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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 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1979

Satellite drag coefficients calculated from measured distributions of reflected helium atoms

The primary objectives of this study were to obtain the necessary data and develop a calculation procedure that would facilitate predicting the atmospheric-helium contribution to the drag of a satellite having a predominantly convex exterior. Molecular-beam techniques were used to measure, for several incidence angles, the spatial and energy distributions of 7000 m/s helium atoms scattered from a 6061-T6 aluminum plate and an anodized 1235-0 aluminum surface. From these measured distributions, tangential and normal momentum accommodation coefficients were calculated as functions of incidence angle. Using these calculated accommodation coefficients, one can predict drag coefficients for satellites having predominantly convex exteriors. For spherical satellites, drag coefficients of 2.64 and 2.62 were predicted for the subject surfaces.

Liu, S.-M.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Excitation of metastable argon and helium atoms by electron impact

Using a time-of-flight method, the excitation of argon and helium metastables by electron impact is investigated in the energy range from threshold to about 50 eV. The secondary-electron yields of the metastable detector used are reviewed in detail. The effect of metastable recoil is also discussed. Comparisons with data from other investigators are presented.

Borst, W. L.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Broadening of the Interplanetary Helium Cone Structure Due to Elastic Collisions of LISM Helium Atoms with Solar Wind Ions

Neutral interstellar particles penetrating into the heliosphere, besides being subject there to specific loss processes, suffer elastic collisions with KeV-solar wind ions. The momentum transfer to the neutrals connected with these collisions leads to a loss of angular momentum with respect to the Sun and to a fractional compensation of the effective solar gravity. The dynamical particle trajectories hence are changed into non-Keplerians leading to density and temperature distributions differing from those calculated in the past. This is found from a solution of the Boltzmann equation that linearizes the effect of this additional force. It is shown that the HeI-584A resonance glow of the heliospheric helium cone lead to substantially lower interstellar helium temperatures if re-interpreted on the basis of this revised theory. These temperatures now seem to be in accordance with the derived temperatures for interstellar hydrogen.

Fahr, H. J.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Comment on broadening of water microwave lines by collisions with helium atoms

Earlier theoretical descriptions of interaction forces and collision dynamics in the H2O-He system (Palma et al., 1988; Green et al., 1991) are improved by calculating the interaction at additional orientations and by including diffuse functions in the molecular orbital expansion basis set. The improvements make substantial changes to the potential energy surface, but make only small changes in predicted microwave pressure broadening coefficients. The qualitative temperature dependence and relative widths of different lines appear to be converged with respect to successive improvements to the theoretical description of this system. Remaining discrepancies with available data must reflect problems with the experimental values.

Maluendes, Sergio↗
NASA NTRS2007

Broadening of the R(0) and P(2) Lines in the 13CO Fundamental by Helium Atoms from 300 K down to 12 K: Measurements and Comparison with Close-Coupling Calculations

We present measurements of He-broadening parameters for the R(0) and O(2) lines in the fundamental band of 13CO at different temperatures between 12K and room temperature. The broadening parameters are determined, taking into account confinement narrowing, by simultaneous least-squares fitting of spectra recorded using a frequency stabilized diode laser spectrometer. The pressure broadening cross sections are deduced and compared to close-coupling calculations and earlier results obtained for rotational transitions of 12 CO.

Thibault, F.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Removing Basis Set Incompleteness Error in Finite-Temperature Electronic Structure Calculations: Two-Electron Systems

We investigate the basis-set-size dependence for quantities related to interacting electrons in the canonical ensemble. Calculations are performed using exact diagonalization (finite temperature full configuration interaction method) on two-electron model systems–the uniform electron gas (UEG) and the helium atom. Our data reproduce previous observations of a competition for how the internal energy converges between the ground-state correlation energy and the high-temperature kinetic energy. We explore how this can be related to component parts of the internal energy including kinetic, exchange, and correlation energies and show there is surprising nuance in how this can be broken down into mostly monotonically converging quantities. We also show that separation of the free energy into a free energy with/without correlation allows for monotonic convergence with basis set size due to the variational principle. We find that the free energy convergence matches the previously observed convergence properties of the internal energy. We discuss the free energy divergence that happens when converging a finite basis analytical hydrogen atom to the complete basis set limit and compare this to the energies of a helium atom in a large periodic box. Reducing the box size, we saw convergence trends for the helium atom that were similar to the UEG.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2026

Quantum science with arrays of metastable helium-3 atoms

The motion of atoms in programmable optical tweezer arrays offers many new opportunities for neutral atom quantum science. These include inter- and intra-site atom motion for resource-efficient implementations of fermionic and bosonic modes, respectively, as well as tweezer transport for efficient compilation of arbitrary circuits. However, the exploitation of atomic motion for all three purposes and others is limited by the inertia of the atoms. We present a comprehensive architectural blueprint for the use of fermionic metastable helium-3 (He) atoms -- the lightest trappable atomic species -- in programmable optical tweezer arrays. This includes a concrete analysis of atomic structure considerations as well as Rydberg-mediated interactions. We show that inter-tweezer hopping of He atoms can be faster than previous demonstrations with lithium-6. We also demonstrate a new toolbox for encoding and manipulating qubits directly in the tweezer trap potential, uniquely enabled by the light mass of He. Finally, we provide several examples of new opportunities for fermionic quantum simulation and computation that leverage the transport and inter-tweezer hopping of He atom arrays. These tools present new methods to improve the resource efficiency of neutral atom quantum science that may also enable quantum simulations of lattice gauge theories and quantum chemistry outside the Born-Oppenheimer approximation

Li, Zheyuan↗
NASA NTRS1980

Detection of individual atoms in helium buffer gas and observation of their real-time motion

Single atoms are detected and their motion measured for the first time to our knowledge by the fluorescence photon-burst method in the presence of large quantities of buffer gas. A single-clipped digital correlator records the photon burst in real time and displays the atom's transit time across the laser beam. A comparison is made of the special requirements for single-atom detection in vacuum and in a buffer gas. Finally, the probability distribution of the bursts from many atoms is measured. It further proves that the bursts observed on resonance are due to single atoms and not simply to noise fluctuations.

Pan, C. L.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Laser Induced Optical Pumping Measurements of Cross Sections for Fine and Hyperfine Structure Transitions in Sodium Induced by Collisions with Helium Argon Atoms

Optical pumping of the ground states of sodium can radically alter the shape of the laser induced fluorescence excitation spectrum, complicating measurements of temperature, pressure, etc., which are based on these spectra. Modeling of the fluorescence using rate equations for the eight hyperfine states of the sodium D manifolds can be used to quantify the contribution to the ground state pumping of transitions among the hyperfine excited states induced by collisions with buffer gas atoms. This model is used here to determine, from the shape of experimental spectra, cross sections for (Delta)F transitions of the P(sub 3/2) state induced by collisions with helium and argon atoms, for a range of values assumed for the P(sub 1/2), (Delta)F cross sections. The hyperfine cross sections measured using this method, which is thought to be novel, are compared with cross sections for transitions involving polarized magnetic substates, m(sub F), measured previously using polarization sensitive absorption. Also, fine structure transition ((Delta)J) cross sections were measured in the pumped vapor, giving agreement with previous measurements made in the absence of pumping.

Dobson, Chris C.↗