This paper describes the silicon microstrip modules in the barrel section of the SemiConductor Tracker (SCT) of the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The module requirements, components and assembly techniques are given, as well as first results of the module performance on the fully-assembled barrels that make up the detector being installed in the ATLAS experiment.

The use of ferromagnetic nanoparticles for hyperthermia and thermoablation therapies has shown great promise in the field of nanobiomedicine. Even local hyperthermia offers numerous advantages as a novel cancer therapy; however, it requires a remarkably high heating power of more than 1 kW g−1 for heat agents. As a candidate for high heat generation, we focus on ferromagnetic nanoparticles and compare their physical properties with those of superparamagnetic substances. Numerical simulations for ideal single-domain ferromagnetic nanoparticles with cubic and uniaxial magnetic symmetries were carried out and MH curves together with minor loops were obtained. From the simulation, the efficient use of an alternating magnetic field (AMF) having a limited amplitude was discussed. Co-ferrite nanoparticles with various magnitudes of coercive force were produced by co-precipitation and a hydrothermal process. A maximum specific loss power of 420 W g−1 was obtained using an AMF at 117 kHz with H 0 = 51.4 kA m−1 (640 Oe). The relaxation behaviour in the ferromagnetic state below the superparamagnetic blocking temperature was examined by Mössbauer spectroscopy.

We report on the magnetic properties of epitaxial cobalt-ferrite films with orientations parallel to [001] and [111] grown by a reactive molecular beam epitaxy method using pure ozone gas as an oxidation agent. Both Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetization measurement of the CoFe2O4(001) film grown on MgO(001) indicate that the film has perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) with high coercivity, whereas the film of CoFe2O4(111) grown on α-Al2O3(0001) appears to be paramagnetic. The maximum uniaxial anisotropy energy for CoFe2O4(001) estimated from the magnetization and coercivity at room temperature is ≈3×106 erg/cm3.

Heating characteristics of Fe oxide nanoparticles designed for hyperthermia were examined. Samples with coercive forces from 50 to 280 Oe(codoped magnetite) were produced with a coprecipitation technique following by hydrothermal reaction. The maximum specific loss powers (SLPs) of 420 W/g was obtained at 117 kHz (640 Oe) for a dispersant sample with coercive force of 280 Oe (ATH9D). SLPs measured on dry powder samples at 17 kHz and measured at 117 kHz on dispersant samples were compared. The measured SLP amplitudes are lower for 17 kHz and higher for 117 kHz than those expected from ferromagnetic dc minor loops. For the 117 kHz case, friction of particles in a carrier fluid (similar mechanism to Brown relaxation in superparamagnetic dispersant samples) is considered to contribute to the heating mechanism.