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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 307 records · Page 17
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Slow magnetic relaxation in a europium(II) complex

Single-ion anisotropy is vital for the observation of Single-Molecule Magnet (SMM) properties (i.e., a slow dynamics of the magnetization) in lanthanide-based systems. In the case of europium, the occurrence of this phenomenon has been inhibited by the spin and orbital quantum numbers that give way to J = 0 in the trivalent state and the half-filled population of the 4f orbitals in the divalent state. Herein, by optimizing the local crystal field of a quasi-linear bis(silylamido) Eu II complex, the [Eu II (N{SiMePh 2 } 2 ) 2 ] SMM is described, providing an example of a europium complex exhibiting slow relaxation of its magnetization. This behavior is dominated by a thermally activated (Orbach-like) mechanism, with an effective energy barrier of approximately 8 K, determined by bulk magnetometry and electron paramagnetic resonance. Ab initio calculations confirm second-order spin-orbit coupling effects lead to non-negligible axial magnetic anisotropy, splitting the ground state multiplet into four Kramers doublets, thereby allowing for the observation of an Orbach-like relaxation at low temperatures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Unfounded concerns about photovoltaic module toxicity and waste are slowing decarbonization

Unsubstantiated claims that fuel growing public concern over the toxicity of photovoltaic modules and their waste are slowing their deployment. Clarifying these issues will help to facilitate the decarbonization that our world depends on. Harnessing the potential of photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation is a key part of the transition to less carbon-intensive energy sources. The most recent energy production forecasts call for a massive 75 TW of global PV capacity by 2050 to have a chance of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 °C and minimizing the impacts of climate change. This is more than a tenfold increase in the current manufacturing and deployment rate in less than 15 years. PV modules are new to many people, so increasing PV deployment has led to growing concerns about the quantity of waste that may arise from decommissioning them (if they are not recycled), and their potential to leach toxic metals. In conclusion, debunking misinformation about PV modules and PV module waste is the first step in addressing these concerns that are unnecessarily slowing PV deployment.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

The role of fast and slow dynamics in nonlinear resonant ultrasound spectroscopy of consolidated granular materials

Abstract Elastic nonlinearity observed in consolidated granular media can be attributed to the combination of slow and fast effects, which give rise to hysteresis and relaxation of both modulus and damping after the sample is perturbed. A consequence is a high level of complexity in the measurements of the sample linear and nonlinear elastic parameters. The results of experiments are dependent on the experimental protocol that is adopted to measure the relevant quantities and it is hard to quantify parameters with accuracy and repeatability. Here we focus on examining Nonlinear Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy, showing experimentally the role of slow dynamics in the process and quantifying/discussing its influence on the quantification of nonlinearity. We also propose a model to describe the process, which shows that different contributions to nonlinearity (e.g., classical and hysteretic) could be due to physical features (defects) relaxing with different relaxation times.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
DOE OSTI2012

Improvement of (004) texturing by slow growth of Nd doped TiO{sub 2} films

In this work, we present preferred (004) texturing of sputter deposited titanium dioxide (TiO{sub 2}) films on glass substrates as a consequence of Nd doping at very slow growth rate. Nd concentration was varied from 0.0 to 2.0 atomic percent (at. %) in TiO{sub 2} thin films deposited under identical growth conditions, i.e., the growth rate of 0.6 A/s and at 500 Degree-Sign C. At 2 at. % Nd, complete texturing along (004) plane was observed, as indicated by the X-ray diffraction analyses. Morphology of the deposited TiO{sub 2} films from pure to 2 at. % Nd doped TiO{sub 2} films showed faceted to planar growth. Visualization of electrical and structural analysis (VESTA) software revealed that the change in the morphology was due to preferential growth in (004) orientation. Raman spectroscopy highlighted the phonon confinement in the Eg mode, and a red shift was observed due to an increase in the anti-symmetry in bonding with increased Nd concentration. XPS results confirmed the variation in oxygen vacancy concentration along with the reduction of Ti and Nd valance states with the change in the dopant concentration. Our experiments confirmed that the substitution of Nd at Ti sites was responsible for texturing in (004) orientation and this was possible by growing films at a very slow rate.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

The intense slow positron beam facility at the PULSTAR reactor and applications in nano-materials study

An intense slow positron beam has been established at the PULSTAR nuclear research reactor of North Carolina State University. The slow positrons are generated by pair production in a tungsten moderator from gammarays produced in the reactor core and by neutron capture reactions in cadmium. The moderated positrons are electrostatically extracted and magnetically guided out of the region near the core. Subsequently, the positrons are used in two spectrometers that are capable of performing positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) and positron Doppler broadening spectroscopy (DBS) to probe the defect and free volume properties of materials. One of the spectrometers (e{sup +}-PALS) utilizes an rf buncher to produce a pulsed beam and has a timing resolution of 277 ps. The second spectrometer (Ps-PALS) uses a secondary electron timing technique and is dedicated to positronium lifetime measurements with an approximately 1 ns timing resolution. PALS measurements have been conducted in the e{sup +}-PALS spectrometer on a series of nano-materials including organic photovoltaic thin films, membranes for filtration, and polymeric fibers. These studies have resulted in understanding some critical issues related to the development of the examined nano-materials.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Slow dynamics of nanocomposite polymer aerogels as revealed by X-ray photocorrelation spectroscopy (XPCS)

We report on a novel slow dynamics of polymer xerogels, aerogels, and nanocomposite aerogels with iron oxide nanoparticles, as revealed by X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy. The polymer aerogel and its nanocomposite aerogels, which are porous in nature, exhibit hyper-diffusive dynamics at room temperature. In contrast, non-porous polymer xerogels exhibit an absence of this peculiar dynamics. This slow dynamical process has been assigned to a relaxation of the characteristic porous structure of these materials and not to the presence of nanoparticles.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Model reduction for slow–fast stochastic systems with metastable behaviour

The quasi-steady-state approximation (or stochastic averaging principle) is a useful tool in the study of multiscale stochastic systems, giving a practical method by which to reduce the number of degrees of freedom in a model. The method is extended here to slow–fast systems in which the fast variables exhibit metastable behaviour. The key parameter that determines the form of the reduced model is the ratio of the timescale for the switching of the fast variables between metastable states to the timescale for the evolution of the slow variables. The method is illustrated with two examples: one from biochemistry (a fast-species-mediated chemical switch coupled to a slower varying species), and one from ecology (a predator–prey system). Numerical simulations of each model reduction are compared with those of the full system.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effects of threading dislocations on drain current dispersion and slow transients in unpassivated AlGaN/GaN/Si heterostructure field-effect transistors

Current transient analysis combined with response to pulsed bias drives have been used to explore the possibilities of threading dislocations affecting the current dispersion characteristics of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors (HFETs). A growth strategy is developed to modulate the dislocation density among the heterostructures grown on silicon by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy. Slow pulsed I-V measurements show severe compressions and appear to be significantly dependent on the threading dislocation density. By analyzing the corresponding slow detrapping process, a deep-level trap with emission time constant in the order of seconds was identified as the cause. Among the specimens, both in the epilayers and at the surface, the number of dislocations was found to have a notable influence on the spatial distribution of deep-level trap density. The observations confirm that the commonly observed degraded frequency performance among AlGaN/GaN HFETs in the form of DC-radio frequency dispersions can at least partly be correlated with threading dislocation density.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Enhanced four-wave mixing in graphene-silicon slow-light photonic crystal waveguides

We demonstrate the enhanced four-wave mixing of monolayer graphene on slow-light silicon photonic crystal waveguides. 200-μm interaction length, a four-wave mixing conversion efficiency of −23 dB is achieved in the graphene-silicon slow-light hybrid, with an enhanced 3-dB conversion bandwidth of about 17 nm. Our measurements match well with nonlinear coupled-mode theory simulations based on the measured waveguide dispersion, and provide an effective way for all-optical signal processing in chip-scale integrated optics.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Preliminary study of slow and fast ultrasonic waves using MR images of trabecular bone phantom

Cancellous bone is a complex tissue that performs physiological and biomechanical functions in all vertebrates. It is made up of trabeculae that, from a simplified structural viewpoint, can be considered as plates and beams in a hyperstatic structure that change with time leading to osteoporosis. Several methods has been developed to study the trabecular bone microstructure among them is the Biot’s model which predicts the existence of two longitudinal waves in porous media; the slow and the fast waves, that can be related to porosity of the media. This paper is focused on the experimental detection of the two Biot’s waves of a trabecular bone phantom, consisting of a trabecular network of inorganic hydroxyapatite. Experimental measurements of both waves were performed using through transmission ultrasound. Results had shown clearly that the propagation of two waves propagation is transversal to the trabecular alignment. Otherwise the waves are overlapped and a single wave seems to be propagated. To validate these results, magnetic resonance images were acquired to assess the trabecular direction, and to assure that the pulses correspond to the slow and fast waves. This approach offers a methodology for non-invasive studies of trabecular bones.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Communication: Estimating the initial biasing potential for λ-local-elevation umbrella-sampling (λ-LEUS) simulations via slow growth

In a recent article [Bieler et al., J. Chem. Theory Comput. 10, 3006–3022 (2014)], we introduced a combination of the λ-dynamics (λD) approach for calculating alchemical free-energy differences and of the local-elevation umbrella-sampling (LEUS) memory-based biasing method to enhance the sampling along the alchemical coordinate. The combined scheme, referred to as λ-LEUS, was applied to the perturbation of hydroquinone to benzene in water as a test system, and found to represent an improvement over thermodynamic integration (TI) in terms of sampling efficiency at equivalent accuracy. However, the preoptimization of the biasing potential required in the λ-LEUS method requires “filling up” all the basins in the potential of mean force. This introduces a non-productive pre-sampling time that is system-dependent, and generally exceeds the corresponding equilibration time in a TI calculation. In this letter, a remedy is proposed to this problem, termed the slow growth memory guessing (SGMG) approach. Instead of initializing the biasing potential to zero at the start of the preoptimization, an approximate potential of mean force is estimated from a short slow growth calculation, and its negative used to construct the initial memory. Considering the same test system as in the preceding article, it is shown that of the application of SGMG in λ-LEUS permits to reduce the preoptimization time by about a factor of four.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Coupled slow and fast surface dynamics in an electrocatalytic oscillator: Model and simulations

The co-existence of disparate time scales is pervasive in many systems. In particular for surface reactions, it has been shown that the long-term evolution of the core oscillator is decisively influenced by slow surface changes, such as progressing deactivation. Here we present an in-depth numerical investigation of the coupled slow and fast surface dynamics in an electrocatalytic oscillator. The model consists of four nonlinear coupled ordinary differential equations, investigated over a wide parameter range. Besides the conventional bifurcation analysis, the system was studied by means of high-resolution period and Lyapunov diagrams. It was observed that the bifurcation diagram changes considerably as the irreversible surface poisoning evolves, and the oscillatory region shrinks. The qualitative dynamics changes accordingly and the chaotic oscillations are dramatically suppressed. Nevertheless, periodic cascades are preserved in a confined region of the resistance vs. voltage diagram. Numerical results are compared to experiments published earlier and the latter reinterpreted. Finally, the comprehensive description of the time-evolution in the period and Lyapunov diagrams suggests further experimental studies correlating the evolution of the system's dynamics with changes of the catalyst structure.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

One dimensional full wave analysis of slow-to-fast mode conversion in lower hybrid frequencies

The linear conversion from the slow wave to the fast wave in the lower hybrid range of frequencies is analyzed numerically by using the set of field equations describing waves in a cold plane-stratified plasma. The equations are solved as a two-point boundary value problem, where the polarizations of each mode are set consistently in the boundary conditions. The scattering coefficients and the field patterns are obtained for various density profiles. It is shown that, for large density scale length, the results agree well with the traditional cognitions. In contrast, the reflected component and the probable transmitted-converted component from the conversion region, which are neglected in the usual calculations, become significant when the scale length is smaller than the wavelength of the mode. The inclusion of these new components will improve the accuracy of the simulated propagation and deposition for the injected rf power when the conversion process is involved within a sharp-varying density profile. Meanwhile, the accessibility of the incident slow wave for the low frequency case is also affected by the scale length of the density profile.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Enhanced traveling wave amplification of co-planar slow wave structure by extended phase-matching

The electron beam co-propagating with slow waves in a staggered double grating array (SDGA) efficiently amplifies millimeter and sub-millimeter waves over a wide spectrum. Our theoretical and numerical analyses show that the power amplification in the fundamental passband is enhanced by the extended beam-wave phase-matching. Particle-in-cell simulations on the SDGA slow wave structure, designed with 10.4 keV and 50–100 mA sheet beam, indicate that maintaining beam-wave synchronization along the entire length of the circuit improves the gain by 7.3% leading to a total gain of 28 dB, corresponding to 62 W saturated power at the middle of operating band, and a 3-dB bandwidth of 7 GHz with 10.5% at V-band (73.5 GHz center frequency) with saturated peak power reaching 80 W and 28 dB at 71 GHz. These results also show a reasonably good agreement with analytic calculations based on Pierce small signal gain theory.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Synthetic spectral analysis of a kinetic model for slow-magnetosonic waves in solar corona

We propose a kinetic model of slow-magnetosonic waves to explain various observational features associated with the propagating intensity disturbances (PIDs) occurring in the solar corona. The characteristics of slow mode waves, e.g, inphase oscillations of density, velocity, and thermal speed, are reproduced in this kinetic model. Moreover, the red-blue (R-B) asymmetry of the velocity distribution as self-consistently generated in the model is found to be contributed from the beam component, as a result of the competition between Landau resonance and Coulomb collisions. Furthermore, we synthesize the spectral lines and make the spectral analysis, based on the kinetic simulation data of the flux tube plasmas and the hypothesis of the surrounding background plasmas. It is found that the fluctuations of parameters of the synthetic spectral lines are basically consistent with the observations: (1) the line intensity, Doppler shift, and line width are fluctuating in phase; (2) the R-B asymmetry usually oscillate out of phase with the former three parameters; (3) the blueward asymmetry is more evident than the redward asymmetry in the R-B fluctuations. The oscillations of line parameters become weakened for the case with denser surrounding background plasmas. Similar to the observations, there is no doubled-frequency oscillation of the line width for the case with flux-tube plasmas flowing bulkly upward among the static background plasmas. Therefore, we suggest that the “wave + beam flow” kinetic model may be a viable interpretation for the PIDs observed in the solar corona.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Enhanced photoresponsivity in graphene-silicon slow-light photonic crystal waveguides

We demonstrate the enhanced fast photoresponsivity in graphene hybrid structures by combining the ultrafast dynamics of graphene with improved light-matter interactions in slow-light photonic crystal waveguides. With a 200 μm interaction length, a 0.8 mA/W photoresponsivity is achieved in a graphene-silicon Schottky-like photodetector, with an operating bandwidth in excess of 5 GHz and wavelength range at least from 1480 nm to 1580 nm. Fourfold enhancement of the photocurrent is observed in the slow light region, compared to the wavelength far from the photonic crystal bandedge, for a chip-scale broadband fast photodetector.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

The slow collisional E×B ion drift characterized as the major instability mechanism of a poorly magnetized plasma column with an inward-directed radial electric field

The low-frequency instability of a cylindrical poorly magnetized plasma with an inward-directed radial electric field is studied changing the gas pressure and the ion cyclotron frequency. The unstable frequency always decreases when the gas pressure is increased indicating collisional effects. At a fixed pressure, the unstable frequency increases with the magnetic field when the B-field is low and decreases at larger magnetic field strength. We find that the transition between these two regimes is obtained when the ion cyclotron frequency equals the ion-neutrals collision frequency. This is in agreement with the theory of the slow-ion drift instability induced by the collisional slowing of the electric ion drift [A. Simon, Phys. Fluids 6, 382 (1963)].

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

High power microwave source with a three dimensional printed metamaterial slow-wave structure

For over the last decade, the concept of metamaterials has led to new approaches for considering the interaction of radiation with complex structures. However, practical manifestations of such a device operating at high power densities have proven difficult to achieve due to the resonant nature of metamaterials and the resultant high electric fields, which place severe constraints on manufacturing the slow wave structures. In this paper, we describe the first experimental manifestation of a high power microwave device utilizing a metallic slow wave structure (metamaterial-like) fabricated using additive manufacturing. The feasibility of utilizing additive manufacturing as a technique for building these relatively complicated structures has thus been demonstrated. The MW class microwave source operates in the C-band and shows frequency tunablility with electron beam voltage. The basic electromagnetic characteristics of this device, the construction using additive manufacturing, and the basic performance as a microwave oscillator are considered. Due to the tunable nature of the device, it shows promise not only as an oscillator but also as a microwave amplifier. Therefore, the dispersive characteristics and a discussion of the anticipated gain is included as it relates to an amplifier configuration.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗