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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 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2019

Interference of Spin Waves in Arrays of Microwaveguides Based on Yttrium-Iron Garnet Films

Effects of propagation and interference of spin waves in an eight-port magnonic structure in the form of a 2 × 2 array of microwaveguides based on yttrium-iron garnet films with microantennas placed at the waveguide ends are studied experimentally and numerically. It is shown that conditions for a constructive and destructive interference of spin waves, which is necessary for creating spin-wave logic devices, can be implemented at output transducers by changing the phase of input signals.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2010

Spectrally resolved phase-shifting interference microscopy: technique based on optical coherence tomography for profiling a transparent film on a patterned substrate

Spectrally resolved white-light phase-shifting interference microscopy has been used for measurements of the thickness profile of a transparent thin-film layer deposited upon a patterned structure exhibiting steps and discontinuities. We describe a simple technique, using an approach based on spectrally resolved optical coherence tomography, that makes it possible to obtain directly a thickness profile along a line by inverse Fourier transformation of the complex spectral interference function.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2012

Ultrasonic Phased Array Assessment of the Interference Fit and Leak Path of the North Anna Unit 2 Control Rod Drive Mechanism Nozzle 63 with Destructive Validation

The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the efficacy of ultrasonic testing (UT) for primary water leak path assessments of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) upper head penetrations. Operating reactors have experienced leakage when stress corrosion cracking of nickel-based alloy penetrations allowed primary water into the annulus of the interference fit between the penetration and the low-alloy steel RPV head. In this investigation, UT leak path data were acquired for an Alloy 600 control rod drive mechanism nozzle penetration, referred to as Nozzle 63, which was removed from the North Anna Unit 2 reactor when the RPV head was replaced in 2002. In-service inspection prior to the head replacement indicated that Nozzle 63 had a probable leakage path through the interference fit region. Nozzle 63 was examined using a phased-array UT probe with a 5.0-MHz, eight-element annular array. Immersion data were acquired from the nozzle inner diameter surface. The UT data were interpreted by comparing to responses measured on a mockup penetration with known features. Following acquisition of the UT data, Nozzle 63 was destructively examined to determine if the features identified in the UT examination, including leakage paths and crystalline boric acid deposits, could be visually confirmed. Additional measurements of boric acid deposit thickness and low-alloy steel wastage were made to assess how these factors affect the UT response. The implications of these findings for interpreting UT leak path data are described.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Renewable Energy, Photovoltaic Systems Near Airfields. Electromagnetic Interference

Recent increases in photovoltaic (PV) systems on Department of the Navy (DON) land and potential siting near airfields prompted Commander, Naval Installations Command to fund the Naval Facilities Engineering Command to evaluate the impact of electromagnetic interference (EMI) from PV systems on airfield electronic equipment. Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center tasked Department of Energy National Renewable Energy laboratory (NREL) to conduct the assessment. PV systems often include high-speed switching semiconductor circuits to convert the voltage produced by the PV arrays to the voltage needed by the end user. Switching circuits inherently produce electromagnetic radiation at harmonics of the switching frequency. In this report, existing literature is summarized and tests to measure emissions and mitigation methods are discussed. The literature shows that the emissions from typical PV systems are low strength and unlikely to cause interference to most airfield electronic systems. With diligent procurement and siting of PV systems, including specifications for FCC Part 15 Class A compliant equipment and a 250-foot setback from communication equipment, NREL anticipates little to no EMI impact on nearby communications or telemetry equipment.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Experimental Evaluation of Interference in 2.4 GHz Wireless Network

To attain automation across different applications, nuclear power plants are beginning to leverage advancements in wireless communication technologies. A “one-size-fits-all” solution cannot be applied since wireless technologies are selected according to application needs, quality of service requirements, and economic restrictions. To balance the trade-off between technical and economic requirements, a multi-band heterogeneous wireless network architecture is needed. Numerous wireless technologies including Wi-Fi, Zigbee, and Bluetooth share the 2.4 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical band. However, due to different channel access mechanisms and transmit power levels, and very importantly, uncoordinated use, coexistence of these devices in the same vicinity can cause interference and degradation in performance. This report provides the technical basis for understanding the coexistence of these wireless technologies through an experimental evaluation of their performance. This report investigates interactions encompassing variables such as transmission power level, distance between the devices, data rates, and the utilization of co-channel or adjacent channels. The results show that the operation of both Zigbee and Bluetooth is severely compromised when coexisting with Wi-Fi within the same frequency spectrum. On the other hand, the performance of Bluetooth is not impaired by Zigbee and vice versa unless there exists any external interference from Wi-Fi.

2.4 GHz↗
DOE OSTI2017

Scalar production and decay to top quarks including interference effects at NLO in QCD in an EFT approach

Scalar and pseudo-scalar resonances decaying to top quarks are common predictions in several scenarios beyond the standard model (SM) and are extensively searched for by LHC experiments. Challenges on the experimental side require optimising the strategy based on accurate predictions. Firstly, QCD corrections are known to be large both for the SM QCD background and for the pure signal scalar production. Secondly, leading order and approximate next-to-leading order (NLO) calculations indicate that the interference between signal and background is large and drastically changes the lineshape of the signal, from a simple peak to a peak-dip structure. Therefore, a robust prediction of this interference at NLO accuracy in QCD is necessary to ensure that higher-order corrections do not alter the lineshapes. We compute the exact NLO corrections, assuming a point-like coupling between the scalar and the gluons and consistently embedding the calculation in an effective field theory within an automated framework, and present results for a representative set of beyond the SM benchmarks. The results can be further matched to parton shower simulation, providing more realistic predictions. We find that NLO corrections are important and lead to a significant reduction of the uncertainties. We also discuss how our computation can be used to improve the predictions for physics scenarios where the gluon-scalar loop is resolved and the effective approach is less applicable.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Quantum interference in gravitational particle production

Previous numerical investigations of gravitational particle production during the coherent oscillation period of inflation displayed unexplained fluctuations in the spectral density of the produced particles. We argue that these features are due to the quantum interference of the coherent scattering reactions that produce the particles. We provide accurate analytic formulae to compute the particle production amplitude for a conformally- coupled scalar field, including the interference effect in the kinematic region where the production can be interpreted as inflaton scattering into scalar final states via graviton exchange.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Reducing heterophilic antibody interference in immunoassays using single chain antibodies

Sandwich ELISA microarrays have the potential to simultaneously quantify the levels of multiple diagnostic targets in a biological sample. However, as seen with traditional ELISA diagnostics, heterophilic antibodies (HA) in patient sera have the potential to cause interference in these assays. We demonstrate here that reducing the diagnostic capture antibody to its minimal functional unit, the variable heavy and light domains artificially connected with a short polypeptide linker (scFv), is an effective strategy for reducing the HA assay interference.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

RNA interference in vivo in Schistosoma japonicum: Establishing and optimization of RNAi mediated suppression of gene expression by long dsRNA in the intra-mammalian life stages of worms

Schistosomes are parasitic platyhelminths that threaten over 600 million people globally. In recent years, RNA interference (RNAi) has been widely used as a molecular tool in research into the genomic function of parasites. We aim to develop effective protocols for application of RNAi technology in the intra-mammalian life stages of Schistosoma japonicum. In this work, the expression of the parasite gene encoding cathepsin B1 (SjCB1) was targeted by exposing the worms to 10 μg of long dsRNA dissolved in 0.1 ml of 0.7% NaCl injected into the tail vein of infected mice. This method was effective and specific for eliciting SjCB1 gene suppression in both male and female adult worms in vivo (>79.4% in male and >91.5% in female knockdown relative to control). In 60 cercaria infected mice, RNAi suppression of gene expression was best achieved by using 10 μg of target dsRNA for at least 4 days. The recommended procedure for interference producing long-term suppression was an injection of dsRNA on the first day of infection with booster injections administered every 4 days for up to 26 days. Long-term suppression of three published functional genes (peroxiredoxin-1, mago nashi, insulin receptor) in S. japonicum provided more information about the role of the expression of these genes in producing particular phenotypes. The protocols described here may be more convenient, economical and applicable, than currently available technology and have contributed to the observation of more phenotypes during worm development from schistosomula to adult. These approaches may promote and facilitate further studies into functional schistosome genomics.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Copper-nickel electroplating of 3D-printed acrylonitrile butadiene styrene for interference and radiation shielding applications

Here, in this study, electromagnetic and radiation shielding structures were fabricated by 3D printing acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) structures via fused filament fabrication and electroplating with copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni) metals. Prior to electroplating, the printed ABS materials were made conductive by surface electrodeposition of polypyrrole (PPy). ABS adsorbs the pyrrole monomer, which subsequently polymerizes via oxidation forming conductive PPy layer on the printed structures. The successful anchoring of PPy layer can be attributed to its hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions with ABS. Thermal analysis, optical, and electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive X-ray were employed to characterize the printed shielding structures, while the interference and radiation shielding effectiveness were evaluated using a spectrum analyzer and dosimeter, respectively. The interference shielding was found to be effective at 60 ± 5 dB over relatively small frequency range. Shielding was also apparent against gamma and X-ray ionizing rays, but more significantly effective against beta rays. Furthermore, the Cu/Ni coating was able to reduce any heat-induced dimensional changes for the 3D printed ABS substrate without compromising the mechanical integrity.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Interference between Franck–Condon and Herzberg–Teller Terms in the Condensed-Phase Molecular Spectra of Metal-Based Tetrapyrrole Derivatives

The commonly used Franck-Condon (FC) approximation is inadequate for explaining the electronic spectra of compounds that possess vibrations with substantial Herzberg-Teller (HT) couplings. Metal-based tetrapyrrole derivatives, which are ubiquitous natural pigments, often exhibit prominent HT activity. In this paper, we compare the condensed phase spectra of zinc-tetraphenylporphyrin (ZnTPP) and zinc-phthalocyanine (ZnPc), which exhibit vastly different spectral features in spite of sharing a common tetrapyrrole backbone. The absorption and emission spectra of ZnTPP are characterized by a lack of mirror symmetry and nontrivial temperature dependence. In contrast, mirror symmetry is restored, and the nontrivial temperature-dependent features disappear in ZnPc. We attribute these differences to FC-HT interference, which is less pronounced in ZnPc because of a larger FC component in the dipole moment that leads to FC-dominated transitions. A single minimalistic FC-HT vibronic model reproduces all the experimental spectral features of these molecules. These observations suggest that FC-HT interference is highly susceptible to chemical modification.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2017

Optimized Extraction Method To Remove Humic Acid Interferences from Soil Samples Prior to Microbial Proteome Measurements

The microbial composition and their activities in soil environments play a critical role in organic matter transformation and nutrient cycling, perhaps most specifically with respect to impact on plant growth but also more broadly to global impact on carbon and nitrogen-cycling. Liquid chromatography coupled to high performance mass spectrometry provides a powerful approach to characterize soil microbiomes; however, the limited microbial biomass and the presence of abundant interferences in soil samples present major challenges to soil proteome extraction and subsequent MS measurement. To address some of the major issues, we have designed and optimized an experimental method to enhance microbial proteome extraction concomitant with minimizing the soil-borne humic substances co-extraction from soils. Among the range of interferences, humic substances are often the worst in terms of adversely impacting proteome extraction and mass spectrometry measurement. Our approach employs an in-situ detergent-based microbial lysis / TCA precipitation coupled with an additional acidification precipitation step at the peptide level which efficiently removes humic acids. By combing filtration and pH adjustment of the final peptide solution, the remaining humic acids can be differentially precipitated and removed with a membrane filter, thereby leaving much cleaner proteolytic peptide samples for MS measurement. As a result, this modified method is a reliable and straight-forward protein extraction method that efficiently removes soil-borne humic substances without inducing proteome sample loss or reducing or biasing protein identification in mass spectrometry.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Mesoscale Confinement Effects and Emergent Quantum Interference in Titania Antidot Thin Films

The effect of confinement on electron and ion transport in oxide films is of interest both fundamentally and technologically for the design of next-generation electronic devices. In metal oxides with mobile ions and vacancies, it is the interplay of the different modes of charge transport and the corresponding current–voltage signatures that is of interest. We developed a patterned structure in titania films, with feature sizes of 11–20 nm, that allow us to explore confined transport. In this study, we describe how confinement changes the competing charge transport mechanisms, the patterned antidot array leads to displacement fields and confines the charge density that results in modified and emergent electron transport with an increase in conductivity. This emergent behavior can be described by considering electron interference effects. Characterization of the charge transport with electron holography and impedance spectroscopy, and through comparison with modeling, show that nanoscale confinement is a way to control quantum interference.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Simultaneous observation of the quantization and the interference pattern of a plasmonic near-field

Surface plasmon polaritons can confine electromagnetic fields in subwavelength spaces and are of interest for photonics, optical data storage devices and biosensing applications. In analogy to photons, they exhibit wave–particle duality, whose different aspects have recently been observed in separate tailored experiments. Here we demonstrate the ability of ultrafast transmission electron microscopy to simultaneously image both the spatial interference and the quantization of such confined plasmonic fields. Our experiments are accomplished by spatiotemporally overlapping electron and light pulses on a single nanowire suspended on a graphene film. The resulting energy exchange between single electrons and the quanta of the photoinduced near-field is imaged synchronously with its spatial interference pattern. In conclusion, this methodology enables the control and visualization of plasmonic fields at the nanoscale, providing a promising tool for understanding the fundamental properties of confined electromagnetic fields and the development of advanced photonic circuits.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Interference of chiral Andreev edge states

The search for topological excitations such as Majorana fermions has spurred interest in the boundaries between distinct quantum states. Here, we explore an interface between two prototypical phases of electrons with conceptually different ground states: the integer quantum Hall insulator and the s-wave superconductor. We find clear signatures of hybridized electron and hole states similar to chiral Majorana fermions, to which we refer as chiral Andreev edge states (CAES). They propagate along the interface in the direction determined by magnetic field and their interference can turn an incoming electron into an outgoing electron or a hole, depending on the phase accumulated by the CAES along their path. Our results demonstrate that these excitations can propagate and interfere over a significant length, opening future possibilities for their coherent manipulation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2018

Citrate stabilized gold nanoparticles interfere with amyloid fibril formation: D76N and ΔN6 β2-microglobulin variants

Here, protein aggregation including the formation of dimers and multimers in solution, underlies an array of human diseases such as systemic amyloidosis which is a fatal disease caused by misfolding of native globular proteins damaging the structure and function of affected organs. Different kind of interactors can interfere with the formation of protein dimers and multimers in solution. A very special class of interactors are nanoparticles thanks to the extremely efficient extension of their interaction surface. In particular citrate-coated gold nanoparticles (cit-AuNPs) were recently investigated with amyloidogenic protein β 2 -microglobulin (β 2 m). Here we present the computational studies on two challenging models known for their enhanced amyloidogenic propensity, namely ΔN6 and D76N β 2 m naturally occurring variants, and disclose the role of cit-AuNPs on their fibrillogenesis. The proposed interaction mechanism lies in the interference of the cit-AuNPs with the protein dimers at the early stages of aggregation, that induces dimer disassembling. As a consequence, natural fibril formation can be inhibited. Relying on the comparison between atomistic simulations at multiple levels (enhanced sampling molecular dynamics and Brownian dynamics) and protein structural characterisation by NMR, we demonstrate that the cit-AuNPs interactors are able to inhibit protein dimer assembling. As a consequence, the natural fibril formation is also inhibited, as found in experiment.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Description of quantum interference using mixed quantum/classical theory of inelastic scattering

Manifestation of the quantum interference effect in the oscillation of scattering cross section is explored using the N 2 + O system as a case study. Calculations are carried out for two electronic PESs of the system, for various initial rotational states of N 2 , in a broad range of N 2 + O collision energies and using three theoretical methods: two versions of the approximate mixed quantum/classical theory (MQCT and AT-MQCT) and the accurate full-quantum coupled-channel method (implemented in MOLSCAT). A good agreement between different methods is observed, especially at high energies. Elastic scattering cross-sections oscillate as a function of collision energy, which is the result of quantum interference. The effects of initial rotational excitation and of the PES properties are studied in detail. For the final (thermally averaged) cross sections, both MOLSCAT and MQCT calculations predict a rather regular pattern of quantum oscillations that persist through a broad range of collision energies and expand into the low-energy regime where quantum scattering resonances are common. The difference between cross sections predicted by MQCT and MOLSCAT decreases from ~8% at low energies to ~2% at high energies. Finally, experimental data available at high collision energies are well reproduced.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2011

Vibrational interference effects in x-ray emission of a model water dimer: Implications for the interpretation of the liquid spectrum

We apply the Kramers-Heisenberg formula to a model water dimer to discuss vibrational interference in the x-ray emission spectrum of the donor molecule for which the core-ionized potential energy surface is dissociative but bounded by the accepting molecule. A long core-hole lifetime leads to decay from Zundel-like, fully delocalized vibrational states in the intermediate potential without involvement of a specific dissociated component. Comparison is made to a model with an unbound intermediate state allowing dissociation to infinity which gives a sharp, fully dissociated feature, and a broad molecular peak at long core-hole life time. The implications of the vibrational interference effect on the liquid water spectrum are discussed and it is proposed that this mainly gives rise to an isotope-dependent asymmetrical broadening of the lone pair peak.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗