We investigate a series of three small‐scale flux transfer events (FTEs) associated with reconnected flux ropes, recently generated by a nearby, dayside magnetic reconnection line. The data are observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft near noon local time. We find that the associated FTEs are created by secondary magnetic reconnection and have different magnetic field topologies, which is a similar condition to that expected in the multiple X‐line magnetic reconnection (MR) model. The calculated results show that the sizes of the FTEs become larger with the time elapsed and the MR reconnection jets at the FTEs are all located on the trailing and outer edges. The above features indicate that these FTEs are still in the evolutionary stage after they are ejected from the reconnection region. Our observations suggest that mesoscale or even typical size FTEs can be created from secondary MR, initially, and subsequently can evolve to a typical size in the process of spreading.

In this work, the dependence of the length of plasma plume, propagation velocity, electric field in the streamer head, and propagation mode transition on the tube diameter varied in the range of 0.07–4 mm is investigated for the first time. The atmospheric-pressure helium plasma plume, ignited by a positive pulsed direct current voltage with a pulse rising time of 60 ns, is confined inside a long glass tube. First, the decreased tube diameter results in the reduction of the length of plasma plume but the growth of aspect ratio of plasma plume. Second, as the tube diameter decreases, the average velocity of the propagation of plasma plume increases first, then reaches a maximum value at tube diameter of 1 mm, and finally decreases for the tube diameter decreasing further. Third, the electric field in the streamer head, determined by the method based on Stark polarization spectroscopy of He 447 nm line, increases monotonically from 9 kV/cm to 20 kV/cm with the tube diameter decreasing from 4 mm to 0.6 mm. Finally, when the tube diameter is further reduced to 0.07 mm, high-speed photography reveals that the propagation mode of the plasma plume transits from the plasma bullet to the continuous plasma column.

Lead has recently been recognised as a source of environmental pollution, including the lead used for radiation shielding in radiotherapy. The bremsstrahlung radiation caused by the interaction between the electron beam and lead may reduce the accuracy of radiotherapy. To avoid the use of lead, a new material composed of tungsten and hydrogenated styrene-butadiene-styrene copolymer is studied with the Monte Carlo (MC) method and experiment in this paper. The component of the material is chosen after simulation with the MC method and the practical measurement is taken to validate the shielding ability of the material. The result shows that the shielding ability of the new material is good enough to fulfill the requirement for application in radiotherapy. Compared with lead alloy, the present new material is so flexible that can be easily customized into arbitrary shapes. Moreover, the material is environmentally friendly and can be recycled conveniently. Therefore, the material can be used as an effective lead substitute for shielding against electron beams in radiotherapy.

Traditionally, dipolarization front (DF) is a discontinuity at the leading edge of the high‐speed plasma jets, separating hot tenuous plasma from the denser ambient plasma. The particles behind the DF are usually hot population resulting from various heating and acceleration processes therein. Here, using Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations, we report that cold ions of ionospheric origin can be found behind the DFs. These cold ions move along the reconnected magnetic field lines directly from lobe during substorm, forming counter‐streaming cold ion flows behind the DFs. We find that cold ionospheric ions, as an additional population behind the DF, could increase ion density by ~50%. This indicates that the cold ions can change the gradients in the plasma density, such as the density‐driven instabilities near the DFs, and further affect the DF dynamics.