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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 451 records · Page 25
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2018

Prioritizing Aquatic Science and Applications Needs in the Chesapeake Bay for a Space-Borne Hyperspectral Mission

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in North America, benefiting a growing population through its ecosystem services, fishing, recreations, and transportation routes. Studies indicate the health of the Bay as seen some improvement in recent years, yet threats to its health persist (e.g. warming, pollution nutrient run-off). Increasing human activities in coastal regions requires constant vigilance by agencies managing water quality, to ensure the safety of the population. Since April 2018, an interagency working group has been meeting monthly and a daylong workshop was convened with science and applications stakeholders around the overall theme of monitoring water quality from space. Current ocean color images indicate bloom locations used to guide in situ sampling efforts, despite limited spatial, spectral and temporal resolution. High resolution hyperspectral remote sensing provides a potential opportunity to measure additional indicators of ecological health and water quality. Assessing the needs of the aquatic user community around the Chesapeake Bay will inform science and applications recommendations during the current architecture study for a Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) Mission, as well as future scoping studies of other coastal and inland water bodies.

Schollaert Uz, Stephanie↗
DOE OSTI2023

Quantum networks with neutral atom processing nodes

Abstract Quantum networks providing shared entanglement over a mesh of quantum nodes will revolutionize the field of quantum information science by offering novel applications in quantum computation, enhanced precision in networks of sensors and clocks, and efficient quantum communication over large distances. Recent experimental progress with individual neutral atoms demonstrates a high potential for implementing the crucial components of such networks. We highlight latest developments and near-term prospects on how arrays of individually controlled neutral atoms are suited for both efficient remote entanglement generation and large-scale quantum information processing, thereby providing the necessary features for sharing high-fidelity and error-corrected multi-qubit entangled states between the nodes. We describe both the functionality requirements and several examples for advanced, large-scale quantum networks composed of neutral atom processing nodes.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1978

Study of Federal technology transfer activities in areas of interest to NASA Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications

Forty-three ongoing technology transfer programs in Federal agencies other than NASA were selected from over 200 current Federal technology transfer activities. Selection was made and specific technology transfer mechanisms utilized. Detailed information was obtained on the selected programs by reviewing published literature, and conducting telephone interviews with each program manager. Specific information collected on each program includes technology areas; user groups, mechanisms employed, duration of program, and level of effort. Twenty-four distinct mechanisms are currently employed in Federal technology transfer activities totaling $260 million per year. Typical applications of each mechanism were reviewed, and caveats on evaluating program effectiveness were discussed. A review of recent federally funded research in technology transfer to state and local governments was made utilizing the Smithsonian Science Information Exchange, and abstracts of interest to NASA were selected for further reference.

Madigan, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The NASA Scientific and Technical Information Program: Prologue to the Future

The NASA STI Program offers researchers an infrastructure of people and systems that facilitates access to STI; worldwide. The Program is also NASA's institutional mechanism for disseminating the results of its research and developing activities. Through discussions in 1991, the STI Program formulated its Strategic Plan. The plan gives the Program a renewed sense of direction by focusing on future opportunities, customer requirements and Program goals, along with the changes needed to achieve those goals. The Program provides users access to a massive flow of STI which, in fact, represents the largest collection of aeronautical and space science information in the world. The STI Program products and services are outlined, along with the NASA centers, international operations, and the fact that total quality management drives NASA wide program developments. As is detailed, the NASA STI Program is using its resources as effectively as possible to meet the missing needs of NASA.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2024

Essay: Quantum Sensing with Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Platforms for Fundamental Physics

Atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) physics has been at the forefront of the development of quantum science while laying the foundation for modern technology. With the growing capabilities of quantum control of many atoms for engineered many-body states and quantum entanglement, a key question emerges: what critical impact will the second quantum revolution with ubiquitous applications of entanglement bring to bear on fundamental physics? In this Essay, we argue that a compelling long-term vision for fundamental physics and novel applications is to harness the rapid development of quantum information science to define and advance the frontiers of measurement physics, with strong potential for fundamental discoveries. As quantum technologies, such as fault-tolerant quantum computing and entangled quantum sensor networks, become much more advanced than today’s realization, we wonder what doors of basic science can these tools unlock. We anticipate that some of the most intriguing and challenging problems, such as quantum aspects of gravity, fundamental symmetries, or new physics beyond the minimal standard model, will be tackled at the emerging quantum measurement frontier. . Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Physics↗
NASA NTRS1997

Unsupervised, Robust Estimation-based Clustering for Multispectral Images

To prepare for the challenge of handling the archiving and querying of terabyte-sized scientific spatial databases, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Applied Information Sciences Branch (AISB, Code 935) developed a number of characterization algorithms that rely on supervised clustering techniques. The research reported upon here has been aimed at continuing the evolution of some of these supervised techniques, namely the neural network and decision tree-based classifiers, plus extending the approach to incorporating unsupervised clustering algorithms, such as those based on robust estimation (RE) techniques. The algorithms developed under this task should be suited for use by the Intelligent Information Fusion System (IIFS) metadata extraction modules, and as such these algorithms must be fast, robust, and anytime in nature. Finally, so that the planner/schedule module of the IlFS can oversee the use and execution of these algorithms, all information required by the planner/scheduler must be provided to the IIFS development team to ensure the timely integration of these algorithms into the overall system.

Netanyahu, Nathan S.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Reformulation of the No-Free-Lunch Theorem for Entangled Datasets

The No-Free-Lunch (NFL) theorem is a celebrated result in learning theory that limits one’s ability to learn a function with a training data set. With the recent rise of quantum machine learning, it is natural to ask whether there is a quantum analog of the NFL theorem, which would restrict a quantum computer’s ability to learn a unitary process with quantum training data. However, in the quantum setting, the training data can possess entanglement, a strong correlation with no classical analog. In this work, we show that entangled data sets lead to an apparent violation of the (classical) NFL theorem. This motivates a reformulation that accounts for the degree of entanglement in the training set. As our main result, we prove a quantum NFL theorem whereby the fundamental limit on the learnability of a unitary is reduced by entanglement. We employ Rigetti's quantum computer to test both the classical and quantum NFL theorems. In conclusion, our work establishes that entanglement is a commodity in quantum machine learning.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2026

Uncovering Hidden Entanglement in Twin Beams

Proper characterization of quantum correlations in multimode optical quantum states is critical for applications in quantum information science. However, standard entanglement measurements can lead to incomplete state reconstruction and characterization. Here, we implement a resonator-based detection system that reveals entanglement between sideband modes of twin beams, achieving full tomography and retrieving often ignored quantum correlations. Unlike standard spectral measurements such as homodyne detection, resonator detection can independently address the sidebands of each beam, thereby accessing these hidden correlations. Additionally, we show how phase shifts between the carrier and the sideband modes of the involved fields redistribute information and modify the observation of entanglement for different witnesses. The ability of the resonant detection to independently address sideband modes of entangled states can contribute to enhancing the capacity for secure communication and quantum networking protocols.

Rincon Celis, Raul [University of Sao Paulo, Brazi↗
DOE OSTI2022

SRF Levitation and Trapping of Nanoparticles Experiment

The levitation and trapping of micro particles using lasers is not a new accomplishment and has been applied in containerless processing and spectroscopy of microparticles. Recent developments in the field of optomechanics have achieved levitating nanoparticles such that quantum phenomena was observed which would have relevance in quantum science and technology. This two-year project sought to levitate and trap mesoscopic particles using radio frequency (RF) fields in a resonating superconducting RF (SRF) cavity. By exploiting the intrinsic characteristics of an SRF resonating cavity, the project was to explore overcoming a major limit faced by current laser trapping techniques. The goal was to establish a foundation to enable the observation of quantum phenomena of an isolated mechanical oscillator interacting with microwave fields. If successful the experiment could establish its ground-breaking relevance to quantum information science and technology.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Spin Emitters beyond the Point Dipole Approximation in Nanomagnonic Cavities

Control over transition rates between spin states of emitters is crucial in a wide variety of fields ranging from quantum information science to the nanochemistry of free radicals. We present an approach to drive both electric and magnetic dipole-forbidden transitions of a spin emitter by placing it in a nanomagnonic cavity, requiring a description of both the spin emitter beyond the point dipole approximation and the vacuum magnetic fields of the nanomagnonic cavity with a large spatial gradient over the volume of the spin emitter. We specifically study the silicon vacancy (SiV – ) defect in diamond, whose Zeemansplit ground states comprise a logical qubit for solid-state quantum information processing, coupled to a magnetic nanoparticle serving as a model nanomagnonic cavity capable of concentrating microwave magnetic fields into deeply subwavelength volumes. Through first-principles modeling of the SiV – spin orbitals, we calculate the spin transition densities of magnetic dipole-allowed and -forbidden transitions and calculate their coupling rates to various multipolar modes of the nanomagnonic cavity. We envision using such a framework for manipulation of quantum spin states.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Efficient Source of Shaped Single Photons Based on an Integrated Diamond Nanophotonic System

An efficient, scalable source of shaped single photons that can be directly integrated with optical fiber networks and quantum memories is at the heart of many protocols in quantum information science. We demonstrate a deterministic source of arbitrarily temporally shaped single-photon pulses with high efficiency [detection efficiency = 14.9 %] and purity [g (2) (0) = 0.0168] and streams of up to 11 consecutively detected single photons using a silicon-vacancy center in a highly directional fiber-integrated diamond nanophotonic cavity. Finally, combined with previously demonstrated spin-photon entangling gates, this system enables on-demand generation of streams of correlated photons such as cluster states and could be used as a resource for robust transmission and processing of quantum information.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Epitaxial integration of superconducting nitrides with cubic GaN

Epitaxial combination of transition metal nitrides and group III-nitrides holds significant potential for novel device architectures, given their wide array of properties and similar lattice constants. However, the mixture of hexagonal and cubic crystals limits structural quality and has stymied development. This work will discuss the molecular beam epitaxy synthesis of metastable cubic GaN on 3C-SiC templates and its integration with cubic ZrN and NbN superconductors in single and multilayer heterostructures. The fully cubic nature of GaN and the epitaxial nature of all layers are confirmed via in situ and ex situ techniques. The electrical transport properties of transition metal nitrides on cubic GaN (001) are compared to those grown directly on 3C-SiC (001) and c-plane hexagonal GaN templates. The determination of a similar growth window for cubic wide-bandgap and superconducting metal nitrides creates a platform for new epitaxial device architectures and potential applications in metamaterials, quantum information science, and condensed matter physics.

Condensed matter physics↗
DOE OSTI2021

Effect of interfacial structures on phonon transport across atomically precise Si/Al heterojunctions

Phonons are important carriers of energy and information in many cryogenic devices used for quantum information science and in fundamental physics experiments such as dark matter detectors. In these systems phonon behavior can be dominated by interfaces, hence there is increasing demand for a more detailed understanding of interfacial phonon transport in relevant material systems. Previous studies have focused on understanding thermal transport over the entire phonon spectrum at and above room temperature. At ultra-low temperatures, however, knowledge is missing regarding athermal phonon behavior due to the challenge in modeling the extreme conditions in micro-scale, heterogeneous cryogenic systems, as well as extracting single-phonon information from a large ensemble. In this work, we delineate interfacial phonon transport using a combination of classical molecular dynamics (MD) and phonon wave packet simulations, to illustrate the consistency and differences between the ensemble- and single-phonon dynamics. We consider three single-crystal Si surface reconstructions --- (1×1), (v3×v3) and (7×7) --- and model both experimentally observed Si(1×1)/Al interfaces and hypothesized Si(v3×v3)/Al and Si(7×7)/Al interfaces. The overall interfacial thermal conductance calculated from non-equilibrium MD shows that for the Si(1×1)/Al system, the presence of Al twin grain boundaries can hinder phonon transport and reduce thermal conductance by 2--12% relative to single-crystal Al; whereas the Si (v3×v3) and (7×7) reconstructions can enhance it by 6--19%. Normal mode decomposition reveals that both the increase and decrease in conductance are related to inelastic phonon scattering. Single-phonon wave packet simulations show results consistent with NEMD, while further suggesting that phonon polarization conversion is significant even when elastic transmission dominates, and that the interfacial structures have anisotropic impacts on atomic vibrations along different lattice directions. Our findings suggest alternative perspectives in achieving selective phonon transport through controlling interfacial structures of materials with atomically-precise fabrication techniques, and that the phonon wave packet formalism is a potentially powerful method for developing a detailed understanding of non-equilibrium phenomena in the low-temperature limit.

Lu, Zexi↗
DOE OSTI2025

Cryogenic hybrid magnonic circuits based on spalled YIG thin films

Yttrium iron garnet (YIG) magnonics has garnered significant research interest because of the unique properties of magnons (quasiparticles of collective spin excitation) for signal processing. In particular, hybrid systems based on YIG magnonics show great promise for quantum information science due to their broad frequency tunability and strong compatibility with other platforms. However, their broad applications have been severely constrained by substantial microwave loss in the gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) substrate at cryogenic temperatures. In this study, we demonstrate that YIG thin films can be spalled from YIG/GGG samples. Our approach is validated by measuring hybrid devices comprising superconducting resonators and spalled YIG films, which exhibit anti-crossing features that indicate strong coupling between magnons and microwave photons. Such new capability of separating YIG thin films from GGG substrates via spalling and the integrated superconductor-YIG devices represent a significant advancement for integrated magnonic devices, paving the way for advanced magnon-based coherent information processing.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Mitigating Scattering in a Quantum System Using Only an Integrating Sphere

Strong quantum correlated sources are essential but delicate resources for quantum information science and engineering protocols. Decoherence and loss are the two main disruptive processes that lead to the loss of nonclassical behavior in quantum correlations. In quantum systems, scattering can contribute to both decoherence and loss. In this work, we present an experimental scheme capable of significantly mitigating the adverse impact of scattering in quantum systems. Our quantum system is composed of a two-mode squeezed light generated with the four-wave-mixing process in hot rubidium vapor and a scatterer is introduced to one of the two modes. An integrating sphere is then placed after the scatterer to recollect the scattered photons. We use mutual information between the two modes as the measure of quantum correlations and demonstrate a 47.5% mutual information recovery from scattering, despite an enormous photon loss of greater than 85%. Our scheme is the very first step toward recovering quantum correlations from disruptive random processes and thus has the potential to bridge the gap between proof-of-principle demonstrations and practical real-world implementations of quantum protocols. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Science Breakthroughs 2030. Final report

Agriculture is a fundamental societal activity, characterized by many different landscapes, crops, markets, and participants. Food, agricultural, and biofuels products are central to the daily life of all citizens, though most do not recognize the fragility of the environment that brings forth this abundance. As is noted in the 2012 report from the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Agricultural Preparedness and the United States Agricultural Research Enterprise (PCAST, 2012) the food and agricultural system faces constant challenges in: Managing new pests, pathogens, and invasive plants. Increasing the efficiency of water use. Growing food in a changing climate. Reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture. Managing the production of bioenergy. Producing safe and nutritious food. Assisting with global food security and maintaining abundant yields. Science Breakthroughs 2030 was organized to identify the most compelling research directions in food and agriculture, in particular those empowered by the application of insights and tools from disciplines of science and engineering not typically associated with food and agricultural research. A committee appointed by the Chairman of the National Research Council explored ideas for research directions with input from the scientific community, with the objective of producing a report describing ambitious and achievable scientific pathways to address major problems and create new opportunities in food and agriculture. Following numerous meetings, a jamboree, and town hall, the appointed committee prepared a report that has subsequently become a reference for federal agencies supporting research in the food and agricultural space. It highlights five key areas for research investment with broad application across food and agriculture: integrated systems research; sensor development; data mining and information sciences, genomics; and the microbiome.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2026

A dendritic strontium river isoscape for fisheries applications in the Sacramento River basin, California, USA

Objective Understanding the origins and movements of fish is fundamental to effective conservation and fisheries management. Strontium isotope ratios ( 87 Sr/ 86 Sr) in otoliths provide a powerful tracer of natal origin and migratory pathways. However, existing 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isoscapes for the Sacramento River basin, an ecosystem that supports ecologically and economically important salmon populations, rely on discrete classification approaches that overlook unsampled habitats and do not incorporate spatial uncertainty. Our objective was to develop a continuous, network-explicit 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isoscape with quantified uncertainty to fill in data gaps and enable probabilistic assignments of fish origin and movement. Methods We used river water 87 Sr/ 86 Sr data from 106 sites (1997–2021) to develop spatial stream network models that use dendritic connectivity and watershed characteristics (lithology, bedrock age, and land cover) to predict river water 87 Sr/ 86 Sr throughout the basin. Models were fitted using maximum and restricted likelihood and were evaluated via Akaike’s information criterion and leave-one-out cross validation. We produced both historical (pre-dam) and present-day (below-dam) isoscapes, delineated uncertainty-informed isotopic ranges using k -means clustering, and applied a proof-of-concept Bayesian assignment to estimate natal origins and early rearing habitats for two endangered winter-run Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha. Results Cross validation indicated strong performance of the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr model (leave-one-out cross validation: R 2 = 0.91; root mean square error = 0.0005). Uncertainty-informed clustering identified 19 isotopic “suites” (reaches with indistinguishable 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values) in present-day anadromous habitats and 25 suites in the historical network. Example natal and early rearing assignments included predictions that challenged expectations for juvenile salmon migration based on predicted river 87 Sr/ 86 Sr compositions. Conclusions This study developed a continuous, network-explicit 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isoscape that integrates existing river data to predict 87 Sr/ 86 Sr in unsampled reaches and the likely achievable range and resolution of otolith-based origin and life history inference. The resulting river isoscape provides a valuable tool to predict salmon movements and identify habitats supporting their survival and growth that otherwise might remain undetected. Coupling these predictions with complementary approaches that ground-truth juvenile presence (e.g., targeted fish surveys) represents an important step toward science-informed restoration and management of critical habitats throughout the Sacramento River basin.

Environmental sciences↗
DOE OSTI2022

Experimental Measurement of Out-of-Time-Ordered Correlators at Finite Temperature

Out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs) are a key observable in a wide range of interconnected fields including many-body physics, quantum information science, and quantum gravity. Measuring OTOCs using near-term quantum simulators will extend our ability to explore fundamental aspects of these fields and the subtle connections between them. Here, we demonstrate an experimental method to measure OTOCs at finite temperatures and use the method to study their temperature dependence. These measurements are performed on a digital quantum computer running a simulation of the transverse field Ising model. Our flexible method, based on the creation of a thermofield double state, can be extended to other models and enables us to probe the OTOC’s temperature-dependent decay rate. Measuring this decay rate opens up the possibility of testing the fundamental temperature-dependent bounds on quantum information scrambling.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗