Search NASA⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Chen, Yen-Chi

Publications and source records attributed to Chen, Yen-Chi.

Inverse chirality-induced spin selectivity effect in chiral assemblies of π -conjugated polymers

Coupling of spin and charge currents to structural chirality in non-magnetic materials, known as chirality-induced spin selectivity, is promising for application in spintronic devices at room temperature. Although the chirality-induced spin selectivity effect has been identified in various chiral materials, its Onsager reciprocal process, the inverse chirality-induced spin selectivity effect, remains unexplored. Here we report the observation of the inverse chirality-induced spin selectivity effect in chiral assemblies of π-conjugated polymers. Using spin-pumping techniques, the inverse chirality-induced spin selectivity effect enables quantification of the magnitude of the longitudinal spin-to-charge conversion driven by chirality-induced spin selectivity in different chiral polymers. By widely tuning conductivities and supramolecular chiral structures via a printing method, we found a very long spin relaxation time of up to several nanoseconds parallel to the chiral axis. Furthermore, our demonstration of the inverse chirality-induced spin selectivity effect suggests possibilities for elucidating the puzzling interplay between spin and chirality, and opens a route for spintronic applications using printable chiral assemblies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

SCONCE : a cosmic web finder for spherical and conic geometries

The latticework structure known as the cosmic web provides a valuable insight into the assembly history of large-scale structures. Despite the variety of methods to identify the cosmic web structures, they mostly rely on the assumption that galaxies are embedded in a Euclidean geometric space. Here, we present a novel cosmic web identifier called SCONCE (Spherical and CONic Cosmic wEb finder) that inherently considers the 2D (RA, DEC) spherical or the 3D (RA, DEC, z) conic geometry. The proposed algorithms in sconce generalize the well-known subspace constrained mean shift (SCMS) method and primarily address the predominant filament detection problem. They are intrinsic to the spherical/conic geometry and invariant to data rotations. We further test the efficacy of our method with an artificial cross-shaped filament example and apply it to the SDSS galaxy catalogue, revealing that the 2D spherical version of our algorithms is robust even in regions of high declination. Finally, using N-body simulations from Illustris, we show that the 3D conic version of our algorithms is more robust in detecting filaments than the standard SCMS method under the redshift distortions caused by the peculiar velocities of haloes. Our cosmic web finder is packaged in python as SCONCE-SCMS and has been made publicly available.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Algorithms and Statistical Models for Scientific Discovery in the Petabyte Era

The field of astronomy has arrived at a turning point in terms of size and complexity of both datasets and scientific collaboration. Commensurately, algorithms and statistical models have begun to adapt --- e.g., via the onset of artificial intelligence --- which itself presents new challenges and opportunities for growth. This white paper aims to offer guidance and ideas for how we can evolve our technical and collaborative frameworks to promote efficient algorithmic development and take advantage of opportunities for scientific discovery in the petabyte era. We discuss challenges for discovery in large and complex data sets; challenges and requirements for the next stage of development of statistical methodologies and algorithmic tool sets; how we might change our paradigms of collaboration and education; and the ethical implications of scientists' contributions to widely applicable algorithms and computational modeling. We start with six distinct recommendations that are supported by the commentary following them. This white paper is related to a larger corpus of effort that has taken place within and around the Petabytes to Science Workshops (https://petabytestoscience.github.io/).

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗