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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 505 records · Page 28
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Phase Transition and Criticality of Methane Confined in Nanopores

For the first time, the phase transition and criticality of methane confined in nanoporous media are measured. The measurement is performed by establishing an experimental setup utilizing a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) capable of operating under very low temperatures as well as high pressures to detect the capillary phase transition of methane inside nanopores. By performing experiments along isochoric cooling paths, both the capillary condensation and the bulk condensation of methane are detected. Here, the pore critical point (PCP) of nanoconfined methane is also determined and then used to derive the parameters of a previously developed self-consistent equation of state based on the Generalized van der Waals (vdW) partition function. Using this parameter, the equation of state can predict the capillary-condensation curves that agree well with the experimental data.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Observation of an antiferromagnetic quantum critical point in high-purity LaNiO 3

Amongst the rare-earth perovskite nickelates, LaNiO 3 (LNO) is an exception. While the former have insulating and antiferromagnetic ground states, LNO remains metallic and non-magnetic down to the lowest temperatures. It is believed that LNO is a strange metal, on the verge of an antiferromagnetic instability. Our work suggests that LNO is a quantum critical metal, close to an antiferromagnetic quantum critical point (QCP). The QCP behavior in LNO is manifested in epitaxial thin films with unprecedented high purities. We find that the temperature and magnetic field dependences of the resistivity of LNO at low temperatures are consistent with scatterings of charge carriers from weak disorder and quantum fluctuations of an antiferromagnetic nature. Furthermore, we find that the introduction of a small concentration of magnetic impurities qualitatively changes the magnetotransport properties of LNO, resembling that found in some heavy-fermion Kondo lattice systems in the vicinity of an antiferromagnetic QCP.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Anisotropy-driven quantum criticality in an intermediate valence system

Intermetallic compounds containing f-electron elements have been prototypical materials for investigating strong electron correlations and quantum criticality (QC). Their heavy fermion ground state evoked by the magnetic f-electrons is susceptible to the onset of quantum phases, such as magnetism or superconductivity, due to the enhanced effective mass (m*) and a corresponding decrease of the Fermi temperature. However, the presence of f-electron valence fluctuations to a non-magnetic state is regarded an anathema to QC, as it usually generates a paramagnetic Fermi-liquid state with quasiparticles of moderate m*. Such systems are typically isotropic, with a characteristic energy scale T 0 of the order of hundreds of kelvins that require large magnetic fields or pressures to promote a valence or magnetic instability. Here we show the discovery of a quantum critical behaviour and a Lifshitz transition under low magnetic field in an intermediate valence compound α-YbAlB 4 . The QC origin is attributed to the anisotropic hybridization between the conduction and localized f-electrons. These findings suggest a new route to bypass the large valence energy scale in developing the QC.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Critical nematic correlations throughout the superconducting doping range in Bi 2–z Pb z Sr 2–y La y CuO 6+x

Charge modulations have been widely observed in cuprates, suggesting their centrality for understanding the high-T c superconductivity in these materials. However, the dimensionality of these modulations remains controversial, including whether their wavevector is unidirectional or bidirectional, and also whether they extend seamlessly from the surface of the material into the bulk. Material disorder presents severe challenges to understanding the charge modulations through bulk scattering techniques. We use a local technique, scanning tunneling microscopy, to image the static charge modulations on Bi 2–z Pb z Sr 2–y La y CuO 6+x . The ratio of the phase correlation length ξ CDW to the orientation correlation length ξ orient points to unidirectional charge modulations. By computing new critical exponents at free surfaces including that of the pair connectivity correlation function, we show that these locally 1D charge modulations are actually a bulk effect resulting from classical 3D criticality of the random field Ising model throughout the entire superconducting doping range.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

The breakdown of both strange metal and superconducting states at a pressure-induced quantum critical point in iron-pnictide superconductors

Here we report the first observation of the concurrent breakdown of the strange metal (SM) normal state and superconductivity at a pressure-induced quantum critical point in Ca 10 (Pt 4 As 8 )((Fe 0.97 Pt 0.03 ) 2 As 2 ) 5 superconductor. We find that, upon suppressing the superconducting state, the power exponent (α) changes from 1 to 2, and the slope of the temperature-linear resistivity per FeAs layer (A $\Box$ ) gradually diminishes. At a critical pressure, A $\Box$ and superconducting transition temperature (T c ) go to zero concurrently, where a quantum phase transition from a superconducting state with a SM normal state to a non-superconducting Fermi liquid state occurs. Scaling analysis reveals that the change of A $\Box$ with T c obeys the relation of T c ~ (A $\Box$ ) 0.5 , similar to what is seen in other chemically doped unconventional superconductors. These results suggest that there is a simple but powerful organizational principle of connecting the SM normal state with the high-T c superconductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2024

Elasticity-controlled jamming criticality in soft composite solids

Soft composite solids are made of inclusions dispersed within soft matrices. They are ubiquitous in nature and form the basis of many biological tissues. In the field of materials science, synthetic soft composites are promising candidates for building various engineering devices due to their highly programmable features. However, when the volume fraction of the inclusions increases, predicting the mechanical properties of these materials poses a significant challenge for the classical theories of composite mechanics. The difficulty arises from the inherently disordered, multi-scale interactions between the inclusions and the matrix. To address this challenge, we systematically investigated the mechanics of densely filled soft elastomers containing stiff microspheres. We experimentally demonstrate how the strain-stiffening response of the soft composites is governed by the critical scalings in the vicinity of a shear-jamming transition of the included particles. The proposed criticality framework quantitatively connects the overall mechanics of a soft composite with the elasticity of the matrix and the particles, and captures the diverse mechanical responses observed across a wide range of material parameters. The findings uncover a novel design paradigm of composite mechanics that relies on engineering the jamming properties of the embedded inclusions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Proximity to a critical point driven by electronic entropy in URu2Si2

Abstract The strongly correlated actinide metal URu 2 Si 2 exhibits a mean field-like second order phase transition at T o ≈ 17 K, yet lacks definitive signatures of a broken symmetry. Meanwhile, various experiments have also shown the electronic energy gap to closely resemble that resulting from hybridization between conduction electron and 5 f -electron states. We argue here, using thermodynamic measurements, that the above seemingly incompatible observations can be jointly understood by way of proximity to an entropy-driven critical point, in which the latent heat of a valence-type electronic instability is quenched by thermal excitations across a gap, driving the transition second order. Salient features of such a transition include a robust gap spanning highly degenerate features in the electronic density of states, that is weakly (if at all) suppressed by temperature on approaching T o , and an elliptical phase boundary in magnetic field and temperature that is Pauli paramagnetically limited at its critical magnetic field.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Quantum simulation of an exotic quantum critical point in a two-site charge Kondo circuit

Tuning a material to the cusp between two distinct ground states can produce physical properties that are unlike those in either of the neighbouring phases. Advances in the fabrication and control of quantum systems have raised the tantalizing prospect of artificial quantum simulators that can capture such behaviour. A tunable array of coupled qubits should have an appropriately rich phase diagram, but realizing such a system with either tunnel-coupled semiconductor quantum dots or metal nanostructures has proven difficult. The challenge for scaling up to clusters or lattices is to ensure that each element behaves essentially identically and that the coupling between elements is uniform, while also maintaining tunability of the interactions. Here we study a nanoelectronic circuit comprising two coupled hybrid metal–semiconductor islands, combining the strengths of both materials to form a potentially scalable platform. The semiconductor component allows for controllable inter-site couplings at quantum point contacts, while the metal component’s effective continuum of states means that different sites can be made equivalent by tuning local potentials. The couplings afforded by this architecture can realize an unusual quantum critical point resulting from frustrated Kondo interactions. In this study, the observed critical behaviour matches theoretical predictions, verifying the success of our experimental quantum simulation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Multiband effects on the upper critical field angular dependence of 122-family iron pnictide superconductors

Detailed measurements of the in-plane resistivity were performed in a high-quality Ba(Fe 1-x Co x ) 2 As 2 (x=0.065) single crystal, in magnetic fields up to 9 T and with different orientations θ relative to the crystal c axis. A significant ρ(T) H,θ rounding is observed just above the superconducting critical temperature T c due to Cooper pairs created by superconducting fluctuations. These data are analyzed in terms of a generalization of the Aslamazov-Larkin approach, that extends its applicability to high reduced-temperatures and magnetic fields. This method allows us to carry out a criterion-independent determination of the angular dependence of the upper critical field, H c2 (θ). In spite of the relatively small anisotropy of this compound, it is found that H c2 (θ) presents a significant deviation from the single-band 3D anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau (3D-aGL) approach, particularly for large θ (typically above ~60o). These results are interpreted in terms of the multiband nature of these materials, in contrast with other proposals for similar H c2 (θ) anomalies. Our results are also consistent with an effective anisotropy factor almost temperature independent near T c , a result that differs from the ones obtained by using a single-band model.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Charge-density-wave quantum critical point under pressure in 2 H -TaSe 2

The presence of a quantum-critical point (QCP) at which a nearby ordered phase is suppressed to zero temperature is often invoked to explain emergent quantum phases, e.g. superconductivity. Yet, identifying a QCP and establishing its correlation with superconductivity remains challenging. Materials featuring charge-density-wave (CDW) order and superconductivity offer a clear scenario as both states can be associated with electron-phonon coupling. Here, we uncover a CDW-QCP and demonstrate its interrelation with superconductivity in the prototypical transition-metal dichalcogenide 2 H -TaSe 2 . We determine the evolution of the CDW state up to and beyond its suppression at the critical pressure p c = 19.9(1) GPa by means of X-ray diffraction and inelastic X-ray scattering measurements providing a full crystallographic refinement of the commensurate CDW superstructure. The pressure-induced CDW-QCP in close vicinity to the maximum superconducting transition temperature. Ab-initio lattice dynamical calculations corroborate that 2 H -TaSe 2 features order-parameter fluctuation enhanced superconductivity and can serve as a paradigm to investigate superconductivity near a CDW-QCP.

critical phenomena↗
DOE OSTI2023

Signatures of Cooper pair dynamics and quantum-critical superconductivity in tunable carrier bands

Different superconducting pairing mechanisms are markedly distinct in the underlying Cooper pair kinematics. Quantum-critical soft modes drive pairing interactions in which the pair scattering processes are highly collinear and can be classified into two categories: forward scattering and backscattering. Conversely, in conventional phonon mechanisms, Cooper pair scattering is of a generic noncollinear character. In this study, we present a method to discern the kinematic type by observing the evolution of superconductivity while adjusting the Fermi surface geometry. To demonstrate our approach, we utilize the recently reported phase diagrams of untwisted graphene multilayers. Our analysis connects the emergence of superconductivity at “ghost crossings” of Fermi surfaces in distinct valleys to the pair kinematics of a backscattering type. Together with the observed nonmonotonic behavior of superconductivity near its onset (sharp rise followed by a drop), it lends strong support to a particular quantum-critical superconductivity scenario in which pairing is driven by intervalley coherence fluctuations. These findings offer direct insights into the genesis of pairing in these systems, providing compelling evidence for the electron–electron interactions driving superconductivity. More broadly, our work highlights the potential of tuning bands via ghost crossings as a promising means of boosting superconductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2020

Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling TechnologY (KRUSTY) Component Critical Experiments

A series of critical experiments were conducted at the National Criticality Experiments Research Center (NCERC) in Nevada to evaluate the operational performance of a compact reactor that eventually will resemble the flight unit the National Aeronautics and Space Administration will use for deep space exploration. The results from the experiments are compared to preliminary results from computational models using MCNP and ENDF/B-7.1 neutron cross-section data.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Critical Assemblies: Dragon Burst Assembly and Solution Assemblies

This work reviews the historical literature associated with the Dragon experiment and water boiler reactors operated at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. Frisch’s invited talk given at the American Nuclear Society’s Fast Burst Reactor Conference held at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1969 is quoted. From the literature review, basic models for the Dragon experiment and for a water boiler–type assembly (aqueous homogeneous reactor) were created that can be used for conducting multiphysics simulations for criticality excursion studies. This methodology utilizes the coupled neutronic-hydrodynamic method to perform a time-dependent dynamic simulation of a criticality excursion. MCNP® was utilized to calculate important nuclear kinetic parameters that were incorporated into the models. Simulation results compare reasonably well with historic data.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Deimos: HALEU TRISO Heated Critical Experiment Data

Deimos was the first critical experiment using high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) TRistructural ISOtropic (TRISO) fuel in over 40 years. HALEU TRISO is the desired fuel form for many of the advanced reactor designs in development; however, very little experimental data are available for this fuel type. Deimos was designed to utilize existing HALEU TRISO fuel in a large graphite moderator to obtain nuclear and reactor physics data to fill the gaps surrounding this fuel type and enrichment. In addition to cold critical data, three separate heated experiments were conducted to measure the temperature reactivity coefficient for this type of system. These measured coefficients were then compared to simulated coefficients to a first level order of fidelity. This comparison showed very good agreement for the experiment where only the inner core was heated and good agreement for the other two configurations, which included heating portions of the outer core. Less agreement when the outer core was heated is attributed to potential heating in the beryllium reflector, which has a positive temperature reactivity coefficient and was unaccounted for in the first-order models. Future heated experiments with Deimos will include temperature monitoring of the beryllium reflector to account for beryllium heating in the simulations.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Rapid assessment of REBCO CC angular critical current density J c (B, T = 4.2 K, θ) using torque magnetometry up to at least 30 tesla

Abstract Detailed design of REBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 − x (REBCO)-based magnets ideally relies on knowledge of the full angular and wide temperature range characterization of the critical current I c of the REBCO coated conductors (CC) at high magnetic fields. In practice, however, obtaining I c ( B , T , θ ) data by the commonly used electrical transport technique is expensive, tedious, and difficult, due to high critical current values that exceed 2000 A for B | | a b -plane ( θ = 90 deg). The conductors are often damaged during angular transport measurements at angles approaching the ab -plane. Therefore, so far, REBCO magnets have been designed without full I c ( B , T , θ ) data sets. Here, we present J c ( B , T , θ ) results for more than twenty samples of CC all made to the same advanced pinning specification produced by SuperPower Inc. For this, we employed torque magnetometry, benchmarking the results to transport I c measurements mostly made away from ab -plane, finding good agreement with scaling factors ≈1–1.3. What is striking is the huge variety of properties exhibited by the samples, even for CC made recently. Given the huge attention now being paid to the effects of screening currents and to the torques generated by offsets between the tape plane and the local magnetic field vector, our data set suggests some caution in detailed design of such magnets without having data of the type presented here.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2026

Reaching quantum critical point by adding nonmagnetic disorder in single crystals of superconductor (Ca 𝑥 ⁢Sr 1−𝑥 ) 3 ⁢Rh 4 ⁢Sn 13

The Remeika series superconductor, (Ca 𝑥 ⁢Sr 1−𝑥 ) 3 ⁢Rh 4 ⁢Sn 13 , shows a rare nonmagnetic quantum critical point (QCP) associated with the continuous charge-density wave (CDW) and structural transition under the “dome” of superconductivity achieved by tuning composition and applying pressure. Here, we use a nonmagnetic pointlike disorder induced by 2.5 MeV electron irradiation to suppress the CDW and drive the system to and even beyond the QCP. This conclusion is based on a clear evolution of temperature-dependent resistivity, 𝜌⁡(𝑇), from the Fermi liquid to the non-Fermi liquid regime with increasing amount of disorder. Starting on the CDW side, below the suggested QCP concentration of 𝑥 𝑐 =0.9, added disorder resulted in a progressively larger linear term and a reduced quadratic term in 𝜌⁡(𝑇). Nearly perfect 𝑇−linear dependence is observed at the dose at which long-range CDW order is suppressed to 𝑇=0, consistent with the expectations. We refine the QCP location in this system and place it in the interval between 𝑥=0.75 and 0.85. Our results strongly support the concept that the disorder can tune the system to the quantum critical regime and even beyond. It follows from the argument by Imry and Ma that any ordered phase is unstable toward quenched disorder. Introduced in a controlled way, this disorder becomes a nonthermal tuning parameter likely applicable to a variety of different systems.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2024

Practically universal representation of the Helfand-Werthamer upper critical field for any transport scattering rate

Here, the simplified scaling of the orbital upper critical field, H c2 ⁡(T), for an isotropic s-wave superconductor is introduced. To facilitate the analysis of the experimental data, we suggest a simple but accurate approximation of the Helfand-Werthamer upper critical field in the entire temperature range valid for any transport scattering rate: H c⁢2 ⁡/⁢H c⁢⁢2 ⁡(0) ≈ (1 -t 2 )/(1 + 0.42t 1.47 ).

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Quantum critical dynamics of a Josephson junction at the topological transition

We find the admittance Y(ω) of a Josephson junction at or near a topological transition. The dependence of the admittance on frequency and temperature at the critical point is universal and determined by the symmetries of the system. Despite the absence of a spectral gap at the transition, the dissipative response may remain weak at low energies: ReY(ω)∝max(ω,T) 2 . This behavior is strikingly different from the electromagnetic response of a normal metal. Away from the critical point, the scaling functions for the dependence of the admittance on frequency and temperature are controlled by at most two parameters.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗