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At least 289 records · Page 16
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Improving the stability and performance of MagLIF implosions by applying dielectric coatings and increasing applied B z , fuel preheat, and load current

We report two magnetized liner inertial fusion (MagLIF) experiments that produced record thermonuclear D–D neutron yields of 2.11×10 13 and 2.33×10 13 . These yields are about a factor of two higher than previous MagLIF results. The experiments achieved ion temperatures of 3.0 and 3.3 keV and stagnation pressures of 1.6 and 1.3 Gbar. The inferred Lawson parameters were χ=0.2 and 0.1, which are the largest reported for MagLIF. The performance increase used a high-aspect-ratio beryllium liner with a dielectric coating and modest increases in preheat energy (∼2.2 kJ), peak current (18.5 MA), and axial magnetic field (15 T). Three-dimensional HYDRA simulations are consistent with the measured liner dynamics and fusion outputs. These results indicate a pathway to higher-yield MagLIF designs using coated, high-aspect-ratio liners and improved input parameters. Simulations further suggest that adding an ice fuel layer could increase yield by up to a factor of 2.5 by reducing liner convergence, instability feedthrough, and mix.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Octave-spanning terahertz quarter-wave plates based on over-coupled Fabry–Pérot resonances in reflective metal–dielectric–metal metasurfaces

Compact devices for broadband polarization control in the terahertz (THz) regime remain challenging to realize due to the intrinsic phase dispersion associated with birefringent materials and resonant structures. Here, we demonstrate achromatic THz quarter-wave plates with near-unity efficiency and operating under a wide range of incidence angles, based on over-coupled metal–dielectric–metal reflective metasurfaces. The devices operate as single-port anisotropic Fabry–Pérot cavities, in which the phase dispersion of the over-coupled resonances is engineered to maintain an approximately constant relative phase delay between orthogonal field components over a broad frequency range. Four complementary metasurface designs operating at an incidence angle of 45° collectively cover the 0.25–3 THz frequency range accessible to a typical THz time-domain spectroscopy system. Each device exhibits an approximately octave-wide operational bandwidth, with axial ratios below 3 dB and polarization-conversion efficiencies exceeding 80% across most of the operating band. Systematic structural optimization suppresses coupling to diffraction and guided-wave modes, thereby further extending the usable bandwidth while preserving the required phase relationship between orthogonal polarizations. The demonstrated metasurfaces are compatible with wafer-scale fabrication processes, and experimental results show excellent agreement with simulations. These findings establish over-coupled reflective metasurfaces as a robust, scalable, and versatile platform for broadband THz polarization control.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Generation of reactive species in water film dielectric barrier discharges sustained in argon, helium, air, oxygen and nitrogen

Activation of liquids with atmospheric pressure plasmas is being investigated for environmental and biomedical applications. When activating the liquid using gas plasma produced species (as opposed to plasmas sustained in the liquid), a rate limiting step is transport of these species into the liquid. To first order, the efficiency of activating the liquid is improved by increasing the ratio of the surface area of the water in contact with the plasma compared to its volume—often called the surface-to-volume ratio (SVR). Maximizing the SVR then motivates the plasma treatment of thin films of liquids. In this paper, results are discussed from a computational investigation using a global model of atmospheric pressure plasma treatment of thin water films by a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) sustained in different gases (Ar, He, air, N 2 , O 2 ). The densities of reactive species in the plasma activated water (PAW) are evaluated. The residence time of the water in contact with the plasma is increased by recirculating the PAW in plasma reactor. Longer lived species such as H 2 O 2aq and NO 3 - aq accumulate over time (aq denotes an aqueous species). DBDs sustained in Ar and He are the most efficient at producing H 2 O 2aq , DBDs sustained in argon produces the largest density of NO 3 - aq with the lowest pH, and discharges sustained in O 2 and air produce the highest densities of O 3aq . Finally, comparisons to experiments by others show agreement in the trends in densities in PAW including O 3aq , OH aq , H 2 O 2aq and NO 3 - aq , and highlight the importance of controlling desolvation of species from the activated water.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Estimation of mean electron energy in helium surface ionization waves on dielectric substrates

Abstract The determination of basic plasma parameters in atmospheric pressure discharges is critical to advancing their use in applications. Atmospheric pressure plasma jets have found use in the fields of medicine, agriculture, material modification and others. Atmospheric pressure plasma jets often generate plasma surface ionization waves (SIW) which interact with and propagate over surfaces. Electrical diagnostics are challenging in SIW due to high collision frequencies and small scale of the plasma discharge. This work employs a passive optical emission line ratio technique to estimate the mean electron energy in SIW over planar dielectric substrates. The method uses an intensity ratio of two helium triplet lines: He( 3 3 S ) at 706.5 nm and He( 3 3 D ) at 587.56 nm. A collisional-radiative model is used to correlate line ratio to mean electron energy and determine dependencies on electron density and He/air gas mixture. Mean electron energies ranging from 3–8 eV are determined in He/air mixtures and are found to remain constant as the surface wave propagates radially. This work provides a 2D, time-resolved, mean electron energy diagnostic for surface ionization wave propagation and validation of numerical modeling in atmospheric pressure systems with spatially varying He/air gas mixtures. The model in question is designed for use with any He line ratio in the n = 3 excitation level.

Morsell, Joshua (ORCID:0000000331073002)↗
DOE OSTI2024

Radiofrequency sheath rectification on WEST: application of the sheath-equivalent dielectric layer technique in tokamak geometry *

Radiofrequency sheath rectification is a phenomenon relevant to the operation of Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies (ICRFs) actuators in tokamaks. Techniques to model the sheath rectification on 3D ICRF antenna geometries have only recently become available (Shiraiw et al 2023 Nucl. Fusion 63 026024; Beers et al 2021 Phys. Plasmas 28 093503). In this work, we apply the 'sheath-equivalent dielectric layer' technique, used previously only on linear devices (Beers et al 2021 Phys. Plasmas 28 103508), in tokamak geometry, computing rectified sheath potentials on the WEST ICRF antenna. Advancing the state of the art in sheath rectification modeling, we compute the sheath potentials not just on the limiters, but also on the Faraday Screen bars. The calculations show a peak rectified DC potential of 300 V on the limiters and 500 V on the Faraday screen. Assuming a typical sputtering yield curve, the RF sheath rectification increases the sputtering yield from the limiters by a factor of 2.6 w.r.t. the sputtering due to the non-rectified thermal sheath.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Extended interaction length laser-driven acceleration in a tunable dielectric structure

The development of long, tunable structures is critical to increasing energy gain in laser-driven dielectric accelerators (DLAs). Here we combine pulse-front-tilt illumination with slab-geometry structures assembled by precisely aligning off-the-shelf 4 mm long transmission gratings to achieve up to 200 keV energy modulation for 6 MeV injected electrons. The effective interaction length is longer than 1 mm, limited by the dephasing of the accelerated particles in the structure. The piezo-based independent mounting system for the gratings allows tuning of the gap and field distribution inside the structure. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Deep neural network for the dielectric response of insulators

In this work, we introduce a deep neural network to model in a symmetry preserving way the environmental dependence of the centers of the electronic charge. The model learns from ab initio density functional theory, wherein the electronic centers are uniquely assigned by the maximally localized Wannier functions. When combined with the deep potential model of the atomic potential energy surface, the scheme predicts the dielectric response of insulators for trajectories inaccessible to direct ab initio simulation. The scheme is nonperturbative and can capture the response of a mutating chemical environment. We demonstrate the approach by calculating the infrared spectra of liquid water at standard conditions, and of ice under extreme pressure, when it transforms from a molecular to an ionic crystal.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Near-field radiative heat transfer between irregularly shaped dielectric particles modeled with the discrete system Green's function method

Near-field radiative heat transfer (NFRHT) between irregularly shaped dielectric particles made of SiO 2 and morphology characterized by Gaussian random spheres is studied. Particles are modeled using the discrete system Green's function (DSGF) approach, which is a volume integral numerical method based on fluctuational electrodynamics. This method is applicable to finite, three-dimensional objects, and all system interactions are defined independent of thermal excitation by a generalized system Green's function. The DSGF method is deemed suitable to model NFRHT between irregularly shaped particles after verification against the analytical solution for chains of two and three SiO 2 spheres. The NFRHT results reveal that geometric irregularity in particles leads to a reduction of the total conductance from that of comparable perfect spheres at vacuum separation distances smaller than the particle size, a regime in which NFRHT is a surface phenomenon. At vacuum separation distances larger than the particle size, NFRHT becomes a volumetric process, and the total conductance between irregularly shaped particles converges to that of comparable perfect spheres. Spectral analysis reveals, however, that particle irregularity leads to damping and broadening of resonances at all separation distances, thereby highlighting the importance of the DSGF method for spectral engineering in the near field. The reduced spectral coherence when particle size is larger than the vacuum separation distance is attributed to coupling of surface phonon-polaritons within the randomly generated, distorted particle features. For particle size smaller than the vacuum separation distance, resonance broadening and damping are linked with the multiple localized surface phonon modes supported by the composite spherical harmonic morphologies of the Gaussian random spheres. In conclusion, this paper has direct implications for thermal management of packed particle systems, with applications in radiative property control, electronics, energy conversion, and nanomanufacturing.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Accelerating self-consistent field iterations in Kohn-Sham density functional theory using a low-rank approximation of the dielectric matrix

We present an efficient preconditioning technique for accelerating the fixed-point iteration in real-space Kohn-Sham density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The preconditioner uses a low-rank approximation of the dielectric matrix (LRDM) based on Gâteaux derivatives of the residual of fixed-point iteration along appropriately chosen direction functions. We develop a computationally efficient method to evaluate these Gâteaux derivatives in conjunction with the Chebyshev filtered subspace iteration procedure, an approach widely used in large-scale Kohn-Sham DFT calculations. Further, we propose a variant of LRDM preconditioner based on adaptive accumulation of low-rank approximations from previous self-consistent field iterations, and also extend the LRDM preconditioner to spin-polarized Kohn-Sham DFT calculations. We demonstrate the robustness and efficiency of the LRDM preconditioner against other widely used preconditioners on a range of benchmark systems with sizes ranging from ~100 to 1100 atoms (~500–20,000 electrons). The benchmark systems include various combinations of metal-insulating-semiconducting heterogeneous material systems, nanoparticles with localized d orbitals near the Fermi energy, nanofilm with metal dopants, and magnetic systems. In all benchmark systems, the LRDM preconditioner converges robustly within 20–30 iterations. In contrast, other widely used preconditioners show slow convergence in many cases, as well as divergence of the fixed-point iteration in some cases. Lastly, we demonstrate the computational efficiency afforded by the LRDM method, with up to 3.4-fold reduction in computational cost for the total ground-state calculation compared to other preconditioners.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2020

Implementing a microphysics model in hydrodynamic simulations to study the initial plasma formation in dielectric ablator materials for direct-drive implosions

A microphysics model to describe the photoionization and impact ionization processes in dielectric ablator materials like plastic has been implemented into the 1-D hydrodynamic code LILAC for planar and spherical targets. Currently, the initial plasma formation during the early stages of a laser drive are modeled in an ad hoc manner, until the formation of a critical surface. Implementation of the physics-based models predict higher values of electron density, electron temperature, and pressure than the ad hoc model. Moreover, the numerical predictions are consistent with previous experimental observations of the shinethrough mechanism in plastic ablators. For planar targets, a decompression of the rear end of the target was observed, that is similar to recent experiments. An application of this model is to understand the laser-imprint mechanism that is caused by nonuniform laser irradiation due to single beam speckle.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Suppression of Deflecting Forces in Planar-Symmetric Dielectric Wakefield Accelerating Structures with Elliptical Bunches

Wakefield based accelerators capable of accelerating gradients two orders of magnitude higher than present accelerators offer a path to compact high energy physics instruments and light sources. However, for high gradient accelerators, beam instabilities driven by commensurately high transverse wakefields limit beam quality. It has been previously theoretically shown that transverse wakefields can be reduced by elliptically shaping the transverse sizes of beams in dielectric structures with planar symmetry. We report here experimental measurements that demonstrate reduced transverse wakefields for elliptical beams in planar symmetric structures which are consistent with theoretical models. Furthermore, these results may enable the design of gigavolt-per-meter gradient wakefield based accelerators that produce and stably accelerate high quality beams.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Self-Isolated Raman Lasing with a Chiral Dielectric Metasurface

The light sources that power photonic networks are small and scalable, but they also require the incorporation of optical isolators that allow light to pass in one direction only, protecting the light source from damaging backreflections. Unfortunately, the size and complex integration of optical isolators makes small-scale and densely integrated photonic networks infeasible. Here, we overcome this limitation by designing a single device that operates both as a coherent light source and as its own optical isolator. Our design relies on high-quality-factor dielectric metasurfaces that exhibit intrinsic chirality. By carefully manipulating the geometry of the constituent silicon metaatoms, we design three-dimensionally chiral modes that act as optical spin-dependent filters. Using spin-polarized Raman scattering together with our chiral metacavity, we demonstrate Raman lasing in the forward direction, while the lasing action is suppressed by over an order of magnitude for reflected light. Our high-$\textit{Q}$ chiral metasurface design presents a new approach toward compactly isolating integrated light sources by directly tailoring the emission properties of the light source itself.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Higher Harmonics in Multipactor Induced Plasma Ionization Breakdown near a Dielectric Surface

In this Letter, the novel physics of higher harmonic (HH) generation of the normal electric field near a dielectric surface is reported in multipactor induced plasma ionization breakdown, as determined by kinetic particle-in-cell simulations. The observed HH frequency is around ten times the fundamental rf driving frequency, but lower than the electron plasma frequency. A theory is constructed which indicates that stream plasma interaction-induced instability is the mechanism of HH generation in the collisional regime. The HH frequency and its corresponding growth rate of the HH oscillation amplitude from the theory are in good agreement with kinetic particle-in-cell simulations.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Quantum Nature of Dielectric Laser Accelerators

Dielectric laser accelerators (DLAs) hold great promise for producing economic and compact on-chip radiation sources. On-chip DLAs benefit from fabrication capabilities of the silicon industry and from breakthroughs in silicon-photonic nanostructures to enhance the interaction between particles and laser fields. Seemingly unrelated recent advances in the quantum interactions of electrons and light have raised interest in the underlying classical-quantum correspondence principle at the foundations of electron acceleration. Here, we present the observation of the underlying quantum nature of DLAs: observing quantized peaks in the electron-energy spectra. Our findings demonstrate quasi-phase-matching between an electron wave function and a light wave, which also demonstrates the role of the quantum wave function in the inverse Smith-Purcell effect. We harness the capabilities of an ultrafast transmission electron microscope (UTEM) to maintain a long electron-light interaction length extending over hundreds of periods of the laser pulse, mediated by a silicon-photonic nanograting DLA. The UTEM is shown as a new platform for characterization of future DLA concepts. The results raise fundamental questions regarding the role of quantum mechanics in DLA design, and more generally about the prospects of manipulating particles’ quantum wave functions in accelerator physics.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2026

The Use of Machine Learning Models for Predicting the Dielectric Strength of Gases

Technological advancements in high voltage systems have pushed sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) to its operational limits. Furthermore, this gas has other drawbacks including a high liquefaction temperature and a high global warming potential. Therefore, there has been an urgent need to find alternative gases with high dielectric strength (DS). In this work, density functional theory (DFT) is used to calculate molecular descriptors that are fed into an artificial neural network (ANN) and a random forest (RF). These machine learning (ML) models are then used to predict the DS for hundreds of molecules. A finite element model (FEM) is also used to calculate the electric field profile of multiple simple electrode geometries as the applied voltage to the system is increased. Results indicate that the random forest model has better generalization to unseen data than the neural network. The highest DS value predicted by the RF was 2.16 relative to the experimental DS of SF6. The results also demonstrate how choosing a gas with a higher DS and a geometry with minimal edges and corners can significantly increase the operating voltage of an electrical system. Due to its superior generalization, the RF represents the most promising path toward an accurate DS predictor once sufficient experimental data are available.

Mileski, Matthew [AFIT]↗
DOE OSTI2022

Probing the Atomic Scale Mechanisms of Time Dependent Dielectric Breakdown in Si/SiO 2 MOSFETs (June 2022)

Here we report on an atomic-scale study of trap generation in the initial/intermediate stages of time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) in high-field stressed (100) Si/SiO2 MOSFETs using two powerful analytical techniques: electrically detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) and near-zero-field magnetoresistance (NZFMR). We find the dominant EDMR-sensitive traps generated throughout the majority of the TDDB process to be silicon dangling bonds at the (100) Si/SiO2 interface (Pb0 and Pb1 centers) for both the spin-dependent recombination (SDR) and trap-assisted tunneling (SDTAT) processes. We find this generation to be linked to both changes in the calculated interface state densities as well as changes in the NZFMR spectra for recombination events at the interface, indicating a redistribution of mobile magnetic nuclei which we conclude could only be due to the redistribution of hydrogen at the interface. Additionally, we observe the generation of traps known as E’ centers in EDMR measurements at lower experimental temperatures via SDR measurements at the interface. Our work strongly suggests the involvement of a rate-limiting step in the tunneling process between the silicon dangling bonds generated at the interface and the ones generated throughout the oxide.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Thermal Performance of Triply Periodic Minimal Surface Lattice Structures in Single-Phase Dielectric Fluid Cooling of Power Electronics

Additive manufacturing has transformed thermal management by enabling the production of complex, optimized geometries that conventional manufacturing methods cannot achieve. This study investigates the single-phase convective heat transfer performance of gyroid triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) lattice structures with functional porosity. TPMS structures provide high surface area to volume ratios and are amenable to 3D printing. A gyroid numerical model was created and validated against an existing experimental study with a similar feature size to the investigated geometries. The TPMS structure has a periodic width of 1.6 mm, a length of 10 mm, and a height of 4 mm, with a functional porosity ranging from 0.5 to 0.8, decreasing with distance from the heated surface. Three different flow configurations were examined for an inlet fluid temperature of 70 °C. The inlet velocities range from 0.01 to 1.2 m/s, corresponding to a Reynolds number range of 10–900 with a heat flux of 50 W/cm 2 applied at the base. AmpCool ® AC-110 dielectric fluid (Prandtl number 59.5) was used as the coolant. Thermal performance and friction characteristics were studied for the three flow orientations. The parallel flow configuration was identified as the most efficient for heat removal. A detailed analysis of the numerical results highlights the underlying physics behind the thermal performance differences among the flow configurations.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Transparent conducting oxides: from all-dielectric plasmonics to a new paradigm in integrated photonics

During the past few years, the optics and photonics communities have renewed their attention toward transparent conducting oxides (TCOs), which for over two decades have been broadly employed for the fabrication of transparent electrodes in photovoltaic and communication technologies. This reinvigorated research curiosity is twofold: on the one hand, TCOs, with their metal-like properties, low optical absorption, and fabrication flexibility, represent an appealing alternative to noble metals for designing ultra-compact plasmonic devices. On the other hand, this class of hybrid compounds has been proved to possess exceptionally high optical nonlinearities when operating on a frequency window centered around their crossover point, the wavelength point at which the real part of the dielectric permittivity switches sign. Because TCOs are wide-bandgap materials with the Fermi level located in the conduction band, they are hybrid in nature, thus presenting both interband and intraband nonlinearities. This is the cause of a very rich nonlinear physics that is yet to be fully understood and explored. In addition to this, TCOs are epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials within a broad near-infrared spectral range, including the entire telecom bandwidth. In this operational window a myriad of novel electromagnetic phenomena have been demonstrated experimentally such as supercoupling, wavefront freezing, and photon doping. Furthermore, TCOs stand out among all other ENZ systems due to one fundamental characteristic, which is hardly attainable even by using structured materials. In fact, around their ENZ wavelength and for a quite generous operational range, these materials can be engineered to have an extremely small real index. This peculiarity leads to a slow-light effect that is ultimately responsible for a significant enhancement of the material nonlinear properties and is the cornerstone of the emerging field of near-zero-index photonics. In this regard, the recent history of nonlinear optics in conductive oxides is growing extremely fast due to a great number of experiments reporting unprecedentedly remarkable effects, including unitary index change, bandwidth-large frequency shift, efficient ultra-low-power frequency conversion, and many others. This review is meant to guide the reader through the exciting journey of TCOs, starting as an industrial material for transparent electrodes, then becoming a new alternative for low-loss plasmonics, and recently opening up new frontiers in integrated nonlinear optics. The present review is mainly focused on experimental observations.

42 ENGINEERING↗