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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 883 records · Page 49
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Electron-electron interaction, weak localization and spin valve effect in vertical-transport graphene devices

We fabricated a vertical structure device, in which graphene is sandwiched between two asymmetric ferromagnetic electrodes. The measurements of electron and spin transport were performed across the combined channels containing the vertical and horizontal components. The presence of electron-electron interaction (EEI) was found not only at low temperatures but also at moderate temperatures up to ∼120 K, and EEI dominates over weak localization (WL) with and without applying magnetic fields perpendicular to the sample plane. Moreover, spin valve effect was observed when magnetic filed is swept at the direction parallel to the sample surface. We attribute the EEI and WL surviving at a relatively high temperature to the effective suppress of phonon scattering in the vertical device structure. The findings open a way for studying quantum correlation at relatively high temperature.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Weak ferromagnetism and nanodimensional ferroelectric domain structure stabilized in the polar phase of Bi{sub 1−x}Nd{sub x}FeO{sub 3} multiferroics via Ti doping

Crystal structure, microstructure, local ferroelectric, and magnetic properties of the Bi{sub 0.9}Nd{sub 0.1}Fe{sub 1−x}Ti{sub x}O{sub 3} samples have been investigated at room temperature to reveal the effect of Ti{sup 4+} doping on the multiferroic behavior of the lanthanide-modified compound representing a polar (space group R3c) antiferromagnetic phase of the Bi{sub 1−x}Ln{sub x}FeO{sub 3} perovskites. Ti doping results in a gradual suppression of the rhombohedral distortions, however, symmetry of the crystal structure remains the same in the entire concentration range allowing the single-phase perovskites to be obtained (x ≤ 0.08). The doping tends to reduce existing lone-pair cation-driven polar displacements, thus giving rise to a decrease of the ferroelectric polarization in the Bi{sub 0.9}Nd{sub 0.1}Fe{sub 1−x}Ti{sub x}O{sub 3} (x→0.08) series. A drastic (from ∼10 μm for x = 0 to ∼1 μm for 0.02 ≤ x ≤ 0.08) decrease of the average grain size induced by the doping is accompanied by the formation of a ferroelectric domain structure with the average domain width of ∼40 nm. Finally, the doping was shown to induce an antiferromagnetic to weak ferromagnetic transformation. The maximum remanent magnetization observed in the Bi{sub 0.9}Nd{sub 0.1}Fe{sub 1−x}Ti{sub x}O{sub 3} series at x ∼ 0.05 coincides with the locked magnetization releasing upon the magnetic field-induced suppression of the magnetic cycloid in pure BiFeO{sub 3}.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Phonons and magnetic excitation correlations in weak ferromagnetic YCrO{sub 3}

Here, we report the temperature dependent Raman spectroscopic studies on orthorhombically distorted perovskite YCrO{sub 3} over a temperature range of 20–300 K. Temperature dependence of DC-magnetization measurements under field cooled and zero field cooled protocols confirmed a Néel transition at T{sub N} ∼ 142 K. Magnetization isotherms recorded at 125 K show a clear loop opening without any magnetization saturation up to 20 kOe, indicating a coexistence of antiferromagnetic (AFM) and weak ferromagnetic (WFM) phases. Estimation of exchange constants using mean-field approximation further confirm the presence of a complex magnetic phase below T{sub N}. Temperature evolution of Raman line-shape parameters of the selected modes (associated with the octahedral rotation and A(Y)-shift in the unit-cell) reveal an anomalous phonon shift near T{sub N}. An additional phonon anomaly was identified at T{sup *} ∼ 60 K, which could possibly be attributed to the change in the spin dynamics. Moreover, the positive and negative shifts in Raman frequencies between T{sub N} and T{sup *} suggest competing WFM and AFM interactions. A close match between the phonon frequency of B{sub 3g} (3)-octahedral rotation mode with the square of sublattice magnetization between T{sub N} and T{sup *} is indicative of the presence of spin-phonon coupling in multiferroic YCrO{sub 3}.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Photo-induced strengthening of weak bonding in noble gas dimers

We demonstrate through extensive first-principles time-dependent density functional calculations that attractive van der Waals interaction between closed-shell atoms can be enhanced by light with constant spatial intensity. We illustrate this general phenomenon for a He dimer as a prototypical case of complex van der Waals interactions and show that when excited by light with a frequency close to the 1s → 2p He-atomic transition, an attractive force larger than 7 pN is produced. This force gain is manifested as a larger acceleration of He-He contraction under an optical field. The concerted dynamical motions of the He atoms together with polarity switching of the charge-induced dipole cause the contraction of the dimer. These findings are relevant for the photo-induced control of weakly bonded molecular species, either in gas phase or in solution.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Thickness dependent metal-insulator transition and dimensional crossover for weak localization in Si{sub 0.02}Zn{sub 0.98}O thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

Metal to insulator transition was observed in Si{sub 0.02}Zn{sub 0.98}O (SZO) films, grown by pulsed laser deposition on sapphire substrates, as the thicknesses of the films were reduced from ∼40 to 15 nm. The SZO film with thickness of ∼40 nm showed typical metallic behavior in temperature dependent resistivity measurements. On the contrary, the SZO film with thickness of ∼15 nm was found to exhibit strong localization where the transport at low temperature was dominated by variable range hopping conduction. In the intermediate thickness regime, quantum corrections were important and a dimensional crossover from 3D to 2D weak localization occurred in the SZO film with thickness of 20 nm.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Electrokinetic detection for X-ray spectra of weakly interacting liquids: n-decane and n-nonane

The introduction of liquid microjets into soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy enabled the windowless study of liquids by this powerful atom-selective high vacuum methodology. However, weakly interacting liquids produce large vapor backgrounds that strongly perturb the liquid signal. Consequently, solvents (e.g., hydrocarbons, ethers, ketones, etc.) and solutions of central importance in chemistry and biology have been inaccessible by this technology. Here we describe a new detection method, upstream detection, which greatly reduces the vapor phase contribution to the X-ray absorption signal while retaining important advantages of liquid microjet sample introduction (e.g., minimal radiation damage). The effectiveness of the upstream detection method is demonstrated in this first study of room temperature liquid hydrocarbons: n-nonane and n-decane. Good agreement with first principles’ calculations indicates that the eXcited electron and Core Hole theory adequately describes the subtle interactions in these liquids that perturb the electronic structure of the unoccupied states probed in core-level experiments.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effects of a weakly 3-D equilibrium on ideal magnetohydrodynamic instabilities

The effect of a small three-dimensional equilibrium distortion on an otherwise axisymmetric configuration is shown to be destabilizing to ideal magnetohydrodynamic modes. The calculations assume that the 3-D fields are weak and that shielding physics is present so that no islands appear in the resulting equilibrium. An eigenfunction that has coupled harmonics of different toroidal mode number is constructed using a perturbation approach. The theory is applied to the case of tokamak H-modes with shielded resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) present indicating RMPs can be destabilizing to intermediate-n peeling-ballooning modes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effect of gas velocity on the weakly nonlinear instability of a planar viscous sheet

A weakly nonlinear spatial instability of a two-dimensional planar viscous sheet for sinuous disturbances in a co-flowing inviscid gas stream is investigated theoretically, with an emphasis on the effect of the surrounding gas velocity. The solutions of the second-order interface disturbances are derived and the wave deformation has been computed. The results indicate that the second-order surface disturbance of the fundamental sinuous mode is varicose, which causes the thinning and the subsequent breakup of the liquid sheet. The nonlinear behaviors of the planar sheet are quite sensitive to variations in gas-to-liquid velocity ratio. The deviation of the velocity ratio from the value of unity leads to a larger growth rate, a larger second-order initial amplitude, and a shorter breakup length, and therefore enhances the instability. The growth rates predicted by the present nonlinear analysis according to the shortest breakup length are generally smaller than the linear predictions and can better conform to the experimental measures of Barreras et al. [“Linear instability analysis of the viscous longitudinal perturbation on an air-blasted liquid sheets,” Atomization Sprays 11, 139 (2001)]. Furthermore, the wave deformations of the most unstable disturbances are presented. The nonlinear instability of the planar sheet for a fixed velocity difference is performed. An equal increase of the gas and liquid velocity reduces the spatial growth rate and increases the breakup length, but generally has no influences on the second-order initial amplitude and the wavelength of the disturbance.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Chirality of weakly bound complexes: The potential energy surfaces for the hydrogen-peroxide−noble-gas interactions

We consider the analytical representation of the potential energy surfaces of relevance for the intermolecular dynamics of weakly bound complexes of chiral molecules. In this paper we study the H{sub 2}O{sub 2}−Ng (Ng=He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe) systems providing the radial and the angular dependence of the potential energy surface on the relative position of the Ng atom. We accomplish this by introducing an analytical representation which is able to fit the ab initio energies of these complexes in a wide range of geometries. Our analysis sheds light on the role that the enantiomeric forms and the symmetry of the H{sub 2}O{sub 2} molecule play on the resulting barriers and equilibrium geometries. The proposed theoretical framework is useful to study the dynamics of the H{sub 2}O{sub 2} molecule, or other systems involving O–O and S–S bonds, interacting by non-covalent forces with atoms or molecules and to understand how the relative orientation of the O–H bonds changes along collisional events that may lead to a hydrogen bond formation or even to selectivity in chemical reactions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Communication: HK propagator uniformized along a one-dimensional manifold in weakly anharmonic systems

A simplification of the Heller-Herman-Kluk-Kay (HK) propagator is presented that does not suffer from the need for an increasing number of trajectories with dimensions of the system under study. This is accomplished by replacing HK’s uniformizing integral over all of phase space by a one-dimensional curve that is appropriately selected to lie along the fastest growing manifold of a defining trajectory. It is shown that this modification leads to eigenspectra of quantum states in weakly anharmonic systems that can outperform the comparatively computationally cheap thawed Gaussian approximation method and frequently approach the accuracy of spectra obtained with the full HK propagator.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Equations of the dynamics of a liquid crystal under the influence of weak mechanical and thermal perturbations

The paper is devoted to the construction of the simplified mathematical model of thermomechanical behavior of a liquid crystal under the influence of weak mechanical and thermal perturbations. This model is based on the nonlinear equations of a micropolar viscoelastic medium with rotating particles. To describe small strains and finite rotations of molecules, the hypothesis of the dependence of potential energy on the volume change, on the angle of relative rotation and on the entropy is used in the framework of the method of internal thermodynamic parameters. The heat conduction process is described taking into account the anisotropy of a material due to the difference in coefficients of thermal conductivity along the axis of orientation of the particles and in the transverse direction. Separate equation for the tangential stress is obtained from the simplified model, which is useful for the analysis of the recently discussed issues of orientational thermoelasticity and resonant excitation of liquid crystals.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Weakly nonlinear Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a finite-thickness fluid layer

A weakly nonlinear (WN) model has been developed for the Rayleigh-Taylor instability of a finite-thickness incompressible fluid layer (slab). We derive the coupling evolution equations for perturbations on the (upper) “linearly stable” and (lower) “linearly unstable” interfaces of the slab. Expressions of temporal evolutions of the amplitudes of the perturbation first three harmonics on the upper and lower interfaces are obtained. The classical feedthrough (interface coupling) solution obtained by Taylor [Proc. R. Soc. London A 201, 192 (1950)] is readily recovered by the first-order results. Our third-order model can depict the WN perturbation growth and the saturation of linear (exponential) growth of the perturbation fundamental mode on both interfaces. The dependence of the WN perturbation growth and the slab distortion on the normalized layer thickness (kd) is analytically investigated via the third-order solutions. Comparison is made with Jacobs-Catton's formula [J. W. Jacobs and I. Catton, J. Fluid Mech. 187, 329 (1988)] of the position of the “linearly unstable” interface. Using a reduced formula, the saturation amplitude of linear growth of the perturbation fundamental mode is studied. It is found that the finite-thickness effects play a dominant role in the WN evolution of the slab, especially when kd < 1. Thus, it should be included in applications where the interface coupling effects are important, such as inertial confinement fusion implosions and supernova explosions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Nonlinear dynamics of mini-satellite respinup by weak internal controllable torques

Contemporary space engineering advanced new problem before theoretical mechanics and motion control theory: a spacecraft directed respinup by the weak restricted control internal forces. The paper presents some results on this problem, which is very actual for energy supply of information mini-satellites (for communication, geodesy, radio- and opto-electronic observation of the Earth et al.) with electro-reaction plasma thrusters and gyro moment cluster based on the reaction wheels or the control moment gyros. The solution achieved is based on the methods for synthesis of nonlinear robust control and on rigorous analytical proof for the required spacecraft rotation stability by Lyapunov function method. These results were verified by a computer simulation of strongly nonlinear oscillatory processes at respinuping of a flexible spacecraft.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Numerical study on the stability of weakly collisional plasma in E×B fields

Plasma stability in weakly collisional plasmas in the presence of E×B fields is studied with numerical simulations. Different types of ion-neutral collisions are considered in a fully magnetized regime. We study the influence of ion-neutral collisions and the role of collision types on the stability of plasma. It is found that the stability of plasma depends on the type of ion-neutral collisions, with the plasma being unstable for charge exchange collisions, and stable for the elastic scattering. The analysis focuses on the temporal evolution of the velocity phase space, RMS values of the potential fluctuations, and coherent structures in potential densities. For the unstable case, we observe growth and propagation of electrostatic waves. Simulations are performed with a three-dimensional electrostatic particle in cell code.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Experimental study of complex mixed-mode oscillations generated in a Bonhoeffer-van der Pol oscillator under weak periodic perturbation

Bifurcations of complex mixed-mode oscillations denoted as mixed-mode oscillation-incrementing bifurcations (MMOIBs) have frequently been observed in chemical experiments. In a previous study [K. Shimizu et al., Physica D 241, 1518 (2012)], we discovered an extremely simple dynamical circuit that exhibits MMOIBs. Our model was represented by a slow/fast Bonhoeffer-van der Pol circuit under weak periodic perturbation near a subcritical Andronov-Hopf bifurcation point. In this study, we experimentally and numerically verify that our dynamical circuit captures the essence of the underlying mechanism causing MMOIBs, and we observe MMOIBs and chaos with distinctive waveforms in real circuit experiments.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Gate-modulated weak anti-localization and carrier trapping in individual Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} nanoribbons

We report a gate-voltage modulation on the weak anti-localization of individual topological insulator Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} nanoribbons. The phase coherence length decreases with decreasing the carrier density of the surface states on the bottom surface of the Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} nanoribbon as tuning the gate voltage from 0 to −100 V, indicating that the electron-electron interaction dominates the decoherence at low carrier density. Furthermore, we observe an abnormal conductance decline at positive gate voltage regime, which is ascribed to the capture of surface carriers by the trapping centers in the surface oxidation layer.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

On the perpendicular propagating modes in the ultra-relativistic weakly magnetized plasma

The dispersion relations for the weakly magnetized perpendicular propagating modes (O-mode, X-mode, and upper hybrid mode) based on the ultra-relativistic Fermi-Dirac distribution function with chemical potential are derived using the Vlasov–Maxwell model. The results are presented in terms of Polylog functions without making any approximation. It is found that as the ratio μ/T is increased, the cutoff points shift downward. A comparison is also performed with the previously derived results for ultra-relativistic Maxwellian distribution.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Weakly relativistic plasma expansion

Plasma expansion is an important physical process that takes place in laser interactions with solid targets. Within a self-similar model for the hydrodynamical multi-fluid equations, we investigated the expansion of both dense and under-dense plasmas. The weakly relativistic electrons are produced by ultra-intense laser pulses, while ions are supposed to be in a non-relativistic regime. Numerical investigations have shown that relativistic effects are important for under-dense plasma and are characterized by a finite ion front velocity. Dense plasma expansion is found to be governed mainly by quantum contributions in the fluid equations that originate from the degenerate pressure in addition to the nonlinear contributions from exchange and correlation potentials. The quantum degeneracy parameter profile provides clues to set the limit between under-dense and dense relativistic plasma expansions at a given density and temperature.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗