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An original setup is presented to measure the Newtonian Constant of Gravitation G. It is based on the same principle as used in ballistic absolute gravimeters. The differential acceleration of three simultaneously freely falling test masses is measured in order to determine G. In this paper, a description of the experimental setup is presented. A detailed uncertainty budget estimates the relative uncertainty to be of the order of 5.3 x 10-4, however with some improvements a relative uncertainty in G of one part in 104 could be feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analytical forms for the envelopes of trajectories for particles radially ejected from a moving source in uniform gravity are derived. These results generalize Torricelli's (safety) parabola for ballistic problems. As a motivating scenario we consider the spherical case shot, later named the shrapnel shell. Several cases that illustrate interesting features of the problem are presented along with an example inspired by the spherical case shot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated Andreev reflection at interfaces between superconducting indium (Tc = 3.4 K) and several normal conducting nonmagnetic metals (palladium, platinum, and silver) down to T = 0.1 K as well as zinc (Tc = 0.87 K) in its normal state at T = 2.5 K. We analyzed the point-contact spectra with the modified one-dimensional BTK theory valid for ballistic transport. It includes Dynes' quasiparticle lifetime as fitting parameter Γ in addition to superconducting energy gap 2Δ and strength Z of the interface barrier. For contact areas from less than 1 nm2 to 10 000 nm2 the BTK Z-parameter was close to 0.5, corresponding to transmission coefficients of about 80%, independent of the normal metal. The very small variation of Z indicates that the interfaces have a negligible dielectric tunneling barrier. Also Fermi surface mismatch does not account for the observed Z. The extracted value Z ≈ 0.5 can be explained by assuming that practically all of our point contacts are in the diffusive regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of optical fiber based heads offering high accuracy and bandwidth for use in VISAR (velocity interferometer system for any reflector) experiments measuring ballistic velocities is described. A new, expanded, model for predicting the distance-dependent collection efficiency of the heads is presented. The model is shown to agree very well with experimental results, both within and outside the 'depth of field'. Various optical heads are demonstrated, to suit different experimental setups and conditions. Designs offering options for high bandwidths, accurate prealignment, and large stand-off distances are discussed. Results from a typical VISAR experiment are presented, verifying that our designs yield high-quality data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrodynamic operation of the “Forest Flyer” type of explosive launching system for shock physics projectiles was investigated in detail using one and two dimensional continuum dynamics simulations. The simulations were numerically converged and insensitive to uncertainties in the material properties; they reproduced the speed of the projectile and the shape of its rear surface. The most commonly used variant, with an Al alloy case, was predicted to produce a slightly curved projectile, subjected to some shock heating and likely exhibiting some porosity from tensile damage. The curvature is caused by a shock reflected from the case; tensile damage is caused by the interaction of the Taylor wave pressure profile from the detonation wave with the free surface of the projectile. The simulations gave only an indication of tensile damage in the projectile, as damage is not understood well enough for predictions in this loading regime. The flatness can be improved by using a case of lower shock impedance, such as polymethyl methacrylate. High-impedance cases, including Al alloys but with denser materials improving the launching efficiency, can be used if designed according to the physics of oblique shock reflection, which indicates an appropriate case taper for any combination of explosive and case material. The tensile stress induced in the projectile depends on the relative thickness of the explosive, expansion gap, and projectile. The thinner the projectile with respect to the explosive, the smaller the tensile stress. Thus if the explosive is initiated with a plane wave lens, the tensile stress is lower than that for initiation with multiple detonators over a plane. The previous plane wave lens designs did, however, induce a tensile stress close to the spall strength of the projectile. The tensile stress can be reduced by changes in the component thicknesses. Experiments verifying the operation of explosively launched projectiles should attempt to measure porosity induced in the projectile: arrival time measurements are likely to be insensitive to porous regions caused by damaged or recollected material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple and high performance sabot separation technique which is useful even in about 10-m-long supersonic ballistic ranges has been developed. The normal in-flight sabot separation distance is vastly reduced by adding an addition tube with no diaphragm that may cause damage to the projectile. The launch tube of the ballistic range is subdivided to the acceleration, ventilation, and sabot separation sections. In the ventilation section, both the precursor shock wave driven by the sabot when coasting through the acceleration section and the driver gas is vented out to the dump chamber. In the sabot separation section, only the sabot experiences a great dragging pressure imbalance whereas the drag to the projectile is kept negligible. Initially, the whole system except for the driver gas chamber is connected without any diaphragm; the range operation is not accompanied by any high-speed impact among the sabot, diaphragm, and other related solid parts. The experimental environment can be kept clean. The influence of the muzzle blast is eliminated within a reasonably short distance from the muzzle because it delays owing to the ventilation section. Calibration experiments and the demonstration of flow visualization and boom measurement of supersonic flight were conducted using a 25 mm bore, Mach-2 ballistic range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the ballistic pendulum in a situation that is not usually considered where the bullet shot into a hanging block requires a finite time (the collision time) to come to rest relative to the block. During this time the block undergoes a non-negligible displacement. A slow collision is one for which the block's displacement during the collision time is an appreciable fraction of its maximum displacement. For slow collisions, the quantitative results of our model differ significantly from the standard ballistic pendulum treatment. Suitably generalized momentum and energy relations are evaluated and provide a check on the numerical solutions. This work extends the treatment of a familiar problem and demonstrates the utility of computational tools accessible to undergraduates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In heavy-ion inertial confinement fusion (HIF), an ion beam is transported several meters through the reactor chamber to the target. This standoff distance mitigates damage to the accelerator from the target explosion. For the high perveance beams and millimeter-scale targets under consideration, the transport method is largely determined by the degree of ion charge and current neutralization in the chamber. This neutralization becomes increasingly difficult as the beam interacts with the ambient chamber environment and strips to higher charge states. Nearly complete neutralization permits neutralized-ballistic transport (main-line HIF transport method), where the ion beam enters the chamber at roughly 3-cm radius and focuses onto the target. In the backup pinched-transport schemes, the beam is first focused outside the chamber before propagating at small radius to the target. With nearly complete charge neutralization, the large beam divergence is contained by a strong magnetic field resulting from roughly 50-kA net current. In assisted-pinched transport, a preformed discharge channel provides the net current and the discharge plasma provides nearly complete charge and current neutralization of the beam. In self-pinched transport, the residual net current results solely from the beam-driven breakdown of the ambient gas. Using hybrid particle-in-cell simulation codes, the behavior of HIF driver-scale beams in these three transport modes is examined. Simulations of neutralized ballistic transport, at a few-mTorr flibe pressure, show excellent neutralization given a preformed or photoionized (from the heated target) plasma. Two- and three-dimensional simulations of assisted-pinch transport in roughly 1-Torr Xe show the importance of attaining >1-μs magnetic diffusion time to limit self-field effects and achieve good transport efficiency. For Xe gas pressures ranging from 10–150 mTorr, calculations predict a robust self-magnetic force sufficient for... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design and construction of a 75 mm bore laboratory gas gun capable of velocities up to 500 m s[sup -1] is described. The performance of the gun is compared with the analytical interior ballistics model of Pidduck and Kent [A. E. Seigel, Report No. AGARDograph 91 (1965)]. The gun is constructed for two idealized loading geometries. One is plate impact, in which the loading is in one-dimensional strain, accomplished by impacting plane impactors onto targets aligned to micron tolerances, precisely normal to the impact axis. Another is pressure-shear in which the target and impacting plate are angled, but still aligned to the same tolerances. The system requires flexibility for addressing the problem of reactive targets when design must allow complete detonation of the target (up to 250 g). This has been accomplished and the system approved for use by the appropriate authorities. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Room temperature negative differential resistance is demonstrated in a unipolar GaN-based tunneling hot electron transistor. Such a device employs tunnel-injected electrons to vary the electron energy and change the fraction of reflected electrons, and shows repeatable negative differential resistance with a peak to valley current ratio of 7.2. The device was stable when biased in the negative resistance regime and tunable by changing collector bias. Good repeatability and double-sweep characteristics at room temperature show the potential of such device for high frequency oscillators based on quasi-ballistic transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a case study relating to field-induced quantum tunneling in a three-dimensional environment which exhibits ballistic motion. Discussion of the classical motion of particles subject to a constant force; Identification of the problem of electron tunneling out of a three-dimensional, zero-range potential well in a constant electric field.

Focuses on the dependence of the conductance of a one-dimensional ballistic ring on a potential barrier at one of the branches of the ring at nonzero temperature. Consideration of the case of a small potential barrier and a tunnel barrier; Possibility of direct measurement of the electron wave function phase variation upon tunneling.

Focuses on peculiarities of the electric conductivity of two-dimensional ballistic contacts that are sensitive to the nature of the confining potential as well as the existence of electrostatic potential inside the microconstriction. Information on the position of quantization levels from the position, amplitude and shape of the peculiarities.

Focuses on a study that detailed the extension of a ballistic transport model to include the effect of a transverse magnetic field. Function of the ballistic transport model; Status of a steady-state current in theoretical treatments; Reason for obtaining analytic solutions.

Presented in this work is a new experimental technique to facilitate studies of materials under uniform radial expansion at rates of strain typically seen in ballistic and impact studies (103 to 105 s-1) at temperatures around 100-1000 K. Previous work places a right-cylinder polymer insert in a sample cylinder, into which a matching polymer projectile is launched using a gas gun. The impact and resulting deformation of the polymers imparts radial momentum to the cylinder. This work replaces the polymer insert with a steel ogive. A polycarbonate projectile deforms around the insert and drives radial expansion. The uniform radial expansion created has a less complex interface than previous work as only one material is driving the cylinder wall. As deformation of the insert is no longer necessary, the opportunity to heat or cool the cylinder prior to expansion is now available for studies into the effect of temperature on fracture and fragmentation behavior. This paper describes the design of this new impact configuration alongside how strain rate and expansion profile can be controlled. Validation experiment results with 6061-T6 aluminum and Ti-6Al-4V cylinders using a variety of diagnostics are compared with numerical modelling, where the benefits of this technique in assisting development of material strength and failure models are discussed with methods to control the sample temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is demonstrated how the correction factor α used in Hall magnetometry of localized magnetic field profiles depends on the sample geometry and the electron mean free path, in the quasiballistic and ballistic regimes. The frequently used approximation of a constant correction factor close to 1 is generally not justified, and may lead to large errors in the determination of the magnitude of the magnetic fields. α depends in a nontrivial way on the magnetic structure and the Hall cross and may vary considerably. The sensitivity peaks when the characteristic cyclotron diameter equals the size of the Hall cross. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a magnetic moment with an easy axis anisotropy energy, switched by an external field applied along this axis. Additional small, time-independent bias field is applied perpendicular to the axis. It is found that the magnet's switching time is a non-monotonic function of the rate at which the field is swept from 'up' to 'down.' Switching time exhibits a minimum at a particular optimal sweep time. This unusual behavior is explained by the admixture of a ballistic (precessional) rotation of the moment caused by the perpendicular bias field in the presence of a variable switching field. We derive analytic expressions for the optimal switching time, and for the entire dependence of the switching time on the field sweep time. The existence of the optimal field sweep time has important implications for the optimization of magnetic memory devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ballistic electron transport at nanoscale dimensions is investigated and exploited in a nanoscale three-terminal, all-electrical spintronic semiconductor device. Charge current cancellation under appropriate device biasing yields a large, spin-dependent current signal even with modest spin injection efficiency into the semiconductor, while reliance on ballistic, rather than diffusive, carrier transport is expected to enable robust scalability to smaller dimensions. Magnetocurrent in excess of 200% is measured with spin injection efficiency of 5%, and a spin-dependent ballistic carrier transport model is shown to yield accurate, quantitative predictions of current-voltage behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work we show that junctionless nanowire transistor (JNT) exhibits lower degree of ballisticity in subthreshold and higher ballisticity above threshold compare to conventional inversion-mode transistors, according to quantum mechanical simulations. The lower degradation of the ballisticity above threshold region gives the JNT near-ballistic transport performance and hence a high current drive. On the other hand, lower ballisticity in subthreshold region helps reducing the off-current and improves the subthreshold slope. A three-dimensional quantum mechanical device simulator based on the nonequilibrium Green's function formalism in the uncoupled mode-space approach has been developed to extract the physical parameters of the devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports a study on internal ballistics of an air gun. It mentions that analysis for air guns is simple due to assumptions of constant temperature during gas expansion phases which apply Boyle's law rather than a complex temperature-dependent gas law. It also notes that the gun's muzzle speed increases with its barrel length and anticipates realistic values.

We show that the tilt angle of nanostructures obtained by glancing angle sputtering is finely tuned by selecting the adequate argon pressure. At low pressures, a ballistic deposition regime dominates, yielding high directional atoms that form tilted nanocolumns. High pressures lead to a diffusive regime which gives rise to vertical columnar growth. Monte Carlo simulations reproduce the experimental results indicating that the loss of directionality of the sputtered particles in the gas phase, together with the self-shadowing mechanism at the surface, are the main processes responsible for the development of the columns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A band-to-band tunneling field-effect transistor (FET) can achieve a subthreshold slope steeper than 60 mV/dec at room temperature, but the on-current is low due to existence of the tunneling barrier. Graphene has a monolayer-thin body which is amenable to strain. By using self-consistent quantum transport simulations, we show that with local strain applied at the tunneling junction between the source and the channel in a graphene nanoribbon tunneling FET, the on-current can be significantly improved by over a factor of 10 with the same off-current, no matter at the ballistic limit or in the presence of inelastic phonon scattering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local phase transition from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic state in the region of the ballistic Ni nanocontacts (NCs) has been experimentally observed. We found that contact size reduction leads to an increase in the bias voltage at which the local phase transition occurs. Presented theoretical interpretation of this phenomenon takes into account the specificity of the local heating of the ballistic NC and describes the electron’s energy relaxation dependences on the applied voltage. The experimental data are in good qualitative and quantitative agreement with the theory proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ballistic electron emission microscopy is utilized to investigate the hot-electron scattering properties of Cu through Cu/Si(001) Schottky diodes. A Schottky barrier height of 0.64±0.02 eV and a hot-electron attenuation length of 33.4±2.9 nm are measured at a tip bias of 1.0 eV and a temperature of 80 K. The dependence of the attenuation length with tip bias is fit to a Fermi liquid model that allows extraction of the inelastic and elastic scattering components. This modeling indicates that elastic scattering due to defects, grain boundaries, and interfaces is the dominant scattering mechanism in this energy range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the observation of inertial-ballistic transport in nanoscale cross junctions fabricated from epitaxial graphene grown on SiC(0001). Ballistic transport is indicated by a negative bend resistance of R12,43≈-170 Ω, which is measured in a nonlocal, four-terminal configuration at 4.2 Κ and which vanishes as the temperature is increased above 80 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate that in graphitic nanocarbon materials, combination of ballistic conductivity and strong electron photon coupling opens a unique opportunity to observe transfer of momentum of the electromagnetic radiation to free carriers. The resulting drag of quasiballistically propagating electrons can be employed, in particular, to visualize the temporal profile, polarization, and propagation direction of the laser pulse. In this letter, we report the giant photon drag effect in yarns made of multiwall carbon nanotubes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate ballistic transport and quantum interference in a nanoscale quantum wire loop fabricated as a GaAs/AlGaAs field-effect heterostructure. Four-terminal measurements of current and voltage characteristics as a function of top gate voltages show negative bend resistance as a clear signature of ballistic transport. In perpendicular magnetic fields, phase-coherent transport leads to Aharonov–Bohm conductance oscillations, which show equal amplitudes in the local and the nonlocal measurement at a temperature of 1.5 K and above. We attribute this observation to the symmetry of the orthogonal cross junctions connecting the four quantum wire leads with the asymmetric quantum wire ring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied ballistic transport across a quantum point contact (QPC) defined in a high-quality GaAs (311)A two-dimensional hole system using shallow etching and top gating. The QPC conductance exhibits up to 11 quantized plateaus. The ballistic one-dimensional subbands are tuned by changing the lateral confinement and the Fermi energy of the holes in the QPC. We demonstrate that the positions of the plateaus (in gate voltage), the source-drain data, and the negative magnetoresistance data can be understood in a simple model that takes into account the variation, with gate bias, of the hole density and the width of the QPC conducting channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In periodic graphene structures formed by mechanical undulation or by patterning an array of metallic electrodes on graphene, Bloch oscillations up to tens of terahertz can be generated due to ballistic transport and the low scattering rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, the channel backscattering characteristics and ballistic efficiency of gate-all-around silicon nanowire transistors (SNWTs) are experimentally investigated. A modified experimental extraction methodology for SNWTs is proposed, which takes into account the impact of contact resistance. It was found that without this correction, the characterized results will severely overestimate the channel backscattering in SNWTs due to the temperature sensitivity of the source contact resistance. The highest ballistic efficiency is observed in sub-40-nm SNWTs due to their quasi-one-dimensional properties, demonstrating their potential as an alternative device structure for near-ballistic transport from top-down approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we focus on a graphene heterojunction device: a Z-shaped graphene nanoribbon, which consists of two armchair leads and a zigzag junction. Based on the Landauer–Büttiker formula and the tight binding model, we found that the rectifying behavior can be achieved by applying an external gate voltage in the heterjunction region. We also found that the rectification effect is independent of junction width and length, it is an intrinsic property of the Z-junction graphene nanoribbon. This platform can be used to design and study functional graphene nanoscale devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors report on photomixing terahertz sources that overcome the transit time versus RC-time trade-off and allow for independent optimization of both of them, using a n-i-p-n-i-p superlattice. Furthermore, they take advantage of ballistic transport for reduced transit times. Apart from more favorable material parameters, In(Al)GaAs photomixers benefit from the advanced telecommunication laser technology around 1.55 μm as compared to GaAs. In such devices, a terahertz-power output of 1 μW has been achieved at 0.4 THz at a photocurrent of 3.8 mA. A comparison between corresponding GaAs- and InGaAs-based n-i-p-n-i-p photomixers reveals an improvement of performance by at least an order of magnitude for the latter one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ballistic thermal conductance in a three-dimensional quantum wire with a stub structure is presented under both stress-free and hard wall boundary conditions at low temperatures. A comparative analysis for two-dimensional and three-dimensional models is made. The results show that when stress-free boundary conditions are applied, the universal quantum thermal conductance can be observed regardless of the geometry details in the limit T→0, and the behavior of the thermal conductance is qualitatively similar to that calculated by two-dimensional model. However, when hard wall boundary conditions are applied, the thermal conductance displays different behaviors in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]