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At least 1,297 records · Page 72
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Recent performance and ignition tests of the pulsed SNS H{sup −} source for 1-MW neutron production

After acquiring several reliable spare targets, SNS ramped the beam power from 850 kW to 1.4 MW, which required an increase in H{sup −} beam pulse length from 0.88 to 1.0 ms at 60 Hz. This increase initially produced slow 2-MHz power ramp-ups and, after several weeks of uninterrupted operation, it produced plasma outages every time the pulse length was raised above ∼0.95 ms. Similar outages were previously observed towards the end of long service cycles, which were believed to indicate that the breakdown voltage of the high purity hydrogen started to exceed the induced electric fields. In 2011 the RF was reconfigured to start with 10 cycles of 1.96 MHz, which yielded the shortest H{sup −} beam rise times and apparently eliminated those plasma outages. The new, pulse-length dependent outages were eliminated by increasing the initial frequency to 1.985 MHz. However, careful frequency studies are unable to justify this frequency. In addition, the paper discusses the issues and solutions for the electron-dump voltage, which starts to sag and become unstable after several weeks of high current operation. At the request of the authors and the Proceedings Editor this article has been updated to include References 3–13, which were present in the author’s original submission but were lost during manuscript processing in the Proceedings Editor's office. The updated article was published on 5 May 2015.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Atomic origin of high-temperature electron trapping in metal-oxide-semiconductor devices

MOSFETs based on wide-band-gap semiconductors are suitable for operation at high temperature, at which additional atomic-scale processes that are benign at lower temperatures can get activated, resulting in device degradation. Recently, significant enhancement of electron trapping was observed under positive bias in SiC MOSFETs at temperatures higher than 150 °C. Here, we report first-principles calculations showing that the enhanced electron trapping is associated with thermally activated capturing of a second electron by an oxygen vacancy in SiO{sub 2} by which the vacancy transforms into a structure that comprises one Si dangling bond and a bond between a five-fold and a four-fold Si atoms. The results suggest a key role of oxygen vacancies and their structural reconfigurations in the reliability of high-temperature MOS devices.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Radiation characteristics of femtosecond laser-induced plasma channel Vee antenna

A virtual reconfigurable plasma Vee antenna consisting of a set of laser plasma filaments produced by femtosecond laser pulses in air is investigated in this paper. The calculation results show that radiation pattern becomes more complex and gain shows initially rapid rise but gradually saturate as the leg length increases, but the pattern and gain are not seriously affected by the plasma conductivity; particularly, the gain of the Vee antenna with plasma conductivity σ = 100S/m can reach about 80% of that of a copper antenna. Radiation efficiency of the antenna has shown a strong dependence on radius of the antenna leg, and an efficiency of 65%, considered to have a proper performance, can be obtained with the channel radius of about 10 mm. Apex angle variation can lead to significant change of the radiation pattern and influence the gain; the best apex angle corresponding to maximal gain and good directivity for the third resonance antenna leg length is found to be at 74° at 600 MHz and σ = 100 S/m. The calculation has shown that at terawatt laser power level, the plasma channel conductivity is close to that of conventional plasma antenna, and peak gain of the Vee antenna is more than 8 dB with a good directivity. In addition, the radiation pattern of special Vee antennas with apex angle 180°-dipole antennas, for first and third resonance leg lengths, is compared and underneath physics of the difference is given. The laser-induced plasma channel antenna is especially suitable for achieving good directivity and gain, which has advantage over conventional plasma antenna with gas discharge tube or metal antenna.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Ab-initio calculation study on the formation mechanism of boron-oxygen complexes in c-Si

Boron-oxygen (B-O) complex in crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells is responsible for the light-induced efficiency degradation of solar cell. However, the formation mechanism of B-O complex is not clear yet. By Ab-initio calculation, it is found that the stagger-type oxygen dimer (O{sub 2i}{sup st}) should be the component of B-O complex, whose movement occurs through its structure reconfiguration at low temperature, instead of its long-distance diffusion. The O{sub 2i}{sup st} can form two stable “latent centers” with the B{sub s}, which are recombination-inactive. The latent centers can be evolved into the metastable recombination centers via their structure transformation in the presence of excess carriers. These results can well explain the formation behaviors of B-O complexes in c-Si.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Effects of electron beam parameters and velocity spread on radio frequency output of a photonic band gap cavity gyrotron oscillator

In this paper, the effects of electron beam parameters and velocity spread on the RF behavior of a metallic photonic band gap (PBG) cavity gyrotron operating at 35 GHz with TE{sub 041}–like mode have been theoretically demonstrated. PBG cavity is used here to achieve a single mode operation of the overmoded cavity. The nonlinear time-dependent multimode analysis has been used to observe the beam-wave interaction behavior of the PBG cavity gyrotron, and a commercially available PIC code “CST Particle Studio” has been reconfigured to obtain 3D simulation results in order to validate the analytical values. The output power for this typical PBG gyrotron has been obtained ∼108 kW with ∼15.5% efficiency in a well confined TE{sub 041}–like mode, while all other competing modes have significantly low values of power output. The output power and efficiency of a gyrotron depend highly on the electron beam parameters and velocity spread. The influence of several electron beam parameters, e.g., beam voltage, beam current, beam velocity pitch factor, and DC magnetic field, on the PBG gyrotron operations has been investigated. This study would be helpful in optimising the electron beam parameters and estimating accurate RF output power of the high frequency PBG cavity based gyrotron oscillators.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Optical waveguides in lithium niobate: Recent developments and applications

The state of the art of optical waveguide fabrication in lithium niobate is reviewed, with particular emphasis on new technologies and recent applications. The attention is mainly devoted to recently developed fabrication methods, such as femtosecond laser writing, ion implantation, and smart cut waveguides as well as to the realization of waveguides with tailored functionalities, such as photorefractive or domain engineered structures. More exotic systems, such as reconfigurable and photorefractive soliton waveguides, are also considered. Classical techniques, such as Ti in-diffusion and proton exchange, are cited and briefly reviewed as a reference standpoint to highlight the recent developments. In all cases, the application-oriented point of view is preferred, in order to provide the reader with an up-to date panorama of the vast possibilities offered by lithium niobate to integrated photonics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Fully tuneable, Purcell-enhanced solid-state quantum emitters

We report the full energy control over a semiconductor cavity-emitter system, consisting of single Stark-tunable quantum dots embedded in mechanically reconfigurable photonic crystal membranes. A reversible wavelength tuning of the emitter over 7.5 nm as well as an 8.5 nm mode shift are realized on the same device. Harnessing these two electrical tuning mechanisms, a single exciton transition is brought on resonance with the cavity mode at several wavelengths, demonstrating a ten-fold enhancement of its spontaneous emission. These results open the way to bring several cavity-enhanced emitters mutually into resonance and therefore represent a key step towards scalable quantum photonic circuits featuring multiple sources of indistinguishable single photons.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Thermal stability of deep level defects induced by high energy proton irradiation in n-type GaN

The impact of annealing of proton irradiation-induced defects in n-type GaN devices has been systematically investigated using deep level transient and optical spectroscopies. Moderate temperature annealing (>200–250 °C) causes significant reduction in the concentration of nearly all irradiation-induced traps. While the decreased concentration of previously identified N and Ga vacancy related levels at E{sub C} − 0.13 eV, 0.16 eV, and 2.50 eV generally followed a first-order reaction model with activation energies matching theoretical values for N{sub I} and V{sub Ga} diffusion, irradiation-induced traps at E{sub C} − 0.72 eV, 1.25 eV, and 3.28 eV all decrease in concentration in a gradual manner, suggesting a more complex reduction mechanism. Slight increases in concentration are observed for the N-vacancy related levels at E{sub C} − 0.20 eV and 0.25 eV, which may be due to the reconfiguration of other N-vacancy related defects. Finally, the observed reduction in concentrations of the states at E{sub C} − 1.25 and E{sub C} − 3.28 eV as a function of annealing temperature closely tracks the detailed recovery behavior of the background carrier concentration as a function of annealing temperature. As a result, it is suggested that these two levels are likely to be responsible for the underlying carrier compensation effect that causes the observation of carrier removal in proton-irradiated n-GaN.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Generation of propagating spin waves from regions of increased dynamic demagnetising field near magnetic antidots

We have used Brillouin Light Scattering and micromagnetic simulations to demonstrate a point-like source of spin waves created by the inherently nonuniform internal magnetic field in the vicinity of an isolated antidot formed in a continuous film of yttrium-iron-garnet. The field nonuniformity ensures that only well-defined regions near the antidot respond in resonance to a continuous excitation of the entire sample with a harmonic microwave field. The resonantly excited parts of the sample then served as reconfigurable sources of spin waves propagating (across the considered sample) in the form of caustic beams. Our findings are relevant to further development of magnonic circuits, in which point-like spin wave stimuli could be required, and as a building block for interpretation of spin wave behavior in magnonic crystals formed by antidot arrays.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Investigation of different magnetic field configurations using an electrical, modular Zeeman slower

We present a method of constructing an automatically reconfigurable, modular, electronic Zeeman slower, which is remotely controlled. This setup is used to investigate the ability of different magnetic field profiles to slow thermal atoms to the capture velocity of a magneto-optical-trap. We show that a simple numerical optimization process yields better results than the commonly used approach for deciding on the appropriate field and comes close to the optimum field, found by utilizing a fast feedback loop which uses a genetic algorithm. Our new numerical method is easily adaptable to a variety of existing slower designs and may be beneficial where feedback is unavailable.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Dynamic control of the asymmetric Fano resonance in side-coupled Fabry–Pérot and photonic crystal nanobeam cavities

Fano resonance is a prevailing interference phenomenon that stems from the intersection between discrete and continuum states in many fields. We theoretically and experimentally characterize the asymmetric Fano lineshape in side-coupled waveguide Fabry–Pérot and photonic crystal nanobeam cavities. The measured quality-factor of the Fano resonance before tuning is 28 100. A nanoelectromechanical systems bidirectional actuator is integrated seamlessly to control the shape of the Fano resonance through in-plane translations in two directions without sacrificing the quality-factor. The peak intensity level of the Fano resonance can be increased by 8.5 dB from 60 nW to 409 nW while the corresponding dip intensity is increased by 12.8 dB from 1 nW to 18 nW. The maximum recorded quality-factor throughout the tuning procedure is up to 32 500. Potential applications of the proposed structure include enhancing the sensitivity of sensing, reconfigurable nanophotonics devices, and on-chip intensity modulator.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Mutual capacitance of liquid conductors in deformable tactile sensing arrays

Advances in highly deformable electronics are needed in order to enable emerging categories of soft computing devices ranging from wearable electronics, to medical devices, and soft robotic components. The combination of highly elastic substrates with intrinsically stretchable conductors holds the promise of enabling electronic sensors that can conform to curved objects, reconfigurable displays, or soft biological tissues, including the skin. Here, we contribute sensing principles for tactile (mechanical image) sensors based on very low modulus polymer substrates with embedded liquid metal microfluidic arrays. The sensors are fabricated using a single-step casting method that utilizes fine nylon filaments to produce arrays of cylindrical channels on two layers. The liquid metal (gallium indium alloy) conductors that fill these channels readily adopt the shape of the embedding membrane, yielding levels of deformability greater than 400%, due to the use of soft polymer substrates. We modeled the sensor performance using electrostatic theory and continuum mechanics, yielding excellent agreement with experiments. Using a matrix-addressed capacitance measurement technique, we are able to resolve strain distributions with millimeter resolution over areas of several square centimeters.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

Temperature feedback of TRIGA MARK-II fuel

We study the amount of temperature feedback on reactivity for the three types of TRIGA fuel i.. ST8, ST12 and LEU fuel, are used in the TRIGA MARK II reactor in Malaysia Nuclear Agency. We employ WIMSD-5B for the calculation of kin f for a single TRIGA fuel surrounded by water. Typical calculations of TRIGA fuel reactivity are usually limited to ST8 fuel, but in this paper our investigation extends to ST12 and LEU fuel. We look at the kin f of our model at various fuel temperatures and calculate the amount reactivity removed. In one instance, the water temperature is kept at room temperature of 300K to simulate sudden reactivity increase from startup. In another instance, we simulate the sudden temperature increase during normal operation where the water temperature is approximately 320K while observing the kin f at various fuel temperatures. For accidents, two cases are simulated. The first case is for water temperature at 370K and the other is without any water. We observe that the higher Uranium content fuel such as the ST12 and LEU have much smaller contribution to the reactivity in comparison to the often studied ST8 fuel. In fact the negative reactivity coefficient for LEU fuel at high temperature in water is only slightly larger to the negative reactivity coefficient for ST8 fuel in void. The performance of ST8 fuel in terms of negative reactivity coefficient is cut almost by half when it is in void. These results are essential in the safety evaluation of the reactor and should be carefully considered when choices of fuel for core reconfiguration are made.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Lateral shearing optical gradient force in coupled nanobeam photonic crystal cavities

We report the experimental observation of lateral shearing optical gradient forces in nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) controlled dual-coupled photonic crystal (PhC) nanobeam cavities. With an on-chip integrated NEMS actuator, the coupled cavities can be mechanically reconfigured in the lateral direction while maintaining a constant coupling gap. Shearing optical gradient forces are generated when the two cavity centers are laterally displaced. In our experiments, positive and negative lateral shearing optical forces of 0.42 nN and 0.29 nN are observed with different pumping modes. This study may broaden the potential applications of the optical gradient force in nanophotonic devices and benefit the future nanooptoelectromechanical systems.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

Broad electrical tuning of plasmonic nanoantennas at visible frequencies

We report an experimental demonstration of electrical tuning of plasmon resonances of optical nanopatch antennas over a wide wavelength range. The antennas consist of silver nanocubes separated from a gold film by a thin 8 nm polyelectrolyte spacer layer. By using ionic liquid and indium tin oxide coated glass as a top electrode, we demonstrate dynamic and reversible tuning of the plasmon resonance over 100 nm in the visible wavelength range using low applied voltages between −3.0 V and 2.8 V. The electrical potential is applied across the nanoscale gap causing changes in the gap thickness and dielectric environment which, in turn, modifies the plasmon resonance. The observed tuning range is greater than the full-width-at-half-maximum of the plasmon resonance, resulting in a tuning figure of merit of 1.05 and a tuning contrast greater than 50%. Our results provide an avenue to create active and reconfigurable integrated nanophotonic components for applications in optoelectronics and sensing.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Nine-channel mid-power bipolar pulse generator based on a field programmable gate array

Many channel arbitrary pulse sequence generation is required for the electro-optic reconfiguration of optical waveguide networks in Lithium Niobate. Here we describe a scalable solution to the requirement for mid-power bipolar parallel outputs, based on pulse patterns generated by an externally clocked field programmable gate array. Positive and negative pulses can be generated at repetition rates up to 80 MHz with pulse width adjustable in increments of 1.6 ns across nine independent outputs. Each channel can provide 1.5 W of RF power and can be synchronised with the operation of other components in an optical network such as light sources and detectors through an external clock with adjustable delay.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

Liquid metal actuation by electrical control of interfacial tension

By combining metallic electrical conductivity with low viscosity, liquid metals and liquid metal alloys offer new and exciting opportunities to serve as reconfigurable components of electronic, microfluidic, and electromagnetic devices. Here, we review the physics and applications of techniques that utilize voltage to manipulate the interfacial tension of liquid metals; such techniques include electrocapillarity, continuous electrowetting, electrowetting-on-dielectric, and electrochemistry. These techniques lower the interfacial tension between liquid metals and a surrounding electrolyte by driving charged species (or in the case of electrochemistry, chemical species) to the interface. The techniques are useful for manipulating and actuating liquid metals at sub-mm length scales where interfacial forces dominate. We focus on metals and alloys that are liquid near or below room temperature (mercury, gallium, and gallium-based alloys). The review includes discussion of mercury—despite its toxicity—because it has been utilized in numerous applications and it offers a way of introducing several phenomena without the complications associated with the oxide layer that forms on gallium and its alloys. The review focuses on the advantages, applications, opportunities, challenges, and limitations of utilizing voltage to control interfacial tension as a method to manipulate liquid metals.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Liquid gallium and the eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) alloy: Dielectric functions from 1.24 to 3.1 eV by electrochemical reduction of surface oxides

Liquid metals based on gallium are promising materials for soft, stretchable, and shape reconfigurable electromagnetic devices. The behavior of these metals relates directly to the thicknesses of their surface oxide layers, which can be determined nondestructively by ellipsometry if their dielectric functions ε are known. This paper reports on the dielectric functions of liquid gallium and the eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) alloy from 1.24 to 3.1 eV at room temperature, measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry. Overlayer-induced artifacts, a continuing problem in optical measurements of these highly reactive metals, are eliminated by applying an electrochemically reductive potential to the surface of the metal immersed in an electrolyte. This technique enables measurements at ambient conditions while avoiding the complications associated with removing overlayers in a vacuum environment. The dielectric responses of both metals are closely represented by the Drude model. The EGaIn data suggest that in the absence of an oxide the surface is In-enriched, consistent with the previous vacuum-based studies. Possible reasons for discrepancies with previous measurements are discussed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗