Abstract. Highly porous pure and polyethyleneglycol (PEG)-doped silica gels have been prepared from tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) in ethanol using NH4OH base-catalysis. Addition of PEG to the SiO2-system increases the average particle size and most frequent pore diameter of the resultant gels while their total surface area decreases. The viscosity of the sol increases with PEG concentration and passes through a maximum with increasing molecular weight at PEG 200. Results obtained indicate a definite interaction of the polymer with SiO2 and that this interaction is not as a result of direct formation of Si--O-C linkage, but is more likely to be due to hydrogen bonding between the hydrated PEG and the Si--O--Si network. Structure-process correlations are considered.

Supersonic and diffusive radiation flow is an important test problem for the radiative transfer models used in radiationhydrodynamics computer codes owing to solutions being accessible via analytic and numeric methods. We present experimental results with which to compare these solutions by studying supersonic and diffusive flow in the laboratory. We present results of higher-accuracy experiments than previously possible studying radiation flow through up to 7 high-temperature mean free paths of low-density, chlorine-doped polystyrene foam and silicon dioxide aerogel contained by an Au tube. Measurements of the heat front position and absolute measurements of the x-ray emission arrival at the end of the tube are used to test numerical and analytical models. We find excellent absolute agreement with simulations provided that the opacity and equation of state are adjusted within expected uncertainties; analytical models provide a good phenomenological match to measurements but are not in quantitative agreement due to their limited scope.

This article reports the design, the breadboarding, and the validation of an ultrastable cryogenic sapphire oscillator operated in an autonomous cryocooler. The objective of this project was to demonstrate the feasibility of a frequency stability of 3x10(-15) between 1 and 1000 s for the European Space Agency deep space stations. This represents the lowest fractional frequency instability ever achieved with cryocoolers. The preliminary results presented in this paper validate the design we adopted for the sapphire resonator, the cold source, and the oscillator loop.