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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 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Surface acoustic wave amplification by direct current-voltage supplied to graphene film

Using a high-resolution X-Ray diffraction measurement method, the surface acoustic wave (SAW) propagation in a graphene film on the surface of a Ca{sub 3}TaGa{sub 3}Si{sub 2}O{sub 14} (CTGS) piezoelectric crystal was investigated, where an external current was driven across the graphene film. Here, we show that the application of the DC field leads to a significant enhancement of the SAW magnitude and, as a result, to amplification of the diffraction satellites. Amplification of 33.2 dB/cm for the satellite +1, and of 13.8 dB/cm for the satellite +2, at 471 MHz has been observed where the external DC voltage of +10 V was applied. Amplification of SAW occurs above a DC field much smaller than that of a system using bulk semiconductor. Theoretical estimates are in reasonable agreement with our measurements and analysis of experimental data for other materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

Optimized thermal amplification in a radiative transistor

The thermal performance of a far-field radiative transistor made up of a VO{sub 2} base in between a blackbody collector and a blackbody emitter is theoretically studied and optimized. This is done by using the grey approximation on the emissivity of VO{sub 2} and deriving analytical expressions for the involved heat fluxes and transistor amplification factor. It is shown that this amplification factor can be maximized by tuning the base temperature close to its critical one, which is determined by the temperature derivative of the VO{sub 2} emissivity and the equilibrium temperatures of the collector and emitter. This maximization is the result of the presence of two bi-stable temperatures appearing during the heating and cooling processes of the VO{sub 2} base and enables a thermal switching (temperature jump) characterized by a sizeable variation of the collector-to-base and base-to-emitter heat fluxes associated with a slight change of the applied power to the base. This switching effect leads to the optimization of the amplification factor and therefore it could be used for thermal modulation purposes.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

FAST MAGNETIC FIELD AMPLIFICATION IN THE EARLY UNIVERSE: GROWTH OF COLLISIONLESS PLASMA INSTABILITIES IN TURBULENT MEDIA

In this work we report on a numerical study of the cosmic magnetic field amplification due to collisionless plasma instabilities. The collisionless magnetohydrodynamic equations derived account for the pressure anisotropy that leads, in specific conditions, to the firehose and mirror instabilities. We study the time evolution of seed fields in turbulence under the influence of such instabilities. An approximate analytical time evolution of the magnetic field is provided. The numerical simulations and the analytical predictions are compared. We found that (i) amplification of the magnetic field was efficient in firehose-unstable turbulent regimes, but not in the mirror-unstable models; (ii) the growth rate of the magnetic energy density is much faster than the turbulent dynamo; and (iii) the efficient amplification occurs at small scales. The analytical prediction for the correlation between the growth timescales and pressure anisotropy is confirmed by the numerical simulations. These results reinforce the idea that pressure anisotropies—driven naturally in a turbulent collisionless medium, e.g., the intergalactic medium, could efficiently amplify the magnetic field in the early universe (post-recombination era), previous to the collapse of the first large-scale gravitational structures. This mechanism, though fast for the small-scale fields (∼kpc scales), is unable to provide relatively strong magnetic fields at large scales. Other mechanisms that were not accounted for here (e.g., collisional turbulence once instabilities are quenched, velocity shear, or gravitationally induced inflows of gas into galaxies and clusters) could operate afterward to build up large-scale coherent field structures in the long time evolution.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

A Quantitative Comparison of Single-Cell Whole Genome Amplification Methods

Single-cell sequencing is emerging as an important tool for studies of genomic heterogeneity. Whole genome amplification (WGA) is a key step in single-cell sequencing workflows and a multitude of methods have been introduced. Here, we compare three state-of-the-art methods on both bulk and single-cell samples of E. coli DNA: Multiple Displacement Amplification (MDA), Multiple Annealing and Looping Based Amplification Cycles (MALBAC), and the PicoPLEX single-cell WGA kit (NEB-WGA). We considered the effects of reaction gain on coverage uniformity, error rates and the level of background contamination. We compared the suitability of the different WGA methods for the detection of copy-number variations, for the detection of single-nucleotide polymorphisms and for de-novo genome assembly. No single method performed best across all criteria and significant differences in characteristics were observed; the choice of which amplifier to use will depend strongly on the details of the type of question being asked in any given experiment.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Contributions to Polar Amplification in CMIP5 and CMIP6 Models

As a step towards understanding the fundamental drivers of polar climate change, we evaluate contributions to polar warming and its seasonal and hemispheric asymmetries in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6) as compared with CMIP5. CMIP6 models broadly capture the observed pattern of surface- and winter-dominated Arctic warming that has outpaced both tropical and Antarctic warming in recent decades. For both CMIP5 and CMIP6, CO 2 quadrupling experiments reveal that the lapse-rate and surface albedo feedbacks contribute most to stronger warming in the Arctic than the tropics or Antarctic. The relative strength of the polar surface albedo feedback in comparison to the lapse-rate feedback is sensitive to the choice of radiative kernel, and the albedo feedback contributes most to intermodel spread in polar warming at both poles. By separately calculating moist and dry atmospheric heat transport, we show that increased poleward moisture transport is another important driver of Arctic amplification and the largest contributor to projected Antarctic warming. Seasonal ocean heat storage and winter-amplified temperature feedbacks contribute most to the winter peak in warming in the Arctic and a weaker winter peak in the Antarctic. In comparison with CMIP5, stronger polar warming in CMIP6 results from a larger surface albedo feedback at both poles, combined with less-negative cloud feedbacks in the Arctic and increased poleward moisture transport in the Antarctic. However, normalizing by the global-mean surface warming yields a similar degree of Arctic amplification and only slightly increased Antarctic amplification in CMIP6 compared to CMIP5.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2019

Arctic Amplification Response to Individual Climate Drivers

The Arctic is experiencing rapid climate change in response to changes in greenhouse gases, aerosols and other climate drivers. Emission changes in general, as well as geographical shifts in emissions and transport pathways of shortlived climate forcers, make it necessary to understand the influence of each climate driver on the Arctic. In the Precipitation Driver Response Model Intercomparison Project, ten global climate models perturbed five different climate drivers separately (CO2, CH4, the solar constant, BC and SO4). We show that the annual mean Arctic amplification (defined as the ratio between Arctic and the global mean temperature change) at the surface is similar between climate drivers, ranging from 1.9 (± an intermodel standard deviation of 0.4) for the solar to 2.3 (± 0.6) for the SO4 perturbations, with minimum amplification in the summer for all drivers. The vertical and seasonal temperature response patterns indicate that the Arctic is warmed through similar mechanisms for all climate drivers except BC. For all drivers, the precipitation change per degree global temperature change is positive in the Arctic, with a seasonality following that of the Arctic amplification. We find indications that SO4 perturbations produce a slightly stronger precipitation response than the other drivers, particularly compared to CO2.

greenhouse gases↗
DOE OSTI2020

Uncertainty amplification due to density/refractive index gradients in background-oriented schlieren experiments

Here, we theoretically analyze the effect of density/refractive index gradients on the measurement precision of background-oriented schlieren (BOS) experiments by deriving the Cramer–Rao lower bound (CRLB) for the 2D centroid estimation process. A model is derived for the diffraction limited image of a dot viewed through a medium containing density gradients that includes the effect of the experimental parameters such as the magnification and f-number. It is shown using the model that nonlinearities in the density gradient field lead to blurring of the dot image. This blurring amplifies the effect of image noise on the centroid estimation process, leading to an increase in the CRLB and a decrease in the measurement precision. The ratio of position uncertainties of a dot in the reference and gradient images is shown to be a function of the ratio of the dot diameters and dot intensities. We termed this parameter the amplification ratio (A F ), and a methodology for reporting position uncertainties in tracking-based BOS measurements is proposed. The theoretical predictions of the dot position estimation variance from the CRLB are compared to ray tracing simulations, and agreement is obtained. The uncertainty amplification is also demonstrated on experimental BOS images of flow induced by a spark discharge, where it is seen that regions of high amplification ratio correspond to regions of density gradients. This analysis elucidates the dependence of the position uncertainty on density and refractive index gradient-induced distortion parameters, provides a methodology for accounting its effect on uncertainty quantification and provides a framework for optimizing experiment design.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Protocol for single-cell isolation and genome amplification of environmental microbial eukaryotes for genomic analysis

We describe environmental microbial eukaryotes (EMEs) sample collection, single-cell isolation, lysis, and genome amplification, followed by the rDNA amplification and OTU screening for recovery of high-quality species-specific genomes for de novo assembly. These protocols are part of our pipeline that also includes bioinformatic methods. The pipeline and its application on a wide range of phyla of different sample complexity are described in our complementary paper. In addition, this protocol describes optimized lysis, genome amplification, and OTU screening steps of the pipeline. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Ciobanu et al. (2021).

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Chemical Amplification of Subthreshold Base Triggers To Drive Sol–Gel Transitions in Polymers

Chemical amplification has been widely applied in applications ranging from stimuli sensing to advanced photoresists, but it is rarely utilized to drive productive mechanical property changes. Here, we demonstrate the use of a base amplifier to drive the gelation of a functional polymer solution, in response to a subthreshold base trigger through a mechanism whereby the trigger drives a dramatic increase in the base concentration driven by base amplification, resulting in complexation of Fe(III) and polymer-bound catechol groups and subsequent gelation of the polymer solution. Furthermore, the concomitant crystallization of dibenzofulvene, which is a byproduct of base amplification, led to significant stiffening of the resultant gel and an unexpected temperature-sensitive change of gel stiffness.

Aromatic compounds↗
DOE OSTI2025

Signal amplification in a solid-state sensor through asymmetric many-body echo

Electronic spins of nitrogen–vacancy centres in diamond constitute a promising system for micro- and nanoscale magnetic sensing, because of their operation under ambient conditions, ease of placement in close proximity to sensing targets and biological compatibility. At high densities, the electronic spins interact through dipolar coupling, which typically limits but can also potentially enhance sensing performance. Here we report the experimental demonstration of many-body signal amplification in a solid-state, room-temperature quantum sensor. Our approach uses time-reversed two-axis-twisting interactions, engineered through dynamical control of the quantization axis and Floquet engineering in a two-dimensional ensemble of nitrogen–vacancy centres. We observe that optimal amplification occurs when the backward evolution time equals twice the forward evolution time, in sharp contrast to the conventional Loschmidt echo. These observations can be understood as resulting from an underlying time-reversed mirror symmetry of the microscopic dynamics, providing key insights into signal amplification and opportunities for practical entanglement-enhanced quantum sensing.

quantum information↗
DOE OSTI2018

Impact of primer dimers and self-amplifying hairpins on reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification detection of viral RNA

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), coupled with reverse transcription (RT), has become a popular technique for detection of viral RNA due to several desirable characteristics for use in point-of-care or low-resource settings. The large number of primers in LAMP (six per target) leads to an increased likelihood of primer-dimer interactions, and the inner primers in particular are prone to formation of stable hairpin structures due to their length (typically 40-45 bases). Although primer-dimers and hairpin structures are known features to avoid in nucleic acid amplification techniques, there is little quantitative information in literature regarding the impact of these structures on LAMP or RT-LAMP assays. In this study, we examine the impact of primer-dimers and hairpins on previously-published primer sets for dengue virus and yellow fever virus. We demonstrate that minor changes to the primers to eliminate amplifiable primer dimers and hairpins improves the performance of the assays when monitored in real time with intercalating dyes, and when monitoring a fluorescent endpoint using the QUASR technique. We also discuss the thermodynamic implications of these minor changes on the overall stability of amplifiable secondary structures, and we present a single thermodynamic parameter to predict the probability of non-specific amplification associated with LAMP primers.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Thin-rod active elements for amplification of femtosecond pulses

To study the possibility of amplifying the radiation of femtosecond fibre lasers in thin-rod active elements, amplifying modules based on thin rods made of broadband Yb : CaF{sub 2} and Yb : Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} materials are developed. It is shown that the gain in Yb : YAG and Yb : Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} elements is limited because only part of the broadband signal is amplified, while amplification in Yb : CaF{sub 2} elements occurs in a wider spectral range but is weak due to a small emission cross section. Amplification from submicrojuole to submillijoule level in the regenerative amplification regime is demonstrated. The new broadband Yb : CaF{sub 2} and Yb : Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} materials can amplify radiation with a considerably broader spectrum than Yb : YAG. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Resistive wall mode stability and resonant field amplification in MAST high beta plasma

The n=1 (n is the toroidal mode number) resistive wall mode (RWM) instability and the resonant field amplification (RFA) due to a stable RWM response are numerically investigated for a MAST high-pressure plasma scenario, utilizing the MARS-F (Liu Y.Q. et al 2000 Phys. Plasmas 7 3681) and MARS-K (Liu Y.Q. et al 2008 Phys. Plasmas 15 112503) codes, for the purpose of understanding the potential RWM behavior in MAST-U plasmas. Ideal kink stability analysis identifies a target plasma, with parameters similar to that of the reference equilibrium reconstructed from a MAST high-pressure discharge, that accesses the RWM regime. The unstable n=1 RWM for the target equilibrium is subject to strong damping by the plasma toroidal flow and/or the drift kinetic effects from thermal particles. As a result, the mode is found to be stable under the experimental flow conditions, or even without flow stabilization if drift kinetic stabilization is included. The stability prediction is robust against variation of the assumed resistive wall minor radius. Active magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) spectroscopy modeling, using the magnetic coils designed for controlling the edge localized modes (ELMs) in MAST-U as the antenna, shows strong resonant field amplification due to a stable RWM response in the target plasma. Maximal amplification, of 6-7 times larger than the applied vacuum field within the plasma, is obtained assuming a coil phasing of 120-180 degrees between the upper and lower rows of the ELM control coils. The MHD-kinetic hybrid model predicts generally higher RFA than the fluid model, in particular near the low-field and high-field sides of the plasma boundary surface. Furthermore, the MARS-F/K modeling thus shows that the RWM in MAST-U is subject to strong flow and kinetic stabilization, but can nevertheless be detected by active MHD spectroscopy.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Parametric Amplification of High-Frequency Radiation by Point Josephson Junctions Near Shapiro Subharmonic Steps

Parametric amplification of a high-frequency radiation by point-like Josephson junctions in the cavity has been studied within a resistive model. It is shown numerically and analytically that near the subharmonic steps of the current–voltage characteristic there are areas of amplification of electromagnetic radiation. An one-dimensional array of the Josephson point junctions connected in series is treated. It is shown that the junctions in the array near the subharmonic steps of current–voltage characteristic are nonsynchronized and, accordingly, the amplification regions near the subharmonic steps of the array are missing.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2018

Direct detection of MeV-scale dark matter utilizing germanium internal amplification for the charge created by the ionization of impurities

Light, MeV-scale dark matter (DM) is an exciting DM candidate that is undetectable by current experiments. A germanium (Ge) detector utilizing internal charge amplification for the charge carriers created by the ionization of impurities is a promising new technology with experimental sensitivity for detecting MeV-scale DM. We analyze the physics mechanisms of the signal formation, charge creation, charge internal amplification, and the projected sensitivity for directly detecting MeV-scale DM particles. We present a design for a novel Ge detector at helium temperature (~4 K) enabling ionization of impurities from DM impacts. With large localized E-fields, the ionized excitations can be accelerated to kinetic energies larger than the Ge bandgap at which point they can create additional electron–hole pairs, producing intrinsic amplification to achieve an ultra-low energy threshold of ~0.1 eV for detecting low-mass DM particles in the MeV scale. Correspondingly, such a Ge detector with 1 kg-year exposure will have high sensitivity to a DM-nucleon cross section of ~5 × 10 -45 cm 2 at a DM mass of ~10 MeV/c 2 and a DM-electron cross section of ~ 5 × 10 -46 cm 2 at a DM mass of 1 MeV/c 2 .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Monsoon Depression Amplification by Horizontal Shear and Humidity Gradients: A Shallow Water Perspective

Transient, synoptic-scale vortices produce a large fraction of total rainfall in most monsoon regions and are often associated with extreme precipitation. However, the mechanism of their amplification remains a topic of active research. For monsoon depressions, which are the most prominent synoptic-scale vortex in the Asian–Australian monsoon, recent work has suggested that meridional gradients in zonal wind in the vortex environment may produce growth through barotropic instability, while meridional gradients in environmental humidity have also been proposed to cause amplification through coupling with precipitating convection. Here, a two-dimensional shallow water model on a sphere with parameterized precipitation is used to examine the relative role played by these two environmental gradients. By systematically varying the meridional moisture gradient and meridional wind shear for both weak, quasi-linear waves and finite-amplitude isolated vortices, we show that rotational winds in the initial vortex are amplified most strongly by meridional shear of the environmental zonal wind, while vortex precipitation rates are most sensitive to environmental moisture gradients. The growth rate in the presence of both gradients is less than the sum of growth rates in the presence of isolated gradients, as the phase relation between moisture and vorticity anomalies becomes distorted with increasing shear. In conclusion, these results suggest that background meridional gradients in both zonal wind and environmental humidity can contribute to the amplification of vortices to monsoon depression strength, but with some degree of decoupling of the dry rotational flow and the moist convection.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Fluorescent amplification for next generation sequencing (FA-NGS) library preparation

BACKGROUND: Next generation sequencing (NGS) has become a universal practice in modern molecular biology. As the throughput of sequencing experiments increases, the preparation of conventional multiplexed libraries becomes more labor intensive. Conventional library preparation typically requires quality control (QC) testing for individual libraries such as amplification success evaluation and quantification, none of which occur until the end of the library preparation process. RESULTS: In this study, we address the need for a more streamlined high-throughput NGS workflow by tethering real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) to conventional workflows to save time and implement single tube and single reagent QC. We modified two distinct library preparation workflows by replacing PCR and quantification with qPCR using SYBR Green I. qPCR enabled individual library quantification for pooling in a single tube without the need for additional reagents. Additionally, a melting curve analysis was implemented as an intermediate QC test to confirm successful amplification. Sequencing analysis showed comparable percent reads for each indexed library, demonstrating that pooling calculations based on qPCR allow for an even representation of sequencing reads. To aid the modified workflow, a software toolkit was developed and used to generate pooling instructions and analyze qPCR and melting curve data. CONCLUSIONS: We successfully applied fluorescent amplification for next generation sequencing (FA-NGS) library preparation to both plasmids and bacterial genomes. As a result of using qPCR for quantification and proceeding directly to library pooling, the modified library preparation workflow has fewer overall steps. Therefore, we speculate that the FA-NGS workflow has less risk of user error. The melting curve analysis provides the necessary QC test to identify and troubleshoot library failures prior to sequencing. While this study demonstrates the value of FA-NGS for plasmid or gDNA libraries, we speculate that its versatility could lead to successful application across other library types.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Optical parametric amplification of spectrally incoherent pulses

The optical parametric amplification of spectrally incoherent signals is analyzed and simulated using a set of normalized equations describing phase-matched three-wave nonlinear mixing. Varying the amplifier’s properties and the seeding conditions reveals different amplification regimes. In particular, the relative temporal walk-off of the signal, idler, and pump has a strong impact on the temporal and spectral properties of the amplified signal. The amplification efficiency for spectrally incoherent signals is not significantly lower than that of a coherent monochromatic signal, provided that the phase-matching bandwidth is sufficient. Here, the results obtained with the normalized set of equations are in good agreement with simulations based on the full description of the crystals’ dispersion for high-gain LBO and BBO preamplifiers and a low-gain DKDP power amplifier.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗