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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 901 records · Page 50
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Characteristics of the positive ion source at reduced gas feed

The neutral beam injector of steady state superconducting tokamak (SST1-NBI) at IPR is designed for injecting upto 1.7 MW of neutral beam (Hº, 30–55 keV) power to the tokamak plasma for heating and current drive. Operations of the positive ion source (PINI or Plug-In-Neutral-Injector) of SST1-NBI were carried out on the NBI test stand. The PINI was operated at reduced gas feed rate of 2–3 Torr l/s, without using the high speed cryo pumps. Experiments were conducted to achieve a stable beam extraction by optimizing operational parameters namely, the arc current (120–300 A), acceleration voltage (16–40 kV), and a suitable control sequence. The beam divergence, power density profiles, and species fractions (H{sup +}:H{sub 2}{sup +}:H{sub 3}{sup +}) were measured by using the diagnostics such as thermal calorimetry, infrared thermography, and Doppler shift spectroscopy. The maximum extracted beam current was about 18 A. A further increase of beam current was found to be limited by the amount of gas feed rate to the ion source.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2014

SU-E-T-190: First Integration of Steriotactic Radiotherapy Planning System Iplan with Elekta Linear Accelerator

Purpose: For the first time in the world, BrainLAB has integrated its iPlan treatment planning system for clinical use with Elekta linear accelerator (Axesse with a Beam Modulator). The purpose of this study was to compare the calculated and measured doses with different chambers to establish the calculation accuracy of iPlan system. Methods: The iPlan has both Pencil beam (PB) and Monte Carlo (MC) calculation algorithms. Beam data include depth doses, profiles and output measurements for different field sizes. Collected data was verified by vendor and beam modelling was done. Further QA tests were carried out in our clinic. Dose calculation accuracy verified point, volumetric dose measurement using ion chambers of different volumes (0.01cc and 0.125cc). Planner dose verification was done using diode array. Plans were generated in iPlan and irradiated in Elekta Axesse linear accelerator. Results: Dose calculation accuracies verified using ion chamber for 6 and 10 MV beam were 3.5+/-0.33(PB), 1.7%+/-0.7(MC) and 3.9%+/-0.6(PB), 3.4%+/-0.6(MC) respectively. Using a pin point chamber, dose calculation accuracy for 6MV and 10MV was 3.8%+/-0.06(PB), 1.21%+/-0.2(MC) and 4.2%+/-0.6(PB), 3.1%+/-0.7(MC) respectively. The calculated planar dose distribution for 10.4×10.4 cm2 was verified using a diode array and the gamma analysis for 2%-2mm criteria yielded pass rates of 88 %(PB) and 98.8%(MC) respectively. 3mm-3% yields 100% passing for both MC and PB algorithm. Conclusion: Dose calculation accuracy was found to be within acceptable limits for MC for 6MV beam. PB for both beams and MC for 10 MV beam were found to be outside acceptable limits. The output measurements were done twice for conformation. The lower gamma matching was attributed to meager number of measured profiles (only two profiles for PB) and coarse measurement resolution for diagonal profile measurement (5mm). Based on these measurements we concluded that 6 MV MC algorithm is suitable for patient treatment.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Small-angle scattering interferometry with neutron orbital angular momentum states

Methods to prepare and characterize neutron helical waves carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) were recently demonstrated at small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) facilities. These methods enable access to the neutron orbital degree of freedom which provides new avenues of exploration in fundamental science experiments as well as in material characterization applications. However, it remains a challenge to recover phase profiles from SANS measurements. We introduce and demonstrate a novel neutron interferometry technique for extracting phase information that is typically lost in SANS measurements. An array of reference beams, with complementary structured phase profiles, are put into a coherent superposition with the array of object beams, thereby manifesting the phase information in the far-field intensity profile. We demonstrate this by resolving petal-structure signatures of helical wave interference for the first time: an implementation of the long-sought recovery of phase information from small-angle scattering measurements.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Self-bending symmetric cusp beams

A type of self-bending symmetric cusp beams with four accelerating intensity maxima is theoretically and experimentally presented. Distinguished from the reported regular polygon beams, the symmetric cusp beams simultaneously exhibit peculiar features of natural autofocusing and self-acceleration during propagation. Further, such beams take the shape of a fine longitudinal needle-like structure at the focal region and possess the strong ability of self-healing over obstacles. All these intriguing properties were verified experimentally. Particularly, the spatial profile of the reconstructed beam exhibits spatially sculpted optical structure with four siamesed curved arms. Thus, we anticipate that the structured beam will benefit optical guiding and optofluidics in surprising ways.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Measurements and simulations of focused beam for orthovoltage therapy

Purpose: Megavoltage photon beams are typically used for therapy because of their skin-sparing effect. However, a focused low-energy x-ray beam would also be skin sparing, and would have a higher dose concentration at the focal spot. Such a beam can be produced with polycapillary optics. MCNP5 was used to model dose profiles for a scanned focused beam, using measured beam parameters. The potential of low energy focused x-ray beams for radiation therapy was assessed. Methods: A polycapillary optic was used to focus the x-ray beam from a tungsten source. The optic was characterized and measurements were performed at 50 kV. PMMA blocks of varying thicknesses were placed between optic and the focal spot to observe any variation in the focusing of the beam after passing through the tissue-equivalent material. The measured energy spectrum was used to model the focused beam in MCNP5. A source card (SDEF) in MCNP5 was used to simulate the converging x-ray beam. Dose calculations were performed inside a breast tissue phantom. Results: The measured focal spot size for the polycapillary optic was 0.2 mm with a depth of field of 5 mm. The measured focal spot remained unchanged through 40 mm of phantom thickness. The calculated depth dose curve inside the breast tissue showed a dose peak several centimeters below the skin with a sharp dose fall off around the focus. The percent dose falls below 10% within 5 mm of the focus. It was shown that rotating the optic during scanning would preserve the skin-sparing effect of the focused beam. Conclusions: Low energy focused x-ray beams could be used to irradiate tumors inside soft tissue within 5 cm of the surface.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Study of runaway electrons with Hard X-ray spectrometry of tokamak plasmas

Hard-X-ray spectrometry is a tool widely used for diagnostic of runaway electrons in existing tokamaks. In future machines, ITER and DEMO, HXR spectrometry will be useful providing information on runaway electron energy, runaway beam current and its profile during disruption.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Magnetic Designs of New First Target Beamline Magnets for the ORNL SNS Upgrade

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at ORNL currently is being upgraded from 1.0 GeV to 1.3 GeV. Several water-cooled magnets should be upgraded to transport 30% of higher beam energy. New chicane, injection/extraction septum, and Lambertson magnets were designed. Designing the magnets was a challenging task because the new magnets required good combined integrated field quality and needed to occupy the old magnets space but with about 20% greater integrated magnetic field. Additional strong requirements applied to the magnets fringe field do not disturb the circulating beam. The special field profiles had to be provided in foil areas between magnets. The analysis described here was based on OPERA3D simulations. A special technique was used for analyzing the integrated field harmonics. Initially, the particle track was simulated, and integrated field components were calculated along this track for the reference radius, which were used for the harmonics analysis. In addition, 3D field maps were provided for beam optics simulations. The final beamline analysis confirmed good beam transmission and low losses.

3d field maps↗
DOE OSTI2022

Characterization of an aerosolized nanoparticle beam beyond the diffraction limit through strong field ionization

Abstract The study of nanomaterials is an active area of research for technological applications as well as fundamental science. A common method for studying properties of isolated nanoparticles is by an in-vacuum particle beam produced via an aerodynamic lens. Despite being common practice, characterization of such beams has proven difficult as light scattering detection techniques fail for particles with sizes beyond the diffraction limit. Here we present a new technique for characterizing such nanoparticle beams using strong field ionization. By focusing an ultrafast, mJ-level laser into the particle beam, a nanoparticle within the laser focus is ionized and easily detected by its ejected electrons. This method grants direct access to the nanoparticle density at the location of the focus, and by scanning the focus through the transverse and longitudinal profiles of the particle beam we attain the 3-dimensional particle density distribution for a cylindrically symmetric beam. Further, we show that strong field ionization is effective in detecting spherical nanoparticles as small as 10 nm in diameter. Additionally, this technique is an effective tool in optimizing the particle beam for specific applications. As an example we show that the particle beam density and width can be manipulated by restricting the gas flow into the aerodynamic lens.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1981

An ultrasonic transducer with Gaussian radial velocity distribution

A transducer with a velocity profile which is Gaussian as a function of radius and independent of angle is described. In materials evaluation applications requiring the interrogation of modified far field patterns of an ultrasonic transducer, it is desirable to use a transducer which produces a beam with a Gaussian profile. A computer aided electrode design and calibrated three dimensional interferometric optical and ultrasonic measurements of the far field distribution are presented.

Zerwekh, P. S.↗
DOE OSTI2014

2D electron density profile measurement in tokamak by laser-accelerated ion-beam probe

A new concept of Heavy Ion Beam Probe (HIBP) diagnostic has been proposed, of which the key is to replace the electrostatic accelerator of traditional HIBP by a laser-driven ion accelerator. Due to the large energy spread of ions, the laser-accelerated HIBP can measure the two-dimensional (2D) electron density profile of tokamak plasma. In a preliminary simulation, a 2D density profile was reconstructed with a spatial resolution of about 2 cm, and with the error below 15% in the core region. Diagnostics of 2D density fluctuation is also discussed.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

TH-C-BRD-04: Beam Modeling and Validation with Triple and Double Gaussian Dose Kernel for Spot Scanning Proton Beams

Purpose: To present the validity of our beam modeling with double and triple Gaussian dose kernels for spot scanning proton beams in Nagoya Proton Therapy Center. This study investigates the conformance between the measurements and calculation results in absolute dose with two types of beam kernel. Methods: A dose kernel is one of the important input data required for the treatment planning software. The dose kernel is the 3D dose distribution of an infinitesimal pencil beam of protons in water and consists of integral depth doses and lateral distributions. We have adopted double and triple Gaussian model as lateral distribution in order to take account of the large angle scattering due to nuclear reaction by fitting simulated inwater lateral dose profile for needle proton beam at various depths. The fitted parameters were interpolated as a function of depth in water and were stored as a separate look-up table for the each beam energy. The process of beam modeling is based on the method of MDACC [X.R.Zhu 2013]. Results: From the comparison results between the absolute doses calculated by double Gaussian model and those measured at the center of SOBP, the difference is increased up to 3.5% in the high-energy region because the large angle scattering due to nuclear reaction is not sufficiently considered at intermediate depths in the double Gaussian model. In case of employing triple Gaussian dose kernels, the measured absolute dose at the center of SOBP agrees with calculation within ±1% regardless of the SOBP width and maximum range. Conclusion: We have demonstrated the beam modeling results of dose distribution employing double and triple Gaussian dose kernel. Treatment planning system with the triple Gaussian dose kernel has been successfully verified and applied to the patient treatment with a spot scanning technique in Nagoya Proton Therapy Center.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
NASA NTRS1980

Rain rate range profiling from a spaceborne radar

At certain frequencies and incidence angles the relative invariance of the surface scattering properites over land can be used to estimate the total attenuation and the integrated rain from a spaceborne attenuation-wavelength radar. The technique is generalized so that rain rate profiles along the radar beam can be estimated, i.e., rain rate determination at each range bin. This is done by modifying the standard algorithm for an attenuating-wavelength radar to include in it the measurement of the total attenuation. Simple error analyses of the estimates show that this type of profiling is possible if the total attenuation can be measured with a modest degree of accuracy.

Meneghini, R.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Acoustic Gaussian Far-Field Pattern

Gaussian profile achieved by using annular electrodes. Transducer constructed by deposting circularly symmetric metallic multielectrode array on 12.7 mm diameter X-cut quartz disk. Each electrode independently connected to impedance network optimized to produce Gaussian distribution with less than 2 percent error. Ultrasonic transducer produces far field beam with Gaussian spatial profile for materials evaluation applications.

Claus, R. O.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Properties of cyclotron lines in a line-forming region injected by an anisotropic continuum in accreting X-ray pulsars

I examine the characteristics of profiles of cyclotron lines formed by the superposition of a number of lines formed at a number of altitudes in line-forming regions illuminated by anisotropic injections in an accretion column, which formed around the polar cap of Roche-lobe-type accretion-powered X-ray pulsars. In the present paper, I consider the line-forming region near the walls of a cylindrical geometry illuminated from the inside of the cylinder. I also examine how the direction of the peak of a beam pattern affects the profiles of cyclotron lines. I found that the width and depth of the line in a phase-averaged spectrum provide information concerning the direction of a beam. I demonstrate that the cyclotron line has a pure absorption in the phase-averaged spectrum regardless of the height of the cylinder, which is expected to change with luminosity. On the other hand, in phase-resolved spectra, an emission-like feature can be formed in the phase with lower intensity in a short cylinder, which is expected at L∼10{sup 36} erg s{sup −1}, while a pure absorption feature tends to appear in all phases due to the superposition of a large number of lines in a tall cylinder, which is expected at L≳10{sup 37} erg s{sup −1}.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Separating and combining single-mode and multimode optical beams

Techniques for combining initially separate single mode and multimode optical beams into a single "Dual Mode" fiber optic have been developed. Bi-directional propagation of two beams that are differentiated only by their mode profiles (i.e., wavefront conditions) is provided. The beams can be different wavelengths and or contain different modulation information but still share a common aperture. This method allows the use of conventional micro optics and hybrid photonic packaging techniques to produce small rugged packages suitable for use in industrial or military environments.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
NASA NTRS1995

Enhancement of thickness uniformity of thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

A peculiarity of the pulsed laser deposition technique of thin-film growth which limits its applicability is the very rapid drop of resulting film thickness as a function of distance from the deposition axis. This is due to the narrow forward peaking of the emission plume characteristic of the laser ablation process. The plume is usually modeled by a cos(sup n) theta function with n greater, and in some cases, much higher, than 1. Based on this behavior, a method is presented to substantially enhance coverage uniformity in substrate zones of the order of the target-substrate distance h, and to within a specified thickness tolerance. Essentially, target irradiation is caused to form an annular emission source instead of the usual spot. By calculating the resulting thickness profiles, an optimum radius s is found for the annular source, corresponding to a given power in the emission characteristic and a given value of h. The radius of this annulus scales with h. Calculated numerical results for optimal s/h ratios corresponding to a wide range of values for n are provided for the case of +/- 1% tolerance in deviation from the thickness at deposition axis. Manners of producing annular illumination of the target by means of conic optics are presented for the case of a laser beam with radially symmetric profile. The region of uniform coverage at the substrate can be further augmented by extension of the method to multiple concentric annular sources. By using a conic optic of novel design, it is shown also how a single-laser beam can be focused onto a target in the required manner. Applicability of the method would be limited in practice by the available laser power. On the other hand, the effective emitting area can be large, which favors extremely high growth rates, and since growth can occur uniformly over the whole substrate for each laser pulse, single-shot depositions with substantial thicknesses are possible. In addition, the simultaneity of growth over the complete substrate is desirable when monitoring the growth in situ.

Fernandez, Felix E.↗
DOE OSTI2015

WE-EF-BRA-06: Feasibility of Spatially Modulated Proton Beams for Small Animal Research

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of proton minibeam radiotherapy (pMBRT) for small animal research. The motivation is to explore with protons the extraordinary normal tissue sparing effects to spatially modulated beams as observed on high flux synchrotron beam lines. We hypothesized that we can design a multi-slit collimator for our proton beam line to produce planar-parallel dose profiles with high modulation in the entrance region and homogenous dose coverage in the overlap of the Bragg peaks. Methods: The high dose rate 50 MeV research proton beamline at the University of Washington was modeled using the TOol for PArticle Simulation (TOPAS) Monte Carlo package. A brass collimator was implemented to generate proton minibeams. The collimator consists of an array of 2 cm long slits to cover an area of 2×2 cm{sup 2}. The slit widths (0.1–1 mm), center-to-center (ctc) distances (1–3 mm) and collimator thickness (1–7 cm) were varied to evaluate the effect on dose rate, the peak-to-valley dose ratios (PVDR) and the change of penumbra and peak width (FWHM) with depth. Results: The Bragg peak was at a depth of ∼21 mm. The penumbra and FWHM remained relatively constant to a depth of about 10–15 mm. The PVDR ranged from 1.6 to 26 and the dose rate dropped exponentially with collimator thickness. A uniform dose can be achieved at depth with slightly compromised PVDRs and dose rate. Conclusion: The technical realization of pMBRT is feasible. The simulations have shown that it is possible to obtain uniform dose at depth while modulation is maintained on the entrance side. While the simulated beam widths are larger than on synchrotron generated microbeams the dosimetric advantage could avoid having to interlace two microbeams to achieve uniform dose in the target. The next steps are to build a collimator and verify the simulations experimentally.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗