Related papers: High specific impulse electrospray propulsion with…
The propulsion of a liquid indium-tin micro-droplet by nanosecond-pulse laser impact is experimentally investigated. We capture the physics of the droplet propulsion in a scaling law that accurately describes the plasma-imparted momentum…
Electrospray thrusters are one important type of micropropulsion systems being developed for next-generation space missions, yet the primary challenge to their operational lifespan is propellant overspray resulting from wide plume angles…
Recent studies have demonstrated the possibility of accelerating electrons to MeV energies in ambient air using tightly focused laser configurations. In this article, we explore possible strategies to control and optimize the resulting…
Pumping fluids without an aid of an external power source are desirable in a number of applications ranging from a cooling of microelectronic circuits to Micro Total Analysis Systems (micro-TAS). Although, several microfluidic pumps exist,…
We demonstrate a compact piezoelectric-driven micropipette launcher for localized in-vacuum delivery of nano- and microparticles into optical traps. The launcher has been integrated into multiple optical trapping setups, including a…
We simulate and characterize positive streamers in ambient air in homogeneous background electric fields from 4.5 to 26 kV/cm in a 4 cm gap. They can accelerate or decelerate depending on the background electric field. Many experiments have…
Bubble-driven inertial pumps are a novel method of moving liquids through microchannels. We combine high-speed imaging, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and an effective one-dimensional model to study the fundamentals of…
In the past few years collisionally pumped extreme ultraviolet (XUV) lasers utilizing a capillary discharge were demonstrated. An intense current pulse is applied to a gas filled capillary, inducing magnetic collapse (Z-pinch) and formation…
We report on experiments of drop impacting a hydrophobic micro-grid, of typical spacing a few tens of $\mu$m. Above a threshold in impact speed, liquid emerges to the other side, forming micro-droplets of size about that of the grid holes.…
An enhanced ionization injection scheme using a tightly focused laser pulse with intensity near the ionization potential to trigger the injection process in a mismatched pre-plasma channel has been proposed and examined via…
Electron acceleration has been optimized based on 3D PIC simulations of a short laser pulse interacting with low-density plasma targets to find the pulse propagation regime that maximizes the charge of high-energy electron bunches. This…
We have developed a combination of light scattering techniques to study and characterize droplets of a ultrasonic spray printer or coater in flight. For this economically relevant printer there is so far no reliable technique to…
When an ion beam is injected into a tapered insulating capillary, the induced self-organized radial Coulomb potential in the capillary is able to focus the beam like an electrostatic lens. However, because of the continued accumulation of…
In high-resolution mass spectrometry, an electrospray ionization source is often paired with an ion-funnel to enhance ion transmission. Although it is established that ions experience collision-induced dissociation as they pass through this…
A numerical study on ion acceleration in electrostatic shock waves is presented, with the aim of determining the best plasma configuration to achieve quasi-monoenergetic ion beams in laser-driven systems. It was recently shown that tailored…
The emissions of Taylor cones from a wide range of ionic liquids (ILs) have been tested in vacuo in an attempt to identify what physical properties favor the purely ionic regime (PIR). This regime is well known in the case of Taylor cones…
The next generation of lithography machines uses extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light originating from laser-produced plasma (LPP) sources, where a small tin droplet is ionized by an intense laser pulse to emit the requested light at 13.5 nm.…
Particle accelerators that use electromagnetic fields to increase a charged particle's energy have greatly advanced the development of science and industry since invention. However, the enormous cost and size of conventional radio-frequency…
We develop an axial model for single steadily propagating positive streamers in air. It uses observable parameters to estimate quantities that are difficult to measure. More specifically, for given velocity, radius, length and applied…
Superionic conductors, or solid-state ion-conductors surpassing 0.01 S/cm in conductivity, can enable more energy dense batteries, robust artificial ion pumps, and optimized fuel cells. However, tailoring superionic conductors require…