We present a method to determine where the nanoparticles nucleate and grow during pulsed laser deposition in an ambient gas. Briefly, nanocrystalline Si films are systemically deposited on the substrates located at a distance from the plasma and placed in horizontal direction; meanwhile an external electric field is introduced perpendicularly to the plume. Based on the transportation dynamics of Si nanoparticles corresponding to different electric fields, the lateral nucleation range of 0.1 to 33.8 mm is determined for Si nanoparticles deposited in 10 Pa Ar gas at a laser fluence of 4 J/cm 2 . Further simulation of the mass and area density of Si nanoparticles demonstrates that both nucleation and growth probabilities in nucleation region are approximately Gauss-dependent of the lateral distance.

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The transport dynamics of ablated particles produced by pulsed-laser deposition in an inert gas is investigated via the Monte Carlo simulation method. The splitting mechanism of ablated particles is discussed by tracking every ablated particle with their forces, velocities and locations. The force analysis demonstrates that whether the splitting appears or not is decided by the releasing way of the driving force acting on the ablated particles. The "average" drag force, which is related to the mass and radius of the ambient gas, determines the releasing way of the driving force. Our simulated results are approximately in agreement with the previous experimental data.

Nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) films were systematically prepared via three ways: a) laser anneal or b) thermal anneal of the amorphous silicon (α-Si) films deposited by pulsed-laser ablation (PLA) in base vacuum, c) direct PLA in high-purity Ar gas with pressure of 10 Pa. The anneal-laser fluence, thermal-anneal temperature and ablation-laser fluence thresholds corresponding to the beginning of nanoparticles formation were respectively determined by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. Incorporated with crystallization mechanism, energies compensated for the formation of one Si nanoparticle in the three ways were calculated approximately. The result shows that for different crystallization ways, the potential barriers during the formation of one ∼16 nm nanoparticle are on the order of 10-9 mJ.

This paper, using the data of Cluster during 2001–2010, studies the polytropic processes of solar wind ions near the Earth. We calculate the polytropic index of ions for different outward electromagnetic energy ratios δ E × B and entropy parameter changes δ entropy based on the approach of the homogeneous magnetohydrodynamic Bernoulli integral (MBI). Solar wind ions have a broad distribution of polytropic indices with multiple peaks in the range of [−7.0, 6.0]. The median polytropic indices are 1.264, 1.321, and 1.418 at δ entropy = 5% for δ E × B  ≤ 5%, 3%, and 1% and 1.241 and 1.097 at δ E × B  ≤ 5% for δ entropy ≤ 3% and 1%. In most of the dayside, the median polytropic index of the solar wind basically increases with increasing geocentric distance and has an obvious dawn–dusk asymmetry because of the solar wind–magnetosphere interaction. The polytropic indices near the bow shock are basically within the range from ∼−1.0 to ∼3.0, and their median values are between 0.5 and 1.3. Those polytropic indices of solar wind ions far away from the bow shock are basically in the range from ∼−2.0 to ∼6.0 and have median values between 1.6 and 2.2. Near the terminator, the median polytropic index has no obvious radial distribution, but it has an obvious dawn–dusk asymmetry. The above results suggest that polytropic indices in the solar wind become smaller after being scattered or rebounded by a fast shock wave. It is also found that the polytropic processes in the solar wind near the Earth are closely related to those in the magnetosheath.