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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 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Dark matter clusters and time correlations in direct detection experiments

Assuming that dark matter (DM) efficiently clusters on various scales we analyse the possible impact on direct DM searches. For certain sizes and densities of DM clusters, mutual detector-cluster encounters may occur only once a year or every several years leading to the apparent failure of individual experiments searching for DM to discover it. If, however, encounters with Earth size and up to 10 4 times bigger clusters occur about once a year, then finding time correlations between events in different underground detectors can lead to DM discovery.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1980

Direct detection of XUV radiation with a CCD

A thinned CCD illuminated from the back has been used for direct imaging in the 584 and 304 A resonance lines of helium and in the 736 A line of neon. During operation, the CCD was cooled to minus 10 C and output was displayed on a CRT screen or in numerical printout. The results demonstrate that the back-illuminated CCD can be used as a position-sensitive flux detector with good imaging properties over a wide range of photon energies, including the extreme ultraviolet.

Burstein, P.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The Circumstellar Imager: Direct detection of extra-solar planetary systems

The Astrometric Imaging Telescope (AIT) is designed to probe the circumstellar environment by both direct imaging and indirect astrometric measurements. The Circumstellar Imager (CI) is a coronagraphic camera and is the direct imaging component of the AIT. The CI is designed to obtain high-sensitivity images of the circumstellar region. It provides crucial non-inferential information relating to the frequency, origin, and evolution of planetary systems and all forms of circumstellar matter. Such imaging is usually limited by the scattered and diffracted light halos of the star itself, which are greatly suppressed in the CI by mating a novel high-efficiency coronagraph with a phase-compensated optical system. For faint point sources in the circumstellar region, the CI will have a sensitivity in excess of 5 magnitudes fainter than the as-designed Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Laboratory data are shown for the coronagraph, which, in a diffraction-limited environment, is capable of suppressing the stellar diffraction sidelobes by several orders of magnitude without significant sacrifice of field of view. In order to realize the high rejection levels inherent in the coronagraph design, it is necessary to limit scatter in the optical systems, imposing a mid-spatial frequency figure error requirement an order of magnitude smaller than that of the HST. Experimental data directed toward meeting this requirement are also shown.

Ftaclas, Christ↗
NASA NTRS2002

Broadband Direct Detection Submillimeter Spectrometer with Multiplexed Superconducting Transition Edge Thermometer Bolometers

We present performance results based on the first astronomical use of multiplexed superconducting bolometers as direct detectors (i.e., with cold electrons) for spectroscopy. The Fabry-Perot Interferometer Bolometer Research Experiment (FIBRE) is a broadband submillimeter spectrometer for the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO). FIBRE's detectors are superconducting transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers read out by a SQUID multiplexer. The Fabry-Perot uses a low resolution grating to order sort the incoming light. A linear bolometer array consisting of 16 elements detects this dispersed light, capturing 5 orders simultaneously from one position on the sky. With tuning of the Fabry-Perot over one free spectral range, a spectrum covering Delta lambda/lambda = 1/7 at a resolution of delta lambda/lambda = 1/1200 can be acquired. This spectral resolution is sufficient to resolve Doppler-broadened line emission from external galaxies. FIBRE has been operated in the 350 Am (850 GHz) band. These bands cover line emission from the important star formation tracers neutral carbon [CI] and carbon monoxide (CO).

Benford, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS1993

The ultraviolet photochemistry of diacetylene - Direct detection of primary products of the metastable C4H2* + C4H2 reaction

The products of diacetylene's ultraviolet photochemistry over the 245-220 nm region were directly determined in experiments where C4H2 was excited within a small reaction tube attached to a pulsed nozzle. The products formed in the collisions of C4H2* with C4H2 were subsequently ionized by vacuum UV radiation (at 118 nm) in the ion source of a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. It was found that the reaction of C4H2* with C4H2 produces C6H2 (+C2H2), C8H2 (+2H,H2), and C8H3 (+H), confirming the results of Glicker and Okabe (1987). Under certain conditions, secondary products were observed. Mechanisms for the observed reactions are proposed.

Bandy, Ralph E.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Strategy for Direct Detection of Chiral Phonons with Phase-Structured Free Electrons

Chiral phonons possessing valley pseudoangular momentum (PAM) underlie a diversity of quantum phenomena of fundamental and applied importance, but are challenging to probe directly. We show that deficiencies of typical momentum-resolved electron energy loss measurements that make it impossible to distinguish the PAM of chiral phonons can be overcome by introducing pinwheel free electron states with well-defined PAM. Transitions between such states generate 2D periodic arrays of in-plane field vortices with polarization textures tailored to selectively couple to desired chiral mode symmetries.

chirality↗
DOE OSTI2021

Direct detection of coupled proton and electron transfers in human manganese superoxide dismutase

Human manganese superoxide dismutase is a critical oxidoreductase found in the mitochondrial matrix. Concerted proton and electron transfers are used by the enzyme to rid the mitochondria of O 2 •– . The mechanisms of concerted transfer enzymes are typically unknown due to the difficulties in detecting the protonation states of specific residues and solvent molecules at particular redox states. Here, neutron diffraction of two redox-controlled manganese superoxide dismutase crystals reveal the all-atom structures of Mn 3+ and Mn 2+ enzyme forms. The structures deliver direct data on protonation changes between oxidation states of the metal. Observations include glutamine deprotonation, the involvement of tyrosine and histidine with altered pK a s, and four unusual strong-short hydrogen bonds, including a low barrier hydrogen bond. We report a concerted proton and electron transfer mechanism for human manganese superoxide dismutase from the direct visualization of active site protons in Mn 3+ and Mn 2+ redox states.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2016

Enabling the Direct Detection of Earth-Sized Exoplanets with the LBTI HOSTS Project: A Progress Report

NASA has funded a project called the Hunt for Observable Signatures of Terrestrial Systems (HOSTS) to survey nearby solar type stars to determine the amount of warm zodiacal dust in their habitable zones. The goal is not only to determine the luminosity distribution function but also to know which individual stars have the least amount of zodiacal dust. It is important to have this information for future missions that directly image exoplanets as this dust is the main source of astrophysical noise for them. The HOSTS project utilizes the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI), which consists of two 8.4-m apertures separated by a 14.4-m baseline on Mt. Graham, Arizona. The LBTI operates in a nulling mode in the mid-infrared spectral window (8-13 micrometers), in which light from the two telescopes is coherently combined with a 180 degree phase shift between them, producing a dark fringe at the location of the target star. In doing so the starlight is greatly reduced, increasing the contrast, analogous to a coronagraph operating at shorter wavelengths. The LBTI is a unique instrument, having only three warm reflections before the starlight reaches cold mirrors, giving it the best photometric sensitivity of any interferometer operating in the mid-infrared. It also has a superb Adaptive Optics (AO) system giving it Strehl ratios greater than 98% at 10 micrometers. In 2014 into early 2015 LBTI was undergoing commissioning. The HOSTS. project team passed its Operational Readiness Review (ORR) in April 2015. The team recently published papers on the target sample, modeling of the nulled disk images, and initial results such as the detection of warm dust around eta Corvi. Recently a paper was published on the data pipeline and on-sky performance. An additional paper is in preparation on Beta Leo. We will discuss the scientific and programmatic context for the LBTI project, and we will report recent progress, new results, and plans for the science verification phase that started in February 2016, and for the survey.

Hunt for Observable Signatures of Terrestrial Syst↗
DOE OSTI2021

Deployment of a double scatter system for directional detection of background neutron radiation

The detection of special nuclear materials (SNM) requires the understanding of nuclear signatures that allow the discrimination against background. In particular, understanding neutron background characteristics such as count rates and energies and their correlations with environmental conditions and surroundings of measurement locations is important in enhancing SNM detection capabilities. The Mobile Imager of Neutrons for Emergency Responders (MINER) was deployed for 8 weeks in downtown San Francisco (CA) to study such neutron background characteristics in an urban environment. Of specific interest was the investigation of the impact of surrounding buildings on the neutron background count rates and to answer the question whether buildings act as absorber of neutrons or as sources via the so-called ship effect. MINER consists of 16 liquid scintillator detector elements and can be operated as a neutron spectrometer, as a neutron imager, or simply as a counter of fast neutrons. As expected, the neutron background rate was found to be inversely proportional to the atmospheric pressure. In the energy range where MINER is most sensitive, approximately 1–10 MeV, it was found that the shape of the detected background spectrum is similar to that of a detected fission spectrum, indicating the limited discrimination power of the neutron energy. The similarities between the detected background neutron spectrum and fission sources makes it difficult to discriminate SNM from background based solely on the energies observed. The images produced using maximum likelihood expectation maximization revealed that neutrons preferentially are coming from areas in the environment that have open sky, indicating that the surrounding buildings act as absorbers of neutrons rather than sources as expected by the ship effect. Here, the inherent properties of a neutron scatter camera limit the achievable image quality and the effective deployment to systematically map neutron background signatures due to the low count rate.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2020

Sub-Ångström-resolution MicroED Using a Direct Detection Camera

The recent development of microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED) in electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) has addressed many of the challenges of X-ray crystallography [1], filling a long-standing need in organic chemistry for rapid and accurate high-resolution structural characterization [2]. Like X-ray crystallography, this is also a diffraction technique requiring crystalline specimens, but because high energy electrons have a more favorable ration of elastic to inelastic scattering [3], MicroED can acquire data using crystals that are orders of magnitude smaller than those needed for X-ray crystallography—even as small as 50 nm in length [4]. Additionally, the instrumentation required for MicroED is readily available, as many chemistry and biology labs already have access to cryo-capable transmission electron microscopes (TEM).

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

A direct detection method of galaxy intrinsic ellipticity-gravitational shear correlation in non-linear regimes using self-calibration

Intrinsic alignment (IA) of galaxies is a challenging source of contamination in the Cosmic shear (GG) signals. The galaxy intrinsic ellipticity-gravitational shear (IG) correlation is generally the most dominant component of such contamination for cross-correlating redshift bins. One of the most effective techniques to mitigate such contamination is the self-calibration (SC) method which extracts the IG correlation and allows for its removal from the GG signal. In a photometric survey, the SC method first extracts the galaxy number density-galaxy intrinsic ellipticity (gI) correlation from the observed galaxy-galaxy lensing correlation using the redshift dependence of lens-source pairs. The IG correlation is computed through a scaling relation using the gI correlation and other lensing observables. The applicability of the SC method has so far been focused on the linear IA scales and the linear galaxy bias. We extend the SC method beyond the linear regime by modifying its scaling relation which can account for the non-linear galaxy bias model and various IA models. In this study, we provide a framework to detect the IG correlation for the redshift bins for source galaxies for the proposed year 1 survey of the Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST Y1). We tested the method for the tidal alignment and tidal torquing (TATT) model of IA and we found that the scaling relation is accurate within 10% and 20% for cross-correlating and auto-correlating redshift bins, respectively. Hence the suppression of IG contamination in observed GG correlation can be accomplished with a factor of 10 and 5, for cross-correlating and auto-correlating redshift bins, respectively. We tested the method's robustness and found that the suppression of IG contamination by a factor of 5 is still achievable for all combinations of cross-correlating bins even with the inclusion of a moderate amount of uncertainties on IA and bias parameters, respectively. We also make available, a branch of the code FAST-PT to provide gI correlations up to 1-loop order term used by the new SC method.

gravitational lensing↗