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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 811 records · Page 45
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2021

Exoplanets and Radio Astronomy Beyond Earth

Jupiter’s radio emission has been linked to its planetary- scale magnetic field, and spacecraft investigations have re- vealed that most planets, and some moons, have or had a global magnetic field. Generated by internal dynamos, magnetic fields are one of the few remote sensing means of constraining the properties of planetary interiors. For the Earth, its magnetic field has been speculated to be par- tially responsible for its habitability, and knowledge of an extrasolar planet’s magnetic field may be necessary to as- sess its habitability. The radio emission from Jupiter and other solar system planets is produced by an electron cy- clotron maser, and detections of extrasolar planetary elec- tron cyclotron masers will enable measurements of extraso- lar planetary magnetic fields. Key advances would include the ground-based detection of the radio emission from Jovian-mass planets and laying the technological founda- tions for space-based detections of the radio emissions from lower-mass planets.

Lazio, Joseph↗
DOE OSTI2012

Observation of the continuous transformation of a four level laser into a two level system

A longstanding and fundamental question of laser and maser physics concerns the energy separation ({Delta}{epsilon}) required between the pumped and lasing states of a three (or four) level system. We observe a four level laser gradually transform into a two level (nonlasing) system by photoassociating Cs-Ar thermal atomic pairs and monitoring subsequent stimulated emission on the 6p{sup 2}P{sub 3/2} {yields} 6s{sup 2}S{sub 1/2} (D{sub 2}) transition of Cs at 852.1 nm. Laser excitation spectra demonstrate that the value of {Delta}{epsilon} below which the system rapidly assumes the form of a two level structure and lasing ceases is {approx}0.7kT which corresponds to a Boltzmann factor (exp[-{Delta}{epsilon}/kT]) of 0.5.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2012

Effect of ripple taper on band-gap overlap in a coaxial Bragg structure operating at terahertz frequency

Based on the mode-coupling method, numerical analysis is presented to demonstrate the influence of ripple taper on band-gap overlap in a coaxial Bragg structure operating at terahertz frequency. Results show that the interval between the band-gaps of the competing mode and the desired working mode is narrowed by use of positive-taper ripples, but is expanded if negative-taper ripples are employed, and the influence of the negative-taper ripples is obviously more advantageous than the positive-taper ripples; the band-gap overlap of modes can be efficiently separated by use of negative-taper ripples. The residual side-lobes of the frequency response in a coaxial Bragg structure with ripple taper also can be effectively suppressed by employing the windowing-function technique. These peculiarities provide potential advantage in constructing a coaxial Bragg cavity with high quality factor for single higher-order-mode operation of a high-power free-electron maser in the terahertz frequency range.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2012

Harmonic mode competition in a terahertz gyrotron backward-wave oscillator

Electron cyclotron maser interactions at terahertz (THz) frequencies require a high-order-mode structure to reduce the wall loss to a tolerable level. To generate THz radiation, it is also essential to employ cyclotron harmonic resonances to reduce the required magnetic field strength to a value within the capability of the superconducting magnets. However, much weaker harmonic interactions in a high-order-mode structure lead to serious mode competition problems. The current paper addresses harmonic mode competition in the gyrotron backward wave oscillator (gyro-BWO). We begin with a comparative study of the mode formation and oscillation thresholds in the gyro-BWO and gyromonotron. Differences in linear features result in far fewer 'windows' for harmonic operation of the gyro-BWO. Nonlinear consequences of these differences are examined in particle simulations of the multimode competition processes in the gyro-BWO, which shed light on the competition criteria between modes of different as well as the same cyclotron harmonic numbers. The viability of a harmonic gyro-BWO is assessed on the basis of the results obtained.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2012

The effect of electron beam pitch angle and density gradient on solar type III radio bursts

1.5D particle-in-cell simulations of a hot, low density electron beam injected into magnetized, maxwellian plasma were used to further explore the alternative non-gyrotropic beam driven electromagnetic (EM) emission mechanism, first studied in Tsiklauri, Phys. Plasmas 18, 052903 (2011). Variation of beam injection angle and background density gradient showed that the emission process is caused by the perpendicular component of the beam injection current, whereas the parallel component only produces Langmuir waves, which play no role in the generation of EM waves in our mechanism. Particular emphasis was put on the case, where the beam is injected perpendicularly to the background magnetic field, as this turned off any electrostatic wave generation along the field and left a purely electromagnetic signal in the perpendicular components. The simulations establish the following key findings: (i) Initially, waves at a few {omega}{sub ce}/{gamma} are excited, mode converted and emitted at Almost-Equal-To {omega}{sub pe} (ii) The emission intensity along the beam axis is proportional to the respective component of the kinetic energy of the beam; (iii) The frequency of the escaping EM emission is independent of the injection angle; (iv) A stronger background density gradient causes earlier emission; (v) The beam electron distribution function in phase space shows harmonic oscillation in the perpendicular components at the relativistic gyrofrequency; (vi) The requirement for cyclotron maser emission, ({partial_derivative}f/{partial_derivative}v{sub Up-Tack })>0, is fulfilled; (vii) The degree of linear polarization of the emission is strongly dependent on the beam injection angle; (viii) The generated electromagnetic emission is left-hand elliptically polarized as the pitch angle tends to 90 Degree-Sign ; and (ix) The generated electromagnetic energy is of the order of 0.1% of the initial beam kinetic energy.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Emission of radiation induced by pervading Alfven waves

It is shown that under certain conditions, propagating Alfven waves can energize electrons so that consequently a new cyclotron maser instability is born. The necessary condition is that the plasma frequency is lower than electron gyrofrequency. This condition implies high Alfven speed, which can pitch-angle scatter electrons effectively and therefore the electrons are able to acquire free energy which are needed for the instability.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Electron beam coupling to a metamaterial structure

Microwave metamaterials have shown promise in numerous applications, ranging from strip lines and antennas to metamaterial-based electron beam driven devices. In general, metamaterials allow microwave designers to obtain electromagnetic characteristics not typically available in nature. High Power Microwave (HPM) sources have in the past drawn inspiration from work done in the conventional microwave source community. In this article, the use of metamaterials in an HPM application is considered by using an effective medium model to determine the coupling of an electron beam to a metamaterial structure in a geometry similar to that of a dielectric Cerenkov maser. Use of the effective medium model allows for the analysis of a wide range of parameter space, including the “mu-negative,”“epsilon-negative,” and “double negative” regimes of the metamaterial. The physics of such a system are modeled analytically and by utilizing the particle-in-cell code ICEPIC. For this geometry and effective medium representation, optimum coupling of the electron beam to the metamaterial, and thus the optimum microwave or RF production, occurs in the epsilon negative regime of the metamaterial. Given that HPM tubes have been proposed that utilize a metamaterial, this model provides a rapid method of characterizing a source geometry that can be used to quickly understand the basic physics of such an HPM device.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

Spontaneous emission of electromagnetic radiation in turbulent plasmas

Known radiation emission mechanisms in plasmas include bremmstrahlung (or free-free emission), gyro- and synchrotron radiation, cyclotron maser, and plasma emission. For unmagnetized plasmas, only bremmstrahlung and plasma emissions are viable. Of these, bremmstrahlung becomes inoperative in the absence of collisions, and the plasma emission requires the presence of electron beam, followed by various scattering and conversion processes. The present Letter proposes a new type of radiation emission process for plasmas in a state of thermodynamic quasi-equilibrium between particles and enhanced Langmuir turbulence. The radiation emission mechanism proposed in the present Letter is not predicted by the linear theory of thermal plasmas, but it relies on nonlinear wave-particle resonance processes. The electromagnetic particle-in-cell numerical simulation supports the new mechanism.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Precision measurement of transverse velocity distribution of a strontium atomic beam

We measure the transverse velocity distribution in a thermal Sr atomic beam precisely by velocity-selective saturated fluorescence spectroscopy. The use of an ultrastable laser system and the narrow intercombination transition line of Sr atoms mean that the resolution of the measured velocity can reach 0.13 m/s, corresponding to 90 μK in energy units. The experimental results are in very good agreement with the results of theoretical calculations. Based on the spectroscopic techniques used here, the absolute frequency of the intercombination transition of {sup 88}Sr is measured using an optical-frequency comb generator referenced to the SI second through an H maser, and is given as 434 829 121 318(10) kHz.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Injection locking of a two-mode electron oscillator with close frequencies

Theory of injection locking is developed for a two-mode electron maser with close frequencies, when the driving signal affects both modes. There exist two regimes of phase locking in which either first or second mode dominates. Hard transitions between the two regimes are observed with variation of the driving frequency. The results of numerical simulations are presented for the case of driving by a signal with linear frequency chirp, as well as by a signal with sinusoidal frequency modulation. The effect of bifurcation delay is observed with the increase of chirp rate.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Numerical investigation into the injection-locking phenomena of gain switched lasers for optical frequency comb generation

We present detailed numerical simulations of the laser dynamics that describe optical frequency comb formation by injection-locking a gain-switched laser. The typical rate equations for semiconductor lasers including stochastic carrier recombination and spontaneous emission suffice to show the injection-locking behavior of gain switched lasers, and we show how the optical frequency comb evolves starting from the free-running state, right through the final injection-locked state. Unlike the locking of continuous wave lasers, we show that the locking range for gain switched lasers is considerably greater because injection locking can be achieved by injecting at frequencies close to one of the comb lines. The quality of the comb lines is formally assessed by calculating the frequency modulation (FM)-noise spectral density and we show that under injection-locking conditions the FM-noise spectral density of the comb lines tend to that of the maser laser.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Cold energy

Deviations in Q for resonant superconducting radio frequency niobium accelerator cavities are generally correlated with resistivity loss mechanisms. Field dependent Qs are not well modeled by these classical loss mechanisms, but rather can represent a form of precision cavity surface thermometry. When the field dependent Q variation shows improvement with increasing B field level the classical treatment of this problem is inadequate. To justify this behavior hydrogen as a ubiquitous impurity in niobium, which creates measurable property changes, even at very low concentrations is typically considered the cause of such anomalous behavior. This maybe the case in some instances, but more importantly any system operating with a highly coherent field with a significant time dependent magnetic component at near 2° K will have the ability to organize the remaining free spins within the London penetration depth to form a coupled energy reservoir in the form of low mass spin waves. The niobium resonant cavities are composed of a single isotope with a large nuclear spin. When the other loss mechanisms are stripped away this may be the gain medium activated by the low level residual magnetic fields. It was found that one resonant cavity heat treatment produced optimum surface properties and then functioned as a MASER extracting energy from the 2° K thermal bath while cooling the cavity walls. The cavity operating in this mode is a simulator of what can take place in the wider but not colder universe using the cosmic microwave background (CMB) as a thermal source. The low mass, long lifetimes, and the scale of the magnetic spin waves on the weakly magnetized interstellar medium allows energy to be stored that is many orders of magnitude colder than the cosmic microwave background. A linear accelerator cavity becomes a tool to explore the properties of the long wave length magnetic spin waves that populate this cold low energy regime.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Mode splitting effect in FEMs with oversized Bragg resonators

Splitting of the fundamental mode in an oversized Bragg resonator with a step of the corrugation phase, which operates over the feedback loop involving the waveguide waves of different transverse structures, was found to be the result of mutual influence of the neighboring zones of the Bragg scattering. Theoretical description of this effect was developed within the framework of the advanced (four-wave) coupled-wave approach. It is shown that mode splitting reduces the selective properties, restricts the output power, and decreases the stability of the narrow-band operating regime in the free-electron maser (FEM) oscillators based on such resonators. The results of the theoretical analysis were confirmed by 3D simulations and “cold” microwave tests. Experimental data on Bragg resonators with different parameters in a 30-GHz FEM are presented. The possibility of reducing the mode splitting by profiling the corrugation parameters is shown. The use of the mode splitting effect for the output power enhancement by passive compression of the double-frequency pulse generated in the FEM with such a resonator is discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

On the 100th Birthday of Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov

Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov was a Russian physicist, academician, one of the originators of quantum electronics, laser physics and laser technologies, winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics 'for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser – laser principle' (shared with N.G. Basov and Ch.H. Townes), Lenin Prize and State Prize winner and twice Hero of Socialist Labour. (personalia)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2018

Technique of pulsed optical pumping and pulsed excitation of microwave resonances using the Ramsey scheme in a {sup 87}Rb cell with a buffer gas

A laboratory prototype of a compact quantum frequency standard based on a rubidium vapour cell with pulsed laser pumping is developed. With significantly smaller overall dimensions (a volume of ∼10 L and a mass of ∼10 kg), the frequency standard is expected to have the short-term instability comparable with that of the commercial passive hydrogen masers and even the laboratory fountain-type atomic clocks based on cold atoms. The advantages of the technique of pulsed optical pumping and pulsed excitation of microwave resonances over the traditional techniques of double radio-optical resonance detection are substantiated. The results of the experimental study of pulsed optical pumping of a rubidium cell with a mixture of buffer Ar – Ne gases implemented at the VNIIFTRI are presented, the Ramsey resonances are obtained, and the process of optimising the contrast of the central resonance peak is described. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Optical frequency reference for the national time scale

Incorporation of a strontium optical clock as an optical frequency reference into the primary standard GET 1-2018 is experimentally implemented. A new model is proposed to define a local atomic time scale using an optical reference incorporated into a complex for reproducing primary standard units. Preliminary results of comparing the frequencies of the optical reference and the hydrogen maser entering the composition of primary time and frequency standards are presented. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Effect of laser radiation on the gamma activity of aqueous salt solutions containing {sup 152}Eu

We report an experimental study of the effect of laser irradiation of aqueous salt solutions containing the {sup 152}Eu isotope in the presence of nickel nanoparticles on the gamma activity of the isotope. Nickel nanoparticles are generated using laser ablation of the target in water and added to the radionuclide solution before irradiation. Two types of Nd : YAG lasers with a pulse duration of 10 ns and different repetition rates are used to irradiate the solutions. It is found that the {sup 152}Eu activity as a result of repeated irradiation of solutions by a series of pulses decreases with each irradiation cycle. The obtained results are compared with data on the effect of maser radiation with a wavelength of 8 mm on the activity of the same isotope. Possible mechanisms of the effect of electromagnetic radiation on the {sup 152}Eu gamma activity are discussed. (interaction of laser radiation with matter)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2012

A NEAR-INFRARED STUDY OF THE STAR-FORMING REGION RCW 34

We report the results of a near-infrared imaging study of a 7.8 Multiplication-Sign 7.8 arcmin{sup 2} region centered on the 6.7 GHz methanol maser associated with the RCW 34 star-forming region using the 1.4 m IRSF telescope at Sutherland. A total of 1283 objects were detected simultaneously in J, H, and K for an exposure time of 10,800 s. The J - H, H - K two-color diagram revealed a strong concentration of more than 700 objects with colors similar to what is expected of reddened classical T Tauri stars. The distribution of the objects on the K versus J - K color-magnitude diagram is also suggestive that a significant fraction of the 1283 objects is made up of lower mass pre-main-sequence stars. We also present the luminosity function for the subset of about 700 pre-main-sequence stars and show that it suggests ongoing star formation activity for about 10{sup 7} years. An examination of the spatial distribution of the pre-main-sequence stars shows that the fainter (older) part of the population is more dispersed over the observed region and the brighter (younger) subset is more concentrated around the position of the O8.5V star. This suggests that the physical effects of the O8.5V star and the two early B-type stars on the remainder of the cloud out of which they formed could have played a role in the onset of the more recent episode of star formation in RCW 34.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗