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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 379 records · Page 21
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

From vortex to bubble: Unraveling formation of merons and skyrmions in van der Waals ferromagnet $\textrm{Fe}_{5-\textrm{x}}\textrm{GeTe}_2$

Magnetic topology, such as merons and skyrmions, is important from the perspective of both fundamental physics and next-generation spintronic devices. We observe/demonstrate the coexistence of merons and skyrmions in the van der Waals ferromagnet Fe 5-x GeTe 2 . Merons remain stable across a wide temperature range, from 100 K to 290 K, whereas skyrmions are only present within a narrower range from 100 K to approximately 170 K. Our finding reveals that the formation of merons or skyrmions is governed by the local magnetocrystalline anisotropy. Furthermore, the spatial variations in local magnetic anisotropy are attributed to subtle fluctuations in Fe content.

2D materials↗
DOE OSTI2020

High Performance Green LEDs for Solid State Lighting

The development of white LEDs for solid state lighting (SSL) has been driven in recent years by phosphor converted LEDs (pc-LEDs). However, losses (known as Stokes’ losses) between the blue pump LED and phosphor impose a fundamental efficiency limit of ~300 lm/W on pc-LEDs. White light can also be generated from color mixed LEDs (cm-LEDs), which employ red, green, blue, and amber LEDs and have a fundamental efficiency limit of ~400 lm/W. Efficient group III-nitride materials are used for the blue LED, while efficient group III-phosphide materials are used for the red LED component. Currently, the poor efficiency of green and amber LEDs (i.e. the “green gap”) is the primary limitation for cm-LEDs. Relative to nitride-based blue LEDs, green and amber nitride LEDs suffer from lower radiative recombination rates and higher nonradiative recombination rates, which ultimately lead to reduced internal quantum efficiency (IQE). The IQE represents the portion of all electron-hole recombination events that result in a photon. In addition, long-wavelength LEDs have lower electrical efficiency (EE) compared to their blue counterparts. Addressing the green gap, would ultimately enable cm-LEDs that rival or exceed the performance of pc-LEDs. Our project focused on III-nitride materials growth and characterization, device fabrication and testing, and semiconductor physics to understand efficiency limitations of green LEDs and develop solutions to these challenges. Insights gained during our research has led to novel long-wavelength LED designs which will enable efficient solid-state lighting.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Increased Interpretability for Model-Driven Deception: MARS LDRD Project

Machine learning has been proposed as a solution to several cybersecurity solutions and one of the most promising applications is for digital twins for intrusion detection and driving deceptive defense. However, machine learning techniques often result in a black-box function that is difficult for end users to interpret which for deception limits their ability to effectively define decoys. In this report, an approach to validate the equations learned are accurate is provided and demonstrated. Following, begins the process of addressing this issue for a model-driven deception technology that produces equations representing the physical process controlled by operation technology devices. This research was performed by applying subject matter expert context to machine learned models.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Description of FY25 Theory and Simulation Performance Target: Development of an integrated modeling framework for fusion reactor design and assessment

The urgency to deliver fusion power is growing now more than ever, with increasing pressure for both public programs and private companies to meet milestones timelines and overcome significant remaining technical challenges to ensure growth of a nascent fusion industry in time to meet rapidly growing clean energy demands. With incredible advancements in computation and years of investment in fusion model development and validation, integrated modeling is poised to fill a key role in accelerating the timeline to a fusion pilot plant (FPP). Future fusion pilot plants will operate in regimes far beyond current experience, and device design will rely on physics-based prediction and extrapolation. Many concepts will also rely on simulation to assess safety (shielding, tritium management, materials activation and lifetimes), economics and scalability before the decision to build. Importantly, integrated simulation can be used to reveal and solve the complexities of system integration that may otherwise not be apparent in physical components or models developed in isolation. New experimental test facilities that produce relevant conditions to validate and resolve key technical challenges for various subsystems (materials, blankets, fuel cycle, etc.) have been repeatedly called for by the fusion community but are not yet realized. Integrated modeling has an important role in identifying realistic load conditions (thermal, electromagnetic, plasma, neutron and photon loads, etc.) and defining the components and experiments for these test facilities in order to ensure meaningful validation that sufficiently reduces modeling uncertainties and technical risk for the full integrated reactor. The Fusion REactor Design and Assessment (FREDA) SciDAC project is building a component-based integrated modeling framework & data structure to enable self-consistent, multi-fidelity, iterative optimization workflows for the fusion reactor design process. FREDA aims to shorten the time to viable designs by providing a set of flexible workflows to support the various stages of the design process using an integrated model hierarchy, ranging from the simple analytic descriptions to the highest fidelity, theory-based plasma and engineering modeling developed by the fusion and fission communities. These tools are expected to be needed for timely support of FPP design in the milestone program and in the FIRE collaboratives. The plasma simulation backbone of FREDA is IPS-FASTRAN with newly developed coupled Core-Edge Pedestal-SOL (CESOL) workflows, which is being extended to the far-SOL region up to the plasma facing components. FREDA incorporates the FERMI engineering modeling suite and will enable self-consistent evaluation of the thermal shields, limiters, blanket, magnets, and other surrounding structures with predictions of temperatures, erosion, dpa, activation, tritium generation and transport, creep, corrosion, material degradation, etc. Parametric generation of 3D CAD enables rapid iteration of component geometry in response to plasma and loading specifications.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Stochastic Error Cancellation in Analog Quantum Simulation

Analog quantum simulation is a promising path towards solving classically intractable problems in many-body physics on near-term quantum devices. However, the presence of noise limits the size of the system and the length of time that can be simulated. In our work, we consider an error model in which the actual Hamiltonian of the simulator differs from the target Hamiltonian we want to simulate by small local perturbations, which are assumed to be random and unbiased. We analyze the error accumulated in observables in this setting and show that, due to stochastic error cancellation, with high probability the error scales as the square root of the number of qubits instead of linearly. We explore the concentration phenomenon of this error as well as its implications for local observables in the thermodynamic limit. Moreover, we show that stochastic error cancellation also manifests in the fidelity between the target state at the end of time-evolution and the actual state we obtain in the presence of noise. This indicates that, to reach a certain fidelity, more noise can be tolerated than implied by the worst-case bound if the noise comes from many statistically independent sources.

Analog quantum simulation↗
DOE OSTI2020

Innovation in Radiological Security, Part 1 of 2 – Using a Cloud Solution to Compress the Timely Detection Model

The design and implementation of new security technologies must account for numerous and complex operational challenges. For example, traditionally isolated systems must now survive amid the proliferation of network connectivity and endure the dynamic environments created by organizations tolerating bring-your-own-device policies. When evaluating the cyber, physical, or cyber-physical security of an asset, a common practice in the security industry is to apply the Timely Detection Model (TDM)—a versatile concept that relates the security functions of detection, delay, and response to the progression of an oppositional force’s attack timeline. If implemented correctly, security enhancements can compress the TDM to offer efficiencies to the stakeholders responsible for adjudicating threat scenarios. The efficiencies gained by the response force allow for more effective protection strategies to be realized. One such enhancement, deployed within the radiological security domain—the Sentry-Remote Monitoring System (Sentry-RMS)—is a stand-alone security system that detects, assesses, and communicates priority alarms as a means of thwarting internal and external threats. The SEntry-RMS CommUnications and REsponse (Sentry-SECURE) platform—an optional feature of the Sentry-RMS—is being developed to facilitate more efficient alarm adjudication by site stakeholders and, if necessary, a faster response by law enforcement. This Cloud-hosted platform receives protected information from deployed Sentry-RMS units and relays it to stakeholders that have vested interests in maintaining an elevated level of situational awareness. Operationally, this enables real-time delivery of high-priority alarm and video imagery directly to an identified response stakeholder, such as local law enforcement or site management, via natively developed mobile applications or full platform integration. The Sentry-SECURE platform, as implemented by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Radiological Security, is an example of an innovative security technology that compresses the TDM by (1) enabling a more efficient time to target and (2) better informing a response force’s predetermined tactics, techniques, and procedures. This paper explores the platform’s operational roles, highlights its principal functions, and presents a use case that demonstrates how the platform provides enhanced situational awareness when adjudicating priority alarms.

Sentry-RMS, Timely Detection Model, Sentry-SECURE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Final Technical Report

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

In-situ measurement of irradiation behavior in LiNbO 3

In-situ measurement of LiNbO 3 based surface acoustic wave (SAW) crystal resonator device under irradiation was demonstrated and used to characterize the impact of radiation on physical properties of this material. The resonant frequency of the SAW device was monitored as the output power of the reactor was varied. Upon step increase of the reactor power, a gradual shift in the device’s resonant frequency was observed. This frequency shift initially exhibits a linear growth and eventually reaches an equilibrium value proportional to the reactor power. The observed behavior can be attributed to two competing processes: increase of temperature due to gamma heating or accumulation of irradiation induced defects. In both cases, the response is attributed to changes in the physical properties of LiNbO 3 , particularly the elastic constants. This demonstrated ability to measure materials properties under irradiation is attractive for development of sensors and performing materials science under irradiation.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Resilience of the Electric Grid Through Trustable IoT-Coordinated Assets

The electricity grid has evolved from a physical system to a cyberphysical system with digital devices that perform measurement, control, communication, computation, and actuation. The increased penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) including renewable generation, flexible loads, and storage provides extraordinary opportunities for improvements in efficiency and sustainability. However, they can introduce new vulnerabilities in the form of cyberattacks, which can cause significant challenges in ensuring grid resilience. We propose a framework in this paper for achieving grid resilience through suitably coordinated assets including a network of Internet of Things devices. A local electricity market is proposed to identify trustable assets and carry out this coordination. Situational Awareness (SA) of locally available DERs with the ability to inject power or reduce consumption is enabled by the market, together with a monitoring procedure for their trustability and commitment. With this SA, we show that a variety of cyberattacks can be mitigated using local trustable resources without stressing the bulk grid. Multiple demonstrations are carried out using a high-fidelity cosimulation platform, real-time hardware-in-the-loop validation, and a utility-friendly simulator.

distributed energy resources↗
DOE OSTI2023

Operational space and performance limiting events in the first physics campaign of MAST-U

Abstract The MAST-U fusion plasma research device, an upgrade to the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak, has recently completed its first campaign of physics operation. MAST-U operated with Ohmic, or one or two neutral beams for heating, at 400–800 kA plasma current, in conventional or ‘SuperX’ divertor configurations. Equilibrium reconstructions provide key plasma physics parameters vs. time for each discharge, and diagrams are produced which show where the prevalence of operation occurs as well as the limits in various operational spaces. When compared to stability limits, the operation of MAST-U so far has generally stayed out of the low q , low density instability region, and below the high density Greenwald limit, high beta global stability limit, and high elongation vertical stability limit. MAST-U still has the potential to reach higher elongation, which could benefit the plasma performance. Despite the majority of operations happening below established stability limits, disruptions do occur in the flat-top phase of MAST-U plasmas. The reasons for these disruptions are highlighted, and possible strategies to avoid them and to extend the operational space of MAST-U in future campaigns are discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Impacts of noise and structure on quantum information encoded in a quantum memory

As larger, higher-quality quantum devices are built and demonstrated in quantum information applications, such as quantum computation and quantum communication, the need for high-quality quantum memories to store quantum states becomes ever more pressing. Future quantum devices likely will use a variety of physical hardware, some being used primarily for processing of quantum information and others for storage. Here we study the correlation of the structure of quantum information with physical noise models of various possible quantum memory implementations. Through numerical simulation of different noise models and approximate analytical formulas applied to a variety of interesting quantum states, we provide comparisons between quantum hardware with different structure, including both qubit- and qudit-based quantum memories. Our findings point to simple, experimentally relevant formulas for the relative lifetimes of quantum information in different quantum memories and have relevance to the design of hybrid quantum devices.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2025

Magnetically dependent photovoltages in permalloy films and gratings

Significant photoinduced voltages observed in permalloy structures consist of two contributions with different origins, which depend on illumination conditions, structure geometry and magnetic field in distinct ways. The first component is the plasmon drag effect voltage closely associated with plasmon propagation. The second contribution is magnetically dependent and can be related to photoinduced gradients in the sample temperature and spin polarization. Possible mechanisms of the effect are discussed

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Nanoscale Free-Electron Lasing (Final Technical Report)

Optical control of electron dynamics and energy structure can be leveraged for tailoring classical and quantum light sources. Previous work was primarily limited to Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEMs). Our work under this program sought to enable full time and energy control of electrons in SEMs for exploring the physics of attosecond electron dynamics and light generation at the nanoscale. The motivation behind this work was to understand these fundamental processes important to free-electron lasing at the nanoscale using sub-relativistic electrons.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

A review of collaborative studies between the NSTX/-U and MAST/-U spherical tokamaks

The National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in the United States, and the mega ampere spherical tokamak (MAST) at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority in the United Kingdom, and their respective upgrades (NSTX-U and MAST-U) are two MAST fusion devices that have operated roughly over the past two decades. Both devices have made significant contributions to understanding spherical tokamak (ST) plasma physics, and fusion plasmas in general, and both have contributed data to multi-machine database studies. Several diagnostics have been physically moved from one machine to the other by diagnostic teams working on both devices. Collaboration has benefited both research teams in the areas of operational expertise, scenario development, and equilibrium reconstruction techniques. More focused comparative studies between the two devices have been pursued over the years in many areas as well, including stability calculations, disruption characterization, pedestal and edge localized mode stability, confinement and transport, energetic particles, and heating and current drive modelling. Together NSTX/-U and MAST/-U set the stage for the future of STs, which is entering the phase of design of demonstration power plant devices.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Synthesis of Samarium Nitride Thin Films on Magnesium Oxide (001) Substrates Using Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Rare-earth nitrides are an exciting family of materials with a wide variety of properties desirable for new physics and applications in spintronics and superconducting devices. Among them, samarium nitride is an interesting compound reported to have ferromagnetic behavior coupled with the potential existence of p-wave superconductivity. Synthesis of high-quality thin films is essential in order to manifest these behaviors and understand the impact that vacancies, structural distortions, and doping can have on these properties. In this study, we report the synthesis of samarium nitride monocrystalline thin films on magnesium oxide (001) substrates with a chromium nitride capping layer using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). We observed a high-quality monocrystalline SmN film with matching orientation to the substrate, then optimized the growth temperature. Despite the initial 2 nm of growth showing formation of a potential samarium oxide layer, the subsequent layers showed high-quality SmN, with semiconducting behavior revealed by an increase in resistivity with decreasing temperature. These promising results highlight the importance of studying diverse heteroepitaxial schemes and open the door for integration of rare-earth nitrides and transition metal nitrides for future spintronic devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

A Cybersecurity Testbed for Smart Buildings

Smart buildings are equipped with a plethora of cyber-physical systems, such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices and building automation systems. These devices, especially in commercial buildings, use legacy communications and hardware that were not designed with cybersecurity in mind. With increasing cyber threats in recent years, smart buildings have become an increasing target for attacks, but not enough published data are available from these incidents to study or replicate the scenarios to defend buildings. As part of the U.S. Department of Energy-funded project focusing on developing the Building Intelligence with Layered Defense Using Security-Constrained Optimization and Security Risk Detection (BUILD-SOS) platform, we developed a cybersecurity test bed for smart buildings. This test bed includes a building simulation tool, virtual devices, emulated operational technology networks, and remote hardware-in-the-loop. Using this test bed, we performed different cyberattacks on the smart building model and collected both physical building data, to understand the impacts on the building, and network data, to aid in separating mechanical faults from cyberattacks during the detection. This test bed is a significant tool in protecting smart buildings from cyberattacks because it can aid in both cybersecurity analysis and the evaluation of other cyberattack detection tools by testing the tools in a secure environment without impacting the building operations.

cyber-physical systems↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Cybersecurity Testbed for Smart Buildings

Smart buildings are equipped with a plethora of cyber-physical systems, such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices and building automation systems. These devices, especially in commercial buildings, use legacy communications and hardware that were not designed with cybersecurity in mind. With increasing cyber threats in recent years, smart buildings have become an increasing target for attacks, but not enough published data are available from these incidents to study or replicate the scenarios to defend buildings. As part of the U.S. Department of Energy-funded project focusing on developing the Building Intelligence with Layered Defense Using Security-Constrained Optimization and Security Risk Detection (BUILD-SOS) platform, we developed a cybersecurity test bed for smart buildings. This test bed includes a building simulation tool, virtual devices, emulated operational technology networks, and remote hardware-in-the-loop. Using this test bed, we performed different cyberattacks on the smart building model and collected both physical building data, to understand the impacts on the building, and network data, to aid in separating mechanical faults from cyberattacks during the detection. This test bed is a significant tool in protecting smart buildings from cyberattacks because they can aid in both cybersecurity analysis and the evaluation of cyberattack detection tools by testing the tools in a secure environment without impacting the building operations.

alfalfa↗