Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSES”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Transform-limited-pulse representation of excitation with natural incoherent light

The excitation of molecular systems by natural incoherent light relevant, for example, to photosynthetic light-harvesting is examined. We show that the result of linear excitation with natural incoherent light can be obtained using incident light described in terms of transform limited pulses, as opposed to conventional classical representations with explicit random character. The derived expressions allow for computations to be done directly for any thermal light spectrum using a simple wave function formalism and provide a route to the experimental determination of natural incoherent excitation using pulsed laser techniques. Pulses associated with solar and cosmic microwave background radiation are provided as examples.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

SWIFT OBSERVATIONS OF GAMMA-RAY BURST PULSE SHAPES: GRB PULSE SPECTRAL EVOLUTION CLARIFIED

Isolated Swift gamma-ray burst (GRB) pulses, like their higher-energy BATSE counterparts, emit the bulk of their pulsed emission as a hard-to-soft component that can be fitted by the Norris et al. empirical pulse model. This signal is overlaid by a fainter, three-peaked signal that can be modeled by the residual fit of Hakkila and Preece: the two fits combine to reproduce GRB pulses with distinctive three-peaked shapes. The precursor peak appears on or before the pulse rise and is often the hardest component, the central peak is the brightest, and the decay peak converts exponentially decaying emission into a long, soft, power-law tail. Accounting for systematic instrumental differences, the general characteristics of the fitted pulses are remarkably similar. Isolated GRB pulses are dominated by hard-to-soft evolution; this is more pronounced for asymmetric pulses than for symmetric ones. Isolated GRB pulses can also exhibit intensity tracking behaviors that, when observed, are tied to the timing of the three peaks: pulses with the largest maximum hardnesses are hardest during the precursor, those with smaller maximum hardnesses are hardest during the central peak, and all pulses can re-harden during the central peak and/or during the decay peak. Since these behaviors are essentially seen in all isolated pulses, the distinction between “hard-to-soft and “intensity-tracking” pulses really no longer applies. Additionally, the triple-peaked nature of isolated GRB pulses seems to indicate that energy is injected on three separate occasions during the pulse duration: theoretical pulse models need to account for this.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

TWO RADIO-EMISSION MECHANISMS IN PSR J0901–4624

We have detected sporadic, bright, short-duration radio pulses from PSR J0901–4624. These pulses are emitted simultaneously with persistent, periodic emission that dominates the flux density when averaging over many periods of the pulsar. The bright pulses have energies that are consistent with a power-law distribution. The integrated profile of PSR J0901–4624 is highly polarized and shows four distinct components. The bright pulses appear to originate near the magnetic pole of the pulsar and have polarization properties unlike those of the underlying emission at the same pulse phase. We conclude that the bright pulses represent a secondary giant-micropulse emission process, possibly from a different region in the pulsar magnetosphere.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Terahertz wave electro-optic measurements with optical spectral filtering

We propose electro-optic detection techniques based on variations of the laser pulse spectrum induced during pulse co-propagation with terahertz wave radiation in a nonlinear crystal. Quantitative comparison with two other detection methods is made. Substantial improvement of the sensitivity compared to the standard electro-optic detection technique (at high frequencies) and to the previously shown technique based on laser pulse energy changes is demonstrated in experiment.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Reflection of a probe pulse and thermal emission of electrons produced by an aluminum film heated by a femtosecond laser pulse

It is shown that an experimental decrease in the reflection of a probe femtosecond pulse from an aluminum film heated by a higher-power femtosecond pulse can be quantitatively described taking into account the inhomogeneous distribution of the laser pulse field in the film and the evolution of the electron and lattice temperature during absorption of the heating inhomogeneous field. Analysis of the electron temperature evolution on the heated film surface combined with modern concepts about the influence of a surface volume charge on thermal emission gave the relation between the amount of emitted electrons and experimental data on the heating of the aluminum film by the femtosecond pulse.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Oscillations of absorption of a probe picosecond light pulse caused by its interaction with stimulated picosecond emission of GaAs

The self-modulation of absorption of a picosecond light pulse was observed earlier [1] in a thin (∼1-μm thick) GaAs layer pumped by a high-power picosecond pulse. Analysis of the characteristics of this self-modulation predicted [5] that the dependences of the probe pulse absorption on the pump pulse energy and picosecond delay between pump and probe pulses should be self-modulated by oscillations. Such self-modulation was experimentally observed in this work. Under certain conditions, absorption oscillations proved to be a function of part of the energy of picosecond stimulated emission of GaAs lying above a certain threshold in the region where the emission front overlapped the probe pulse front. Absorption oscillations are similar to self-modulation of the GaAs emission characteristics observed earlier [4]. This suggests that the self-modulation of absorption and emission is determined by the same type of interaction of light pulses in the active medium, the physical mechanism of which has yet to be determined.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Interaction of a two-dimensional electromagnetic breather with an electron inhomogeneity in an array of carbon nanotubes

Propagation of ultrashort laser pulses through various nano-objects has recently became an attractive topic for both theoretical and experimental studies due to its promising perspectives in a variety of problems of modern nanoelectronics. Here, we study the propagation of extremely short two-dimensional bipolar electromagnetic pulses in a heterogeneous array of semiconductor carbon nanotubes. Heterogeneity is defined as a region of enhanced electron density. The electromagnetic field in an array of nanotubes is described by Maxwell's equations, reduced to a multidimensional wave equation. Our numerical analysis shows the possibility of stable propagation of an electromagnetic pulse in a heterogeneous array of nanotubes. Furthermore, we establish that, depending on its speed of propagation, the pulse can pass through the area of increased electron concentration or be reflected therefrom.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Exact analysis of particle dynamics in combined field of finite duration laser pulse and static axial magnetic field

Dynamics of a charged particle is studied in the field of a relativistically intense linearly polarized finite duration laser pulse in the presence of a static axial magnetic field. For a finite duration laser pulse whose temporal shape is defined by Gaussian profile, exact analytical expressions are derived for the particle trajectory, momentum, and energy as function of laser phase. From the solutions, it is shown that, unlike for the monochromatic plane wave case, resonant phase locking time between the particle and laser pulse is finite. The net energy transferred to the particle does not increase monotonically but tends to saturate. It is further shown that appropriate tuning of cyclotron frequency of the particle with the characteristic frequency in the pulse spectrum can lead to the generation of accelerated particles with variable energies in MeV-TeV range.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Dependence of the saturable absorption of graphene upon excitation photon energy

Using an optical parametric oscillation laser as the excitation source, the dependence of the saturable absorption of multiple-layer graphene upon photon energy is investigated and, in all cases, the saturation intensity is lower for lower excitation photon energy. This result experimentally proves the hourglass shape of the energy band of graphene, which is a well-known theoretical deduction from first principles. The modulation depth increases from 1.5% to 5.1% when the layer number increases from a monolayer to 5–7 layers and, at the same time, the saturation intensity decreases with increasing number of layers. The results demonstrate that, as a saturable absorber of a pulsed laser, graphene can more easily achieve optical modulation in the low energy region, i.e., the infrared waveband.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Operational and theoretical temperature considerations in a Penning surface plasma source

A fully detailed 3D thermal model of the ISIS Penning surface plasma source is developed in ANSYS. The proportion of discharge power applied to the anode and cathode is varied until the simulation matches the operational temperature observations. The range of possible thermal contact resistances are modelled, which gives an estimation that between 67% and 85% of the discharge power goes to the cathode. Transient models show the electrode surface temperature rise during the discharge pulse for a range of duty cycles. The implications of these measurements are discussed and a mechanism for governing cesium coverage proposed. The requirements for the design of a high current long pulse source are stated.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Construction of a magnetic bottle spectrometer and its application to pulse duration measurement of X-ray laser using a pump-probe method

To characterize the temporal evolution of ultrashort X-ray pulses emitted by laser plasmas using a pump-probe method, a magnetic bottle time-of-flight electron spectrometer is constructed. The design is determined by numerical calculations of a mirror magnetic field and of the electron trajectory in a flight tube. The performance of the spectrometer is characterized by measuring the electron spectra of xenon atoms irradiated with a laser-driven plasma X-ray pulse. In addition, two-color above-threshold ionization (ATI) experiment is conducted for measurement of the X-ray laser pulse duration, in which xenon atoms are simultaneously irradiated with an X-ray laser pump and an IR laser probe. The correlation in the intensity of the sideband spectra of the 4d inner-shell photoelectrons and in the time delay of the two laser pulses yields an X-ray pulse width of 5.7 ps, in good agreement with the value obtained using an X-ray streak camera.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Switching time in laser pulse heat-assisted magnetic recording using L1{sub 0}-FePt nanoparticles

Atomistic spin model simulations using Langevin dynamics are performed to study the factors that determine the thermomagnetic recording time window in FePt media. The onset of thermomagnetic writing occurs at a temperature T{sub o} larger than the Curie temperature T{sub c} as a result of the finite time of relaxation of the magnetization by the linear reversal mode. The Bloch relaxation rate of magnetization growth during cooling below T{sub c} is independent on the write field, provided the field is stronger than some threshold value. Application of a strong write field reduces switching time through better spin alignment in the paramagnetic regime. Finite size effects on the probability distribution of freezing temperatures T{sub f} and the free energy provide insight on the thermomagnetic reversal mechanism. Constraints on the “pulse-mode” of recording when the head field reverses direction during cooling are also considered.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2012

Atomistic simulation of laser ablation of gold: Effect of pressure relaxation

The process of ablation of a gold target by femto- and picosecond laser radiation pulses has been studied by numerical simulations using an atomistic model with allowance for the electron subsystem and the dependence of the ion-ion interaction potential on the electron temperature. Using this potential, it is possible to take into account the change in the physical properties of the ion subsystem as a result of heating of the electron subsystem. The results of simulations reveal a significant difference between the characteristics of metal ablation by laser pulses of various durations. For ablation with subpicosecond pulses, two mechanisms of metal fracture related to the evolution of electronic pressure in the system are established.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

On the feasibility of increasing the energy of laser-accelerated protons by using low-density targets

Optimal regimes of proton acceleration in the interaction of short high-power laser pulses with thin foils and low-density targets are determined by means of 3D numerical simulation. It is demonstrated that the maximum proton energy can be increased by using low-density targets in which ions from the front surface of the target are accelerated most efficiently. It is shown using a particular example that, for the same laser pulse, the energy of protons accelerated from a low-density target can be increased by one-third as compared to a solid-state target.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Resistive switching and conductance quantization in Ag/SiO{sub 2}/indium tin oxide resistive memories

The Ag/SiO{sub 2}/indium tin oxide (ITO) devices exhibit bipolar resistive switching with a large memory window of ∼10{sup 2}, satisfactory endurance of >500 cycles, good retention property of >2000 s, and fast operation speed of <100 ns, thus being a type of promising resistive memory. Under slow voltage sweep measurements, conductance plateaus with a conductance value of integer or half-integer multiples of single atomic point contact have been observed, which agree well with the physical phenomenon of conductance quantization. More importantly, the Ag/SiO{sub 2}/ITO devices exhibit more distinct quantized conductance plateaus under pulse measurements, thereby showing the potential for realizing ultra-high storage density.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Fano interference at the excitation of coherent phonons: Relation between the asymmetry parameter and the initial phase of coherent oscillations

The theoretical assertion that the Fano asymmetry parameter and the asymptotic initial phase of a harmonic oscillator interacting with a continuum are interrelated is experimentally verified. By an example of coherent fully symmetric A{sub 1g} phonons in bismuth that are excited by ultrashort laser pulses at liquid helium temperature, it is demonstrated that, for negative values of the asymmetry parameter, the asymptotic phase increases as the modulus of the parameter decreases.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

Pulse joining cartridges

A pulsed joining tool includes a tool body that defines a cavity that receives an inner tubular member and an outer tubular member and a pulse joining cartridge. The tubular members are nested together with the cartridge being disposed around the outer tubular member. The cartridge includes a conductor, such as a wire or foil, that extends around the outer tubular member and is insulated to separate a supply segment from a return segment. A source of stored electrical energy is discharged through the conductor to join the tubular members with an electromagnetic force pulse.

42 ENGINEERING↗