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At least 1,027 records · Page 57
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Enhancing the efficiency of slow-wave electron cyclotron masers with the tapered refractive index

The nonlinear analysis of slow-wave electron cyclotron masers (ECM) based on anomalous Doppler effect in a slab waveguide is presented. A method of tapered refractive index (TRI) is proposed to enhance the efficiency of slow-wave ECM. The numerical calculations show that the TRI method can significantly enhance the efficiency of slow-wave ECM with the frequency ranging from the microwave to terahertz band. The effect of beam velocity spread on the efficiency has also been studied. Although the velocity spread suppresses the efficiency significantly, a great enhancement of efficiency can still be introduced by the TRI method.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2013

Thrust and efficiency model for electron-driven magnetic nozzles

A performance model is presented for magnetic nozzle plasmas driven by electron thermal expansion to investigate how the thrust coefficient and beam divergence efficiency scale with the incoming plasma flow and magnetic field geometry. Using a transformation from cylindrical to magnetic coordinates, an approximate analytical solution is derived to the axisymmetric two-fluid equations for a collisionless plasma flow along an applied magnetic field. This solution yields an expression for the half-width at half-maximum of the plasma density profile in the far-downstream region, from which simple scaling relations for the thrust coefficient and beam divergence efficiency are derived. It is found that the beam divergence efficiency is most sensitive to the density profile of the flow into the nozzle throat, with the highest efficiencies occurring for plasmas concentrated along the nozzle axis. Increasing the expansion ratio of the magnetic field leads to efficiency improvements that are more pronounced for incoming plasmas that are not concentrated along the axis. This implies that the additional magnet required to increase the expansion ratio may be worth the added complexity for plasma sources that exhibit poor confinement.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Thermal efficiency of single-pass solar air collector

Efficiency of a finned single-pass solar air collector was studied. This paper presents the experimental study to investigate the effect of solar radiation and mass flow rate on efficiency. The fins attached at the back of absorbing plate to improve the thermal efficiency of the system. The results show that the efficiency is increased proportional to solar radiation and mass flow rate. Efficiency of the collector archived steady state when reach to certain value or can be said the maximum performance.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Solar energy conversion via hot electron internal photoemission in metallic nanostructures: Efficiency estimates

Collection of hot electrons generated by the efficient absorption of light in metallic nanostructures, in contact with semiconductor substrates can provide a basis for the construction of solar energy-conversion devices. Herein, we evaluate theoretically the energy-conversion efficiency of systems that rely on internal photoemission processes at metal-semiconductor Schottky-barrier diodes. In this theory, the current-voltage characteristics are given by the internal photoemission yield as well as by the thermionic dark current over a varied-energy barrier height. The Fowler model, in all cases, predicts solar energy-conversion efficiencies of <1% for such systems. However, relaxation of the assumptions regarding constraints on the escape cone and momentum conservation at the interface yields solar energy-conversion efficiencies as high as 1%–10%, under some assumed (albeit optimistic) operating conditions. Under these conditions, the energy-conversion efficiency is mainly limited by the thermionic dark current, the distribution of hot electron energies, and hot-electron momentum considerations.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

High efficiency and rapid response superconducting NbN nanowire single photon detector based on asymmetric split ring metamaterial

With asymmetric split ring metamaterial periodically placed on top of the niobium nitride (NbN) nanowire meander, we theoretically propose a kind of metal-insulator-metallic metamaterial nanocavity to enhance absorbing efficiency and shorten response time of the superconducting NbN nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD) operating at wavelength of 1550 nm. Up to 99.6% of the energy is absorbed and 96.5% dissipated in the nanowire. Meanwhile, taking advantage of this high efficiency absorbing cavity, we implement a more sparse arrangement of the NbN nanowire of the filling factor 0.2, which significantly lessens the nanowire and crucially boosts the response time to be only 40% of reset time in previous evenly spaced meander design. Together with trapped mode resonance, a standing wave oscillation mechanism is presented to explain the high efficiency and broad bandwidth properties. To further demonstrate the advantages of the nanocavity, a four-pixel SNSPD on 10 μm × 10 μm area is designed to further reduce 75% reset time while maintaining 70% absorbing efficiency. Utilizing the asymmetric split ring metamaterial, we show a higher efficiency and more rapid response SNSPD configuration to contribute to the development of single photon detectors.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Study on lower hybrid current drive efficiency at high density towards long-pulse regimes in Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak

Significant progress on both L- and H-mode long-pulse discharges has been made recently in Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) with lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) [J. Li et al., Nature Phys. 9, 817 (2013) And B. N. Wan et al., Nucl. Fusion 53, 104006 (2013).]. In this paper, LHCD experiments at high density in L-mode plasmas have been investigated in order to explore possible methods of improving current drive (CD) efficiency, thus to extend the operational space in long-pulse and high performance plasma regime. It is observed that the normalized bremsstrahlung emission falls much more steeply than 1/n{sub e-av} (line-averaged density) above n{sub e-av} = 2.2 × 10{sup 19} m{sup −3} indicating anomalous loss of CD efficiency. A large broadening of the operating line frequency (f = 2.45 GHz), measured by a radio frequency (RF) probe located outside the EAST vacuum vessel, is generally observed during high density cases, which is found to be one of the physical mechanisms resulting in the unfavorable CD efficiency. Collisional absorption of lower hybrid wave in the scrape off layer (SOL) may be another cause, but this assertion needs more experimental evidence and numerical analysis. It is found that plasmas with strong lithiation can improve CD efficiency largely, which should be benefited from the changes of edge parameters. In addition, several possible methods are proposed to recover good efficiency in future experiments for EAST.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Very high efficiency phosphorescent organic light-emitting devices by using rough indium tin oxide

The efficiency of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) is shown to significantly depend on the roughness of the indium tin oxide (ITO) anode. By using rougher ITO, light trapped in the ITO/organic wave-guided mode can be efficiently extracted, and a light outcoupling enhancement as high as 40% is achieved. Moreover, contrary to expectations, the lifetime of OLEDs is not affected by ITO roughness. Finally, an OLED employing rough ITO anode that exhibits a current efficiency of 56 cd/A at the remarkably high brightness of 10{sup 5} cd/m{sup 2} is obtained. This represents the highest current efficiency at such high brightness to date for an OLED utilizing an ITO anode, without any external light outcoupling techniques. The results demonstrate the significant efficiency benefits of using ITO with higher roughness in OLEDs.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

50% continuous-wave wallplug efficiency from 1.53μm-emitting broad-area diode lasers

Long-wavelength InP-based diode lasers emitting at 1.53 μm have been optimized for maximum continuous-wave (CW) electrical-to-optical power conversion efficiency, so-called wallplug efficiency (WPE). Efficient electron and hole capture into a single-quantum-well (SQW) active region as well as suppression of electron and hole leakage out of the SQW result in high values for the internal differential efficiency: ∼97% for long-cavity (≥2 mm) uncoated-facet devices and ∼85%–89% for short-cavity (1.5 mm) optimized facet-coated devices. The characteristic temperature of the slope efficiency, T{sub 1}, reaches a high value of 323 K. Doping-level optimization of the p-cladding layer and the use of the SQW result in low values for the internal loss coefficient: ∼1.1 cm{sup −1} for long-cavity (≥2 mm) uncoated-facet devices and ∼1.5–2.0 cm{sup −1} for short-cavity (1.5 mm) optimized facet-coated devices. In turn, a maximum CW WPE value of 50% is achieved at room temperature and ∼1 W output power from conductively-cooled 100 μm-wide-aperture devices. The maximum CW power is 2.5 W. One beneficial byproduct of the CW-WPE maximization process is a large transverse spot size which, in turn, provides a very narrow transverse beamwidth: 26° full width half maximum. Reliability tests show no degradation when devices are run CW at high currents (4–5 A) and high temperatures (40–50 °C) for over 4000 h, at ∼2 W output power.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effect of recording condition on the diffraction efficiency of magnetic hologram with magnetic garnet films

A holographic memory has been attracting attention as recording media with high recording density and high data transfer rate. We have studied the magnetic garnets as a rewritable and long life media for magnetic holography. However, since the signal intensity of reconstructed image was relatively low, the effects of recording conditions on the diffraction efficiency of magnetic hologram were investigated with experiments and the numerical simulation using COMSOL multi-physics. The diffraction efficiency tends to decrease as increasing the spatial frequency, and the use of short pulse laser with the pulse width of 50 ps was found to be effective to achieve high diffraction efficiency. This suggests that the formation of clear magnetic fringe similar to interference pattern can be obtained by the use of short pulse laser since undesirable heat diffusion during radiation does not occur. On the other hand, the diffraction efficiency increased as increasing the film thickness up to 3.1 μm but was saturated in the garnet film thicker than 3.1 μm in the case of spatial frequency of 1500 line pair/mm. The numerical simulation showed that the effective depth of magnetic fringe was limited about 1.8 μm irrespective of the garnet film thickness because the fringes were connected by thermal diffusion near the surface of the film, and the effective depth is limited due to this connection of the magnetic fringe. Avoiding this fringe connection, much higher diffraction efficiency will be achieved.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Remarkably reduced efficiency droop by using staircase thin InGaN quantum barriers in InGaN based blue light emitting diodes

The efficiency droop of InGaN/GaN(InGaN) multiple quantum well (MQW) light emitting diodes (LEDs) with thin quantum barriers (QB) is studied. With thin GaN QB (3 nm–6 nm thickness), the efficiency droop is not improved, which indicates that hole transport cannot be significantly enhanced by the thin GaN QBs. On the contrary, the efficiency droop was remarkably reduced by using a InGaN staircase QB (InGaN SC-QB) MQWs structure where InGaN SC-QBs lower the transport energy barrier of holes. The efficiency droop ratio was as low as 3.3% up to 200 A/cm{sup 2} for the InGaN SC-QB LED. By using monitoring QW with longer wavelength we observe a much uniform carrier distribution in the InGaN SC-QB LEDs, which reveals the mechanism of improvement in the efficiency droop.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Investigating the origin of efficiency droop by profiling the temperature across the multi-quantum well of an operating light-emitting diode

Performance degradation resulting from efficiency droop during high-power operation is a critical problem in the development of high-efficiency light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In order to resolve the efficiency droop and increase the external quantum efficiency of LEDs, the droop's origin should be identified first. To experimentally investigate the cause of efficiency droop, we used null-point scanning thermal microscopy to quantitatively profile the temperature distribution on the cross section of the epi-layers of an operating GaN-based vertical LED with nanoscale spatial resolution at four different current densities. The movement of temperature peak towards the p-GaN side as the current density increases suggests that more heat is generated by leakage current than by Auger recombination. We therefore suspect that at higher current densities, current leakage becomes the dominant cause of the droop problem.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Design of hybrid nanoheterostructure systems for enhanced quantum and solar conversion efficiencies in dye-sensitized solar cells

Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with an innovative design involving controlled-morphology vertically aligned (VA) ZnO nanowires within mesoporous TiO{sub 2} structures with ultrahigh surface area for implementation as photoanodes are herein reported. Although TiO{sub 2} nanostructures exhibit excellent power conversion efficiency, the electron transport rate is low owing to low electron mobility. To overcome this, ZnO nanowires with high electron mobility have been investigated as potential candidates for photoanodes. However, the power conversion efficiency of ZnO nanowires is still lower than that of TiO{sub 2} owing to their low internal surface area. Consequently, in this work, vertical growth of ZnO nanowires within mesoporous TiO{sub 2} structures is carried out to increase their solar power conversion efficiency. The photovoltaic performance of solar cells using ZnO nanowires, mesoporous TiO{sub 2}, and TiO{sub 2}/ZnO hybrid structures are compared. The VA TiO{sub 2}/ZnO hybrid structures are found to provide direct electron transfer compared with the tortuous pathway of zero-dimensional nanostructures, resulting in an increased conversion efficiency. It is demonstrated that the light scattering of the photoanode film is increased and electron recombination is decreased when an appropriate amount of mesoporous TiO{sub 2} is used as a substrate for ZnO nanowires. The DSSC fabricated with the TiO{sub 2}/ZnO hybrid photoanode prepared with 15.8 wt. % TiO{sub 2} showed the highest conversion efficiency of 7.30%, approximately 5%, 18%, and 40% higher than that of DSSCs fabricated with 3.99 wt. % TiO{sub 2}, pure TiO{sub 2}, and pure ZnO photoanodes, respectively.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Very high quantum efficiency in InAs/GaSb superlattice for very long wavelength detection with cutoff of 21 μm

The authors report the dependence of the quantum efficiency on beryllium concentration in the active region of type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice infrared detector with a cutoff wavelength around 21 μm. It is found that the quantum efficiency and responsivity show a clear delineation in comparison to the doping concentration. The quantum efficiency is further improved by gradually doping in the absorbing region. At 77 K, the 50% cutoff wavelength of the VLWIR detector is 18 μm, and the R{sub 0}A is kept at a stable value of 6 Ω cm{sup 2}. Different beryllium concentration leads to an increase of an average quantum efficiency in the 8–15 μm window from 35% to 55% with a π-region thickness of 3.0 μm, for U{sub bias} = −0.3 V, and no anti-reflection coating. As for a further result, the quantum efficiency reaches at a maximum value of 66% by gradually doping in the absorbing region with the peak detectivity of 3.33 × 10{sup 10 }cm Hz{sup 1/2}/W at 15 μm.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Experimental evaluation of enhancement of diffraction efficiency by overcoating diamond-like carbon (DLC) on soft x-ray laminar-type gratings

Efficiently detecting the B-K emission band around 6.76 nm from a trace concentration of boron in steel compounds has motivated a theoretical exploration of means of increasing the diffraction efficiency of a laminar grating with carbon overcoating. To experimentally evaluate this enhancement, a Ni grating was coated with a high-density carbon film, i.e., diamond-like carbon (DLC). The first order diffraction efficiencies of the Ni gratings coated with and without DLC were measured to be 25.8 % and 16.9 %, respectively, at a wavelength of 6.76 nm and an angle of incidence of 87.07°. The ratio of diffraction efficiency obtained experimentally vs. that calculated by numerical simulation is 0.87 for the DLC-coated Ni grating. The diffraction efficiency of a Ni grating coated with a low-density carbon film, amorphous carbon (a-C), was also slightly improved to be 19.6 %. Furthermore, a distinct minimum of the zeroth order lights of the two carbon-coated Ni gratings were observed at around 6.76 nm, which is coincident with the maximum of the first order light.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

Efficiency roll-off suppression in organic light-emitting diodes using size-tunable bimetallic bowtie nanoantennas at high current densities

Size-tunable bimetallic bowtie nanoantennas have been utilized to suppress the efficiency roll-off characteristics in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) using both the numerical and experimental approaches. The resonant range can be widened by the strong dual-atomic couplings in bimetallic bowtie nanoantennas. Compared with the green OLED with conventional bowtie nanoantennas at a high current density of 800 mA/cm{sup 2}, the measured efficiency roll-off ratio of the OLED with size-modulated bowtie nanoantennas is decreased from 53.2% to 41.8%, and the measured current efficiency is enhanced by 29.9%. When the size-modulated bowtie nanoantennas are utilized in blue phosphorescent OLEDs, the experimental roll-off ratio is suppressed from 43.6% to 25.9% at 250 mA/cm{sup 2}, and the measured current efficiency is also enhanced significantly. It is proposed that the efficiency roll-off suppression is mainly related to the enhanced localized surface plasmon effect, which leads to a shorter radiative lifetime.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Diffraction efficiency of plasmonic gratings fabricated by electron beam lithography using a silver halide film

The silver nanoparticle surface relief gratings of ∼10 μm period are fabricated using electron beam lithography on the silver halide film substrate. Morphological characterization of the gratings shows that the period, the shape, and the relief depth in the gratings are mainly dependent on the number of lines per frame, the spot size, and the accelerating voltage of electron beam raster in the SEM. Optical absorption of the silver nanoparticle gratings provides a broad localized surface plasmon resonance peak in the visible region, whereas the intensity of the peaks depends on the number density of silver nanoparticles in the gratings. The maximum efficiency of ∼7.2% for first order diffraction is observed for the grating fabricated at 15 keV. The efficiency is peaking at 560 nm with ∼380 nm bandwidth. The measured profiles of the diffraction efficiency for the gratings are found in close agreement with the Raman-Nath diffraction theory. This technique provides a simple and efficient method for the fabrication of plasmonic nanoparticle grating structures with high diffraction efficiency having broad wavelength tuning.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2025

Impact of quantum well thickness on efficiency loss in InGaN/GaN LEDs: Challenges for thin-well designs

We investigate the impact of quantum well (QW) thickness on efficiency loss in c-plane InGaN/GaN LEDs using a small-signal electroluminescence technique. Multiple mechanisms related to efficiency loss are independently examined, including injection efficiency, carrier density vs current density relationship, phase space filling, quantum-confined Stark effect, and Coulomb enhancement. An optimal QW thickness of around 2.7 nm in these InGaN/GaN LEDs was determined for QWs having constant In composition. Despite improved control of deep-level defects and lower carrier density at a given current density, LEDs with thin QWs still suffer from an imbalance in enhancement effects on the radiative and intrinsic Auger–Meitner recombination coefficients. The imbalance in enhancement effects results in a decline in internal quantum efficiency and radiative efficiency with decreasing QW thickness at low current density in LEDs with QW thicknesses below 2.7 nm. Here, we also investigate how LED modulation bandwidth varies with QW thickness, identifying the key trends and their implications for device performance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Origin of reduced efficiency in GaN-based micro-LEDs studied by scanning near-field optical microscopy

The quantum efficiency of micro-light emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) is lower than that of large area LEDs. This efficiency reduction is typically attributed to the nonradiative Shockley–Read–Hall recombination at the surface defects and current leakage through the sidewall region without a clear distinction between these effects. In this work, we attempt to find out which of these phenomena is most critical for the reduced efficiency of micro-LEDs. This has been done by mapping electroluminescence (EL) and photoluminescence (PL) and measuring PL dynamics in blue GaN micro-LEDs fabricated by dry etching. It has been found that in the as-etched device, the EL intensity is much lower than in devices with KOH etching and atomic layer deposition of SiO 2 . This effect is especially pronounced close to the sidewalls. On the other hand, PL decay times are similar in as-etched and passivated devices, both in their center and at the sidewalls. This allows concluding that the main mechanism of the reduced efficiency of micro-LEDs fabricated by dry etching is the current leakage in the sidewall region and not the nonradiative recombination. The KOH etching has been found to be the most efficient means to eliminate the current leakage.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗