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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
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2012

Studies of Hadronization Mechanisms using Pion Electroproduction in Deep Inelas tic Scattering from Nuclei

Atomic nuclei can be used as spatial analyzers of the hadronization process in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering. The study of this process using fully-identified final state hadrons began with the HERMES program in the late 1990s, and is now continuing at Jefferson Lab. In the measurement described here, electrons and positive pions were measured from a 5 GeV electron beam incident on targets of liquid deuterium, C, Fe, and Pb using CLAS in Hall B. The broadening of the transverse momentum of positive pions has been studied in detail as a function of multiple kinematic variables, and interpreted in terms of the transport of the struck quark through the nuclear systems. New insights are being obtained into the hadronization process from these studies; and experiments of this type can be relevant for the interpretation of jet quenching and proton-nucleus collisions at RHIC and LHC. These measurements will be extended in the next few years with the approved Jlab experiment E12-06-117, and later at a future Electron-Ion Collider.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2012

An Alternative View of the Dynamical Origin of the P11 Nucleon Resonances: Results from the Excited Baryon Analysis Center

We present an alternative interpretation for the dynamical origin of the P{sub 11} nucleon resonances, which results from the dynamical coupled-channels analysis at Excited Baryon Analysis Center of Jefferson Lab. The results indicate the crucial role of the multichannel reaction dynamics in determining the N* spectrum. An understanding of the spectrum and structure of the excited nucleon (N*) states is a fundamental challenge in the hadron physics. The N* states, however, couple strongly to the meson-baryon continuum states and appear only as resonance states in the {gamma}N and {pi}N reactions. One can expect from such strong couplings that the (multichannel) reaction dynamics will affect significantly the N* states and cannot be neglected in extracting the N* parameters from the data and giving physical interpretations. It is thus well recognized nowadays that a comprehensive study of all relevant meson production reactions with {pi}N,{eta}N,{pi}{pi}N,KY, {hor_ellipsis} final states is necessary for a reliable extraction of the N* parameters. To address this challenging issue, the Excited Baryon Analysis Center (EBAC) of Jefferson Lab has been conducting the comprehensive analysis of the world data of {gamma}N,{pi}N {yields} {pi}N,{eta}N,{pi}{pi}N,KY, {hor_ellipsis} reactions systematically, covering the wide energy and kinematic regions. The analysis is pursued with a dynamical coupled-channels (DCC) model, the EBAC-DCC model, within which the unitarity among relevant meson-baryon channels, including the three-body {pi}{pi}N channel, is fully taken into account.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Sub-0.1 nm-resolution quantitative scanning transmission electron microscopy without adjustable parameters

Atomic-resolution imaging in the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) constitutes a powerful tool for nanostructure characterization. Here, we demonstrate the quantitative interpretation of atomic-resolution high-angle annular dark-field (ADF) STEM images using an approach that does not rely on adjustable parameters. We measure independently the instrumental parameters that affect sub-0.1 nm-resolution ADF images, quantify their individual and collective contributions to the image intensity, and show that knowledge of these parameters enables a quantitative interpretation of the absolute intensity and contrast across all accessible spatial frequencies. The analysis also provides a method for the in-situ measurement of the STEM's effective source distribution.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2012

Measurement of fast-changing low velocities by photonic Doppler velocimetry

Despite the increasing popularity of photonic Doppler velocimetry (PDV) in shock wave experiments, its capability of capturing low particle velocities while changing rapidly is still questionable. The paper discusses the performance of short time Fourier transform (STFT) and continuous wavelet transform (CWT) in processing fringe signals of fast-changing low velocities measured by PDV. Two typical experiments are carried out to evaluate the performance. In the laser shock peening test, the CWT gives a better interpretation to the free surface velocity history, where the elastic precursor, main plastic wave, and elastic release wave can be clearly identified. The velocities of stress waves, Hugoniot elastic limit, and the amplitude of shock pressure induced by laser can be obtained from the measurement. In the Kolsky-bar based tests, both methods show validity of processing the longitudinal velocity signal of incident bar, whereas CWT improperly interprets the radial velocity of the shocked sample at the beginning period, indicating the sensitiveness of the CWT to the background noise. STFT is relatively robust in extracting waveforms of low signal-to-noise ratio. Data processing method greatly affects the temporal resolution and velocity resolution of a given fringe signal, usually CWT demonstrates a better local temporal resolution and velocity resolution, due to its adaptability to the local frequency, also due to the finer time-frequency product according to the uncertainty principle.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2012

Determination of neutral beam energy fractions from collisional radiative measurements on DIII-D

Neutral beams based on positive ion source technology are a key component of contemporary fusion research. An accurate assessment of the injected beam species mix is important for determining the actual plasma heating and momentum input as well as proper interpretation of beam-based diagnostics. On DIII-D, the main ion charge-exchange spectroscopy system is used to extract well-resolved intensity ratios of the Doppler-shifted D{sub {alpha}} emission from the full, half, and third energy beam components for a variety of beam operational parameters. In conjunction with accurate collisional-radiative modeling, these measurements indicate the assumed species mix and power fractions can vary significantly and should be regularly monitored and updated for the most accurate interpretation of plasma performance. In addition, if stable active control of the power fractions can be achieved through appropriate source tuning, the resulting control over the deposition profile can serve as an additional experimental knob for advanced tokamak studies, e.g., varying the off axis beam current drive without altering the beam trajectory.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2012

Physicochemical characterization of point defects in fluorine doped tin oxide films

The physical and chemical properties of spray deposited FTO films are studied using FESEM, x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electrical and optical measurements. The results of XRD measurements showed that the films are polycrystalline (grain size 20-50 nm) with Rutile structure and mixed preferred orientation along the (200) and (110) planes. An angular shift of the XRD peaks after F-doping is observed and interpreted as being due to the formation of substitutional fluorine defects (F{sub O}) in presence of high concentration of oxygen vacancies (V{sub O}) that are electrically neutral. The electrical neutrality of oxygen vacancies is supported by the observation that the electron concentration n is two orders of magnitude lower than the V{sub O} concentration calculated from chemical analyses using XPS measurements. It is shown that an agreement between XPS, XRD, and Hall effect results is possible provided that the degree of deviation from stoichiometry is calculated with the assumption that the major part of the bulk carbon content is involved in O-C bonds. High temperature thermal annealing is found to cause an increase in the F{sub O} concentration and a decrease in both n and V{sub O} concentrations with the increase of the annealing temperature. These results could be interpreted in terms of a high temperature chemical exchange reaction between the SnO{sub 2} matrix and a precipitated fluoride phase. In this reaction, fluorine is released to the matrix and Sn is trapped by the fluoride phase, thus creating substitutional fluorine F{sub O} and tin vacancy V{sub Sn} defects. The enthalpy of this reaction is determined to be approximately 2.4 eV while the energy of formation of a V{sub Sn} through the migration of Sn{sub Sn} host atom to the fluoride phase is approximately 0.45 eV.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Matrix models and stochastic growth in Donaldson-Thomas theory

We show that the partition functions which enumerate Donaldson-Thomas invariants of local toric Calabi-Yau threefolds without compact divisors can be expressed in terms of specializations of the Schur measure. We also discuss the relevance of the Hall-Littlewood and Jack measures in the context of BPS state counting and study the partition functions at arbitrary points of the Kaehler moduli space. This rewriting in terms of symmetric functions leads to a unitary one-matrix model representation for Donaldson-Thomas theory. We describe explicitly how this result is related to the unitary matrix model description of Chern-Simons gauge theory. This representation is used to show that the generating functions for Donaldson-Thomas invariants are related to tau-functions of the integrable Toda and Toeplitz lattice hierarchies. The matrix model also leads to an interpretation of Donaldson-Thomas theory in terms of non-intersecting paths in the lock-step model of vicious walkers. We further show that these generating functions can be interpreted as normalization constants of a corner growth/last-passage stochastic model.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Photoisomerization for a model protonated Schiff base in solution: Sloped/peaked conical intersection perspective

The topographical character of conical intersections (CIs)-either sloped or peaked-has played a fundamental and important role in the discussion of the efficiency of CIs as photochemical 'funnels.' Here this perspective is employed in connection with a recent study of a model protonated Schiff base (PSB) cis to trans photoisomerization in solution [Malhado et al., J. Phys. Chem. A 115, 3720 (2011)]. In that study, the calculated reduced photochemical quantum yield for the successful production of trans product versus cis reactant in acetonitrile solvent compared to water was interpreted in terms of a dynamical solvent effect related to the dominance, for the acetonitrile case, of S{sub 1} to S{sub 0} nonadiabatic transitions prior to the reaching the seam of CIs. The solvent influence on the quantum yield is here re-examined in the sloped/peaked CI topographical perspective via conversion of the model's two PSB internal coordinates and a nonequilibrium solvent coordinate into an effective branching space description, which is then used to re-analyze the generalized Langevin equation/surface hopping results. The present study supports the original interpretation and enriches it in terms of topographical detail.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2012

Electrical and optical properties of Ta-Si-N thin films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering

The electrical and optical properties of Ta{sub x}Si{sub y}N{sub z} thin films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering from individual Ta and Si targets were studied in order to investigate the effects of nitrogen and silicon contents on both properties and their correlation to the film microstructure. Three sets of fcc-Ta{sub x}Si{sub y}N{sub z} thin films were prepared: sub-stoichiometric Ta{sub x}Si{sub y}N{sub 0.44}, nearly stoichiometric Ta{sub x}Si{sub y}N{sub 0.5}, and over-stoichiometric Ta{sub x}Si{sub y}N{sub 0.56}. The optical properties were investigated by near-normal-incidence reflectivity and ellipsometric measurements in the optical energy range from 0.375 eV to 6.8 eV, while the d.c. electrical resistivity was measured in the van der Pauw configuration from 20 K to 300 K. The optical and electrical measurements were interpreted using the standard Drude-Lorentz model and the so-called grain boundary scattering model, respectively. The electronic properties were closely correlated with the compositional and structural modifications of the Ta{sub x}Si{sub y}N{sub z} films due to variations in the stoichiometry of the fcc-TaN{sub z} system and the addition of Si atoms. According to the nitrogen and silicon contents, fcc-Ta{sub x}Si{sub y}N{sub z} films can exhibit room temperature resistivity values ranging from 10{sup 2} {mu}{Omega} cm to about 6 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 4} {mu}{Omega} cm. The interpretation of the experimental temperature-dependent resistivity data within the Grain Boundary Scattering model, combined with the results from optical investigations, showed that the mean electron transmission probability G and the free carriers concentration, N, are the main parameters that control the transport properties of these films. The results indicated that the correlation between electrical and optical measurements with the chemical composition and the nanostructure of the Ta{sub x}Si{sub y}N{sub z} thin films provides a pertinent and consistent description of the evolution of the Ta-Si-N system from a solid solution to a nanocomposite material due to the addition of Si atoms.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Cosmic rays and hadronic interactions

The cosmic ray spectrum extends to particles with energy E{approx} 10{sup 20} eV, that corresponds (assuming that the primary particle is a proton) to a nucleon-nucleon c.m. energy {radical}(s) Asymptotically-Equal-To 430TeV, 50 times higher than the current LHC energy. These very high energy particles can be studied via the observation of the showers they generate in the atmosphere. The interpretation of the data requires therefore the modeling of hadronic interactions in an energy range beyond what can be studied in accelerator experiments. The theoretical problem of estimating the relevant properties of hadronic interactions in this energy range is therefore of central importance for the interpretation of the cosmic ray data. Viceversa, it is in principle possible to obtain information about hadronic interactions from the cosmic ray observations, but this program has to confront the fact that the (freely available) cosmic ray beam has an unknown energy spectrum and an unknown mass composition.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2013

The magnetic recoil spectrometer for measurements of the absolute neutron spectrum at OMEGA and the NIF

The neutron spectrum produced by deuterium-tritium (DT) inertial confinement fusion implosions contains a wealth of information about implosion performance including the DT yield, iontemperature, and areal-density. The Magnetic Recoil Spectrometer (MRS) has been used at both the OMEGA laser facility and the National Ignition Facility (NIF) to measure the absolute neutron spectrum from 3 to 30 MeV at OMEGA and 3 to 36 MeV at the NIF. These measurements have been used to diagnose the performance of cryogenic target implosions to unprecedented accuracy. Interpretation of MRS data requires a detailed understanding of the MRS response and background. This paper describes ab initio characterization of the system involving Monte Carlo simulations of the MRS response in addition to the commission experiments for in situ calibration of the systems on OMEGA and the NIF.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Heavy reflector experiments in the IPEN/MB-01 reactor: Stainless steel, carbon steel and nickel

New experiments devoted to the measurements of physical parameters of a light water core surrounded by a heavy reflector were performed in the IPEN/MB-01 research reactor facility. These experiments comprise three sets of heavy reflector (SS-304, Carbon Steel, and Nickel) in a form of laminates around 3 mm thick. Each set was introduced individually in the west face of the core of the IPEN/MB-01 reactor. The aim here is to provide high quality experimental data for the interpretation and validation of the SS-304 heavy reflector calculation methods. The experiments of Carbon Steel, which is composed mainly of iron, and Nickel were performed to provide a consistent and an interpretative check for the SS-304 reflector experiment. The experimental results comprise critical control bank positions, temperatures and reactivities as a function of the number of the plates. Particularly to the case of Nickel, the experimental data are unique of its kind. The theoretical analysis was performed by MCNP-5 with the nuclear data library ENDF/B-VII.0. It was shown that this nuclear data library has a very good performance up to thirteen plates and overestimates the reactivity for higher number of plates independently of the type of the reflector.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Effect of ion orbit loss on the structure in the H-mode tokamak edge pedestal profiles of rotation velocity, radial electric field, density, and temperature

An investigation of the effect of ion orbit loss of thermal ions and the compensating return ion current directly on the radial ion flux flowing in the plasma, and thereby indirectly on the toroidal and poloidal rotation velocity profiles, the radial electric field, density, and temperature profiles, and the interpretation of diffusive and non-diffusive transport coefficients in the plasma edge, is described. Illustrative calculations for a high-confinement H-mode DIII-D [J. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42, 614 (2002)] plasma are presented and compared with experimental results. Taking into account, ion orbit loss of thermal ions and the compensating return ion current is found to have a significant effect on the structure of the radial profiles of these quantities in the edge plasma, indicating the necessity of taking ion orbit loss effects into account in interpreting or predicting these quantities.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Measurements of the divergence of fast electrons in laser-irradiated spherical targets

In recent experiments using directly driven spherical targets on the OMEGA laser system, the energy in fast electrons was found to reach ~1% of the laser energy at an irradiance of ~1.1 × 10 15 W/cm 2 . The fraction of these fast electrons absorbed in the compressed fuel shell depends on their angular divergence. This paper describes measurements of this divergence deduced from a series of shots where Mo-coated shells of increasing diameter (D) were suspended within an outer CH shell. The intensity of the Mo–Kα line and the hard x-ray radiation were found to increase approximately as ~D2, indicating wide divergence of the fast electrons. Alternative interpretations of these results (electron scattering, radiation excitation of Kα, and an electric field due to return current) are shown to be unimportant.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Fractal dynamics of light scattering intensity fluctuation in disordered dusty plasmas

Dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique is a simple and yet powerful technique for characterizing particle properties and dynamics in complex liquids and gases, including dusty plasmas. Intensity fluctuation in DLS experiments often studied using correlation analysis with assumption that the fluctuation is statistically stationary. In this study, the temporal variation of the nonstationary intensity fluctuation is analyzed directly to show the existence of fractal characteristics by employing wavelet scalogram approach. Wavelet based scale decomposition approach is used to separate non-scaling background noise (without dust) from scaling intensity fluctuation from dusty plasma. The Hurst exponents for light intensity fluctuation in dusty plasma at different neutral gas pressures are determined. At low pressures, weaker damping of dust motions via collisions with neutral gases results in stronger persistent behavior in the fluctuation of DLS time series. The fractal scaling Hurst exponent is demonstrated to be useful for characterizing structural phases in complex disordered dusty plasma, especially when particle configuration or sizes are highly inhomogeneous which makes the standard pair-correlation function difficult to interpret. The results from fractal analysis are compared with alternative interpretation of disorder based on approximate entropy and particle transport using mean square displacement.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Combinatorial theory of the semiclassical evaluation of transport moments. I. Equivalence with the random matrix approach

To study electronic transport through chaotic quantum dots, there are two main theoretical approaches. One involves substituting the quantum system with a random scattering matrix and performing appropriate ensemble averaging. The other treats the transport in the semiclassical approximation and studies correlations among sets of classical trajectories. There are established evaluation procedures within the semiclassical evaluation that, for several linear and nonlinear transport moments to which they were applied, have always resulted in the agreement with random matrix predictions. We prove that this agreement is universal: any semiclassical evaluation within the accepted procedures is equivalent to the evaluation within random matrix theory. The equivalence is shown by developing a combinatorial interpretation of the trajectory sets as ribbon graphs (maps) with certain properties and exhibiting systematic cancellations among their contributions. Remaining trajectory sets can be identified with primitive (palindromic) factorisations whose number gives the coefficients in the corresponding expansion of the moments of random matrices. The equivalence is proved for systems with and without time reversal symmetry.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

Q{sub weak} experiment update and applications/opportunities at lower energies

The Q{sub weak} experiment has recently completed data-taking at Jefferson Lab. The primary focus of the experiment is to perform a precision measurement of the proton's neutral weak charge. The Standard Model gives a definite prediction for the weak charge. Any deviation from that can be interpreted as evidence for new physics beyond the Standard Model. This precision, low energy measurement is sensitive to new physics signatures at energy scales up to 2 TeV. The experiment measures the parity-violating asymmetry in the scattering of 1.165 GeV longitudinally polarized electrons on the proton at low momentum transfer (Q{sup 2} ∼ 0.025 (GeV/c){sup 2}). This paper provides a brief status report on the experiment with a focus on instrumentation and techniques that are applicable to lower beam energy realizations of parity-violating electron scattering measurements. Estimates of anticipated errors on the proton's weak charge expected if the Q{sub weak} apparatus were used at a lower beam energy are also discussed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effect of low-temperature annealing on the electronic- and band-structures of (Ga,Mn)As epitaxial layers

The effect of outdiffusion of Mn interstitials from (Ga,Mn)As epitaxial layers, caused by post-growth low-temperature annealing, on their electronic- and band-structure properties has been investigated by modulation photoreflectance (PR) spectroscopy. The annealing-induced changes in structural and magnetic properties of the layers were examined with high-resolution X-ray diffractometry and superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry, respectively. They confirmed an outdiffusion of Mn interstitials from the layers and an enhancement in their hole concentration, which were more efficient for the layer covered with a Sb cap acting as a sink for diffusing Mn interstitials. The PR results demonstrating a decrease in the band-gap-transition energy in the as-grown (Ga,Mn)As layers, with respect to that in the reference GaAs one, are interpreted by assuming a merging of the Mn-related impurity band with the GaAs valence band. Whereas an increase in the band-gap-transition energy caused by the annealing treatment of the (Ga,Mn)As layers is interpreted as a result of annealing-induced enhancement of the free-hole concentration and the Fermi level location within the valence band. The experimental results are consistent with the valence-band origin of itinerant holes mediating ferromagnetic ordering in (Ga,Mn)As, in agreement with the Zener model for ferromagnetic semiconductors.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗