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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 289 records · Page 16
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Acousto-optic method of spatial frequency filtration based on diffraction of two eigenmodes of a crystal

A method is proposed for two-dimensional spatial frequency filtration based on acousto-optic (AO) diffraction of two eigenmodes of a crystal on a single acoustic wave. It is shown that AO filters, based on the use of such diffraction, ensure the enhancement of the two-dimensional image edge during its optical Fourier processing. The main theoretical conclusions are experimentally confirmed using an AO paratellurite filter. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

Evaluation of normalized metal artifact reduction (NMAR) in kVCT using MVCT prior images for radiotherapy treatment planning

Purpose: To evaluate the metal artifacts in kilovoltage computed tomography (kVCT) images that are corrected using a normalized metal artifact reduction (NMAR) method with megavoltage CT (MVCT) prior images.Methods: Tissue characterization phantoms containing bilateral steel inserts are used in all experiments. Two MVCT images, one without any metal artifact corrections and the other corrected using a modified iterative maximum likelihood polychromatic algorithm for CT (IMPACT) are translated to pseudo-kVCT images. These are then used as prior images without tissue classification in an NMAR technique for correcting the experimental kVCT image. The IMPACT method in MVCT included an additional model for the pair/triplet production process and the energy dependent response of the MVCT detectors. An experimental kVCT image, without the metal inserts and reconstructed using the filtered back projection (FBP) method, is artificially patched with the known steel inserts to get a reference image. The regular NMAR image containing the steel inserts that uses tissue classified kVCT prior and the NMAR images reconstructed using MVCT priors are compared with the reference image for metal artifact reduction. The Eclipse treatment planning system is used to calculate radiotherapy dose distributions on the corrected images and on the reference image using the Anisotropic Analytical Algorithm with 6 MV parallel opposed 5 × 10 cm{sup 2} fields passing through the bilateral steel inserts, and the results are compared. Gafchromic film is used to measure the actual dose delivered in a plane perpendicular to the beams at the isocenter.Results: The streaking and shading in the NMAR image using tissue classifications are significantly reduced. However, the structures, including metal, are deformed. Some uniform regions appear to have eroded from one side. There is a large variation of attenuation values inside the metal inserts. Similar results are seen in commercially corrected image. Use of MVCT prior images without tissue classification in NMAR significantly reduces these problems. The radiation dose calculated on the reference image is close to the dose measured using the film. Compared to the reference image, the calculated dose difference in the conventional NMAR image, the corrected images using uncorrected MVCT image, and IMPACT corrected MVCT image as priors is ∼15.5%, ∼5%, and ∼2.7%, respectively, at the isocenter.Conclusions: The deformation and erosion of the structures present in regular NMAR corrected images can be largely reduced by using MVCT priors without tissue segmentation. The attenuation value of metal being incorrect, large dose differences relative to the true value can result when using the conventional NMAR image. This difference can be significantly reduced if MVCT images are used as priors. Reduced tissue deformation, better tissue visualization, and correct information about the electron density of the tissues and metals in the artifact corrected images could help delineate the structures better, as well as calculate radiation dose more correctly, thus enhancing the quality of the radiotherapy treatment planning.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Analysis of laser-induced modification of collagen structure using nonlinear optical microscopy

Nonlinear optical microscopy is used to monitor changes in the collagen structure of patellar ligament after IR laser heating up to a temperature of 60 °C. Pre-denaturation modification of the tissue matrix exhibits specific properties and consists in splitting of initially parallel fibre bundles into array of divergent fibres. Image processing employing Fast Fourier transform analysis is used for characterising images of the fibre structure and determining the collagen orientation index. An increase in manifestation of laser-induced disordering with an increase in IR laser radiation power from 0.3 to 2 W is accompanied by a decrease in the collagen orientation index. The specific disorganisation of the collagen tissue structure during laser heating is supposed to be due to fast speed and local action of the laser heating, which leads to mechanical distortions of the structural elements of tissue matrix. (paper)

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Measurement of turbulent flow upstream and downstream of a circular pipe bend

We measured velocity distribution in cross sections of a fully developed turbulent pipe flow upstream and downstream of a 90 degree sign bend by synchronizing two sets of a particle image velocimetry (PIV) system. Unsteady undulation of Dean vortices formed downstream from the bend was characterized by the azimuthal position of the stagnation point found on the inner and outer sides of the bend. Linear stochastic estimation was applied to capture the upstream flow field conditioned by the azimuthal location of the stagnation point downstream from the bend. When the inner-side stagnation point stayed below (above) the symmetry plane, the conditional streamwise velocity upstream from the bend exhibited high-speed streaks extended in a quasi-streamwise direction on the outer side of the curvature above (below) the symmetry plane.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

WIDE-FIELD WIDE-BAND INTERFEROMETRIC IMAGING: THE WB A-PROJECTION AND HYBRID ALGORITHMS

Variations of the antenna primary beam (PB) pattern as a function of time, frequency, and polarization form one of the dominant direction-dependent effects at most radio frequency bands. These gains may also vary from antenna to antenna. The A-Projection algorithm, published earlier, accounts for the effects of the narrow-band antenna PB in full polarization. In this paper, we present the wide-band A-Projection algorithm (WB A-Projection) to include the effects of wide bandwidth in the A-term itself and show that the resulting algorithm simultaneously corrects for the time, frequency, and polarization dependence of the PB. We discuss the combination of the WB A-Projection and the multi-term multi-frequency synthesis (MT-MFS) algorithm for simultaneous mapping of the sky brightness distribution and the spectral index distribution across a wide field of view. We also discuss the use of the narrow-band A-Projection algorithm in hybrid imaging schemes that account for the frequency dependence of the PB in the image domain.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2011

Reconstruction of brachytherapy seed positions and orientations from cone-beam CT x-ray projections via a novel iterative forward projection matching method

Purpose: To generalize and experimentally validate a novel algorithm for reconstructing the 3D pose (position and orientation) of implanted brachytherapy seeds from a set of a few measured 2D cone-beam CT (CBCT) x-ray projections. Methods: The iterative forward projection matching (IFPM) algorithm was generalized to reconstruct the 3D pose, as well as the centroid, of brachytherapy seeds from three to ten measured 2D projections. The gIFPM algorithm finds the set of seed poses that minimizes the sum-of-squared-difference of the pixel-by-pixel intensities between computed and measured autosegmented radiographic projections of the implant. Numerical simulations of clinically realistic brachytherapy seed configurations were performed to demonstrate the proof of principle. An in-house machined brachytherapy phantom, which supports precise specification of seed position and orientation at known values for simulated implant geometries, was used to experimentally validate this algorithm. The phantom was scanned on an ACUITY CBCT digital simulator over a full 660 sinogram projections. Three to ten x-ray images were selected from the full set of CBCT sinogram projections and postprocessed to create binary seed-only images. Results: In the numerical simulations, seed reconstruction position and orientation errors were approximately 0.6 mm and 5 deg., respectively. The physical phantom measurements demonstrated an absolute positional accuracy of (0.78{+-}0.57) mm or less. The {theta} and {phi} angle errors were found to be (5.7{+-}4.9) deg. and (6.0{+-}4.1) deg., respectively, or less when using three projections; with six projections, results were slightly better. The mean registration error was better than 1 mm/6 deg. compared to the measured seed projections. Each test trial converged in 10-20 iterations with computation time of 12-18 min/iteration on a 1 GHz processor. Conclusions: This work describes a novel, accurate, and completely automatic method for reconstructing seed orientations, as well as centroids, from a small number of radiographic projections, in support of intraoperative planning and adaptive replanning. Unlike standard back-projection methods, gIFPM avoids the need to match corresponding seed images on the projections. This algorithm also successfully reconstructs overlapping clustered and highly migrated seeds in the implant. The accuracy of better than 1 mm and 6 deg. demonstrates that gIFPM has the potential to support 2D Task Group 43 calculations in clinical practice.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2021

DR-RINS: Digital real-time relative intensity noise suppressor for pump–probe spectroscopy and microscopy

Relative intensity noise (RIN) inherent in fiber lasers poses a serious obstacle to their use in pump–probe spectroscopy and imaging. RIN can be removed through an analog balanced detector, or, as we have previously shown, software adaptive noise cancellation (ANC) on digitized signals. One major drawback to software ANC is the added time required for digitizing and post-processing. In this article, we describe a design for ANC on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), making use of high-level synthesis tools and fixed-point arithmetic to achieve real-time laser RIN suppression at 25 MHz sample rates. Unlike the software-ANC approach, the FPGA-ANC device can serve as a dedicated drop-in denoiser, placed between the detectors and a commercial lock-in amplifier. We demonstrate its application to transient absorption spectroscopy and microscopy, lowering the noise floor to ~17 dB above the shot noise limit. Furthermore, we demonstrate a dramatic improvement in data acquisition time from ~6 h to ~5 min in a real-time imaging scenario.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2014

Imaging surface plasmon polaritons using proximal self-assembled InGaAs quantum dots

We present optical investigations of hybrid plasmonic nanosystems consisting of lithographically defined plasmonic Au-waveguides or beamsplitters on GaAs substrates coupled to proximal self-assembled InGaAs quantum dots. We designed a sample structure that enabled us to precisely tune the distance between quantum dots and the sample surface during nano-fabrication and demonstrated that non-radiative processes do not play a major role for separations down to ∼10 nm. A polarized laser beam focused on one end of the plasmonic nanostructure generates propagating surface plasmon polaritons that, in turn, create electron-hole pairs in the GaAs substrate during propagation. These free carriers are subsequently captured by the quantum dots ∼25 nm below the surface, giving rise to luminescence. The intensity of the spectrally integrated quantum dot luminescence is used to image the propagating plasmon modes. As the waveguide width reduces from 5 μm to 1 μm, we clearly observe different plasmonic modes at the remote waveguide end, enabling their direct imaging in real space. This imaging technique is applied to a plasmonic beamsplitter facilitating the determination of the splitting ratio between the two beamsplitter output ports as the interaction length L{sub i} is varied. A splitting ratio of 50:50 is observed for L{sub i}∼9±1 μm and 1 μm wide waveguides for excitation energies close to the GaAs band edge. Our experimental findings are in good agreement with mode profile and finite difference time domain simulations for both waveguides and beamsplitters.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Bianthrone at a metal surface: Conductance switching with a bistable molecule made feasible by image charge effects

Bianthrone is a sterically hindered compound that exists in the form of two non-planar isomers. Our experimental study of single-molecule junctions with bianthrone reveals persistent switching of electric conductance at low temperatures, which can be reasonably associated to molecular isomerization events. Temperature dependence of the switching rate allows for an estimate of the activation energy of the process, on the order of 35–90 meV. Quantum-chemical calculations of the potential surface of neutral bianthrone and its anion, including identification of transition states, yields the isolated molecule isomerization barriers too high vs. the previous estimate, though in perfect agreement with previous experimental studies in solution. Nevertheless, we show that the attraction of the anion in the vicinity of the metal surface by its image charge can significantly alter the energetic landscape, in particular, by reducing the barrier to the values compatible with the observed switching behavior.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2018

Synthesis of silver nanospheroids in silver-containing nanoporous glass under the effect of nanosecond laser pulses

Experimental evidence is presented that nanosecond laser irradiation of nanoporous silicate glass containing subnanometre Ag{sub n} molecular silver clusters leads to the formation of spheroidal silver nanoparticles in the glass pores. Their shape has been confirmed by numerical simulation and electronic-microscopic images. The main processes induced by laser irradiation are local heating and the photoionisation and photofragmentation of the molecular silver clusters, followed by the aggregation of the fragments of the molecular clusters into nanoparticles. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

Statistical analysis of AFM topographic images of self-assembled quantum dots

To obtain statistical data on quantum-dot sizes, AFM topographic images of the substrate on which the dots under study are grown are analyzed. Due to the nonideality of the substrate containing height differences on the order of the size of nanoparticles at distances of 1-10 {mu}m and the insufficient resolution of closely arranged dots due to the finite curvature radius of the AFM probe, automation of the statistical analysis of their large dot array requires special techniques for processing topographic images to eliminate the loss of a particle fraction during conventional processing. As such a technique, convolution of the initial matrix of the AFM image with a specially selected matrix is used. This makes it possible to determine the position of each nanoparticle and, using the initial matrix, to measure their geometrical parameters. The results of statistical analysis by this method of self-assembled InAs quantum dots formed on the surface of an AlGaAs epitaxial layer are presented. It is shown that their concentration, average size, and half-width of height distribution depend strongly on the In flow and total amount of deposited InAs which are varied within insignificant limits.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Collection of fluorescence from an ion using trap-integrated photonics

Spontaneously emitted photons are entangled with the electronic and nuclear degrees of freedom of the emitting atom, so interference and measurement of these photons can entangle separate matter-based quantum systems as a resource for quantum information processing. Since confinement in a single-mode facilitates the photon interference needed for generating entanglement, the dipole emission patterns relevant in spontaneous emission present a mode-matching challenge. Current demonstrations rely on bulk photon-collection and manipulation optics that suffer from large component size and system-to-system variability—factors that impede scaling to the large numbers of entangled pairs needed for quantum information processing. To address these limitations, we demonstrate a collection method that enables passive phase stability, straightforward photonic manipulation, and intrinsic reproducibility. Specifically, we engineer a waveguide-integrated grating to couple photons emitted from a trapped ion into a single optical mode within a microfabricated ion-trap chip. Using the integrated collection optic, we characterize the collection efficiency, image the ion, and detect the ion’s quantum state. The integrated optic covers 2.18% of the solid angle and collects 1.97 ± 0.3% of the spontaneously emitted light incident on the grating for a total collection efficiency of 0.043% into a single-mode waveguide. This proof-of-principle demonstration lays the foundation for leveraging the inherent stability and reproducibility of integrated photonics to create, manipulate, and measure multipartite quantum states in arrays of quantum emitters.

Optical physics↗
DOE OSTI2015

Giant enhancement of nanoscale thermal radiation based on hyperbolic graphene plasmons

Excitation of surface plasmons enables super-Planckian thermal radiation far beyond the blackbody limit. By patterning a single layer of graphene sheet into ribbons, the closed circular dispersion of graphene plasmons is opened to become hyperbolic, leading to broadband singularities of density of states. Extremely high- k evanescent waves can now couple with hyperbolic graphene plasmons. Consequently, a giant enhancement of the near-field radiative heat flux, by more than one order of magnitude, is demonstrated here using rigorous numerical simulations. The findings may open promising pathways for highly efficient thermal management, energy harvesting, and sub-wavelength thermal imaging.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Transducer selection and application in magnetoacoustic tomography with magnetic induction

As an acoustic receiver, transducer plays a vital role in signal acquisition and image reconstruction for magnetoacoustic tomography with magnetic induction (MAT-MI). In order to optimize signal acquisition, the expressions of acoustic pressure detection and waveform collection are theoretically studied based on the radiation theory of acoustic dipole and the reception pattern of transducer. Pressure distributions are simulated for a cylindrical phantom model using a planar piston transducer with different radii and bandwidths. The proposed theory is also verified by the experimental measurements of acoustic waveform detection for an aluminum foil cylinder. It is proved that acoustic pressure with sharp and clear boundary peaks can be detected by the large-radius transducer with wide bandwidth, reflecting the differential of the induced Lorentz force accurately, which is helpful for precise conductivity reconstruction. To detect acoustic pressure with acceptable pressure amplitude, peak pressure ratio, amplitude ratio, and improved signal to noise ratio, the scanning radius of 5–10 times the radius of the object should be selected to improve the accuracy of image reconstruction. This study provides a theoretical and experimental basis for transducer selection and application in MAT-MI to obtain reconstructed images with improved resolution and definition.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Spontaneous wrinkling of soft matter by energetic deposition of Cr and Au

Wrinkling of stiff thin films deposited on compliant substrates is an effect that has been broadly investigated. However, wrinkling consequent to metal ion implantation has been less studied. In the work described here, we have explored the sub-micron wrinkling phenomena that spontaneously occur when metal ions (Au and Cr) are implanted with energy of a few tens of electron volts (49 eV for Au and 72 eV for Cr) into a compliant material (PDMS). This very low energy ion implantation was performed using a Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc technique, a process often referred to as energetic deposition or energetic condensation. For comparison, Au and Cr depositions with similar doses were also done using a sputtering technique (with lower particle energy of approximately 2 eV), and no wrinkle formation was then observed. In this way, we can discuss the role of ion energy in wrinkle formation. Depth profiles of the implanted material were calculated using the Tridyn computer simulation code for each metal, for several implantation doses. UV-vis absorption spectroscopy analysis confirmed the presence of metal nanoparticles. Atomic Force Microscopy imaging with spectral processing was used to compare the wrinkle morphology for each case investigated.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2011

Sensitivity analysis of a geometric calibration method using projection matrices for digital tomosynthesis systems

Purpose: To study the sensitivity of a geometric calibration method using projection matrices for digital tomosynthesis systems. Methods: A generic geometric calibration method for tomographic imaging systems has been presented in our previous work. The method involves a scan of a calibration phantom with multiple markers. Their locations in projection images are detected and are associated with their 3D coordinates to compute 3x4 projection matrices, which can be used in subsequent image reconstruction. The accuracy of geometric calibration may be affected by errors in the input data of marker positions. The effects of errors may depend on the number of markers and the volume surrounded by them in 3D space. This work analyzed the sensitivity of the calibration method to the above factors. A 6 cm CIRS breast research phantom and a prototype breast tomosynthesis system were used for our tests. A high contrast ring and two small speck groups were reconstructed in various testing cases for comparison. To achieve quantitative assessment, a 15x15 point detection mask was adopted for detecting signals and for computing changes between testing cases and the regular geometric calibration. Results: When 3D coordinates and 2D projections of markers were accurate, all tested numbers of markers, 6-44, provided similar high quality reconstructions of the ring and the two speck groups. Errors in marker positions resulted in image degradations and signal changes, which increased with fewer markers and smaller volume surrounded by markers in the 3D object space. Signal changes of small specks were more significant than those of the ring. Errors in marker projections produced drastic image degradations. Coplanar marker placement caused a failure in projection matrix computation. Conclusions: For practical geometric calibration phantom design, ample markers are desired. They need to have a large volumetric coverage in the 3D space and be far from being coplanar. Precise determination of marker projections on detector planes is crucial for accurate geometric calibration and for small object detection using the reconstructed images.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

THE BLANCO COSMOLOGY SURVEY: DATA ACQUISITION, PROCESSING, CALIBRATION, QUALITY DIAGNOSTICS, AND DATA RELEASE

The Blanco Cosmology Survey (BCS) is a 60 night imaging survey of {approx}80 deg{sup 2} of the southern sky located in two fields: ({alpha}, {delta}) = (5 hr, -55 Degree-Sign ) and (23 hr, -55 Degree-Sign ). The survey was carried out between 2005 and 2008 in griz bands with the Mosaic2 imager on the Blanco 4 m telescope. The primary aim of the BCS survey is to provide the data required to optically confirm and measure photometric redshifts for Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect selected galaxy clusters from the South Pole Telescope and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. We process and calibrate the BCS data, carrying out point-spread function-corrected model-fitting photometry for all detected objects. The median 10{sigma} galaxy (point-source) depths over the survey in griz are approximately 23.3 (23.9), 23.4 (24.0), 23.0 (23.6), and 21.3 (22.1), respectively. The astrometric accuracy relative to the USNO-B survey is {approx}45 mas. We calibrate our absolute photometry using the stellar locus in grizJ bands, and thus our absolute photometric scale derives from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, which has {approx}2% accuracy. The scatter of stars about the stellar locus indicates a systematic floor in the relative stellar photometric scatter in griz that is {approx}1.9%, {approx}2.2%, {approx}2.7%, and {approx}2.7%, respectively. A simple cut in the AstrOmatic star-galaxy classifier spread{sub m}odel produces a star sample with good spatial uniformity. We use the resulting photometric catalogs to calibrate photometric redshifts for the survey and demonstrate scatter {delta}z/(1 + z) = 0.054 with an outlier fraction {eta} < 5% to z {approx} 1. We highlight some selected science results to date and provide a full description of the released data products.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗