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Results for “Infrared optics”

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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Infrared optical absorption in low-spin Fe 2+ -doped SrTiO 3

Band gap engineering in SrTiO3 and related titanate perovskites has long been explored due to the intriguing properties of the materials for photocatalysis and photovoltaic applications. A popular approach in the materials chemistry community is to substitutionally dope aliovalent transition metal ions onto the B site in the lattice to alter the valence band. However, in such a scheme there is limited control over the dopant valence, and compensating defects often form. Here we demonstrate a novel technique to controllably synthesize Fe2+- and Fe3+-doped SrTiO3 thin films without formation of compensating defects by co-doping with La3+ ions on the A site. We stabilize Fe2+-doped films by doping with two La ions for every Fe dopant, and find that the Fe ions exhibit a low-spin electronic configuration, producing optical transitions in the near infrared regime and degenerate doping. The novel electronic states observed here offer a new avenue for band gap engineering in perovskites for photocatalytic and photovoltaic applications.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Dispersion properties and low infrared optical losses in epitaxial AlN on sapphire substrate in the visible and infrared range

Optical waveguiding properties of a thick wurtzite aluminum nitride highly [002]-textured hetero-epitaxial film on (001) basal plane of sapphire substrate are studied. The physical properties of the film are determined by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, microRaman, and photocurrent spectroscopy. The refractive index and the thermo-optic coefficients are determined by m-lines spectroscopy using the classical prism coupling technique. The optical losses of this planar waveguide are also measured in the spectral range of 450–1553 nm. The lower value of optical losses is equal to 0.7 dB/cm at 1553 nm. The optical losses due to the surface scattering are simulated showing that the contribution is the most significant at near infrared wavelength range, whereas the optical losses are due to volume scattering and material absorption in the visible range. The good physical properties and the low optical losses obtained from this planar waveguide are encouraging to achieve a wide bandgap optical guiding platform from these aluminum nitride thin films.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

OPTICAL–INFRARED PROPERTIES OF FAINT 1.3 mm SOURCES DETECTED WITH ALMA

We report optical-infrared (IR) properties of faint 1.3 mm sources (S{sub 1.3mm} = 0.2–1.0 mJy) detected with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey field. We searched for optical/IR counterparts of eight ALMA-detected sources (≥4.0σ, the sum of the probability of spurious source contamination is ∼1) in a K-band source catalog. Four ALMA sources have K-band counterpart candidates within a 0.″4 radius. Comparison between ALMA-detected and undetected K-band sources in the same observing fields shows that ALMA-detected sources tend to be brighter, more massive, and more actively forming stars. While many of the ALMA-identified submillimeter-bright galaxies (SMGs) in previous studies lie above the sequence of star-forming galaxies in the stellar mass–star formation rate plane, our ALMA sources are located in the sequence, suggesting that the ALMA-detected faint sources are more like “normal” star-forming galaxies rather than “classical” SMGs. We found a region where multiple ALMA sources and K-band sources reside in a narrow photometric redshift range (z ∼ 1.3–1.6) within a radius of 5″ (42 kpc if we assume z = 1.45). This is possibly a pre-merging system and we may be witnessing the early phase of formation of a massive elliptical galaxy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Near-Infrared Optical Gain of Colloidal Quantum Wells via Intraband Transitions

Tunable, unipolar, near-infrared intraband optical gain is demonstrated in semiconductor colloidal quantum wells, expanding the form and optical range for potential infrared applications. Atomically flat colloidal quantum wells of cadmium selenide display photoinduced absorption features in the near-infrared assigned to intraband (alternatively intersubband) transitions from the first to second electron subbands of the quantum wells. Under ultraviolet optical excitation, these same transitions from the first to second electron subbands are shown to exhibit stimulated emission, resulting in optical gain covering the near-infrared spectral region. The modal gain, bandwidth, and lifetime of this intraband gain are manipulated by using excitation energy, fluence, temperature, and surface chemistry. Unlike previous demonstrations of intraband optical gain in epitaxial quantum wells (e.g., quantum cascade lasers), the colloidal quantum wells are undoped. As a result, nearly thresholdless gain is in principle possible and limited in practice by the measurement of small optical losses of the samples in the near-infrared. Furthermore, the observations may be understood as a modified "quantum fountain" employing the valence band, a strategy that may be applied to many other materials.

Optical gain↗
DOE OSTI2016

Correlating optical infrared and electronic properties of low tellurium doped GaSb bulk crystals

Control over the Te doping concentration is especially challenging in the mass-production of optically transparent, high-resistivity Te-doped GaSb crystals. Driven by the necessity to perform fast, robust, and non-destructive quality control of the Te doping homogeneity of the optically transparent large-diameter GaSb wafers, we correlated electronic and optical infrared properties of Te-doped GaSb crystals. The study was based on the experimental Hall and Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) data collected from over 50 samples of the low-doped n-type material (carrier concentration of 6 × 10{sup 16} cm{sup −3} to 7 × 10{sup 17} cm{sup −3}) and the Te-doped p-type GaSb (4.6 × 10{sup 15} cm{sup −3} to 1 × 10{sup 16} cm{sup −3}). For the n-type GaSb, the analysis of the FTIR data was performed using free carrier absorption model, while for the p-type material, the absorption was modeled using inter-valence band absorption mechanism. Using the correlation between the Hall and the IR data, FTIR maps across the wafers allow a fast and reliable way to estimate carrier concentration profile within the wafer.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Generation of radially polarized high energy mid-infrared optical vortex by use of a passive axially symmetric ZnSe waveplate

We demonstrated the generation of the intense radially polarized mid-infrared optical vortex at a wavelength of 10.6 μm by use of a passive axially symmetric zinc selenide (ZnSe) waveplate with high energy pulse throughput. The phase of the radially polarized optical vortex with the degree of polarization of 0.95 was spirally distributed in regard to the angle. The converted laser beam energy of about 2.6 mJ per pulse was obtained at the input pulse energy of 4.9 mJ, corresponding to the energy conversion efficiency of 56%.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

Electron effective mass in Al{sub 0.72}Ga{sub 0.28}N alloys determined by mid-infrared optical Hall effect

The effective electron mass parameter in Si-doped Al{sub 0.72}Ga{sub 0.28}N is determined to be m{sup ∗}=(0.336±0.020) m{sub 0} from mid-infrared optical Hall effect measurements. No significant anisotropy of the effective electron mass parameter is found supporting theoretical predictions. Assuming a linear change of the effective electron mass with the Al content in AlGaN alloys and m{sup ∗}=0.232 m{sub 0} for GaN, an average effective electron mass of m{sup ∗}=0.376 m{sub 0} can be extrapolated for AlN. The analysis of mid-infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements further confirms the two phonon mode behavior of the E{sub 1}(TO) and one phonon mode behavior of the A{sub 1}(LO) phonon mode in high-Al-content AlGaN alloys as seen in previous Raman scattering studies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Infrared optically stimulated luminescence of rare earth doped CaF 2 and co-doped with Al or Li produced by combustion synthesis

The aim of this paper is to characterize the IRSL response of rare earth doped CaF 2 and co-doped with Al or Li, produced by the solution combustion synthesis (SCS). The results showed a high intensity of the infrared optically stimulated luminescence (IRSL) response for the samples of CaF 2 doped with Tb and co-doped with Li. For the samples of CaF 2 doped with Ce and co-doped with Li present better IRSL response than the samples co-doped with Al. It was also observed that the samples of CaF 2 :Ce,Li present a high fading with 50% reduction of the IRSL signal in a period of 60 min. In case of the CaF 2 :Tb,Li there is no significant fading during this period. For clinical dosimetry the fast fading of the dosimeter is not adequate. However, this feature can be exploited for other applications such as tamper-proof passive systems that detect and timestamp the movement of undeclared nuclear materials, by the estimation of the OSL response of materials with different fading rates.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Star formation characteristics of CNN-identified post-mergers in the Ultraviolet Near Infrared Optical Northern Survey (UNIONS)

ABSTRACT The importance of the post-merger epoch in galaxy evolution has been well documented, but post-mergers are notoriously difficult to identify. While the features induced by mergers can sometimes be distinctive, they are frequently missed by visual inspection. In addition, visual classification efforts are highly inefficient because of the inherent rarity of post-mergers (~1 per cent in the low-redshift Universe), and non-parametric statistical merger selection methods do not account for the diversity of post-mergers or the environments in which they appear. To address these issues, we deploy a convolutional neural network (CNN) that has been trained and evaluated on realistic mock observations of simulated galaxies from the IllustrisTNG simulations, to galaxy images from the Canada France Imaging Survey, which is part of the Ultraviolet Near Infrared Optical Northern Survey. We present the characteristics of the galaxies with the highest CNN-predicted post-merger certainties, as well as a visually confirmed subset of 699 post-mergers. We find that post-mergers with high CNN merger probabilities [p(x) > 0.8] have an average star formation rate that is 0.1 dex higher than a mass- and redshift-matched control sample. The SFR enhancement is even greater in the visually confirmed post-merger sample, a factor of 2 higher than the control sample.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Comparison of methods to derive infrared optical constants for organic materials for optical modeling

Reflectance spectroscopy, especially at infrared wavelengths, is often used for contact, standoff, and remote sensing of solid materials. The reflectance spectra of solids, however, are complex, relying on many factors, even for the same material. Such phenomena can be modeled if the optical constants as a function of wavelength or wavenumber, n(?) and k(?), are known. Methods to measure the optical constants of solids, however, are challenging, particularly for powdered materials. For powdered materials, a pressed pellet of the neat material is often used when a crystalline specimen is not available. In this work, three techniques, including ellipsometry, single-angle reflectance and KBr transmission spectroscopy, are applied to an organic material, acetaminophen, for comparison, and the effects on the modeled spectra are shown.

ellipsometry, infrared (IR) spectroscopy, FTIR, hy↗
DOE OSTI2017

Composite Spectral Energy Distributions and Infrared–Optical Colors of Type 1 and Type 2 Quasars

We present observed mid-infrared and optical colors and composite spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of type 1 (broad-line) and 2 (narrow-line) quasars selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectroscopy. A significant fraction of powerful quasars are obscured by dust and are difficult to detect in optical photometric or spectroscopic surveys. However, these may be more easily identified on the basis of mid-infrared (MIR) colors and SEDs. Using samples of SDSS type 1 and 2 matched in redshift and [O iii] luminosity, we produce composite rest-frame 0.2–15 μm SEDs based on SDSS, UKIDSS, and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer photometry and perform model fits using simple galaxy and quasar SED templates. The SEDs of type 1 and 2 quasars are remarkably similar, with the differences explained primarily by the extinction of the quasar component in the type 2 systems. For both types of quasar, the flux of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) relative to the host galaxy increases with AGN luminosity (L{sub [OIII]}) and redder observed MIR color, but we find only weak dependencies of the composite SEDs on mechanical jet power as determined through radio luminosity. We conclude that luminous quasars can be effectively selected using simple MIR color criteria similar to those identified previously (W1--W2>0.7; Vega), although these criteria miss many heavily obscured objects. Obscured quasars can be further identified based on optical–IR colors (for example, (u--W3 [AB])>1.4(W1--W2 [Vega])+3.2). These results illustrate the power of large statistical studies of obscured quasars selected on the basis of MIR and optical photometry.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

The optical–infrared extinction curve and its variation in the Milky Way

The dust extinction curve is a critical component of many observational programs and an important diagnostic of the physics of the interstellar medium. Here we present new measurements of the dust extinction curve and its variation toward tens of thousands of stars, a hundred-fold larger sample than in existing detailed studies. We use data from the APOGEE spectroscopic survey in combination with ten-band photometry from Pan-STARRS1, the Two Micron All-Sky Survey, and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. We find that the extinction curve in the optical through infrared is well characterized by a one-parameter family of curves described by R(V). The extinction curve is more uniform than suggested in past works, with σ(R(V))=0.18, and with less than one percent of sight lines having R(V)>4. Our data and analysis have revealed two new aspects of Galactic extinction: first, we find significant, wide-area variations in R(V) throughout the Galactic plane. These variations are on scales much larger than individual molecular clouds, indicating that R(V) variations must trace much more than just grain growth in dense molecular environments. Indeed, we find no correlation between R(V) and dust column density up to E(B−V)≈2. Second, we discover a strong relationship between R(V) and the far-infrared dust emissivity.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

AGNs in post-mergers from the ultraviolet near infrared optical northern survey

The kinematic disturbances associated with major galaxy mergers are known to produce gas inflows, which in turn may trigger accretion onto the supermassive black holes (SMBH) of the participant galaxies. While this effect has been studied in galaxy pairs, the frequency of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in fully coalesced post-merger systems is poorly constrained due to the limited size or impurity of extant post-merger samples. Previously, we combined convolutional neural network (CNN) predictions with visual classifications to identify a highly pure sample of 699 post-mergers in deep r-band imaging. In the work presented here, we quantify the frequency of AGNs in this sample using three metrics: optical emission lines, mid-infrared (mid-IR) colour, and radio detection of low-excitation radio galaxies (LERGs). We also compare the frequency of AGNs in post-mergers to that in a sample of spectroscopically identified galaxy pairs. We find that AGNs identified by narrow-line optical emission and mid-IR colour have an increased incidence rate in post-mergers, with excesses of ~4 over mass- and redshift-matched controls. The optical and mid-IR AGN excesses in post-mergers exceed the values found for galaxy pairs, indicating that AGN activity in mergers peaks after coalescence. Conversely, we recover no significant excess of LERGs in post-mergers or pairs. Finally, we find that the [O III ] luminosity (a proxy for SMBH accretion rate) in post-mergers that host an optical AGN is ~0.3 dex higher on average than in non-interacting galaxies with an optical AGN, suggesting that mergers generate higher accretion rates than secular triggering mechanisms.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Infrared Optical Anisotropy in Quasi‐1D Hexagonal Chalcogenide BaTiSe 3

Polarimetric infrared (IR) detection bolsters IR thermography by leveraging the polarization of light. Optical anisotropy, i.e., birefringence and dichroism, can be leveraged to achieve polarimetric detection. Recently, giant optical anisotropy is discovered in quasi-1D narrow-bandgap hexagonal perovskite sulfides, A 1+x TiS 3 , specifically BaTiS 3 and Sr 9/8 TiS 3 . In these materials, the critical role of atomic-scale structure modulations in the unconventional electrical, optical, and thermal properties raises the broader question of the nature of other materials that belong to this family. To address this issue, for the first time, high-quality single crystals of a largely unexplored member of the A 1+x TiX 3 (X = S, Se) family, BaTiSe 3 are synthesized. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction determined the room-temperature structure with the P31c space group, which is a superstructure of the earlier reported P6 3 /mmc structure. The crystal structure of BaTiSe 3 features antiparallel c-axis displacements similar to but of lower symmetry than BaTiS 3 , verified by the polarization dependent Raman spectroscopy. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is used to characterize the optical anisotropy of BaTiSe 3 , whose refractive index along the ordinary (E ⊥ c) and extraordinary (E ‖ c) optical axes is quantitatively determined by combining ellipsometry studies with FTIR. With a giant birefringence Δn ∼ 0.9, BaTiSe 3 emerges as a new candidate for miniaturized birefringent optics for mid-wave infrared to long-wave infrared imaging.

optical anisotropy↗
DOE OSTI2015

TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT INFRARED OPTICAL CONSTANTS OF OLIVINE AND ENSTATITE

Since the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) mission, it has become clear that dust in circumstellar disks and outflows consists partly of crystalline silicates of pyroxene and olivine type. An exact mineralogical analysis of the dust infrared emission spectra relies on laboratory spectra, which, however, have been mostly measured at room temperature so far. Given that infrared spectral features depend on the thermal excitation of the crystal's vibrational modes, laboratory spectra measured at various (low and high) temperatures, corresponding to the thermal conditions at different distances from the star, can improve the accuracy of such analyses considerably. We have measured the complex refractive index in a temperature range of 10-973 K for one mineral of each of those types of silicate, i.e., for an olivine and an enstatite of typical (terrestrial) composition. Thus, our data extend the temperature range of previous data to higher values and the compositional range to higher iron contents. We analyze the temperature dependence of oscillator frequencies and damping parameters governing the spectral characteristics of the bands and calculate absorption cross-sectional spectra that can be compared with astronomical emission spectra. We demonstrate the usefulness of our new data by comparing spectra calculated for a 100 K dust temperature with the ISO SWS spectrum of IRAS 09425-6040.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Impact of Infrared Optical Properties on Crystalline Si and Thin Film CdTe Solar Cells

Photons with energies below the photovoltaic (PV) absorber band gap do not generate current and adversely impact performance when absorbed in other solar cell components to produce heat. Here we incorporate infrared (IR) optical response in simulations for understanding thermal losses. Spectroscopic ellipsometry is used to measure Al-Si interface optical properties in Si PV. Reflectance of an Si module has been analyzed to account for encapsulant and Al-Si interface contributions. IR extended quantum efficiency simulations calculate efficiency gains / losses arising from variations in current generated and total reflectance as functions of transparent front contact material in thin film CdTe PV.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Infrared Optical Constants from Pressed Pellets of Powders: I. Improved n and k Values of (NH4)(2)SO(4)from Single-Angle Reflectance

In combination with other parameters, the real, n(?), and imaginary, k(?), components of the complex refractive index, = n + ik, can be used to simulate the optical properties of a material in different forms, e.g. its infrared spectra. But obtaining reliable values of the optical constants n/k for solid materials is challenging due to the lack of optical quality specimens, usually crystals, large enough to measure. An alternative to crystals is to press the powder into a uniform disk. We have produced pellets from ammonium sulfate, (NH4)2SO4, powder and derived the pellets’ n and k values via single-angle reflectance using a specular reflectance device in combination with a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. The single-angle technique measures amplitude of light reflected from the material as a function of wavelength over a wide spectral domain; the optical constants are determined from the reflectance data using the Kramers-Kronig relationship. We investigate several parameters associated with the pellets and pellet formation and their effects upon delivering the most reliable n/k values. Parameters studied include pellet diameter, mass and density (void space), drying, grinding, sieving and particle size in the pellet formation, as well as pressing pressure and duration. Of these parameters, using size-selected mixtures of dried, small (< 100 µm) particles and pressing at = 10 tons for at least 30 minutes were found key to forming highly reflective samples. Comparison to two sets of previous literature n(?) and k(?) values obtained from crystalline (NH4)2SO4 both as crystal reflectance as well as extinction spectra of aerosols measured in a flow tube show reasonable agreement, but suggests the present values, as confirmed from two independent techniques, represent a substantial improvement for n/k values for (NH4)2SO4, also demonstrating promise to measure the optical constants of other materials.

Optical constants, index of refraction, single-ang↗