arXiv subjects

Jochen Küpper

Publications and source records attributed to Jochen Küpper.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Accuracy and Performance Evaluation of Low Density Internal and External Flow Predictions using CFD and DSMC

The Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method was widely used to simulate low density gas flows with large Knudsen numbers. However, DSMC encounters limitations in the regime of lower Knudsen numbers (Kn<0.1). In such cases, approaches from classical computational fluid dynamics (CFD) relying on the continuum assumption are preferred, offering accurate solutions at acceptable computational costs. In experiments aimed at imaging aerosolized nanoparticles in vacuo a wide range of Knudsen numbers occur, which motivated the present study on the analysis of the advantages and drawbacks of DSMC and CFD simulations of rarefied flows in terms of accuracy and computational effort. Furthermore, the potential of hybrid methods is evaluated. For this purpose, DSMC and CFD simulations of the flow inside a convergent-divergent nozzle (internal expanding flow) and the flow around a conical body (external shock generating flow) were carried out. CFD simulations utilize the software OpenFOAM and the DSMC solution is obtained using the software SPARTA. The results of these simulation techniques are evaluated by comparing them with experimental data (1), evaluating the time-to-solution (2) and the energy consumption (3), and assessing the feasibility of hybrid CFD-DSMC approaches (4). Keywords: DSMC; SPARTA; Continuum assumption; Transition regime; Rarefied flow; high-performance computing

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

Water is a radiation protection agent for ionised pyrrole

Radiation-induced damage of biological matter is an ubiquitous problem in nature. The influence of the hydration environment is widely discussed, but its exact role remains elusive. Utilising well defined solvated-molecule aggregates, we experimentally observed a hydrogen-bonded water molecule acting as a radiation protection agent for ionised pyrrole, a prototypical aromatic biomolecule. Pure samples of pyrrole and pyrrole(H$_2$O) were outer-valence ionised and the subsequent damage and relaxation processes were studied. Bare pyrrole ions fragmented through the breaking of C-C or N-C covalent bonds. However, for pyrrole(H$_2$O)$^+$, we observed a strong protection of the pyrrole ring through the dissociative release of neutral water or by transferring an electron or proton across the hydrogen bond. Overall, a single water molecule strongly reduces the fragmentation probability and thus the persistent radiation damage of singly-ionised pyrrole.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2024

Reaction Pathways of Water Dimer Following Single Ionization

Water dimer $(\text{H}_2\text{O})_2$ -- a vital component of the earth's atmosphere -- is an important prototypical hydrogen-bonded system. It provides direct insight into fundamental chemical and biochemical processes, e.g., proton transfer and ionic supramolecular dynamics occurring in astro- and atmospheric chemistry. Exploiting a purified molecular beam of water dimer and multi-mass ion imaging, we report the simultaneous detection of all generated ion products of $(\text{H}_2\text{O})^{+}_2$-fragmentation following single ionization. Detailed information about ion yields and reaction energetics of 13 ion-radical pathways, 6 of which are new, of $(\text{H}_2\text{O})^{+}_2$ are presented, including strong ${}^{18}\text{O}$-isotope effects.

physics.atm-clus↗

arXiv2024

Timepix3: single-pixel multi-hit energy-measurement behavior

The event-driven hybrid-pixel detector readout chip, Timepix3, has the ability to simultaneously measure the time of an event on the nanosecond timescale and the energy deposited in the sensor. However, the behaviour of the system when two events are recorded in quick succession of each other on the same pixel was not studied in detail previously. We present experimental measurements, circuit simulations, and an empirical model for the impact of a preceding event on this energy measurements, which can result in a loss as high as 70~\%. Accounting for this effect enables more precise compensation, particularly for phenomena like timewalk. This results in significant improvements in time resolution -- in the best case, multiple tens of nanoseconds -- when two events happen in rapid succession.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2024

Resolving non-equilibrium shape variations amongst millions of gold nanoparticles

Nanoparticles, exhibiting functionally relevant structural heterogeneity, are at the forefront of cutting-edge research. Now, high-throughput single-particle imaging (SPI) with x-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) creates unprecedented opportunities for recovering the shape distributions of millions of particles that exhibit functionally relevant structural heterogeneity. To realize this potential, three challenges have to be overcome: (1) simultaneous parametrization of structural variability in real and reciprocal spaces; (2) efficiently inferring the latent parameters of each SPI measurement; (3) scaling up comparisons between $10^5$ structural models and $10^6$ XFEL-SPI measurements. Here, we describe how we overcame these three challenges to resolve the non-equilibrium shape distributions within millions of gold nanoparticles imaged at the European XFEL. These shape distributions allowed us to quantify the degree of asymmetry in these particles, discover a relatively stable `shape envelope' amongst nanoparticles, discern finite-size effects related to shape-controlling surfactants, and extrapolate nanoparticles' shapes to their idealized thermodynamic limit. Ultimately, these demonstrations show that XFEL SPI can help transform nanoparticle shape characterization from anecdotally interesting to statistically meaningful.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Unraveling the ultrafast dynamics of thermal-energy chemical reactions

In this perspective, we discuss how one can initiate, image, and disentangle the ultrafast elementary steps of thermal-energy chemical dynamics, building upon advances in technology and scientific insight. We propose that combinations of ultrashort mid-infrared laser pulses, controlled molecular species in the gas phase, and forefront imaging techniques allow to unravel the elementary steps of general-chemistry reaction processes in real time. We detail, for prototypical first reaction systems, experimental methods enabling these investigations, how to sufficiently prepare and promote gas-phase samples to thermal-energy reactive states with contemporary ultrashort mid-infrared laser systems, and how to image the initiated ultrafast chemical dynamics. The results of such experiments will clearly further our understanding of general-chemistry reaction dynamics.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2023

Conformational and state-specific effects in reactions of 2,3-dibromobutadiene with Coulomb-crystallized calcium ions

Recent advances in experimental methodology enabled studies of the quantum-state and conformational dependence of chemical reactions under precisely controlled conditions in the gas phase. Here, we generated samples of selected gauche and s-trans 2,3-dibromobutadiene (DBB) by electrostatic deflection in a molecular beam and studied their reaction with Coulomb crystals of laser-cooled $\mathrm{Ca^{+}}$ ions in an ion trap. The rate coefficients for the total reaction were found to strongly depend on both the conformation of DBB and the electronic state of $\mathrm{Ca^{+}}$. In the $\mathrm{(4p)~^{2}P_{1/2}}$ and $\mathrm{(3d)~^{2}D_{3/2}}$ excited states of $\mathrm{Ca^{+}}$, the reaction is capture-limited and faster for the gauche conformer due to long-range ion-dipole interactions. In the $\mathrm{(4s)~^{2}S_{1/2}}$ ground state of $\mathrm{Ca^{+}}$, the reaction rate for s-trans DBB still conforms with the capture limit, while that for gauche DBB is strongly suppressed. The experimental observations were analysed with the help of adiabatic capture theory, ab-initio calculations and reactive molecular dynamics simulations on a machine-learned full-dimensional potential energy surface of the system. The theory yields near-quantitative agreement for s-trans-DBB, but overestimates the reactivity of the gauche-conformer compared to the experiment. The present study points to the important role of molecular geometry even in strongly reactive exothermic systems and illustrates striking differences in the reactivity of individual conformers in gas-phase ion-molecule reactions.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2023

Self-broadening and self-shift in the $\mathbf{3ν_{2}}$ band of ammonia from mid-infrared-frequency-comb spectroscopy

We report the broadband absorption spectrum of the $3ν_{2}$ band of $^{14}$NH$_{3}$ near 4 $μm$. The data were recorded using a mid-infrared frequency comb coupled to a homebuilt Fourier-transform spectrometer with a resolution of 0.00501 $cm^{-1}$. Line positions, line intensities, self-broadening, and self-shift parameters for six rovibrational lines were determined at room temperature ($T=296$ K). Comparison with HITRAN 2016 shows good agreement at improved precision. The high precision and the rapid tunability of our experiment enables advanced fast spectroscopy of molecular gases.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2022

Augmenting Basis Sets by Normalizing Flows

Approximating functions by a linear span of truncated basis sets is a standard procedure for the numerical solution of differential and integral equations. Commonly used concepts of approximation methods are well-posed and convergent, by provable approximation orders. On the down side, however, these methods often suffer from the curse of dimensionality, which limits their approximation behavior, especially in situations of highly oscillatory target functions. Nonlinear approximation methods, such as neural networks, were shown to be very efficient in approximating high-dimensional functions. We investigate nonlinear approximation methods that are constructed by composing standard basis sets with normalizing flows. Such models yield richer approximation spaces while maintaining the density properties of the initial basis set, as we show. Simulations to approximate eigenfunctions of a perturbed quantum harmonic oscillator indicate convergence with respect to the size of the basis set.

math.NA↗

arXiv2022

Ultrafast light-induced dynamics in the microsolvated biomolecular indole chromophore with water

Interactions between proteins and their solvent environment can be studied in a bottom-up approach using hydrogen-bonded chromophore-solvent clusters. The ultrafast dynamics following UV-light-induced electronic excitation of the chromophores, potential radiation damage, and their dependence on solvation are important open questions. The microsolvation effect is challenging to study due to the inherent mix of the produced gas-phase aggregates. We use the electrostatic deflector to spatially separate different molecular species in combination with pump-probe velocity-map-imaging experiments. We demonstrate that this powerful experimental approach reveals intimate details of the UV-induced dynamics in the near-UV-absorbing prototypical biomolecular indole-water system. We determine the time-dependent appearance of the different reaction products and disentangle the occurring ultrafast processes. This approach ensures that the reactants are well-known and that detailed characteristics of the specific reaction products are accessible -- paving the way for the complete chemical-reactivity experiment.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2022

The Kinetic Energy of PAH Dication and Trication Dissociation Determined by Recoil-Frame Covariance Map Imaging

We investigated the dissociation of dications and trications of three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), fluorene, phenanthrene, and pyrene. PAHs are a family of molecules ubiquitous in space and involved in much of the chemistry of the interstellar medium. In our experiments, ions are formed by interaction with 30.3 nm extreme ultraviolet (XUV) photons, and their velocity map images are recorded using a PImMS2 multi-mass imaging sensor. Application of recoil-frame covariance analysis allows the total kinetic energy release (TKER) associated with multiple fragmentation channels to be determined to high precision, ranging 1.94-2.60 eV and 2.95-5.29 eV for the dications and trications, respectively. Experimental measurements are supported by Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics (BOMD) simulations.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2022

On the use of multilayer Laue lenses with X-ray Free Electron Lasers

Multilayer Laue lenses were used for the first time to focus x-rays from an X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL). In an experiment, which was performed at the European XFEL, we demonstrated focusing to a spot size of a few tens of nanometers. A series of runs in which the number of pulses per train was increased from 1 to 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 20 and 30 pulses per train, all with a pulse separation of 3.55 us, was done using the same set of lenses. The increase in the number of pulses per train was accompanied with an increase of x-ray intensity (transmission) from 9% to 92% at 5 pulses per train, and then the transmission was reduced to 23.5 % when the pulses were increased further. The final working condition was 30 pulses per train and 23.5% transmission. Only at this condition we saw that the diffraction efficiency of the MLLs changed over the course of a pulse train, and this variation was reproducible from train to train. We present the procedure to align and characterize these lenses and discuss challenges working with the pulse trains from this unique x-ray source.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2022

The nuclear-spin-forbidden rovibrational transitions of water from first principles

The water molecule occurs in two nuclear-spin isomers that differ by the value of the total nuclear spin of the hydrogen atoms, i.e., $I=0$ for para-H$_2$O and $I=1$ for ortho-H$_2$O. Spectroscopic transitions between rovibrational states of ortho and para water are extremely weak due to the tiny hyperfine nuclear-spin-rotation interaction of only $\sim30$ kHz and so far were not observed. We report the first comprehensive theoretical investigation of the hyperfine effects and ortho-para transitions in H$_2$$^{16}$O due to nuclear-spin-rotation and spin-spin interactions. We also present the details of our newly developed general variational approach to the simulation of hyperfine effects in polyatomic molecules. Our results for water suggest that the strongest ortho-para transitions with room-temperature intensities on the order of $10^{-31}$ cm/molecule are about an order of magnitude larger than previously predicted values and should be detectable in the mid-infrared $ν_2$ and near-infrared $2ν_1+ν_2$ and $ν_1+ν_2+ν_3$ bands by current spectroscopy experiments.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2022

Picosecond pulse-shaping for strong three-dimensional field-free alignment of generic asymmetric-top molecules

Fixing molecules in space is a crucial step for the imaging of molecular structure and dynamics. Here, we demonstrate three-dimensional (3D) field-free alignment of the prototypical asymmetric top molecule indole using elliptically polarized, shaped, off-resonant laser pulses. A truncated laser pulse is produced using a combination of extreme linear chirping and controlled phase and amplitude shaping using a spatial-light-modulator (SLM) based pulse shaper of a broadband laser pulse. The angular confinement is detected through velocity-map imaging of H$^+$ and C$^{2+}$ fragments resulting from strong-field ionization and Coulomb explosion of the aligned molecules by intense femtosecond laser pulses. The achieved three-dimensional alignment is characterized by comparing the result of ion-velocity-map measurements for different alignment directions and for different times during and after the alignment laser pulse to accurate computational results. The achieved strong three-dimensional field-free alignment of $\langle \cos^{2}δ\rangle=0.89$ demonstrates the feasibility of both, strong three-dimensional alignment of generic complex molecules and its quantitative characterization.

physics.atm-clus↗

arXiv2021

Single-shot MHz velocity-map-imaging using two Timepix3 cameras

We demonstrate the application of event-driven Timepix3-based detectors in combination with a double-sided velocity-map-imaging spectrometer to record the full 3D momentum of charged particles at the free-electron-laser facility FLASH. We measured the XUV induced fragmentation of $\text{N}_2$ using 250 kHz FLASH bursts with sub-pixel spatial resolution and up to 1.7~ns temporal resolution for photoelectrons. To further demonstrate the capabilities of this camera at even higher repetition rates we measured single-shot images of He($1s$) photoelectrons for bursts with a repetition rate of 1 MHz. Overall, with the Timepix3 camera we overcome limitations of standard-camera technology for advanced-imaging experiments with requirements on high event-rates and high spatio-temporal resolution.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2021

Active learning of potential-energy surfaces of weakly-bound complexes with regression-tree ensembles

Several pool-based active learning algorithms (AL) were employed to model potential energy surfaces (PESs) with a minimum number of electronic structure calculations. Theoretical and empirical results suggest that superior strategies can be obtained by sampling molecular structures corresponding to large uncertainties in their predictions while at the same time not deviating much from the true distribution of the data. To model PESs in an AL framework we propose to use a regression version of stochastic query by forest, a hybrid method that samples points corresponding to large uncertainties while avoiding collecting too many points from sparse regions of space. The algorithm is implemented with decision trees that come with relatively small computational costs. We empirically show that this algorithm requires around half the data to converge to the same accuracy in comparison to the uncertainty-based query-by-committee algorithm. Moreover, the algorithm is fully automatic and does not require any prior knowledge of the PES. Simulations on a 6D PES of \pyrrolew show that $\mathord{<}15\,000$ configurations are enough to build a PES with a generalization error of 16~\invcm, whereas the final model with around 50\,000 configurations has a generalization error of 11~\invcm.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2021

Unsupervised learning approaches to characterize heterogeneous samples using X-ray single particle imaging

One of the outstanding analytical problems in X-ray single particle imaging (SPI) is the classification of structural heterogeneity, which is especially difficult given the low signal-to-noise ratios of individual patterns and that even identical objects can yield patterns that vary greatly when orientation is taken into consideration. We propose two methods which explicitly account for this orientation-induced variation and can robustly determine the structural landscape of a sample ensemble. The first, termed common-line principal component analysis (PCA) provides a rough classification which is essentially parameter-free and can be run automatically on any SPI dataset. The second method, utilizing variation auto-encoders (VAEs) can generate 3D structures of the objects at any point in the structural landscape. We implement both these methods in combination with the noise-tolerant expand-maximize-compress (EMC) algorithm and demonstrate its utility by applying it to an experimental dataset from gold nanoparticles with only a few thousand photons per pattern and recover both discrete structural classes as well as continuous deformations. These developments diverge from previous approaches of extracting reproducible subsets of patterns from a dataset and open up the possibility to move beyond studying homogeneous sample sets and study open questions on topics such as nanocrystal growth and dynamics as well as phase transitions which have not been externally triggered.

eess.IV↗

arXiv2021

Charge-state distribution of aerosolized nanoparticles

In single particle imaging experiments, beams of individual nanoparticles are exposed to intense pulses of x-rays from free-electron lasers to record diffraction patterns of single, isolated molecules. The reconstruction for structure determination relies on signal from many identical particles. Therefore, well-defined-sample delivery conditions are desired in order to achieve sample uniformity, including avoidance of charge polydispersity. We have observed charging of 220 nm polystyrene particles in an aerosol beam created by a gas-dynamic virtual nozzle focusing technique, without intentional charging of the nanoparticles. Here, we present a deflection method for detecting and characterizing the charge states of a beam of aerosolized nanoparticles. Our analysis of the observed charge-state distribution using optical light-sheet localization microscopy and quantitative particle trajectory simulations is consistent with previous descriptions of skewed charging probabilities of triboelectrically charged nanoparticles.

physics.chem-ph↗