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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 793 records · Page 44
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

On the physical processes ruling an atmospheric pressure air glow discharge operating in an intermediate current regime

Low-frequency (100 Hz), intermediate-current (50 to 200 mA) glow discharges were experimentally investigated in atmospheric pressure air between blunt copper electrodes. Voltage–current characteristics and images of the discharge for different inter-electrode distances are reported. A cathode-fall voltage close to 360 V and a current density at the cathode surface of about 11 A/cm{sup 2}, both independent of the discharge current, were found. The visible emissive structure of the discharge resembles to that of a typical low-pressure glow, thus suggesting a glow-like electric field distribution in the discharge. A kinetic model for the discharge ionization processes is also presented with the aim of identifying the main physical processes ruling the discharge behavior. The numerical results indicate the presence of a non-equilibrium plasma with rather high gas temperature (above 4000 K) leading to the production of components such as NO, O, and N which are usually absent in low-current glows. Hence, the ionization by electron-impact is replaced by associative ionization, which is independent of the reduced electric field. This leads to a negative current-voltage characteristic curve, in spite of the glow-like features of the discharge. On the other hand, several estimations show that the discharge seems to be stabilized by heat conduction; being thermally stable due to its reduced size. All the quoted results indicate that although this discharge regime might be considered to be close to an arc, it is still a glow discharge as demonstrated by its overall properties, supported also by the presence of thermal non-equilibrium.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Current-driven vortex domain wall motion in wire-tube nanostructures

We have investigated the current-driven domain wall motion in nanostructures comprised of a pair of nanotube and nanowire segments. Under certain values of external magnetic fields, it is possible to pin a vortex domain wall in the transition zone between the wire and tube segments. We explored the behavior of this domain wall under the action of an electron flow applied in the opposite direction to the magnetic field. Thus, for a fixed magnetic field, it is possible to release a domain wall pinned simply by increasing the intensity of the current density, or conversely, for a fixed current density, it is possible to release the domain wall simply decreasing the magnetic external field. When the domain wall remains pinned due to the competition between the current density and the magnetic external field, it exhibits a oscillation frequency close to 8 GHz. The amplitude of the oscillations increases with the current density and decreases over time. On the other hand, when the domain wall is released and propagated through the tube segment, this shows the standard separation between a steady and a precessional regime. The ability to pin and release a domain wall by varying the geometric parameters, the current density, or the magnetic field transforms these wire-tube nanostructures in an interesting alternative as an on/off switch nano-transistor.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Structural tuning of nanogaps using electromigration induced by field emission current with bipolar biasing

We report a new method for fabrication of Ni nanogaps based on electromigration induced by a field emission current. This method is called “activation” and is demonstrated here using a current source with alternately reversing polarities. The activation procedure with alternating current bias, in which the current source polarity alternates between positive and negative bias conditions, is performed with planar Ni nanogaps defined on SiO{sub 2}/Si substrates at room temperature. During negative biasing, a Fowler-Nordheim field emission current flows from the source (cathode) to the drain (anode) electrode. The Ni atoms at the tip of the drain electrode are thus activated and then migrate across the gap from the drain to the source electrode. In contrast, in the positive bias case, the field emission current moves the activated atoms from the source to the drain electrode. These two procedures are repeated until the tunnel resistance of the nanogaps is successively reduced from 100 TΩ to 48 kΩ. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy studies showed that the gap separation narrowed from approximately 95 nm to less than 10 nm because of the Ni atoms that accumulated at the tips of both the source and drain electrodes. These results show that the alternately biased activation process, which is a newly proposed atom transfer technique, can successfully control the tunnel resistance of the Ni nanogaps and is a suitable method for formation of ultrasmall nanogap structures.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Spin-orbit torques for current parallel and perpendicular to a domain wall

We report field- and current-induced domain wall (DW) depinning experiments in Ta\Co{sub 20}Fe{sub 60}B{sub 20}\MgO nanowires through a Hall cross geometry. While purely field-induced depinning shows no angular dependence on in-plane fields, the effect of the current depends crucially on the internal DW structure, which we manipulate by an external magnetic in-plane field. We show depinning measurements for a current sent parallel to the DW and compare its depinning efficiency with the conventional case of current flowing perpendicularly to the DW. We find that the maximum efficiency is similar for both current directions within the error bars, which is in line with a dominating damping-like spin-orbit torque (SOT) and indicates that no large additional torques arise for currents perpendicular to the DW. Finally, we find a varying dependence of the maximum depinning efficiency angle for different DWs and pinning levels. This emphasizes the importance of our full angular scans compared with previously used measurements for just two field directions (parallel and perpendicular to the DW) to determine the real torque strength and shows the sensitivity of the SOT to the precise DW structure and pinning sites.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Current sheets with inhomogeneous plasma temperature: Effects of polarization electric field and 2D solutions

We develop current sheet models which allow to regulate the level of plasma temperature and density inhomogeneities across the sheet. These models generalize the classical Harris model via including two current-carrying plasma populations with different temperature and the background plasma not contributing to the current density. The parameters of these plasma populations allow regulating contributions of plasma density and temperature to the pressure balance. A brief comparison with spacecraft observations demonstrates the model applicability for describing the Earth magnetotail current sheet. We also develop a two dimensional (2D) generalization of the proposed model. The interesting effect found for 2D models is the nonmonotonous profile (along the current sheet) of the magnetic field component perpendicular to the current sheet. Possible applications of the model are discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Characterisation of the current switch mechanism in two-stage wire array Z-pinches

In this paper, we describe the operation of a two-stage wire array z-pinch driven by the 1.4 MA, 240 ns rise-time Magpie pulsed-power device at Imperial College London. In this setup, an inverse wire array acts as a fast current switch, delivering a current pre-pulse into a cylindrical load wire array, before rapidly switching the majority of the generator current into the load after a 100–150 ns dwell time. A detailed analysis of the evolution of the load array during the pre-pulse is presented. Measurements of the load resistivity and energy deposition suggest significant bulk heating of the array mass occurs. The ∼5 kA pre-pulse delivers ∼0.8 J of energy to the load, leaving it in a mixed, predominantly liquid-vapour state. The main current switch occurs as the inverse array begins to explode and plasma expands into the load region. Electrical and imaging diagnostics indicate that the main current switch may evolve in part as a plasma flow switch, driven by the expansion of a magnetic cavity and plasma bubble along the length of the load array. Analysis of implosion trajectories suggests that approximately 1 MA switches into the load in 100 ns, corresponding to a doubling of the generator dI/dt. Potential scaling of the device to higher current machines is discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Current fluctuation of electron and hole carriers in multilayer WSe{sub 2} field effect transistors

Two-dimensional materials have outstanding scalability due to their structural and electrical properties for the logic devices. Here, we report the current fluctuation in multilayer WSe{sub 2} field effect transistors (FETs). In order to demonstrate the impact on carrier types, n-type and p-type WSe{sub 2} FETs are fabricated with different work function metals. Each device has similar electrical characteristics except for the threshold voltage. In the low frequency noise analysis, drain current power spectral density (S{sub I}) is inversely proportional to frequency, indicating typical 1/f noise behaviors. The curves of the normalized drain current power spectral density (NS{sub I}) as a function of drain current at the 10 Hz of frequency indicate that our devices follow the carrier number fluctuation with correlated mobility fluctuation model. This means that current fluctuation depends on the trapping-detrapping motion of the charge carriers near the channel interface. No significant difference is observed in the current fluctuation according to the charge carrier type, electrons and holes that occurred in the junction and channel region.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Anode current density distribution in a cusped field thruster

The cusped field thruster is a new electric propulsion device that is expected to have a non-uniform radial current density at the anode. To further study the anode current density distribution, a multi-annulus anode is designed to directly measure the anode current density for the first time. The anode current density decreases sharply at larger radii; the magnitude of collected current density at the center is far higher compared with the outer annuli. The anode current density non-uniformity does not demonstrate a significant change with varying working conditions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Disruption of crystalline structure of Sn3.5Ag induced by electric current

This study presented the disruption of the Sn and Ag{sub 3}Sn lattice structures of Sn3.5Ag solder induced by electric current at 5–7 × 10{sup 3} A/cm{sup 2} with a high resolution transmission electron microscope investigation and electron diffraction analysis. The electric current stressing induced a high degree of strain on the alloy, as estimated from the X-ray diffraction (XRD) peak shift of the current stressed specimen. The XRD peak intensity of the Sn matrix and the Ag{sub 3}Sn intermetallic compound diminished to nearly undetectable after 2 h of current stressing. The electric current stressing gave rise to a high dislocation density of up to 10{sup 17}/m{sup 2}. The grain morphology of the Sn matrix became invisible after prolonged current stressing as a result of the coalescence of dislocations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Leakage current phenomena in Mn-doped Bi(Na,K)TiO{sub 3}-based ferroelectric thin films

Mn-doped 80(Bi{sub 0.5}Na{sub 0.5})TiO{sub 3}-20(Bi{sub 0.5}K{sub 0.5})TiO{sub 3} thin films were fabricated by chemical solution deposition on Pt/TiO{sub 2}/SiO{sub 2}/Si substrates. Steady state and time-dependent leakage current were investigated from room temperature to 180 °C. Undoped and low-doped films showed space-charge-limited current (SCLC) at high temperatures. The electric field marking the transition from Ohmic to trap-filling-limited current increased monotonically with Mn-doping. With 2 mol. % Mn, the current was Ohmic up to 430 kV/cm, even at 180 °C. Modeling of the SCLC showed that all films exhibited shallow trap levels and high trap concentrations. In the regime of steady state leakage, there were also observations of negative differential resistivity and positive temperature coefficient of resistivity near room temperature. Both of these phenomena were confined to relatively low temperatures (below ∼60 °C). Transient currents were observed in the time-dependent leakage data, which was measured out to several hundred seconds. In the undoped films, these were found to be a consequence of oxygen vacancy migration modulating the electronic conductivity. The mobility and thermal activation energy for oxygen vacancies was extracted as μ{sub ion} ≈ 1.7 × 10{sup −12} cm{sup 2} V{sup −1} s{sup −1} and E{sub A,ion} ≈ 0.92 eV, respectively. The transient current displayed different characteristics in the 1 mol. % Mn-doped films which were not readily explained by oxygen vacancy migration.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Effect of atomic layer deposition temperature on current conduction in Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} films formed using H{sub 2}O oxidant

To develop high-performance, high-reliability gate insulation and surface passivation technologies for wide-bandgap semiconductor devices, the effect of atomic layer deposition (ALD) temperature on current conduction in Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} films is investigated based on the recently proposed space-charge-controlled field emission model. Leakage current measurement shows that Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} metal-insulator-semiconductor capacitors formed on the Si substrates underperform thermally grown SiO{sub 2} capacitors at the same average field. However, using equivalent oxide field as a more practical measure, the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} capacitors are found to outperform the SiO{sub 2} capacitors in the cases where the capacitors are negatively biased and the gate material is adequately selected to reduce virtual dipoles at the gate/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} interface. The Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} electron affinity increases with the increasing ALD temperature, but the gate-side virtual dipoles are not affected. Therefore, the leakage current of negatively biased Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} capacitors is approximately independent of the ALD temperature because of the compensation of the opposite effects of increased electron affinity and permittivity in Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}. By contrast, the substrate-side sheet of charge increases with increasing ALD temperature above 210 °C and hence enhances the current of positively biased Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} capacitors more significantly at high temperatures. Additionally, an anomalous oscillatory shift of the current-voltage characteristics with ALD temperature was observed in positively biased capacitors formed by low-temperature (≤210 °C) ALD. This shift is caused by dipoles at the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}/underlying SiO{sub 2} interface. Although they have a minimal positive-bias leakage current, the low-temperature-grown Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} films cause the so-called blisters problem when heated above 400 °C. Therefore, because of the absence of blistering, a 450 °C ALD process is presently the most promising technology for growing high-reliability Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} films.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Determining Confounding Sensitivities In Eddy Current Thin Film Measurements

Determining Confounding Sensitivities In Eddy Current Thin Film Measurements Ethan Gros, Lalita Udpa, Electrical Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing MI 48824 James A. Smith, Experiment Analysis, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls ID 83415 Eddy current (EC) techniques are widely used in industry to measure the thickness of non-conductive films on a metal substrate. This is done using a system whereby a coil carrying a high-frequency alternating current is used to create an alternating magnetic field at the surface of the instrument's probe. When the probe is brought near a conductive surface, the alternating magnetic field will induce ECs in the conductor. The substrate characteristics and the distance of the probe from the substrate (the coating thickness) affect the magnitude of the ECs. The induced currents load the probe coil affecting the terminal impedance of the coil. The measured probe impedance is related to the lift off between coil and conductor as well as conductivity of the test sample. For a known conductivity sample, the probe impedance can be converted into an equivalent film thickness value. The EC measurement can be confounded by a number of measurement parameters. It is the goal of this research to determine which physical properties of the measurement set-up and sample can adversely affect the thickness measurement. The eddy current testing is performed using a commercially available, hand held eddy current probe (ETA3.3H spring loaded eddy probe running at 8 MHz) that comes with a stand to hold the probe. The stand holds the probe and adjusts the probe on the z-axis to help position the probe in the correct area as well as make precise measurements. The signal from the probe is sent to a hand held readout, where the results are recorded directly in terms of liftoff or film thickness. Understanding the effect of certain factors on the measurements of film thickness, will help to evaluate how accurate the ETA3.3H spring loaded eddy probe is at measuring film thickness under varying experimental conditions. This research will study the effects of a number of factors such as i) calibration, ii) conductivity, iii) edge effect, iv) surface finish of base material and v) cable condition and compare with the long term reproducibility of a standard measurement. This work was performed with support from the Department of Energy under the United States National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) at the Idaho National Laboratory.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2018

Auger-generated hot carrier current in photo-excited forward biased single quantum well blue light emitting diodes

We report here on measurements of the photo-modulated current-voltage and electroluminescence characteristics of forward biased single quantum well, blue InGaN/GaN light emitting diodes with and without electron blocking layers. Low intensity resonant optical excitation of the quantum well was observed to induce an additional forward current at constant forward diode bias, in contrast to the usual sense of the photocurrent in photodiodes and solar cells, as well as an increased electroluminescence intensity. The presence of an electron blocking layer only slightly decreased the magnitude of the photo-induced current at constant forward bias. Photo-modulation at constant forward diode current resulted in a reduced diode bias under optical excitation. We argue that this decrease in diode bias at constant current and the increase in forward diode current at constant applied bias can only be due to additional hot carriers being ejected from the quantum well as a result of an increased Auger recombination rate within the quantum well.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Ring currents modulate optoelectronic properties of aromatic chromophores at 25 T

The properties of organic molecules can be influenced by magnetic fields, and these magnetic field effects are diverse. They range from inducing nuclear Zeeman splitting for structural determination in NMR spectroscopy to polaron Zeeman splitting organic spintronics and organic magnetoresistance. A pervasive magnetic field effect on an aromatic molecule is the aromatic ring current, which can be thought of as an induction of a circular current of π-electrons upon the application of a magnetic field perpendicular to the π-system of the molecule. While in NMR spectroscopy the effects of ring currents on the chemical shifts of nearby protons are relatively well understood, and even predictable, the consequences of these modified electronic states on the spectroscopy of molecules has remained unknown. In this work, we find that photophysical properties of model phthalocyanine compounds and their aggregates display clear magnetic field dependences up to 25 T, with the aggregates showing more drastic magnetic field sensitivities depending on the intermolecular interactions with the amplification of ring currents in stacked aggregates. These observations are consistent with ring currents measured in NMR spectroscopy and simulated in time-dependent density functional theory calculations of magnetic field-dependent phthalocyanine monomer and dimer absorption spectra. Here, we propose that ring currents in organic semiconductors, which commonly comprise aromatic moieties, may present new opportunities for the understanding and exploitation of combined optical, electronic, and magnetic properties.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Effect of Evanescent Waves on the Dark Current of Thermophotovoltaic Cells

The output power of thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells may be greatly increased when the gap between the emitter and cell is reduced to submicron distances (near-field regime), at which photon tunneling due to evanescent waves becomes important. Accurate modeling of TPV cells in these conditions is crucial for the design and optimization of near-field TPV systems. The conventional or standard modeling method uses the summation of the dark current and the short-circuit current, while the direct method applies the photon chemical potential. It has been shown that the two methods are linked through a modification of the direct method using Wien’s approximation. By contrasting different modeling approaches, we quantitatively analyze the effects of evanescent waves on the TPV cell performance parameters, especially the dark current, for different emitter and cell materials in the near-field regime. Our results show that the saturation current by radiative recombination is strongly affected by evanescent waves and the bandgap energy. The current-voltage characteristics calculated by different modeling methods are displayed to demonstrate that a constant saturation current typically used in the standard method could cause substantial error in the near-field regime. Finally, for a TPV system with an emitter operating at relatively low temperatures, we show that it is necessary to include the photon chemical potential in the computation of the net radiative heat transfer between the emitter and receiver.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF CURRENT SHEETS IN THREE-DIMENSIONAL MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC TURBULENCE

We develop a framework for studying the statistical properties of current sheets in numerical simulations of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence with a strong guide field, as modeled by reduced MHD. We describe an algorithm that identifies current sheets in a simulation snapshot and then determines their geometrical properties (including length, width, and thickness) and intensities (peak current density and total energy dissipation rate). We then apply this procedure to simulations of reduced MHD and perform a statistical analysis on the obtained population of current sheets. We evaluate the role of reconnection by separately studying the populations of current sheets which contain magnetic X-points and those which do not. We find that the statistical properties of the two populations are different in general. We compare the scaling of these properties to phenomenological predictions obtained for the inertial range of MHD turbulence. Finally, we test whether the reconnecting current sheets are consistent with the Sweet-Parker model.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Simulations towards the achievement of non-inductive current ramp-up and sustainment in the National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade

One of the goals of the National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade (NSTX-U) (Menard et al 2012 Nucl. Fusion 52 083015) is the demonstration of fully non-inductive start-up, current ramp-up and sustainment. This work discusses predictive simulations where the available heating and current drive systems are combined to maximize the non-inductive current and minimize the solenoidal contribution. Radio-frequency waves at harmonics higher than the ion cyclotron resonance (high-harmonic fast waves (HHFW)) and neutral beam injection are used to ramp the plasma current non-inductively starting from an initial Ohmic plasma. An interesting synergy is observed in the simulations between the HHFW and electron cyclotron (EC) wave heating. Furthermore, time-dependent simulations indicate that, depending on the phasing of the HHFW antenna, EC wave heating can significantly increase the effectiveness of the radio-frequency power, by heating the electrons and increasing the current drive efficiency, thus relaxing the requirements on the level of HHFW power that needs to be absorbed in the core plasma to drive the same amount of fast-wave current.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Toroidal modeling of 3D perturbations generated by current filaments in scrape-off layer in tokamak with biased divertor targets

The divertor biasing technique offers a promising alternative to control the edge localized mode (ELM) as well as the divertor heat load in tokamaks, as compared to the resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) generated by magnetic coils. The linear resistive MHD code MARS-F (Liu et al 2000 Phys. Plasmas 7 3681) is employed to study the plasma response to the n = 2 (n is the toroidal mode number) field perturbation in HL-2A, produced by the divertor biasing current filaments flowing in the scrape-off layer region. The response field due to biasing currents is compared with the RMP field utilized for ELM control in HL-2A. The strength of the radial resonant field perturbation, produced by the biasing currents of 100 A level, is found to be comparable with RMP generated by several kA of ELM control coil currents for the reference plasma. The plasma normal displacement near the X-point and the associated neoclassical toroidal viscosity torque are also computed to be similar between these two techniques. The modeling results thus strongly suggest that the biasing technique can be applied to control ELMs. Moreover, the biasing currents produce field perturbations, including the plasma response, that are localized more near the plasma edge (compared to the RMP counterpart), thus reducing the chance of mode locking associated with core perturbations. Particle orbit tracing also reveals that the biasing current produced magnetic perturbation tends to widen the heat deposition region and induce the strike point splitting of the ion saturation flow on the outer divertor surface, consistent with experimental observations in HL-2A. These toroidal modeling results confirm the possibility of ELM control and plasma exhaust solution by the divertor biasing technique.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗