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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 919 records · Page 51
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Total kinetic energy release in the fast neutron induced fission of actinide nuclei

The total kinetic energy (TKE) release in the fast neutron-induced fission of various actinide nuclei was measured for neutron energies for E n =2.6-100 MeV at the Weapons Neutron Research facility of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The data are compared to the GEF model of the fission process. The variances of the TKE distributions appear to decrease with increasing Z and A of the fissioning systems.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Radiation characterization summary for the WSMR fast burst reactor environment at the 6-inch location

The characterization of the neutron, prompt gamma-ray, and delayed gamma-ray radiation fields for the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) Fast Burst Reactor, also known as molybdenum-alloy Godiva (Molly-G) has been assessed at the 6-inch irradiation location. The neutron energy spectra, uncertainties, and common radiation metrics are presented. Code-dependent recommended constants are given to facilitate the conversion of various dosimetry readings into radiation metrics desired by experimenters. The Molly-G core was designed and configured similarly to Godiva II, as an unreflected, unmoderated, cylindrical annulus of uranium-molybdenum-alloy fuel with molybdenum loading of 10%. At the 6-inch position, the axial fluence maximum is about 2.4×10 13 n/cm 2 per MJ of reactor energy; about 0.1% of the neutron fluence is below 1 keV and 96% is above 100 keV. The 1-MeV Damage-Equivalent Silicon (DES) fluence is estimated at 2.2×10 13 n/cm 2 per MJ of reactor energy. The prompt gamma-ray dose is roughly 2.5E+03 rad(Si) per MJ and the delayed gamma-ray dose is about 1.3E+03 rad(Si) per MJ.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Onset of High-Harmonic Fast Wave Propagation in Annulus Geometry

Previous experiments on NSTX have reported high-harmonic fast wave (HHFW) power losses in the scrape-off layer (SOL), with dependencies on the wave parallel wavenumber, plasma density, and magnetic field. This study presents an analysis of HHFW propagation in the SOL plasma, focusing on parasitic coupling to the waveguide mode bounded by the steep gradient pedestal and the outer wall boundary. The analytic and finite element wave models are discussed using a 2D annulus geometry, which serves as a simplified representation of the NSTX-U plasma. The model shows that a minimum radial gap width is required to support wave propagation, analogous to the higher-order modes in coaxial geometries. The impact of several factors, including gap width, wave parallel phasing, and magnetic field strength, on parasitic wave coupling is examined, highlighting the role of the geometric dimension in relation to the wave perpendicular wavelength. The findings suggest that controlling the edge/SOL density profile (gap control) is crucial for mitigating parasitic coupling when the density in front of the antenna exceeds the density cutoff.

Baek, Seung-Gyou [Massachusetts Inst. of Technolog↗
DOE OSTI2026

Experimental uncertainty quantification using templates of expected measurement uncertainties for fast neutron-induced total, capture, and scattering cross sections

Careful experimental uncertainty quantification (UQ) is key for developing trustworthy evaluated nuclear data. Templates to account for missing or under-reported experimental uncertainties were recently developed by the covariance committee of Cross Section Evaluation Working Group (CSEWG). In this work, we illustrate the practical application and limitations of these templates for selected neutron-induced reactions, including (n, tot), (n, γ), and (n, xn) in the fast energy range, to illustrate their use in data analyses for nuclear data evaluations. We show that while the templates provide consistent framework, proper implementation still requires detailed knowledge of experimental conditions and careful treatment of nonlinear effects in cross section derivation. Case studies highlight how template-assisted UQ improves consistency with previous evaluations such as ENDF/B and reveals open challenges in propagating uncertainties across different energy regimes. The main contribution of this paper is to connect formal template recommendations with their use in practical evaluation workflows, clarifying both their benefits and current limitations.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Fast transformations between configuration state function and Slater determinant bases for direct configuration interaction

A hybrid configuration state function (CSF) and Slater determinant (SD) basis full configuration interaction (CI) program was developed to simultaneously take advantage of fast SD basis algorithms for σ = Hc formation and the smaller CI vector length and more robust convergence offered by a CSF basis. Graphical processing unit acceleration of the direct CSF-SD and SD-CSF basis transformation algorithms ensures that the combined transformation time per iteration relative to σ formation is small (~15%). In addition to the obvious benefits of reducing the memory footprint of the CI vector, additional computational savings are demonstrated that rely directly on the size of the CI basis, in one particular case reducing the CI time-to-solution of a HF-CAS-(16,16)-CI/6-31G calculation of ethylene from 1954.79 s to 956 s by using a CSF basis, a 2.0× speedup.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Spatio-temporal ion temperature and velocity measurements in a Z pinch using fast-framing spectroscopy

Ion Doppler spectroscopy (IDS) is a diagnostic technique that measures plasma ion temperature and velocity without perturbing the plasma with a physical probe. The ZaP-HD Flow Z-Pinch Experiment at the University of Washington uses this technique to resolve radial temperature and velocity profiles of a Z-pinch plasma. The pinch lifetime is approximately 100 ms, therefore diagnostics capable of sub-microsecond resolution are required to measure the evolution of temperature and velocity profiles. The previous IDS diagnostic system was only capable of collecting a single measurement during a plasma pulse. Here, an improved system has been developed to measure radially-resolved ion temperature and velocity for the entire Z-pinch lifetime. A Kirana 05M ultra-fast framing camera and SIL ultraviolet intensifier are used to record up to 100 spectra per plasma pulse. The temperature is computed from Doppler broadening of the carbon-III (229.687 nm) impurity ion radiation and the velocity from the Doppler shift of carbon-III. Measurements are able to resolve the evolution of the ion temperature and velocity over the course of a plasma pulse. The diagnostic has significantly reduced the number of pulses required and provides a more coherent measurement of plasma dynamics than the previous system.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

A fast and large bandwidth superconducting variable coupler

Variable microwave-frequency couplers are highly useful components in classical communication systems and likely will play an important role in quantum communication applications. Conventional semiconductor-based microwave couplers have been used with superconducting quantum circuits, enabling, for example, the in situ measurements of multiple devices via a common readout chain. However, the semiconducting elements are lossy and furthermore dissipate energy when switched, making them unsuitable for cryogenic applications requiring rapid, repeated switching. Superconducting Josephson junction-based couplers can be designed for dissipation-free operation with fast switching and are easily integrated with superconducting quantum circuits. These enable on-chip, quantum-coherent routing of microwave photons, providing an appealing alternative to semiconductor switches. Here, we present and characterize a chip-based broadband microwave variable coupler, tunable over 4-8GHz with over 1.5GHz instantaneous bandwidth, based on the superconducting quantum interference device with two parallel Josephson junctions. The coupler is dissipation-free and features large on-off ratios in excess of 40dB, and the coupling can be changed in about 10ns. The simple design presented here can be readily integrated with superconducting qubit circuits and can be easily generalized to realize a four- or more port device.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2020

Experimental investigation of internal two-phase flow structures and dynamics of quasi-stable sheet cavitation by fast synchrotron x-ray imaging

The quasi-stable sheet cavitation produced in a small Venturi channel is investigated using a fast synchrotron X-ray imaging technique aided with conventional high speed photography. The use of X-rays instead of visible light solves cavitation opacity related issues, and X-ray phase contrast-based edge enhancement enables high-definition visualization of the internal two-phase morphology. The simultaneous acquisition of time-resolved velocity and void fraction fields through post-processing the recorded X-ray images reveals, for the first time, the complex diphasic flow structures inside the sheet cavity, which is essentially divided into 6 characteristic parts. Distinct from the current mainstream view, the globallysteady sheet cavitation is found to be characterized by a weak but constantly-existing re-entrant flow that can penetrate the entire cavity. The turbulent velocity fluctuations inside the sheet cavity are also investigated. The turbulence level in the reverse flow region is observed to be as low as in the outer main flow demonstrating the relatively steady status of the reentrant flow. Unlike the streamwise and cross-stream fluctuations, the shear stress appears to be weakly correlated with the velocity gradient. The collapse of vapor phase and the vaporization at the upstream cavity interface are found to be the primary causes of shear stress intensification.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Scoping study of detecting high harmonic fast waves in NSTX-U hot core plasma directly using beam emission spectroscopy

In this paper, we used radio frequency (RF) full wave simulation to explore the feasibility of generating a density beat oscillation formed by high harmonic fast waves (HHFWs) in the National Spherical Tokamak Experiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U) and of measuring it numerically with 2D beam emission spectroscopy (BES). This oscillation is of interest as it can be used to determine the injected RF fields. We began by computing HHFW fields in NSTX-U under a variety of experimental conditions and antenna configurations with Petra-M, a 3D RF wavefield solver. These fields were then used to evaluate the amplitude of δne,beat/ne0 in the volume of measurement, which we predict to be between 5 × 10−10 and 10−9, although it is highly dependent on plasma parameters. Trends in magnetic field, core temperature, core density, and antenna phasing are presented, and the parameters most suitable to this measurement are identified. Finally, we developed a synthetic BES diagnostic to compare the experimental BES signal against.

Rutherford, Grant (ORCID:0000000163620037)↗
DOE OSTI2021

Development of a narrow stopband filter for spectroscopic fast ion deuterium-alpha measurements

A new technique to attenuate the unshifted deuterium Balmer-alpha (D-alpha) emission is developed and tested for the fast ion D-alpha (FIDA) diagnostic. The unshifted D-alpha emission, at λ = 656.1 nm, is around three orders of magnitude higher than the desired FIDA emission. Blocking the strong emission feature is essential to prevent blooming and light smearing on the CCD chip and scattered light contamination. The new method is a notch filter approach that utilizes the reflection from ultra-narrow bandpass filters to block the saturating signal before it enters the spectrometer. Collimated light from the fibers is reflected off the filter at a 15° angle of incidence. Measurements show that a center wavelength transmission of 0.006 and a blocking full width at half maximum of ~ 1 nm are achieved by using a 200 μm fiber and a 20 mm focal length collimator with two filters.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Converting existing optical detectors into fast x-ray detectors

Here, the very short burn time and small size of burning plasmas created at advanced laser-fusion facilities will require high-spatial-resolution imaging diagnostics with fast time resolution. These instruments will need to function in an environment of extremely large neutron fluxes that will cause conventional diagnostics to fail because of radiation damage and induced background levels. One solution to this challenge is to perform an ultrafast conversion of the x-ray signals into the optical regime before the neutrons are able to reach the detector and then to relay image the signal out of the chamber and into a shielded bunker, protected from the effects of these neutrons. With this goal in mind, the OMEGA laser was used to demonstrate high-temporal-resolution x-ray imaging by using an x-ray snout to image an imploding backlighter capsule onto a semiconductor. The semiconductor was simultaneously probed with the existing velocity interferometry system for any surface reflector (VISAR) diagnostic, which uses an optical streak camera and provided a one-dimensional image of the phase in the semiconductor as a function of time. The phase induced in the semiconductor was linearly proportional to the x-ray emission from the backlighter capsule. This approach would then allow a sacrificial semiconductor to be attached at the end of an optical train with the VISAR and optical streak camera placed in a shielded bunker to operate in a high neutron environment and obtain time-dependent one-dimensional x-ray images or time-dependent x-ray spectra from a burning plasma.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Ion temperature and rotation fluctuation measurements with ultra-fast charge exchange recombination spectroscopy (UF-CHERS) in the DIII-D tokamak

An upgraded detector and several optimizations have significantly improved the Ultra-Fast Charge Exchange Recombination Spectroscopy (UF-CHERS) diagnostic sensitivity to ion temperature and parallel velocity fluctuations at turbulence relevant spatio-temporal scales. Normalized broadband ion temperature and parallel velocity fluctuations down to x̃x∼1% (x = Ti, v∥) and up to ∼450 kHz have been measured in a variety of plasmas. The multi-field nature of the CHERS technique also allows measurements of the cross-phase angles of the fluctuating fields. UF-CHERS is optimized to observe emissions from the electron exchange reaction between intrinsic C6+ and hydrogenic neutral beam injected particles near 529 nm. UF-CHERS consists of two chords separated by ∼1 cm radially, less than the turbulence correlation length in DIII-D plasmas, which enables correlated measurements to suppress incoherent electronic and photon noise. The optical components of the spectrometer include a volume-phase-holographic grating with >90% transmission between 528 and 530 nm and f/2 200-mm lenses, selected to maximize the optical efficiency and photon flux. Diffracted light from each chord is collected in eight spectral bins, each with a bandwidth of ∼0.25 nm, and detected and amplified by chilled avalanche photodiodes and custom high-gain, wide bandwidth low-noise preamplifiers to achieve the optimal signal-to-noise ratio. The resulting signals are digitized at 1 MHz, 103–104× faster than the conventional CHERS diagnostics. Spatial coverage is achieved by repositioning a motorized fiber tray between plasmas. UF-CHERS measurements will advance the understanding of turbulent ion transport and contribute to the validation of transport models and simulations.

Truong, D. D. (ORCID:0000000285732539)↗
DOE OSTI2021

Improved motional Stark effect signal processing using fast Fourier transform spectral analysis

A Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) based method has been developed, which improves the frequency response of the Motional Stark Effect (MSE) system by about a factor of 10 over the conventional analog lock-in method. The method uses fits to rigorously derived analytic expressions for the FFT spectral components of the MSE signal to accurately obtain the amplitudes and phases of the 2f1 and 2f2 photo-elastic modulator (PEM) frequencies that encode the polarization angle. Since no frequency filtering is used in the FFT method, the frequency response is limited by fundamental measurement properties: the frequency response of the detector, photon statistics, sample rate, and the ability to resolve the spectral components. In contrast, the frequency response of the analog lock-in is limited by a low pass filter with a cutoff of around 500 Hz. In the case of the DIII-D MSE system, the output of the photo-multiplier tube detector was sampled at 500 kHz and FFTs with as few as 100 points were used to obtain the amplitudes of the 2f1 and 2f2 PEM frequency components. This corresponds to a frequency response of 5 kHz, about ten times faster than the analog lock-in amplifier system. Details of the FFT method will be presented and compared to those of the analog lock-in system.

Makowski, M. A.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Adaptively controlled fast production of defect-free beryllium ion crystals using pulsed laser ablation

Trapped atomic ions find wide applications ranging from precision measurement to quantum information science and quantum computing. Beryllium ions are widely used due to the light mass and convenient atomic structure of beryllium; however, conventional ion loading from thermal ovens exerts undesirable gas loads for a prolonged duration. Here, we demonstrate a method to rapidly produce pure linear chains of beryllium ions with pulsed laser ablation, serving as a starting point for large-scale quantum information processing. Our method is fast compared to thermal ovens, reduces the gas load to only 10 -12 Torr (10 -10 Pa) level, yields a short recovery time of a few seconds, and also eliminates the need for a deep ultraviolet laser for photoionization. We also study the loading dynamics, which show non-Poissonian statistics in the presence of sympathetic cooling. In addition, we apply feedback control to obtain defect-free ion chains with desirable lengths.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Dynamics and energy coupling of gas puff Z-pinches on a fast linear transformer driver

Gas puff Z-pinch experiments with annular Ar and Ne gas shells have been conducted on the Compact Experimental System for Z-pinch and Ablation Research (CESZAR) linear transformer driver (LTD) with 500 kA current and 160 ns rise time. Here, we present results from the first systematic gas puff Z-pinch experiments using a fast (≤ 200 ns) LTD as a driver, in which we show that 7% of the stored energy in the capacitors is coupled to plasma kinetic energy as estimated via self-emission and laser schlieren images. 0D and 1D simulations—which do not allow instability growth and thus reach greater maximum average velocities—using initial conditions inferred from experimental implosion trajectories predict coupling in excess of 10% of the stored energy. Additionally, the Ar and Ne implosions were comparably massed and thus achieved similar maximum kinetic energies, though the Ne pinches were more stable and the x-ray pulses were longer and produced higher yield: 2–5 ns and 0.21–0.52 J (0.15–0.37 J/cm) of Ar K-shell and 12–25 ns and 2.2–3.9 J (1.6–2.6 J/cm) of Ne K-shell, respectively. The difference in stability is most likely attributed to variations in initial conditions such as density distribution and gas breakdown initiation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Fast attenuation of high-frequency acoustic waves in bicontinuous nanoporous gold

We studied the formation and attenuation of GHz elastic waves in free-standing nanoporous gold films by MeV ultrafast electron diffraction and finite element simulations. By tracing the evolution of the high frequency acoustic waves in time domain, we found that the bicontinuous nanoporous structure in nanoporous gold films results in three-dimensionally acoustic response with low coherence, leading to fast attenuation of the elastic waves in comparison with solid gold films. The morphologically dominated dynamics indicates the nanoporosity plays an important role in the high-frequency acoustic energy relaxation, which shines a light on the applications of dealloyed nanoporous materials in nanodevices and sensors as GHz and THz acoustic filters and dampers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Fast estimation of ion-pairing for screening electrolytes: A cluster can approximate a bulk liquid

The propensity for ion-pairing can often dictate the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of electrolyte solutions. Fast and accurate estimates of ion-pairing can thus be extremely valuable for supplementing design and screening efforts for novel electrolytes. We introduce an efficient cluster model to estimate the local ion-pair potential-of-mean-force between ionic solutes in electrolytes. The model incorporates an ion-pair and a few layers of explicit solvent in a gas-phase cluster and leverages an enhanced sampling approach to achieve high efficiency and accuracy. We employ harmonic restraints to prevent solvent escape from the cluster and restrict sampling of large inter-ion distances. We develop a cluster ion-pair sampling tool that implements our cluster model and demonstrate its potential utility for screening simple and poly-electrolyte systems.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Dual-energy fast neutron imaging using tunable short-pulse laser-driven sources

Here a novel dual-energy fast neutron imaging technique is presented using short-pulse laser-driven neutron sources to leverage their inherent adaptive spectral control to enable 3D volume segmentation and reconstruction. Laser-accelerated ion beams incident onto secondary targets create directional, broadband, MeV-class neutrons. Synthetic radiographs are produced of multi-material objects using ion and neutron spectra derived from analytic and numerical models. It is demonstrated that neutron images generated from small changes to the neutron spectra, controlled by altering the initial laser conditions, are sufficient to isolate materials with differing attenuation coefficients. This is first demonstrated using a simplistic combinatorial isolation method and then by employing more advanced reconstruction algorithms to reduce artifacts and generate a segmentation volume of the constituent materials.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗