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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.

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At least 1,477 records · Page 82
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Self-Intercalation Tunable Interlayer Exchange Coupling in a Synthetic van der Waals Antiferromagnet

One of the most promising avenues in 2D materials research is the synthesis of antiferromagnets employing 2D van der Waals (vdW) magnets. However, it has proven challenging, due in part to the complicated fabrication process and undesired adsorbates as well as the significantly deteriorated ferromagnetism at atomic layers. Here, the engineering of the antiferromagnetic (AFM) interlayer exchange coupling between atomically thin yet ferromagnetic CrTe 2 layers in an ultra-high vacuum-free 2D magnetic crystal, Cr 5 Te 8 is reported. By self-introducing interstitial Cr atoms in the vdW gaps, the emergent AFM ordering and the resultant giant magnetoresistance effect are induced. A large negative magnetoresistance (10%) with a plateau-like feature is revealed, which is consistent with the AFM interlayer coupling between the adjacent CrTe 2 main layers in a temperature window of 30 K below the Néel temperature. Notably, the AFM state has a relatively weak interlayer exchange coupling, allowing a switching between the interlayer AFM and ferromagnetic states at moderate magnetic fields. Here this work represents a new route to engineering low-power devices that underpin the emerging spintronic technologies, and an ideal laboratory to study 2D magnetism.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Spontaneously formed phonon frequency combs in van der Waals solid CrGeTe 3 and CrSiTe 3

Optical phonon engineering through nonlinear effects has been utilized in ultrafast control of material properties. However, nonlinear optical phonons typically exhibit rapid decay due to strong mode-mode couplings, limiting their effectiveness in temperature or frequency sensitive applications. Here we report the observation of long-lived nonlinear optical phonons through the spontaneous formation of phonon frequency combs in the van der Waals material CrXTe 3 (X=Ge, Si) using high-resolution Raman scattering. Unlike conventional optical phonons, the highest A g mode in CrGeTe 3 splits into equidistant, sharp peaks forming a frequency comb that persists for hundreds of oscillations and survives up to 200K. These modes correspond to localized oscillations of Ge 2 Te 6 clusters, isolated from Cr hexagons, behaving as independent quantum oscillators. Introducing a cubic nonlinear term to the harmonic oscillator model, we simulate the phonon time evolution and successfully replicate the observed comb structure. Similar frequency comb behavior is observed in CrSiTe 3 , demonstrating the generalizability of this phenomenon. Our findings demonstrate that Raman scattering effectively probes high-frequency nonlinear phonon modes, offering insight into the generation of long-lived, tunable phonon frequency combs with potential applications in ultrafast material control and phonon-based technologies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Temperature-independent giant dielectric response in transitional BaTiO 3 thin films

Ferroelectric materials exhibit the largest dielectric permittivities and piezoelectric responses in nature, making them invaluable in applications from supercapacitors or sensors to actuators or electromechanical transducers. The origin of this behavior is their proximity to phase transitions. However, the largest possible responses are most often not utilized due to the impracticality of using temperature as a control parameter and to operate at phase transitions. This has motivated the design of solid solutions with morphotropic phase boundaries between different polar phases that are tuned by composition and that are weakly dependent on temperature. Thus far, the best piezoelectrics have been achieved in materials with intermediate (bridging or adaptive) phases. But so far, complex chemistry or an intricate microstructure has been required to achieve temperature-independent phase-transition boundaries. Here, we report such a temperature-independent bridging state in thin films of chemically simple BaTiO3. A coexistence among tetragonal, orthorhombic, and their bridging low-symmetry phases are shown to induce continuous vertical polarization rotation, which recreates a smear in-transition state and leads to a giant temperature-independent dielectric response. The current material contains a ferroelectric state that is distinct from those at morphotropic phase boundaries and cannot be considered as ferroelectric crystals. We believe that other materials can be engineered in a similar way to contain a ferroelectric state with gradual change of structure, forming a class of transitional ferroelectrics. Similar mechanisms could be utilized in other materials to design low-power ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics, dielectrics, or shape-memory alloys, as well as efficient electro- and magnetocalorics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Atom Interferometry with Floquet Atom Optics

Floquet engineering offers a compelling approach for designing the time evolution of periodically driven systems. We implement a periodic atom-light coupling to realize Floquet atom optics on the strontium 1 S 0 - 3 P 1 transition. These atom optics reach pulse efficiencies above 99.4% over a wide range of frequency offsets between light and atomic resonance, even under strong driving where this detuning is on the order of the Rabi frequency. Moreover, we use Floquet atom optics to compensate for differential Doppler shifts in large momentum transfer atom interferometers and achieve state-of-the-art momentum separation in excess of 400 ℏ⁢k. In conclusion, this technique can be applied to any two-level system at arbitrary coupling strength, with broad application in coherent quantum control.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Radiation-Shielded, Shallow Underground, Long-Coherence Time Quantum Qubit Concept

Ionizing radiation from ambient radioactivity has been shown to reduce the coherence time of superconducting qubits. Qubit performance can be improved by shielding the system from external radiation: operating the system underground to reduce cosmic rays, and use of lead shielding to reduce ambient gammas. Here we present a design for a lead shield optimized for a dilution refrigerator operating in PNNL's Shallow Underground Laboratory. The shield reduces the ambient gamma flux by approximately 99.8%, so that cosmic ray muons dominate the ionizing radiation input to the qubits.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2026

Polarization‐Engineered Near‐Field Generation Using a Hybrid Tip–Antenna System

Precise control of light polarization at the nanoscale is critical for accessing chiral optical responses and manipulating spin–photon interactions in advanced materials. Yet, conventional scattering-type near-field probes predominantly generate out-of-plane linear polarization and offer little control over phase or polarization state. Here, in this study, we introduce a polarization-engineered near-field methodology based on a combined metallic tip and planar dipole nanoantenna system. Using full-wave electromagnetic simulations, we show that the tip acts as a vertically oriented plasmonic resonator, while the antenna supports an in-plane dipolar mode. By tuning the tip–antenna geometry and tip height, the two orthogonal field components attain comparable amplitudes and a controllable ∼90° phase offset, producing circularly polarized nano-light in the antenna gap. The proposed system effectively functions as a nanoscale quarter-wave plate, converting linearly polarized illumination into circularly polarized hotspots without external polarization optics. This method establishes an experimentally accessible route toward polarization-programmable near-field nanoscopy, enabling chiral spectroscopy, selective excitation of spin/valley degrees of freedom, and quantum optical investigations at the nanoscale.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Path to Enlightenment: Progress and Opportunities in High Efficiency Halide Perovskite Light-Emitting Devices

Besides the flourishment in photovoltaics, halide perovskites hold great promise to compete with leading contenders among solution-processed emitters, such as organics and semiconductor colloidal nanocrystals, in the field of light emission. Halide perovskites exhibit outstanding optoelectronic properties, including high photoluminescence quantum yields, facile bandgap tunability, narrow emission line widths, and respectable carrier mobilities, promoting them to thrive in versatile light-emitting applications such as light-emitting diodes, lasers, X-ray scintillators, and circularly polarized light sources. Herein, we discuss the underlying physics of light emission in state-of-the-art perovskite light-emitting devices and focus on promising strategies for further improvement of device performance.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Highly selective Si 3 N 4 /SiO 2 etching using an NF 3 /N 2 /O 2 /H 2 remote plasma. II. Surface reaction mechanism

Developing processes for highly selective etching of silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 ) with respect to silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) is a major priority for semiconductor fabrication processing. In this paper and in Paper I [Volynets et al., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 38, 023007 (2020)], mechanisms are discussed for highly selective Si3N4 etching in a remote plasma based on experimental and theoretical investigations. The Si 3 N 4 /SiO 2 etch selectivity of up to 380 was experimentally produced using a remote plasma sustained in NF 3 /N 2 /O 2 /H 2 mixtures. A selectivity strongly depends on the flow rate of H 2 , an effect attributed to the formation of HF molecules in vibrationally excited states that accelerate etching reactions. Based on experimental measurements and zero-dimensional plasma simulations, an analytical etching model was developed for etch rates as a function of process parameters. Reaction rates and sticking coefficients were provided by quantum chemistry models and also fitted to the experimental results. Etch rates from the analytical model show good agreement with the experimental results and demonstrate why certain etchants accelerate or inhibit the etch process. In particular, the modeling shows the important role of HF molecules in the first vibrationally excited state [HF( v = 1)] in achieving high Si 3 N 4 /SiO 2 selectivity.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2026

An Introduction to Variational Calculus

Variational Calculus is an advanced topic in mathematics. This document exists to compile the basics of Variational Calculus in a readable and digestible manner for application by engineers. This document is a living document and will be updated as time moves forward. It is the hope that by reading this document, the basics of Variational Calculus can be readily applied to any system/function of interest. This does not serve as a replacement for textbooks or other learned sources but should act as a companion piece to better serve the reader in times of confusion and distress.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Understanding of bacterial lignin extracellular degradation mechanisms by Pseudomonas putida KT2440 via secretomic analysis

Abstract Background Bacterial lignin degradation is believed to be primarily achieved by a secreted enzyme system. Effects of such extracellular enzyme systems on lignin structural changes and degradation pathways are still not clearly understood, which remains as a bottleneck in the bacterial lignin bioconversion process. Results This study investigated lignin degradation using an isolated secretome secreted by Pseudomonas putida KT2440 that grew on glucose as the only carbon source. Enzyme assays revealed that the secretome harbored oxidase and peroxidase/Mn 2+ -peroxidase capacity and reached the highest activity at 120 h of the fermentation time. The degradation rate of alkali lignin was found to be only 8.1% by oxidases, but increased to 14.5% with the activation of peroxidase/Mn 2+ -peroxidase. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and two-dimensional 1 H– 13 C heteronuclear single-quantum coherence (HSQC) NMR analysis revealed that the oxidases exhibited strong C–C bond ( β-β , β -5, and β -1) cleavage. The activation of peroxidases enhanced lignin degradation by stimulating C–O bond ( β -O-4) cleavage, resulting in increased yields of aromatic monomers and dimers. Further mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomics measurements comprehensively identified different groups of enzymes particularly oxidoreductases in P. putida secretome, including reductases, peroxidases, monooxygenases, dioxygenases, oxidases, and dehydrogenases, potentially contributed to the lignin degradation process. Conclusions Overall, we discovered that bacterial extracellular degradation of alkali lignin to vanillin, vanillic acid, and other lignin-derived aromatics involved a series of oxidative cleavage, catalyzed by active DyP-type peroxidase, multicopper oxidase, and other accessory enzymes. These results will guide further metabolic engineering design to improve the efficiency of lignin bioconversion. Graphical Abstract

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Parameterized Neural Ordinary Differential Equations: Applications to Computational Physics Problems

This work proposes an extension of neural ordinary differential equations (NODEs) by introducing an additional set of ODE input parameters to NODEs. This extension allows NODEs to learn multiple dynamics specified by the input parameter instances. Our extension is inspired by the concept of parameterized ordinary differential equations, which are widely investigated in computational science and engineering contexts, where characteristics of the governing equations vary over the input parameters. We apply the proposed parameterized NODEs (PNODEs) for learning latent dynamics of complex dynamical processes that arise in computational physics, which is an essential component for enabling rapid numerical simulations for time-critical physics applications. For this, we propose an encoder-decoder-type framework, which models latent dynamics as PNODEs. We demonstrate the effectiveness of PNODEs with important benchmark problems from computational physics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Controllable strain-driven topological phase transition and dominant surface-state transport in HfTe5

Abstract The fine-tuning of topologically protected states in quantum materials holds great promise for novel electronic devices. However, there are limited methods that allow for the controlled and efficient modulation of the crystal lattice while simultaneously monitoring the changes in the electronic structure within a single sample. Here, we apply significant and controllable strain to high-quality HfTe 5 samples and perform electrical transport measurements to reveal the topological phase transition from a weak topological insulator phase to a strong topological insulator phase. After applying high strain to HfTe 5 and converting it into a strong topological insulator, we found that the resistivity of the sample increased by 190,500% and that the electronic transport was dominated by the topological surface states at cryogenic temperatures. Our results demonstrate the suitability of HfTe 5 as a material for engineering topological properties, with the potential to generalize this approach to study topological phase transitions in van der Waals materials and heterostructures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

AlN/AlGaN/AlN quantum well channel HEMTs

We present a compositional dependence study of electrical characteristics of AlxGa1−xN quantum well channel-based AlN/AlGaN/AlN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with x=0.25,0.44, and 0.58. This ultra-wide bandgap heterostructure is a candidate for next-generation radio frequency and power electronics. The use of selectively regrown n-type GaN Ohmic contacts results in contact resistance that increases as the Al content of the channel increases. The DC HEMT device characteristics reveal that the maximum drain current densities progressively reduce from 280 to 30 to 1.7 mA/mm for x=0.25,0.44, and 0.58, respectively. This is accompanied by a simultaneous decrease (in magnitude) in threshold voltage from −5.2 to −4.9 to −2.4 V for the three HEMTs. This systematic experimental study of the effects of Al composition x on the transistor characteristics provides valuable insights for engineering AlGaN channel HEMTs on AlN for extreme electronics at high voltages and high temperatures.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2023

Indistinguishable telecom band photons from a single Er ion in the solid state

Atomic defects in the solid state are a key component of quantum repeater networks for long-distance quantum communication1. Recently, there has been significant interest in rare earth ions, in particular Er 3+ for its telecom band optical transition that allows long-distance transmission in optical fibres. However, the development of repeater nodes based on rare earth ions has been hampered by optical spectral diffusion, precluding indistinguishable single-photon generation. Here, we implant Er 3+ into CaWO 4 , a material that combines a non-polar site symmetry, low decoherence from nuclear spins and is free of background rare earth ions, to realize significantly reduced optical spectral diffusion. For shallow implanted ions coupled to nanophotonic cavities with large Purcell factor, we observe single-scan optical linewidths of 150 kHz and long-term spectral diffusion of 63 kHz, both close to the Purcell-enhanced radiative linewidth of 21 kHz. This enables the observation of Hong–Ou–Mandel interference between successively emitted photons with a visibility of V = 80(4)%, measured after a 36 km delay line. We also observe spin relaxation times T 1,s = 3.7 s and T 2,s > 200 μs, with the latter limited by paramagnetic impurities in the crystal instead of nuclear spins. Furthermore, this represents a notable step towards the construction of telecom band quantum repeater networks with single Er 3+ ions.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Quantum Lock Technologies: Innovation Crossroads Final CRADA Report

At Quantum Lock Technologies, our mission is to use future-proof hardware and software to bridge the gap between physical access control and cyber security. Physical security includes access to doors, lockboxes/containers, and machinery/robots. Connecting physical access control to the cloud allows for remote detection, fast ledger updates, and mobile or remote access. However, this also opens physical security up to the world of cyber-attacks. At Quantum Lock, we use quantum random number generation to generate completely random and unpredictable digital keys to be used by connected equipment in a facility. This quantum technology is then paired with end-to-end encryption and a one-time-key communication protocol to ensure the highest level of security. Through the Innovation Crossroads program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, we have developed benchtop prototypes of our technology, connected with utility boards as our first target customers, and prepared for our first pilot with customers (target end of summer 2022). Below is a photograph of myself at an energy substation where we plan to eventually apply our technology.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Quantum self-authenticating timing system

An improved method of distributing timing information is provided. The method includes transmitting encrypted timing signals from two or more beacons at different locations. The encrypted timing signals are transmitted at regular intervals and are received by a receiver. The receiver then performs a logic operation on the encrypted timing signals and validates, based on the logic operation, the authenticity of the timing signals. The logic operation also results in a decrypted message from the beacons, which can contain additional information, for example, data to be sent back to the beacons to verify receipt.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Spectroscopy of the fractal Hofstadter energy spectrum

Hofstadter’s butterfly, the predicted energy spectrum for non-interacting electrons confined to a two-dimensional lattice in a magnetic field, is one of the most remarkable fractal structures in nature. At rational ratios of magnetic flux quanta per lattice unit cell, this spectrum shows self-similar distributions of energy levels that reflect its recursive construction. For most materials, Hofstadter’s butterfly is predicted under experimental conditions that are unachievable using laboratory-scale magnetic fields. More recently, electrical transport studies have provided evidence for Hofstadter’s butterfly in materials engineered to have artificially large lattice constants, such as those with moiré superlattices. Yet, so far, direct spectroscopy of the fractal energy spectrum predicted by Hofstadter nearly 50 years ago has remained out of reach. Here, in this work, we use high-resolution scanning tunnelling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) to investigate the flat electronic bands in twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) near the predicted second magic angle, an ideal setting for spectroscopic studies of Hofstadter’s spectrum. Our study shows the fractionalization of flat moiré bands into discrete Hofstadter subbands and discerns experimental signatures of self-similarity of this spectrum. Moreover, our measurements uncover a spectrum that evolves dynamically with electron density, showing phenomena beyond that of Hofstadter’s original model owing to the combined effects of strong correlations, Coulomb interactions and the quantum degeneracy of electrons in TBG.

electronic properties and materials↗
DOE OSTI2020

Mid-infrared vertical cavity laser

Disclosed is an optically pumped vertical cavity laser structure operating in the mid-infrared region, which has demonstrated room-temperature continuous wave operation. This structure uses a periodic gain active region with type I quantum wells comprised of InGaAsSb, and barrier/cladding regions which provide strong hole confinement and substantial pump absorption. A preferred embodiment includes at least one wafer bonded GaAs-based mirror. Several preferred embodiments also include means for wavelength tuning of mid-IR VCLs as disclosed, including a MEMS-tuning element. This document also includes systems for optical spectroscopy using the VCL as disclosed, including systems for detection concentrations of industrial and environmentally important gases.

42 ENGINEERING↗