Engineering topics

Simon, C.

Publications and source records attributed to Simon, C..

3 records

DOE OSTI2024

Quantum Barkhausen noise induced by domain wall cotunneling

Most macroscopic magnetic phenomena (including magnetic hysteresis) are typically understood classically. Here, we examine the dynamics of a uniaxial rare-earth ferromagnet deep within the quantum regime, so that domain wall motion, and the associated hysteresis, is initiated by quantum nucleation, which then grows into large-scale domain wall motion, which is observable as an unusual form of Barkhausen noise. We observe noncritical behavior in the resulting avalanche dynamics that only can be explained by going beyond traditional renormalization group methods or classical domain wall models. We find that this “quantum Barkhausen noise” exhibits two distinct mechanisms for domain wall movement, each of which is quantum-mechanical, but with very different dependences on an external magnetic field applied transverse to the spin (Ising) axis. These observations can be understood in terms of the correlated motion of pairs of domain walls, nucleated by cotunneling of plaquettes (sections of domain wall), with plaquette pairs correlated by dipolar interactions; this correlation is suppressed by the transverse field. Similar macroscopic correlations may be expected to appear in the hysteresis of other systems with long-range interactions.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗

NASA NTRS1991

SIMS analysis of extended impact features on LDEF experiment

Discussed here are the first Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS) analysis of projectile material deposited in extended impact features on Ge wafers from the trailing edge. Although most capture cells lost their plastic film covers, they contain extended impact features that apparently were produced by high velocity impacts when the plastic foils were still intact. Detailed optical scanning of all bare capture cells from the trailing edge revealed more than 100 impacts. Fifty-eight were selected by scanning electron microscope (SEM) inspection as prime candidates for SIMS analysis. Preliminary SIMS measurements were made on 15 impacts. More than half showed substantial enhancements of Mg, Al, Si, Ca, and Fe in the impact region, indicating micrometeorites as the projectiles.

Amari, S.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Meteoroid and Debris Impact Features Documented on the Long Duration Exposure Facility: A Preliminary Report

The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) was host to several individual experiments designed to characterize aspects of the meteoroid and space-debris environment in low-Earth orbit. It was realized from the very start, however, that the most complete way to accomplish this goal was to exploit the meteoroid and debris record of the entire LDEF. The Meteoroid and Debris Special Investigation Group (M&D SIG) was organized to achieve this end. Two dominant goals of the M&D SIG are the documentation of the impact record of the entire LDEF, and the dissemination of this information to all interested workers. As a major step towards the accomplishment of these goals, we have prepared this publication describing the M&D SIG observations of impact features made during LDEF deintegration activities at KSC in the spring of 1990. It is hoped that this report will serve as a useful guide for spacecraft designers as well as for meteoroid and space-debris workers, and that it will spur further work on the LDEF impact-laden surfaces collected by the M&D SIG and now available for allocation to qualified investigators. An important aim is to present all data and descriptions of impact features in a form which, though terse, remains comprehensible to the wider community. There is a deliberate minimum of interpretations. Thus, this catalog is intended to serve as a guide to the impact features found on LDEF and is not intended to stand as a definitive interpretive work.

See, T.↗