SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “accelerator diagnostics”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 397 records · Page 22

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2020

NuMI Beam Muon Monitor Data Analysis and Simulation for Improved Beam Monitoring

The NuMI muon monitors (MMs) are a very important diagnostic tool for monitoring the stability of the neutrino beam used by the NOvA experiment at Fermilab. The goal of our study is to maintain the quality of the MM signal and to establish the correlations between the neutrino and muon beam profile. This study could also inform the LBNF decision on the beam diagnostic tools. We report on the progress of beam scan data analysis (beam position, spot size, and magnetic horn current scan) and comparison with the simulation outcomes.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Neutron diagnostics and neutron generation with Z-Petawatt

We are developing a versatile neutron test platform at the “Chama” target chamber at Sandia to utilize Z-Petawatt in support of Z’s neutron diagnostic work. Details and first results are given in the poster.

Geissel, Matthias [Sandia National Laboratories (S↗

DOE OSTI2024

Abstract for CRADA between National Energy Technology Laboratory and TOPTICA Photonics, Inc.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and Toptica Photonics (Participant) will collaborate to demonstrate the application of a frequency-comb laser (dual-comb spectroscopy) in an optically accessible rotating detonation engine (RDE). RDEs are a next-generation energy conversion technology which are well-suited to hydrogen usage and have the potential to significantly increase the efficiency of gas turbine engine power cycles. However, critical information is needed about the high temperature and pressure detonation wave, which represents an extremely challenging diagnostic environment. Dual-comb spectroscopy can be used to characterize the pressure-broadened IR absorption features at MHz rates, providing information not possible with conventional tunable diode laser (TDL) technologies. This collaboration will, for the first time, demonstrate application of dual-comb spectroscopy within the combustion annulus of a hydrogen-air RDE. If successful, the data generated will help to accelerate commercialization of RDE technologies in support of decarbonizing our nation’s energy sector.

08 HYDROGEN↗

DOE OSTI2026

Apex Study: Compensating Transient Beam Loading in the RHIC 28 MHZ

With the EIC on the way, it is important that developments and strategies are in place to deal with the very high beam currents that the machine will feature. Specifically, the EIC will collide beams of up to 2.5 A, three times the beam current in RHIC. This higher beam current will cause significant voltage transients in the cavity fields which can lead to longitudinal instabilities and beam loss. In anticipation of these negative effects, studies were carried out on the RHIC 28 MHz cavities using newly developed firmware and software to diagnose and combat beam loading. Diagnostic tools such as the bunch-by-bunch (BbyB) ADC firmware and digital network analyzer (DNA) were used to characterize the closed loop system and transient on the cavity voltage magnitude and phase. Then, a one-turn delay feedback (OTFB) and adaptive feed-forward (aFFWD) were used to minimize the transient beam loading. The studies were carried out with beam during 2 accelerator physics experiements (APEXs) using one of the 28 MHz accelerating cavities here at RHIC.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2024

EXPLORING INTERFEROMETRY DIAGNOSTICS FOR OPTICAL STOCHASTIC COOLING AT FAST/IOTA

Optical Stochastic Cooling (OSC) is an advanced beam-cooling technique that will advance the traditional stochastic cooling. This method leverages optical radiation and high-precision feedback to cool the particles more efficiently than traditional stochastic methods by more than three orders of magnitude. As such, it is an enabler for the development of next generation discovery science machines at the frontiers of energy and intensity. This paper focuses on the development of the second phase of OSC and improving extreme beam cooling techniques in accelerators. The goal was to build and characterize a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) in the FAST laser lab using known glass plates thickness which will allow future measurements of unknown phase change due to nonlinear amplification processes.

Teriba, Folashade↗

DOE OSTI2022

Flow Measurements in Pressurized Helium Gas Cooling Channels

Production of metastable Technetium-99 (Tc-99m) is vital to the medical imaging community. It is a radioactive tracer that emits gamma rays as it decays and it is these gamma rays that are then detected through imaging. Tc-99m is extracted from the decay of Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) which has a half-life of about 2-3 days. One method of generating Mo-99 is using accelerator based technology, through the irradiation of Mo-100 using an electron beam. This is part of the NNSA’s mission to produce Mo-99 commercially, within the US, without the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) in support of nonproliferation and global security. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is working with NorthStar medical Radioisotopes (NMR) on their efforts to produce Mo-99 from the irradiation of Mo-100 targets. The NMR target consists of an Inconel window that allows the electron beam to penetrate and irradiate a stack of Mo-100 discs. The irradiation process generates large amounts of heat and requires extensive cooling of the Mo-100 targets and target housing using pressurized helium gas. Before beam on target, the design of the target stack and target housing is tested at LANL using laser based diagnostics experiments. We quantify the velocity field of the helium gas around the target housing to estimate whether the cooling provided is sufficient for the design and to validate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models. Fiber optic imaging is also developed for use during cold testing (without beam on target) as well as during irradiation, to obtain real time information on disc performance.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

Machine learning surrogate for charged particle beam dynamics with space charge based on a recurrent neural network with aleatoric uncertainty

In this work, we develop a machine learning (ML) model with aleatoric uncertainty for the low energy beam transport (LEBT) region of the LANSCE linear accelerator in which we model the transport of a space-charge-dominated 750 keV proton beam through a lattice of 22 quadrupole magnets. Our ML model is developed based on data generated by a Kapchinsky–Vladimirsky (KV) envelope model of beam transport. We show that a recurrent neural network can be used as a dynamical surrogate model for fast prediction of the LEBT beam envelope. Furthermore, we endow the model with the prediction of aleatoric uncertainty and compare three different approaches. We demonstrate that the ML-based uncertainty quantification models are well calibrated and produce good estimates of the regions where the model is less certain about its predictions. This ML framework is a necessary step in the development of a real-time virtual diagnostic tool with uncertainty quantification that can be integrated into more complex downstream tasks (e.g., adaptive control or learning flexible control policies via reinforcement learning) for improved efficiency in beam operations. In future work, we plan to expand on this preliminary study by considering more realistic envelope models that include longitudinal momentum spread and dispersive effects in bending magnets, as well as particle tracking codes with 3D space charge (such as and ). Published by the American Physical Society 2024

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Photon acceleration of high-intensity vector vortex beams into the extreme ultraviolet

Extreme ultraviolet (XUV) light sources allow for the probing of bound electron dynamics on attosecond scales, interrogation of high-energy-density matter, and access to novel regimes of strong-field quantum electrodynamics. Despite the importance of these applications, coherent XUV sources remain relatively rare, and those that do exist are limited in their peak intensity and spatio-polarization structure. Here, we demonstrate that photon acceleration of an optical vector vortex pulse in the moving density gradient of an electron beam–driven plasma wave can produce a high-intensity, tunable-wavelength XUV pulse with the same vector vortex structure as the original pulse. Quasi-3D, boosted-frame particlein- cell simulations show the transition of optical vector vortex pulses with 800-nm wavelengths and intensities below 10 18 W/cm 2 to XUV vector vortex pulses with 36-nm wavelengths and intensities exceeding 10 20 W/cm 2 over a distance of 1.2 cm. The XUV pulses have sub-femtosecond durations and nearly flat phase fronts. The production of such high-quality, high-intensity XUV vector vortex pulses could expand the utility of XUV light as a diagnostic and driver of novel light–matter interactions.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Diagnostics, Prognostics, and Optimization for Lithium-Ion Battery Systems

Health management of lithium-ion battery systems presents a host of challenges due to their complex physics, large numbers of components, and a wide variety of degradation behaviors across different battery types. Dr. Paul Gasper will present on research from the Electrochemical Energy Storage Group on Lithium-ion battery diagnostics, prognostics, and optimization. Diagnostics research, including state-estimation via machine-learning from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and DC pulses as well as continuous state-estimation via Kalman filters, will highlight the ongoing challenges for accurately measuring the state of batteries without performing time-consuming characterization tests. NLR's industry-recognized battery prognostics work, which predicts real-world battery degradation by identifying degradation rate models from accelerated aging data using statistical modeling and machine-learning, will be used to demonstrate the critical impact of battery controls, thermal management, and operating strategy on durability and lifetime. Finally, the use of prognostic models for financial or lifetime optimization will be discussed.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2024

Beam correction for multi-pass arcs in FFA@CEBAF: status update

This work examines the multi-pass steering of six electron beams in an FFA arc ranging from approximately 10.5 GeV to 22 GeV. Shown here is an algorithm based on singular value decomposition (SVD) to successfully steer all six beams through the arc given precise knowledge of all beam positions at each of one hundred and one diagnostic locations with one hundred individual corrector magnets: that is successive application of SVD to different 100 × 101 response matrices—one for each beam energy. Further, a machine learning scheme is developed which only requires knowledge of the energy-averaged beam position at each location to provide equivalent steering. Extension of this scheme to other beam optics quantities as well as transverse and longitudinal coupling is explored.

Accelerator Physics↗

DOE OSTI2025

Gyrokinetic profile prediction and validation of a negative triangularity plasma in ASDEX Upgrade

In this work, gyrokinetic simulations are performed with the CGYRO code (Candy et al 2016 J. Comput. Phys. 324 73–93) for a negative triangularity H-mode plasma in ASDEX Upgrade, and compared with experimental measurements. The PORTALS framework (Rodriguez-Fernandez et al 2024 Nucl. Fusion 64 076034) is used to accelerate the prediction of kinetic profiles for this plasma, using surrogate modeling and Bayesian optimization. Ion heat flux, electron heat flux, and electron particle flux are simultaneously matched across the simulated radial regime of the plasma (normalized radius $r/a = 0.35-0.90$), and the resulting ion temperature, electron temperature, and electron density profiles match well with the experimental profile data within this radial range. A synthetic Correlation Electron Cyclotron Emission diagnostic is applied to find well-matched electron temperature fluctuation properties between simulation and experiment. The flux-matched profiles provide a basis for investigation of the turbulence nature across the plasma radius, revealing the dominance of Trapped Electron Mode turbulence at $r/a = 0.35$, the dominance of Ion Temperature Gradient turbulence at $r/a = 0.55$, 0.75, and 0.83, and an instability boundary at $r/a = 0.90$.

gyrokinetic simulation↗

DOE OSTI2022

MAGNETIC FIELD MAPPING OF 1.3 GHz SUPERCONDUCTING RADIO FREQUENCY NIOBIUM CAVITIES

Niobium is the material of choice to build superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities, which are fundamental building blocks of modern particle accelerators. These cavities require a cryogenic cool-down to ~2 - 4 K for optimum performance minimizing RF losses on the inner cavity surface. However, temperature-independent residual losses in SRF cavities cannot be prevented entirely. One of the significant contributor to residual losses is trapped magnetic flux. The flux trapping mechanism depends on different factors, such as surface preparations and cool-down conditions. We have developed a diagnostic magnetic field scanning system (MFSS) using Hall probes and anisotropic magneto-resistance sensors to study the spatial distribution of trapped flux in 1.3 GHz single-cell cavities. The first result from this newly commissioned system revealed that the trapped flux on the cavity surface might redistribute with increasing RF power. The MFSS was also able to capture significant magnetic field enhancement at specific cavity locations after a quench.

Parajuli, I. P.↗

DOE OSTI2026

Revolutionizing Energy Storage: AI, Automation, and Advanced Modeling as Catalysts for Next-Generation Breakthroughs

The Presidential Symposium (PRES) at the 2025 Fall Meeting, hosted by the President’s Office and Energy and Fuels Division, American Chemical Society (ACS) in Washington, DC, brought together a diverse group of chemists, engineers, and materials scientists working in battery materials & systems, automation and artificial intelligence from academia, industry, and national laboratories. The accelerating demand for high-performance, scalable, and sustainable energy storage has catalyzed a paradigm shift in how materials are dis-covered, devices are engineered, and systems are optimized. This Presidential Symposium, entitled “Revolutionizing Energy Storage: AI, Automation, and Advanced Modeling Driving Next-Gen Breakthroughs”, brings together global leaders to unveil transformative strategies anchored in the AAA framework: Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and Advanced Modeling. Artificial Intelligence is redefining the frontiers of energy storage by enabling predictive design, real-time optimization, and intelligent control across diverse chemistries and architectures. Automation is streamlining the synthesis, characterization, and testing of battery materials, dramatically accelerating innovation cycles and unlocking scalable solutions for grid and mobility applications. Advanced Modeling, spanning atomic to system-level scales, provides unprecedented insight into electrochemical dynamics, degradation pathways, and thermal behavior, particularly when coupled with physics-informed machine learning and digital twin technologies. Digital twins, in turn, leverage the AAA framework by integrating real-time data, physics-based models, and AI predictions into dynamic virtual replicas, enabling proactive diagnostics, optimization, and system resilience. Together, these synergistic pillars are not only re-shaping the scientific landscape but also forging a new era of reproducible, data-driven, and resilient energy storage innovation. In conclusion, this symposium marks a pivotal moment in the convergence of computational intelligence and experimental rigor, charting the course for next-generation breakthroughs in lithium-ion, solid-state, and flow battery technologies.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)↗

DOE OSTI2023

Phase-space Energization of Ions in Oblique Shocks

Abstract Examining energization of kinetic plasmas in phase space is a growing topic of interest, owing to the wealth of data in phase space compared to traditional bulk energization diagnostics. Via the field-particle correlation (FPC) technique and using multiple means of numerically integrating the plasma kinetic equation, we have studied the energization of ions in phase space within oblique collisionless shocks. The perspective afforded to us with this analysis in phase space allows us to characterize distinct populations of energized ions. In particular, we focus on ions that reflect multiple times off the shock front through shock-drift acceleration, and how to distinguish these different reflected populations in phase space using the FPC technique. We further extend our analysis to simulations of three-dimensional shocks undergoing more complicated dynamics, such as shock ripple, to demonstrate the ability to recover the phase-space signatures of this energization process in a more general system. This work thus extends previous applications of the FPC technique to more realistic collisionless shock environments, providing stronger evidence of the technique’s utility for simulation, laboratory, and spacecraft analysis.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Kinetic Simulations of Electron Pre-energization by Magnetized Collisionless Shocks in Expanding Laboratory Plasmas

Collisionless shocks are common features in space and astrophysical systems where supersonic plasma flows interact, such as in the solar wind, the heliopause, and supernova remnants. Recent experimental capabilities and diagnostics allow detailed laboratory investigations of high-Mach-number shocks, which therefore can become a valuable way to understand shock dynamics in various astrophysical environments. Using 2D particle-in-cell simulations with a Coulomb binary collision operator, we demonstrate the mechanism for generation of energetic electrons and experimental requirements for detecting this process in the laboratory high-Mach-number collisionless shocks. We show through a parameter study that electron acceleration by magnetized collisionless shocks is feasible in laboratory experiments with laser-driven expanding plasmas.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Deep learning based x-ray spectrometer for high repetition rate characterization of betatron radiation

Betatron radiation produced from a laser-wakefield accelerator is a broadband, hard x-ray (>1 keV) source that has been used in a variety of applications in medicine, engineering, and fundamental science. Further development and optimization of stable, high repetition rate (HRR) (>1 Hz) betatron sources will provide a means to extend their application base to include single-shot dynamical measurements of ultrafast processes or dense materials. Recent advances in laser technology used in such experiments have enabled increases in shot-rate and system stability, providing improved statistical analysis and detailed parameter scans. However, unique challenges exist at high repetition rate, where data throughput and source optimization are now limited by diagnostic acquisition rates and analysis. Here, we present the development of a machine-learning algorithm for the real-time analysis of betatron radiation. We report on the fielding of this deep learning algorithm for online source characterization at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique's Advanced Laser Light Source. By fine-tuning an algorithm originally trained on a fully synthetic dataset using a subset of experimental data, the algorithm can predict the betatron critical energy with a percent error of 7.2 % with a reconstruction time of 1.5 ms, providing a valuable tool for real-time, multi-objective optimization at HRR.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2026

Diagnostic x-ray source using electrons produced by a 100 J-class picosecond laser

Many laser-based high-energy-density science (HEDS) facilities have one or more short-pulse (sub- to few-picosecond) laser beams for diagnostics. For the past decade, we have been developing a novel x-ray probing capability using such picosecond lasers interacting with an underdense plasma to produce relativistic electrons. The ultimate goal of these experiments is to demonstrate a new type of x-ray backlighter using the short-pulse ARC laser at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Before this diagnostic is fielded at the NIF, it is critical to demonstrate the viability and reproducibility of the x-ray source on comparable high-power short-pulse laser systems. We present experiments that were carried out with the OMEGA EP laser at the University of Rochester’s laboratory for laser energetics. In these experiments, high-energy electrons are produced through a combination of the self-modulation instability and direct laser acceleration in an underdense gas jet. These electrons generate directional x-rays with characteristic energies up to several tens of keV as they execute betatron motion in the ion channel, and the inverse Compton scattering process generates even harder x-rays, with characteristic photon energies of 60–240 keV. When implemented on the OMEGA EP laser(s), this x-ray source yields results that are comparable to those obtained recently on the short-pulse Titan laser at the Jupiter Laser Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, after accounting for differences in laser energy, peak intensity, focusing f/#, and plasma source. Applications of such an x-ray source for HEDS experiments are discussed.

backlighter↗

DOE OSTI2022

Preliminary Results from Magnetic Field Scanning System for a Single-Cell Niobium Cavity

One of the building blocks of modern particle accelerators is superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) cavities. Niobium is the material of choice to build such cavities, which operate at liquid helium temperature (2 - 4 K) and have some of the highest quality factors found in Nature. There are several sources of residual losses, one of them is trapped magnetic flux, which limits the quality factor in SRF cavities. The flux trapping mechanism depends on different niobium surface preparations and cool-down conditions. Suitable diagnostic tools are not yet available to study the effects of such conditions on magnetic flux trapping. A magnetic field scanning system (MFSS) for SRF cavities using Hall probes and Fluxgate magnetometer has been designed, built, and is commissioned to measure the local magnetic field trapped in 1.3 GHz single-cell SRF cavities at 4 K. In this contribution, we will present the preliminary results from MFSS for a single cell niobium cavity.

Ciovati, G.↗