Absolute measurement of the relativistic magnetic dipole transition energy in heliumlike argon.

The 1s2s (3)S(1)→1s(2) (1)S(0) relativistic magnetic dipole transition in heliumlike argon, emitted by the plasma of an electron-cyclotron resonance ion source, has been measured using a double-flat crystal x-ray spectrometer. Such a spectrometer, used for the first time on a highly charged ion transition, provides absolute (reference-free) measurements in the x-ray domain. We find a transition energy of 3104.1605(77) eV (2.5 ppm accuracy). This value is the most accurate, reference-free measurement done for such a transition and is in good agreement with recent QED predictions.

Design, fabrication and characterization of a monolithic focusing piezoceramic transducer for an anisotropic material.

Piezoceramic transducers shaped as spherical caps are widely used to focus ultrasound waves in isotropic materials. For anisotropic materials, the sound wave surface is not spherical and the transducer surface should be adjusted to reproduce a portion of this wave surface to focus the emitted sound properly. In this article, we show how to design such a transducer and how to fabricate it in lab on a standard machine from a rod of raw piezo ceramic material. The main features of its electrical impedance response are well reproduced by a numerical model, allowing the identification of most of its vibrational modes. We finally measured the sound field emitted by such a transducer and found its focusing efficiency similar to that of spherical caps in isotropic media.