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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 1,045 records · Page 58
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Charged-Current Electron Neutrino Measurement with the MicroBooNE Detector

MicroBooNE is the first phase of Fermilab’s Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) programme.This proceeding outlays the first characterisation of electron neutrinos in a muon neutrino beam with the LArTPC detector technology. The Booster Neutrino Beam has an energy peaking around 1GeV and an electron content of approximately 0.5%. The analysis investigates electrons produced in charged-current electron neutrino interactions. The kinematics of the electrons are measured along with comparisons to simulation. Most of the systematic uncertainties are constrained using a data-driven sample of charged-current muon neutrino events. The measurement of electron neutrinos originating from the Booster Neutrino Beam is a crucial component to understand the nature of the observed excess of low energy electromagnetic-like events at MiniBooNE.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Electronic Tuning in URu2Si2 Through Ru to Pt Chemical Substitution

Studies that control the unit cell volume and electronic composition have been useful in revealing what factors lead to hidden order and superconductivity in the strongly correlated electron system URu 2 Si 2 . For example, isoelectronic tuning that increases the hybridization between the f and conduction electron states (i.e., applied pressure and Ru → Fe/Os chemical substitution) 1) converts hidden order into antiferromagnetism and 2) destroys the superconductivity. The impact of nonisoelectronic chemical substitution has been less clear, but several unifying trends have recently emerged for chemical substitution vectors that qualitatively add electrons (e.g., Ru → Rh/Ir and Si → P). This includes 1) the rapid destruction of hidden order and superconductivity, 2) composition regions where the underlying Kondo lattice is preserved but does not harbor an ordered state, and 3) the emergence of complex magnetism at large substitutions. In order to assess the limits of this perspective, we have investigated the series U(Ru 1− x Pt x ) 2 Si 2 for x ≲ 0.19, where the Ru and Pt d -shells differ substantially from each other. Magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistivity, and heat capacity measurements unexpectedly reveal a phase diagram with notable similarities to those of other electron doping series. This result reinforces the viewpoint that there is a quasi-universal affect that results from electron doping in this material, and we anticipate that an understanding of these trends will be useful to isolate what factors are foundational for hidden order and superconductivity.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Low-Energy Electron Elastic Total Cross Sections for Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, and Hf Atoms

The robust Regge-pole methodology wherein is fully embedded the essential electron-electron correlation effects and the vital core polarization interaction has been used to explore negative ion formation in the large lanthanide Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, and Hf atoms through the electron elastic total cross sections (TCSs) calculations. These TCSs are characterized generally by dramatically sharp resonances manifesting ground, metastable, and excited negative ion formation during the collisions, Ramsauer-Townsend minima, and shape resonances. The novelty and generality of the Regge-pole approach is in the extraction of the negative ion binding energies (BEs) of complex heavy systems from the calculated electron TCSs. The extracted anionic BEs from the ground state TCSs for Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, and Hf atoms are 3.51 eV, 3.53 eV, 3.36 eV, 3.49 eV, 4.09 eV and 1.68 eV, respectively. The TCSs are presented and the extracted from the ground; metastable and excited anionic states BEs are compared with the available measured and/or calculated electron affinities. We conclude with a remark on the existing inconsistencies in the meaning of the electron affinity among the various measurements and/or calculations in the investigated atoms and make a recommendation to resolve the ambiguity.

Felfli, Zineb↗
DOE OSTI2022

Modeling Electron Acceleration and Transport in the Early Impulsive Phase of the 2017 September 10th Solar Flare

The X8.2-class limb flare on 2017 September 10 is among the best studied solar flare events owing to its great similarity to the standard flare model and the broad coverage by multiple spacecraft and ground-based observations. These multiwavelength observations indicate that electron acceleration and transport are efficient in the reconnection and flare looptop regions. However, there lacks a comprehensive model for explaining and interpreting the multi-faceted observations. In this work, we model the electron acceleration and transport in the early impulsive phase of this flare. We solve the Parker transport equation that includes the primary acceleration mechanism during magnetic reconnection in the large-scale flare region modeled by MHD simulations. We find that electrons are accelerated up to several MeV and fill a large volume of the reconnection region, similar to the observations shown in microwaves. The electron spatial distribution and spectral shape in the looptop region agree well with those derived from the microwave and hard X-ray emissions before magnetic islands grow large and dominate the acceleration. Future emission modelings using the electron maps will enable direct comparison with microwave and hard X-ray observations. These results shed new light on the electron acceleration and transport in a broad region of solar flares within a data-constrained realistic flare geometry.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Synchrotron Low-energy Spectrum Arising from the Cooling of Electrons in Gamma-Ray Bursts

This work is a continuation of a previous effort (Panaitescu) to study the cooling of relativistic electrons through radiation (synchrotron and self-Compton) emission and adiabatic losses, with application to the spectra and light curves of the synchrotron gamma-ray burst (GRB) produced by such cooling electrons. Here, we derive the low-energy slope β LE of a GRB pulse-integrated spectrum and quantify the implications of the measured distribution of β LE . Radiative processes that produce soft integrated spectra can accommodate the harder slopes measured by CGRO/BATSE and Fermi/GBM only if the magnetic field lifetime t B is shorter than the time during which the typical GRB electrons cool to radiate below 1–10 keV, which is less than (at most) 10 radiative cooling timescales t rad of the typical GRB electron. In this case, there is a one-to-one correspondence between t B and β LE . To account for low-energy slopes β LE > -3/4, the adiabatic electron-cooling requires a similar restriction on t B . In this case, the diversity of slopes arises mostly from how the electron-injection rate varies with time (temporal power-law injection rates yield power-law low-energy GRB spectra) and not from the magnetic field timescale.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Properties of the Prompt Optical Counterpart Arising from the Cooling of Electrons in Gamma-Ray Bursts

This work extends a contemporaneous effort to study the properties of the lower-energy counterpart synchrotron emission produced by the cooling of relativistic gamma-ray burst (GRB) electrons through radiation (synchrotron and self-Compton) emission and adiabatic losses. We derive the major characteristics (pulse duration, lag time after burst, and brightness relative to the burst) of the prompt optical counterpart (POC) occurring during or after the GRB. Depending on the magnetic field lifetime, duration of electron injection, and electron transit time Δt o from hard X-ray (GRB) to optical-emitting energies, a POC may appear during the GRB pulse (of duration δt γ ) or after (delayed OC). The signature of counterparts arising from the cooling of GRB electrons is that POC pulses (Δto < δtγ) last as long as the corresponding GRB pulse (δt o ≃ δt γ ), while delayed OC pulses (Δt o > δt γ ) last as long as the transit time (δt o ≃ Δt o ). If OC variability can be measured, then another signature for this OC mechanism is that the GRB variability is passed on to POCs but not to delayed OCs. Within the GRB electron cooling model for counterparts, POCs should be on average dimmer than delayed ones (consistent with the data), and harder GRB low-energy slopes β LE should be associated more often with the dimmer POCs. The latter sets an observational bias against detecting POCs from (the cooling of electrons in) GRBs with a hard slope β LE , making it more likely that the detected POCs of such bursts arise from another mechanism.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Turbulent Heating in Collisionless Low-beta Plasmas: Imbalance, Landau Damping, and Electron–Ion Energy Partition

An understanding of how turbulent energy is partitioned between ions and electrons in weakly collisional plasmas is crucial for modeling many astrophysical systems. Using theory and simulations of a four-dimensional reduced model of low-beta gyrokinetics (the “Kinetic Reduced Electron Heating Model”), we investigate the dependence of collisionless heating processes on plasma beta and imbalance (normalized cross-helicity). These parameters are important because they control the helicity barrier, the formation of which divides the parameter space into two distinct regimes with remarkably different properties. In the first, at lower beta and/or imbalance, the absence of a helicity barrier allows the cascade of injected power to proceed to small (perpendicular) scales, but its slow cascade rate makes it susceptible to significant electron Landau damping, in some cases leading to a marked steepening of the magnetic spectra on scales above the ion Larmor radius. In the second, at higher beta and/or imbalance, the helicity barrier halts the cascade, confining electron Landau damping to scales above the steep “transition-range” spectral break, resulting in dominant ion heating. We formulate quantitative models of these processes that compare well to simulations in each regime, and combine them with results of previous studies to construct a simple formula for the electron–ion heating ratio as a function of beta and imbalance. This model predicts a “winner takes all” picture of low-beta plasma heating, where a small change in the fluctuations' properties at large scales (the imbalance) can cause a sudden switch between electron and ion heating.

Interplanetary turbulence↗
DOE OSTI2022

Origin of Intense Electron Heating in Relativistic Blast Waves

The modeling of gamma-ray burst afterglow emission bears witness to strong electron heating in the precursor of Weibel-mediated, relativistic collisionless shock waves propagating in unmagnetized electron–ion plasmas. In this Letter, we propose a theoretical model, which describes electron heating via a Joule-like process caused by pitch-angle scattering in the decelerating, self-induced microturbulence and the coherent charge-separation field induced by the difference in inertia between electrons and ions. The emergence of this electric field across the precursor of electron–ion shocks is confirmed by large-scale particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. Integrating the model using a Monte Carlo-Poisson method, we compare the main observables to the PIC simulations to conclude that the above mechanism can indeed account for the bulk of electron heating.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Thermionic Sources For Electron Cooling At IOTA

We are designing and fabricating two new thermionic sources of magnetized electrons for use in the electron lens project at the Integrable Optics Test Accelerator (IOTA) at Fermilab. These electron sources will be used for cooling of 2.5 MeV protons in the presence of intense space-charge. Furthermore, we are constructing an electron source test stand at the University of Chicago which will validate the electrical, thermal, and vacuum characteristics of thermionic sources. In this paper we present the progress made so far and the upcoming steps for the thermionic electron sources for electron cooling and the test stand.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Neutron Skin Measurement of 208Pb and 48Ca Using Parity Violating Electron Scattering

Parity-violating electron scattering experiments (PVES) provides a clean probe of neutron densities that is model independent and free from strong interaction uncertainties in interpretation. The PREX-2 and CREX experiments were run in 2019 and 2020 at Jefferson laboratory measured the nucleon skin thickness, the difference between the r.m.s. neutron radius Rn and the r.m.s. proton radius Rp, of 208Pb and 48Ca via parity violating electroweak asymmetry in the elastic scattering of longitudinally polarized electrons. PREX-2 experiment was performed with 950 MeV electrons scattered at a 5¿ angle with Q2 = 0.00616 ± 0.00004 (GeV/c)2, while CREX used 2182 MeV electrons at the same angle with Q2 = 0.0297 ± 0.0002 (GeV/c)2. For PREX-2 the measured asymmetry was AP V = 550 ± 16 (stat.) ± (syst.) ppb, which corresponds to Rskin = 0.278 ± 0.078 (exp.) ± 0.012 (theo.) fm. The CREX asymmetry was AP V = 2668 ± 106 (stat.) ± 40 (syst.) ppb, which corresponds to Rskin = 0.121 ± 0.026 (exp.) ±0.024 (model) fm. One of the crucial systematic uncertainty that PREX-2 and CREX were sensitive to was the non-parity violating asymmetries that resulted from the helicity correlated false asymmetries in the polarized electron beam. There was a lot of work put towards understanding and suppressing the asymmetries arising from these effects. The parity violating asymmetry measurement required a very precise determination of the electron beam polarization. To accurately determine the beam polarization, a Compton polarimeter was used during both PREX-2 and CREX. A careful alignment of the laser to the Fabry-Perot cavity, data analysis and systematic control was employed to get a precise beam polarization result for the experiments. The PREX-2 measurement has broad implications for increasing our knowledge about neutron star structure and the equation of state of nuclear matter. The combined PREX and CREX results will have implications for future energy density functional calculations and the theory of nuclear structure.

Premathilake, Sachinthani↗
DOE OSTI2025

Status of the Mu2e calorimeter readout electronics

The Mu2e experiment [1] at Fermilab will search for the neutrino-less coherent conversion of a muon into an electron in the field of a nucleus. Mu2e detectors comprise a straw tracker, an electromagnetic calorimeter and a veto for cosmic rays. The calorimeter employs 1348 Cesium Iodide crystals readout by silicon photomultipliers and fast front-end and digitization electronics. The front-end electronics consists of two discrete readout circuits (AMP-HV) for each crystal. These provide the amplification, shaping stage and linear regulation of the SiPM bias voltage and monitoring. The SiPM and front-end control electronics is implemented in a battery of mezzanine boards each equipped with an ARM processor that controls a group of 20 Amp-HV circuits distributing the low voltage and the high-voltage. The electronic is hosted in crates located on the external surface of calorimeter disks. The crates also host the waveform digitizer board (DIRAC) that performs digitization of the front end signals and transmit the digitized data to the Mu2e DAQ. Calorimeter electronic is hosted inside the cryostat and must sustain very high radiation and magnetic field so it was necessary to fully qualify it. The system design and quality assurance procedures will be reviewed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Dark Matter-Electron Interactions Alter the Luminosity and Spectral Index of M87

We investigate the possibility that cosmic-ray electron cooling through dark matter-electron scatterings contributes to the low radiative efficiency observed in radio-loud galaxies such as M87. Light dark matter can scatter efficiently off electrons in M87, lowering the observed bolometric luminosity compared to astrophysical expectations. This consideration allows us to probe previously unexplored regions of the parameter space of dark matter-electron interactions. We further model the cosmic-ray electron distribution by numerically solving a diffusion equation along the jet and find that efficient dark matter-electron interactions can induce a flattening of the spectral index at different distances from the central supermassive black hole, in better alignment with radio observations from M87.

Hussein, Abdelaziz [MIT] (ORCID:0000000255608668)↗
DOE OSTI2021

Interface Carriers and Enhanced Electron-Phonon Coupling Effect in Al 2 O 3 /TiO 2 Heterostructure Revealed by Resonant Inelastic Soft X-Ray Scattering

The electronic structure and the electron-phonon couplings in a novel mass-production-compatible Al 2 O 3 /TiO 2 2D electron system (2DES) are investigated using resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering. The experimental data from the samples of various TiO 2 thicknesses unequivocally show that the Ti 3+ state indeed exists at the deep interface to serve as an n-type dopant for the 2DES. Here, the electronic structure of Ti 3+ species is scrutinized as entirely separated from that of the Ti 4+ host lattice. Furthermore, features of sub-eV energy loss phonon modes are clearly observed, indicating substantial electron-phonon coupling effects. Such low energy loss features are enhanced in thinner TiO 2 samples, implying that polaronic local lattice deformation is enhanced due to the presence of Ti 3+ . These findings suggest that the 2DES properties can be controlled via well-established TiO 2 engineering, thereby enthroning the binary oxide heterostructure as a promising candidate for 2DES device applications.

2D electron gas↗
DOE OSTI2023

Probing individual single atom electrocatalyst sites by advanced analytical scanning transmission electron microscopy

Single atom electrocatalysts (SAEs) are promising next-generation materials for promoting a variety of important reactions, such as the oxygen reduction, nitrogen reduction, and CO 2 reduction reactions. While bulk characterization techniques such as X-ray absorption spectroscopy and Mössbauer spectroscopy have significantly enhanced our understanding of these catalysts, direct probing of individual single metal atom sites at the atomic scale is necessary to understand local variations in the properties of these sites and accelerate design and synthesis of improved SAEs. Aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) has become a powerful tool for providing this type of atomic-scale information about SAE metal sites. These sites are typically unstable under the electron beam, however, which, in combination with conventional acquisition methods and detectors, has limited the type and quantity of information obtainable by spectroscopic STEM techniques. Here, we map multiple individual SAE metal sites in a nitrogen-doped carbon containing atomically dispersed Fe and Re (FeReNC) at the atomic scale by direct electron detection electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS). Direct electron detection provides an improved signal-to-noise ratio over conventional scintillator-based detectors and enables detection and real space localization of weak signals. In addition, we demonstrate an automated method for identification of metal atom positions, placement of the probe on these sites, and simultaneous EELS and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopic (EDS) signal acquisition. This simultaneous acquisition of EELS and EDS provides access to the composition and bonding of a wide range of SAE metal sites. In this study, focusing the probe directly on the metal sites also increases the relevant data acquisition rate by more than an order of magnitude over two-dimensional mapping, enabling improved statistical measurements of site properties. The versatility, sensitivity, and speed that these techniques provide enhances our ability to probe the local elemental and chemical environment of a large number of individual SAE metal site structures at the atomic scale, enabling an improved understanding of the variations in the local properties of these electrocatalysts to be gained. As a result, significantly increased information about individual metal sites will be available to future electrochemical studies through these techniques, accelerating the development of advanced SAEs.

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

Electronic stopping in molecular dynamics simulations of cascades in 3C–SiC

Here, we investigate the effect of the electronic stopping power on defect production due to ion irradiation of cubic silicon carbide using molecular dynamics simulations. We simulate 20 keV and 30 keV Si and C ions, with and without the electronic energy loss. The results show that the electronic stopping effects are more profound in the case of C irradiation, where the ratio of the electronic energy loss S e to the nuclear energy loss S n is much larger compared to the ratio for Si ions. These findings indicate that this ratio plays a role in the effect of the electronic stopping on ion irradiation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Large electron-phonon drag asymmetry and reverse heat flow in the topological semimetal θ-TaN

A broad range of unusual transport behaviors have been discovered in topological semimetals. However, to date, the effect on the thermopower from intrinsic momentum exchange between electrons and phonons has received little attention. Here we report that huge electron-phonon drag enhancements of the thermopower of the to- pological semimetal, θ-phase tantalum nitride (θ-TaN), can occur that persist even up to room temperature. Our first principles calculations also identify a surprising asymmetry in which the large drag-enhanced thermopowers found slightly above the material’s chemical potential disappear just below it. The large thermopower en- hancements result from anomalous drag contributions from high frequency acoustic phonons with unusually small decay rates. The apparent vanishing drag results from (i) the emergence of an exceptionally high electrical conductivity promoted by the steep linear electronic dispersions extending below one of the topological nodal points; (ii) a remarkable cancellation in which momentum transferred from a charge current creates oppositely directed phonon heat currents of nearly equal magnitude, thereby masking the drag contributions. This extraordinary transport behavior is a consequence of an unusual interplay between intrinsic electron and phonon material properties in θ-TaN. Overall, our work gives new insights into the fundamental physical properties of coupled electron-phonon systems and motivates further exploration of drag effects in semimetals.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Multibeam Electron Diffraction

One of the primary uses for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is to measure diffraction pattern images in order to determine a crystal structure and orientation. In nanobeam electron diffraction (NBED), we scan a moderately converged electron probe over the sample to acquire thousands or even millions of sequential diffraction images, a technique that is especially appropriate for polycrystalline samples. However, due to the large Ewald sphere of TEM, excitation of Bragg peaks can be extremely sensitive to sample tilt, varying strongly for even a few degrees of sample tilt for crystalline samples. In this paper, we present multibeam electron diffraction (MBED), where multiple probe-forming apertures are used to create multiple scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) probes, all of which interact with the sample simultaneously. We detail designs for MBED experiments, and a method for using a focused ion beam to produce MBED apertures. We show the efficacy of the MBED technique for crystalline orientation mapping using both simulations and proof-of-principle experiments. We also show how the angular information in MBED can be used to perform 3D tomographic reconstruction of samples without needing to tilt or scan the sample multiple times. Finally, we also discuss future opportunities for the MBED method.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Atomic-Scale Behavior of Radiation-Resistant ZnO under High-Energy Electron Bombardment

Understanding the atomic structure and defect characteristics of ZnO thin films is crucial for optimizing their electronic properties and performance in advanced applications. Here, we investigate the atomic structure and defect characteristics of atomic layer deposition (ALD)-grown ZnO thin films by using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Atomic-resolution imaging identifies prevalent stacking faults, dipole disorder, and various grain boundary types, which are believed to influence the electronic properties of ZnO. Additionally, real-time electron beam exposure experiments demonstrate structural transformations, including crystal growth and surface rearrangements. These findings provide insights into the growth mechanisms of ALD ZnO under high-energy electron irradiation conditions, an important finding for the use of polycrystalline ZnO wide bandgap semiconductors in space-like conditions. In conclusion, our results underscore the capability of STEM in directly visualizing and quantifying atomic-scale defects and beam-induced transformations in radiation-resistant ZnO.

Defects↗