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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Initial conditions of radiative shock experiments

We performed experiments at the Omega Laser Facility to characterize the initial, laser-driven state of a radiative shock experiment. These experiments aimed to measure the shock breakout time from a thin, laser-irradiated Be disk. The data are then used to inform a range of valid model parameters, such as electron flux limiter and polytropic γ, used when simulating radiative shock experiments using radiation hydrodynamics codes. The characterization experiment and the radiative shock experiment use a laser irradiance of ∼7 × 10{sup 14} W cm{sup −2} to launch a shock in the Be disk. A velocity interferometer and a streaked optical pyrometer were used to infer the amount of time for the shock to move through the Be disk. The experimental results were compared with simulation results from the Hyades code, which can be used to model the initial conditions of a radiative shock system using the CRASH code.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Tutorial: The equations of electron emission and their evaluation

Electron emission and transport through and over potential barriers is an essential process requiring modeling and simulation to meet the design needs and characterization of an exceedingly broad range of technologically important devices and processes. The simulation and description of thermal, field, and photoemission, and the related concerns of space–charge affected electron flow, often make use of specialized formulations developed in the early days of quantum mechanics. Advancements in the utilization of electron sources and particularly the simulation of devices and applications using advanced particle-in-cell and trajectory methods for beam optics codes create a strong need for a pedagogical account of the emission models to ensure correct numerical evaluation of their equations. This Tutorial starts from simple phenomenological accounts and progressively builds to comprehensive models emphasizing straightforward and often rapid calculation. It recommends formulations to supplant the canonical Richardson–Laue–Dushman (thermal), Fowler–Nordheim (field), Fowler–DuBridge (photo), and Baroody (secondary) equations and provides a useful formulation of space–charge affected flow commonly described by the Child–Langmuir relation that takes into account cathode dependence on surface field.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2018

Directing Charge Transfer in Quantum Dot Assemblies

The optical and electronic properties of semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) make them attractive candidates for applications in photovoltaics, spintronics, photocatalysis, and optoelectronics. Understanding how to control the flow of charge in QD assemblies is essential for realizing novel applications. This Account explores some unique characteristics of charge transport in QD dyads, triads, and their assemblies. The emerging features of these assemblies that provide new opportunities to manipulate charge flow at the nanoscale are (1) cascading energy landscapes and band offsets to inhibit charge recombination, (2) electrostatic fields that direct charge flow through QD–QD and QD-conjugated polymer junctions, and (3) QD chirality and chiral imprinting that promotes vectorial electron and spin selective transport. Charge flow kinetics is determined by a combination of familiar electron transfer parameters (reaction free energy, reorganization energy, and electronic coupling), donor and acceptor electronic densities of states, and internal electric fields. Electron transfer and electronic structure theory, combined with kinetic modeling, place the measured kinetics of QD electron transfer donor–acceptor assemblies into a unified conceptual context. The experimental transfer rates measured in these systems depend upon structure and the internal electric fields that are present in the assemblies. A negatively charged donor and positively charged acceptor, for example, facilitates (inhibits) electron (hole) transfer, while an electric field of opposite orientation (reversal of charges) inhibits (promotes) electron (hole) transfer. These and other emerging rules that govern charge flow in NP assemblies provide a strategy to design the directionality and yield of interfacial charge transport. Chirality at the nanoscale can induce spin selective charge transport, providing new ways to direct charge (and spin) flow in QD assemblies. Magnetoresistance and magnetic conductive probe atomic force microscopy experiments show spin selective electron transport for chirally imprinted QD assemblies. Photoinduced electron transfer from achiral donor-QDs to chiral acceptor-QDs depends on the electron spin and chiroptical properties of the acceptor-QDs. These assemblies show transport characteristics that correlate with features of the QDs’ circular dichroism spectra, presenting intriguing challenges to theory, and indicating that spectroscopic signatures may assist in the design and diagnosis of functional molecular assemblies. Theoretical and experimental studies of charge transport in well-defined QD assemblies are establishing design principles for vectorial charge transport and are also refining questions surrounding the mechanism and control of these processes. Finally, these intensified efforts are forging links between fundamental discoveries regarding mechanism and practical applications for these novel assembled nanostructures.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2018

Layer specific observation of slow thermal equilibration in ultrathin metallic nanostructures by femtosecond X-ray diffraction

Ultrafast heat transport in nanoscale metal multilayers is of great interest in the context of optically induced demagnetization, remagnetization and switching. If the penetration depth of light exceeds the bilayer thickness, layer-specific information is unavailable from optical probes. Femtosecond diffraction experiments provide unique experimental access to heat transport over single digit nanometer distances. Here, we investigate the structural response and the energy flow in the ultrathin double-layer system: gold on ferromagnetic nickel. Even though the excitation pulse is incident from the Au side, we observe a very rapid heating of the Ni lattice, whereas the Au lattice initially remains cold. The subsequent heat transfer from Ni to the Au lattice is found to be two orders of magnitude slower than predicted by the conventional heat equation and much slower than electron–phonon coupling times in Au. We present a simplified model calculation highlighting the relevant thermophysical quantities.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

A combined matrix isolation spectroscopy and cryosolid positron moderation apparatus

We describe the design, construction, and operation of a novel apparatus for investigating efficiency improvements in thin-film cryogenic solid positron moderators. We report results from solid neon, argon, krypton, and xenon positron moderators which illustrate the capabilities and limitations of our apparatus. We integrate a matrix isolation spectroscopy diagnostic within a reflection-geometry positron moderation system. We report the optical thickness, impurity content, and impurity trapping site structures within our moderators determined from infrared absorption spectra. We use a retarding potential analyzer to modulate the flow of slow positrons, and report positron currents vs. retarding potential for the different moderators. We identify vacuum ultraviolet emissions from irradiated Ne moderators as the source of spurious signals in our channel electron multiplier slow positron detection channel. Our design is also unusual in that it employs a sealed radioactive Na-22 positron source which can be translated relative to, and isolated from, the cryogenic moderator deposition substrate. This allows us to separate the influences on moderator efficiency of surface contamination by residual gases from those of accumulated radiation damage.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

NIO1 diagnostics

The radio frequency ion source NIO1, jointly developed by Consorzio RFX and INFN-LNL, will generate a 60kV-135mA hydrogen negative ion beam, composed of 9 beamlets over an area of about 40 × 40 mm{sup 2}. This experiment will operate in continuous mode and in conditions similar to those foreseen for the larger ion sources of the Neutral Beam Injectors for ITER. The modular design of NIO1 is convenient to address the several still open important issues related to beam extraction, optics, and performance optimization. To this purpose a set of diagnostics is being implemented. Electric and water cooling plant related measurements will allow monitoring current, pressure, flow, and temperature. The plasma in the source will be characterized by emission spectroscopy, cavity ring-down and laser absorption spectroscopy. The accelerated beam will be analyzed with a fast emittance scanner, its intensity profile and divergence with beam emission spectroscopy and visible tomography. The power distribution of the beam on the calorimeter will be monitored by thermocouples and by an infrared camera. This contribution presents the implementation and initial operation of some of these diagnostics in the commissioning phase of the experiment, in particular the cooling water calorimetry and emission spectroscopy.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Zonal-flow dynamics from a phase-space perspective

The wave kinetic equation (WKE) describing drift-wave (DW) turbulence is widely used in the studies of zonal flows (ZFs) emerging from DW turbulence. But, this formulation neglects the exchange of enstrophy between DWs and ZFs and also ignores effects beyond the geometrical-optics limit. Furthermore, we derive a modified theory that takes both of these effects into account, while still treating DW quanta (“driftons”) as particles in phase space. The drifton dynamics is described by an equation of the Wigner–Moyal type, which is commonly known in the phase-space formulation of quantum mechanics. In the geometrical-optics limit, this formulation features additional terms missing in the traditional WKE that ensure exact conservation of the total enstrophy of the system, in addition to the total energy, which is the only conserved invariant in previous theories based on the WKE. We present numerical simulations to illustrate the importance of these additional terms. The proposed formulation can be considered as a phase-space representation of the second-order cumulant expansion, or CE2.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN X-RAY LUMINOSITY AND MAJOR FLARE LAUNCHING IN GRS 1915+105

We perform the most detailed analysis to date of the X-ray state of the Galactic black hole candidate GRS 1915+105 just prior to (0-4 hr) and during the brief (1-7 hr) ejection of major (superluminal) radio flares. A very strong model independent correlation is found between the 1.2 keV-12 keV X-ray flux 0-4 hr before flare ejections with the peak optically thin 2.3 GHz emission of the flares. This suggests a direct physical connection between the energy in the ejection and the luminosity of the accretion flow preceding the ejection. In order to quantify this concept, we develop techniques to estimate the intrinsic (unabsorbed) X-ray luminosity, L {sub intrinsic}, from RXTE All Sky Monitor data and to implement known methods to estimate the time-averaged power required to launch the radio emitting plasmoids, Q (sometimes called jet power). We find that the distribution of intrinsic luminosity from 1.2 keV-50 keV, L {sub intrinsic} (1.2-50), is systematically elevated just before ejections compared to arbitrary times when there are no major ejections. The estimated Q is strongly correlated with L {sub intrinsic} (1.2-50) 0-4 hr before the ejection, the increase in L {sub intrinsic} (1.2-50) in the hours preceding the ejection and the time-averaged L {sub intrinsic} (1.2-50) during the flare rise. Furthermore, the total time-averaged power during the ejection (Q + the time average of L {sub intrinsic} (1.2-50) during ejection) is strongly correlated with L {sub intrinsic} (1.2-50) just before launch with near equality if the distance to the source is Almost-Equal-To 10.5 kpc.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Effect of plasma on gas flow and air concentration in the effluent of a pulsed cold atmospheric pressure helium plasma jet

In this work, we report on the flow effects induced by a nanosecond pulsed helium cold atmospheric pressure plasma jet impinging on a glass substrate. Herein, gas temperature measurements have been performed using optical emission spectroscopy including rotational spectra of OH(A-X) (0,0) and N 2 (C-B) (0,0) and resonance broadening of a helium emission line at 667.8 nm. The measured increase in gas temperature was less than 15 K. We have measured the air concentration distribution in the jet effluent by means of Rayleigh scattering exploiting the large difference in Rayleigh cross-section of air and helium. The obtained results show that the plasma causes a broadening of the helium channel suggesting an enhanced gas velocity and mixing with the ambient air. The impact of the plasma on the jet effluent is polarity dependent and is larger in the case of positive applied voltage pulses. Using an estimation of the increased gas velocity required to obtain the observed air concentrations, we have shown that both gas heating and electrohydrodynamic (EHD) forces related to the propagation of an ionization front are not causing the observed phenomena. The surface charge which can exist for a much longer time than the duration of the applied voltage pulse is the primary cause of the EHD forces on the bulk charges which lead to significant different air concentration profiles in the jet effluent for plasma on and off.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Functional Imaging of Hybrid Nanostructures: Visualization of Mechanisms for Solar Energy Utilization

The report describes advances in understanding the interaction of light with hybrid nanostructured materials, and the influence of physical and electronic structure on the flow of excess energetic charge carriers to support the design and optimization of new materials for photoelectrical and photoelectrochemical energy conversion. Raman scattering, multi-wavelength optical excitation, and numerical modeling are combined with electrical transport measurements on model hybrid materials structures and devices to resolve, in energy and space, the absorption of light, the generation of excess energetic charge carriers, and the efficiency of their separation to generate electrical and chemical energy. Appropriate combinations of spatially-resolved, time-resolved, and spectrally-resolved measurements are used to isolate and quantify various steps in the energy conversion process, including geometrically and plasmonically enhanced absorption, the generation of carriers with excess energy, and the efficiency with which the carriers can move to and perform useful chemistry at interfaces.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

UNDERCOVER EUV SOLAR JETS OBSERVED BY THE INTERFACE REGION IMAGING SPECTROGRAPH

It is well-known that extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emission emitted at the solar surface is absorbed by overlying cool plasma. Especially in active regions, dark lanes in EUV images suggest that much of the surface activity is obscured. Simultaneous observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, consisting of UV spectra and slit-jaw images (SJI), give vital information with sub-arcsecond spatial resolution on the dynamics of jets not seen in EUV images. We studied a series of small jets from recently formed bipole pairs beside the trailing spot of active region 11991, which occurred on 2014 March 5 from 15:02:21 UT to 17:04:07 UT. Collimated outflows with bright roots were present in SJI 1400 Å (transition region) and 2796 Å (upper chromosphere) that were mostly not seen in Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) 304 Å (transition region) and AIA 171 Å (lower corona) images. The Si iv spectra show a strong blue wing enhancement, but no red wing, in the line profiles of the ejecta for all recurrent jets, indicating outward flows without twists. We see two types of Mg ii line profiles produced by the jets spires: reversed and non-reversed. Mg ii lines remain optically thick, but turn optically thin in the highly Doppler shifted wings. The energy flux contained in each recurrent jet is estimated using a velocity differential emission measure technique that measures the emitting power of the plasma as a function of the line-of-sight velocity. We found that all the recurrent jets release similar energy (10{sup 8} erg cm{sup −2} s{sup −1}) toward the corona and the downward component is less than 3%.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1977

Structure of radio sources with remarkably flat spectra - PKS 0735+178

Three incoherent synchrotron models are used to account for the very flat radio spectrum of the BL Lac object PKS 0735+178. The first interpretation is that the spectrum results from optically-thin synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons with a particular energy distribution. The second posits a single nonuniform, self-absorbed source generated by a wind flowing from a central object. The third suggests that sources with flat spectra are caused by the presence of multiple (three or more) discrete uniform components, and that the magnetic field and relativistic electron distribution for each source is correlated with the size of the individual components. It is proposed that the last model is the most tenable explanation of the phenomenon, and multi-frequency VLBI observations are suggested for the evaluation of the detailed structure of compact radio sources.

Marscher, A. P.↗
NASA NTRS1979

The applicability of Brillouin scattering to flow field diagnostics

To fill the void between turbulence theory and experiment; particularly in the flow fields consisting of monatomic gases, for example in wind tunnels, means of measuring fluctuating quantities are needed. In the area of density fluctuation measurement, the optical method of Brillouin scattering was suggested. This was based on the theory, that the Brillouin scattered intensity is proportional to a function of density. In this investigation the potential of this method as a diagnostic tool was studied. Here the density fluctuations in gases were sought. Continuous wave lasers and interferometers were used as the primary illuminating source and scattered light filters respectively.

Laiosa, J.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Characterization of electrical discharges on Teflon dielectrics used as spacecraft thermal control

The dual effects of system degradation and reduced life of synchronous-orbit satellites as a result of differential spacecraft charging underscore the need for a clearer understanding of the prevailing electrical discharge phenomena. In a laboratory simulation, the electrical discharge current, surface voltage, emitted particle fluxes, and photo-emission associated with discharge events on electron beam irradiated silver-backed Teflon samples were measured. Sample surface damage was examined with optical and electron beam microscopes. The results are suggestive of a model in which the entire sample surface is discharged by lateral sub-surface currents flowing from a charge deposition layer through a localized discharge channel to the back surface of the sample. The associated return current pulse appears to have a duration which may be a signature by which different discharge processes may be characterized.

Yadlowsky, E. J.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Twos-complement data processing form improved encoded matrix-vector processors

A new method for handling bipolar data by twos-complement representation is detailed. This technique requires fewer bits, uses simpler optical processor devices (fewer channels), and provides a higher processing rate and throughput. It is directly extendable to more complex matrix operations because of its data flow property and requires only a modest increase in the complexity of the digital support system.

Taylor, B. K.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Symmetrical jet action in the R Aquarii binary system

Collimated mass flow in opposite directions is detected in the R Aqr binary-system jet by means of high-resolution long-slit spectroscopy of several optical emission lines. Also presented are images of the jet structure in the forbidden line of O III, which clearly show bipolar symmetry extending to distances of about 2750 AU on either side of the central Mira variable. The Mira light was greatly reduced by utilization of a vignetting disk on the window of the imaging CCD. This result confirms the recent report of morphological evidence for an R Aqr jet from the detection of bipolar radio continuum emission at 6 cm, and provides the necessary kinematical evidence to show that jet action is actually taking place.

Hollis, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

GLRS-R 2-colour retroreflector target design and predicted performance

This paper reports on the retroreflector ground-target design for the GLRS-R spaceborne dual-wavelength laser ranging system. The described passive design flows down from the requirements of high station autonomy, high global FOV (up to 60 degrees zenith angle), little or no multiple pulse returns, and adequate optical cross section for most ranging geometries. The proposed solution makes use of 5 hollow cube-corner retroreflectors of which one points to the zenith and the remaining four are inclined from the vertical at uniform azimuthal spacings. The need for fairly large (is approximately 10 cm) retroreflectors is expected (within turbulence limitations) to generate quite narrow diffraction lobes, thus placing non-trivial requirements on the vectorial accuracy of velocity aberration corrections. A good compromise solution is found by appropriately spoiling just one of the retroreflector dihedral angles from 90 degrees, thus generating two symmetrically oriented diffraction lobes in the return beam. The required spoil angles are found to have little dependence on ground target latitude. Various link budget analyses are presented, showing the influence of such factors as point-ahead optimization, turbulence, ranging angle, atmospheric visibility and ground target thermal deformations.

Lund, Glenn↗
NASA NTRS2002

The Disk Wind Model of the Broad Line Regions in Active Galactic Nuclei and Cataclysmic Variables

This is the final progress report for our Astrophysics Theory Program (NRA 97-OSS12) grant NAG5-7723. We have made considerable progress on incorporating photoionization calculations with a 2.5D hydrodynamical code to model disk winds in AGNs. Following up on our simultaneous broad band monitoring campaign of the type I Seyfert galaxy NGC 5548, we have investigated the constraints imposed on models of accretion in Seyfert galaxies by their optical, UV, and X-ray spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Using results from thermal Comptonization models that relate the physical properties of the hot inner accretion flow to the thermal reprocessing that occurs in the surrounding colder thin disk, we find that we can constrain the central black hole mass, accretion rate and size scale of the hot central flow. We have applied our model to observations of Seyfert galaxies NGC 3516, NGC 7469 and NGC 5548. Our mass and accretion rate estimates for these objects roughly agree with those found using other methods.

Begelman, Mitchell↗

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