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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 397 records · Page 22
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Laser-assisted focused He + ion beam induced etching with and without XeF 2 gas assist

Focused helium ion (He + ) milling has been demonstrated as a high-resolution nanopatterning technique; however, it can be limited by its low sputter yield as well as the introduction of undesired subsurface damage. Here, we introduce pulsed laser- and gas-assisted processes to enhance the material removal rate and patterning fidelity. A pulsed laser-assisted He+ milling process is shown to enable high-resolution milling of titanium while reducing subsurface damage in situ. Gas-assisted focused ion beam induced etching (FIBIE) of Ti is also demonstrated in which the XeF 2 precursor provides a chemical assist for enhanced material removal rate. In conclusion, a pulsed laser-assisted and gas-assisted FIBIE process is shown to increase the etch yield by ~9× relative to the pure He+ sputtering process. These He + induced nanopatterning techniques improve material removal rate, in comparison to standard He + sputtering, while simultaneously decreasing subsurface damage, thus extending the applicability of the He + probe as a nanopattering tool.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Focused electron beam in pyroelectric electron probe microanalyzer

We report a method to focus the electron beam generated using a pyroelectric crystal. An electron beam with a spot size of 100 μm was achieved by applying an electrical field to an electroconductive needle tip set on a pyroelectric crystal. When the focused electron beam bombarded a sample, characteristic X-rays of the sample were only detected due to the production of an electric field between the needle tip and the sample.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Analysis of continuously rotating quadrupole focusing channels using generalized Courant-Snyder theory

By extending the recently developed generalized Courant-Snyder theory for coupled transverse beam dynamics, we have constructed the Gaussian beam distribution and its projections with arbitrary mode emittance ratios. The new formulation has been applied to a continuously rotating quadrupole focusing channel because the basic properties of this channel are known theoretically and could also be investigated experimentally in a compact setup such as the linear Paul trap configuration. The new formulation retains a remarkably similar mathematical structure to the original Courant-Snyder theory, and thus, provides a powerful theoretical tool to investigate coupled transverse beam dynamics in general and more complex linear focusing channels.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2013

The role of the gas/plasma plume and self-focusing in a gas-filled capillary discharge waveguide for high-power laser-plasma applications

The role of the gas/plasma plume at the entrance of a gas-filled capillary discharge plasma waveguide in increasing the laser intensity has been investigated. Distinction is made between neutral gas and hot plasma plumes that, respectively, develop before and after discharge breakdown. Time-averaged measurements show that the on-axis plasma density of a fully expanded plasma plume over this region is similar to that inside the waveguide. Above the critical power, relativistic and ponderomotive self-focusing lead to an increase in the intensity, which can be nearly a factor of 2 compared with the case without a plume. When used as a laser plasma wakefield accelerator, the enhancement of intensity can lead to prompt electron injection very close to the entrance of the waveguide. Self-focusing occurs within two Rayleigh lengths of the waveguide entrance plane in the region, where the laser beam is converging. Analytical theory and numerical simulations show that, for a density of 3.0 × 10{sup 18} cm{sup −3}, the peak normalized laser vector potential, a{sub 0}, increases from 1.0 to 1.85 close to the entrance plane of the capillary compared with a{sub 0} = 1.41 when the plume is neglected.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Self-focusing of a high current density ion beam extracted with concave electrodes in a low energy region around 150 eV

Spontaneous self-focusing of ion beam with high current density (J{sub c} ∼ 2 mA/cm{sup 2}, I{sub b} ∼ 65 mA) in low energy region (∼150 eV) is observed in a hydrogen ion beam extracted from an ordinary bucket type ion source with three electrodes having concave shape (acceleration, deceleration, and grounded electrodes). The focusing appears abruptly in the beam energy region over ∼135–150 eV, and the J{sub c} jumps up from 0.7 to 2 mA/cm{sup 2}. Simultaneously a strong electron flow also appears in the beam region. The electron flow has almost the same current density. Probably these electrons compensate the ion space charge and suppress the beam divergence.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Study on electron beam in a low energy plasma focus

Electron beam emission was investigated in a low energy plasma focus device (2.2 kJ) using copper hollow anode. Faraday cup was used to estimate the energy of the electron beam. XR100CR X-ray spectrometer was used to explore the impact of the electron beam on the target observed from top-on and side-on position. Experiments were carried out at optimized pressure of argon gas. The impact of electron beam is exceptionally notable with two different approaches using lead target inside hollow anode in our plasma focus device.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Design and characterization of electron beam focusing for X-ray generation in novel medical imaging architecture

A novel electron beam focusing scheme for medical X-ray sources is described in this paper. Most vacuum based medical X-ray sources today employ a tungsten filament operated in temperature limited regime, with electrostatic focusing tabs for limited range beam optics. This paper presents the electron beam optics designed for the first distributed X-ray source in the world for Computed Tomography (CT) applications. This distributed source includes 32 electron beamlets in a common vacuum chamber, with 32 circular dispenser cathodes operated in space charge limited regime, where the initial circular beam is transformed into an elliptical beam before being collected at the anode. The electron beam optics designed and validated here are at the heart of the first Inverse Geometry CT system, with potential benefits in terms of improved image quality and dramatic X-ray dose reduction for the patient.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Summary of recent experiments on focusing of target-normal-sheath-accelerated proton beam with a stack of conducting foils

We present a summary of recent experiments on focusing of laser target-normal-sheath-accelerated (TNSA) proton beam with a stack of thin conducting foils. The experiments were performed using the Phelix laser (GSI-Darmstadt) and the Titan laser, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The phenomena consistent with self-collimation (or weak self-focusing) of TNSA protons were experimentally observed for the first time at the Phelix laser user facility, in a specially engineered structure ('lens') consisting of a stack of 300 thin aluminum foils separated by 50 μm vacuum gaps. Follow up experiments using the Titan laser obtained results consistent with the collimation/focusing observed in the initial experiments using the Phelix. The Titan experiments employed improved, 25 μm- and 50 μm-gap targets and the new fine mesh diagnostic. All the experiments were carried out in a “passive environment,” i.e., no external fields were applied, and no neutralization plasma or injection of secondary charged particles was imposed. A plausible interpretation of the observed phenomena is that the combination of magnetic self-pinch forces generated by the beam current together with the simultaneous reduction of the repulsive electrostatic forces due to the conducting foils inhibits radial expansion of the beam.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Response to “Comment on ‘Stationary self-focusing of Gaussian laser beam in relativistic thermal quantum plasma’” [Phys. Plasmas 21, 064701 (2014)]

Habibi and Ghamari have presented a Comment on our paper [Phys. Plasmas 20, 072703 (2013)] by examining quantum dielectric response in thermal quantum plasma. They have modeled the relativistic self-focusing of Gaussian laser beam in cold and warm quantum plasmas and reported that self-focusing length does not change in both situations. In this response, we have reached the following important conclusions about the comment itself.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Filamentary structures in dense plasma focus: Current filaments or vortex filaments?

Recent observations of an azimuthally distributed array of sub-millimeter size sources of fusion protons and correlation between extreme ultraviolet (XUV) images of filaments with neutron yield in PF-1000 plasma focus have re-kindled interest in their significance. These filaments have been described variously in literature as current filaments and vortex filaments, with very little experimental evidence in support of either nomenclature. This paper provides, for the first time, experimental observations of filaments on a table-top plasma focus device using three techniques: framing photography of visible self-luminosity from the plasma, schlieren photography, and interferometry. Quantitative evaluation of density profile of filaments from interferometry reveals that their radius closely agrees with the collision-less ion skin depth. This is a signature of relaxed state of a Hall fluid, which has significant mass flow with equipartition between kinetic and magnetic energy, supporting the “vortex filament” description. This interpretation is consistent with empirical evidence of an efficient energy concentration mechanism inferred from nuclear reaction yields.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Enhancement of second harmonic generation in NaNO{sub 2}-infiltrated opal photonic crystal using structural light focusing

Experimental and numerical results for second harmonic generation (SHG) in photonic crystal (PC) based on NaNO{sub 2}-infiltrated opal matrix are presented. SHG is performed in reflection mode; thus, the direction of the SHG maximum is equal to the angle of mirror reflection. The PC was pumped with femtosecond optical pulses at different angles of incidence, allowing the dependence of the SHG efficiency on the location of the fundamental wavelength toward the PC band gap (BG) to be examined. The most efficient SHG was observed when pumping the BG of the PC. To interpret the experimental results, finite-difference time-domain numerical simulations of the light interaction with the PC were conducted. The observed effect of highly efficient SHG is associated with structural light focusing, and, as a consequence, with strong optical field localization within certain near-surface PC regions. Thus, SHG enhancement based on structural light focusing in PC was demonstrated.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Self-focusing of circularly polarized laser pulse propagating through a magnetized non-Maxwellian plasma

Self-focusing of an intense circularly polarized laser pulse propagating through a magnetized non-Maxwellian plasma is investigated. Based on a relativistic two-fluid model, nonlinear equation describing dynamics of the slowly varying amplitude is obtained. The evolution of laser spot size is studied and effect of non-Maxwellian distribution of charge density on the spot size is considered. It is shown that the existence of super-thermal particles leads to the enhancement of the self-focusing quality of plasma.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Weakly relativistic and ponderomotive effects on self-focusing and self-compression of laser pulses in near critical plasmas

The spatiotemporal dynamics of high power laser pulses in near critical plasmas are studied taking in to account the effects of relativistic and ponderomotive nonlinearities. First, within one-dimensional analysis, the effects of initial parameters such as laser intensity, plasma density, and plasma electron temperature on the self-compression mechanism are discussed. The results illustrate that the ponderomotive nonlinearity obstructs the relativistic self-compression above a certain intensity value. Moreover, the results indicate the existence of the turning point temperature in which the compression process has its strongest strength. Next, the three-dimensional analysis of laser pulse propagation is investigated by coupling the self-focusing equation with the self-compression one. It is shown that in contrast to the case in which the only relativistic nonlinearity is considered, in the presence of ponderomotive nonlinearity, the self-compression mechanism obstructs the self-focusing and leads to an increase of the laser spot size.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Experimental observation of disorder induced self-focusing in optical fibers

We observed disorder induced focusing nonlinearity activated by a monochromatic light beam in optical fibers composed by two kinds of plastics. The two materials, arranged in disordered fashion, support modes with a degree of localization which increases with the intensity of the optical beam. The temporal response of the optical fiber demonstrates the thermal origin of this nonlinearity. Measurements of the localization length as a function of the input power with broadband and monochromatic inputs show the effectiveness of focusing action with respect to the case of homogeneous fibers.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

Subwavelength acoustic focusing by surface-wave-resonance enhanced transmission in doubly negative acoustic metamaterials

We present analytical and numerical analyses of a yet unseen lensing paradigm that is based on a solid metamaterial slab in which the wave excitation source is attached. We propose and demonstrate sub-diffraction-limited acoustic focusing induced by surface resonant states in doubly negative metamaterials. The enhancement of evanescent waves across the metamaterial slab produced by their resonant coupling to surface waves is evidenced and quantitatively determined. The effect of metamaterial parameters on surface states, transmission, and wavenumber bandwidth is clearly identified. Based on this concept consisting of a wave source attached on the metamaterial, a high resolution of λ/28.4 is obtained with the optimum effective physical parameters, opening then an exciting way to design acoustic metamaterials for ultrasonic focused imaging.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Second harmonic generation by relativistic self-focusing of q-Gaussian laser beam in preformed parabolic plasma channel

This paper presents an investigation of relativistic self-focusing effect of a q-Gaussian laser beam on second harmonic generation in a preformed parabolic plasma channel. An expression has been derived for density perturbation associated with the plasma wave excited by the laser beam. This in turn acts as a source of second harmonic generation. The moment theory approach has been used to derive a differential equation that governs the evolution of spot size of the laser beam with the distance of propagation. The detailed effects of intensity distribution deviation from Gaussian distribution, intensity of laser beam, density, and depth of the channel have been studied on self-focusing as well as on second harmonic generation.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

The benefits of using time-frequency analysis with synthetic aperture focusing technique

Improvements in detection and resolution are always desired and needed. There are various instruments available for the inspection of concrete structures that can be used with confidence for detecting different defects. However, more often than not that confidence is heavily dependent on the experience of the operator rather than the clear, objective discernibility of the output of the instrument. The challenge of objective discernment is amplified when the concrete structures contain multiple layers of reinforcement, are of significant thickness, or both, such as concrete structures in nuclear power plants. We seek to improve and extend the usefulness of results produced using the synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT) on data collected from thick, complex concrete structures. A secondary goal is to improve existing SAFT results, with regards to repeatedly and objectively identifying defects and/or internal structure of concrete structures. Towards these goals, we are applying the time-frequency technique of wavelet packet decomposition and reconstruction using a mother wavelet that possesses the exact reconstruction property. However, instead of analyzing the coefficients of each decomposition node, we select and reconstruct specific nodes based on the frequency band it contains to produce a frequency band specific time-series representation. SAFT is then applied to these frequency specific reconstructions allowing SAFT to be used to visualize the reflectivity of a frequency band and that band's interaction with the contents of the concrete structure. We apply our technique to data sets collected using a commercial, ultrasonic linear array (MIRA) from two 1.5m × 2m × 25cm concrete test specimens. One specimen contains multiple layers of rebar. The other contains honeycomb, crack, and rebar bonding defect analogs. This approach opens up a multitude of possibilities for improved detection, readability, and overall improved objectivity. We will focus on improved defect/reinforcement isolation in thick and multilayered reinforcement environments. Additionally, the ability to empirically explore the possibility of a frequency-band-defect-type relationship or sensitivity becomes available.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

A compact broadband ion beam focusing device based on laser-driven megagauss thermoelectric magnetic fields

Ultra-intense lasers can nowadays routinely accelerate kiloampere ion beams. These unique sources of particle beams could impact many societal (e.g., proton-therapy or fuel recycling) and fundamental (e.g., neutron probing) domains. However, this requires overcoming the beam angular divergence at the source. This has been attempted, either with large-scale conventional setups or with compact plasma techniques that however have the restriction of short (<1 mm) focusing distances or a chromatic behavior. Here, we show that exploiting laser-triggered, long-lasting (>50 ps), thermoelectric multi-megagauss surface magnetic (B)-fields, compact capturing, and focusing of a diverging laser-driven multi-MeV ion beam can be achieved over a wide range of ion energies in the limit of a 5° acceptance angle.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗