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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 1,639 records · Page 91
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Simultaneous effects of photo- and radio- darkening in ytterbium-doped aluminosilicate fibers

We present original characterizations of photo-radio-darkening in ytterbium-doped silica optical fibers submitted to the simultaneous action of the pump and of an ionizing radiation. We present the interplay between both radiations, showing e.g. that the pump is able to darken or bleach the fiber depending on the ionizing dose. The photo-resistance of the fiber is shown to play a crucial role on its radio-resistance, and that photo-resistant fibers should be also radio-resistant in low dose rate conditions. All the results are thoroughly explained by a physical model presented in a separate article by Mady et al. (this conference proceeding)

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Topological insulator: Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3}/polyvinyl alcohol film-assisted multi-wavelength ultrafast erbium-doped fiber laser

We experimentally demonstrate a multi-wavelength ultrafast erbium-doped fiber laser incorporating a μm-scale topological insulator: Bi{sub 2}Se{sub 3}/Polyvinyl Alcohol film as both an excellent saturable absorber for mode-locking and a high-nonlinear medium to induce a giant third order optical nonlinear effect for mitigating the mode competition of erbium-doped fiber laser and stabilizing the multi-wavelength oscillation. By properly adjusting the pump power and the polarization state, the single-, dual-, triple-, four-wavelength mode-locking pulse could be stably initiated. For the four-wavelength operation, we obtain its pulse width of ∼22 ps and a fundamental repetition rate of 8.83 MHz. The fiber laser exhibits the maximum output power of 9.7 mW with the pulse energy of 1.1 nJ and peak power of 50 W at the pump power of 155 mW. Our study shows that the simple, stable, low-cost multi-wavelength ultrafast fiber laser could be applied in various potential fields, such as optical communication, biomedical research, and radar system.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Experimental and numerical evaluation of freely spacing-tunable multiwavelength fiber laser based on two seeding light signals

A model of multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser (MEFL), which takes into account the impact of fiber attenuation on the four-wave-mixing (FWM), is proposed. Using this model, we numerically study the output characteristics of the MEFL based on FWM in a dispersion shift fiber with two seeding light signals (TSLS) and experimentally verify these characteristics. The numerical and experimental results show that the number of output channels can be increased with the increase of the erbium-doped fiber pump power. In addition, by decreasing the spacing of TSLS and increasing the power of TSLS, the number of output channels can be increased. However, when the power of TSLS exceeds a critical value, the number of output channels decreases. The results by numerical simulation are consistent with experimental observations from the MEFL.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Microring embedded hollow polymer fiber laser

Strongly modulated laser emission has been observed from rhodamine B doped microring resonator embedded in a hollow polymer optical fiber by transverse optical pumping. The microring resonator is fabricated on the inner wall of a hollow polymer fiber. Highly sharp lasing lines, strong mode selection, and a collimated laser beam are observed from the fiber. Nearly single mode lasing with a side mode suppression ratio of up to 11.8 dB is obtained from the strongly modulated lasing spectrum. The microring embedded hollow polymer fiber laser has shown efficient lasing characteristics even at a propagation length of 1.5 m.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Fire resistance properties of ceramic wool fiber reinforced intumescent coatings

This research studied the effects of varied weight percentage and length of ceramic wool fiber (CWF) reinforcement to fire retardant performance of epoxy-based intumescent coating. Ten formulations were developed using ammonium polyphosphate (APP), expandable graphite (EG), melamine (MEL) and boric acid (BA). The mixing was conducted in two stages; powdered materials were grinded in Rocklabs mortar grinder and epoxy-mixed using Caframo mixer at low speed mixing. The samples were applied on mild steel substrate and exposed to 500°C heat inside Carbolite electric furnace. The char expansion and its physical properties were observed. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were conducted to inspect the fiber dispersion, fiber condition and the cell structure of both coatings and chars produced. Thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) were conducted to study the thermal properties of the coating such as degradation temperature and residual weight. Fire retardant performance was determined by measuring backside temperature of substrate in 1-hour, 1000°C Bunsen burner test according to UL 1709 fire regime. The results showed that intumescent coating reinforced with CWF produced better fire resistance performance. When compared to unreinforced coating, formulation S6-15 significantly reduced steel temperature at approximately 34.7% to around 175°C. However, higher fiber weight percentage had slightly decreased fire retardant performance of the coating.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Nanomechanics of electrospun phospholipid fiber

Electrospun asolectin phospholipid fibers were prepared using isooctane as a solvent and had an average diameter of 6.1 ± 2.7 μm. Their mechanical properties were evaluated by nanoindentation using Atomic Force Microscopy, and their elastic modulus was found to be approximately 17.2 ± 1 MPa. At a cycle of piezo expansion-retraction (loading-unloading) of a silicon tip on a fiber, relatively high adhesion was observed during unloading. It is proposed that this was primarily due to molecular rearrangements at the utmost layers of the fiber caused by the indentation of the hydrophilic tip. The phospholipid fibers were shown to be stable in ambient conditions, preserving the modulus of elasticity up to 24 h.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Advance study of fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete

Incorporation in concrete composition of steel macro- and micro – fiber reinforcement with structural function increases the degree of ductility of typically brittle cement-containing composites, which in some cases can replace completely or partially conventional steel reinforcement in the form of rods and meshes. Thus, that can reduce manufacturing, detailing and placement of conventional reinforcement, which enhances productivity and economic efficiency of the building process. In this paper, six fiber-reinforced with different amounts of steel fiber cement-containing self-compacting compositions are investigated. The results of some of their main strength-deformation characteristics are presented. Advance approach for the study of structural and material properties of these type composites is proposed by using the methods of industrial computed tomography. The obtained original tomography results about the microstructure and characteristics of individual structural components make it possible to analyze the effective macro-characteristics of the studied composites. The resulting analytical data are relevant for the purposes of multi-dimensional modeling of these systems. Multifactor structure-mechanical analysis of the obtained with different methods original scientific results is proposed. It is presented a conclusion of the capabilities and effectiveness of complex analysis in the studies to characterize the properties of self-compacting fiber-reinforced concrete.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2015

All-fiber nonlinearity- and dispersion-managed dissipative soliton nanotube mode-locked laser

We report dissipative soliton generation from an Yb-doped all-fiber nonlinearity- and dispersion-managed nanotube mode-locked laser. A simple all-fiber ring cavity exploits a photonic crystal fiber for both nonlinearity enhancement and dispersion compensation. The laser generates stable dissipative solitons with large linear chirp in the net normal dispersion regime. Pulses that are 8.7 ps long are externally compressed to 118 fs, outperforming current nanotube-based Yb-doped fiber laser designs.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Physico-chemical studies of hardened cement paste structure with micro-reinforcing fibers

The results of physico-chemical studies of modified hardened cement paste with micro-reinforcing fibers are given in this article. The goal was to study the reasons of the increase of strength properties of modified hardened cement paste by the method of X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. It is shown that the use of mineral fibers in the production of cement based material has positive effect on its properties. The study found out that the increase in the strength of the hardened cement paste with micro-reinforcing fibers is due to the increase of the rate of hydration of cement without a significant change in the phase composition in comparison with hardened cement paste without additive. The results of microstructure investigation (of control samples and samples of the reinforced hardened cement paste) have shown that introduction of mineral fibers in the amount of 0.1-2 % by weight of cement provides the structure of the homogeneous microporous material with uniform distribution of the crystalline phase provided by densely packed hydrates.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

A simple structure of all circular-air-holes photonic crystal fiber for achieving high birefringence and low confinement loss

We propose a simple structure of photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) with high birefringence and low confinement loss based on one rectangular centric ring of smaller circular air holes (CAHs) in the fiber core, and three rings of larger CAHs in the fiber cladding. This simple geometry (using all CAHs with two different air hole sizes) is capable of achieving a flexible control of the birefringence, B = 5.501 × 10{sup −3}, and ultra-low confinement loss, 7.30 × 10{sup −5 }dB/km, at an excitation wavelength of λ = 1550 nm. The birefringence value is ∼5.0 times greater than that obtained for conventional CAH PCF. This simple structure has the added advantage from the view point of easy fabrication, robustness, and cost. A full-vector finite element method combined with anisotropic perfectly matched layers was used to analyze the various fiber structures. We have analyzed four cases of CAH PCFs, focusing on the core asymmetry design as opposed to the conventional approach of CAHs or elliptical air holes on the cladding and core. The robustness against manufacturing inaccuracies of the proposed structure has also been further investigated in this work.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Mach-Zehnder interferometric photonic crystal fiber for low acoustic frequency detections

Low frequency under-water acoustic signal detections are challenging, especially for marine applications. A Mach-Zehnder interferometric hydrophone is demonstrated using polarization-maintaining photonic-crystal-fiber (PM-PCF), spliced between two single-mode-fibers, operated at 1550 nm source. These data are compared with standard hydrophone, single-mode and multimode fiber. The PM-PCF sensor shows the highest response with a power shift (2.32 dBm) and a wavelength shift (392.8 pm) at 200 Hz. High birefringence values and the effect of the imparted acoustic pressure on this fiber, introducing the difference between the fast and slow axis changes, owing to the phase change in the propagation waves, demonstrate the strain-optic properties of the sensor.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Q-switched Erbium-doped fiber laser at 1600 nm for photoacoustic imaging application

We present a nanosecond Q-switched Erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser system operating at 1600 nm with a tunable repetition rate from 100 kHz to 1 MHz. A compact fiber coupled, acousto-optic modulator-based EDF ring cavity was used to generate a nanosecond seed laser at 1600 nm, and a double-cladding EDF based power amplifier was applied to achieve the maximum average power of 250 mW. In addition, 12 ns laser pulses with the maximum pulse energy of 2.4 μJ were obtained at 100 kHz. Furthermore, the Stokes shift by Raman scattering over a 25 km long fiber was measured, indicating that the laser can be potentially used to generate the high repetition rate pulses at the 1.7 μm region. Finally, we detected the photoacoustic signal from a human hair at 200 kHz repetition rate with a pulse energy of 1.2 μJ, which demonstrates that a Q-switched Er-doped fiber laser can be a promising light source for the high speed functional photoacoustic imaging.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Development of high-speed reactive processing system for carbon fiber-reinforced polyamide-6 composite: In-situ anionic ring-opening polymerization

In order to manufacture carbon fiber-reinforced polyamide-6 (PA-6) composite, we optimized the reactive processing system. The in-situ anionic ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactam was utilized with proper catalyst and initiator for PA-6 matrix. The mechanical properties such as tensile strength, inter-laminar shear strength and compressive strength of the produced carbon fiber-reinforced PA-6 composite were measured, which were compared with the corresponding scanning electron microscope (SEM) images to investigate the polymer properties as well as the interfacial interaction between fiber and polymer matrix. Furthermore, kinetics of in-situ anionic ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactam will be discussed in the viewpoint of increasing manufacturing speed and interfacial bonding between PA-6 matrix and carbon fiber during polymerization.

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

Optical trapping and control of nanoparticles inside evacuated hollow core photonic crystal fibers

We demonstrate an optical conveyor belt for levitated nanoparticles over several centimeters inside both air-filled and evacuated hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HCPCF). Detection of the transmitted light field allows three-dimensional read-out of the particle center-of-mass motion. An additional laser enables axial radiation pressure based feedback cooling over the full fiber length. We show that the particle dynamics is a sensitive local probe for characterizing the optical intensity profile inside the fiber as well as the pressure distribution along the fiber axis. In contrast to some theoretical predictions, we find a linear pressure dependence inside the HCPCF, extending over three orders of magnitude from 0.2 mbar to 100 mbar. A targeted application is the controlled delivery of nanoparticles from ambient pressure into medium vacuum.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Fluorescence-based remote irradiation sensor in liquid-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

We report an irradiation sensor based on a fluorescent “flying particle” that is optically trapped and propelled inside the core of a water-filled hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. When the moving particle passes through an irradiated region, its emitted fluorescence is captured by guided modes of the fiber core and so can be monitored using a filtered photodiode placed at the fiber end. The particle speed and position can be precisely monitored using in-fiber Doppler velocimetry, allowing the irradiation profile to be measured to a spatial resolution of ∼10 μm. The spectral response can be readily adjusted by appropriate choice of particle material. Using dye-doped polystyrene particles, we demonstrate detection of green (532 nm) and ultraviolet (340 nm) light.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

A fiber-coupled displacement measuring interferometer for determination of the posture of a reflective surface

A fiber-coupled displacement measuring interferometer capable of determining of the posture of a reflective surface of a measuring mirror is proposed. The newly constructed instrument combines fiber-coupled displacement and angular measurement technologies. The proposed interferometer has advantages of both the fiber-coupled and the spatially beam-separated interferometer. A portable dual-position sensitive detector (PSD)-based unit within this proposed interferometer measures the parallelism of the two source beams to guide the fiber-coupling adjustment. The portable dual PSD-based unit measures not only the pitch and yaw of the retro-reflector but also measures the posture of the reflective surface. The experimental results of displacement calibration show that the deviations between the proposed interferometer and a reference one, Agilent 5530, at two different common beam directions are both less than ±35 nm, thus verifying the effectiveness of the beam parallelism measurement. The experimental results of angular calibration show that deviations of pitch and yaw with the auto-collimator (as a reference) are less than ±2 arc sec, thus proving the proposed interferometer’s effectiveness for determination of the posture of a reflective surface.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2026

In-line measurements of below-the-surface food deformation during drying with an interference-based optical fiber strain sensor

Real-time measurements of food deformation are important for quality control in drying, yet they pose significant challenges. In this study, we developed an interference-based optical fiber strain sensor to enable in-line, continuous, below-the-surface strain measurements in drying of soft food samples. Compared to a strain resolution of 8 × 10 -4 at zero strain and 7.2 × 10 -3 at 0.20 strain reported in our previously published work, the present study achieves markedly improved resolutions of 1.3 × 10 -4 at zero strain and 7.8 × 10 -4 at 0.25 strain, which strains are the lower and higher boundaries of the dynamic range, respectively. This nearly order-of-magnitude improvement is attributed to the unique interference-based sensing mechanism, no need for calibration to convert optical signals to strain, and the system-design-enabled immunity to fiber-disk misalignments and light source intensity fluctuations. To demonstrate the in-line process monitoring, deformation measurements of fresh banana slices and sugar cookie doughs were carried out in a benchtop oven and an industrial-scale hot-air pilot dryer, respectively. In both dryers, strain measurements were continuously measured during the whole drying process at various depths and radii below the sample surfaces, with the strains up to 25%. Computer vision was used only in the benchtop drying to confirm the faithfulness of the fiber sensor measurements and cannot provide below-the-surface measurements. The measured spatiotemporal deformation allowed us to confirm the shell-hardening effect and to determine the speed and location of large deformation changes in the whole drying process, the latter of which is related to the sample cracking. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to report on an interferometry-based fiber sensor to measure food deformation. This sensor and the sensing mechanism have high potential for real-time process monitoring and control to prevent over-drying or cracking during drying processes.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Development of local-power-free, remote α -particle detection using optical fibers

We demonstrate the application of fluorescence optical fiber coupled to a telecom grade fiber as a sensor for alpha particles using alpha-specific ZnS(Ag) scintillation materials whose wavelength is down-shifted into a low-loss region of the telecom grade fiber transmission band. Telecom-grade fiber optics offer a solution for sensing alpha radiation in deep repositories and cask storage for radioactive materials due to the stability of SiO 2 under normal environmental conditions and its relative radiation hardness at low radiation doses. Long-term nuclear waste storage facilities require sensors for the detection of leakage of radioactive materials that are maintenance-free, do not require power and can survive with no ‘wear out’ mechanisms for decades. By accomplishing the wavelength transformation, we maximize efficiencies in the detection of α-particles and signal transport and can detect alpha scintillation at distances on the order of >1 km with a sensor that is ~3% efficient and can be easily scaled as a sensor array. This paper describes the construction and testing of the sensor including manufacture of the controlled thickness films, verification of the wavelength shift from 450 to 620 nm and optimization of the sensitivity as a function of thickness. We also model the relative sensitivity of the film as a function of film thickness, and we demonstrate a signal-to-noise ratio of 10 at a range of greater than 1 km.

alpha particles↗