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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 1,783 records · Page 99
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DOE OSTI2025

Science of Scale-Up: Accelerating chemical manufacturing technology development workshop report

The Science of Scale-Up: Accelerating chemical manufacturing technology development workshop report outlines key insights and actionable recommendations for accelerating the scale-up of disruptive chemical manufacturing technologies. Convened in October 2024, the workshop brought together approximately fifty experts from academia, industry, national laboratories, and government agencies to address the barriers and solutions for maturing technologies from proof-of-concept to commercialization. The report identifies seven critical themes for enabling faster scale-up. These themes were explored through general discussions and breakout sessions focused on three specific chemical manufacturing technologies—electrochemical, thermochemical, and biological conversion processes. The findings emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, robust funding mechanisms, and shared resources to overcome technical barriers and accelerate technology deployment. The report also highlights technology-specific challenges and opportunities, including the need for advanced materials, scalable manufacturing processes, and integrated testing environments. For electrochemical manufacturing processes, durability and material optimization are key priorities, while thermochemical processes require novel reactor designs and better supply chain integration. Biological conversion processes face hurdles in strain engineering, reactor design, and process integration. Across all technologies, the workshop emphasized the importance of leveraging computational tools, standardized protocols, and collaborative networks to address knowledge gaps and technical barriers. By acting on these insights, stakeholders can reduce the timeline for scaling up critical chemical manufacturing technologies, ensuring their timely impact on manufacturing competitiveness, and environmental sustainability.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Numerical Analysis of High-Order Modes in SRF Resonators for Particle Accelerators

Over the past decades, superconducting technology has rapidly evolved towards high accelerating gradients and low surface resistance, making it possible to operate particle accelerators with high average beam currents and large duty factors. However, RF losses due to coherent excitation of the HOM become the limiting factor for these regimes. Unlike the cavity operating mode, which is tuned separately, the HOM parameters can significantly vary from one cavity to another due to finite mechanical tolerances during the manufacturing process. Thus, it is of utmost importance to know the HOM parameter spread in advance in order to predict unexpected cryogenic losses, overheating of beam line components and maintain stable beam dynamics. In this paper, we present a method for generating cavity geometry with an arbitrary spread of mechanical imperfections and numerically evaluating HOM statistics. Knowing the spread of HOM parameters, we calculated the probability of resonant HOM losses in SRF accelerating cavities used in CW beam current machines such as the PIP-II and LCLS-II linacs, as well as for the SRF crab-cavity for the ILC project. Finally, we present experimental results of HOM spectra measurements in hundreds of 1.3 GHz cavities installed in LCLS-II cryomodules. Studying the effects of HOM excitation results in specifications of the SRF cavity and cryomodule and can significantly impact the efficiency and reliability of the machine operation.

Lunin, Andrei [Fermilab] (ORCID:0000000290096792)↗
DOE OSTI2025

Advancing the utility of Data flow accelerators: Kokkos backend for Next Silicon

Next Silicon provides a novel reconfigurable accelerator, which is inherently a high-risk, early exploration effort. Higher readiness level for running NNSA mini-apps and initial mission applications on a data-flow accelerator Enable and demonstrate a new Kokkos back-end that directly drives an underlying dataflow accelerator

Garcia de Gonzalo, Simon Pedro [Sandia National La↗
DOE OSTI2025

Application of Accelerator Technology to Quantum Information Science

The intersection of accelerator and quantum information science (QIS) offers a unique platform to advance both fields through shared technology and infrastructure. This talk will discuss the synergies which exist between these two vastly different but complementary domains. We demonstrate how we leverage pre-existing infrastructure and knowledge to perform research and development which helps to realize dramatic improvements in both 10 km long accelerators and 10 cm large quantum processors. We will explore niobium superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities, a highly advanced technology that excels in efficiently storing electromagnetic energy, enabling ultra-long photon lifetimes critical for quantum processors and facilitating the characterization of quantum materials with parts-per-billion precision. We will also discuss how advancements in superconducting materials, cryogenic systems, and control techniques help to reduce cost and improve performance for both quantum systems and particle accelerators. Moreover, we will discuss cross-disciplinary applications such as dark-matter searches and demonstrate the convergence of these fields in addressing fundamental scientific questions.

Bafia, Daniel [Fermilab]↗
DOE OSTI2026

PACT Center: Perovskite PV Accelerator for Commercializing Technologies (Final Technical Report)

The Perovskite PV Accelerator for Commercializing Technologies (PACT) center was established in July 2021 as a national resource to accelerate the commercialization of perovskite photovoltaic (PV) technology in the United States. Since its inception, PACT has been led by Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) in partnership with the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), formerly known as NREL. From FY20-FY23, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), CFV Labs, Black & Veatch (B&V), and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) were part of the project team. LANL brought expertise in perovskite PV device designs and processing, CFV Labs (now GroundWork Renewables) provided initial indoor and outdoor measurement hardware technology, B&V led the initial effort on perovskite PV bankability, and EPRI worked on reviewing testing standards, identifying commercialization gaps, and helping to run PACT’s Industry Advisory Board, a group including representatives from commercial testing labs, independent engineering firms, insurance companies, state regulators, and electric utilities. To source perovskite PV module samples, PACT contracted with the University of North Carolina (UNC), the University of Toledo, the University of Washington, and SLAC/Stanford University to provide a steady stream of research-grade perovskite mini modules, enabling protocol development in advance of commercial module availability. The project period ran from July 1, 2021, through December 31, 2025, including a No Cost Extension. Starting in FY25, the project was continued as a Core Capability in the Lab Call portfolio and continues at a reduced budget with only Sandia and NLR as funded recipients. Notably, starting in FY25 PACT expanded its scope beyond MHP modules to accept all emerging PV mini module technologies for testing, including organic PV (OPV) and all-thin-film tandems, with the aim of supporting commercialization across the broader emerging PV ecosystem. With this change in scope the program was renamed the PV Accelerator for Commercializing Technologies, dropping perovskite from the name.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Accelerator Upgrades Required for Beam Operation at Fermilab in the PIP-II/DUNE Era

The Proton Improvement Plan - II (PIP-II) injector linac is an 800 MeV superconducting H⁻ linac, christened Linac2, that will replace the existing 400 MeV injector to the accelerator complex at Fermilab. The higher energy, intensity and repetition rate require various upgrades to the existing accelerator complex consisting of the Booster, the Recycler Ring and the Main Injector, in order to be able to accept and accelerate beam from PIP-II. In this paper we discuss various upgrades that are required and steps being taken to implement them.

Krishnagopal, S. [Fermilab]↗
DOE OSTI2026

Design of Ionization Profile Monitors at the Integrable Optics Test Accelerator Facility at Fermilab

The Integrable Optics Test Accelerator (IOTA) at Fermilab is transitioning from an electron beam facility to a proton beam facility for studies in nonlinear accelerator optics and space-charge dominated proton beams. This project involves the commissioning and fabrication of Ionization Profile Monitors (IPMs) to enable beam profile measurements at IOTA. In general, IPMs work on principle of residual gas ionization by the beam to generate beam profile. This work focuses on a mechanical design that leverages a controlled injection of noble gases, primarily Argon, as the ultra-high vacuum of the IOTA ring provides insufficient residual gas for ionization. Efforts to understand vacuum integration to ensure compatibility with the storage ring environment, the integration of real-time data acquisition systems and the commissioning of the IPMs will be discussed. This project provides a versatile diagnostic tool, supporting IOTA’s role as a testbed for larger-scale accelerator facilities and contributing to the broader understanding of beam physics in high-intensity, high-space-charge regimes.

Mwaniki, M. W. [IIT, Chicago] (ORCID:0000000169057↗
DOE OSTI2026

Towards a Verifiable Domain-Specific Language for Hardware-Accelerated Stencils

Defining a domain-specific language (DSL) that supports vector-calculus abstractions eases the porting of partial differential equation (PDE) solvers to specialized architectures. Sufficiently high-level abstractions empower users to express universal laws with sufficient generality that the laws must always hold true within their domain of validity. A broad class of PDE solvers employs stencil-based algorithms, the target domain of Berkeley Lab's stencil accelerator chip co-design project. First released as open-source in January 2026, the Formal software framework lays a foundation for defining an embedded DSL based on composable operators that implement mimetic numerical methods -- stencil algorithms that guarantee satisfaction of discrete versions of important vector calculus theorems. The Formal DSL will be the frontend to a new class of stencil-PDE accelerators developed jointly by LBNL, UHCL, and UC Berkeley through the DOE Competitive Portfolios for Computer Science Project. This offers the potential of an order of magnitude acceleration for this important category of computational methods to serve the DOE mission. Future work on the Formal DSL will facilitate software verification via type-safe templates that enable problem-specific correctness proofs relying upon generic function theory and carefully crafted unit tests.

Rouson, Damian↗
DOE OSTI2023

Distributed Optimal Power Management for Battery Energy Storage Systems: A Novel Accelerated Tracking ADMM Approach

Optimal power management (OPM) is critical for large-scale battery energy storage systems. Today’s methods often require formidable computational effort due to the design based on centralized numerical optimization. Thus, this paper investigates computationally distributed OPM where the agents based on the cells communicate over a network to cooperatively solve the OPM problem. We propose an accelerated tracking alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) algorithm to solve the distributed OPM. The proposed algorithm embeds dynamic average consensus and Nesterov’s acceleration technique in the ADMM algorithm. Not only is the proposed algorithm fully distributed without a need for fusion or aggregating nodes, but it also accelerates convergence. The paper formulates the OPM in a model predictive control framework where it seeks to regulate the charging/discharging power of each battery cell to minimize the total power losses and promote balanced use of the constituent cells while complying with the safety constraints. The paper provides ample simulation results to demonstrate the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed distributed OPM in terms of computation and convergence.

Farakhor, Amir↗
DOE OSTI2021

GPU-Accelerated Machine Learning Inference as a Service for Computing in Neutrino Experiments

Machine learning algorithms are becoming increasingly prevalent and performant in the reconstruction of events in accelerator-based neutrino experiments. These sophisticated algorithms can be computationally expensive. At the same time, the data volumes of such experiments are rapidly increasing. The demand to process billions of neutrino events with many machine learning algorithm inferences creates a computing challenge. We explore a computing model in which heterogeneous computing with GPU coprocessors is made available as a web service. The coprocessors can be efficiently and elastically deployed to provide the right amount of computing for a given processing task. With our approach, Services for Optimized Network Inference on Coprocessors (SONIC), we integrate GPU acceleration specifically for the ProtoDUNE-SP reconstruction chain without disrupting the native computing workflow. With our integrated framework, we accelerate the most time-consuming task, track and particle shower hit identification, by a factor of 17. This results in a factor of 2.7 reduction in the total processing time when compared with CPU-only production. For this particular task, only 1 GPU is required for every 68 CPU threads, providing a cost-effective solution.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Demonstration of Autonomous Emittance Characterization at the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator

Transverse beam emittance plays a key role in the performance of high-brightness accelerators. Characterizing beam emittance is often carried out using a quadrupole scan, which fits beam matrix elements to experimental measurements using first-order beam dynamics. Despite its simplicity at face value, this procedure is difficult to automate due to practical limitations. Key issues that must be addressed include maintaining beam size measurement validity by keeping beams within the radius of diagnostic screens, ensuring that measurement fitting produces physically valid results, and accurately characterizing emittance uncertainty. We describe a demonstration of the Bayesian exploration technique towards solving this problem at the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator, enabling a turn-key, autonomous quadrupole scan tool that can be used to quickly measure beam emittances at various locations in accelerators with limited operator input.

Roussel, Ryan↗
DOE OSTI2023

Asymmetric Dual-Grating Dielectric Laser Accelerator Optimization

Although hundreds of keV in energy gain have already been demonstrated in dielectric laser accelerators (DLAs), the challenge of creating structures that can confine electrons for multiple millimeters remains. We focus here on dual gratings with single-sided drive, which have experimentally demonstrated energy modulation numerous times. Using a Finite-Difference Time-Domain simulation to find the fields within various DLA structures and correlating these results with particle tracking simulation, we look at the impact of teeth height and width, as well as gap and offset, on the performance of these structures. We find a tradeoff between electron throughput and acceleration; however, we also find that for any given grating geometry, there is a gap and offset that will allow some charge acceleration. For our 780 nm laser wavelength, this results in a 1200 nm optimal gap size for most gratings.

Crisp, Sophie (ORCID:0000000327503727)↗
DOE OSTI2016

Re-acceleration model for radio relics with spectral curvature

Most of the observed features of radio gischt relics, such as spectral steepening across the relic width and a power-law-like integrated spectrum, can be adequately explained by a diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) model in which relativistic electrons are (re-)accelerated at shock waves induced in the intracluster medium. However, the steep spectral curvature in the integrated spectrum above ∼2 GHz detected in some radio relics, such as the Sausage relic in cluster CIZA J2242.8+5301, may not be interpreted by the simple radiative cooling of postshock electrons. In order to understand such steepening, we consider here a model in which a spherical shock sweeps through and then exits out of a finite-size cloud with fossil relativistic electrons. The ensuing integrated radio spectrum is expected to steepen much more than predicted for aging postshock electrons, since the re-acceleration stops after the cloud-crossing time. Using DSA simulations that are intended to reproduce radio observations of the Sausage relic, we show that both the integrated radio spectrum and the surface brightness profile can be fitted reasonably well, if a shock of speed u{sub s} ∼ 2.5–2.8 × 10{sup 3} km s{sup −1} and a sonic Mach number M{sub s} ∼ 2.7–3.0 traverses a fossil cloud for ∼45 Myr, and the postshock electrons cool further for another ∼10 Myr. This attempt illustrates that steep curved spectra of some radio gischt relics could be modeled by adjusting the shape of the fossil electron spectrum and adopting the specific configuration of the fossil cloud.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

TIME-DEPENDENT ELECTRON ACCELERATION IN BLAZAR TRANSIENTS: X-RAY TIME LAGS AND SPECTRAL FORMATION

Electromagnetic radiation from blazar jets often displays strong variability, extending from radio to γ -ray frequencies. In a few cases, this variability has been characterized using Fourier time lags, such as those detected in the X-rays from Mrk 421 using Beppo SAX. The lack of a theoretical framework to interpret the data has motivated us to develop a new model for the formation of the X-ray spectrum and the time lags in blazar jets based on a transport equation including terms describing stochastic Fermi acceleration, synchrotron losses, shock acceleration, adiabatic expansion, and spatial diffusion. We derive the exact solution for the Fourier transform of the electron distribution and use it to compute the Fourier transform of the synchrotron radiation spectrum and the associated X-ray time lags. The same theoretical framework is also used to compute the peak flare X-ray spectrum, assuming that a steady-state electron distribution is achieved during the peak of the flare. The model parameters are constrained by comparing the theoretical predictions with the observational data for Mrk 421. The resulting integrated model yields, for the first time, a complete first-principles physical explanation for both the formation of the observed time lags and the shape of the peak flare X-ray spectrum. It also yields direct estimates of the strength of the shock and the stochastic magnetohydrodynamical wave acceleration components in the Mrk 421 jet.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Solar Energetic Particle Acceleration by a Shock Wave Accompanying a Coronal Mass Ejection in the Solar Atmosphere

Solar energetic particle acceleration by a shock wave accompanying a coronal mass ejection (CME) is studied. The description of the accelerated particle spectrum evolution is based on the numerical calculation of the diffusive transport equation with a set of realistic parameters. The relation between the CME and shock speeds, which depend on the initial CME radius, is determined. Depending on the initial CME radius, its speed, and the magnetic energy of the scattering Alfvén waves, the accelerated particle spectrum is established 10–60 minutes from the beginning of CME motion. The maximum energies of particles reach 0.1–10 GeV. The CME radii of 3–5 R{sub ⊙} and the shock radii of 5–10 R{sub ⊙} agree with observations. The calculated particle spectra agree with the observed ones in events registered by ground-based detectors if the turbulence spectrum in the solar corona significantly differs from the Kolmogorov one.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Evidence for Galaxy Dynamics Tracing Background Cosmology Below the de Sitter Scale of Acceleration

Galaxy dynamics probe weak gravity at accelerations below the de Sitter scale of acceleration a{sub dS}=cH, where c is the velocity of light and H is the Hubble parameter. Low- and high-redshift galaxies hereby offer a novel probe of weak gravity in an evolving cosmology, satisfying H(z)=H{sub 0}√(1+ω{sub m}(6z+12z{sup 2}+12z{sup 3}+6z{sup 4}+(6/5)z{sup 5}))/(1+z) with matter content ω{sub m}=0.2808±0.028 sans tension to H {sub 0} in surveys of the local universe. Galaxy rotation curves show anomalous galaxy dynamics in weak gravity a{sub N}<a{sub dS} across a transition radius r{sub t}=4.7 kpc M{sub 11}{sup 1/2}(H{sub 0}/H){sup (1/2)} in galaxies of mass M=10{sup 11} M{sub ⊙}M{sub 11}, where a {sub N} is the Newtonian acceleration based on baryonic matter content. We identify this behavior with a holographic origin of inertia from entanglement entropy, which introduces a C {sup 0} onset across a{sub N}=a{sub dS} with asymptotic behavior described by a Milgrom parameter satisfying a{sub 0}=ω{sub 0}/2π, where ω{sub 0}=√(1−q)H is a fundamental eigenfrequency of the cosmological horizon. Extending an earlier confrontation with data covering 0.003≲a{sub N}/a{sub dS}≲1 at redshift z∼0 in Lellie et al., the modest anomalous behavior in the Genzel et al. sample at redshifts 0.854⩽z⩽2.282 is found to be mostly due to clustering 0.36≲a{sub N}/a{sub dS}≲1 close to the C {sup 0} onset to weak gravity and an increase of up to 65% in a {sub 0}.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Ion Acceleration in Driven Magnetic Reconnection during High-energy–Density Plasma Interaction

Strongly driven magnetic reconnection occurs in astrophysical events and also in laboratory experiments with laser-produced plasma. We have performed 2.5D particle-in-cell simulations of collisions of two high-energy–density plasmas resulting in strongly driven magnetic reconnection that demonstrates significant non-thermal ion acceleration. Such acceleration is significant only when the plasma beta is sufficiently low that the Alfvén speed at the reconnection inflow exceeds the thermal speed. Under these conditions, the most energetic ions are primarily accelerated by the Hall electric field in the reconnection outflow, especially at the trailing edge of an emerging plasmoid in the outflow. Here, laboratory experiments in the near future should be able to confirm these predictions and their applicability to astrophysical situations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Effects of Coronal Magnetic Field Configuration on Particle Acceleration and Release during the Ground Level Enhancement Events in Solar Cycle 24

Ground level enhancements (GLEs) are extreme solar energetic particle (SEP) events that are of particular importance in space weather. In solar cycle 24, two GLEs were recorded on 2012 May 17 (GLE 71) and 2017 September 10 (GLE 72), respectively, using a range of advanced modern instruments. Here we conduct a comparative analysis of the two events by focusing on the effects of large-scale magnetic field configuration near active regions on particle acceleration and release. Although the active regions are both located near the western limb, temporal variations of SEP intensities and energy spectra measured in situ display different behaviors at early stages. By combining a potential field model, we find the coronal mass ejection (CME) in GLE 71 originated below the streamer belt, while in GLE 72 it originated near the edge of the streamer belt. We reconstruct the CME shock fronts with an ellipsoid model based on nearly simultaneous coronagraph images from multiple viewpoints and further derive the 3D shock geometry at the GLE onset. The highest-energy particles are primarily accelerated in the shock–streamer interaction regions, i.e., likely at the nose of the shock in GLE 71 and the eastern flank in GLE 72, due to quasi-perpendicular shock geometry and confinement of closed fields. Subsequently, they are released to the field lines connecting to near-Earth spacecraft when the shocks move through the streamer cusp region. This suggests that magnetic structures in the corona, especially shock–streamer interactions, may have played an important role in the acceleration and release of the highest-energy particles in the two events.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗