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Coffee, Ryan

Publications and source records attributed to Coffee, Ryan.

Accelerating data acquisition with FPGA-based edge machine learning: a case study with LCLS-II

New scientific experiments and instruments generate vast amounts of data that need to be transferred for storage or further processing, often overwhelming traditional systems. Edge machine learning (EdgeML) addresses this challenge by integrating machine learning (ML) algorithms with edge computing, enabling real-time data processing directly at the point of data generation. EdgeML is particularly beneficial for environments where immediate decisions are required, or where bandwidth and storage are limited. In this paper, we demonstrate a high-speed configurable ML model in a fully customizable EdgeML system using a field programmable gate array (FPGA). Our demonstration focuses on an angular array of electron spectrometers, referred to as the ‘CookieBox,’ developed for the Linac Coherent Light Source II project. The EdgeML system captures 51.2 Gbps from a 6.4 GS s −1 analog to digital converter and is designed to integrate data pre-processing and ML inside an FPGA. Our implementation achieves an inference latency of 0.2 µs for the ML model, and a total latency of 0.4 µs for the complete EdgeML system, which includes pre-processing, data transmission, digitization, and ML inference. The modular design of the system allows it to be adapted for other instrumentation applications requiring low-latency data processing.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Shaping the Future of Self-Driving Autonomous Laboratories Workshop

The "Shaping the Future of Self-Driving Autonomous Laboratories" workshop, held in Denver on November 7-8, 2024, brought together leading experts from materials science and computing to address the growing need to revolutionize scientific research through AI-driven autonomous laboratories. The workshop identified critical challenges, including the integration of heterogeneous data, development of AI systems that understand fundamental physical principles, and comprehensive safety protocols. Key recommendations emerged around developing universal laboratory equipment interfaces, implementing automated metadata collection systems, and creating hybrid AI approaches that combine data-driven learning with scientific principles. The workshop emphasized maintaining human oversight while leveraging automation, transforming scientific education to prepare the next generation of researchers, and establishing a national consortium leveraging DOE facilities as anchors for broader collaboration with academia and industry. Participants stressed the urgency of addressing the growing disconnect between human decision-making timescales and modern instrumentation capabilities, highlighting the need for strategic automation while preserving essential human insight and oversight in the research process.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Coincidence anomaly detection for unsupervised locating of edge localized modes in the DIII-D tokamak dataset

Using supervised learning to train a machine learning model to predict an on-coming edge localized mode (ELM) requires a large number of labeled samples. Creating an appropriate data set from the very large database of discharges at a long-running tokamak, such as DIII-D, would be a very time-consuming process for a human. Considering this need and difficulty, we use coincidence anomaly detection, an unsupervised learning technique, to train an ELM-identifier to identify and label ELMs in the DIII-D discharge database. This ELM-identifier shows, simultaneously, a precision of 0.68 and a recall of 0.63 (AUC is 0.73) on identifying ELMs in example time series pulled from thousands of discharges spanning five years. In a test set of 50 discharges, the algorithm finds over 26 thousand ELM candidates, more than 5 times the existing catalog of ELMs labeled by humans.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Hard x-ray – optical four-wave mixing using a split-and-delay line

New, hard x-ray free electron lasers (FEL) produce intense femtosecond-to-attosecond pulses at angstrom wavelengths, giving access to the fundamental spatial and temporal scales of matter. These revolutionary light sources open the door to applying the suite of nonlinear, optical spectroscopy methods at hard x-ray photon energies. Nonlinear spectroscopy with hard x-rays can allow for measuring the coherence properties of short wavelength excitations with atomic specificity and for understanding how high energy excitations couple to other degrees of freedom in atomic, molecular or condensed-phase systems. As a step in this direction, here we present hard x-ray, optical four-wave mixing (4WM) measurements done at 9.8 keV at the split-and-delay line at the x-ray correlation spectroscopy (XCS) hutch of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). In this work, we create an x-ray transient grating (TG) from a pair of crossing x-ray beams and diffract optical laser pulses at 400 nm from the TG. The key technical advance here is being able to independently vary the delays of the x-ray pulses. Measurements were made in 3 different solid samples: bismuth germinate (BGO), zinc oxide (ZnO) and yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG). The resulting phase-matched, 4WM signal is measured in two different ways: by varying the x-ray, x-ray pulse delay which can reveal both material and light source coherence properties and also by varying the optical laser delay with respect to the x-ray TG to study how the x-ray excitation couples to the optical properties. Although no coherent 4WM signal was seen in these measurements, the absence of this signal gives important information on experimental requirements for detecting this in future work. Also, our laser-delay scans, although not a new measurement, were applied to different materials than in past work and reveal new examples x-ray induced lattice dynamics in solids. This work represents a key step towards extending nonlinear optics and time-resolved spectroscopy into the hard x-ray regime.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

A sensitive high repetition rate arrival time monitor for X-ray free electron lasers

X-ray free-electron laser sources enable time-resolved X-ray studies with unmatched temporal resolution. To fully exploit ultrashort X-ray pulses, timing tools are essential. However, new high repetition rate X-ray facilities present challenges for currently used timing tool schemes. Here we address this issue by demonstrating a sensitive timing tool scheme to enhance experimental time resolution in pump-probe experiments at very high pulse repetition rates. Our method employs a self-referenced detection scheme using a time-sheared chirped optical pulse traversing an X-ray stimulated diamond plate. By formulating an effective medium theory, we confirm subtle refractive index changes, induced by sub-milli-Joule intense X-ray pulses, that are measured in our experiment. The system utilizes a Common-Path-Interferometer to detect X-ray-induced phase shifts of the optical probe pulse transmitted through the diamond sample. Owing to the thermal stability of diamond, our approach is well-suited for MHz pulse repetition rates in superconducting linear accelerator-based free-electron lasers.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Automatic Determination of the Weak-Beam Condition in Dark Field X-ray Microscopy

Mechanical properties in crystals are strongly correlated to the arrangement of 1D line defects, termed dislocations. Recently, Dark field X-ray Microscopy (DFXM) has emerged as a new tool to image and interpret dislocations within crystals using multidimensional scans. However, the methods required to reconstruct meaningful dislocation information from high-dimensional DFXM scans are still nascent and require significant manual oversight (i.e. supervision). In this work, we present a new relatively unsupervised method that extracts dislocation-specific information (features) from a 3D dataset (x, y, Φ) using Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization to represent the large dataset as an array of 3-component feature vectors for each position, corresponding to the weak-beam conditions and the strong-beam condition. Finally, this method offers key opportunities to significantly reduce dataset size while preserving only the crystallographic information that is important for data reconstruction.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

EdgeAI: Machine learning via direct attached accelerator for streaming data processing at high shot rate x-ray free-electron lasers

We present a case for low batch-size inference with the potential for adaptive training of a lean encoder model. We do so in the context of a paradigmatic example of machine learning as applied in data acquisition at high data velocity scientific user facilities such as the Linac Coherent Light Source-II x-ray Free-Electron Laser. We discuss how a low-latency inference model operating at the data acquisition edge can capitalize on the naturally stochastic nature of such sources. We simulate the method of attosecond angular streaking to produce representative results whereby simulated input data reproduce high-resolution ground truth probability distributions. By minimizing the mean-squared error between the decoded output of the latent representation and the ground truth distributions, we ensure that the encoding layers and resulting latent representation maintains full fidelity for any downstream task, be it classification or regression. We present throughput results for data-parallel inference of various batch sizes, some with throughput exceeding 100 k images per second. We also show in situ training below 10 s per epoch for the full encoder–decoder model as would be relevant for streaming and adaptive real-time data production at our nation’s scientific light sources.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Enabling real-time adaptation of machine learning models at x-ray Free Electron Laser facilities with high-speed training optimized computational hardware

The emergence of novel computational hardware is enabling a new paradigm for rapid machine learning model training. For the Department of Energy’s major research facilities, this developing technology will enable a highly adaptive approach to experimental sciences. In this manuscript we present the per-epoch and end-to-end training times for an example of a streaming diagnostic that is planned for the upcoming high-repetition rate x-ray Free Electron Laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source-II. We explore the parameter space of batch size and data parallel training across multiple Graphics Processing Units and Reconfigurable Dataflow Units. We show the landscape of training times with a goal of full model retraining in under 15 min. Although a full from scratch retraining of a model may not be required in all cases, we nevertheless present an example of the application of emerging computational hardware for adapting machine learning models to changing environments in real-time, during streaming data acquisition, at the rates expected for the data fire hoses of accelerator-based user facilities.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Data reduction through optimized scalar quantization for more compact neural networks

Raw data generation for several existing and planned large physics experiments now exceeds TB/s rates, generating untenable data sets in very little time. Those data often demonstrate high dimensionality while containing limited information. Meanwhile, Machine Learning algorithms are now becoming an essential part of data processing and data analysis. Those algorithms can be used offline for post processing and post data analysis, or they can be used online for real time processing providing ultra low latency experiment monitoring. Both use cases would benefit from data throughput reduction while preserving relevant information: one by reducing the offline storage requirements by several orders of magnitude and the other by allowing ultra fast online inferencing with low complexity Machine Learning models. Moreover, reducing the data source throughput also reduces material cost, power and data management requirements. In this work we demonstrate optimized nonuniform scalar quantization for data source reduction. This data reduction allows lower dimensional representations while preserving the relevant information of the data, thus enabling high accuracy Tiny Machine Learning classifier models for online fast inferences. We demonstrate this approach with an initial proof of concept targeting the CookieBox, an array of electron spectrometers used for angular streaking, that was developed for LCLS-II as an online beam diagnostic tool. We used the Lloyd-Max algorithm with the CookieBox dataset to design an optimized nonuniform scalar quantizer. Optimized quantization lets us reduce input data volume by 69% with no significant impact on inference accuracy. When we tolerate a 2% loss on inference accuracy, we achieved 81% of input data reduction. Finally, the change from a 7-bit to a 3-bit input data quantization reduces our neural network size by 38%.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Controllable X-ray Pulse Trains from Enhanced Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission

We report the demonstration of optical compression of an electron beam and the production of controllable trains of femtosecond, soft x-ray pulses with the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) freeelectron laser (FEL). This is achieved by enhanced self-amplified spontaneous emission with a 2 μm laser and a dechirper device. Optical compression was achieved by modulating the energy of an electron beam with the laser and then compressing with a chicane, resulting in high current spikes on the beam which we observe to lase. A dechirper was then used to selectively control the lasing region of the electron beam. Field autocorrelation measurements indicate a train of pulses, and we find that the number of pulses within the train can be controlled (from 1 to 5 pulses) by varying the dechirper position and undulator taper. These results are a step toward attosecond spectroscopy with x-ray FELs as well as future FEL schemes relying on optical compression of an electron beam.

Duris, Joseph P↗

An approach to characterizing spatial aspects of image system blur

Quantitative X-ray radiographic imaging systems that utilize a charged couple device (CCD) camera connected to a thick, monolithic scintillator can exhibit blur that varies spatially across the field of view, especially for thick scintillators used in pulse-power radiography of dynamically compressed objects. Here, a three-point approach to estimating and accounting for this effect is demonstrated by (a) using a local estimation technique to measure the effect of blurring a calibration object at key locations across the field of view, (b) combining each of the local estimates into a spatially varying blurring function via partitions of unity interpolation, and (c) resolving the effects of that blur on the image by solving an ill-posed inverse problem using a spatially varying regularization term. The technique is demonstrated on synthetic examples and actual radiographs collected at the Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL)Mercury pulsed power facility.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Electron-ion coincidence measurements of molecular dynamics with intense X-ray pulses

Molecules can sequentially absorb multiple photons when irradiated by an intense X-ray pulse from a free-electron laser. If the time delay between two photoabsorption events can be determined, this enables pump-probe experiments with a single X-ray pulse, where the absorption of the first photon induces electronic and nuclear dynamics that are probed by the absorption of the second photon. Here we show a realization of such a single-pulse X-ray pump-probe scheme on N 2 molecules, using the X-ray induced dissociation process as an internal clock that is read out via coincident detection of photoelectrons and fragment ions. By coincidence analysis of the kinetic energies of the ionic fragments and photoelectrons, the transition from a bound molecular dication to two isolated atomic ions is observed through the energy shift of the inner-shell electrons. Via ab-initio simulations, we are able to map characteristic features in the kinetic energy release and photoelectron spectrum to specific delay times between photoabsorptions. In contrast to previous studies where nuclear motions were typically revealed by measuring ion kinetics, our work shows that inner-shell photoelectron energies can also be sensitive probes of nuclear dynamics, which adds one more dimension to the study of light-matter interactions with X-ray pulses.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Electronic Population Transfer via Impulsive Stimulated X-Ray Raman Scattering with Attosecond Soft-X-Ray Pulses

Free electron lasers provide a source of X-ray pulses short enough and intense enough to drive nonlinearities in molecular systems. Impulsive interactions driven by these X-ray pulses provide a way to create and probe valence electron motions with high temporal and spatial resolution. Observing these electronic motions is crucial to understand the role of electronic coherence in chemical processes. A simple nonlinear technique for probing electronic motion, impulsive stimulated X-ray Raman scattering (ISXRS), involves a single impulsive interaction to produce a coherent superposition of electronic states. In this work, we demonstrate electronic population transfer via ISXRS using broad bandwidth (5.5 eV full width at half maximum) attosecond X-ray pulses produced by the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). The impulsive excitation is resonantly enhanced by the oxygen 1s → 2π* resonance of nitric oxide (NO), and excited state neutral molecules are probed with a time-delayed UV laser pulse.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

An Approach to Characterizing Spatial Aspects of Image System Blur

In imaging applications, such as X-ray radiography, the experimental system setup and data capture process introduce system blur and distortion. In images taken with thick scintillators, a spatially varying system blur is observed, requiring a nonstandard approach to blur and distortion estimation and removal. We demonstrate an approach to estimation of local point spread functions using checkerboard radiographs collected at the Naval Research Laboratory and extend that into a map defining the kernel over the camera field of view.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Characterizing Dislocation Defects in Dark Field X-ray Microscopy Images of Bulk Aluminum

Material defects play a large role in material response under shock loading, yet the process of how these defects initiate, propagate, and annihilate is not well understood. Using a newly developed diagnostic, dark field X-ray microscopy (DFXM), we can now visualize the behavior of dislocation defects in materials at the mesoscale under varying conditions. Using data from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, we apply a variety of image processing techniques to capture relevant features to locate and characterize size and orientation of dislocation defects in bulk aluminum DFXM images. Beyond simple visualization, this analysis drives statistical characterization of the defects and their dynamic response to further improve the relevant physics models.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Tunable isolated attosecond X-ray pulses with gigawatt peak power from a free-electron laser

The quantum-mechanical motion of electrons in molecules and solids occurs on the sub-femtosecond timescale. Consequently, the study of ultrafast electronic phenomena requires the generation of laser pulses shorter than 1 fs and of sufficient intensity to interact with their target with high probability. Probing these dynamics with atomic-site specificity requires the extension of sub-femtosecond pulses to the soft X-ray spectral region. Here, we report the generation of isolated soft X-ray attosecond pulses with an X-ray free-electron laser. Our source has a pulse energy that is millions of times larger than any other source of isolated attosecond pulses in the soft X-ray spectral region, with a peak power exceeding 100 GW. This unique combination of high intensity, high photon energy and short pulse duration enables the investigation of electron dynamics with X-ray nonlinear spectroscopy and single-particle imaging, unlocking a path towards a new era of attosecond science.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

[Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES)] Roundtable on Producing and Managing Large Scientific Data with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

To identify specific Priority Research Opportunities (PROs) for artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) at the US Department of Energy’s scientific user facilities, the Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) convened a roundtable of facility experts encompassing the fields of physics, chemistry, materials synthesis science, computational science, detector and accelerator technology, theory, modeling, simulation, and atomic-scale characterization techniques. The roundtable met on October 22–23, 2019, to identify coordinated, long-term AI/ML research efforts that will drive major advances in neutron, photon, and nanoscale sciences. This report describes the four PROs identified at the roundtable: PRO 1 on how AI/ML can extract high-value information from the large datasets; PRO 2 on how AI/ML can use such information in real time to maximize the facilities’ scientific output; PRO 3 on using AI/ML virtual laboratories (i.e., computational models of experimental facilities) to aid the facilities and user community in design and control of machine parameters and the design and execution of experiments, including training AI/ML models for PROs 1 and 2; and PRO 4 on how a shared scientific data infrastructure can provide tools to assemble and analyze the totality of data coming from user facilities. A section of the end of the report provides a summary on computer science and mathematics that highlights where enhanced AI/ML capabilities could be particularly impactful for BES user facilities.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗