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At least 1,441 records · Page 80

Validation of an Erythema-Weighted UV Model Using Broadband Solar Irradiance Measurements From Eleven U.S. Sites: Preprint

Erythema-weighted UV solar irradiance (UV-E) has a potential impact on human health if the recommended maximum exposure times are exceeded. In spite of this, it is not measured at most sites that measure Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI). However, since UV-E is highly correlated with GHI and total ozone content it can be estimated from this information with sufficient accuracy to assisst in public health recommendations. The Power Model (PM) provides a simple method to estimate the erythema-weighted UV irradiance (UV-E) from measured GHI, total ozone column and air mass. In this work, the performance of the PM method is assessed using high-quality data from 11 sites in the continental U.S. (part of SURFRAD and SOLRAD networks) and total ozone estimates publicly available from the MERRA-2 re-analysis database. A three year period (2021- 2023) at 1-minute frequency is considered. The results (for time aggregations of 5 and 60 minutes) show a high Pearson's correlations (> 0.99), consistently positive mean bias deviations (below 13%) and dispersions in the 8-19% range at all sites. Relative values are expressed in terms of the corresponding measurement mean. The performance indicators remain consistent across time resolutions (5 or 60 minutes), suggesting that the model's performance is robust and not significantly affected by short-term variability (which is captured by GHI). Spatial patterns reveal higher biases and RMSD in northern and eastern locations. These values represent a significant improvement over widely used satellite-based global UV-E estimates and open the possibility of using the PM with satellite-based GHI estimates for operational UV-E mapping over the contiguous U.S. territory.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Microscale Imaging of Thermal Conductivity Suppression at Grain Boundaries

Abstract Grain‐boundary engineering is an effective strategy to tune the thermal conductivity of materials, leading to improved performance in thermoelectric, thermal‐barrier coatings, and thermal management applications. Despite the central importance to thermal transport, a clear understanding of how grain boundaries modulate the microscale heat flow is missing, owing to the scarcity of local investigations. Here, thermal imaging of individual grain boundaries is demonstrated in thermoelectric SnTe via spatially resolved frequency‐domain thermoreflectance. Measurements with microscale resolution reveal local suppressions in thermal conductivity at grain boundaries. Also, the grain‐boundary thermal resistance – extracted by employing a Gibbs excess approach – is found to be correlated with the grain‐boundary misorientation angle. Extracting thermal properties, including thermal boundary resistances, from microscale imaging can provide comprehensive understanding of how microstructure affects heat transport, crucially impacting the materials design of high‐performance thermal‐management and energy‐conversion devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Nanometer-Scale Measurement of Grid Finger Electrical Conduction Pathways to Detect Series Resistance Degradation of Utility-Scale Silicon Solar Cells

Here, we report on an electrical conduction mechanism for series resistance (Rs) degradation observed in a utility-scale photovoltaic power plant by imaging the local resistance at the Ag/Si interface of the c-Si front metallization. Scanning spreading resistance microscopy imaging with nanometer (nm) scale spatial resolution revealed that the number of point or small-area electrical contacts decreased substantially in a degraded cell compared to an unaffected cell, demonstrating the root cause of Rs degradation. The decrease in electrical contacts is likely caused by a structural change - the Ag particles in contact with the Si cell (or via a nm-thickness tunneling glass layer) aggregate into bulk Ag, and a highly resistive glass frit forms a belt shape at the Ag/Si interface. This resistive belt, with a thickness of ~1 um, blocks the current conduction from the cell emitter to the Ag grid. Our microscopy results help to unravel unambiguously the degradation mechanism and demonstrate an example of the multiscale characterization approach for understanding degradation in field-weathered PV module.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Preventing Bio-Bloopers and XFEL Follies: Best Practices from your Friendly Instrument Staff

Serial Femtosecond Crystallography (SFX) at X-ray Free electron Lasers (XFELs) is a relatively new field promising to deliver unparalleled spatial and temporal resolution on biological systems and there dynamics. Over the past decade, though, there have been a handful of results that have truly delivered on these promises. Why? SFX has many paradigm shifting techniques not seen in typical structural biology arenas, such as creating a concentrated slurry of microcrystals rather than a handful of loopable prisms worthy of a catalog photo. Then taking that slurry and high speed jetting them towards the vacuum or helium interation region to destroy less than 1% of your sample and waste the other 99. The literature is full of techniques and methods promising to cure what ails your experiment, yet as an instrument scientist will tell you –and a first author might admit after a few drinks at the conference happy hour—is that there are a lot more failures than the success we published, results may vary. We will walk through a best practices on how to prepare your sample and chose a sample delivery technique that will amerliorate your studies rather than undermine your hardwork and hopefully lead to better experimental planning and execution, inching you closer to that scientific goal and that call from Stockholm. This will be written in a more editorialized fashion and is meant to give the reader an idea of what to try or how they should be thinking. Welcome to SFX, now what?

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Atomistic Positioning of Defects in Helium Ion Treated Single-Layer MoS 2

Structuring materials with atomic precision is the ultimate goal of nanotechnology and is becoming increasingly relevant as an enabling technology for quantum electronics/spintronics and quantum photonics. Here, we create atomic defects in monolayer MoS 2 by helium ion (He-ion) beam lithography with a spatial fidelity approaching the single-atom limit in all three dimensions. Using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we confirm the formation of individual point defects in MoS 2 upon He-ion bombardment and show that defects are generated within 9 nm of the incident helium ions. Atom-specific sputtering yields are determined by analyzing the type and occurrence of defects observed in high-resolution STM images and compared with Monte Carlo simulations. Both theory and experiment indicate that the He-ion bombardment predominantly generates sulfur vacancies.

Two-dimensional materials↗

Plasmonic photoconductive terahertz focal-plane array with pixel super-resolution

Abstract Imaging systems operating in the terahertz part of the electromagnetic spectrum are attractive due to their ability to penetrate many opaque materials and provide unique spectral signatures of various chemicals. However, the use of terahertz imagers in real-world applications has been limited by the slow speed, large size, high cost and complexity of present systems, largely due to the lack of suitable terahertz focal-plane array detectors. Here we report a terahertz focal-plane array that can directly provide the spatial amplitude and phase distributions, along with the ultrafast temporal and spectral information of an imaged object. It consists of a two-dimensional array of ~0.3 million plasmonic photoconductive nanoantennas optimized to rapidly detect broadband terahertz radiation with a high signal-to-noise ratio. We utilized the multispectral nature of the amplitude and phase data captured by these plasmonic nanoantennas to image different objects, including super-resolved etched patterns in a silicon substrate and defects in battery electrodes. By eliminating the need for raster scanning and spatial terahertz modulation, our terahertz focal-plane array offers more than a 1,000-fold increase in the imaging speed compared with the state of the art and potentially suits a broad range of applications in industrial inspection, security screening and medical diagnosis, among others.

Optics↗

Laser-induced electron diffraction of the ultrafast umbrella motion in ammonia

Visualizing molecular transformations in real-time requires a structural retrieval method with Ångström spatial and femtosecond temporal atomic resolution. Imaging of hydrogen-containing molecules additionally requires an imaging method sensitive to the atomic positions of hydrogen nuclei, with most methods possessing relatively low sensitivity to hydrogen scattering. Laser-induced electron diffraction (LIED) is a table-top technique that can image ultrafast structural changes of gas-phase polyatomic molecules with sub-Ångström and femtosecond spatiotemporal resolution together with relatively high sensitivity to hydrogen scattering. Here, we image the umbrella motion of an isolated ammonia molecule (NH3) following its strong-field ionization. Upon ionization of a neutral ammonia molecule, the ammonia cation (NH3+) undergoes an ultrafast geometrical transformation from a pyramidal (ΦHNH=107°) to planar (ΦHNH=120°) structure in approximately 8 femtoseconds. Using LIED, we retrieve a near-planar (ΦHNH=117 ± 5°) field-dressed NH3+ molecular structure 7.8−9.8 femtoseconds after ionization. Our measured field-dressed NH3+ structure is in excellent agreement with our calculated equilibrium field-dressed structure using quantum chemical ab initio calculations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Scanning Tunneling Thermometry

The best spatial resolution so far achieved in thermal imaging is several nanometers, much coarser than routinely achieved for other physical properties. Here we propose a method to map electronic temperature variations in operating nanoscale conductors by relying solely upon electrical tunneling current measurements. The proposed measurement scheme involves two scanning probe operations to measure the conductance and thermopower, respectively. These two measurements are shown to determine the local temperature with high accuracy in nanoscale conductors, where the Wiedemann-Franz law holds quite generally. We report the proposed scanning tunneling thermometer, owing to its operation in the tunneling regime, would be capable of mapping temperature variations with subnanometer resolution, thereby enhancing the resolution of scanning thermometry by some 2 orders of magnitude.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Remote sensing of cytotype and its consequences for canopy damage in quaking aspen

Abstract Mapping geographic mosaics of genetic variation and their consequences via genotype x environment interactions at large extents and high resolution has been limited by the scalability of DNA sequencing. Here, we address this challenge for cytotype (chromosome copy number) variation in quaking aspen, a drought‐impacted foundation tree species. We integrate airborne imaging spectroscopy data with ground‐based DNA sequencing data and canopy damage data in 391 km 2 of southwestern Colorado. We show that (1) aspen cover and cytotype can be remotely sensed at 1 m spatial resolution, (2) the geographic mosaic of cytotypes is heterogeneous and interdigitated, (3) triploids have higher leaf nitrogen, canopy water content, and carbon isotope shifts (δ 13 C) than diploids, and (4) canopy damage varies among cytotypes and depends on interactions with topography, canopy height, and trait variables. Triploids are at higher risk in hotter and drier conditions.

Blonder, Benjamin↗

Super Resolving Unrolled Neural Networks for Remote Sensing

In remote sensing systems, the capabilities of the system are constrained by the complex interactions between size, weight, and power (SWAP) of potential designs. In electro-optical (EO) systems, examples of these critical parameters include the system’s sensitivity and resolution. Those parameters can be increased by ever larger optical apertures and focal planes but at the cost of more SWAP. Multi-image super resolution (MISR) techniques allow resolution to be enhanced via computation rather than more sophisticated optical hardware. These algorithms combine multiple images together into a single, higher resolution image, trading temporal resolution and computation for spatial resolution. Fielded MISR techniques, such as Drizzle, can require several hundred images to create a single super resolved image, implying reduced temporal resolution, increased data acquisition load, and limiting mission applications. Iterative techniques, such as model-based image reconstruction and compressive sensing, have been shown to create super resolved images using fewer images than Drizzle. They do this by posing an optimization problem that balances accuracy between a highly accurate physical model and an image model. In the case of super resolution, the physical model is defined by the relation between low resolution input images and the desired high resolution output image. The image model encodes some assumptions about the super resolved image. These assumptions are meant to suppress reconstruction artifacts that arise due to deterministic physical model error, stochastic measurement noise, and potential undersampling. In practice, the performance of iterative methods are limited by imaging models compatible with optimization. Deep learning-based methods can effectively learn image models of arbitrary complexity, but lack the theoretical explainability and robustness of iterative techniques. Consensus equilibrium (CE) generalizes the iterative techniques beyond optimization, enabling blackbox algorithms such as traditional and neural image denoisers to be used as the image model. CE-based approaches retain much of the explainability and robustness of iterative techniques while allowing the expressiveness of machine learning image models to be used. Additionally, by unrolling iterations of CE with an embedded image denoiser, the image denoiser can be further trained and specialized to the specific application with potentially higher quality reconstructions. Under this project, we demonstrated the feasibility of training an unrolled neural network based upon CE. While we didn’t train one, we showed that the CE process is differentiable and its gradient can be tractably computed. We also explored the usage of a variants of CE akin to generative neural works. Most importantly, we applied the CE framework to a number of problems including non-blind deconvolution, upsampling, single-image super resolution, MISR, event-based sensing, and saturated deconvolution. Our MISR prototype creates high quality reconstructions with an order of magnitude fewer images than previous approaches and, critically, produces these reconstructions fast enough for practical usage.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Regional-Scale 3D Ground-Motion Simulations of M w 7 Earthquakes on the Hayward Fault, Northern California Resolving Frequencies 0–10 Hz and Including Site-Response Corrections

Large earthquake ground-motion simulations in 3D Earth models provide constraints on site-specific shaking intensities but have suffered from limited frequency resolution and ignored site response in soft soils. In this work we report new regional-scale 3D simulations for moment magnitude 7.0 scenario earthquakes on the Hayward Fault, northern California with SW4. Simulations resolved significantly broader band frequencies (0–10 Hz) than previous studies and represent the highest resolution simulations for any such earthquake to date. Seismic waves were excited by a kinematic rupture following Graves and Pitarka (2016) and obeyed wave propagation in a 3D Earth model with topography from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assuming a minimum shear wavespeed, VSmin, of 500 m/s. We corrected motions for linear and nonlinear site response for the shear wavespeed, VS, from the USGS 3D model, using a recently developed ground-motion model (GMM) for Fourier amplitude spectra . At soft soil locations subjected to strong shaking, the site-corrected intensities reflect the competing effects of linear amplification by low V S material, reduction of stiffness during nonlinear deformation, and damping of high frequencies. Sites with near-surface V S of 500 m/s or greater require no linear site correction but can experience amplitude reduction due to nonlinear response. Averaged over all sites, we obtained reasonable agreement with empirical ergodic median GMMs currently used for seismic hazard and design ground motions (epsilon less than 1), with marked improvement at soft sedimentary sites. At specific locations, the simulated shaking intensities show systematic differences from the GMMs that reveal path and site effects not captured in these ergodic models. Results suggest how next generation regional-scale earthquake simulations can provide higher spatial and frequency resolution while including effects of soft soils that are commonly ignored in scenario earthquake ground-motion simulations.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Direct observation on supersonic microprojectile penetration of carbon fiber composites with ultrafast synchrotron X-ray phase contrast imaging

High-speed penetration into carbon fiber composites is of fundamental importance to materials science and impact engineering, but research along this line suffers considerably from the lack of direct experimental observations. Here we investigate such penetration dynamics of a unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced epoxy (UCFRE) composite, with a combination of in situ, ultrafast, synchrotron phase contrast imaging and finite element (FE) analysis. The experiments yield the first direct observation on projectile trajectories and fiber-scale deformation and damage in the UCFRE composites during supersonic microprojectile penetration, for different fiber orientations (0 degrees - 90 degrees from the impact direction) and projectile velocities (600 - 850 m.s -1 ), at unprecedented temporal (~ 100 ps) and spatial (5 μm) resolutions. The maximum penetration depth decreases with increasing fiber orientation angles, as a result of anisotropic damage evolution in the composite sample. Strain localizations are prone to develop along a direction perpendicular to the fiber orientation, while the damage or cavity region, along the fiber direction. FE modeling with a three-dimensional Hashin criterion yields consistent projectile trajectory and cavity morphology with the experimental results. Finally, with increasing fiber orientation angles, damage analyses show a transition in the damage mode from fiber compression to matrix compression damage, in line with the increasing maximum penetration depth.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Energy-resolved fast-neutron radiography using an event-mode neutron imaging detector

Energy-resolved fast-neutron radiography is a powerful non-destructive technique that can be used to remotely measure the quantity and distribution of elements and isotopes in a sample. This is done by comparing the energy-dependent neutron transmission of a sample with the known cross-sections of individual isotopes. The reconstruction of the composition is possible due to the unique features (e.g. resonances) in the cross-sections of individual isotopes. At short-pulsed (≲ 1 ns) neutron sources, such information is accessible via time-of-flight neutron imaging in principle, but requires a detector with nanosecond temporal resolution. Conventional neutron detectors can meet this requirement only by heavily compromising spatial resolution or efficiency. Here, we present a unique approach on fast neutron resonance radiography using a scintillator-based event-mode imaging detector at a short-pulsed neutron source, including first results on spatially mapped resonance profiles using MeV neutrons. The event mode approach applied in the presented detector allows recording of individual neutron interactions with nanosecond precision in time and sub-mm resolution in space. As a result, the entire available neutron energy spectrum can be measured for each pulse. At the same time, the use of a thick scintillator screen and lenses to focus the produced light results in a highly flexible field of view and a high interaction probability in the sensitive volume of the detector.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Downscaled CMIP5 projections of physical fire risk understate historical trends

Reliable projections of wildfire risk are important for multi-sector impacts analysis. Statistically downscaled and bias-corrected Earth system model ensemble products are routinely used to analyze regional physical wildfire risk, but evaluations of historical observed trends and variability are lacking. Here, we evaluate physical fire risk over the western United States using the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) by comparing model outputs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), statistically downscaled via the Multivariate Adaptive Constructed Analogs (MACA) approach, against the observational target dataset gridMET, a gridded high-resolution surface meteorological product. We analyze multidecadal trends and interannual variability in seasonal average FWI for the historical period and future projections under two emissions scenarios, and we compare MACA-CMIP5 ensemble results with a simple time series model that generates historical and future projections of seasonal FWI based on bootstrapping observed historical trends and variability. Our findings indicate that MACA-CMIP5 accurately captures the magnitude and spatial patterns of seasonally averaged FWI but tends to underestimate historical decadal trends. We show that future increases in fire risk may be underestimated relative to the simple time series model that projects historical variability into the future. We also highlight that model biases in relative humidity contribute significantly to model-data differences. Our results underscore the importance of historical hindcasting exercises for informing broader multi-sector applications.

FWI↗

Deep Learning Scene Classification Experiments in Automatic Detection of Slums on Planetscope Imagery

Population growth is increasingly happening in slum settlements of the large urban centers in the Global South. The term "slum" encompasses a wide range of communities, located mostly in underserved areas, and often exhibiting distinct structural and functional informalities with a relatively high concentration of marginalized populations. To address the issues confronting slums for effective planning and development, including the realistic estimation of the resident population, identifying them accurately is fundamental. Given the disagreements over a universal definition, diverse characteristic features, and socio-political limitations, global detection of slums is a veritable challenge. In this paper, we present experiments in slum detection using a scene classification algorithm and 3-meter spatial resolution satellite imagery. We train and evaluate the model for slum detection in Mumbai, India for the year 2023 and test the temporal generalization of the trained model on Mumbai in 2020 and 2018. In addition, we explore the pathways toward geographic generalization to Kolkata and Delhi (India). We discuss several limitations in the workflow and model, situate our findings in the existing literature, and suggest improvements and alternatives. With this, we establish baseline methods and experiments as a first step towards developing an image-based global slum detection framework and algorithm. This work adds to the community discussion on methods, data challenges, and open questions related to the detection of slums globally. With this research, we hope to improve our understanding of human settlements, especially in critical areas, improve population estimates, and help measure progress towards the sustainable development goals.

Arndt, Jacob↗

Electroluminescence Characterization of Recombination in Back Junction Silicon Heterojunction Test Structures: Role of the Inversion Layer

Electroluminescence (EL) characterization technique is used to quantify recombination properties in back junction silicon (Si) heterojunction (HJ) solar cell test structures with interdigitated back contact (IBC) emitters and metal contacts. These test structures are three terminal devices that allow the selective biasing and injection of minority carriers into spatially isolated emitter strips having different widths. This allows the study of minority carriers' current transport, flow, and recombination in these regions, which can, then, be applied to full IBC cells. EL is used to verify that emission is proportional to the minority carriers' concentration in the corresponding regions of the device, thus providing information relevant to minority carriers' collection when compared with laser beam induced current technique in considerably less time and with a higher spatial resolution. Current transport through the inversion layer that occurs due to the band bending at the n crystalline Si and p amorphous Si interface is discussed relying on the distance that minority carriers travel in different configurations and on their diffusion length. Laser defect spots (LDS) were, then, introduced in the emitter regions to analyze the spatial profile of minority carriers as they recombine at the LDS due to their high surface recombination velocity. Ideality factors in different configurations are spatially mapped from EL before and after introducing LDS and are used to show the effect of the inversion layer on the different recombination mechanisms. Current transport through the inversion layer is studied at different biasing conditions and correlated with current transport after LDS.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Three-dimensional super line-localization in low signal-to-noise microscope images via prior-apprised unsupervised learning (PAUL)

Biological processes such as processive enzyme turnover and intracellular cargo tracking involve the dynamic motion of a small "article" along a curvilinear biopolymer track. To understand these processes that occur across multiple length and time scales, one must acquire both the trajectory of the particle and the position of the track along which it moves, possibly by combining high-resolution single-particle tracking with conventional microscopy. Yet, usually there is a significant resolution mismatch between these modalities: while the tracked particle is localized with a precision of 10 nm, the image of the surroundings is limited by optical difraction, with 200 nm lateral and 500 nm axial resolutions. Compared to the particle's trajectory, the surrounding curvilinear structure appears as a blurred and noisy image. This disparity in the spatial resolutions of the particle trajectory and the surrounding curvilinear structure image makes data reconstruction, as well as interpretation, particularly challenging. Analysis is further complicated when the curvilinear structures are oriented arbitrarily in 3D space. Here, we present a prior-apprised unsupervised learning (PAUL) approach to extract information from 3D images where the underlying features resemble a curved line such as a filament or microtubule. This three-stage framework starts with a Hessian-based feature enhancement, which is followed by feature registration, where local line segments are detected on repetitively sampled subimage tiles. In the final stage, statistical learning, segments are clustered based on their geometric relationships. Principal curves are then approximated from each segment group via statistical tools including principal component analysis, bootstrap and kernel transformation. This procedure is characterized on simulated images, where sub-voxel medium deviations from true curves have been achieved. The 3D PAUL approach has also been implemented for successful line localization in experimental 3D images of gold nanowires obtained using a multifocal microscope. Lastly, this work not only bridges the resolution gap between two microscopy modalities, but also allows us to conduct 3D super line-localization imaging experiments, without using super-resolution techniques.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Modeling Air Pollutant Emissions in the Provincial Level Road Transportation Sector in Korea: A Case Study of the Zero-Emission Vehicle Subsidy

South Korea has been suffering from high PM2.5 pollution. Previous studies have contributed to establishing PM2.5 mitigation policies but have not considered provincial features and sector-interactions. In that sense, the integrated assessment model (IAM) could complement the shortcomings of previous studies. IAM, capable of analyzing PM2.5 pollution levels at the provincial level in Korea, however, has not been developed yet. Hence, this study (i) expands on IAM which can represent provincial-level spatial resolution in Korea (GCAM-Korea) with air pollutant emissions modeling which focuses on the road transportation sector and (ii) examines the zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) subsidy policy’s effects on PM2.5 mitigation using the expanded GCAM-Korea. Simulation results show that PM2.5 emissions decrease by 0.6–4.1% compared to the baseline, and the Seoul metropolitan area contributes 38–44% to the overall PM2.5 emission reductions. As the ZEVs subsidy is weighted towards the light-duty vehicle 4-wheels (LDV4W) sector, various spillover effects are found: ZEVs’ share rises intensively in the LDV4W sector leading to an increase in its service costs, and at the same time, driving bus service costs to become relatively cheaper. This, in turn, drives an increase in bus service demand and emissions discharge. Furthermore, this type of impact of the ZEVs subsidy policy does not reduce internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) in freight trucks, although diesel freight trucks are a major contributor to PM2.5 emissions and also to NOx.

Roh, Minyoung↗