In this Thesis, two problems were studied: a direct vacuum acceleration of electrons by a tightly focused ultrashort relativistic laser pulse and ion acceleration in the process of spherical laser-heated plasma explosion. The electromagnetic field of a tightly focused laser pulse was evaluated numerically by means of Stratton-Chu integrals. The properties of the focused field were analyzed in detail for a plane wave or a macroscopically large Gaussian beam incident onto the mirror. Free electrons moving in the tightly focused field were found to accelerate by two possible mechanisms: focal spot acceleration and capture-and-acceleration scenario. The two mechanisms were studied in detail. Comparison of the mirror-focused field with first- and fifth-order paraxial fields is performed. A 3D electromagnetic PIC code SCPIC was created for simulations of pulse interaction with targets having a finite number of particles interacting with each other by collective fields. Atto-second bunch formation was observed in the interaction with ultra-small or ultra-thin targets. Physical mechanism of bunch formation is explained. The problem of electrostatic explosion of a nano-scale spherical plasma with initially hot electrons and cold ions was solved numerically. Expansion in a wide regime of electron temperature $0 < T leq infty$ was studied in detail for different initial density profiles of plasma. Favorable conditions for obtaining mono-energetic ions resulting from the explosion were specified in single and two ionic species cases. In case of a two-species explosion, the number of mono-energetic, $deltavarepsilon/varepsilon < 10\%$, ions can be as high as 70-80\% of the total light ions for a wide range of electron temperatures.

No description available.

The following project presents in silico investigation of axonal damage in Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI). When axons face a shear force, orientation of the lipids in the axonal membrane gets disrupted. Depending on the value of the force, a tensile strain causes the axons to get partially or fully deformed and in some cases a pore forms in the membrane. Using Molecular Dynamic (MD) simulation and a coarse grain model, a series of bilayers with various bilayer structure (single bilayer, parallel bilayer and cylindrical bilayer) and similar composition to biological axonal membrane were simulated. This was initially done to investigate the strain rate dependency of the bilayers, and their viscoelastic ability on returning to their original shape from their deformed forms. To achieve this, various deformation velocities were applied to the bilayers reaching 20% strain and relaxing the bilayer after. Additionally, the bilayers were deformed further until they reached a pore. It was found that the bilayers can almost recover from their deformed forms to their original length when they were deformed at 20% strain level. In conjunction, no correlation between the deformation velocity and lipid deformation was observed. Further, it was found that bilayers with different lipid percentage to axonal bilayer has different strain values for water penetration and for pore formation. The strain value for cylindrical bilayer was found very high compared to the strain values found in vitro. The strain for pore formation of parallel and single bilayer was found to be around 80% to 90% and for water penetration was found to be 70% for single bilayer and 50% for parallel bilayer. A slight difference in strain for pore formation between single and parallel bilayer was found which showed the bilayer structure can play a role in simulation results. The effect of the length in the simulations results was also observed where shorter bilayers showed lower strain for pore formation compared to longer bilayers.

No description available.

The current study is focused on the characterization of four natural leaf species (quaking, bigtooth and columnar european aspen as well as black locust) possessing a unique dual-scale cuticle structure composed of micro- and nano-scale asperities, which are able to effectively resist wetting (superhydrophobic), characteristic of The Lotus Effect. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to track the growth and evolution of their distinctive nano-scale epicuticular wax (ECW) morphologies over one full growing season. In addition, the stability of their superhydrophobic property was tested in various environments. It was determined that the long-term stability of these surfaces is tentatively linked to various environmental stress factors. Specifically, a combination of high temperature and humidity caused the degradation of nano-scale asperities and loss of the superhydrophobic property. The dual-scale surface structure was found to provide a suitable template for the design of future superhydrophobic engineering materials.

The current study is focused on the characterization of four natural leaf species (quaking, bigtooth and columnar european aspen as well as black locust) possessing a unique dual-scale cuticle structure composed of micro- and nano-scale asperities, which are able to effectively resist wetting (superhydrophobic), characteristic of The Lotus Effect. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to track the growth and evolution of their distinctive nano-scale epicuticular wax (ECW) morphologies over one full growing season. In addition, the stability of their superhydrophobic property was tested in various environments. It was determined that the long-term stability of these surfaces is tentatively linked to various environmental stress factors. Specifically, a combination of high temperature and humidity caused the degradation of nano-scale asperities and loss of the superhydrophobic property. The dual-scale surface structure was found to provide a suitable template for the design of future superhydrophobic engineering materials.

L'auteur n'a pas fourni de résumé en français / Nowadays in medicine and biotechnology a wide range of applications involves magnetic micro/nano-object manipulation including remote control of magnetic beads, trapping of drug vectors, magnetic separation of labelled cells and so on. Handling and positioning magnetic particles and elements functionalized with these particles has greatly benefited from advances in microfabrication. Indeed reduction in size of the magnet while maintaining its field strength increases the field gradient. In this context, arrays made of permanent micromagnets are good candidates for magnetic handling devices. They are autonomous, suitable for integration into complex systems and their magnetic action is restricted to the region of interest.In this thesis we have elaborated an original approach based on AFM and MFM for quantitative study of the magnetic force and associated force gradients induced by TMP micromagnet array on an individual magnetic micro/nano-object. For this purpose, we have fabricated smart MFM probes where a single magnetic (sub)micronic sphere was fixed at the tip apex of a non-magnetic probe thanks to a dual beam FIB/SEM machine equipped with a micromanipulator.Scanning Force Microscopy conducted with such probes, the so-called Magnetic Particle Scanning Force Microscopy (MPSFM) was employed for 3D mapping of TMP micromagnets. This procedure involves two main aspects: (i) the quantification of magnetic interaction between micromagnet array and attached microsphere according to the distance between them and (ii) the complementary information about micromagnet array structure. The main advantage of MPSFM is the use of a probe with known magnetization and magnetic volume that in combination with modelling allows interpreting the results ably.We conducted MPSFM on TMP sample with two types of microparticle probes: with superparamagnetic and NdFeB microspheres. The measurements carried out with superparamagnetic microsphere probes reveal attractive forces (up to few tens of nN) while MFM maps obtained with NdFeB microsphere probes reveal attractive and repulsive forces (up to one hundred of nN) for which the nature of interaction is defined by superposition of microsphere and micromagnet array magnetizations. The derived force and its gradient from MFM measurements are in agreement with experiments on microparticle trapping confirming that the strongest magnetic interaction is observed above the TMP sample interfaces, between the areas with opposite magnetization. Thanks to 3D MFM maps, we demonstrated that intensity of magnetic signal decays fast with the distance and depends on micromagnet array and microsphere properties.Besides the magnetic interaction quantification, we obtained new information relevant to TMP sample structure: we observed and quantified the local magnetic roughness and associated fluctuations, in particular in zones of reversed magnetization. The variation of detected signal can reach the same order of magnitude as the signal above the micromagnet interfaces. These results complete the experiments on particle trapping explaining why magnetic microparticles are captured not only above the interfaces, but also inside the zones of reversed magnetization.Quantitative measurements of the force acting on a single (sub)microsphere associated to the modelling approach improve the understanding of processes involved in handling of magnetic objects in microfluidic devices. This could be employed to optimize the parameters of sorting devices and to define the quantity of magnetic nanoparticles required for labelling of biological cells according to their size. More generally these experimental and modelling approaches of magnetic interaction can meet a high interest in all sorts of applications where a well-known and controlled non-contact interaction is required at micro and nano-scale.

The processors and digital circuits designed today contain billions of transistors on a small piece of silicon. As devices are becoming smaller, slimmer, faster, and more efficient, the transistors also have to keep up with the demands and needs of the daily user. Unfortunately, the CMOS technology has reached its limit and cannot be used to scale down due to the breakdown of the transistor caused by short channel effects. Alternative solution to this is the FinFET transistor technology where the gate of the transistor is a 3D fin which surrounds the transistor and prevents the breakdown caused by scaling and short channel effects. FinFET devices are reported to have excellent control over short channel effects, high On/Off Ratio, extremely low gate leakage current and relative immunization over gate edge line roughness. Sub 20 nm is perceived to the limit of scaling the CMOS transistors but FinFETs can be scaled down further due the above-mentioned reasons. Due to these advantages the VLSI industry have now shifted to FinFET in their designs. Although these transistors have not been completely opened to academia. Analyzing and observing the effects of these devices can be pivotal in gaining an in depth understanding of them. This thesis explores the application of FinFETs using a standard cell library developed using these transistors and are analyzed and compared with CMOS transistors. The FinFET package files used to develop these cell is a 15nm FinFET technology file developed by NCSU in collaboration with Cadence and Mentor Graphics. Post design the cells were characterized and then the results were compared to through various CMOS packages to understand and extrapolate conclusions on the FinFET devices.

FeCrAl alloys are being investigated as candidate materials for replacing zirconium based alloys as nuclear reactor fuel cladding because of their superior high temperature oxidation resistance in steam environments. Unirradiated FeCrAl as well as Fe²⁺ ion irradiated FeCrAl to a peak dose of 20DPA were mechanically tested and compared against each other. Nanohardness tests were performed on both the unirradiated and irradiated conditions and it was found that the irradiated alloy was about 1GPa harder than its unirradiated counterpart. TEM <i>in situ</i> tensile tests were performed using the Bruker push to pull device alongside a PI95 Picoindenter on single crystals with grain orientations 001, 011 and 111. The unirradiated 001 grains tended to fail without yielding in a brittle manner while the irradiated 001 grain yielded and reached an ultimate tensile strength before failure. The unirradiated 011 grains behaved in a mixed manner, where one failed without yielding and one slipped many times before failing. The irradiated 011 grain yielded and failed quickly thereafter. The unirradiated 111 grain yielded, slipped and twinned before failing and both irradiated 111 grains slipped. Two general trends were observed. One, each unirradiated single grain was stronger than its irradiated counterpart. This trend is indicative of the ion irradiated microstructure facilitating bulklike mechanical behavior in the irradiated samples whereas the unirradiated samples exhibited mechanical size effects due to either the total lack of preexisting defects or the ability for existing defects to escape easily to the surface of the sample resulting in a pristine, defect free sample. Two, regardless of irradiation condition, the 001 grain orientation was brittle, the 011 grain orientation deformed in a mixed brittle/ductile manner and the 111 grain orientation was ductile through all tests. These results are indicative of the geometry of the BCC crystal structure and the slip system involving these orientations.

Die vorliegende Arbeit beschreibt einen neuartigen Fügeprozess, das sogenannte reaktive Fügen bzw. Bonden. Hierbei werden sich selbsterhaltene exotherme Reaktionen in nanoskaligen Schichtsystemen als lokale Wärmequelle für das Fügen unterschiedlichster Substrate der Mikrosystemtechnik verwendet. Das Bonden mit den reaktiven Systemen unterscheidet sich von herkömmlichen Verfahren der Aufbau- und Verbindungstechnik primär dadurch, dass durch die rasche Reaktionsausbreitung bei gleichzeitig kleinem Reaktionsvolumen die Fügetemperaturen unmittelbar auf die Fügefläche beschränkt bleiben. Entgegen den herkömmlichen Fügeverfahren mit Wärmeeintrag im Volumen, schont das neue Verfahren empfindliche Bauteile und Materialien mit unterschiedlichsten thermischen Ausdehnungskoeffizienten lassen sich besser verbinden. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden die Grundlagen zur Dimensionierung, Prozessierung und Integration der gesputterten reaktiven Materialsysteme beschrieben. Diese Systeme werden verwendet, um heterogene Materialien mit unterschiedlichen Durchmessern innerhalb kürzester Zeit auf Wafer-Ebene und bei Raumtemperatur zu bonden. Die so erzeugten Verbindungen werden hinsichtlich der Mikrostruktur, der Zuverlässigkeit sowie der Dichtheit untersucht und bewertet. Zusätzlich wird die Temperaturverteilung in der Fügezone während des Fügeprozesses mit numerischen Methoden vorhergesagt.