Recently discovered multiferroic nanoparticles (MFNs) known as magnetoelectric nanoparticles (MENs) promise to revolutionize next-generation biomedical diagnostic techniques and enable rapid and cost-effective screening of lethal diseases. Due to the quantum-mechanically caused intrinsic magnetoelectric (ME) effect, these nanoparticles display strongly coupled magnetic and electric moments and thus provide a unique pathway to monitor and optionally control intrinsic characteristics of bio organisms via application of external magnetic fields. Due to the ME effect, when placed in the microenvironment of a biomolecular sample, MENs’ magnetic properties change to reflect the molecular nature of the sample. Such an unprecedented intrinsic connection to cells and microorganism’s intrinsic characteristics can pave a way to a new diagnostic paradigm. A novel concept of portable biomolecular screening device based on continuous wave nuclear magnetic resonance is being studied to identify microorganisms like bacteria, virus and cancer cell lines. For the first time, MENs have been used to modify NMR spectra and thus enable identification of different cancer cell lines from each other as well as from their normal counterparts at the sub-cellular level. This approach can be used for both in vitro and in vivo diagnostics. In addition, blood samples of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) patients with severe heart and lung conditions were used to study the activity of MENs with prothrombin, the clotting factor of the blood. MENs has significant interaction with prothrombin. MENS can be used for diagnostics of several diseases associated with blood and cancer and it may be used as a therapeutic agent. The experiment proved that the MENs are safe and nontoxic carriers of therapeutic drugs.

This thesis provides a summary of the laser system constructed in the Quantum Degenerate Gases Laboratory for laser cooling and trapping of 85/87Rband 6Li as well as of experiments that have been pursued in our lab to date. The first chapter provides an overview of the experimental focus of the QDG lab. The second and third chapters provide the fundamental theory behind laser cooling and trapping. The fourth chapter provides details of the laser system. The fifth chapter describes an experiment performed on the subject of dual-injection, performed in collaboration with Dr. James Booth of the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) involving the dual-injection of a single slave amplifier. The last chapter describes the progress made on the experimental setup needed for the study of Feshbach resonances between 85/87Rb and 6Li and the photoassociative formation of molecules. / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate

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This work deals with the description and analysis of suitable methods for measurement of non-periodical high-level current pulses. For pulsed current source design and development a suitable measurement system is required. In this work shunt resistor, Rogowski sensor and magneto-optic sensor are presented. The analysis of their properties is performed in order to design a suitable sensor for test current pulse measurement. A design of Rogowski coil sensor has been made. An experimental measurement of current pulses with short time relations has been performed. The suitability of the coil sensor for non-harmonic waveforms measurement has been evaluated on the basis of measurement results. In case of the magneto-optic sensor a concept utilizing an optical fiber has been proposed. The design of the sensor has been performed also. Individual parts of the sensor were verified. Experimental magneto-optic sensors have been built and their properties have been studied.

This study is focused on modifying an existing solenoid valve based semi-active hydropneumatic spring-damper system using Magneto-Rheological (MR) fluid. The MR fluid's effective viscosity can be altered by application of a magnetic field. Therefore, using a magnetic/ MR valve makes it possible to change the state of the system by simply changing the applied magnetic field. A prototype MR valve was developed to determine whether a unit small enough for installation was possible. This prototype valve was designed from first principles and properties such as pressure drop over the valve (damping) and flow blocking (for switching between spring characteristics) were measured. The measured pressure drop over the valve was higher than what was design for which was due to an incorrect assumption for the viscosity of the thixotropic MR Fluid. The flow blocking ability of the valve was determined by constant force tests. Results showed that the valve could virtually block the flow of fluid for approximately a quarter of the vehicles weight. With the second prototype, the valve design and magnetic circuit design were improved. Two valves were constructed and implemented on a prototype suspension system. The damping characteristics of the system were lower than expected, however they can be improved by changing the valve geometry. The base spring characteristics are acceptable, however the higher spring characteristics fail when a high force is exerted on the strut that exceeds the valves flow blocking capability. The response time of the valve is not yet sufficient to make the system viable for real world implementation, especially under extreme conditions that can change more rapidly than the current valves. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2015. / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / MEng / Unrestricted

Energy production, storage and efficient usage are all crucial factors for environmentally sound and sustainable future technologies. One important question concerns the refrigeration industry, where the energy efficiency of the presently used technologies is at best 40% of the theoretical Carnot limit. Magnetic refrigerators offer a modern low-energy demand and environmentally friendly alternative. Iron phosphide based materials have been proposed to be amongst the most promising candidates for working body of magnetic refrigerators. Hydrogen is one of the central elements on the most promising sources of renewable energy. Considerable international research focuses on finding good solid state materials for hydrogen storage. On the other hand, hydrogen gas is obtained from hydrogen containing chemical compounds, which after breaking the chemical bounds usually yield to a mixture of different gases. Palladium-silver alloys are frequently used for hydrogen separation membranes for producing purified hydrogen gas. All these applications need a fundamental understanding of the structural, magnetic, chemical and thermophysical properties of the involved solid state materials. In the present thesis ab initio electronic structure methods are used to study the crystallographic and magnetic properties of Fe2P based magneto-caloric compounds and the thermophysical properties of Pd-Ag binary alloys. Lattice stability of pure Fe2P and the effect of Si doping on the phase stability are presented. In contrast to the observation, for the ferromagnetic state the body centered orthorhombic structure (bco, space group Imm2) is predicted to have lower energy than the hexagonal structure (hex, space group P62m). The zero-point spin fluctuation energy difference is found to be large enough to stabilize the hex phase. For the paramagnetic state, the hex structure is shown to be the stable phase and the computed total energy versus composition indicates a hex to bco crystallographic phase transition with increasing Si content. The magneto-structural effects and the mechanisms responsible for the structural phase transition are discussed in details. The magnetic properties of Fe2P can be subtly tailored by Mn doping. It has been shown experimentally that Mn atoms preferentially occupy one of the two different Fe sites of Fe2P. Theoretical results for the Mn site occupancy in MnFeP1-xSix are presented. The single crystal and polycrystalline elastic constants and the Debye temperature of Pd1-xAgx binary alloys are calculated for the whole range of concentration, 0≤x≤1. It is shown that the variation of the elastic parameters of Pd-Ag alloys with chemical composition strongly deviates from the simple expected trend. The complex electronic origin of these anomalies is demonstrated. Within the present thesis, all relaxed crystal structures are obtained using the Projector AugmentedWave full-potential method. The chemical and magnetic disorder is treated using the Exact Muffin-Tin Orbitals method in combination with the Coherent Potential Approximation. The paramagnetic phase is modeled by the Disordered Local Magnetic Moments approach. / QC 20101101

Two new aspects of the dynamic behaviour in the audible frequency range of magneto-sensitive (MS) rubber are highlighted: the existence of an amplitude dependence of the shear modulus—referred to as the Fletcher–Gent effect—for even small displacements, and the appearance of large MS effects. These results have been obtained experimentally and are subsequently used to model two examples of magneto-sensitive rubber isolators to show how by means of MS rubber they can be improved. The first model calculates the transfer stiffness of a torsionally excited isolator and the second one the energy flow into the foundation for a bushing inserted between a vibrating mass and an infinite plate. In both examples notable improvements in isolation can be obtained / QC 20101125

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Suspension has been the most important subsystem of the vehicle viewed as a system. The ride comfort and vehicle handling performance are affected by the suspension design. Automotive technology has been continuously incorporating developments over the past few decades to provide the end users with a better comfort of driving. Multi-objective optimization of MR damper with objective function of maximizing damping force generated by MR damper with the geometrical parametric constraint function is achieved in this research using pattern search optimization technique. Research focuses on design, modeling, and simulation of active suspension using non-linear theory of the Magneto-Rheological (MR) damper with consideration of the hysteresis behavior for a quarter car model. The research is based on the assumption that each wheel experiences same disturbance excitation. Hysteresis is analyzed using Bingham, Dahl’s, and Bouc-Wen models. Research includes simulation of passive, Bingham, Dahl, and Bouc-wen models. Modeled systems are analyzed for the six road profiles, including road type C according to international standards ISO/TC108/SC2N67. Furthermore, the comparative study of the models for the highest comfort with less overshoot and settling time of vehicle sprung mass are executed. The Bouc-Wen model is 36.91 percent more comfortable than passive suspension in terms of damping force requirements and has a 26.16 percent less overshoot, and 88.31 percent less settling time. The simulation of the Bouc-Wen model yields a damping force requirement of 2003 N which is 97.63 percent in agreement with analytically calculated damping force generated by MR damper. PID controller implementation has improved the overshoot response of Bouc-Wen model in the range of 17.89 percent-81.96 percent for the different road profiles considered in this research without compromising on the settling time of system. PID controller implementation further improves the passenger comfort and vehicle ride handling capabilities. The interdisciplinary approach of systems engineering principles for the suspension design provides unique edge to this research. Classical systems engineering tools and MBSE approach are applied in the design of the MR damper. Requirement traceability successfully validates the optimized MR damper.

The magnetization dynamics in ferromagnetic materials will depend on the specific shape of the system’s energy landscape. In most systems, the energy landscapes can be approximated as paraboloids, resulting in a typical ellipti- cal precession of the magnetization. However, this model is not always appli- cable to more complex potentials, which can present exotic precessions. The aim of this project was to measure the magnetization dynamics in a system where a non-parabolic potential was expected. From the dynamics, it would then be possible to estimate the energy potential of the system. In order to measure magnetization dynamics, time-resolved MOKE (magneto-optic Kerr effect) measurements were performed using a pump-and-probe tech- nique. A permalloy (Fe20Ni80) thin film with an uniaxial in-plane anisotropy was used as a sample, presumably presenting a bistable energy potential with two close minima at certain applied external magnetic fields. By measuring one component of the magnetization in the plane of the sample, the shape of the precession in this landscape could be extracted. The results show the expected parabolic precessions at higher external fields, from which energy landscapes could be constructed. The dynamics measured at one particular field also indicate a bistable energy potential although no exotic precessions were found.

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