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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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At least 199 records · Page 11

Inducing a tunable skyrmion-antiskyrmion system through ion beam modification of FeGe films

Abstract Skyrmions and antiskyrmions are nanoscale swirling textures of magnetic moments formed by chiral interactions between atomic spins in magnetic noncentrosymmetric materials and multilayer films with broken inversion symmetry. These quasiparticles are of interest for use as information carriers in next-generation, low-energy spintronic applications. To develop skyrmion-based memory and logic, we must understand skyrmion-defect interactions with two main goals—determining how skyrmions navigate intrinsic material defects and determining how to engineer disorder for optimal device operation. Here, we introduce a tunable means of creating a skyrmion-antiskyrmion system by engineering the disorder landscape in FeGe using ion irradiation. Specifically, we irradiate epitaxial B20-phase FeGe films with 2.8 MeV Au 4+ ions at varying fluences, inducing amorphous regions within the crystalline matrix. Using low-temperature electrical transport and magnetization measurements, we observe a strong topological Hall effect with a double-peak feature that serves as a signature of skyrmions and antiskyrmions. These results are a step towards the development of information storage devices that use skyrmions and antiskyrmions as storage bits, and our system may serve as a testbed for theoretically predicted phenomena in skyrmion-antiskyrmion crystals.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

A method to predict texture effect on ion beam channeling analysis of polycrystals and the application to study the mosaic spreading effect in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite

We propose a method to convert the channeling Rutherford backscattering spectrum yield map of a single crystal to a polycrystal through a matrix rotation technique. The rotation matrix is determined by the deviation of the crystal axial direction from the original z axis. The final yield map is created after averaging the rotated yields using the texture function as the weight factor. For highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) exhibiting mosaic spread, the method leads to a Gaussian kernel averaging of the map obtained from a single crystal. The yield map of a single crystal is obtained by a simulation of ion trajectories in a potential field described by Moliere screened Coulomb potentials. Yield maps are calculated under various σ values (standard deviations of mosaic spread). The simulated results are compared with experimental results obtained using 1.2 MeV alpha particle. σ is extracted through the best fitting, demonstrating that the method can be used to obtain texture details. The effects of mosaic spread on minimum yield χ min and the half-width at half maximum of angular scans ψ ½ are systematically modeled and compared with previous theoretical equations. The study also shows that previous theoretical equations are valid only at small σ values. The proposed method can be applied to any type of polycrystal and is not limited to HOPG. It provides near-surface mosaic spread and crystallography information with a longitudinal depth resolution of tens of nanometers and is not influenced by grain shapes.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Benchmarking of X‐Ray Fluorescence Microscopy with Ion Beam Implanted Samples Showing Detection Sensitivity of Hundreds of Atoms

Abstract Single impurities in insulators are now often used for quantum sensors and single photon sources, while nanoscale semiconductor doping features are being constructed for electrical contacts in quantum technology devices, implying that new methods for sensitive, non‐destructive imaging of single‐ or few‐atom structures are needed. X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) can provide nanoscale imaging with chemical specificity, and features comprising as few as 100 000 atoms have been detected without any need for specialized or destructive sample preparation. Presently, the ultimate limits of sensitivity of XRF are unknown – here, gallium dopants in silicon are investigated using a high brilliance, synchrotron source collimated to a small spot. It is demonstrated that with a single‐pixel integration time of 1 s, the sensitivity is sufficient to identify a single isolated feature of only 3000 Ga impurities (a mass of just 350 zg). With increased integration (25 s), 650 impurities can be detected. The results are quantified using a calibration sample consisting of precisely controlled numbers of implanted atoms in nanometer‐sized structures. The results show that such features can now be mapped quantitatively when calibration samples are used, and suggest that, in the near future, planned upgrades to XRF facilities might achieve single‐atom sensitivity.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Assessment of metadynamic recrystallization in single copper particle impacts by focused ion beam tomography

We study single Cu-on-Cu impacts relevant to cold spray deposition and quantitatively analyze the metadynamic recrystallization (mDRX) that takes place after the impact by virtue of lingering impact adiabatic heat. Unlike prior studies, the current full 3D tomographic analysis of the mDRX volume shows that mDRX is extremely common in such impacts, although it is often missed when examining 2D sections. We also report an unexpected trend: there is a “sour spot” for mDRX at velocities about 20–40 % above the velocity for particle adhesion. This non-monotonic trend is contrary to the expectations based on increasing adiabatic heating with velocity. With a schematic model, we show that the trend can be explained on the basis of heat transfer: cooling of the heat-affected region is limited by transport through the bonded regions at the particle-substrate interface. Thus, bonding has a prominent role in the heat dissipation process and the best bonded particles most rapidly bulk quench, avoiding mDRX. Here, the developed semi-empirical model aligns with the experimental findings and may help inform microstructural evolution during cold spray and post-spray processing.

FIB-SEM tomography↗

Solid-phase isotope harvesting of 88 Zr from a radioactive ion beam facility

During routine operation of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), radionuclides will accumulate in both the aqueous beam dump and along the beamline in the process of beam purification. These byproduct radionuclides, many of which are far from stability, can be collected and purified for use in other scientific applications in a process called isotope harvesting. In this work, the viability of 88 Zr harvesting from solid components was investigated at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. A secondary 88 Zr beam was stopped in a series of collectors comprised of Al, Cu, W, and Au foils. Here, this work details irradiation of the collector foils and the subsequent radiochemical processing to isolate the deposited 88 Zr (and its daughter 88 Y) from them. Total average recovery from the Al, Cu, and Au collector foils was (91.3 ± 8.9) % for 88 Zr and (95.0 ± 5.8) % for 88 Y, respectively, which is over three times higher recovery than in a previous aqueous-phase harvesting experiment. The utility of solid-phase isotope harvesting to access elements such as Zr that readily hydrolyze in near-neutral pH aqueous conditions has been demonstrated for application to harvesting from solid components at FRIB.

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEA↗

Single-shot measurements of pulse-front tilt in intense ps laser pulses and its effect on accelerated electron and ion beam characteristics (invited)

Here we report recent single-shot spatiotemporal measurements of laser pulses, including pulse-front tilt (PFT) and spatial chirp, taken at the Compact Multipulse Terawatt laser at the Jupiter Laser Facility in Livermore, CA. STRIPED FISH, a device that measures the complete 3D electric field of fs to ps laser pulses on a single shot, was adapted to near infrared for these measurements. We present the design of the instrument used for these experiments, the on-shot measurements of systematic high-order PFT, and shot-to-shot variations in the measurements of spatiotemporal couplings. Finally, we simulate the effect of PFT in target normal sheath acceleration experiments. These simulations showed that pulse front tilt can steer hot electrons, shape the distribution of the accelerating sheath field, and increase the variability of cutoff energy in the resulting proton spectra. While these effects may be detrimental to experimental accuracy if the pulse front tilt is left unmeasured, hot electron steering shows promise for precision manipulation of the particle source for a range of applications, including irradiation of secondary targets for opacity measurements, radiography, or neutron generation.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗