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At least 1,441 records · Page 80

Electronic Excitations in B12As2 and their Temperature Dependence by Vacuum Ultraviolet Ellipsometry

The dielectric response function of epitaxial B{sub 12}As{sub 2} films on 4H-SiC was determined at room temperature and at 10 K in the spectral region of 3.6-9.8 eV, i.e., in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) spectral region, by synchrotron ellipsometry. The experimental dielectric function was simulated with the critical point parabolic band model. The parameters of the dispersive structures were derived by numerical fitting of the experimental data to the proposed model. New high energy optical transitions are resolved at 5.95, 7.8 and 8.82 eV and their lineshape and origin are discussed. The temperature dependence of the critical point energies and transition strengths was determined, and the excitonic effect is considered.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Total Precipitable Water

The simulation was performed on 64K cores of Intrepid, running at 0.25 simulated-years-per-day and taking 25 million core-hours. This is the first simulation using both the CAM5 physics and the highly scalable spectral element dynamical core. The animation of Total Precipitable Water clearly shows hurricanes developing in the Atlantic and Pacific.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Radiative properties of advanced spacecraft heat shield materials

Experimental results are presented to show the effects of simulated reentry exposure by convective heating and by radiant heating on spectral and total emittance of statically oxidized Inconel 617 and Haynes HS188 superalloys to 1260 K and a silicide coatea (R512E) columbium 752 alloy to 1590 K. Convective heating exposures were conducted in a supersonic arc plasma wind tunnel using a wedge-shaped specimen configuration. Radiant tests were conducted at a pressure of .003 atmospheres of dry air at a flow velocity of several meters per second. Convective heating specimens were subjected to 8, 20, and 38 15-min heating cycles, and radiant heating specimens were tested for 10, 20, 50, and 100 30-min heating cycles. Changes in radiative properties are explained in terms of changes in composition resulting from simulated reentry tests. The methods used to evaluate morphological, compositional and crystallographic changes include: Auger electron spectroscopy; scanning electron microscopy; X-ray diffraction analysis; and electron microprobe analysis.

Cunnington, G. R.↗

A fourth-order adaptive mesh refinement algorithm for the multicomponent, reacting compressible Navier–Stokes equations

In this study, we present a fourth-order in space and time block-structured adaptive mesh refinement algorithm for the compressible multicomponent reacting Navier–Stokes equations. The algorithm uses a finite-volume approach that incorporates a fourth-order discretisation of the convective terms. The time-stepping algorithm is based on a multi-level spectral deferred corrections method that enables explicit treatment of advection and diffusion coupled with an implicit treatment of reactions. The temporal scheme is embedded in a block-structured adaptive mesh refinement algorithm that includes subcycling in time with spectral deferred correction sweeps applied on levels. Here we present the details of the multi-level scheme paying particular attention to the treatment of coarse–fine boundaries required to maintain fourth-order accuracy in time. We then demonstrate the convergence properties of the algorithm on several test cases including both non-reacting and reacting flows. Finally we present simulations of a vitiated dimethyl ether jet in 2D and a turbulent hydrogen jet in 3D, both with detailed kinetics and transport.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Spatial and spectral effects in subcritical system pulsed experiments

Accurate neutronic models are needed for the interpretation of pulsed experiments in subcritical systems. In this work, the extent of spatial and spectral effects in the pulse propagation phenomena is investigated and the analysis is applied to the GUINEVERE experiment. The multigroup cross section data is generated by the Monte Carlo SERPENT code and the neutronic evolution following the source pulse is simulated by a kinetic diffusion code. The results presented show that important spatial and spectral aspects need to be properly accounted for and that a detailed energy approach may be needed to adequately capture the physical features of the system to the pulse injection. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Distributed seeding for narrow-line width hard x-ray free-electron lasers

We describe a new FEL line-narrowing technique called distributed seeding (DS), using Si(111) Bragg crystal monochromators to enhance the spectral brightness of the MaRIE hard X-ray freeelectron laser. DS differs from self-seeding in three important aspects. First, DS relies on spectral filtering of the radiation at multiple locations along the undulator, with a monochromator located every few power gain lengths. Second, DS performs filtering early in the exponential gain region before SASE spikes start to appear in the radiation longitudinal profile. Third, DS provides the option to select a wavelength longer than the peak of the SASE gain curve, which leads to improved spectral contrast of the seeded FEL over the SASE background. Timedependent Genesis simulations show the power-vs-z growth curves for DS exhibit behaviors of a seeded FEL amplifier, such as exponential growth region immediately after the filters. Of the seeding approaches considered, the two-stage DS spectra produce the highest contrast of seeded FEL over the SASE background and that the three-stage DS provides the narrowest linewidth with a relative spectral FWHM of 8 X 10 -5 .

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Improving the modeling of near-wall interphase heat transfer in porous media models of Pebble Bed Reactors

Here, this work aims to improve capabilities for modeling localized effects in porous media models of Pebble Bed Reactors. The wall-channeling effect is the primary local phenomenon of interest in a PBR, where the presence of the reflector wall disrupts the pebble packing, causing the pebbles near the wall to pack less efficiently and creating large void regions. Accurate modeling of the near-wall region is important as it will affect core bypass flow and temperature predictions. Porous media models are commonly used for design scoping and plant-level simulations of PBRs. Although these models have some capabilities to model the near-wall region, the correlations that are available in porous media codes are often inaccurate when a multi-region model is used to discretize the near-wall region. This work employs a high-to-low analysis to study the accuracy of available interphase heat transfer closures. NekRS, a spectral element computational fluid dynamics code, is used to perform Large Eddy Simulations. These LES simulation results are compared to porous media model results from the Pronghorn porous media code. The friction term of the KTA drag closure is first improved, reducing the error in the prediction of the near-wall velocity from over 50% to less than 5%. This is combined with improvements to the form term from previous works to produce a drag closure that is capable of accurately modeling the wall-channeling effect across a variety of flow conditions. The Nusselt number predictions of several heat transfer correlations are compared to the high-fidelity results where it is found that the KTA heat transfer correlation is capable of accurately predicting the local Nusselt numbers that were determined in the high-fidelity simulation. Comparison of the radial solid temperature profiles, however, reveal discrepancies between NekRS and Pronghorn. It is discovered that the implementation of the interphase heat transfer coefficient that exists in many current porous media codes is not valid when local porosities are modeled. Instead, it is suggested that the interphase heat transfer coefficient should be dependent on the local porosity, the Nusselt number, and the local solid surface-to-volume ratio. Implementation of this change produces improvement in the agreement between the results obtained by NekRS and Pronghorn while using the KTA heat transfer correlation.

interphase heat transfer↗

Error Bounds for Dynamical Spectral Estimation

Dynamical spectral estimation is a well-established numerical approach for estimating eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the Markov transition operator from trajectory data. Although the approach has been widely applied in biomolecular simulations, its error properties remain poorly understood. Here we analyze the error of a dynamical spectral estimation method called “the variational approach to conformational dynamics" (VAC). We bound the approximation error and estimation error for VAC estimates. Our analysis establishes VAC's convergence properties and suggests new strategies for tuning VAC to improve accuracy.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Simulating Micrometeoroid Bombardment on Mercury: Identifying New Space Weathering Features in the Laboratory

Airless bodies are continually exposed to the harsh interplanetary space environment, causing the alteration of their surfaces through a process known as space weathering (SW). SW is dominated by solar wind irradiation and micrometeoroid bombardment, which together alter the spectral, microstructural, and chemical characteristics of grains on the surface of airless bodies. The effects of SW are variable and depend on the heliocentric distance and the initial composition of the planetary surface, among other factors. On the Moon and S- type asteroids, it is well established that SW darkens and reddens the surface of these bodies and attenuates absorption bands across the Vis-NIR wavelengths. These spectral effects are largely the result of the production of metallic Fe nanoparticles (npFe). However, Mercury’s SW environment is unique compared to the Moon and S-type asteroids. Mercury is a geochemical endmember, with a surface composition low in Fe (<2 wt.%) and enriched in volatile components, including regions of the surface hypothesized to contain up to 4 wt.% graphite in the low reflectance material (LRM). In fact, the presence of graphite on Mercury has been hypothesized to act as a reducing agent for silicates during SW to produce Si-bearing Fe-rich metal. In addition, its location in the solar system exposes Mercury to an extreme SW environment, with the surface of the planet experiencing an intense solar wind flux and higher flux and velocity of micrometeoroid impactors compared to the Moon and S-type asteroids. The effects that such harsh SW has on materials with the unique compositional characteristics of Mercury are not well constrained. To better understand SW at Mercury, we must investigate these processes in the laboratory. Here, we present the results of our analyses of the spectral, microstructural and chemical characteristics of Mercury analog samples irradiated by pulsed laser to simulate the short duration, high temperature events associated with micrometeoroid impacts.

Nick Bott↗

Using ARM Measurements to Improve the Simulated Vertical Distribution of Arctic Aerosols in the Community Atmosphere Model (Final Technical Report)

The main accomplishments achieved under this project were: (1) assessing the utility of high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) measurements from Barrow to determine vertical profiles of aerosols in the Arctic, (2) identifying ways to improve simulations of the vertical profile of black carbon in the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) via alteration of various microphysical parameters, and (3) assessing the sensitivity of meltwater runoff from the Greenland Ice Sheet to varying amounts, timing, and hygroscopicity of deposited black carbon aerosols.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Tools for Performing SBG hyperspectral Observing System Simulation Experiment

One of NASA’s Decadal Survey mission, Surface Biology and Geology (SBG), will include a hyperspectral remote sensing imager, which has a very high spatial resolution and a wide spectral coverage (from UV to Near IR). Unprecedented large data volumes will be generated by the SBG hyperspectral instrument. Before the launch of the new satellite, an Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) can be used to study different designs of the new satellite system. One of the key components in an OSSE study is a radiative transfer model (RTM) or forward model. In this presentation, we will describe a Principal Component-based Radiative Transfer Model (PCRTM) which is capable of simulating atmospheric (TOA) radiance or reflectance spectra from far IR to visible and UV spectral regions (50 wavenumber to 30000 wavenumber) quickly and accurately. Multiple scattering from multiple layers of clouds/aerosols are included in the model. The PCRTM has a very good accuracy relative to reference line-by-line radiative transfer models (LBLRTM), and it saves 3-4 orders of magnitude computational time relative to LBLRTM or MODTRAN. The PCRTM model has been successfully used to analyze large volumes of data from hyperspectral sensors such as AIRS, CrIS, and IASI. It has also been used to perform OSSE studies for the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) mission. Another useful tool for the OSSE is surface Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) database. It is very crucial for the SBG OSSE to include realistic BRDF spectra. Currently, most of the surface reflectance spectra such as those in the ECOSIS and ECOSTRESS are measured at specific observation geometries. We have developed a hyperspectral bidirectional reflectance (HSBR) model which combines Ross-Li BRDF model with the existing reflectance spectral libraries using a principal component analysis. This HSBR model can provide realistic BRDF spectra under various observation conditions. It can also be used to generate realistic BRDF spectra using measurements from multi-band imagers or spectrometers such as MODIS or VIIRS.

Xu Liu↗

IR and SFG vibrational spectroscopy of the water bend in the bulk liquid and at the liquid-vapor interface, respectively

Vibrational spectroscopy of the water bending mode has been investigated experimentally to study the structure of water in condensed phases. In the present work, we calculate the theoretical infrared (IR) and sum-frequency generation (SFG) spectra of the HOH bend in liquid water and at the water liquid/vapor interface using a mixed quantum/classical approach. Classical molecular dynamics simulation is performed by using a recently developed water model that explicitly includes three-body interactions and yields a better description of the water surface. Ab-initio-based transition frequency, dipole, polarizability, and intermolecular coupling maps are developed for the spectral calculations. The calculated IR and SFG spectra show good agreement with the experimental measurements. In the theoretical imaginary part of the SFG susceptibility for the water liquid/vapor interface, we find two features: a negative band centered at 1615 cm{sup −1} and a positive band centered at 1670 cm{sup −1}. We analyze this spectrum in terms of the contributions from molecules in different hydrogen-bond classes to the SFG spectral density and also compare to SFG results for the OH stretch. SFG of the water bending mode provides a complementary picture of the heterogeneous hydrogen-bond configurations at the water surface.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Development of the Ames Global Hyperspectral Synthetic Data Set: Surface Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function

This study introduces the Ames Global Hyperspectral Synthetic Data set (AGHSD), in particular the surface bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) product, to support the NASA Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) mission development. The data set is generated based on the corresponding multispectral BRDF products from NASA's MODIS satellite sensor. Based on theories of radiative transfer in vegetation canopies, we derive a simple but robust relationship that indicates that the hyperspectral surface BRDF can be accurately approximated as a weighted sum of the soil surface reflectance, the leaf single albedo, and the canopy scattering coefficient, where the weights or coefficients are spectrally invariant and thus readily estimated from the multispectral MODIS products. We validate the algorithm with simulations by a Monte Carlo Ray Tracing model and find the results highly consistent with the theoretic derivation. Using reflectance spectra of soil and vegetation derived from existing spectral libraries, we apply the algorithm to generate the AGHSD BRDF product at 1 km and 8-day resolutions for the year of 2019. The data set is biogeochemically and biogeophysically coherent and consistent, and serves the goal to support the SBG community in developing sciences and applications for the future global imaging spectroscopy mission.

Hyperspectral Remote Sensing↗

Turbulent, extreme multi-zone model for simulating flux and polarization variability in blazars

The author presents a model for variability of the flux and polarization of blazars in which turbulent plasma flowing at a relativistic speed down a jet crosses a standing conical shock. The shock compresses the plasma and accelerates electrons to energies up to γ{sub max} ≳ 10{sup 4} times their rest-mass energy, with the value of γ{sub max} determined by the direction of the magnetic field relative to the shock front. The turbulence is approximated in a computer code as many cells, each with a uniform magnetic field whose direction is selected randomly. The density of high-energy electrons in the plasma changes randomly with time in a manner consistent with the power spectral density of flux variations derived from observations of blazars. The variations in flux and polarization are therefore caused by continuous noise processes rather than by singular events such as explosive injection of energy at the base of the jet. Sample simulations illustrate the behavior of flux and linear polarization versus time that such a model produces. The variations in γ-ray flux generated by the code are often, but not always, correlated with those at lower frequencies, and many of the flares are sharply peaked. The mean degree of polarization of synchrotron radiation is higher and its timescale of variability shorter toward higher frequencies, while the polarization electric vector sometimes randomly executes apparent rotations. The slope of the spectral energy distribution exhibits sharper breaks than can arise solely from energy losses. All of these results correspond to properties observed in blazars.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

LANDSAT-D investigations in snow hydrology

The sample LANDSAT-4 TM tape (7 bands) of NE Arkansas/Tennessee area was received and displayed. Snow reflectance in all 6 TM reflective bands, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 was simulated, using Wiscombe and Warren's (1980) delta-Eddington model. Snow reflectance in bands 4, 5, and 7 appear sensitive to grain size. One of the objectives is to interpret surface optical grain size of snow, for spectral extension of albedo. While TM data of the study area are not received, simulation results are encouraging. It also appears that the TM filters resemble a "square-wave" closely enough to permit assuming a square-wave in calculations. Integrated band reflectance over the actual response functions was simulated, using sensor data supplied by Santa Barbara Research Center. Differences between integrating over the actual response functions and the equivalent square wave were negligible.

Dozier, J.↗

Development of a Laser-Electron-Interaction Region for Compact High Repetition-Rate Mono-Energetic Laser Based Gamma Sources

Inverse-Compton scattering (ICS) is a well-established technique capable of producing monochromatic radiation over a large range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Most recently, ICS has attracted attention, owing to its compactness and possible coupling with novel acceleration methods to yield compact X- and 𝛄-ray sources. Under this award, we carried out a systematic optimization of the ICS and demonstrate via numerical simulation that combining ICS with a conventional superconducting linac could produce Watt-level average-power 𝛄 rays with high spectral brightness. The study is performed with idealized laser and electron-beam distributions and confirmed with the realistic distributions simulated from start-to-end numerical modeling of the electron accelerator. The studies led to the design and engineering design of an ICS interaction point for the FAST facility along with some beam measurement. Due to the cancellation of the program in Year 3 long with delay in the commissioning of the FAST facility, we were not able to demonstrate the generation of 𝛄 rays, we, however, procured some of the hardware, installed some of the required infrastructures and plan to eventually generate 𝛄 ray pending future interest on the topics and availability of funding.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

A Novel, Poly-Etalon, Fabry-Perot for Planetary Research

In an effort to develop a mechanically robust, high throughput and solid state spectrometer several liquid crystal Fabry-Perot etalons were constructed. The etalons were tested for spectral response, radiation resistance and optical transmission. The first year of this project was spent developing and understanding the properties of the liquid crystal etalons; in the second year an intensified all-sky imaging system was developed around a pair of LC etalons. The imaging system, developed jointly with SRI International represents a unique brassboard to demonstrate the use of LC etalons as tunable filters. The first set of etalons constructed in year one of this project were tested for spectral response and throughput while etalon surrogates were exposed to proton radiation simulating the exposure of an object in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The 2" diameter etalons had a measure finesse of approximately 10 and were tunable over five orders. Liquid crystals exposed to proton irradiation showed no signs of damage. In year two two larger diameter (3") etalons were constructed with gaps of 3 and 5 microns. This pair of etalons is for use in a high resolution, all-sky spectral imager. The WATUMI imager system follows the heritage of all sky, narrow band, intensified imagers however it includes two LC Fabry-Perot etalons to provide tunability and the ability to switch wavelengths rapidly, an import consideration in auroral airglow imaging. This work also resulted in two publications and one poster presentation. The instrument will be uniquely capable, with superior throughput and speed, to measure optical airglow of multiple emission lines in harsh conditions.

Kerr, Robert B.↗