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At least 901 records · Page 50

Oxygen stabilization induced enhancement in J(sub c) and T(sub c) of superconducting oxides

In an attempt to enhance the electrical and mechanical properties of the high temperature superconducting oxides, high T(sub c) composites were prepared composed of the 123 compounds and AgO. The presence of extra oxygen due to the decomposition of AgO at high temperature is found to stabilize the superconducting 123 phase. Ag is found to serve as clean flux for grain growth and precipitates as pinning center. Consequently, almost two orders of magnitude enhancement in critical current densities were also observed in these composites. In addition, these composites also show much improvement in workability and shape formation. On the other hand, proper oxygen treatment of Y5Ba6Cu11Oy was found to possibly stabilize superconducting phase with T(sub c) near 250 K. I-V, ac susceptibility, and electrical resistivity measurements indicate the existence of this ultra high T(sub c) phase in this compound. Detailed structure, microstructure, electrical, magnetic and thermal studies of the superconducting composites and the ultra high T(sub c) compound are presented and discussed.

Wu, M. K.↗

Oxygen stabilization induced enhancement in superconducting characteristics of high-Tc oxides

In an attempt to enhance the electrical and mechanical properties of the high temperature superconducting oxides, high T(sub c) composites were prepared composed of the 123 compounds and AgO. The presence of extra oxygen due to the decomposition of AgO at high temperature is found to stabilize the superconducting 123 phase. Ag is found to serve as clean flux for grain growth and precipitates as pinning center. Consequently, almost two orders of magnitude enhancement in critical current densities were also observed in these composites. In addition, these composites also show much improvement in workability and shape formation. On the other hand, proper oxygen treatment of Y5Ba6Cu11Oy was found to possibly stabilize superconducting phase with T(sub c) near 250 K. I-V, ac susceptibility, and electrical resistivity measurements indicate the existence of this ultra high T(sub c) phase in this compound. Detailed structure, microstructure, electrical, magnetic and thermal studies of the superconducting composites and the ultra high T(sub c) compound are presented and discussed.

Wu, M. K.↗

The High Stability Engine Control (HISTEC) Program: Flight Demonstration Phase

Future aircraft turbine engines, both commercial and military, must be able to accommodate expected increased levels of steady-state and dynamic engine-face distortion. The current approach of incorporating sufficient design stall margin to tolerate these increased levels of distortion would significantly reduce performance. The objective of the High Stability Engine Control (HISTEC) program is to design, develop, and flight-demonstrate an advanced, integrated engine control system that uses measurement-based estimates of distortion to enhance engine stability. The resulting distortion tolerant control reduces the required design stall margin, with a corresponding increase in performance and decrease in fuel burn. The HISTEC concept has been developed and was successfully flight demonstrated on the F-15 ACTIVE aircraft during the summer of 1997. The flight demonstration was planned and carried out in two phases, the first to show distortion estimation, and the second to show distortion accommodation. Post-flight analysis shows that the HISTEC technologies are able to successfully estimate and accommodate distortion, transiently setting the stall margin requirement on-line and in real-time. This allows the design stall margin requirement to be reduced, which in turn can be traded for significantly increased performance and/or decreased weight. Flight demonstration of the HISTEC technologies has significantly reduced the risk of transitioning the technology to tactical and commercial engines.

DeLaat, John C.↗

Revealing the Formation Energy–Exfoliation Energy–Structure Correlation of MAB Phases Using Machine Learning and DFT

MAB phases are popular as high-temperature materials with high damage tolerance and excellent electrical conductivity that are used to exfoliate two-dimensional (2D) transition metal borides (MBenes); a promising material for developing next- generation nanodevices. In this report, we explore the correlation between the formation energy, exfoliation energy and structural factors of MAB phases using DFT and machine learning. In order to do so, we developed three different machine learning models based on the support vector machine, deep neural network, and random forest regressor to study the stability of the MAB phases by calculating their formation energies. Furthermore, our support vector machine and deep neural network models are capable of predicting the formation energies with mean absolute errors less than 0.1 eV/atom. We demonstrated that the stability of a MAB phase for a given transition metal decreases when the A element changes from Al to Tl. The density functional theory (DFT) re- vealed that M-A and M-B bond strength strongly correlates with the stability of MAB phases. In addition, the exfoliation possibility of 2D MBenes becomes higher when the A element changes from Al to Tl due to weakening of M-A and M-B bonds.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

X-ray diffraction study of phase transformation dynamics of Fe and Fe-Si alloys along the shock Hugoniot using an x-ray free electron laser

The x-ray free electron laser (XFEL) enables probing a highly compressed material response at the subnanosecond timescale. Here we exploit the ultrafast XFEL pulse to combine reflection x-ray diffraction and laser-driven shock compression to perform a study of the phase transformation and stability in Fe and Fe-Si alloys. Our approach enables us to observe that solid-solid phase transformations occur in Fe and Fe- Si 8.5 wt % in ≤ 130 ps at ~ 130 GPa; no transformation is observed in Fe- Si 16 wt % up to 110 GPa. Density functional theory calculations predict similar phase relations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Phase transitions in HfO2 probed by first-principles computations

Ever since ferroelectricity was discovered in HfO2, the question of its origin remains controversial. Here, we probe this question using a combination of Landau theory of phase transitions and first-principles computations. In such an approach, the energy landscape associated with the phase transition between cubic and different experimentally demonstrated phases of HfO2 (tetragonal, monoclinic, orthorhombic Pbca, orthorhombic Pnma, and orthorhombic Pca21) is explored using density functional theory calculations. Computations revealed that stabilization of all but orthorhombic Pbca phase is driven by a single unstable zone-boundary antipolar mode X2−. When coupled with zone-center modes (Γ1+ and Γ3+), it stabilizes the tetragonal phase. Coupling with four additional modes (Γ5+, X3−, X5−, X5+) results in the monoclinic phase, which is the ground state of the material. If, however, Γ5+ mode is replaced with Γ4− mode, orthorhombic polar phase Pca21 is stabilized. The application of this framework to examine the effect of electric field on the ferroelectric phase of hafnia reveals that the field of 5 MV/cm is capable of stabilizing ferroelectric phase over the monoclinic one at 0 K.

Physics↗

Digital implementation of vibration suppression controllers for LSS

A synthesis procedure for positivity controllers is described, and both simulation and experimental results for vibration suppression control experiments at the NASA Marshall ACES and the NASA Langley MiniMAST ground test facilities are presented. Positivity-designed controllers provide general stability robustness to modeling errors, coupled with controller phase compensation which provides stability margins required for actual implementation. A multivariable scaling method of positivity-designed controllers is used for the on-line tuning of nominal digital controllers. A phase compensation method uses model information to predict system measurements and controller states for compensating the nominal controllers for unmodeled time delays in the system.

Bosse, A.↗

Influence of the Ozone Dose Time during Atomic Layer Deposition on the Ferroelectric and Pyroelectric Properties of 45 nm-Thick ZrO 2 Films

Over a decade ago, ferroelectricity was discovered in doped HfO 2 thin films. The HfO 2 -based thin films have attracted much attention due to their remarkable scalability and CMOS compatibility. Other than the HfO 2 -based thin films, the undoped ZrO 2 thin films are understudied despite their commonly reported antiferroelectric behavior. However, being of the same fluorite structure as HfO 2 -based thin films, the undoped ZrO 2 also displayed considerable ferroelectricity as demonstrated in recent studies. Here, 45 nm-thick polycrystalline undoped ZrO 2 films are synthesized using atomic layer deposition with different ozone dose times. The ZrO 2 films are crystallized after atomic layer deposition at 350 °C without anneals. In general, the longer ozone dose time causes a lower in-plane tensile stress and oxygen vacancy content, which help facilitate an irreversible non-polar tetragonal to polar orthorhombic phase transition with electric-field cycling. However, the lower in-plane tensile stress and oxygen vacancy content also stabilize the monoclinic phase so that a long ozone dose time (>17.5 s) reduces the ferroelectric behavior. After wake-up cycles, the ZrO 2 thin film with an ozone dose time of 17.5 s exhibits a remanent polarization of 6 μC·cm –2 and a pyroelectric coefficient of -35 μC·K –1 ·m –2 . Moreover, the wake-up behavior is consistent between the ferroelectric and pyroelectric response. As essential factors in optimizing the growth of fluorite-structure thin films for ferroelectric applications, the in-plane tensile stress and oxygen vacancy content significantly influence the ferroelectric and pyroelectric properties. Additionally, the low thermal budget for processing ferroelectric ZrO 2 thin films is valuable for semiconductor back-end-of-line processes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Enabling Multi-Material Structures of Co-Based Superalloy Using Laser Directed Energy Deposition Additive Manufacturing

Cobalt superalloys such as Tribaloys are widely used in environments that involve high temperatures, corrosion, and wear degradation. Additive manufacturing (AM) processes have been investigated for fabricating Co-based alloys due to design flexibility and efficient materials usage. AM processes are suitable for reducing the manufacturing steps and subsequently reducing manufacturing costs by incorporating multi-materials. Laser directed energy deposition (laser DED) is a suitable AM process for fabricating Co-based alloys. T800 is one of the commercially available Tribaloys that is strengthened through Laves phases and of interest to diverse engineering fields. However, the high content of the Laves phase makes the alloy prone to brittle fracture. In this study, a Ni-20%Cr alloy was used to improve the fabricability of the T800 alloy via laser DED. Different mixture compositions (20%, 30%, 40% NiCr by weight) were investigated. The multi-material T800 + NiCr alloys were heat treated at two different temperatures. These alloy chemistries were characterized for their microstructural, phase, and mechanical properties in the as-fabricated and heat-treated conditions. SEM and XRD characterization indicated the stabilization of ductile phases and homogenization of the Laves phases after laser DED fabrication and heat treatment. In conclusion, the NiCr addition improved the fabricability and structural integrity of the T800 alloy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Third order LPF type compensator for flexible rotor suspension

The tuning job of the compensator for levitating flexible rotors supported by active magnetic bearings (AMB) concerns providing a good damping effect to the critical speed modes while avoiding the spillover problem on the instability of higher bending modes. In this paper, an idea for design of the control law of the compensator based on utilizing a third order low pass filter (LPF) is proposed to essentially enable elimination of the spillover instability. According to the proposed design method, good damping effects for the critical speeds are obtained by the usual phase lead/lag function. Stabilization for all of higher bending modes is completed by the additional function of the 3rd order LPF due to its phase lag approaching about -270 degrees in the high frequency domain. This idea is made clear by experiments and simulations.

Matsushita, Osami↗

Using Lag Compensator in Orbit Feedback

Growing demand on the beam orbit stability requires higher loop gain inside the operational bandwidth. However, increasing the gain leads to the increase of the unity gain frequency and problems with systems stability due to the additional phase shifts caused by the trims (power supplies, eddy currents in vacuum chambers, etc.) and filtering of beam position data. Conventionally employed systems have 20 dB/decade slope near the unity gain providing 90 degrees phase shift which is sufficient for stability. Increase of the slope to 40 dB/decade by adding additional pole into the signal chain increases the phase shift to 180 degrees and makes system unstable. Utilizing one or more lag compensators allows to increase the gain while keeping phase margin acceptable. The paper provides more details on the proposed solution as well as simulations of how the transients will be modified.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Synthesis and Characterization of the First Liquid Single Source Precursors for the Deposition of Ternary Chalcopyrite (CuInS2) Thin Film Materials

Molecular engineering of ternary single source precursors based on the [{PBu3}2Cu(SR')2In(SR')2] architecture have afforded the first liquid CIS ternary single source precursors (when R = Et, n-Pr), which are suitable for low temperature deposition (< 350 C). Thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) and modulated-differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) confirm their liquid phase and reduced stability. X-ray diffraction studies, energy dispersive analyzer (EDS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) support the formation of the single-phase chalcopyrite CuInS2 at low temperatures.

Banger, Kulbinder K.↗

Mechanisms enabling reconfigurability and long-term retention in vanadium oxide electrochemical memory

Phase coexistence in nanoscale electrochemical random-access memory (ECRAM) has recently been demonstrated to enable both information storage and extraordinary reconfigurability. These proof-of-principle demonstrations have left the mechanistic details of such a process unresolved. Particularly, the mechanisms that stabilize the multiple phases, and the underlying processes behind sustained memory retention, remain unclear, and are necessary to design such devices. Here we report microscale ECRAM devices composed of V⁢O𝑥, which enables us to directly probe the active region in an operando fashion using optical techniques. Using Raman mapping, we show the phase coexistence driven by the electrochemical injection of O vacancies to be spatially uniform (i.e., with no filaments). The stability was observed to be unusually long, with 1% loss over 14 years in ambient conditions. First-principles calculations of the oxygen vacancy formation energies in V⁢O 𝑥 further support the thermodynamic coexistence of multiple V⁢O 𝑥 phases and clarify the origin of the observed long-term retention in the ECRAM devices. Further, we demonstrate single devices that can be voltage programmed to exhibit synaptic, neuronal, and reconfigurable logic gate functionalities. Furthermore, we not only uncover the phase coexistence mechanism that may help device design, but also demonstrate the circuit-level applications of reconfigurability.

Electrical conductivity↗

Visual Tool for Assessing Stability of DER Configurations on Three-Phase Radial Networks

Here, we present a method and tool for evaluating the placement of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) on distribution circuits in order to control voltages and power flows. Our previous work described Phasor-Based Control (PBC), a novel control framework where DERs inject real and reactive power to track voltage magnitude and phase angle targets. Here, we employ linearized power flow equations and integral controllers to develop a linear state space model for PBC acting on a three-phase unbalanced network. We use this model to evaluate whether a given inverter-based DER configuration admits a stable set of controller gains, which cannot be done by analyzing controllability nor by using the Lyapunov equation. Instead, we sample over a parameter space to identify a stable set of controller gains. Our stability analysis requires only a line impedance model and does not entail simulating the system or solving an optimization problem. We incorporate this assessment into a publicly available visualization tool and demonstrate three processes for evaluating many control configurations on the IEEE 123-node test feeder (123NF).

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Effects of thin metal contacts on few-layer van der Waals ferrielectric CuInP 2 S 6

Out-of-plane polarized ferroelectric materials in a capacitive structure provide a key component for several technological applications. Furthermore, two-dimensional materials are expected to aid in the quest for both ultrathin and flexible electronics. Of the various two-dimensional ferroelectrics with out-of-plane polarization, CuInP 2 S 6 is special in that the Cu atoms are highly mobile and it has been shown to possess both low- and high-polarization states. Here, using density-functional-theory calculations, we explore the stabilization of the ferroelectric state for several prototypical metal contacts (Gr, Ni, Cu, Au, and Ag). In all cases, we find that the ferroelectric state can be stabilized at fewer layers than in the freestanding case. For all of the considered conventional metal contacts, we also find the existence of a quasi-ferroelectric state that stabilizes a polar phase for thicknesses greater than two layers of CIPS. In the cases of Au and Ag, interfacial alignment and strain can be used to stabilize ferroelectricity at the bilayer limit. Furthermore, we find that the strength of the interaction between the contact and CuInP 2 S 6 also leads to stabilization of the high-polarization state when ferroelectricity is stabilized. Lastly, energy-barrier calculations show that the system is still switchable in the presence of contact doping from the metal contacts.

2D materials↗

Skyrmions Near Defects

We study the impact of an exchange-reducing defect on a skyrmion for a thin film of finite thickness. Attraction of the skyrmion to a defect is demonstrated in a lattice model by computing the micromagnetic energy accounting for the exchange, Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, magnetic anisotropy, and dipole-dipole coupling. The spiraling dynamics of the skyrmion towards the defect is illustrated by solving numerically the full Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equations on a lattice and, independently, the Thiele equation, with the two methods in agreement with each other. We find that the skyrmion deforms when approaching the defect. Here, deformation is small in the parameter space far from the phase boundary that determines stability of skyrmions. It increases dramatically near the phase boundary, leading to the transformation of the skyrmion by the defect into a snake-like magnetic domain.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Understanding Reentrance in Frustrated Magnets: The Case of the Er 2 Sn 2 O 7 Pyrochlore

Reentrance, the return of a system from an ordered phase to a previously encountered less-ordered one as a controlled parameter is continuously varied, is a recurring theme found in disparate physical systems, yet its microscopic cause is often not investigated thoroughly. Here, through detailed characterization and theoretical modeling, we uncover the microscopic mechanism behind reentrance in the strongly frustrated pyrochlore antiferromagnet Er 2 Sn 2 O 7 . We use single crystal heat capacity measurements to expose that Er 2 Sn 2 O 7 exhibits multiple instances of reentrance in its magnetic field B vs temperature T phase diagram for magnetic fields along three cubic high symmetry directions. Through classical Monte Carlo simulations, mean field theory, and classical linear spin-wave expansions, we argue that the origins of the multiple occurrences of reentrance observed in Er 2 Sn 2 O 7 are linked to soft modes. These soft modes arise from phase competition and enhance thermal fluctuations that entropically stabilize a specific ordered phase, resulting in an increased transition temperature for certain field values and thus the reentrant behavior. Our work represents a detailed examination into the mechanisms responsible for reentrance in a frustrated magnet and may serve as a template for the interpretation of reentrant phenomena in other physical systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

49 W carrier-envelope-phase-stable few-cycle 2.1 µm OPCPA at 10 kHz

We demonstrate a mid-infrared optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA), delivering 2.1 µm center wavelength pulses with 20 fs duration and 4.9 mJ energy at 10 kHz repetition rate. This self-seeded system is based on a kW-class Yb:YAG thin-disk amplifier driving a CEP stable short-wavelength-infrared (SWIR) generation and three consecutive OPCPA stages. Our SWIR source achieves an average power of 49 W, while still maintaining excellent phase and average power stability with sub-100 mrad carrier-envelope-phase-noise and 0.8% average power fluctuations. These parameters enable the OPCPA setup to drive attosecond pump probe spectroscopy experiments with photon energies in the water window.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗