas were especially well ordered.


Author(s):  
E. Loren Buhle ◽  
Pamela Rew ◽  
Ueli Aebi

While DNA-dependent RNA polymerase represents one of the key enzymes involved in transcription and ultimately in gene expression in procaryotic and eucaryotic cells, little progress has been made towards elucidation of its 3-D structure at the molecular level over the past few years. This is mainly because to date no 3-D crystals suitable for X-ray diffraction analysis have been obtained with this rather large (MW ~500 kd) multi-subunit (α2ββ'ζ). As an alternative, we have been trying to form ordered arrays of RNA polymerase from E. coli suitable for structural analysis in the electron microscope combined with image processing. Here we report about helical polymers induced from holoenzyme (α2ββ'ζ) at low ionic strength with 5-7 mM MnCl2 (see Fig. 1a). The presence of the ζ-subunit (MW 86 kd) is required to form these polymers, since the core enzyme (α2ββ') does fail to assemble into such structures under these conditions.


Author(s):  
Paul DeCosta ◽  
Kyugon Cho ◽  
Stephen Shemlon ◽  
Heesung Jun ◽  
Stanley M. Dunn

Introduction: The analysis and interpretation of electron micrographs of cells and tissues, often requires the accurate extraction of structural networks, which either provide immediate 2D or 3D information, or from which the desired information can be inferred. The images of these structures contain lines and/or curves whose orientation, lengths, and intersections characterize the overall network.Some examples exist of studies that have been done in the analysis of networks of natural structures. In, Sebok and Roemer determine the complexity of nerve structures in an EM formed slide. Here the number of nodes that exist in the image describes how dense nerve fibers are in a particular region of the skin. Hildith proposes a network structural analysis algorithm for the automatic classification of chromosome spreads (type, relative size and orientation).


Author(s):  
Bernd Tesche ◽  
Tobias Schilling

The objective of our work is to determine:a) whether both of the imaging methods (TEM, STM) yield comparable data andb) which method is better suited for a reliable structure analysis of microclusters smaller than 1.5 nm, where a deviation of the bulk structure is expected.The silver was evaporated in a bell-jar system (p 10−5 pa) and deposited onto a 6 nm thick amorphous carbon film and a freshly cleaved highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG).The average deposited Ag thickness is 0.1 nm, controlled by a quartz crystal microbalance at a deposition rate of 0.02 nm/sec. The high resolution TEM investigations (100 kV) were executed by a hollow-cone illumination (HCI). For the STM investigations a commercial STM was used. With special vibration isolation we achieved a resolution of 0.06 nm (inserted diffraction image in Fig. 1c). The carbon film shows the remarkable reduction in noise by using HCI (Fig. 1a). The HOPG substrate (Fig. 1b), cleaved in sheets thinner than 30 nm for the TEM investigations, shows the typical arrangement of a nearly perfect stacking order and varying degrees of rotational disorder (i.e. artificial single crystals). The STM image (Fig. 1c) demonstrates the high degree of order in HOPG with atomic resolution.


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