Influence of growth parameters and melt convection on the solid-liquid interface during RF-floating zone crystal growth of intermetallic compounds

Abstract The influence of growth parameters and melt convection on the solid–liquid interface of the intermetallic compound Ni3Si grown by the RF-floating zone technique was investigated experimentally as well as numerically. Numerical simulations showed that the heat transfer is strongly influenced by the electromagnetically driven and Marangoni convections whereas both the buoyancy and feed rotation have a negligible effect. It was found experimentally that the inductor design, the rod diameter and the length of the molten zone influence the solid–liquid interface shape significantly. The electromagnetically driven convection increases dramatically with increasing zone length due to the r…

Velocity measurements in the liquid metal flow driven by a two-phase inductor

We present the results of velocity measurements obtained by ultrasonic Doppler velocimetry and local potential probes in the flow of GaInSn eutectic melt driven by a two-phase inductor in a cylindrical container. This type of flow is expected in a recent modification to the floating zone technique for the growth of small-diameter single intermetallic compound crystals. We show that the flow structure can be changed from the typical two toroidal vortices to a single vortex by increasing the phase shift between the currents in the two coils from 0 to 90 degrees. The latter configuration is thought to be favourable for the growth of single crystals. The flow is also computed numerically and a …

Magnetic field controlled FZ single crystal growth of intermetallic compounds

Abstract Intermetallic rare-earth-transition-metal compounds with their coexistence of magnetic ordering and superconductivity are still of great scientific interest. The crystal growth of bulk single crystals is very often unsuccessful due to an unfavorable solid–liquid interface geometry enclosing concave fringes. The aim of the work is the contactless control of heat and material transport during floating-zone single crystal growth of intermetallic compounds. This control is provided by a tailored design of the electromagnetic field and the resulting electromagnetically driven convection. Numerical simulations for the determination of the electromagnetic field configuration induced by th…

Spin asymmetry A1d and the spin-dependent structure function g1d of the deuteron at low values of x and Q2

Abstract We present a precise measurement of the deuteron longitudinal spin asymmetry A 1 d and of the deuteron spin-dependent structure function g 1 d at Q 2 1 ( GeV / c ) 2 and 4 × 10 −5 x 2.5 × 10 −2 based on the data collected by the COMPASS experiment at CERN during the years 2002 and 2003. The statistical precision is tenfold better than that of the previous measurement in this region. The measured A 1 d and g 1 d are found to be consistent with zero in the whole range of x.

The spin-dependent structure function of the proton g1p and a test of the Bjorken sum rule

Abstract The inclusive double-spin asymmetry, A 1 p , has been measured at COMPASS in deep-inelastic polarised muon scattering off a large polarised NH3 target. The data, collected in the year 2007, cover the range Q 2 > 1 ( GeV / c ) 2 , 0.004 x 0.7 and improve the statistical precision of g 1 p ( x ) by a factor of two in the region x 0.02 . The new proton asymmetries are combined with those previously published for the deuteron to extract the non-singlet spin-dependent structure function g 1 NS ( x , Q 2 ) . The isovector quark density, Δ q 3 ( x , Q 2 ) , is evaluated from a NLO QCD fit of g 1 NS . The first moment of Δ q 3 is in good agreement with the value predicted by the Bjorken su…

Controlling melt convection—an innovation potential for concerted microstructure evolution of Nd-Fe-B alloys

The solidification process and the resulting microstructure of Nd-Fe-B alloys in consideration of melt convection has been investigated experimentally with a specially designed forced crucible rotation technique. Samples were subjected to well-defined forced rotation and vibration, respectively, during induction heating and solidification. A concerted microstructure evolution is possible by enhancement or suppression of the melt convection. As a result, the microstructure pattern, mainly the volume fraction of the soft magnetic a-Fe phase, vary strongly with the strength of the internal flow motion. A distinct reduction of the a-Fe volume fraction in samples with strong melt rotation was ob…

Flavour Separation of Helicity Distributions from Deep Inelastic Muon-Deuteron Scattering

We present a LO evaluation of helicity densities of valence, \Delta u_v+\Delta d_v, non-strange sea, \Delta\bar{u}+\Delta\bar{d}, and strange quarks, \Delta s (assumed to be equal to \Delta\bar{s}). They have been obtained from the inclusive asymmetry A_{3,d} and the semi-inclusive asymmetries A^{\pi+}_{1,d}, A^{\pi-}_{1,d}, A^{K+}_{1,d}, A^{K-}_{1,d} measured in polarised deep inelastic muon-deuteron scattering. The full deuteron statistics of COMPASS (years 2002-2004 and 2006) has been used. The data cover the range Q^2 > 1 (GeV/c)^2 and 0.004<x<0.3. Both non-strange densities are found to be in a good agreement with previous measurements. The distribution of \Delta s(x) is compatible wit…

The Polarised Valence Quark Distribution from semi-inclusive DIS

The semi-inclusive difference asymmetry A^{h^{+}-h^{-}} for hadrons of opposite charge has been measured by the COMPASS experiment at CERN. The data were collected in the years 2002-2004 using a 160 GeV polarised muon beam scattered off a large polarised ^6LiD target and cover the range 0.006 &lt; x &lt; 0.7 and 1 &lt; Q^2 &lt; 100 (GeV/c)^2. In leading order QCD (LO) the asymmetry A_d^{h^{+}-h^{-}} measures the valence quark polarisation and provides an evaluation of the first moment of Delta u_v + Delta d_v which is found to be equal to 0.40 +- 0.07 (stat.) +- 0.05 (syst.) over the measured range of x at Q^2 = 10 (GeV/c)^2. When combined with the first moment of g_1^d previously measured …

Collins and Sivers asymmetries for pions and kaons in muon-deuteron DIS

The measurements of the Collins and Sivers asymmetries of identified hadrons produced in deep-inelastic scattering of 160 GeV/c muons on a transversely polarised 6LiD target at COMPASS are presented. The results for charged pions and charged and neutral kaons correspond to all data available, which were collected from 2002 to 2004. For all final state particles both the Collins and Sivers asymmetries turn out to be small, compatible with zero within the statistical errors, in line with the previously published results for not identified charged hadrons, and with the expected cancellation between the u- and d-quark contributions.

The COMPASS experiment at CERN

The COMPASS experiment makes use of the CERN SPS high-intensitymuon and hadron beams for the investigation of the nucleon spin structure and the spectroscopy of hadrons. One or more outgoing particles are detected in coincidence with the incoming muon or hadron. A large polarized target inside a superconducting solenoid is used for the measurements with the muon beam. Outgoing particles are detected by a two-stage, large angle and large momentum range spectrometer. The setup is built using several types of tracking detectors, according to the expected incident rate, required space resolution and the solid angle to be covered. Particle identification is achieved using a RICH counter and both…

The Deuteron Spin-dependent Structure Function g1(d) and its First Moment

We present a measurement of the deuteron spin-dependent structure function g1d based on the data collected by the COMPASS experiment at CERN during the years 2002-2004. The data provide an accurate evaluation for Gamma_1^d, the first moment of g1d(x), and for the matrix element of the singlet axial current, a0. The results of QCD fits in the next to leading order (NLO) on all g1 deep inelastic scattering data are also presented. They provide two solutions with the gluon spin distribution function Delta G positive or negative, which describe the data equally well. In both cases, at Q^2 = 3 (GeV/c)^2 the first moment of Delta G is found to be of the order of 0.2 - 0.3 in absolute value.

A new measurement of the Collins and Sivers asymmetries on a transversely polarised deuteron target

New high precision measurements of the Collins and Sivers asymmetries of charged hadrons produced in deep-inelastic scattering of muons on a transversely polarised 6LiD target are presented. The data were taken in 2003 and 2004 with the COMPASS spectrometer using the muon beam of the CERN SPS at 160 GeV/c. Both the Collins and Sivers asymmetries turn out to be compatible with zero, within the present statistical errors, which are more than a factor of 2 smaller than those of the published COMPASS results from the 2002 data. The final results from the 2002, 2003 and 2004 runs are compared with naive expectations and with existing model calculations.

A new, easy and safe method for the purification of nucleic acids for reliable PCR

Tailoring the microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti–Al alloy using a novel electromagnetic stirring method

The effect of melt convection during the solidification of Ti45Al55 alloys was investigated in terms of microstructure evolution and the resulting mechanical properties. The samples were subjected to conventional induction melting as well as enhanced melt stirring by an external magnetic field using a specially designed floating zone arrangement. The stirred samples showed a significant improvement of plastic deformability. A strong change in the morphology from dendritic to spherical and an increased properitectic phase fraction were observed after stirring.

Measurement of the Spin Structure of the Deuteron in the DIS Region

We present a new measurement of the longitudinal spin asymmetry A_1^d and the spin-dependent structure function g_1^d of the deuteron in the range 1 GeV^2 &lt; Q^2 &lt; 100 GeV^2 and 0.004&lt; x &lt;0.7. The data were obtained by the COMPASS experiment at CERN using a 160 GeV polarised muon beam and a large polarised 6-LiD target. The results are in agreement with those from previous experiments and improve considerably the statistical accuracy in the region 0.004 &lt; x &lt; 0.03.

Measurement of the Collins and Sivers asymmetries on transversely polarised protons

The Collins and Sivers asymmetries for charged hadrons produced in deeply inelastic scattering on transversely polarised protons have been extracted from the data collected in 2007 with the CERN SPS muon beam tuned at 160 GeV/c. At large values of the Bjorken x variable non-zero Collins asymmetries are observed both for positive and negative hadrons while the Sivers asymmetry for positive hadrons is slightly positive over almost all the measured x range. These results nicely support the present theoretical interpretation of these asymmetries, in terms of leading-twist quark distribution and fragmentation functions.

Gluon polarization in the nucleon from quasi-real photoproduction of high-pT hadron pairs

Abstract We present a determination of the gluon polarization Δ G / G in the nucleon, based on the helicity asymmetry of quasi-real photoproduction events, Q 2 1 ( GeV / c ) 2 , with a pair of large transverse-momentum hadrons in the final state. The data were obtained by the COMPASS experiment at CERN using a 160 GeV polarized muon beam scattered on a polarized 6 LiD target. The helicity asymmetry for the selected events is 〈 A ∥ / D 〉 = 0.002 ± 0.019 ( stat ) ± 0.003 ( syst ) . From this value, we obtain in a leading-order QCD analysis Δ G / G = 0.024 ± 0.089 ( stat ) ± 0.057 ( syst ) at x g = 0.095 and μ 2 ≃ 3 ( GeV / c ) 2 .

The COMPASS trigger system for muon scattering

Abstract The trigger system of the COMPASS experiment at the CERN polarized muon beam is presented. It detects muon scattering events on (polarized) nucleons with a relative energy loss exceeding a selectable value y min independent of the four-momentum transfer. The requirement of a minimum energy deposit in a hadron calorimeter rejects background events like scattering on electrons, elastic and quasi-elastic radiative events as well as events from beam halo tracks. The trigger system which can be considered as a tagger for quasi-real photon events is now, along with larger trigger hodoscope system for deep inelastic scattering events, in regular use for the measurement of the gluon polari…