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At least 1,081 records · Page 60

Transparent Conductive Adhesives for Tandem Solar Cells

Methods of making silicon based tandem cells include wafer bonding, depositing absorber layers on the surface, and mechanical stacking. Of these, mechanically stacking after growth retains the individual cell quality during production, but typically requires a four-terminal device. We present a transparent conductive adhesive (TCA) interlayer, designed for transparency in wavelengths that Si absorbs, conductivity for out-of-plane conductivity between cells, and adhesive strength, enabling two-terminal stacked tandems. The developed TCA material is a polymer-particle blend of common transparent adhesives and metal-coated flexible microspheres, capable of bridging micro-scale gaps between uneven/textured surfaces. At 10% microsphere coverage, experimental and theoretical series resistance is compatible with high-efficiency tandem cells on silicon.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Testbed and Experiments for Quantum-Conventional Networking

The realization of quantum networks requires the development of devices and methods unprecedented in conventional networks, and yet they critically depend on the latter for implementing foundational blocks and essential operations. We describe a testbed to support the development and testing of their functionality and performance by providing quantum and conventional data planes and devices, together with a secure conventional control plane. It incorporates a variety of entangled photon sources, qubit technologies, detector technologies, photonic components, and supporting conventional switches and workstations. It implements a novel fiber telescoping scheme that provides suites of connections using fiber spools and inground-aerial fiber loops. We briefly summarize a variety of experiments conducted over this testbed including: (i) flex-grid quantum connection experiments, (ii) quantum state and channel tomography, (iii) utilization of quantum key distribution keys to secure conventional encryption and firewall devices, (iv) comparative study of analytical capacity estimates and entanglement throughput, (v) deployed squeezing coexisting with conventional communications, and (iv) measurement of polarization time variation.

Rao, Nageswara [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000234085941)↗

Overview of the Fiber System for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is a revolutionary instrument designed for precise measurements of cosmic distances and the investigation of dark energy. DESI utilizes 5000 optical fibers to simultaneously measure the spectra of distant objects and aims to measure 40 million galaxies and quasars in a 5 yr survey. One of the critical challenges to DESI's success was ensuring that the fiber system was not only highly efficient but also delivered a highly stable beam enabling more reliable sky subtraction for measurements of faint objects. We achieved this stability by minimizing the stress on the fiber system during the manufacture and operation of the telescope and fiber positioning robots. We installed the DESI fiber system on the 4 m Mayall telescope with ≥99% of fibers intact, and the instrument has delivered superb optical performance throughout the initial years of the DESI survey, including ≥90% average throughput when injected with a focal ratio of ~f/3.9 as delivered by the primary focus corrector, excluding fiber absorption losses. The design of DESI required multiple innovations to achieve these requirements, such as cleaved fibers bonded with a UV-curing epoxy to glass ferrules in the focal plane and fusion splicing instead of physical connectors. In this paper, we describe the development, delivery, and installation of the fiber system, the innovations that made the state-of-the-art performance possible, and the key lessons learned that could benefit future projects.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Electron and bremsstrahlung penetration and dose calculation

Various techniques for the calculation of electron and bremsstrahlung dose deposition are described. Energy deposition, transmission, and reflection coefficients for electrons incident on plane slabs are presented, and methods for their use in electron dose calculations were developed. A method using the straight-ahead approximation was also developed, and the various methods were compared and found to be in good agreement. Both accurate and approximate methods of calculating bremsstrahlung dose were derived and compared. Approximation is found to give a good estimate of dose where the electron spectrum falls off exponentially with energy.

Watts, J. W., Jr.↗

The effect of canard leading edge sweep and dihedral angle on the longitudinal and lateral aerodynamic characteristic of a close-coupled canard-wing configuration

A generalized wind-tunnel model, with canard and wing planforms typical of highly maneuverable aircraft, was tested in the Langley high-speed 7- by 10-foot tunnel at a Mach number of 0.30. The test was conducted in order to determine the effects of canard sweep and canard dihedral on canard-wing interference at high angles of attack. In general, the effect of canard sweep on lift is small up to an angle of attack of 16 deg. However, for angles of attack greater than 16 deg, an increase in the canard sweep results in an increase in lift developed by the canard when the canard is above or in the wing chord plane. This increased lift results in a lift increase for the total configuration for the canard above the wing chord plane. For the canard in the wing chord plane, the increased canard lift is partially lost by increased interference on the wing.

Gloss, B. B.↗

Impact of composite plates: Analysis of stresses and forces

The foreign object damage resistance of composite fan blades was studied. Edge impact stresses in an anisotropic plate were first calculated incorporating a constrained layer damping model. It is shown that a very thin damping layer can dramatically decrease the maximum normal impact stresses. A multilayer model of a composite plate is then presented which allows computation of the interlaminar normal and shear stresses. Results are presented for the stresses due to a line impact load normal to the plane of a composite plate. It is shown that significant interlaminar tensile stresses can develop during impact. A computer code was developed for this problem using the fast Fourier transform. A marker and cell computer code were also used to investigate the hydrodynamic impact of a fluid slug against a wall or turbine blade. Application of fluid modeling of bird impact is reviewed.

Moon, F. C.↗

A correspondence principle for steady-state wave problems

A correspondence principle was developed for treating the steady state propagation of waves from sources moving along a plane surface or interface. This new principle allows one to obtain, in a unified manner, explicit solutions for any source velocity. To illustrate the correspondence principle in a particular case, the problem of a load moving at an arbitrary constant velocity along the surface of an elastic half-space is considered.

Schmerr, L. W.↗

Interlaminar stresses in composite laminates: A perturbation analysis

A general method of solution for an elastic balanced symmetric composite laminate subject to a uniaxial extension was developed based upon a perturbation analysis of a limiting free body containing an interfacial plane. The solution satisfies more physical requirements and boundary conditions than previous investigations, and predicts smooth continuous interlaminar stresses with no instabilities. It determines the finite maximum intensity for the interlaminar normal stress in all laminates, provides mathematical evidences for the singular stresses in angle-ply laminates, suggests the need for the experimental determination of an important problem parameter, and introduces a viable means for solving related problems of practical interest.

Hsu, P. W.↗

A comparative study of three techniques for using the spectral matrix in wave analysis

Three techniques - power spectral analysis, coherency analysis, and wave analysis - for studying ULF waves in the magnetosphere are described. These techniques, while mathematically dissimilar, are all based on the assumption that, at any single frequency, a single plane wave, propagating along the normal to the plane, is present. Wave polarization parameters provided by these techniques are important in the development of models of wave generation. A comparative study of the three techniques was carried out using simulated data involving known wave and noise properties and real ULF event data from ATS 1 and 6.

Arthur, C. W.↗

On source radiation

The power output from given sources is usually ascertained via an energy flux integral over the normal directions to a remote (far field) surface; an alternative procedure, which utilizes an integral that specifies the direct rate of working by the source on the resultant field, is described and illustrated for both point and continuous source distribution. A comparison between the respective procedures is made in the analysis of sound radiated from a periodic dipole source whose axis performs a periodic plane angular movement about a fixed direction. Thus, adopting a conventional approach, Sretenskii (1956) characterizes the rotating dipole in terms of an infinite number of stationary ones along a pari of orthogonal directions in the plane, and through the far field representation of the latter, arrives at a series development for the instantaneous radiated power, whereas the local manner of power calculation dispenses with the equivalent infinite aggregate of sources and yields a compact analytical result.

Levine, H.↗

Application of Computer Axial Tomography (CAT) to measuring crop canopy geometry

The feasibility of using the principles of computer axial topography (CAT) to quantify the structure of crop canopies was investigated because six variables are needed to describe the position-orientation with time of a small piece of canopy foliage. Several cross sections were cut through the foliage of healthy, green corn and soybean canopies in the dent and full pod development stages, respectively. A photograph of each cross section representing the intersection of a plane with the foliage was enlarged and the air-foliage boundaries delineated by the plane were digitized. A computer program was written and used to reconstruct the cross section of the canopy. The approach used in applying optical computer axial tomography to measuring crop canopy geometry shows promise of being able to provide needed geometric information for input data to canopy reflectance models. The difficulty of using the CAT scanner to measure large canopies of crops like corn is discussed and a solution is proposed involving the measurement of plants one at a time.

Bauer, M. E.↗

The Lagrangian-mean motions forced by steady, dissipating equatorial waves. I

Waves are treated with a normal mode structure in order to determine the steady mean motion of the atmosphere that can be induced by dissipating equatorial waves. A model is developed which comprises a continuously stratified atmosphere at rest on the equatorial beta-plane. It is assumed that waves are excited by the corrugated bottom and are in a steady state, that dissipation is due to Newtonian cooling and Rayleigh friction, steadiness in wave magnitude is up to the second order, the waves have a long wave length, wave induced mean flows do not affect the waves, mean flows are steady, and dissipation mechanisms for the mean flows are the same as for the waves. Disturbance equations are formulated, along with Eulerian- and Lagrangian-mean flows, and the nonexistence of cross equatorial mean flows is demonstrated. Kelvin waves are shown to possess a Lagrangian-mean meridional circulation which is the same as the Eulerian-mean circulation. In the Boussinesq limit, however, neither the Eulerian- nor the Lagrangian-mean meridional circulations are caused by Kelvin waves. Further examination is made of Rossby-gravity waves and n = 1 westward propagating inertio-gravity waves.

Takahashi, M.↗

Transient difference solutions of the inhomogeneous wave equation: Simulation of the Green's function

A time-dependent finite difference formulation to the inhomogeneous wave equation is derived for plane wave propagation with harmonic noise sources. The difference equation and boundary conditions are developed along with the techniques to simulate the Dirac delta function associated with a concentrated noise source. Example calculations are presented for the Green's function and distributed noise sources. For the example considered, the desired Fourier transformed acoustic pressures are determined from the transient pressures by use of a ramping function and an integration technique, both of which eliminates the nonharmonic pressure associated with the initial transient.

Baumeiste, K. J.↗

Transient difference solutions of the inhomogeneous wave equation - Simulation of the Green's function

A time-dependent finite difference formulation to the inhomogeneous wave equation is derived for plane wave propagation with harmonic noise sources. The difference equation and boundary conditions are developed along with the techniques to simulate the Dirac delta function associated with a concentrated noise source. Example calculations are presented for the Green's function and distributed noise sources. For the example considered, the desired Fourier transformed acoustic pressures are determined from the transient pressures by use of a ramping function and an integration technique, both of which eliminates the nonharmonic pressure associated with the initial transient.

Baumeister, K. J.↗

Modal control of an unstable periodic orbit

Floquet theory is applied to the problem of designing a control system for a satellite in an unstable periodic orbit. Expansion about a periodic orbit produces a time-periodic linear system, which is augmented by a time-periodic control term. It is shown that this can be done such that (1) the application of control produces only inertial accelerations, (2) positive real Poincareexponents are shifted into the left half-plane, and (3) the shift of the exponent is linear with control gain. These developments are applied to an unstable orbit near the earth-moon L(3) point pertubed by the sun. Finally, it is shown that the control theory can be extended to include first order perturbations about the periodic orbit without increase in control cost.

Wiesel, W.↗

Radiative transfer in spherical atmospheres

A method for defining spherical model atmospheres in radiative/convective and hydrostatic equilibrium is presented. A finite difference form is found for the transfer equation and a matrix operator is developed as the discrete space analog (in curvilinear coordinates) of a formal integral in plane geometry. Pressure is treated as a function of temperature. Flux conservation is maintained within the energy equation, although the correct luminosity transport must be assigned for any given level of the atmosphere. A perturbed integral operator is used in a complete linearization of the transfer and constraint equations. Finally, techniques for generating stable solutions in economical computer time are discussed.

Kalkofen, W.↗

Bistatic scattering from a cone frustum

The bistatic scattering from a perfectly conducting cone frustum is investigated using the Geometrical Theory of Diffraction (GTD). The first-order GTD edge-diffraction solution has been extended by correcting for its failure in the specular region off the curved surface and in the rim-caustic regions of the endcaps. The corrections are accomplished by the use of transition functions which are developed and introduced into the diffraction coefficients. Theoretical results are verified in the principal plane by comparison with the moment method solution and experimental measurements. The resulting solution for the scattered fields is accurate, easy to apply, and fast to compute.

Ebihara, W.↗

Compression creep of filamentary composites

Axial and transverse strain fields induced in composite laminates subjected to compressive creep loading were compared for several types of laminate layups. Unidirectional graphite/epoxy as well as multi-directional graphite/epoxy and graphite/PEEK layups were studied. Specimens with and without holes were tested. The specimens were subjected to compressive creep loading for a 10-hour period. In-plane displacements were measured using moire interferometry. A computer based data reduction scheme was developed which reduces the whole-field displacement fields obtained using moire to whole-field strain contour maps. Only slight viscoelastic response was observed in matrix-dominated laminates, except for one test in which catastrophic specimen failure occurred after a 16-hour period. In this case the specimen response was a complex combination of both viscoelastic and fracture mechanisms. No viscoelastic effects were observed for fiber-dominated laminates over the 10-hour creep time used. The experimental results for specimens with holes were compared with results obtained using a finite-element analysis. The comparison between experiment and theory was generally good. Overall strain distributions were very well predicted. The finite element analysis typically predicted slightly higher strain values at the edge of the hole, and slightly lower strain values at positions removed from the hole, than were observed experimentally. It is hypothesized that these discrepancies are due to nonlinear material behavior at the hole edge, which were not accounted for during the finite-element analysis.

Graesser, D. L.↗