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At least 109 records · Page 6

Start your career at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the Associate Laboratory Directorate for Weapons Production [Slides]

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is the place for early-career professionals to join our crucial mission in support of national security. In the Associate Laboratory Directorate for Weapons Production (ALDWP) you will find a diverse workplace with roles of all kinds and endless upward momentum for a long-lasting and ever-changing career!

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗

Consequences of CCD imperfections for cosmology determined by weak lensing surveys: from laboratory measurements to cosmological parameter bias

Weak gravitational lensing causes subtle changes in the apparent shapes of galaxies due to the bending of light by the gravity of foreground masses. By measuring the shapes of large numbers of galaxies (millions in recent surveys, up to tens of billions in future surveys) we can infer the parameters that determine cosmology. Imperfections in the detectors used to record images of the sky can introduce changes in the apparent shapes of galaxies, which in turn can bias the inferred cosmological parameters. In this paper we consider the effect of two widely discussed sensor imperfections: tree rings, due to impurity gradients that cause transverse electric fields in the charge-coupled devices (CCDs), and pixel size variation, due to periodic CCD fabrication errors. These imperfections can be observed when the detectors are subject to uniform illumination (flat-field images). We develop methods to determine the spurious shear and convergence (due to the imperfections) from the flat-field images. We calculate how the spurious shear when added to the lensing shear will bias the determination of cosmological parameters. We apply our methods to candidate sensors of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) as a timely and important example, analyzing flat-field images recorded with LSST prototype CCDs in the laboratory. We find that tree rings and periodic pixel size variation present in the LSST CCDs will introduce negligible bias to cosmological parameters determined from the lensing power spectrum, specifically w, Ω{sub m}, and σ{sub 8}.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DESIGN OF LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS TO STUDY PHOTOIONIZATION FRONTS DRIVEN BY THERMAL SOURCES

This paper analyzes the requirements of a photoionization-front experiment that could be driven in the laboratory, using thermal sources to produce the necessary flux of ionizing photons. It reports several associated conclusions. Such experiments will need to employ the largest available facilities, capable of delivering many kJ to MJ of energy to an X-ray source. They will use this source to irradiate a volume of neutral gas, likely of N, on a scale of a few mm to a few cm, increasing with source energy. For a gas pressure of several to ten atmospheres at room temperature, and a source temperature near 100 eV, one will be able to drive a photoionization front through a system of tens to hundreds of photon mean free paths. The front should make the familiar transition from the so-called R-Type to D-Type as the radiation flux diminishes with distance. The N is likely to reach the He-like state. Preheating from the energetic photons appears unlikely to become large enough to alter the essential dynamics of the front beyond some layer near the surface. For well-chosen experimental conditions, competing energy transport mechanisms are small.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

An Atmospheric Cloud Physics Laboratory for the Space Laboratory

Results of research and engineering analyses to date show that it is feasible to develop and fly on the first Spacelab mission a multipurpose laboratory in which experiments can be performed on the microphysical processes in atmospheric clouds. The paper presents a series of tables on the Atmospheric Cloud Physics Laboratory, with attention given to experiment classes, the preliminary equipment list (particle generators, optical and imaging devices, particle detectors and characterizers, etc.), initial equipment (scientific equipment subsystems and flight support subsystems), and scientific functional requirements (the expansion chamber, the continuous flow diffusion chamber, the static diffusion chamber, the humidifier, and particle generators).

Smith, R.↗

CheMin: A Definitive Mineralogy Instrument in the Analytical Laboratory of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL '09)

An important goal of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL 09) mission is the determination of definitive mineralogy and chemical composition. CheMin is a miniature X-ray diffraction/X-ray fluorescence (XRD/XRF) instrument that has been chosen for the analytical laboratory of MSL. CheMin utilizes a miniature microfocus source cobalt X-ray tube, a transmission sample cell and an energy-discriminating X-ray sensitive CCD to produce simultaneous 2-D X-ray diffraction patterns and X-ray fluorescence spectra from powdered or crushed samples. A diagrammatic view of the instrument is shown.

Blake, D. F.↗

CheMin: A Definitive Mineralogy Instrument in the Analytical Laboratory of the Mars Science Laboratory

An important goal of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL '09) mission is the determination of definitive mineralogy and chemical composition. CheMin is a miniature X-ray diffraction/X-ray fluorescence (XRD/XRF) instrument that has been chosen for the analytical laboratory of MSL. CheMin utilizes a miniature microfocus source cobalt X-ray tube, a transmission sample cell and an energy-discriminating X-ray sensitive CCD to produce simultaneous 2-D X-ray diffraction patterns and X-ray fluorescence spectra from powdered or crushed samples. A diagrammatic view of the instrument is shown. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.

Blake, David F.↗

Idaho National Laboratory Ten-Year Site Plan Project Description Document: Descriptions of the capital projects delineated in the Idaho National Laboratory 2013 - 2022 Ten-Year Site Plan as of June 2011

This document describes the currently active and proposed infrastructure projects listed in Appendix B of the Idaho National Laboratory 2013-2022 Ten Year Site Plan (DOE/ID-11449). It was produced in accordance with Contract Data Requirements List I.06. The projects delineated in this document support infrastructure needs at INL's Research and Education Campus, Materials and Fuels Complex, Advanced Test Reactor Complex and the greater site-wide area. The projects provide critical infrastructure needed to meet current and future INL operational and research needs. Execution of these projects will restore, rebuild, and revitalize INL's physical infrastructure; enhance program execution, and make a significant contribution toward reducing complex-wide deferred maintenance.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Performance of pumped counterflow virtual impactors to study aerosol interactions with laboratory generated warm clouds

Pumped Counterflow Virtual Impactors (PCVI) are designed to separate aerosols based on aerodynamic diameter, which is particularly useful for isolating cloud droplets and ice crystals from smaller particles. However, the PCVI transmission efficiency (TE) values reported in the literature show considerable variability, and little information is available on the TEs for cloud liquid droplets. Here, we determined the optimal flow conditions for PCVI sampling for different activation ratios from the MTU Pi-cloud chamber, highlighting the conditions that maximize droplet residual sampling while minimizing interstitial transmission. Even for a lower limit cloud activation ratio = 1:10, an add flow of 1.5 LPM achieves a residual fraction greater than 0.80, with a droplet TE of ∼15% for typical Pi-Chamber droplets with diameters between 3.5 to 10 µm. This framework can be adapted for field cloud measurements based on the cloud conditions of interest. TE for cloud droplets under flow conditions at which ∼99% of the unactivated submicron particles were removed was substantially lower between 8 and 16% than for supermicron dry particles (∼30 to 40% for 3 µm polystyrene latex spheres). In addition, we conducted a comparison of the performances of three similar PCVI units to assess repeatability for dry aerosols and cloud droplets. All three PCVIs performed similarly in rejecting submicron particles smaller than the desired cutoff diameter. One of the units showed lower TEs due to a misalignment of the internal orifice. We discuss a procedure that improved alignment and performance.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Laboratory evaluation of distributed coaxial cable temperature sensors for application in CO 2 sequestration well characterization: Original Research Article: Laboratory evaluation of distributed coaxial cable temperature

Downhole monitoring plays a crucial part in a geological carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) sequestration project, especially in providing early warnings of failure. However, most downhole monitoring technologies are often low in spatial resolution and time-consuming, or expensive and have system longevity issues. To address this issue, a robust and cost-effective distributed coaxial cable Fabry-Perot interferometer-based temperature sensor is proposed for real-time downhole monitoring. The coaxial cable sensor (CCS) was made in house and tested using a high pressure high temperature (HPHT) testing apparatus to study the sensor accuracy, sensitivity, stability, and crosstalk effect in simulated downhole conditions. The laboratory test results indicate that the sensor can work under simulated downhole conditions of pressures up to 1000 psia and temperatures up to 110°C. At 1 ATM, the sensor has an accuracy of about 1%. At 1000 psia, the hysteresis phenomenon is observed, but it is reduced and tends to stabilize after repeated heating and cooling treatments. The pressure crosstalk effect was observed on the flexible cable sensor and minimized on the rigid cable sensor. The temperature and pressure range of the distributed CCS allows long-term in situ monitoring for a well depth up to 2500 feet, which would prove of great value in detecting temperature change associated with wellbore leakage that may lead to groundwater contamination.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗