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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
M. E. Schoff, E. R. Castillo, N. M. Ravelo, M. P. Farrell
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 70 | Number 2 | August-September 2016 | Pages 372-376
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST15-243
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Planar components made from glow discharge polymer (GDP) are commonly used in laser inertial fusion experiments. The thickness profile of GDP coatings on flat substrates follows a nearly Gaussian distribution with a full-width at half-maximum only 20 mm across, restricting the number of usable components with the same thickness that can be made from each substrate. A new coating method to improve the thickness uniformity and increase the usable area of GDP coatings has been simulated and involves rotating the planar substrate while it is offset from the center of the coating chamber. While the coating rate drops to about 40% at the center, the thickness variation is less than 10% out to a radius of 10 mm, increasing the usable area by a factor of over 7, thereby increasing the number of components that can be made from a single coating.