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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 1,657 records · Page 92
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Tuning the external optical feedback-sensitivity of a passively mode-locked quantum dot laser

The external optical feedback-sensitivity of a two-section, passively mode-locked quantum dot laser operating at elevated temperature is experimentally investigated as a function of absorber bias voltage. Results show that the reverse-bias voltage on the absorber has a direct impact on the damping rate of the free-running relaxation oscillations of the optical signal output, thereby enabling interactive external control over the feedback-response of the device, even under the nearly resonant cavity configuration. The combination of high temperature operation and tunable feedback-sensitivity is highly promising from a technological standpoint, in particular, for applications requiring monolithic integration of multi-component architectures on a single chip in order to accomplish, for instance, the dual-objectives of stable pulse quality and isolation from parasitic reflections.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Parameter sensitivity of plasma wakefields driven by self-modulating proton beams

The dependence of wakefield amplitude and phase on beam and plasma parameters is studied in the parameter area of interest for self-modulating proton beam-driven plasma wakefield acceleration. The wakefield phase is shown to be extremely sensitive to small variations of the plasma density, while sensitivity to small variations of other parameters is reasonably low. The study of large parameter variations clarifies the effects that limit the achievable accelerating field in different parts of the parameter space: nonlinear elongation of the wakefield period, insufficient charge of the drive beam, emittance-driven beam divergence, and motion of plasma ions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Predicting the sensitivity of the beryllium/scintillator layer neutron detector using Monte Carlo and experimental response functions

A methodology for obtaining empirical curves relating absolute measured scintillation light output to beta energy deposited is presented. Output signals were measured from thin plastic scintillator using NIST traceable beta and gamma sources and MCNP5 was used to model the energy deposition from each source. Combining the experimental and calculated results gives the desired empirical relationships. To validate, the sensitivity of a beryllium/scintillator-layer neutron activation detector was predicted and then exposed to a known neutron fluence from a Deuterium-Deuterium fusion plasma (DD). The predicted and the measured sensitivity were in statistical agreement.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

Cost-effective and highly sensitive cholesterol microsensors with fast response based on the enzyme-induced conductivity change of polyaniline

In this study, a cost-effective and highly sensitive cholesterol microsensor, which is consisted of cholesterol oxidase (ChOx), horseradish peroxidase (HRP), and polyaniline (PANI), was developed based on the enzyme-induced conductivity change of PANI with fast response. Hydrogen peroxide is produced via the reaction between cholesterol and ChOx, which was immobilized in a dialysis membrane. The produced hydrogen peroxide can oxidize HRP, which can be reduced by oxidizing PANI, thus resulting in decreased conductivity of the polyaniline thin film. The reduced HRP can be oxidized again by hydrogen peroxide and the cycle of the oxidation/reduction continues until all hydrogen peroxide are reacted, leading to the high sensitivity of the sensor due to the signal contributed from all hydrogen peroxide molecules. Cholesterol was detected near the physiological concentrations ranging from 100 mg/dl to 400 mg/dl with the cholesterol microsensors. The results show linear relation between cholesterol concentration and the conductivity change of the PANI. The microsensor showed no response to cholesterol when the PANI was standalone without cholesterol oxidase immobilized, indicating that the enzymatic reaction is required for cholesterol detection. The simple process of the sensor fabrication allows the sensor to be cost-effective and disposable usage. This electronic cholesterol microsensor is promising for point-of-care health monitoring in cholesterol level with low cost and fast response.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

A non-contact, thermal noise based method for the calibration of lateral deflection sensitivity in atomic force microscopy

Calibration of lateral forces and displacements has been a long standing problem in lateral force microscopies. Recently, it was shown by Wagner et al. that the thermal noise spectrum of the first torsional mode may be used to calibrate the deflection sensitivity of the detector. This method is quick, non-destructive and may be performed in situ in air or liquid. Here we make a full quantitative comparison of the lateral inverse optical lever sensitivity obtained by the lateral thermal noise method and the shape independent method developed by Anderson et al. We find that the thermal method provides accurate results for a wide variety of rectangular cantilevers, provided that the geometry of the cantilever is suitable for torsional stiffness calibration by the torsional Sader method, in-plane bending of the cantilever may be eliminated or accounted for and that any scaling of the lateral deflection signal between the measurement of the lateral thermal noise and the measurement of the lateral deflection is eliminated or corrected for. We also demonstrate that the thermal method may be used to characterize the linearity of the detector signal as a function of position, and find a deviation of less than 8% for the instrument used.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

Shot-noise-limited magnetometer with sub-picotesla sensitivity at room temperature

We report a photon shot-noise-limited (SNL) optical magnetometer based on amplitude modulated optical rotation using a room-temperature {sup 85}Rb vapor in a cell with anti-relaxation coating. The instrument achieves a room-temperature sensitivity of 70 fT/√(Hz) at 7.6 μT. Experimental scaling of noise with optical power, in agreement with theoretical predictions, confirms the SNL behaviour from 5 μT to 75 μT. The combination of best-in-class sensitivity and SNL operation makes the system a promising candidate for application of squeezed light to a state-of-the-art atomic sensor.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

Sensitivity of the KM3NeT detector to neutrino fluxes from Galactic point-like sources

The KM3NeT collaboration has started the implementation of the first phase of a cubic-kilometre-scale neutrino telescope in the Northern hemisphere with an integrated platform for Earth and deep sea sciences. The location in the Mediterranean Sea will allow for surveying a large part of the sky, including most of the Galactic Plane and the Galactic Centre, thus complementing the sky coverage of IceCube at the South Pole. Amongst the potential Galactic neutrino sources, SuperNova Remnants are particularly promising since their measured gamma-ray emission extends to several tenths of TeV and exhibits indications for hadronic processes. Assuming a hadronic origin of the gamma-ray emission, the models for neutrino emission from SuperNova Remnants and also from other source types such as pulsars are robustly constrained by gamma-ray measurements. We report expected KM3NeT sensitivities for neutrino fluxes from RXJ1713.7-3946 and Vela X. The sensitivity to point-like sources with a E{sup −2} power law energy spectrum is also reported and compared to the other existing detectors.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

PINGU sensitivity to neutrino mass hierarchy

Determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy (NMH) is among the most fundamental questions in particle physics. Recent measurements of 1) a large mixing angle between the first and the third neutrino mass eigenstates and 2) the first observation of atmospheric neutrino oscillations at tens of GeV with neutrino telescopes, open the intriguing new possibility to exploit matter effects in neutrino oscillation to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy. A further extension of IceCube/DeepCore called PINGU (Precision IceCube Next Generation Upgrade) has been recently envisioned with the ultimate goal to measure neutrino mass hierarchy. PINGU would consist of additional IceCube-like strings of detectors deployed in the deepest and cleanest ice in the center of IceCube. More densely deployed instrumentation would provide a threshold substantially below 10 GeV and enhance the sensitivity to the mass hierarchy signal in atmospheric neutrinos. Here we discuss an estimate of the PINGU sensitivity to the mass hierarchy determined using an approximation with an Asimov dataset and an oscillation parameter fit.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Light polarization sensitive photodetectors with m- and r-plane homoepitaxial ZnO/ZnMgO quantum wells

Homoepitaxial ZnO/(Zn,Mg)O multiple quantum wells (MQWs) grown with m- and r-plane orientations are used to demonstrate Schottky photodiodes sensitive to the polarization state of light. In both orientations, the spectral photoresponse of the MQW photodiodes shows a sharp excitonic absorption edge at 3.48 eV with a very low Urbach tail, allowing the observation of the absorption from the A, B and C excitonic transitions. The absorption edge energy is shifted by ∼30 and ∼15 meV for the m- and r-plane MQW photodiodes, respectively, in full agreement with the calculated polarization of the A, B, and C excitonic transitions. The best figures of merit are obtained for the m-plane photodiodes, which present a quantum efficiency of ∼11%, and a specific detectivity D* of ∼6.4 × 10{sup 10} cm Hz{sup 1/2}/W. In these photodiodes, the absorption polarization sensitivity contrast between the two orthogonal in-plane axes yields a maximum value of (R{sub ⊥}/R{sub ||}){sub max} ∼ 9.9 with a narrow bandwidth of ∼33 meV.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Monte Carlo simulation for slip rate sensitivity analysis in Cimandiri fault area

Slip rate is used to estimate earthquake recurrence relationship which is the most influence for hazard level. We examine slip rate contribution of Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA), in probabilistic seismic hazard maps (10% probability of exceedance in 50 years or 500 years return period). Hazard curve of PGA have been investigated for Sukabumi using a PSHA (Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis). We observe that the most influence in the hazard estimate is crustal fault. Monte Carlo approach has been developed to assess the sensitivity. Then, Monte Carlo simulations properties have been assessed. Uncertainty and coefficient of variation from slip rate for Cimandiri Fault area has been calculated. We observe that seismic hazard estimates is sensitive to fault slip rate with seismic hazard uncertainty result about 0.25 g. For specific site, we found seismic hazard estimate for Sukabumi is between 0.4904 – 0.8465 g with uncertainty between 0.0847 – 0.2389 g and COV between 17.7% – 29.8%.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Silicon on-chip bandpass filters for the multiplexing of high sensitivity photonic crystal microcavity biosensors

A method for the dense integration of high sensitivity photonic crystal (PC) waveguide based biosensors is proposed and experimentally demonstrated on a silicon platform. By connecting an additional PC waveguide filter to a PC microcavity sensor in series, a transmission passband is created, containing the resonances of the PC microcavity for sensing purpose. With proper engineering of the passband, multiple high sensitivity PC microcavity sensors can be integrated into microarrays and be interrogated simultaneously between a single input and a single output port. The concept was demonstrated with a 2-channel L55 PC biosensor array containing PC waveguide filters. The experiment showed that the sensors on both channels can be monitored simultaneously from a single output spectrum. Less than 3 dB extra loss for the additional PC waveguide filter is observed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

A high sensitive phosphor for dosimetric applications

In this study a novel TL phosphor CaMg{sub 3}(SO{sub 4}){sub 4}:Dy{sup 3+} was prepared by acid distillation method. The TL response of this phosphor towards γ-rays and carbon ion beam was tested. Good dosimetric glow curve was observed which is stable against both the type of radiations. The CaMg{sub 3}(SO{sub 4}){sub 4}:Dy{sup 3+} phosphor doped with 0.2 mol% of Dy{sup 3+}, irradiated with γ-ray shows nearly equal sensitivity to that of commercially available CaSO{sub 4}:Dy TLD phosphor whereas 3.5 times more sensitivity than CaSO{sub 4}:Dy, when irradiated with carbon ion beam. The change in glow peak intensities and glow peak temperature with variation in irradiation species and energy of ion beam is discussed here. The effect of these on trapping parameters is also illustrated.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2015

A Q-switched Ho:YAG laser assisted nanosecond time-resolved T-jump transient mid-IR absorbance spectroscopy with high sensitivity

Knowledge of dynamical structure of protein is an important clue to understand its biological function in vivo. Temperature-jump (T-jump) time-resolved transient mid-IR absorbance spectroscopy is a powerful tool in elucidating the protein dynamical structures and the folding/unfolding kinetics of proteins in solution. A home-built setup of T-jump time-resolved transient mid-IR absorbance spectroscopy with high sensitivity is developed, which is composed of a Q-switched Cr, Tm, Ho:YAG laser with an output wavelength at 2.09 μm as the T-jump heating source, and a continuous working CO laser tunable from 1580 to 1980 cm{sup −1} as the IR probe. The results demonstrate that this system has a sensitivity of 1 × 10{sup −4} ΔOD for a single wavelength detection, and 2 × 10{sup −4} ΔOD for spectral detection in amide I′ region, as well as a temporal resolution of 20 ns. Moreover, the data quality coming from the CO laser is comparable to the one using the commercial quantum cascade laser.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Enhancement of molecular sensitivity in positron emission tomography with quantum correlation of γ-ray photons

Enhancement of molecular sensitivity in positron emission tomography (PET) has long been discussed with respect to imaging instrumentation and algorithms for data treatment. Here, the molecular sensitivity in PET is discussed on the basis of 2-dimensional coincident measurements of 511 keV γ ray photons resultant from two-photon annihilation. Introduction of an additional selection window based on the energy sum and difference of the coincidently measured γ ray photons, without any significant instrumental and algorithmic changes, showed an improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by an order of magnitude. Improvement of performance characteristics in the PET imaging system was demonstrated by an increase in the noise equivalent count rate (NECR) which takes both the SNR and the detection efficiency into consideration. A further improvement of both the SNR and the NECR is expected for the present system in real clinical and in-vivo environments, where much stronger positron sources are employed.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Control of stochastic sensitivity in a stabilization problem for gas discharge system

We consider a nonlinear dynamic stochastic system with control. A problem of stochastic sensitivity synthesis of the equilibrium is studied. A mathematical technique of the solution of this problem is discussed. This technique is applied to the problem of the stabilization of the operating mode for the stochastic gas discharge system. We construct a feedback regulator that reduces the stochastic sensitivity of the equilibrium, suppresses large-amplitude oscillations, and provides a proper operation of this engineering device.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

A frequency and sensitivity tunable microresonator array for high-speed quantum processor readout

Superconducting microresonators have been successfully utilized as detection elements for a wide variety of applications. With multiplexing factors exceeding 1000 detectors per transmission line, they are the most scalable low-temperature detector technology demonstrated to date. For high-throughput applications, fewer detectors can be coupled to a single wire but utilize a larger per-detector bandwidth. For all existing designs, fluctuations in fabrication tolerances result in a non-uniform shift in resonance frequency and sensitivity, which ultimately limits the efficiency of bandwidth utilization. Here, we present the design, implementation, and initial characterization of a superconducting microresonator readout integrating two tunable inductances per detector. We demonstrate that these tuning elements provide independent control of both the detector frequency and sensitivity, allowing us to maximize the transmission line bandwidth utilization. Finally, we discuss the integration of these detectors in a multilayer fabrication stack for high-speed readout of the D-Wave quantum processor, highlighting the use of control and routing circuitry composed of single-flux-quantum loops to minimize the number of control wires at the lowest temperature stage.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography-based vibrometry using a highly phase-stable akinetic swept laser source

Phase-sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PhOCT) is an emerging tool for in vivo investigation of the vibratory function of the intact middle and inner ear. PhOCT is able to resolve micron scale tissue morphology in three dimensions as well as measure picometer scale motion at each spatial position. Most PhOCT systems to date have relied upon the phase stability offered by spectrometer detection. On the other hand swept laser source based PhOCT offers a number of advantages including balanced detection, long imaging depths, and high imaging speeds. Unfortunately the inherent phase instability of traditional swept laser sources has necessitated complex user developed hardware/software solutions to restore phase sensitivity. Here we present recent results using a prototype swept laser that overcomes these issues. The akinetic swept laser is electronically tuned and precisely controls sweeps without any mechanical movement, which results in high phase stability. We have developed an optical fiber based PhOCT system around the akinetic laser source that had a 1550 nm center wavelength and a sweep rate of 140 kHz. The stability of the system was measured to be 4.4 pm with a calibrated reflector, thus demonstrating near shot noise limited performance. Using this PhOCT system, we have acquired structural and vibratory measurements of the middle ear in a mouse model, post mortem. The quality of the results suggest that the akinetic laser source is a superior laser source for PhOCT with many advantages that greatly reduces the required complexity of the imaging system.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Spectral optimization simulation of white light based on the photopic eye-sensitivity curve

Spectral optimization simulation of white light is studied to boost maximum attainable luminous efficacy of radiation at high color-rendering index (CRI) and various color temperatures. The photopic eye-sensitivity curve V(λ) is utilized as the dominant portion of white light spectra. Emission spectra of a blue InGaN light-emitting diode (LED) and a red AlInGaP LED are added to the spectrum of V(λ) to match white color coordinates. It is demonstrated that at the condition of color temperature from 2500 K to 6500 K and CRI above 90, such white sources can achieve spectral efficacy of 330–390 lm/W, which is higher than the previously reported theoretical maximum values. We show that this eye-sensitivity-based approach also has advantages on component energy conversion efficiency compared with previously reported optimization solutions.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗