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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 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

FIRM image analysis: A machine learning workflow for quantifying extracellular matrix components from electron microscopy images

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a complex network of biomolecules that plays an integral role in the structure, processes, and signaling mechanisms of cells and tissues. Identifying and quantifying changes in these matrix components provides insight into the mechanisms behind specific tissue remodeling processes; however, quantifying these changes is challenging due to difficult imaging conditions, complexity of the ECM, and the subtlety of these changes. Current imaging techniques allow us to visualize these critical remodeling events and developments in image analysis have employed a combination of analysis software and machine learning techniques to improve the efficiency and accuracy with which features are measured. Although image analysis has seen much improvement in recent years, there has been no technique developed to address ambiguity in feature edges in electron microscopy images. Presented here is a new machine learning-based workflow for the analysis of microscopy images named FIRM (Feature Identification from Raw Microscopy) that uses a random forest classifier to identify ECM features of interest and generate binary segmentation masks for quantification with ImageJ-FIJI. FIRM performed with an F1 score of 0.794 and greater than 80% accuracy for number and size of features detected. FIRM had similar deviation from the ground truth in the number of identified fibrils, fibril size, and size distributions when compared to human analyses. The results suggest that FIRM performs as well as manual analysis and requires a fraction of the time. This analysis technique is more efficient, eliminates user bias, and can be easily optimized to identify a variety of features, making it useful for any discipline requiring image analysis.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Retrieving images from tarnished daguerreotypes using X-ray fluorescence imaging with an X-ray micro beam with tunable energy

We report recent observations using a synchrotron X-ray micro-beam to retrieve images from tarnished 19th century daguerreotypes. We confirm that high quality image can always be retrieved from tarnished plates using Hg L α XRF as long as the bulk of the image particles and their distribution remains intact. We also report results from using tunable tender X-rays (2 - 7 keV) to conduct imaging in high vacuum at energy above the Ag L-edge and the Hg M-edge, extracting images using Ag L α and Hg M α , respectively among others (e.g., S to track corrosion). Images obtained with the surface sensitive total electron yield (TEY) and the bulk sensitive fluorescence yield (FLY) as well as corresponding micro-XANES are reported. Flux tolerance to high intensity X-beam is also explored. These results and their implications for cultural heritage research are discussed.

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

Real-time X-ray phase-contrast imaging using SPINNet—a speckle-based phase-contrast imaging neural network

X-ray phase-contrast imaging has become indispensable for visualizing samples with low absorption contrast. In this regard, speckle-based techniques have shown significant advantages in spatial resolution, phase sensitivity, and implementation flexibility compared with traditional methods. However, the computational cost associated with data inversion has hindered their wider adoption. By exploiting the power of deep learning, we developed a speckle-based phase-contrast imaging neural network (SPINNet) that significantly improves the imaging quality and boosts the phase retrieval speed by at least 2 orders of magnitude compared to existing methods. To achieve this performance, we combined SPINNet with a coded-mask-based technique, an enhanced version of the speckle-based method. Using this scheme, we demonstrate the simultaneous reconstruction of absorption and phase images on the order of 100 ms, where a traditional correlation-based analysis would take several minutes even with a cluster. In addition to significant improvement in speed, our experimental results show that the imaging and phase retrieval quality of SPINNet outperform existing single-shot speckle-based methods. Furthermore, we successfully demonstrate SPINNet application in x-ray optics metrology and 3D x-ray phase-contrast tomography. Our result shows that SPINNet could enable many applications requiring high-resolution and fast data acquisition and processing, such as in situ and in operando 2D and 3D phase-contrast imaging and real-time at-wavelength metrology and wavefront sensing.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Intact, Commercial Lithium-Polymer Batteries: Spatially Resolved Grating-Based Interferometry Imaging, Bragg Edge Imaging, and Neutron Diffraction

We survey several neutron imaging and diffraction methods for non-destructive testing and evaluation of intact, commercial lithium-ion batteries. Specifically, far-field interferometry was explored as an option to probe a wide range of autocorrelation lengths within the batteries via neutron imaging. The dark-field interferometry images change remarkably from fresh to worn batteries, and from charged to discharged batteries. When attempting to search for visual evidence of battery degradation, neutron Talbot-Lau grating interferometry exposed battery layering and particle scattering through dark-field imaging. Bragg edge imaging also reveals battery wear and state of charge. Neutron diffraction observed chemical changes between fresh and worn, charged and discharged batteries. However, the utility of these methods, for commercial batteries, is dependent upon battery size and shape, with 19 to 43 mAh prismatic batteries proving most convenient for these experimental methods. This study reports some of the first spatially resolved, small angle scattering (dark-field) images showing battery degradation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Sub-Sampled Imaging for STEM: Maximising Image Speed, Resolution and Precision Through Reconstruction Parameter Refinement

Sub-sampling during image acquisition in scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) has been shown to provide a means to increase the overall speed of acquisition while at the same time providing an efficient means to control the dose, dose rate and dose overlap delivered to the sample. In this paper, we discuss specifically the parameters used to reconstruct sub-sampled images and highlight their effect on inpainting using the beta-process factor analysis (BPFA) methodology. The selection of the main control parameters can have a significant effect on the resolution, precision and sensitivity of the final inpainted images, and here we demonstrate a method by which these parameters can be optimised for any image in STEM. As part of this paper, we also provide a link to open source code and a tutorial on its use, whereby these parameters can be tested for any datasets. When coupled with the hardware necessary to rapidly sub-sample images in STEM, this approach can have significant implications for imaging beam sensitive materials and dynamic processes.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2025

X-ray microscopy and talbot imaging with the matter in extreme conditions X-ray imager at LCLS

The last decade has shown the great potential that X-ray Free Electron Lasers (FEL) have to study High Energy Density (HED) physics. Experiments at FELs have made significant breakthroughs in Shock Physics and Dynamic Diffraction, Dense Plasma Physics and Warm Dense Matter Science, using techniques such as isochoric heating, inelastic scattering, small angle scattering and X-ray diffraction. In addition, and complementary to these techniques, the coherent properties of the FEL beam can be used to image HED samples with high fidelity. We present new imaging diagnostics and techniques developed at the Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) instrument at Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) over the last few years. We show results in Phase Contrast Imaging geometry, where the X-ray beam propagates from the target to a camera revealing its phase, as well as in Direct Imaging geometry, where a real image of the sample plane is produced in the camera with a spatial resolution down to 200 nm. Last, we show an implementation of the Talbot Imaging method allowing both X-ray phase and intensity measurements change introduced by a target with sub-micron resolution.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Overview of the distributed image processing infrastructure to produce the Legacy Survey of Space and Time

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is preparing to execute the most ambitious astronomical survey ever attempted, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Currently the final phase of construction is under way in the Chilean Andes, with the Observatory’s ten-year science mission scheduled to begin in 2025. Rubin’s 8.4-meter telescope will nightly scan the southern hemisphere collecting imagery in the wavelength range 320–1050 nm covering the entire observable sky every 4 nights using a 3.2 gigapixel camera, the largest imaging device ever built for astronomy. Automated detection and classification of celestial objects will be performed by sophisticated algorithms on high-resolution images to progressively produce an astronomical catalog eventually composed of 20 billion galaxies and 17 billion stars and their associated physical properties. In this article we present an overview of the system currently being constructed to perform data distribution as well as the annual campaigns which reprocess the entire image dataset collected since the beginning of the survey. These processing campaigns will utilize computing and storage resources provided by three Rubin data facilities (one in the US and two in Europe). Each year a Data Release will be produced and disseminated to science collaborations for use in studies comprising four main science pillars: probing dark matter and dark energy, taking inventory of solar system objects, exploring the transient optical sky and mapping the Milky Way. Also presented is the method by which we leverage some of the common tools and best practices used for management of large-scale distributed data processing projects in the high energy physics and astronomy communities. We also demonstrate how these tools and practices are utilized within the Rubin project in order to overcome the specific challenges faced by the Observatory.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

High dynamic range CdTe mixed-mode pixel array detector (MM-PAD) for kilohertz imaging of hard x-rays

A hard x-ray, high-speed, high dynamic range scientific x-ray imager is described. The imager is based on the mixed-mode pixel array detector (MM-PAD) readout chip coupled to a 750 µm thick cadmium telluride (CdTe) sensor. The full imager is a 2 × 3 tiled array of MM-PAD sensor/readout chip hybrids. CdTe improves detection for high energy x-rays as compared to silicon sensors, enabling efficient x-ray imaging to extend to >100 keV. The detector is capable of 1 kHz imaging and in-pixel circuitry has been designed to allow for well depths of greater than 4 × 10 6 80 keV x-rays. Here, a charge integrating front-end allows for quantitative measurement of high flux x-ray images beyond the capabilities of photon counting detectors. Detector performance is summarized and experimental measurements are presented.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2021

DeepLearnMOR: a deep-learning framework for fluorescence image-based classification of organelle morphology

Abstract The proper biogenesis, morphogenesis, and dynamics of subcellular organelles are essential to their metabolic functions. Conventional techniques for identifying, classifying, and quantifying abnormalities in organelle morphology are largely manual and time-consuming, and require specific expertise. Deep learning has the potential to revolutionize image-based screens by greatly improving their scope, speed, and efficiency. Here, we used transfer learning and a convolutional neural network (CNN) to analyze over 47,000 confocal microscopy images from Arabidopsis wild-type and mutant plants with abnormal division of one of three essential energy organelles: chloroplasts, mitochondria, or peroxisomes. We have built a deep-learning framework, DeepLearnMOR (Deep Learning of the Morphology of Organelles), which can rapidly classify image categories and identify abnormalities in organelle morphology with over 97% accuracy. Feature visualization analysis identified important features used by the CNN to predict morphological abnormalities, and visual clues helped to better understand the decision-making process, thereby validating the reliability and interpretability of the neural network. This framework establishes a foundation for future larger-scale research with broader scopes and greater data set diversity and heterogeneity.

Plant Sciences↗
DOE OSTI2022

Developing a high-speed terahertz imaging system based on parametric upconversion imaging for penetrative sensing

Imaging using THz waves has been a promising option for penetrative measurements in environments that are opaque to visible wavelengths. However, available THz imaging systems have been limited to relatively low frame rates and cannot be applied to study fast dynamics. This work explores the use of upconversion imaging techniques based on nonlinear optics to enable wavelength-flexible high frame rate THz imaging. UpConversion Imaging (UCI) uses nonlinear conversion techniques to shift the THz wavelengths carrying a target image to shorter visible or near-IR wavelengths that can be detected by available high-speed cameras. This report describes the analysis methodology used to design a prototype high-rate THz UCI system and gives a detailed explanations of the design choices that were made. The design uses a high-rate pulse-burst laser system to pump both THz generation and THz upconversion detection, allowing for scaling to acquisition rates in excess of 10 kHz. The design of the prototype system described in this report has been completed and all necessary materials have been procured. Assembly and characterization testing is on-going at the submission of this report. This report proposes future directions for work on high-rate THz UCI and potential applications of future systems.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Individual Wave Detection and Tracking within a Rotating Detonation Engine through Computer Vision Object Detection applied to High-Speed Images

Known for their simplistic design and continuous detonation, rotating detonation engines (RDEs) constitute a majority of current pressure gain combustion (PGC) research efforts. Experimental RDE operation times have been continuously extended through the use of rig cooling techniques. As the window of observable behavior is expanded, and as the technology matures toward eventual integration within gas turbines, monitoring techniques must evolve to better match industrial diagnostics. High-speed image analysis techniques prove useful to capture and evaluate the unsteady detonation behavior within the RDE. Traditional image analysis techniques, however, require extensive processing times which prohibit simultaneous monitoring. To better address this problem, a computer vision object detection methodology is proposed to quickly detect individual detonation waves within a single down-axis image. Detonation waves are detected in individual images by the implemented computer vision method You Only Look Once (YOLO) object detection network. In order to detect detonation waves, the network must first be trained using RDE images of interest, for which each required phase of network development is outlined. Detection of waves is improved through proper treatment of the collected image set, variation of Intersection over Union (IoU) and confidence thresholding, and through a parametric study of annotation dimensions. Each detected wave is described by its location and rotational direction, and locations are tracked to calculate wave velocity across each frame, leading to a timestep resolution of 20 µs. Wave velocities are also calculated through a series of frames, leading to a suitable average velocity estimation using as few as 10 frames. Uncertainty analysis accounting for variation in camera framerate, pixel width and annotation centroid locations estimates a total uncertainty of ±4.3% for velocity calculations, using the smallest annotation boxes. This method offers great reductions in processing times, as a step toward real-time monitoring of detonation waves within an RDE. Improving on previous studies, this technique is impartial to wave modes not included in the original training set and calculates wave velocities independent of high-speed pressure data. The ability to isolate waves within predicted bounding boxes will likely facilitate analysis of pixel intensity variation as an estimation of wave strength in future work.

Johnson, Kristyn↗
DOE OSTI2020

First Resolved Scattered-light Images of Four Debris Disks in Scorpius-Centaurus with the Gemini Planet Imager

In this work, we present the first spatially resolved scattered-light images of four debris disks around members of the Scorpius-Centaurus (Sco-Cen) OB association with high-contrast imaging and polarimetry using the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI). All four disks are resolved for the first time in polarized light, and one disk is also detected in total intensity. The three disks imaged around HD 111161, HD 143675, and HD 145560 are symmetric in both morphology and brightness distribution. The three systems span a range of inclinations and radial extents. The disk imaged around HD 98363 shows indications of asymmetries in morphology and brightness distribution, with some structural similarities to the HD 106906 planet–disk system. Uniquely, HD 98363 has a wide comoving stellar companion, Wray 15-788, with a recently resolved disk with very different morphological properties. HD 98363 A/B is the first binary debris disk system with two spatially resolved disks. All four targets have been observed with ALMA, and their continuum fluxes range from one nondetection to one of the brightest disks in the region. With the new results, a total of 15 A/F stars in Sco-Cen have resolved scattered-light debris disks, and approximately half of these systems exhibit some form of asymmetry. Combining the GPI disk structure results with information from the literature on millimeter fluxes and imaged planets reveals a diversity of disk properties in this young population. Overall, the four newly resolved disks contribute to the census of disk structures measured around A/F stars at this important stage in the development of planetary systems.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

The Gemini Planet Imager Exoplanet Survey: Dynamical Mass of the Exoplanet β Pictoris b from Combined Direct Imaging and Astrometry

Herein, we present new observations of the planet β Pictoris b from 2018 with the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), the first GPI observations following conjunction. Based on these new measurements, we perform a joint orbit fit to the available relative astrometry from ground-based imaging, the Hipparcos Intermediate Astrometric Data (IAD), and the Gaia DR2 position, and demonstrate how to incorporate the IAD into direct imaging orbit fits. We find a mass consistent with predictions of hot-start evolutionary models and previous works following similar methods, though with larger uncertainties: $12.8^{+5.3}_{–3.2} M_{Jup}$. Our eccentricity determination of ${0.12}_{-0.03}^{+0.04}$ disfavors circular orbits. We consider orbit fits to several different imaging data sets, and find generally similar posteriors on the mass for each combination of imaging data. Our analysis underscores the importance of performing joint fits to the absolute and relative astrometry simultaneously, given the strong covariance between orbital elements. Time of conjunction is well-constrained within 2.8 days of 2017 September 13, with the star behind the planet's Hill sphere between 2017 April 11 and 2018 February 16 (±18 days). Following the recent radial velocity detection of a second planet in the system, β Pic c, we perform additional two-planet fits combining relative astrometry, absolute astrometry, and stellar radial velocities. These joint fits find a significantly smaller mass (8.0 ± 2.6 M Jup) for the imaged planet β Pic b, in a somewhat more circular orbit. We expect future ground-based observations to further constrain the visual orbit and mass of the planet in advance of the release of Gaia DR4.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

The Gemini Planet Imager View of the HD 32297 Debris Disk

We present new H-band scattered light images of the HD 32297 edge-on debris disk obtained with the Gemini Planet Imager. The disk is detected in total and polarized intensity down to a projected angular separation of 0.″15, or 20 au. On the other hand, the large-scale swept-back halo remains undetected, likely a consequence of its markedly blue color relative to the parent body belt. We analyze the curvature of the disk spine and estimate a radius of ≈100 au for the parent body belt, smaller than past scattered light studies but consistent with thermal emission maps of the system. We employ three different flux-preserving post-processing methods to suppress the residual starlight and evaluate the surface brightness and polarization profile along the disk spine. Unlike past studies of the system, our high-fidelity images reveal the disk to be highly symmetric and devoid of morphological and surface brightness perturbations. We find the dust scattering properties of the system to be consistent with those observed in other debris disks, with the exception of HR 4796. Finally, we find no direct evidence for the presence of a planetary-mass object in the system.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Characterization of a collimated neutron imager for low-rate fast neutron imaging

Spatial localization of special nuclear materials (SNM) via their neutron signatures amidst background requires knowledge of the background neutron environment or a means of separating a source from background based on low amounts of information. This requirement has created the need for characterizing the spatial distribution of the cosmogenic neutron background. Neutron scatter cameras have been developed and optimized for rapid detection of high activity sources, but have low imaging efficiency, making it difficult to use them to characterize low rate diffuse sources, such as the neutron background. The Low Intensity Neutron Imaging System (LINIS) is a collimated neutron imager that has been designed and optimized for imaging diffuse cosmogenic neutron background in the energy range of 0.5–15 MeV. LINIS operates using 16 liquid scintillation detectors shielded by ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene cylindrical collimators in a staggered orientation and rotates to 7 discrete positions, giving it roughly 2π sensitivity. Finally, LINIS has been characterized using (α, n) and fission neutron sources using two imaging techniques for neutron source localization, simple backprojection and Maximum Likelihood Expectation Maximization.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Spherical time-encoded radiation imaging simulations

Radiation source localization is important for nuclear nonproliferation and can be obtained using time-encoded imaging systems with unsegmented detectors. A scintillation crystal can be used with a moving coded-aperture mask to vary the detected count rate produced from radiation sources in the far field. The modulation of observed counts over time can be used to reconstruct an image with the known coded-aperture mask pattern. Current time-encoded imaging systems incorporate cylindrical coded-aperture masks and have limits to their fully coded imaging field-of-view. This work focuses on expanding the field-of-view to 4π by using a novel spherical coded-aperture mask. A regular icosahedron is used to approximate a spherical mask. This icosahedron consists of 20 equilateral triangles; the faces of which are each subdivided into four equilateral triangle-shaped voxels which are then projected onto a spherical surface, creating an 80-voxel coded-aperture mask. Furthermore, these polygonal voxels can be made from high-Z materials for gamma-ray modulation and/or low-Z materials for neutron modulation. In this work, we present Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) simulations and simple models programmed in Mathematica to explore image reconstruction capabilities of this 80-voxel coded-aperture mask.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗