Borchardt, John J. | Engineering Papers

DOE OSTI2021

A Medium Frequency RF Sensor for Detection of Magnetized Quark Nuggets

It is hypothesized that dark matter is composed of particles called quark nuggets, and further that these particles have a permanent magnetic dipole moment. If this hypothesis is true, calculations predict that a magnetized quark nugget (MQN) will oscillate when encountering the Earth's magnetosphere, and emit RF radiation between 30kHz and 30MHz. To support testing this hypothesis, a loop antenna sensor was designed and developed, which is described in this report. This sensor operates between 300kHz and 3MHz and achieves about -11dBfT/vHz sensitivity at 1.5MHz.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2021

NMR spectroscopy of coin cell batteries with metal casings

Battery cells with metal casings are commonly considered incompatible with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy because the oscillating radio-frequency magnetic fields (“rf fields”) responsible for excitation and detection of NMR active nuclei do not penetrate metals. Here, we show that rf fields can still efficiently penetrate nonmetallic layers of coin cells with metal casings provided “B 1 damming” configurations are avoided. With this understanding, we demonstrate noninvasive high-field in situ 7 Li and 19 F NMR of coin cells with metal casings using a traditional external NMR coil. This includes the first NMR measurements of an unmodified commercial off-the-shelf rechargeable battery in operando, from which we detect, resolve, and separate 7 Li NMR signals from elemental Li, anodic β-LiAl, and cathodic Li x MnO 2 compounds. Real-time changes of β-LiAl lithium diffusion rates and variable β-LiAl 7 Li NMR Knight shifts are observed and tied to electrochemically driven changes of the β-LiAl defect structure.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2021

Low-Frequency Magnetic Field Sensor Analytics

Narrowband and broadband low frequency magnetic field sensors have applications in EMI/EMC measurements and atmospheric and space research. This report gives analytical development of such sensors.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗