Les sondes dures apparaissent comme l'un des sujets les plus excitant de la Physique des hautes énergies. Les mécanismes de production des quarkonia (mésons formés par l'état lié quark-antiquark charmé ou beau) dans les collisions hadroniques sont particulièrement intéressants. La suppression du J/ψ et des autres charmonia a été prédites comme l'une des signatures de la formation du Plasma de Quark et de Gluons (PQG), suppression déjà observée au SPS et au RHIC. De nombreuses études de la suppression des charmonia ont également été menées au LHC. Cependant, d'autres effets sont susceptibles de modifier la production de charmonia sans requérir la formation d'un QGP. Ces effets, inhérents aux collisions impliquant des noyaux, sont appelés effets nucléaires froids ou CNM («Cold Nuclear Matter»). Ils peuvent être étudiés dans les collisions p-Pb. Cette thèse est dédiée à l'analyse de la production de J/ψ dans les collisions p-Pb collisions à une énergie dans le centre de masse de 5.02 TeV par paire de nucléon au LHC. La production de J/ψ est étudiée en fonction de l'impulsion transverse, de la rapidité et de l'activité de la collision. Ces résultats apportent une contribution significative dans la compréhension des effets CNM et dans l'établissement d'une référence pour l'interprétation de la production de J/ψ dans les collisions Pb-Pb. / Hard probes represent one of the hottest topics of the modern high energy physics. The production mechanism of quarkonia (mesons composed of a charm or beauty quark and its antiquark) in hadronic collisions is of particular interest. The suppression of J/ψ and other charmonium states was predicted as one of the first signatures of the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) formation and was seen at RHIC and SPS. It was also studied at the LHC in Pb-Pb collisions. However, other effects can affect the charmonium production in Pb-Pb collisions without the presence of the QGP. These effects are inherent to the use of nuclei and are called «Cold Nuclear Matter» (CNM) effects. They can be studied in p-Pb collisions. This thesis is dedicated to the studies of J/ψ production in p-Pb collisions at the LHC at a center of mass energy of 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair. J/ψ production is studied as a function of transverse momentum, rapidity and event activity. These results represent a significant step to better understanding of the CNM effects and to the establishment of a reference for J/ψ production in Pb-Pb collisions.

This thesis describes the development of control applications for the deposition machine and mass spectrometer. Thesis describes operation principles of both devices and their hardware specifications. Thesis also describes the design of developed applications. Functionality was tested on series of real measurements.

Despite the decades of intensive research, nucleic acids represent still a permanent object of structural studies. Within the framework of the doctoral work, the apparatus for measurement of UV excited resonance Raman spectra (UV RRS) was built up and optimized. A realistic and complex interpretation table was prepared based on analysis of published data and extensive series of UV RRS measurements on NA model structures, mononucleotides, and polynucleotides. The established methodology was verified when applied in several structural studies of nucleic acids, mainly the study of the influence of magnesium ions on the equilibrium between duplexes and triplexes formed by PolyA and PolyU homopolynucleotides, a study of temperature-induced structural changes in DNA double helix and DNA hairpin, and investigation of slow structural transitions of guanine quadruplexes induced by the presence of potassium ions. The results of the test measurements and the above-mentioned studies have shown that the created methodology for studying UV RRS of nucleic acids brings most of the expected benefits of the resonance excitation: the possibility of Raman scattering measurements at the same concentrations as in the case of UV absorption, high sensitivity to fine temperature-induced structural changes and good interpretability...

The work deals with the design, control, precision and dynamics of linear piezoelectric motors from PiezoMotor Uppsala AB. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the applicability of the loaned engine in a mass spectrometer. In introduction‘s section of this work is discussing the design principles of functionality, materials used, procedure and types of piezoelectric motors. It focuses the choice of hardware and design of mechanical assemblies, which could replace the current mechanism with electromagnetic motors. Then we designed and fabricated a test report with hired piezoelectric motor. In NI LabView development environment is created test application for control and measurement. The final section is devoted to a summary of the positive and negative features of the hired piezoelectric motor and evaluation of accuracy and dynamics.

No description available.

The recent development of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) sources has increased the need for diagnostic tools, and has opened up a previously limited portion of the spectrum. With ultrafast laser systems and spectroscopy moving into shorter timescales and wavelengths, the need for nanosecond scale imaging of EUV is increasing. EUV’s high absorption has limited the number of imaging options due to the many atomic resonances in this spectrum. Currently EUV is imaged with photodiodes and X-ray CCDs. However photodiodes are limited in that they can only resolve intensity with respect to time and X-ray CCDs are limited to temporal resolution in the microsecond range. This work shows a novel approach to imaging EUV light over a nanosecond time scale, by using an EUV scintillator to convert EUV to visible light imaged by a conventional streak camera. A laser produced plasma, using a mass-limited tin based target, provided EUV light which was imaged by a grazing incidence flat field spectrometer onto a Ce:YAG scintillator. The EUV spectrum (5 nm-20 nm) provided by the spectrometer is filter by a zirconium filter and then converted by the scintillator to visible light (550 nm) which can then be imaged with conventional optics. Visible light was imaged by an electron image tube based streak camera. The streak camera converts the visible light image to an electron image using a photocathode, and sweeps the image across a recording medium. The streak camera also provides amplification and gating of the image by the means of a micro channel plate, within the image tube, to compensate for low EUV intensities. The system provides 42 ns streaked images of light with a iii temporal resolution of 440 ps at a repetition rate of 1 Hz. Upon calibration the EUV streak camera developed in this work will be used in future EUV development.

The neutron plays a central role in numerous fields of physics, a fact that entails a need for methods of measuring neutron energy spectra. In this project, a technique for neutron spectrometry through measurements of neutron-induced radioactivity in activation detectors was developed and tested. The developed technique involves irradiating element samples with neutrons, measuring activation products with a gamma spectrometer, and then performing a neutron spectrum unfolding procedure. The elements indium, iron, magnesium, aluminium, zinc, titanium, and copper were used as activation detectors and irradiated with neutrons from an americium-beryllium (AmBe) neutron source. Subsequent gamma spectrometry was performed with the UGGLA high-purity germanium detector setup at Uppsala University. The GRAVEL unfolding algorithm was implemented in MATLAB and used to unfold neutron spectra based on an initial spectrum guess. The unfolded neutron spectrum agrees well with the expected AmBe spectrum, though some difference between the spectra is attributed to neutron scattering in the irradiation environment. A possible ability to find approximate neutron spectra from inaccurate initial guesses is found, but additional work is needed to understand better how the initial guess affects the result for different neutron sources. Because activation detectors do not require electrical power when measuring neutrons, can be made sensitive to a wide range of neutron energies, and do not detect other types of radiation, future applications could find the developed neutron spectrometry method practical.

In the atomic energy pile at Chalk River, heavy water (deuterium oxide, D2O) is to be used as a moderator. Early in 1944, it became evident that frequent determinations of the isotopic composition of D2O samples would be required. For this purpose, there was obtained from the American authorities a mass spectrometer specially designed for routine hydrogen isotope analysis. This instrument was assembled and put into operation at McMaster in the summer of 1944. During the course of subsequent work, two other deuterium mass spectrometers were built in this laboratory, following the design of the instrument sent from the United States; one of these has now been installed at the plant site, and a second is to follow at an early date. The studies reported below involved the determination of operating conditions, the measurement of grid leaks, of the order of 10^10 ohms, and the investigation of further applications of the deuterium mass spectrometer. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Ablation controlled electrothermal (ET) plasma discharge devices consist of a small diameter capillary through which a large amount of energy is discharged. The high energy in the discharge ablates an inner sleeve material, ionizes the material, and a high energy-density plasma jet accelerates out the open end. ET devices can find applications in internal combustion engines, Tokamak fusion fueling and stabilization, hypervelocity launchers, and propulsion. The ballistic properties of an ET device are highly dependent on the propellant and ablated material. A useful noninvasive technique to characterize a propellant in these types of devices is spectroscopy. The purpose of this study is to design and conduct experiments on the ET facility called PIPE to verify results and assumptions in the ETFLOW simulation code as well as resolve data collection issues such as equipment triggering as spectrometer saturation. Experiments are carried out using an Ocean Optics LIBS2500plus high resolution spectrometer and a Photron FASTCAM SA4 high speed camera. Electron plasma temperatures are estimated using copper peaks in the UV region with the relative line intensity method, and electron plasma density is estimated by measuring the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the stark broadened H--β line at 486 nm. Electron temperatures between 0.19 eV and 0.49 eV, and electron densities between 4.68*1022 m-3 and 5.75*10²² m⁻³ were measured in the expanding plasma jet about an inch outside the source with values as expected for this region. Velocity measurements of PIPE match well with simulations at around 5333 m/s. This study concluded that the assumption that the propellant Lexan is completely dissociated is a valid assumption, and that the ETFLOW results for electron temperature, density, and bulk plasma velocity match experimental values. / Master of Science

No / A novel dispersive system operating at 1064-nm excitation and coupled with transfer electron InGaAs photocathode and electron bombardment CCD technology has been evaluated for the analysis of drugs of abuse and explosives. By employing near-IR excitation at 1064-nm excitation wavelength has resulted in a significant damping of the fluorescence emission compared to 785-nm wavelength excitation. Spectra of street samples of drugs of abuse and plastic explosives, which usually fluoresce with 785-nm excitation, are readily obtained in situ within seconds through plastic packaging and glass containers using highly innovative detector architecture based upon a transfer electron (TE) photocathode and electron bombarded gain (EB) technology that allowed the detection of NIR radiation at 1064nm without fluorescence interference. This dispersive near-IR Raman system has the potential to be an integral part in the armoury of the forensic analyst as a non-destructive tool for the in-situ analysis of drugs of abuse and explosives. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.