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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
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2007

Digital Beam Deflectors Based Partly on Liquid Crystals

A digital beam deflector based partly on liquid crystals has been demonstrated as a prototype of a class of optical beam-steering devices that contain no mechanical actuators or solid moving parts. Such beam-steering devices could be useful in a variety of applications, including free-space optical communications, switching in fiber-optic communications, general optical switching, and optical scanning. Liquid crystals are of special interest as active materials in nonmechanical beam steerers and deflectors because of their structural flexibility, low operating voltages, and the relatively low costs of fabrication of devices that contain them.

Pouch, John J.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Nonlinear Optical Properties and Applications of Polydiacetylene

Recently, we have demonstrated a picosecond all-optical switch, which also functions as a partial all-optical NAND logic gate using a novel polydiacetylene that is synthesized in our laboratory. The nonlinear optical properties of the polydiacetylene material are measured using the Z-scan technique. A theoretical model based on a three level system is investigated and the rate equations of the system are solved. The theoretical calculations are proven to match nicely with the experimental results. The absorption cross-sections for both the first and higher excited states are estimated. The analyses also show that the material suffers a photochemical change beyond a certain level of the laser power and its physical properties suffer radical changes. These changes are the cause for the partial NAND gate function and the switching mechanism.

Abdeldayem, Hossin↗
NASA NTRS1990

Switching Matrix For Optical Signals

Proposed matrix of electronically controlled shutters switches signals in optical fibers between multiple input and output channels. Size, weight, and power consumption reduced. Device serves as building block for small, low-power, broad-band television- and data-signal-switching systems providing high isolation between nominally disconnected channels.

Grove, Charles H.↗
DOE OSTI2016

Gigahertz acoustic vibrations of elastically anisotropic Indium–tin-oxide nanorod arrays [Gigahertz modulation of the full visible spectrum via acoustic vibrations of elastically anisotropic Indium-tin-oxide nanorod arrays]

Active control of light is important for photonic integrated circuits, optical switches,. and telecommunications. Coupling light with acoustic vibrations in nanoscale optical resonators offers optical modulation capabilities with high bandwidth and Small footprint Instead of using noble metals, here we introduce indium tin-oxide nanorod arrays (ITO-NRAs) as the operating media;and demonstrate optical modulation covering the visible spectral range (from 360 to 700 nm), with similar to 20 GHz bandwidth through the excitation of coherent acoustic vibrations in ITO-NRAs. This broadband modulation results from the collective optical diffraction by the dielectric ITO-NRAs, and a high differential transmission modulation up to 10% is achieved through efficient near-infrared, on-plasmon-resonance pumping. By combining the frequency signatures Of the vibrational modes with finite-element simulations, we,further determine the anisotropic elastic constants for single-crystalline ITO, which are not known-for the bulk phase. Furthermore, this technique to determine elastic constants using Coherent acoustic vibrations of uniform nanostructures can be generalized to the study of other inorganic materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1988

Overview of NASA research in fiber optics for aircraft controls

The challenge of those involved in aircraft control system hardware development is to accommodate an ever-increasing complexity in aircraft control, while limiting the size and weight of the components and improving system reliability. A technology that displays promise towards this end is fiber optics. The primary advantages of employing optical fibers, passive optical sensors and optically controlled actuators are weight/volume reduction, immunity from electromagnetic effects, high bandwidth capabilities and freedom from short circuits/sparking contacts. Since 1975, NASA Lewis has been performing in-house, contract and grant research in fiber optic sensors, high temperature electro-optic switches and fly-by-light control system architecture. Passive optical sensor development is an essential yet challenging area of work and has therefore received much attention during this period. A major effort to develop fly-by-light control system technology, known as the Fiber Optic Control System Integration (FOCSI) program, was initiated in 1985 as a cooperative effort between NASA and DOD. Phase 1 of FOCSI, completed in 1986, was aimed at the design of a fiber optic integrated propulsion/flight control system. Phase 2 will provide subcomponent and system development and system testing. In addition to a summary of the benefits of fiber optics, the FOCSI program, sensor advances, and future directions in the NASA Lewis program are discussed.

Seng, Gary T.↗
NASA NTRS1994

SLR 2000

SLR 2000 is a concept for a totally automated subcentimeter SLR system presently being studied at GSFC. If funding permits, a prototype would be installed and tested at the Goddard Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory (GCAO) in FY98 and a small number of automated stations would be fielded by the year 2000. Unlike present systems, the "SLR 2000" system is being designed to: 1) operate autonomously without the need for onsite operators; 2) present no hazards (i.e., optical, electrical, and/or chemical) to personnel in the vicinity or to overflying aircraft; and 3) have a mean time between failures (MTBF) of at least three months. It is assumed that the systems are located at "friendly" sites where some level of security is provided and where certain low level service functions (e.g. commercial power, communications, heat pump service cleaning, etc.) are available or can be contracted for locally on an as-needed basis. The main system consists of two parts - an optical head and electronics rack. The optical head contains the laser transmitter and power supply, transmit/receive switch, optical telescope, tracking angle sensor (intensified CCD camera), detector and power supply, two angular encoders, azimuth and elevation motors, and a protective dome. The optical head mounts directly to the top of a concrete pier which contains the geodetic monument and forms part of the environmental housing for the hardware and servicing personnel. It is equipped with electronic levels for leveling the mount and monitoring its stability.

Degnan, John J.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Fiber optics for controls

The challenge of those involved in control-system hardware development is to accommodate an ever-increasing complexity in aircraft control, while limiting the size and weight of the components and improving system reliability. A technology that displays promise towards this end is the area of fiber optics for controls. The primary advantages of employing optical fibers, passive optical sensors, and optically controlled actuators are weight and volume reduction, immunity from electromagnetic effects, superior bandwidth capabilities, and freedom from short circuits and sparking contacts. Since 1975, NASA Lewis has performed in-house, contract, and grant research in fiber optic sensors, high-temperature electro-optic switches, and fly-by-light control-system architecture. Passive optical sensor development is an essential yet challenging area of work and has therefore received much attention during this period. A major effort to develop fly-by-light control-system technology, known as the Fiber-Optic Control System Integration (FOCSI) program, was initiated in 1985 as a cooperative effort between NASA and DOD. Phase 1 of FOCSI, completed in 1986, was aimed at the design of a fiber-optic integrated propulsion/flight control system. Phase 2, yet to be initiated, will provide subcomponent and system development, and a system engine test. In addition to a summary of the benefits of fiber optics, the FOCSI program, sensor advances, and future directions in the NASA Lewis program will be discussed.

Seng, Gary T.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Large optics for the National Ignition Facility

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser with its 192 independent laser beams is not only the world’s largest laser, it is also the largest optical system ever built. With its 192 independent laser beams, the NIF requires a total of 7648 large-aperture (meter-sized) optics. One of the many challenges in designing and building NIF has been to carry out the research and development on optical materials, optics design, and optics manufacturing and metrology technologies needed to achieve NIF’s high output energies and precision beam quality. This paper describes the multiyear, multi-supplier, development effort that was undertaken to develop the advanced optical materials, coatings, fabrication technologies, and associated process improvements necessary to manufacture the wide range of NIF optics. The optics include neodymium-doped phosphate glass laser amplifiers; fused silica lenses, windows, and phase plates; mirrors and polarizers with multi-layer, high-reflectivity dielectric coatings deposited on BK7 substrates; and potassium di-hydrogen phosphate crystal optics for fast optical switches, frequency conversion, and polarization rotation. Also included is a discussion of optical specifications and custom metrology and quality-assurance tools designed, built, and fielded at supplier sites to verify compliance with the stringent NIF specifications. In addition, a brief description of the ongoing program to improve the operational lifetime (i.e., damage resistance) of optics exposed to high fluence in the 351-nm (3ω) is provided.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Optical nonlinear dynamics in ZnS from femtosecond laser pulses

A wavelength swapping nondegenerate pump-probe technique to measure the magnitudes of the nonlinear optical dynamics as well as the relaxation time of electrons in high energy levels is presented using a ZnS single crystal wafer as an example. By pumping the sample with 800 nm femtosecond pulses and probing at 400 nm, nondegenerate two-photon absorption (N-2PA) happens exclusively, and the measured curves only show instantaneous features without relaxation tails. The N-2PA coefficient was derived explicitly as 7.52 cm/GW. Additionally, when the wavelengths of the pump and probe beams are swapped, extra information about the relaxation time of the hot electrons excited in the conduction band is obtained. The combined results above are helpful for evaluating the characteristics of an optical switches based on ZnS or other materials with respect to its nonlinear optical dynamic aspect.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

A mid-scale plasma-electrode Pockels cell for the FLUX laser

A mid-scale (270 x 270-mm aperture) plasma-electrode Pockels cell (PEPC) has been developed for the pump laser system in FLUX (the fourth-generation laser for ultrabroadband experiments). The FLUX mid-scale PEPC is adapted from the PEPC used in the OMEGA EP beamlines (410 x 410-mm aperture), with certain dimensions scaled to reduce capacitance while maintaining key plasma characteristics. After experimental optimization of operating parameters, particularly the plasma current, <70-ns switching time with excellent (>1000:1) contrast has been demonstrated. Dependence of optical switching performance on operating conditions is explained by a plasma model.

AMICA↗
NASA NTRS1987

Highly Non-Linear Optical (NLO) organic crystals and films. Electrooptical organic materials

Devices employing nonlinear optics (NLO) hold great promise for important applications in integrated optics, optical information processing and telecommunications. Properly designed organics possess outstanding optical and electrooptical properties which will substantially advance many technologies including electrooptical switching, optical amplification for communications, and parallel processing for hybrid optical computers. A brief comparison of organic and inorganic materials is given.

Mcmanus, Samuel P.↗
DOE OSTI2016

Investigation of a gain-switched Cr{sup 2+}:ZnSe laser pumped by an acousto-optic Q-switched Ho : YAG laser

We demonstrate a gain-switched Cr{sup 2+}:ZnSe laser pumped by a high energy Ho : YAG laser. The maximum output power of 5.5 W in the spectrum range from 2450 nm to 2570 nm is obtained at a pulse repetition rate of 2 kHz, corresponding to a pulse energy of 2.75 mJ. With a volume Bragg grating (VBG) for compressing the linewidth, a 2.4 W output power with a narrow linewidth (<1 nm) is obtained at 2570.5 nm. The pulse shapes obtained at different pump energies are also studied and analysed. A minimum pulse width of ∼28.5 ns is achieved at a pump energy of 14.6 mJ, corresponding to a peak power of ∼96.5 kW. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Designing low power and high contrast ratio all-optical NOT logic gate for using in optical integrated circuits

In this paper, a new design of all-optical NOT logic gate is proposed. In this structure, a photonic crystal nano-resonator and three waveguides are used. The nano-resonator is formed by removing two dielectric rods. The contrast ratio for the proposed NOT logic gate is 20.75 dB. The maximum response time and the rate of sending information equal to 0.466 ps and 2.145 Tbit/s, respectively. In addition, very low power consumption, small size, and simple design are the main features of this logic gate. These features allow the designed structure to be used in all-optical switches. To accomplish this, two types of logic gates placement alongside each other in the optical integrated circuits are proposed and investigated. In both types, the logic gates are tested for single use and simultaneous use, and the accuracy of the performance and effect of each on the other is measured. The results clearly show that the two logic gates, along with each other, have acceptable performance and can easily be used in the optical integrated circuit.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1991

A novel boundary layer sensor utilizing domain switching in ferroelectric liquid crystals

This paper describes the design and the principles of operation of a novel sensor for the optical detection of a shear stress field induced by air or gas flow on a rigid surface. The detection relies on the effects of shear-induced optical switching in ferroelectric liquid crystals. It is shown that the method overcomes many of the limitations of similar measuring techniques including those using cholesteric liquid crystals. The present method offers a preferred alternative for flow visualization and skin friction measurements in wind-tunnel experiments on laminar boundary layer transition investigations. A theoretical model for the optical response to shear stress is presented together with a schematic diagram of the experimental setup.

Parmar, D. S.↗
NASA NTRS1998

The Effects of Ground and Space Processing on the Properties of Organic, Polymeric, and Colloidal Materials

In recent years, a great deal of interest has been directed toward the use of organic materials in the development of high-efficiency optoelectronic and phototonic devices. There is a myriad of possibilities among organic materials which allow flexibility in the design of unique structures with a variety of functional groups. The use of nonlinear optical (NLO) organic materials as thin film wave-guides allows full exploitation of their desirable qualifies by permitting long interaction lengths and large susceptibilities allowing modest power input. There are several methods in use to prepare thin films such as Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) and self-assembly techniques, vapor deposition, growth from sheared solution or melt, and melt growth between glass plates. Organic-based materials have many features that make them desirable for use in optical devices, such as high second-and third-order nonlinearity, flexibility of molecular design, and damage resistance to optical radiation. However, their use in devices has been hindered by processing difficulties for crystals and thin films. We discuss the potential role of microgravity processing of a few organic and polymeric materials. It is of interest to note how materials with second-and third-order NLO behavior may be improved in a diffusion-limited environment and ways in which convection may be detrimental to these materials. We focus our discussion on third-order materials for all-optical switching, and second-order materials for frequency conversion and electrooptics. The goal of minimizing optical loss obviously depends on processing methods. For solution-based processes, such as solution crystal growth and solution photopolymerization, it is well known that thermal and solutal density gradients can initiate buoyancy-driven convection. Resultant fluid flows can affect transport of material to and from growth interfaces and become manifest in the morphology and homogeneity of the growing film or crystal. Likewise, buoyancy-driven convection can hinder production of defect-free, high-quality crystals or films during crystal and film growth by vapor deposition.

Frazier, Donald O.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Scheme for generating the singlet state of three atoms trapped in distant cavities coupled by optical fibers

An effective scheme is proposed to generate the singlet state with three four-level atoms trapped in three distant cavities connected with each other by three optical fibers, respectively. After a series of appropriate atom–cavity interactions, which can be arbitrarily controlled via the selective pairing of Raman transitions and corresponding optical switches, a three-atom singlet state can be successfully generated. The influence of atomic spontaneous decay, photon leakage of cavities and optical fibers on the fidelity of the state is numerically simulated showing that the three-atom singlet state can be generated with high fidelity by choosing the experimental parameters appropriately.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Nitride-Oxide-Metal Heterostructure with Self-Assembled Core–Shell Nanopillar Arrays: Effect of Ordering on Magneto-Optical Properties

Magneto-optical (MO) coupling incorporates photon-induced change of magnetic polarization that can be adopted in ultrafast switching, optical isolators, mode convertors, and optical data storage components for advanced optical integrated circuits. However, integrating plasmonic, magnetic, and dielectric properties in one single material system poses challenges since one natural material can hardly possess all these functionalities. Here, co-deposition of a three-phase heterostructure composed of a durable conductive nitride matrix with embedded core–shell vertically aligned nanopillars, is demonstrated. Additionally, the unique coupling between ferromagnetic NiO core and atomically sharp plasmonic Au shell enables strong MO activity out-of-plane at room temperature. Further, a template growth process is applied, which significantly enhances the ordering of the nanopillar array. The ordered nanostructure offers two schemes of spin polarization which result in stronger antisymmetry of Kerr rotation. The presented complex hybrid metamaterial platform with strong magnetic and optical anisotropies is promising for tunable and modulated all-optical-based nanodevices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Single-Crystal Optical Actuation Generated by 100% SO 2 Linkage Photoisomerization in a Ruthenium-Based Coordination Complex

Single-crystal optical actuators are emerging as a new field of materials chemistry because of their wide-ranging potential applications, from light-induced molecular motors to photosensing technologies. Ruthenium-based coordination complexes that contain sulfur dioxide linkage photoisomers have shown particular promise as optical actuators, given that they may exhibit either optical switching or nano-optomechanical transduction in their single-crystal form. The type of single-crystal optical actuation observed in a specific compound within this family of complexes depends upon the nature of the ligand that lies trans to this SO 2 linkage photoisomer, since this governs the type and extent of photoisomer (η 2 -(OS)O or η 1 -OSO) that will form upon the application of light. We report the discovery of a new complex, trans-[Ru(SO 2 )(NH 3 ) 4 (3-iodopyridine)]tosylate 2 (1), which forms an η 1 -OSO photoisomer with 100% photoconversion upon the application of 505 nm light. The photoisomerization process in the ruthenium-based cation of 1 stimulates rotation and translation of the toluenic constituent of its neighboring anion, thereby affording nano-optomechnical transduction. We show that this η 1 -OSO photoisomer transitions to its more thermally stable η 2 -(OS)O photoisomer with an activation energy, E a , of 11(2) kJ/mol using thermally activated single-crystal optical absorption spectroscopy. The application of external light with different wavelengths to 1 is also shown to cause a variation in its optical absorption spectral characteristics. Here, this suggests that the photophysical properties of 1 may be tunable with light.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗