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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 757 records · Page 42
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Light propagation in a neutron detector based on 6 Li glass scintillator particles in an organic matrix

Composite materials consisting of 6 Li scintillator particles in an organic matrix can enable thermal neutron detectors with excellent rejection of gamma-ray backgrounds. The efficiency of transporting scintillation light through such a composite is critical to the detector performance. This optical raytracing study of a composite thermal neutron detector quantifies the various sources of scintillation light loss and identifies favorable photomultiplier tube (PMT) readout schemes. The composite material consisted of scintillator cubes within an organic matrix shaped as a right cylinder. The cylinder surface was surrounded by an optical reflector, and the light was detected by PMTs attached to the cylinder end faces. A reflector in direct contact with the composite caused 53% loss of scintillation light. This loss was reduced 8-fold by creating an air gap between the composite and the reflector to allow a fraction of the scintillation light to propagate by total internal reflection. Replacing a liquid mineral oil matrix with a solid acrylic matrix decreased the light transport efficiency by only ~10% for the benefit of creating an all-solid-state device. The light propagation loss was found to scale exponentially with the distance between the scintillation event and the PMT along the cylinder main axis. This enabled a PMT readout scheme that corrects for light propagation loss on an event-by-event basis and achieved a 4.0% energy resolution that approached Poisson-limited performance. These results demonstrate that composite materials can enable practical thermal neutron detectors for a wide range of nuclear non-proliferation and safeguard applications.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2019

Hammerhead, an ultrahigh resolution ePix camera for wavelength-dispersive spectrometers

Wavelength-dispersive spectrometers (WDS) are often used in synchrotron and FEL applications where high energy resolution (in the order of eV) is important. Increasing WDS energy resolution requires increasing spatial resolution of the detectors in the dispersion direction. The common approaches are not ideal: using strip detectors loses the 2D position sensitivity (important for, e.g., background estimation) and the high counting rate; using pixel detectors with a small pitch results in complex charge sharing behaviour and typically have a small size. Developing pixel detectors with high aspect ratio and a small pitch in the wavelength dispersive direction would be ideal, however, it would require a substantial ASIC development. We present a new approach, with a novel sensor design using rectangular pixels with a high aspect ratio (between strips and pixels, further called “strixels”), and strixel redistribution to match the square pixel arrays of typical ASICs. This results in a sensor area of 17.4 mm × 77 mm, with a fine pitch of 25 µm in the horizontal direction resulting in 3072 columns and 176 rows. The sensors use ePix100 readout ASICs, leveraging their low noise (43 e - , or 180 eV rms). We present results obtained with a Hammerhead ePix100 camera, showing that the small pitch (25 µm) in the dispersion direction maximizes performance for both high and low photon occupancies, resulting in optimal WDS energy resolution. The low noise level at high photon occupancy allows precise photon counting, while at low occupancy, both the energy and the subpixel position can be reconstructed for every photon, allowing an ultrahigh resolution (in the order of 1 µm) in the dispersion direction and rejection of scattered beam and harmonics. Using strixel sensors with redistribution and flip-chip bonding to standard ePix readout ASICs results in ultrahigh position resolution (~1 µm) and low noise in WDS applications, leveraging the advantages of hybrid pixel detectors (high production yield, good availability, relatively inexpensive) while minimizing development complexity through sharing the ASIC, hardware, software and DAQ development with other versions of ePix cameras.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2019

Electrostatic subframing and compressive-sensing video in transmission electron microscopy

We present kilohertz-scale video capture rates in a transmission electron microscope, using a camera normally limited to hertz-scale acquisition. An electrostatic deflector rasters a discrete array of images over a large camera, decoupling the acquisition time per subframe from the camera readout time. Total-variation regularization allows features in overlapping subframes to be correctly placed in each frame. Moreover, the system can be operated in a compressive-sensing video mode, whereby the deflections are performed in a known pseudorandom sequence. Compressive sensing in effect performs data compression before the readout, such that the video resulting from the reconstruction can have substantially more total pixels than that were read from the camera. This allows, for example, 100 frames of video to be encoded and reconstructed using only 15 captured subframes in a single camera exposure. We demonstrate experimental tests including laser-driven melting/dewetting, sintering, and grain coarsening of nanostructured gold, with reconstructed video rates up to 10 kHz. The results exemplify the power of the technique by showing that it can be used to study the fundamentally different temporal behavior for the three different physical processes. Both sintering and coarsening exhibited self-limiting behavior, whereby the process essentially stopped even while the heating laser continued to strike the material. We attribute this to changes in laser absorption and to processes inherent to thin-film coarsening. In contrast, the dewetting proceeded at a relatively uniform rate after an initial incubation time consistent with the establishment of a steady-state temperature profile.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Crosstalk in microwave SQUID multiplexers

Low-temperature detector technologies provide extraordinary sensitivity for applications ranging from precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background to high-resolution, high-rate x-ray, and γ-ray spectroscopy. To utilize this sensitivity, new instruments are being built, and new instruments are imagined, with ever greater pixel counts, but the scale of these instruments is limited by the capability of the readout electronics. Microwave SQUID multiplexing addresses the needs of these future instruments, exploiting gigahertz of bandwidths of coaxial cables and broadband components to combine hundreds to thousands of signals on a single readout line. A key feature of any multiplexer is the level of crosstalk between input channels. This crosstalk can degrade the sensitivity of the instrument, introduce systematic error, or simply confound data analysis. In this letter, we explain the primary mechanisms of crosstalk in a microwave SQUID multiplexer, calculate and measure their magnitude, and consider their effect and methods of mitigation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Position sensitive alpha detector for an associated particle imaging system

Associated Particle Imaging (API) is a nuclear technique that provides for the nondestructive determination of 3D isotopic distributions. The method is based on the detection of the alpha particles associated with the neutron emitted in the deuterium-tritium (DT) fusion reaction, which provides information regarding the direction and time of the emitted 14 MeV neutron. Inelastic neutron scattering leads to characteristic gamma-ray emission from certain isotopes, for example 12 C, that can be correlated with the neutron interaction location. An API system consisting of a sealed-type neutron generator, gamma detectors, and a position-sensitive alpha detector is under development for the nondestructive quantification of carbon distribution in soils. This paper describes the design of the alpha detector, detector response simulations, and first experimental results. The alpha detector consists of a Yttrium Aluminum Perovskite (YAP) scintillator mounted on the inside of a neutron generator tube. The scintillation light propagates through a sapphire window to a position-sensitive photomultiplier tube mounted on the outside. The 16x16 output signals are connected through a resistive network for a 4-corner readout. The four readout channels are amplified, filtered, and then digitized for the calculation of the alpha position. First test findings demonstrate that an excellent alpha position resolution, better than the 1 mm FWHM required by the application, can be achieved with this detector design.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2020

A physically unclonable function using NV diamond magnetometry and micromagnet arrays

A physically unclonable function (PUF) is an embedded hardware security measure that provides protection against counterfeiting. In this article, we present our work on using an array of randomly magnetized micrometer-sized ferromagnetic bars (micromagnets) as a PUF. We employ a 4μm thick surface layer of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond to image the magnetic field from each micromagnet in the array, after which we extract the magnetic polarity of each micromagnet using image analysis techniques. Finally, after evaluating the randomness of the micromagnet array PUF and the sensitivity of the NV readout, we conclude by discussing the possible future enhancements for improved security and magnetic readout.

Electromagnetism↗
DOE OSTI2022

The ultrafast pixel array camera system and its applications in high energy density physics

Diagnostics in high energy density physics, shock physics, and related fields are primarily driven by a need to record rapidly time-evolving signals in single-shot events. These measurements are often limited by channel count and signal degradation issues on cable links between the detector and digitizer. Here we present the Ultrafast Pixel Array Camera (UPAC), a compact and flexible detector readout system with 32 waveform-recording channels at up to 10 Gsample/s and 1.8 GHz analog bandwidth. The compact footprint allows the UPAC to be directly embedded in the detector environment. A key enabling technology is the PSEC4A chip, an eight-channel switch-capacitor array sampling device with up to 1056 samples/channel. The UPAC system includes a high-density input connector that can plug directly into an application-specific detector board, programmable control, and serial readout, with less than 5 W of power consumption in full operation. We present the UPAC design and characterization, including a measured timing resolution of ~20 ps or better on acquisitions of sub-nanosecond pulses with minimal system calibrations. Example applications of the UPAC are also shown to demonstrate operation of a solid-state streak camera, an ultrafast imaging array, and a neutron time-of-flight spectrometer.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Design of a new charge exchange recombination spectroscopy diagnostic for impurity transport experiments at Wendelstein 7-X

In this study, we present the design of a new charge exchange recombination spectroscopy (CXRS) system for Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), which aims at measuring line radiation from highly ionized iron impurities after laser blow off injections over transport timescales. New fiber bundles with a core diameter of 600 µm have been added to one of the existing optical systems at W7-X used for CXRS. The fibers direct collected light to five newly developed single channel high frame rate F/2.8 spectrometers. The new custom-made spectrometers are built using entirely off-the-shelf and 3D printed components, and employ a round-to-linear fiber bundle, instead of an entrance slit, to maximize light throughput. The detector is an ultra-low readout noise EM-CCD camera capable of frame rates of up to 10 000 fps for about 500 consecutive frames when operated using a single readout channel. Such high frame rates will enable the study of inward convection of injected impurities. An initial sensitivity study is performed using a newly developed Markov chain Monte Carlo approach based on the pySTRAHL impurity transport code. This study indicates that, with the addition of the new CX diagnostic, impurity convection velocities can be inferred.

Instruments & Instrumentation↗
DOE OSTI2023

Characterization of superconducting through-silicon vias as capacitive elements in quantum circuits

The large physical size of superconducting qubits and their associated on-chip control structures presents a practical challenge toward building a large-scale quantum computer. In particular, transmons require a high-quality-factor shunting capacitance that is typically achieved by using a large coplanar capacitor. Other components, such as superconducting microwave resonators used for qubit state readout, are typically constructed from coplanar waveguides, which are millimeters in length. Here, we use compact superconducting through-silicon vias to realize lumped-element capacitors in both qubits and readout resonators to significantly reduce the on-chip footprint of both of these circuit elements. We measure two types of devices to show that through-silicon vias are of sufficient quality to be used as capacitive circuit elements and provide a significant reduction in size over existing approaches.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2024

Radiatively cooled quantum microwave amplifiers

Superconducting microwave amplifiers are essential for sensitive signal readout in superconducting quantum processors. Typically based on Josephson junctions, these amplifiers require operation at milli-Kelvin temperatures to achieve quantum-limited performance. Here, we demonstrate a quantum microwave amplifier that employs radiative cooling to operate at elevated temperatures and maintain near quantum-limited added noise. This kinetic-inductance-based parametric amplifier, patterned from a single layer of relatively high-Tc NbN thin film, maintains a high gain and meanwhile enables low added noise of 1.3 quanta when operated at 1.5 K. Remarkably, this represents only a 0.2 quanta increase compared to the performance at a base temperature of 0.1 K. Based on our findings, we also discuss the practicality of such an operating scheme for various quantum applications. By uplifting the parametric amplifiers from the mixing chamber without compromising readout efficiency, this work represents an important step toward more scalable microwave quantum technologies.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Demonstration of a 1820 channel multiplexer for transition-edge sensor bolometers

The scalability of most transition-edge sensor arrays is limited by the multiplexing technology, which combines their signals over a reduced number of wires and amplifiers. Here, in this Letter, we present and demonstrate a multiplexer design optimized for transition-edge sensor bolometers with 1820 sensors per readout unit, a factor of two more than the previous state-of-the-art. The design is optimized for cosmic microwave background imaging applications, and it builds on previous microwave superconducting quantum interference device multiplexers by doubling the available readout bandwidth to the full 4–8 GHz octave. Evaluating the key performance metrics of yield, sensitivity, and crosstalk through laboratory testing, we find an end-to-end operable detector yield of 78%, a typical nearest-neighbor crosstalk amplitude of ∼0.4%, and a median white noise level of 83 pA/$\sqrt{\textrm{Hz}}$ due to the multiplexer, corresponding to an estimated contribution of 4% to the total system noise for a ground-based cosmic microwave background telescope. Additionally, we identify a possible path toward reducing resonator loss for future designs with reduced noise. We expect these developments to alleviate the system complexity, cryogenic requirements, and cost of future large arrays of low temperature detectors.

cosmic microwave background↗
DOE OSTI2018

A review of advances in pixel detectors for experiments with high rate and radiation

The large Hadron collider (LHC) experiments ATLAS and CMS have established hybrid pixel detectors as the instrument of choice for particle tracking and vertexing in high rate and radiation environments, as they operate close to the LHC interaction points. With the high luminosity-LHC upgrade now in sight, for which the tracking detectors will be completely replaced, new generations of pixel detectors are being devised. They have to address enormous challenges in terms of data throughput and radiation levels, ionizing and non-ionizing, that harm the sensing and readout parts of pixel detectors alike. Advances in microelectronics and microprocessing technologies now enable large scale detector designs with unprecedented performance in measurement precision (space and time), radiation hard sensors and readout chips, hybridization techniques, lightweight supports, and fully monolithic approaches to meet these challenges. In conclusion, this paper reviews the world-wide effort on these developments.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2018

An optimized prototype of electromagnetic calorimeter for the SoLID project at Jefferson Lab

A shashlik-type electromagnetic calorimeter will be produced in Hall A of Jefferson Laboratory for the Solenoidal Large Intensity Device (SoLID). Wavelength-shifting (WLS) fibers and clear fibers will be used as the light guide part of the calorimeter. The blue light from scintillators is converted into green light by WLS fibers and is carried out to the back of the calorimeters for readout. Since the magnetic field of SoLID reaches about 1.5 T behind the calorimeters, the design is to use clear fibers to further guide the light out of the solenoid for readout by PMTs. Therefore, it is important to study the perfomance of WLS and clear fibers. This paper describes a comparative test of two different WLS fibers and a light attenuation test for a clear fiber. The results show that the performance of the two WLS fibers is the same under large curvature bending, and that the bending has no effect on the light transmission through the clear fiber. In addition, a comparison test for two fiber end-face reflective materials is also reported. It reveals that the use of silver ink as a reflective material can increase the light yield by 30%. Thereby, an optimized prototype based on the above experimental results was built and the basic performance was tested.

Shen, C.↗
DOE OSTI2018

Module and electronics developments for the ATLAS ITk pixel system

The ATLAS experiment is preparing for an extensive modification of its detectors in the course of the planned HL-LHC accelerator upgrade around 2025. The ATLAS upgrade includes the replacement of the entire tracking system by an all-silicon detector (Inner Tracker, ITk). The five innermost layers of ITk will be a pixel detector built of new sensor and readout electronics technologies to improve the tracking performance and cope with the severe HL-LHC environment in terms of occupancy and radiation. Here, the total area of the new pixel system could measure up to 14 m 2 , depending on the final layout choice, which is expected to take place in 2018. In this paper an overview of the ongoing R&D activities on modules and electronics for the ATLAS ITk is given including the main developments and achievements in silicon planar and 3D sensor technologies, readout and power challenges.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2018

Three-dimensional imaging for large LArTPCs

High-performance event reconstruction is critical for current and future massive liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs) to realize their full scientific potential. LArTPCs with readout using wire planes provide a limited number of 2D projections. In general, without a pixel- type readout it is challenging to achieve unambiguous 3D event reconstruction. As a remedy, we present a novel 3D imaging method, Wire-Cell, which incorporates the charge and sparsity information in addition to the time and geometry through simple and robust mathematics. Furthermore, the resulting 3D image of ionization density provides an excellent starting point for further reconstruction and enables the true power of 3D tracking calorimetry in LArTPCs.

3D↗
DOE OSTI2018

Calibration of the NEXT-White detector using 83m Kr decays

We report the NEXT-White (NEW) detector is currently the largest radio-pure high-pressure xenon gas time projection chamber with electroluminescent readout in the world. It has been operating at Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc (LSC) since October 2016. This paper describes the calibrations performed using 83m Kr decays during a long run taken from March to November 2017 (Run II). Krypton calibrations are used to correct for the finite drift-electron lifetime as well as for the dependence of the measured energy on the event transverse position which is caused by variations in solid angle coverage both for direct and reflected light and edge effects. After producing calibration maps to correct for both effects we measure an excellent energy resolution for 41.5 keV point-like deposits of (4.553 +/- 0.010 (stat.) ± 0.324 (sys.)) % FWHM in the full chamber and (3.804 ± 0.013 (stat.) ± 0.112 (sys.)) % FWHM in a restricted fiducial volume. Laslty, using naive 1/$ \sqrt{E} $ scaling, these values translate into resolutions of (0.5916 ± 0.0014 (stat.) ± 0.0421 (sys.)) % FWHM and (0.4943 ± 0.0017 (stat.) +/- 0.0146 (sys.)) % FWHM at the Qᵦᵦ energy of xenon double beta decay (2458 keV), well within range of our target value of 1%.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2018

First beam tests of prototype silicon modules for the CMS High Granularity Endcap Calorimeter

The High Luminosity phase of the Large Hadron Collider will deliver 10 times more integrated luminosity than the existing collider, posing significant challenges for radiation tolerance and event pileup on detectors, especially for forward calorimetry. As part of its upgrade program, the Compact Muon Solenoid collaboration is designing a high-granularity calorimeter (HGCAL) to replace the existing endcap calorimeters. It will feature unprecedented transverse and longitudinal readout and triggering segmentation for both electromagnetic and hadronic sections. The electromagnetic section and a large fraction of the hadronic section will be based on hexagonal silicon sensors of 0.5–1 cm 2 cell size, with the remainder of the hadronic section being based on highly-segmented scintillators with silicon photomultiplier readout. The intrinsic high-precision timing capabilities of the silicon sensors will add an extra dimension to event reconstruction, especially in terms of pileup rejection. First hexagonal silicon modules, using the existing Skiroc2 front-end ASIC developed for CALICE, have been tested in beams at Fermilab and CERN in 2016. Here, we present results from these tests, in terms of system stability, calibration with minimum-ionizing particles and resolution (energy, position and timing) for electrons, and the comparisons of these quantities with GEANT4-based simulation.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2018

Achievable noise performance of spectroscopic prototype DEPFET detectors

A new generation of spectroscopic X-ray DEPFET detectors has been produced here in the course of the detector development for the Wide Field Imager (WFI) of Athena. These devices served to perform a detailed analysis of the noise composition, which was enabled by the development of appropriate test algorithms. A result of the analysis is the distinction of different components, which sum up to the total noise. In particular the contribution of shot noise, white noise and 1/f noise to the readout noise is determined as well as the signal noise caused by the generation of charge carriers. The resulting parametrization enables the adaptation and optimization of operation modes to given purposes. The studied prototype detectors included 64×64 pixels with a linear gate design and provided an excellent noise, below 1.6 e - ENC at a readout time faster than 10 μs/pixel and a temperature of -80 °C in rolling-shutter operation. This performance is enabled by an extended signal integration time. A further noise reduction is prevented by the signal noise, caused by charge carrier generation. In order to demonstrate the low noise properties of the DEPFET transistor, the measurement conditions were adapted and a noise of 0.95 e - ENC was measured at the expense of the sensor size—by operating only parts of the sensor in window mode—and dynamic range—by using the Al Kα line at about 1.49 keV for calibration.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗