SEARCH · Engineering Papers
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.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
We report periodic modulation on (001) surface of Ni2MnGa ferromagnetic shape memory alloy. For the stoichiometric surface, analysis of the low energy electron diffraction (LEED) spot profiles shows that the modulation is incommensurate. The modulation appears at 200 K, concomitant with the first order structural transition to the martensitic phase.
We investigate the existence of nonlinear phase-modulated relativistic solitary waves embedded in an infinitely long circularly polarized electromagnetic wave propagating through a plasma. These states are exact nonlinear solutions of the 1-dimensional Maxwell-fluid model for a cold plasma composed of electrons and ions. The solitary wave, which consists of an electromagnetic wave trapped in a self-generated Langmuir wave, presents a phase modulation when the group velocity V and the phase velocity V{sub ph} of the long circularly polarized electromagnetic wave do not match the condition VV{sub ph} = c{sup 2}. The main properties of the waves as a function of their group velocities, wavevectors, and frequencies are studied, as well as bifurcations of the dynamical system that describes the waves when the parameter controlling the phase modulation changes from zero to a finite value. Such a transition is illustrated in the limit of small amplitude waves where an analytical solution for a grey solitary wave exists. The solutions are interpreted as the stationary state after the collision of a long laser pulse with an isolated solitary wave.
We report the design of two novel triple-pass acousto-optic modulator systems. These designs are extensions of the well known acousto-optic modulator (AOM) double-pass configuration, which eliminates the angle dependence of the diffracted beam with respect to the modulation frequency. In a triple-pass system, however, the frequency dependence of the angle does not disappear but the frequency shift is larger, spanning 3 times the AOM central frequency. In some applications, such as optically pumped Cesium-beam frequency standards, the frequencies of the two laser beams remain fixed and a triple-pass optical system can be used to reduce to one the number of lasers used in such atomic clocks. The two triple-pass configurations use either a retro-reflecting mirror, or a right angle prism to pass for third time the laser beam through the AOM, obtaining diffraction efficiencies of about 27% and 44%, respectively.
We demonstrate active control of plasmonic bandgap on a metallic photonic crystal slab using thermo-optic effects. The Au grating, which is milled by focused-ion beam on a glass substrate, is designed to exhibit an extraordinary optical transmission and a sharp transitional edge for high modulation efficiency. Only a moderate refractive index modulation of {Delta}n = 0.0043 is required to obtain more than 60% modulation depth with surface-normal optical coupling.
A Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3} topological insulator field effect transistor is investigated by using ionic liquid as an electric double layer gating material, leading to a conductance modulation of 365% at room temperature. We discuss the role of charged impurities on the transport properties. The conductance modulation with gate bias is due to a change in the carrier concentration, whereas the temperature dependent conductance change is originated from a change in mobility. Large conductance modulation at room temperature along with the transparent optical properties makes topological insulators as an interesting (opto)electronic material.
We demonstrate an efficiency of 70% with 5.1 GW microwave power for a diode voltage of 770 kV and a current modulation coefficient of 1.67 in a klystron-like relativistic backward wave oscillator. The device combines the advantages of reducing electron beam radius, adopting dual-cavity extractor, and introducing two pre-modulation cavities. A large dc space charge field is present due to the conversion of considerable potential energy to kinetic energy at the end of beam-wave interaction region. A nonlinear theory is developed to show that the dc space charge field can increase the current modulation coefficient and microwave conversion efficiency significantly.
We show that a flat surface of a polymer in rubber state illuminated with intense electromagnetic radiation is unstable with respect to periodic modulation. Initial periodic perturbation is amplified due to periodic thermal expansion of the material heated by radiation. Periodic heating is due to focusing-defocusing effects caused by the initial surface modulation. The surface modulation has a period longer than the excitation wavelength and does not require coherent light source. Therefore, it is not related to the well-known laser induced periodic structures on polymer surfaces but may contribute to their formation and to other phenomena of light-matter interaction.
The neoclassical effects on the stabilization of tearing modes by current modulation have been investigated. Neoclassical effects enhance the resistivity and reduce the resistive diffusion time of the modulation current. Therefore, the oscillating current can penetrate deeper into the plasma. With an oscillating loop voltage, the plasma oscillates radially at the Ware-pinch velocity. These neoclassical effects improve the efficiency of tearing mode stabilization by the current modulation.
We have investigated modulation of the effective damping constant α{sub eff} via spin currents through the spin Hall effect for Permalloy/Pt bilayer films with various thicknesses. The observed linear and sinusoidal dependences of current density and field direction on α{sub eff} are in agreement with the analytical model. By comparing the thickness dependence of spin Hall angle obtained from the damping modulation with that previously obtained by spin-torque-induced ferromagnetic resonance, we show that there is no clear extrinsic contribution in the present method. We also show the large modulation of the effective damping constant (down to ∼20%) in the high-current-density region.
We study the amplitude modulation of low-frequency, long-wavelength electrostatic drift-wave envelopes in a nonuniform quantum magnetoplasma consisting of cold ions and degenerate electrons. The effects of tunneling associated with the quantum Bohm potential and the Fermi pressure for nonrelativistic degenerate electrons, as well as the equilibrium density and magnetic field inhomogeneities are taken into account. Starting from a set of quantum magnetohydrodynamic equations, we derive a nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) that governs the dynamics of the modulated quantum drift-wave packets. The NLSE is used to study the modulational instability (MI) of a Stoke's wave train to a small plane wave perturbation. It is shown that the quantum tunneling effect as well as the scale length of inhomogeneity plays crucial roles for the MI of the drift-wave packets. Thus, the latter can propagate in the form of bright and dark envelope solitons or as drift-wave rogons in degenerate dense magnetoplasmas.
We demonstrate charge modulation of over 10{sup 14} cm{sup −2} electrons in a two-dimensional electron gas formed in SrTiO{sub 3}/GdTiO{sub 3} inverted heterostructure field-effect transistors. Increased charge modulation was achieved by reducing the effect of interfacial region capacitances through thick SrTiO{sub 3} cap layers. Transport and device characteristics of the heterostructure field-effect transistors were found to match a long channel field effect transistor model. SrTiO{sub 3} impurity doped metal–semiconductor field effect transistors were also demonstrated with excellent pinch-off and current density exceeding prior reports. The work reported here provides a path towards oxide-based electronics with extreme charge modulation exceeding 10{sup 14} cm{sup −2}.
We demonstrate ultrafast modulation of terahertz radiation by unaligned optically pumped single-walled carbon nanotubes. Photoexcitation by an ultrafast optical pump pulse induces transient terahertz absorption in nanowires aligned parallel to the optical pump. By controlling the polarisation of the optical pump, we show that terahertz polarisation and modulation can be tuned, allowing sub-picosecond modulation of terahertz radiation. Such speeds suggest potential for semiconductor nanowire devices in terahertz communication technologies.
We report the fabrication of low-leakage rectifying Pt and Au Schottky diodes and Au-gated metal-semiconductor field effect transistors (MESFETs) on n-type SrTiO{sub 3} thin films grown by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy. In agreement with previous studies, we find that compared to Pt, Au provides a higher Schottky barrier height with SrTiO{sub 3}. As a result of the large dielectric constant of SrTiO{sub 3} and the large Schottky barrier height of Au, the Au-gated MESFETs are able to modulate ∼1.6 × 10{sup 14 }cm{sup −2} electron density, the highest modulation yet achieved using metal gates in any material system. These MESFETs modulate current densities up to ∼68 mA/mm, ∼20× times larger than the best demonstrated SrTiO{sub 3} MESFETs. We also discuss the roles of the interfacial layer, and the field-dependent dielectric constant of SrTiO{sub 3} in increasing the pinch off voltage of the MESFET.
SpectrRelax is an application for analysis and fitting of absorption and emission Mössbauer spectra. It includes a large selection of static and relaxation spectrum models, and allows fitting and searching for optimal model parameters. Recently, we have added new models for Mössbauer spectra of nuclides in spatial spin modulated structures. In these structures, spin density or direction changes in a periodic way along a single direction, and this wave is incommensurate with the underlying lattice. The models include Spin/Charge density wave, where the shape of this wave is represented as a sum of odd harmonics, Anharmonic spin modulation where the spin direction has a cycloidal type modulation, and a Spiral-like spin structure, in which magnetic moments rotate in a plane perpendicular to the wave propagation vector, forming a spiral.
The amplitude modulation of ion-acoustic waves is investigated in an unmagnetized plasma containing positive ions, negative ions, and electrons obeying a kappa-type distribution that is penetrated by a positive ion beam. By considering dissipative mechanisms, including ionization, negative-positive ion recombination, and electron attachment, we introduce a comprehensive model for the plasma with the effects of sources and sinks. Via reductive perturbation theory, the modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a dissipative term is derived to govern the dynamics of the modulated waves. The effect of the plasma parameters on the modulation instability criterion for the modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation is numerically investigated in detail. Within the unstable region, first- and second-order dissipative ion-acoustic rogue waves are present. The effect of the plasma parameters on the characteristics of the dissipative rogue waves is also discussed.
We propose a constructive polarization modulation scheme for atomic clocks based on coherent population trapping (CPT). In this scheme, the polarization of a bichromatic laser beam is modulated between two opposite circular polarizations to avoid trapping the atomic populations in the extreme Zeeman sublevels. We show that if an appropriate phase modulation between the two optical components of the bichromatic laser is applied synchronously, the two CPT dark states which are produced successively by the alternate polarizations add constructively. Measured CPT resonance contrasts up to 20% in one-pulse CPT and 12% in two-pulse Ramsey-CPT experiments are reported, demonstrating the potential of this scheme for applications to high performance atomic clocks.
Two-dimensional (2D) materials have been a great interest as high-performance transparent and flexible electronics due to their high crystallinity in atomic thickness and their potential for variety applications in electronics and optoelectronics. The present study explored the wafer scale production of MoS{sub 2} nanosheets with layer thickness modulation from single to multi-layer by using two-step method of metal deposition and CVD process. The formation of high-quality and layer thickness-modulated MoS{sub 2} film was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy, AFM, HRTEM, and photoluminescence analysis. The layer thickness was identified by employing a simple method of optical contrast value. The image contrast in green (G) channel shows the best fit as contrast increases with layer thickness, which can be utilized in identifying the layer thickness of MoS{sub 2}. The presence of critical thickness of Mo for complete sulphurization, which is due to the diffusion limit of MoS{sub 2} transformation, changes the linearity of structural, electrical, and optical properties of MoS{sub 2}. High optical transparency of >90%, electrical mobility of ∼12.24 cm{sup 2} V{sup −1} s{sup −1}, and I{sub on/off} of ∼10{sup 6} characterized within the critical thickness make the MoS{sub 2} film suitable for transparent and flexible electronics as compared to conventional amorphous silicon (a-Si) or organic films. The layer thickness modulated large scale MoS{sub 2} growth method in conjunction with the layer thickness identification by the nondestructive optical contrast will definitely trigger development of scalable 2D MoS{sub 2} films for transparent and flexible electronics.
It is found that the low frequency oscillations have modulating action on high frequency instabilities in Hall thrusters. The physical mechanism of this modulation is discussed and verified by numerical simulations. Theoretical analyses indicate that the wide-range fluctuations of plasma density and electric field associated with the low frequency oscillations affect the electron drift velocity and anomalous electron transport across the magnetic field. The amplitude and frequency of high frequency oscillations are modulated by low frequency oscillations, which show the periodic variation in the time scale of low frequency oscillations.