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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 415 records · Page 23
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2016

A New, Low Braking Index for the LMC Pulsar B0540-69

We report the results of a 16-month monitoring campaign using the Swift satellite of PSR 0540, a young pulsar in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Phase connection was maintained throughout the campaign so that a reliable ephemeris could be determined, and the length of the campaign is adequate to accurately determine the spin frequency and its first and second derivatives. The braking index n is 0.031 +/- 0.013 (90% confidence), a value much lower than previously reported for 0 540 and almost all other young pulsars. We use data from the extensive monitoring campaign with RXTE to showt hat timing noise is unlikely to significantly affect the measurement. This is the first measurement of the braking index in the pulsars recently discovered high spin-down state. We discuss possible mechanisms for producing the low braking index.

pulsars individual (PSR B0540−69)↗
NASA NTRS2017

Dynamic Control of Refractive Index During Pulsed-Laser-Deposited Waveguide Growth

Engineering the optical properties of waveguides is important for the optimization of their guided optical mode characteristics. Here, we document the dynamic control of the refractive index and composition of crystalline films, via the substrate temperature, during pulsed-laser-deposition growth of Er(1%)-doped yttrium gallium garnet on <100>-orientated single-crystal yttrium aluminium garnet. An increasing substrate temperature is observed to reduce the gallium content in the grown film, with a corresponding reduction of refractive index. We demonstrate the ability to accurately control the refractive index via this technique and use it to grow a complex multi-core crystal waveguide. Our results highlight the potential of using pulsed laser deposition to fabricate crystal films with bespoke optical properties and thus engineer passive and active waveguide devices in situ.

Temperature↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Establishing an Urban Heat Exposure Severity Index for Infrastructure Prioritization in Tempe, Arizona, Using NASA Earth Observations and LiDAR

Located on the banks of the Salt River in the Sonoran Desert, Tempe, Arizona, features a semi-arid climate with summer daily maximum temperatures regularly exceeding 37.8°C. Tempe is also subject to the southwestern monsoon season from July-September and the humidity exacerbates the high temperatures. Furthermore, the rapid urbanization experienced in Tempe has resulted in an intensification of the urban heat island. The summer of 2020 shattered the previous record of days exceeding 43.4°C, leading to higher energy and water costs, lower comfort, and increased risk of heat stroke for residents. Recognizing the impacts of extreme heat, the City of Tempe partnered with the Healthy Urban Environments initiative and NASA DEVELOP to identify census tracts that experience a higher mean land surface temperature than the city average. The NASA DEVELOP team used remotely sensed land surface temperature (LST), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference built-up index (NDBI), normalized difference water index (NDWI), and albedo data calculated from Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) instruments from 2015 to 2020 to create heat hazard and exposure maps. LiDAR point cloud data, provided by the United States Geological Survey through Arizona State University’s Map and Geospatial Hub, were used to derive 3D buildings, building footprints, and tree point data for a shading analysis of walking paths, roads, and buildings at the census tract level. In situ meteorological measurements including air temperature and humidity were used to compare the macro-scale temperature measurements. The team worked with the City of Tempe to develop a methodology to process available data and identify areas of highest concern for urban heat effects within the city. With these insights, Tempe, Arizona can better address these issues with data-driven information to make decisions regarding heat mitigation and adaptation efforts.

John Dialesandro↗
NASA NTRS2019

Exploiting the Convergence of Evidence in Satellite Data for Advanced Weather Index Insurance Design

The goal of drought-related weather index insurance (WII) is to protect smallholder farmers against the risk of weather shocks and to increase their agricultural productivity. Estimates of precipitation and vegetation greenness are the two dominant satellite datasets. However, ignoring additional moisture- and energy-related processes that influence the response of vegetation to rainfall leads to an incomplete representation of the hydrologic cycle. This study evaluates the added value of considering multiple independent satellite-based variables to design, calibrate, and validate weather insurance indices on the African continent. The satellite data include two rainfall datasets, soil moisture, the evaporative stress index (ESI), and vegetation greenness. We limit artificial advantages by resampling all datasets to the same spatial (0.25°) and temporal (monthly) resolution, although datasets with a higher spatial resolution might have an added value, if considered as the single source of information for localized applications. A higher correlation coefficient between the moisture-focused variables and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), an indicator for vegetation vigor, provides evidence for the datasets’ capability to capture agricultural drought conditions on the ground. The Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) rainfall dataset, soil moisture, and ESI show higher correlations with the (lagged) NDVI in large parts of Africa, for different land covers and various climate zones, than the African Rainfall Climatology, version 2 (ARC2), rainfall dataset, which is often used in WII. A comparison to drought years as reported by farmers in Ethiopia, Senegal, and Zambia indicates a high “hit rate” of all satellite-derived anomalies regarding the detection of severe droughts but limitations regarding moderate drought events.

drought↗
DOE OSTI2015

Storing files in a parallel computing system using list-based index to identify replica files

Improved techniques are provided for storing files in a parallel computing system using a list-based index to identify file replicas. A file and at least one replica of the file are stored in one or more storage nodes of the parallel computing system. An index for the file comprises at least one list comprising a pointer to a storage location of the file and a storage location of the at least one replica of the file. The file comprises one or more of a complete file and one or more sub-files. The index may also comprise a checksum value for one or more of the file and the replica(s) of the file. The checksum value can be evaluated to validate the file and/or the file replica(s). A query can be processed using the list.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Index for Wind Power Variability

Variability of large scale wind power generation is dependent on several factors: characteristics of installed wind power plants, size of the area where the plants are installed, geographic dispersion within that area and its weather regime(s). Variability can be described by ramps in power generation, i.e. changes from time period to time period. Given enough data points, it can be described with a probability density function. This approach focuses on two dimensions of variability: duration of the ramp and probability distribution. This paper proposes an index based on these two dimensions to enable comparisons and characterizations of variability under different conditions. The index is tested with real, large scale wind power generation data from several countries. Considerations while forming an index are discussed, as well as the main results regarding what the drivers of variability experienced for different data.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

System and method for hardware scheduling of indexed barriers

A method and a system are provided for hardware scheduling of indexed barrier instructions. Execution of a plurality of threads to process instructions of a program that includes a barrier instruction is initiated and when each thread reaches the barrier instruction, the thread pauses execution of the instructions. A first sub-group of threads in the plurality of threads is associated with a first sub-barrier index and a second sub-group of threads in the plurality of threads is associated with a second sub-barrier index. When the barrier instruction can be scheduled for execution, threads in the first sub-group are executed serially and threads in the second sub-group are executed serially and at least one thread in the first sub-group is executed in parallel with at least one thread in the second sub-group.

Lindholm, John Erik↗
DOE OSTI2019

System and method for focal-plane angular-spatial illuminator/detector (fasid) design for improved graded index lenses

The present disclosure relates to a method for imaging an optical signal received by a graded index (GRIN) optical element to account for known variations in a graded index distribution of the GRIN optical element. The method may involve using a plurality of optical detector elements to receive optical rays received by the GRIN optical element at a plane, where the plane forms a part of the GRIN optical element or is downstream of the GRIN optical element relative to a direction of propagation of the optical rays. The optical rays are then traced to a plurality of additional specific locations on the plane based on the known variations in the graded index distribution of the GRIN optical element. A processor may be used to determine information on both an intensity and an angle of the received optical rays at each one of the plurality of specific locations on the plane of the GRIN optical element.

Feigenbaum, Eyal↗
DOE OSTI2021

System and method for focal-plane illuminator/detector (FASID) design for improved graded index lenses

The present disclosure relates to a detector system for imaging an optical signal received by a graded index (GRIN) optical element to account for known variations in a graded index distribution of the GRIN optical element. The detector system incorporates a plurality of optical detector elements configured to receive optical rays received by the GRIN optical element at specific locations on a plane of the GRIN optical element. Ray tracing software is configured to receive and map the optical rays to a plurality of additional specific locations on the plane based on the known variations in the graded index distribution of the GRIN optical element. A processor uses algorithms for diagonalization of a linear system matrix to determine information on both an intensity and an angle of the received optical rays at each one of the plurality of specific locations on the plane.

Bude, Jeffrey Devin↗
DOE OSTI2024

Chiral symmetry and Atiyah-Patodi-Singer index theorem for staggered fermions

We consider the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer (APS) index theorem corresponding to the chiral symmetry of a continuum formulation of staggered fermions called Kähler-Dirac fermions, which have been recently investigated as an ingredient in lattice constructions of chiral gauge theories. We point out that there are two notions of chiral symmetry for Kähler-Dirac fermions, both having a mixed perturbative anomaly with gravity leading to index theorems on closed manifolds. By formulating these theories on a manifold with boundary, we find the APS index theorems corresponding to each of these symmetries, necessary for a complete picture of anomaly inflow, using a recently discovered physics-motivated proof. We comment on a fundamental difference between the nature of these two symmetries by showing that a sensible local, symmetric boundary condition only exists for one of the two symmetries. This sheds light on how these symmetries behave under lattice discretization, and in particular on their use for recent symmetric-mass generation proposals.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Refractive index matching base resin for extremely fine three-dimensional ceramic structures

An optically clear resin for additive manufacturing includes an optically clear ceramic precursor having a pre-defined refractive index. Each molecule of the ceramic precursor has at least two photopolymerizable functional groups, at least one of the photopolymerizable functional groups being functionalized with a refractive index-tuning group thereby causing the ceramic precursor to have the pre-defined refractive index.

Mettry, Magi↗
DOE OSTI2024

In-Silico Analysis of High Refractive Index Materials Through Principles of Materials Design

The intent of the paper is to use specific principles of Materials Design that were developed and applied in the electronics industry for enabling understanding and design of improved high refractive index materials. Further, by combining first-principle based ab-initio, semiempirical interatomic potential methods, and machine learning approaches in conjunction with experimental data, we identified specific determinants of high refractive index materials, which can be critically applied for informing materials design and accelerating discovery. Specifically, it was demonstrated that chalcogenides and perovskites as bulk materials can exhibit higher refractive indices with appropriate engineering of specific aspects of the materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Chemically Responsive Elastomers Exhibiting Unity-Order Refractive Index Modulation

Chameleons are masters of light, expertly changing their color, pattern, and reflectivity in response to their environment. Engineered materials that share this tunability can be transformative, enabling active camouflage, tunable holograms, and novel colorimetric medical sensors. Although progress has been made in creating artificial chameleon skin, existing schemes often require external power, are not continuously tunable, and may prove too stiff or bulky for applications. In this work, a chemically tunable, large-area metamaterial is demonstrated that accesses a wide range of colors and refractive indices. An ordered monolayer of nanoresonators is fabricated, then its optical response is dynamically tuned by infiltrating its polymer substrate with solvents. The material shows a strong magnetic response with a dependence on resonator spacing that leads to a highly tunable effective permittivity, permeability, and refractive index spanning negative and positive values. The unity-order index tuning exceeds that of traditional electro-optic and photochromic materials and is robust to cycling, providing a path toward programmable optical elements and responsive light routing.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Gaussian beam scintillation index for slant path in weak turbulence: closed form expressions

The scintillation index (SI) is an important issue in studying the effect of the atmospheric turbulence in the light waves. With the Rytov weak fluctuation theory, the SI is commonly referred to the Rytov parameter. The previous studies dealt with the plane wave and spherical wave models. Each of these gives an idea of how an optical beam will react to turbulence but are not realistic. One is infinitely long, while the other is an infinitesimal point source. The Gaussian beam wave is the most realistic of the optical waves, but also the most complex to use for calculations. In this paper, a closed form expression for Gaussian beam SI propagation in slant path and through weak fluctuation is derived using the polynomial model of the refractive index structure parameter. The slant path SI model of the plane and spherical waves can be generated from the SI expression of Gaussian beam. The analytic expressions are obtained and are then used to analyze the effect of propagation distance, transmitter/receiver heights, and elevation angle on the SI. Signal to noise ratio and bit error rate are calculated for performance evaluation showing a significant enhancement at elevation angles greater than 45°.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Planar optical waveguide for refractive index determining with high sensitivity and dual-band characteristic for Nano-sensor application

In this paper, we develop an optical waveguide based on metal–insulator-metal as a refractive index sensor with dual-band feature and a high figure of merit (FOM) and sensitivity. In this model, we utilize a Z-shape slot based on two stubs model in both metal layers and this structure is placed over a dielectric layer of SiO{sub 2} as a substrate for planar application in the optical systems. In addition, the parametric studies are used to clarifying the elements influence on controlling the transmission and working frequency to achieve a dual-band characteristic at 1550 and 3100 nm which is suitable for optical fiber application. In fact, the compound stubs technique is suggested to modify the resonances of the waveguide for dual-band attributes based on the transmission line model. We simulate this waveguide using the Finite Integrated Technique (FIT) method. It is supposed that the waveguide is filled by various materials with the different refractive indexes in the range of 1 to 1.5. We obtain the FOM for these materials while the Fano response provides high FOM about the 3800 RIU{sup −1} and the sensitivity is 1790 nm/RIU. Therefore, the compound stubs strategy help to improve the FOM factor in the optical waveguide.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Gold grating assisted SPR based D-shaped single mode fiber for detection of liquid refractive index

In this paper, a surface plasmon resonance based D-shaped single mode fiber sensor with a gold grating over the polished fiber surface, is analyzed by finite element method for refractive index sensing. Benefitted from the localized surface plasmon resonance effect of gold grating, the proposed sensor achieves a reasonably good wavelength sensitivity of 7590 nm/RIU for the refractive index range varying from 1.34 to 1.38 and the corresponding resolution is 1.31 × 10{sup −5} RIU. Furthermore, the maximum amplitude sensitivity of the sensor is calculated to be 676.08 RIU{sup −1}. The good sensing performance, low cost and simple structure makes this sensor a potential candidate for application in the areas of food processing, environmental monitoring and biochemical analysis.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2018

Fractal Dimension Calculation for Big Data Using Box Locality Index

The box-counting approach for fractal dimension calculation is scaled up for big data using a data structure named box locality index (BLI). The BLI is constructed as key-value pair style with the key (an integer array) indexing the location of a “box” (i.e., a gird cell on the multi-dimensional space embedding a given dataset) and the value counting the number of data points inside the box (called “box occupancy”). Compared with the traditionally used E-dim tree, the BLI avoids complex hierarchical structure and encodes only necessary information required by box-counting approach for fractal dimension calculation. Moreover, the key-value pair nature of BLI, together with the fact that the box occupancy is aggregatable, grants box-counting approach the needed scalability for fractal dimension calculation of big data using distributed computing techniques (e.g., MapReduce and Spark). Taking the advantage of the BLI, MapReduce and Spark methods for fractal dimension calculation of big data are developed, which conduct box-counting for each grid level as a cascade of MapReduce/Spark jobs in a bottom-up fashion. In an empirical validation, the MapReduce and Spark methods demonstrated good effectiveness and efficiency in fractal calculation of a big synthetic dataset. In summary, this work provides an efficient solution for the estimation of intrinsic dimension of big data that is essential for many machine learning methods and data analytics.

Fractal dimension, Intrinsic dimension, Box-counti↗
DOE OSTI2025

Clumping index estimation with 30°-tilted cameras in row crops: Evaluation of methods and segment size effects

The clumping index (CI) quantifies the spatial distribution of foliage elements and is essential for accurately estimating the plant area index (PAI), canopy radiative transfer, and photosynthesis. Traditionally, the finite-length averaging method (LX), the gap size distribution method (CC), and a combined approach of CC and LX (CLX) have been applied to instruments like TRAC and digital hemispherical photography to estimate CI. However, a comprehensive evaluation of these methods in row crops remains limited, especially regarding the influence of segment size on CI. Meanwhile, digital cameras offer a cost-effective and user-friendly solution for canopy measurements in row crops, yet their application in this context remains underexplored. In this study, we employed a new approach using a 30°-tilted digital camera to estimate CI in corn and soybean fields, applying the LX, CC, and CLX methods. We systematically assessed the performance of these three methods by combining field measurements in real-world fields with simulations using the LESS 3D radiative transfer model. Our results showed that CLX applied to the whole image and 45° segment offered accurate estimation of CI (bias within ±0.1, RMSE < 0.2) and PAI (bias within ±0.4, RMSE < 1) in real-world fields and LESS simulations. The accuracy of the LX method was highly sensitive to segment size, with the best performance observed at the 15° segment (PAI bias within ±0.4). In contrast, the CC method remained stable across different segment sizes, and its performance was generally comparable to that of LX, except at the 15° segment. Across view zenith angles, CI derived from CC generally showed a continuous increase, while those from LX and CLX followed a rising trend at small zenith angles but began to decline at 68°, likely due to an increasing proportion of no-gap segments. Seasonally, LX tended to show decreasing CI during early growth stages but increased as the canopy matured, whereas CC and CLX showed gradually increasing CI before plateauing at peak PAI. The 30°-tilted camera effectively captured CI variations across different angles and growth stages, making it a practical and robust instrument for row crop canopy structure analysis. Furthermore, applying these CI methods to digital cameras offers a low-cost and accessible CI estimation alternative, improving canopy structure monitoring accuracy in row crops.

30°-tilted camera↗