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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 1,603 records · Page 89
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2010

Method for nanoscale spatial registration of scanning probes with substrates and surfaces

Embodiments in accordance with the present invention relate to methods and apparatuses for aligning a scanning probe used to pattern a substrate, by comparing the position of the probe to a reference location or spot on the substrate. A first light beam is focused on a surface of the substrate as a spatial reference point. A second light beam then illuminates the scanning probe being used for patterning. An optical microscope images both the focused light beam, and a diffraction pattern, shadow, or light backscattered by the illuminated scanning probe tip of a scanning probe microscope (SPM), which is typically the tip of the scanning probe on an atomic force microscope (AFM). Alignment of the scanning probe tip relative to the mark is then determined by visual observation of the microscope image. This alignment process may be repeated to allow for modification or changing of the scanning probe microscope tip.

Wade, Lawrence A.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Evolving Design Criteria for Very Large Aperture Space-Based Telescopes and Their Influence on the Need for Integrated Tools in the Optimization Process

NASA's Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) program has been developing the means to design and build the future generations of space based telescopes. With the nearing completion of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the astrophysics community is already starting to define the requirements for follow on observatories. The restrictions of available launch vehicles and the possibilities of planned future vehicles have fueled the competition between monolithic primaries (with better optical quality) and segmented primaries (with larger apertures, but with diffraction, costs and figure control issues). Regardless of the current shroud sizes and lift capacities, these competing architectures share the need for rapid design tools. As part of the AMTD program a number of tools have been developed and tested to speed up the design process. Starting with the Arnold Mirror Modeler (which creates Finite Element Models (FEM) for structural analysis) and now also feeds these models into thermal stability analyses. They share common file formats and interchangeable results. During the development of the program, numerous trade studies were created for 4 meter and 8 meter monolithic primaries, complete with support systems. Evaluation of these results has led to a better understanding of how the specification drives the results. This paper will show some of the early trade studies for typical specification requirements such as lowest mirror bending frequency and suspension system lowest frequency. The results use representative allowable stress values for each mirror substrate material and construction method and generic material properties. These studies lead to some interesting relationships between feasible designs and the realities of actually trying to build these mirrors. Much of the traditional specifications were developed for much smaller systems, where the mass and volume of the primary where a small portion of the overall satellite. JWST shows us that as the aperture grows, the primary takes up the majority of the mass and volume and the established rules need to be adjusted. For example, a small change in lowest frequency requirement can change the cost by millions of dollars.

Space-based telescopes↗
NASA NTRS2015

Evolving Design Criteria for Very Large Aperture Space Based Telescopes and Their Influence on the Need for Integrated Tools in the Optimization Process

NASA's Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) program has been developing the means to design and build the future generations of space based telescopes. With the nearing completion of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the astrophysics community is already starting to define the requirements for follow-on observatories. The restrictions of available launch vehicles and the possibilities of planned future vehicles have fueled the competition between monolithic primaries (with better optical quality) and segmented primaries (with larger apertures, but with diffraction, costs and figure control issues). Regardless of the current shroud sizes and lift capacities, these competing architectures share the need for rapid design tools. As part of the AMTD program a number of tools have been developed and tested to speed up the design process. Starting with the Arnold Mirror Modeler (which creates Finite Element Models (FEM) for structural analysis) and now also feeds these models into thermal stability analyses. They share common file formats and interchangeable results. During the development of the program, numerous trade studies were created for 4-meter and 8-meter monolithic primaries, complete with support systems. Evaluation of these results has led to a better understanding of how the specification drives the results. This paper will show some of the early trade studies for typical specification requirements such as lowest mirror bending frequency and suspension system lowest frequency. The results use representative allowable stress values for each mirror substrate material and construction method and generic material properties. These studies lead to some interesting relationships between feasible designs and the realities of actually trying to build these mirrors. Much of the traditional specifications were developed for much smaller systems, where the mass and volume of the primary where a small portion of the overall satellite. JWST shows us that as the aperture grows, the primary takes up the majority of the mass and volume and the established rules need to be adjusted. For example, a small change in lowest frequency requirement can change the cost by millions of dollars. The paper uses numerous trade studies created during the software development phase of the Arnold Mirror Modeler to illustrate the influences of system specifications on the design space. The future telescopes will require better performance, stability and documented feasibility to meet the hurdles of today's budget and schedules realities. AMTD is developing the tools, but the basic system planning mentality also has to adopt to the requirements of these very large and complex physical structures.

Arnold, William R., Sr.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Second-Generation Micro-Spec: A Compact Spectrometer for Far-Infrared and Submillimeter Space Missions

Micro-Spec is a direct-detection spectrometer which integrates all the components of a diffraction-grating spectrometer onto a ≈ 10-sq.cm chip through the use of superconducting microstrip transmission lines on a single- crystal silicon substrate. The second generation of Micro-Spec is being designed to operate with a spectral re- solution of at least 512 in the far-infrared and submillimeter (420–540 GHz, 714–555 μm) wavelength range, a band of interest for NASA's experiment for cryogenic large-aperture intensity mapping called EXCLAIM. EXCLAIM will be a balloon-borne telescope that is being designed to map the emission of redshifted carbon monoxide and singly-ionized carbon lines over a redshift range 0 < z < 3.5 and it will be the first demonstration of the Micro-Spec technology in a space-like environment. This work reviews the status of the Micro-Spec design for the EXCLAIM telescope, with emphasis on the spectrometer's two-dimensional diffractive region, through which light of different wavelengths is focused on kinetic inductance detectors along the instrument focal plane. An optimization process is used to generate a geometrical configuration of the diffractive region that satisfies l range and performance. An initial optical design optimized for n terms of geometric layout, spectral purity and efficiency.

Cataldo, Giuseppe↗
DOE OSTI2016

Materials science in the time domain using Bragg coherent diffraction imaging

Materials are generally classified by a phase diagram which displays their properties as a function of external state variables, typically temperature and pressure. A new dimension that is relatively unexplored is time: a rich variety of new materials can become accessible in the transient period following laser excitation from the ground state. The timescale of nanoseconds to femtoseconds, is ripe for investigation using x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) methods. There is no shortage of materials suitable for time-resolved materials-science exploration. Oxides alone represent most of the minerals making up the Earth's crust, catalysts, ferroelectrics, corrosion products and electronically ordered materials such as superconductors, to name a few. Some of the elements have metastable phase diagrams with predicted new phases. There are some examples known already: an oxide 'hidden phase' living only nanoseconds and an electronically ordered excited phase of fullerene C 60 , lasting only femtoseconds. In a completely general way, optically excited states of materials can be probed with Bragg coherent diffraction imaging, both below the damage threshold and in the destructive regime. Lastly, prospective methods for carrying out such XFEL experiments are discussed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2007

Active Correction of Aberrations of Low-Quality Telescope Optics

A system of active optics that includes a wavefront sensor and a deformable mirror has been demonstrated to be an effective means of partly correcting wavefront aberrations introduced by fixed optics (lenses and mirrors) in telescopes. It is envisioned that after further development, active optics would be used to reduce wavefront aberrations of about one wave or less in telescopes having aperture diameters of the order of meters or tens of meters. Although this remaining amount of aberration would be considered excessive in scientific applications in which diffraction-limited performance is required, it would be acceptable for free-space optical- communication applications at wavelengths of the order of 1 m. To prevent misunderstanding, it is important to state the following: The technological discipline of active optics, in which the primary or secondary mirror of a telescope is directly and dynamically tilted, distorted, and/or otherwise varied to reduce wavefront aberrations, has existed for decades. The term active optics does not necessarily mean the same thing as does adaptive optics, even though active optics and adaptive optics are related. The term "adaptive optics" is often used to refer to wavefront correction at speeds characterized by frequencies ranging up to between hundreds of hertz and several kilohertz high enough to enable mitigation of adverse effects of fluctuations in atmospheric refraction upon propagation of light beams. The term active optics usually appears in reference to wavefront correction at significantly lower speeds, characterized by times ranging from about 1 second to as long as minutes. Hence, the novelty of the present development lies, not in the basic concept of active or adaptive optics, but in the envisioned application of active optics in conjunction with a deformable mirror to achieve acceptably small wavefront errors in free-space optical communication systems that include multi-meter-diameter telescope mirrors that are relatively inexpensive because their surface figures are characterized by errors as large as about 10 waves. Figure 1 schematically depicts the apparatus used in an experiment to demonstrate such an application on a reduced scale involving a 30-cm-diameter aperture.

Hemmati, Hamid↗
DOE OSTI2016

Fast switchable ferroelectric liquid crystal gratings with two electro-optical modes

In this article, we reveal a theoretical and experimental illustration of the Ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) grating fabricated by mean of patterned alignment based on photo-alignment. The complexity related to the mismatching of the predefined alignment domains on the top and bottom substrate has been avoided by incorporating only one side photo aligned substrate while the other substrate does not have any alignment layer. Depending on the easy axis in the said alignment domains and the azimuth plane of the impinging polarized light, the diffracting element can be tuned in two modes i.e. DIFF/OFF switchable and DIFF/TRANS switchable modes, which can be applied to different applications. The diffraction profile has been illustrated theoretically that fits well with the experimental finding and thus the proposed diffraction elements with fast response time and high diffraction efficiency could find application in many modern devices.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

One pot sono-chemical synthesis of 2D layered MoS{sub 2} nanosheets

Two-dimensional nanocrystals and monolayer of transition metal dichalcogenides show fascinating changes in its properties such as transition from direct to the indirect bandgap material. Due to light interaction with these monolayers optical absorption is enhanced in visible range a lot. Here, we report the synthesis of molybdenum disulphide (MoS{sub 2}) nanocrystals through a time dependent sono-chemical liquid exfoliation method and its structural and optical analysis. The prepared nanocrystals of MoS{sub 2} have exhibited high crystalline quality with strong diffraction to the (002) plane at 14.44° in the X-ray diffractrogram. It was observed that the concentration of nanocrystals in the dispersion inclined by increasing the sonication time. The optical absorption study revealed an optical band gap of 1.84 eV.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Homoepitaxy of ZnO and MgZnO Films at 90 °C

The aqueous synthesis of uniform single crystalline homoepitaxial zinc oxide, ZnO, and magnesium zinc oxide, Mg{sub x}Zn{sub 1−x}O, films under very low temperature conditions at T=90 °C and ambient pressure has been explored. A maximum Mg content of 1 mol% was recorded by energy dispersive spectroscopy. The growth on the polar (0 0 0 1) and (0 0 0 1¯) faces resulted in films that are strongly different in their structural and optical quality as evidenced by high-resolution X-ray diffraction, secondary electron microscopy, and photoluminescence. This is a result of the chemistry and temperature of the solution dictating the stability range of growth-governing metastable species. The use of trisodium citrate, Na{sub 3}C{sub 6}H{sub 5}O{sub 7}, yielded coalesced, mirror-like homoepitaxial films whereas adding magnesium nitrate hexahydrate, Mg(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}·6H{sub 2}O, favors the growth of films with pronounced faceting. - Graphical abstract: Homoepitaxial ZnO films grown from aqueous solution below boiling point of water on a ZnO substrate with off-orientation reveal parallel grooves that are characterized by (1 0 1{sup ¯} 1) facets. Adding trisodium citrate yields closed, single-crystalline ZnO films, which can further be functionalized. Alloying with MgO yields MgZnO films with low Mg content only. - Highlights: • A simple method to synthesize uniform single crystalline homoepitaxial ZnO and MgZnO films. • ZnO growth on (0 0 0 1) and (0 0 0 1{sup ¯}) face resulted in films that are strongly different in their structural and optical quality. • Single crystalline MgZnO film was fabricated under mild conditions (90 °C and ambient pressure). • Mg incorporation of nearly 1 mol% was obtained while maintaining single phase wurtzite structure.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

Resolving the nanostructure of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposited nanocrystalline SiO{sub x} layers for application in solar cells

Nanocrystalline silicon suboxides (nc-SiO{sub x}) have attracted attention during the past years for the use in thin-film silicon solar cells. We investigated the relationships between the nanostructure as well as the chemical, electrical, and optical properties of phosphorous, doped, nc-SiO{sub 0.8}:H fabricated by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The nanostructure was varied through the sample series by changing the deposition pressure from 533 to 1067 Pa. The samples were then characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry, Raman spectroscopy, aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, selected-area electron diffraction, and a specialized plasmon imaging method. We found that the material changed with increasing pressure from predominantly amorphous silicon monoxide to silicon dioxide containing nanocrystalline silicon. The nanostructure changed from amorphous silicon filaments to nanocrystalline silicon filaments, which were found to cause anisotropic electron transport.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Structural and optical properties of Zn{sub 1-x}Cd{sub x}O thin films

Thin films of Zn{sub 1-x}Cd{sub x}O (x=0, 0.05, 0.1) were deposited on glass substrate by pulsed laser deposition technique. The structural and optical properties of the prepared thin film samples were investigated using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Atomic force Microscopy, UV-visible and Photoluminescence spectroscopy. XRD results confirm that deposited films were oriented along c-axis and contain wurtzite crystalline symmetry. XRD and AFM result reveled that, the grain size decreases with increasing Cd concentration. UV-visible spectroscopy results reveal high transmittance for all the thin film samples. A reduction in the optical band gap energy with increasing Cd composition was observed through the Tauc plot method.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

System of laser pump and synchrotron radiation probe microdiffraction to investigate optical recording process

We have developed a system of laser-pump and synchrotron radiation probe microdiffraction to investigate the phase-change process on a nanosecond time scale of Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} film embedded in multi-layer structures, which corresponds to real optical recording media. The measurements were achieved by combining (i) the pump-laser system with a pulse width of 300 ps, (ii) a highly brilliant focused microbeam with wide peak-energy width ({Delta}E/E {approx} 2%) made by focusing helical undulator radiation without monochromatization, and (iii) a precise sample rotation stage to make repetitive measurements. We successfully detected a very weak time-resolved diffraction signal by using this system from 100-nm-thick Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} phase-change layers. This enabled us to find the dependence of the crystal-amorphous phase change process of the Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} layers on laser power.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2001

Adjustable Focus Optical Correction Lens (AFOCL)

This report describes the activities and accomplishments along with the status of the characterization of a PLZT-based Adjustable Focus Optical Correction Lens (AFOCL) test device. The activities described in this report were undertaken by members of the Center for Applied Optics (CAO) at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) under NASA Contract NAS8-00188. The effort was led by Dr. Bruce Peters as the Principal Investigator and supported by Dr. Patrick Reardon, Ms. Deborah Bailey, and graduate student Mr. Jeremy Wong. The activities outlined for the first year of the contract were to identify vendors and procure a test device along with performing the initial optical characterization of the test device. This activity has been successfully executed and test results are available and preliminary information was published at the SPIE Photonics West Conference in San Jose, January 2001. The paper, "Preliminary investigation of an active PLZT lens," was well received and generated response with several questions from the audience. A PLZT test device has been commercially procured from an outside vendor: The University of California in San Diego (UCSD) in partnership with New Interconnect Packaging Technologies (NIPT) Inc. The device has been subjected to several tests to characterize the optical performance of the device at wavelengths of interest. The goal was to evaluate the AFOCL similar to a conventional lens and measure any optical aberrations present due to the PLZT material as a deviation in the size of the diffraction limited spot (blur), the presence of diffracted energy into higher orders surrounding the focused spot (a variation in Strehl), and/or a variation or spread in the location of the focused energy away from the optical axis (a bias towards optical wedge, spherical, comma, or other higher order aberrations). While data has been collected indicative of the imaging quality of the AFOCL test device, it was not possible to fully characterize the optical performance of the AFOCL alone because there were significant optical distortions due to fabrication related issues.

Peters, Bruce R.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Structural and optical properties of Sn{sub 1−x}Fe{sub x}O{sub 2} thin films prepared by flash evaporation technique

Sn{sub 1−x}Fe{sub X}O{sub 2} (x = 0, 0.05) thin films were prepared on glass substrate using the flash evaporation technique. The samples were annealed at 773 K for 2 hrs in air atmosphere. A systematic study was carried out on the structural and optical properties of the as deposited and annealed thin films. From the X-ray diffraction analysis it was found that the Sn{sub 1−x}Fe{sub X}O{sub 2} films deposited at 623 K were amorphous in nature and the Sn{sub 1−x}Fe{sub X}O{sub 2} films annealed at 773 K exhibited the tetragonal structure of the SnO{sub 2}. The optical band gap of the SnO{sub 2} thin films was found to be as 3.17 eV whereas the optical band gap of the Sn{sub 1−x}Fe{sub X}O{sub 2} films was found to be as 3.01 eV after air annealing.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

In situ fabricate Cu{sub 2}S thin film with hierarchical petal-like nanostructures

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Cu{sub 2}S thin films with hierarchical nanostructures have been synthesized by solvothermal method using DMSO as reactant. • The band gap is estimated to be 1.0 eV of the Cu{sub 2}S hierarchical nanostructures. • The form process of Cu{sub 2}S and the possible mechanism of hierarchical nanostructures were proposed. - Abstract: In this paper, Cu{sub 2}S thin film with hierarchical petal-like nanostructures has been successfully in situ synthesized via a solvothermal method using DMSO as reactant under appropriate reaction conditions. The crystalline phase, morphology and optical properties of the resulting products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy and UV–vis absorption spectroscopy, respectively. The band gap is estimated to be about 1.0 eV by the results of UV–vis absorption spectroscopy of the Cu{sub 2}S thin film with hierarchical nanostructures that consisted of nanoslices with the thickness of 15 nm. The formation process of Cu{sub 2}S and the possible mechanism of hierarchical nanostructures were also proposed. These findings are valuable since Cu{sub 2}S thin film with hierarchical petal-like nanostructures are promising candidate as lithium ion battery and solar cell materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Structural, magnetic and optical properties of a dilute magnetic semiconductor based on Ce{sub 1−x}Co{sub x}O{sub 2} thin film grown on LaAlO{sub 3}

Highlights: • Co doped CeO{sub 2} was grown on LaAlO{sub 3} (0 0 1) via a modified sol–gel spin-coating technique. • The concentration of the Co ions was varied from 1 to 15 at.%. • The incorporation of 5 at.% of Mn ions was found to provide formation of exceptionally magnetic moment. • This amount demonstrated a giant magnetic moment of 1.09 μ{sub B}/Co. • This amount reduced the optical band gap and enhanced the optical performance. - Abstract: The enhancement of the room temperature ferromagnetism and optical properties of the dilute magnetic metal oxides is a crucial clue to construct spin-based optoelectronic devices. In this work, Ce{sub 1−x}Co{sub x}O{sub 2} (0.01 ≤ x ≤0.15) thin films were prepared via ethylene glycol modified sol–gel spin coating technique on the LaAlO{sub 3} (0 0 1) substrate to enhance their room temperature ferromagnetism and optical properties. The structures, magnetic and optical properties of the prepared films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, SQUID magnetometer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV–vis spectrophotometer. The results demonstrated that a single phase cubic structure was formed, implying the substitution of Co ions into the Ce ions sites. The prepared films showed room temperature ferromagnetism with saturation magnetic moment of 1.09 μ{sub B}/Co was achieved for 5 at.% Co-doped CeO{sub 2}. This film exhibited high optical transparency of 85% and low optical band energy gap of 3.39 eV. The improved magnetic and optical properties are argued to the increase of the density of the oxygen vacancies into the cerium oxide crystal structure due to the incorporation of Co ions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗