SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Electromagneteic scattering”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 181 records · Page 10

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2024

Quantum Monte Carlo calculations of electron scattering from 12 C in the short-time approximation

The short-time approximation is a method introduced to evaluate electroweak nuclear response for systems with A ≥ 12, extending the reach of first-principle many-body quantum Monte Carlo calculations. Using realistic two- and three-body nuclear interactions and consistent one- and two-body electromagnetic currents, we calculate longitudinal and transverse response densities and response functions of 12 C. Here, we compare the resulting cross sections with experimental data for electron-nucleus scattering, finding good agreement.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Verifying Ray Tracing Amplitude Methods for Global Magnetospheric Modeling

Abstract Ray tracing is a commonly used method for modeling the propagation of electromagnetic waves in Earth's magnetosphere. To apply ray tracing results to global models of wave‐particle interaction such as energetic electron scattering, it is useful to map the discrete rays to a volume filling mesh. However, some methods have inherent losses of energy from the wave source, or do not account for the full range of wave properties within a sample volume. We have developed and tested a 3D magnetospheric ray tracing code “MESHRAY” which resolves these issues. MESHRAY uses the conservation of Poynting flux through ray triplets with finite volume to determine the local field amplitudes. Electromagnetic wave energy density from all ray data points is mapped to a mesh and verified against the wave source power for energy conservation varying time step length, number of rays, and total time steps. We find that the method is self‐consistent and numerically robust. We further investigate whether the neglect of phase information and superposition has a significant impact on the accuracy of mapping wave intensity to a mesh. We find excellent agreement between the analytic solution for waves emitted by a line source in a plane‐stratified medium and an equivalent ray tracing solution. When phase information is excluded, ray tracing reproduces an average amplitude spread over regions of coherent constructive and destructive interference. This may be an important consideration for interpolating ray tracing results of longer wavelength waves such as magnetosonic, electromagnetic ion cyclotron, or ULF waves.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Measurement of Parity Violating Asymmetry in Elastic Electron Scattering off 48Ca

Atomic nuclei are composed of nucleons governed by the strong nuclear force. Although the proton distributions in nuclei are well measured with electromagnetic probes, the neutron distributions are relatively unconstrained. The nuclear symmetry energy governs the distribution of the excess neutrons in asymmetric nuclei, as well as the dynamics of neutron-rich nuclear matter up to the scale of neutron stars….

Clarke, Cameron↗

DOE OSTI2021

Electromagnetic wave absorption of multifunctional cementitious composites incorporating polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers and fly ash: Effects of microstructure and hydration

Highlights: • The cementitious composite shows excellent wide-band electromagnetic wave absorption in a frequency range of 2–18 GHz. • The PVA fibers and the fly ash change the dielectric properties of the cementitious composite by Debye polarization. • The iron oxide of the cementitious binders contributes to the magnetic properties of the composites. • The impacts of the microstructure and the hydration of the cementitious composite on its microwave absorption are analyzed. This paper devises a novel method for the adjustment of the pore structure and the hydration of cement to improve the electromagnetic wave absorption of the cementitious composites incorporating polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers and fly ash in a frequency range of 2–18 GHz. The underlying mechanism of the absorption is investigated to explore the possibility of the structural and functional integration of these composites. The electromagnetic parameters of the prepared cementitious composites and those of the raw materials are analyzed in a frequency range of 0.5–18 GHz. Moreover, the pore structure and the chemical environment of the cementitious composites are examined by mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), back-scattered electron detector (BSE), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results indicate that the PVA fibers and the high-volume fly ash have a positive effect on electromagnetic wave absorption of the cementitious composites through the adjustment of their pore structure and hydration.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2021

A Field-Enhanced Conduction-Cooled Superconducting Cavity for High-Repetition-Rate Ultrafast Electron Bunch Generation

High-repetition-rate sources of bright electron bunches have a wide range of applications. They can directly be employed as probes in electron-scattering setups, or serve as a backbone for the generation of radiation over a broad range of the electromagnetic spectrum. This paper describes the development of a compact sub-Mega-electronvolt (sub-MeV) electron-source setup capable of operating at MHz repetition rates and forming sub-picosecond electron bunches with transverse emittance below 20 nm. The setup relies on a conduction-cooled superconducting single-cell resonator with its geometry altered to enhance the field at the surface of the emitter. The system is designed to accommodate cooling using a 2 W pulse-tube cryogen-free cryocooler operated at 4.2 K. Although we focus on the case of a photoemitted electron bunch, the scheme could be adapted to other emission mechanisms.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Chiral Spectroscopy of Nanostructures

Chirality is ubiquitous in the universe and in living creatures over detectable length scales from the subatomic to the galactic, as exemplified in the two extremes by subatomic particles (neutrinos) and spiral galaxies. Between them are living creatures that display multiple levels of chirality emerging from hierarchically assembled asymmetric building blocks. Not too far from the bottom of this pyramid are the foundational building blocks with chiral atomic centers on sp 3 carbon atoms exemplified by L-amino acids and D-sugars that are self-assembled into higher-order structures with increasing dimensions forming highly complex, amazingly functional, and energy-efficient living systems. The organization and materials employed in their construction inspired scientists to replicate complex living systems via the self-assembly of chiral components. Multiple studies pointed to unexpected and unique electromagnetic properties of chiral structures with nanoscale and microscale dimensions, including giant circular dichroism and collective circularly polarized scattering that their constituent units did not possess. To address the wide variety of chiral geometries observed in continuous materials, singular particles, and their complex systems, multiple analytic techniques are needed. Simultaneously, their spectroscopic properties create a pathway to multiple applications. For example, mirror-asymmetric vibrations at chiral centers formed by sp 3 carbon atoms lead to optical activity for the infrared (IR) wavelength regions. At the same time, understanding the optical activity in, for example, the IR region enables biomedical applications because multiple modalities of biomedical imaging and vibrational optical activity (VOA) of biomolecules are known for IR range. In turn, VOA can be realized in both absorption and emission modalities due to large magnetic transition moments, as vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) or Raman optical activity (ROA) spectroscopy. In addition to the VOA, in the range of longer wavelengths, lattice vibrational mode or phononic behavior occurs in chiral crystals and nanoassemblies, which can be readily detected by terahertz circular dichroism (TCD) spectroscopy. Meanwhile, chiral self-assembly can induce circularly polarized light emission (CPLE) regardless of the existence of chirality in coassembled fluorophores. The CPLE from self-assembled chiral materials is particularly interesting because the CPLE can originate from both circularly polarized luminescence and circularly polarized scattering (CPS). Furthermore, because self-assembled nanostructures often exhibit stronger optical activity than their building blocks owing to dimension and resonance effects, the optical activity of single assembled nanostructures can be investigated by using microscopic technology combined with chiral optics. Here, we describe the state of the art for spectroscopic methods for the comprehensive analysis of chiral nanomaterials at various photon wavelengths, addressed with special attention given to new tools emerging both for materials with self-organized hierarchical chirality and single-particle spectroscopy.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2024

What can be measured asymptotically?

We consider asymptotic observables in quantum field theories in which the S-matrix makes sense. We argue that in addition to scattering amplitudes, a whole compendium of inclusive observables exists where the time-ordering is relaxed. These include expectation values of electromagnetic or gravitational radiation fields as well as out-of-time-order amplitudes. We explain how to calculate them in two ways: by relating them to amplitudes and products of amplitudes, and by using a generalization of the LSZ reduction formula. As an application, we discuss one-loop master integrals contributing to gravitational radiation in the post-Minkowski expansion, emphasizing the role of classical cut contributions and highlighting the different infrared physics of in-in observables.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Flow and extraction of energy and charge carriers in hybrid plasmonic nanostructures

Strong interactions of electromagnetic fields with plasmonic nanomaterials have been exploited in various applications. These applications have centred on plasmon-enhanced scattering rates in nearby molecules or plasmon-induced heating. A question that has emerged recently is whether it is possible to use plasmonic nanostructures in a range of hot electron (hole) applications, including photocatalysis, photovoltaics and photodetection. These applications require coupling of a plasmonic component, which amplifies the interaction of light with the material, to an attached non-plasmonic component that extracts this energy in the form of electronic excitations to perform a function. Here, in this Perspective, we discuss recent work in the emerging field of hybrid plasmonics. We focus on fundamental questions related to the nanoscopic flow of energy and excited charge carriers in these multicomponent materials. We also address critical misconceptions, challenges and opportunities that require more attention.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2023

Electron and neutrino scattering off the deuteron in a relativistic framework

Here, we build a relativistic model to perform calculations of exclusive, semiexclusive, and inclusive unpolarized cross sections and various polarization observables in electron and neutrino scattering experiments with deuteron targets. The strong interaction dynamics is defined by an explicit dynamical unitary representation of the Poincaré group, where representations of space translations and rotations in the interacting and noninteracting representations are the same. The Argonne V18 potential is used to construct a relativistic nucleon-nucleon interaction reproducing the experimental deuteron binding energy and nucleon-nucleon scattering observables. Our formalism does not include the pion production channel and neglects two-body contributions in the electromagnetic as well as in the weak nuclear current operator. We show that it is applicable to processes at kinematics, where the internal two-nucleon energy remains below the pion production threshold but the magnitude of the three-momentum transfer extends at least to several GeV.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2020

Design and performance of a superconducting neutron resonance spin flipper

Despite the challenges, neutron resonance spin echo still holds the promise to improve upon neutron spin echo for the measurement of slow dynamics in materials. We present a bootstrap, radio frequency neutron spin flipper using high temperature superconducting technology capable of flipping neutron spin with either nonadiabatic or adiabatic modes. A frequency of 2 MHz has been achieved, which would achieve an effective field integral of 0.35 T m for a meter of separation in a neutron resonance spin echo spectrometer at the current device specifications. In bootstrap mode, the self-cancellation of Larmor phase aberrations can be achieved with the appropriate selection of the polarity of the gradient coils.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

DOE OSTI2022

The role of plasma instabilities in relativistic radiation-mediated shocks: stability analysis and particle-in-cell simulations

ABSTRACT Relativistic radiation-mediated shocks are likely formed in prodigious cosmic explosions. The structure and emission of such shocks are regulated by copious production of electron–positron pairs inside the shock-transition layer. It has been pointed out recently that substantial abundance of positrons inside the shock leads to a velocity separation of the different plasma constituents, which is expected to induce a rapid growth of plasma instabilities. In this paper, we study the hierarchy of plasma microinstabilities growing in an electron-ion plasma loaded with pairs and subject to a radiation force. Linear stability analysis indicates that such a system is unstable to the growth of various plasma modes which ultimately become dominated by a current filamentation instability driven by the relative drift between the ions and the pairs. These results are validated by particle-in-cell simulations that further probe the non-linear regime of the instabilities, and the pair-ion coupling in the microturbulent electromagnetic field. Based on this analysis, we derive a reduced-transport equation for the particles via pitch-angle scattering in the microturbulence and demonstrate that it can couple the different species and lead to non-adiabatic compression via a Joule-like heating. The heating of the pairs and, conceivably, the formation of non-thermal distributions, arising from the microturbulence, can affect the observed shock-breakout signal in ways unaccounted for by current single-fluid models.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Near-field radiative heat transfer between irregularly shaped dielectric particles modeled with the discrete system Green's function method

Near-field radiative heat transfer (NFRHT) between irregularly shaped dielectric particles made of SiO 2 and morphology characterized by Gaussian random spheres is studied. Particles are modeled using the discrete system Green's function (DSGF) approach, which is a volume integral numerical method based on fluctuational electrodynamics. This method is applicable to finite, three-dimensional objects, and all system interactions are defined independent of thermal excitation by a generalized system Green's function. The DSGF method is deemed suitable to model NFRHT between irregularly shaped particles after verification against the analytical solution for chains of two and three SiO 2 spheres. The NFRHT results reveal that geometric irregularity in particles leads to a reduction of the total conductance from that of comparable perfect spheres at vacuum separation distances smaller than the particle size, a regime in which NFRHT is a surface phenomenon. At vacuum separation distances larger than the particle size, NFRHT becomes a volumetric process, and the total conductance between irregularly shaped particles converges to that of comparable perfect spheres. Spectral analysis reveals, however, that particle irregularity leads to damping and broadening of resonances at all separation distances, thereby highlighting the importance of the DSGF method for spectral engineering in the near field. The reduced spectral coherence when particle size is larger than the vacuum separation distance is attributed to coupling of surface phonon-polaritons within the randomly generated, distorted particle features. For particle size smaller than the vacuum separation distance, resonance broadening and damping are linked with the multiple localized surface phonon modes supported by the composite spherical harmonic morphologies of the Gaussian random spheres. In conclusion, this paper has direct implications for thermal management of packed particle systems, with applications in radiative property control, electronics, energy conversion, and nanomanufacturing.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2021

Coulomb phase corrections to the transverse analyzing power AN(t) in high energy forward proton-proton scattering

Study of the polarized proton-proton elastic scattering in the Coulomb Nuclear interference region allows one to measure forward hadronic spin-flip amplitude including the phase. However, in a precision experimental data analysis, a phase shift correction δC due to the long distance Coulomb interaction should be taken into account. For the unpolarized scattering, δC is commonly considered as well established. Here, we evaluate the Coulomb phase shifts for the spin-flip electromagnetic and hadronic amplitudes. The difference between spin-flip and non-flip Coulomb phase shifts was found to be negligible for current experimental accuracy in the high energy transverse spin elastic pp measurements. However, effective alteration of the hadronic spin-flip amplitude by the long distance electromagnetic corrections can be noticeable.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Metasurface-assisted 3D beam shaping for desired phase, amplitude, and polarization

Cascaded metasurfaces can control the phase, amplitude and polarization of an electromagnetic beam, shaping it in three dimensional configuration not achievable with other methods. Each cascaded metasurface has dielectric or metallic scatterers arranged in a period array. The shape of the scatterers determines the three dimensional configuration of the output beam and is determined with iterative calculations through computational simulations.

Kamali, Seyedeh Mahsa↗

DOE OSTI2021

Determining the leading-order contact term in neutrinoless double β decay

We present a method to determine the leading-order (LO) contact term contributing to the nn → ppe - e - amplitude through the exchange of light Majorana neutrinos. Our approach is based on the representation of the amplitude as the momentum integral of a known kernel (proportional to the neutrino propagator) times the generalized forward Compton scattering amplitude n ( p 1 ) n ( p 2 ) W + ( k ) → $ p\left({p}_1^{\prime}\right)p\left({p}_2^{\prime}\right){W}^{-}(k) $ , in analogy to the Cottingham formula for the electromagnetic contribution to hadron masses. We construct model-independent representations of the integrand in the low- and high-momentum regions, through chiral EFT and the operator product expansion, respectively. We then construct a model for the full amplitude by interpolating between these two regions, using appropriate nucleon factors for the weak currents and information on nucleon-nucleon ( NN ) scattering in the 1 S 0 channel away from threshold. By matching the amplitude obtained in this way to the LO chiral EFT amplitude we obtain the relevant LO contact term and discuss various sources of uncertainty. We validate the approach by computing the analog I = 2 NN contact term and by reproducing, within uncertainties, the charge-independence-breaking contribution to the 1 S 0 NN scattering lengths. While our analysis is performed in the $ \overline{\mathrm{MS}} $ scheme, we express our final result in terms of the scheme-independent renormalized amplitude $ {\mathcal{A}}_{\nu}\left(\left|\mathbf{p}\right|,\left|\mathbf{p}^{\prime}\right|\right) $ at a set of kinematic points near threshold. We illustrate for two cutoff schemes how, using our synthetic data for $ {\mathcal{A}}_{\nu } $ , one can determine the contact-term contribution in any regularization scheme, in particular the ones employed in nuclear-structure calculations for isotopes of experimental interest.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Terahertz response of monolayer and few-layer WTe2 at the nanoscale

Abstract Tungsten ditelluride (WTe 2 ) is an atomically layered transition metal dichalcogenide whose physical properties change systematically from monolayer to bilayer and few-layer versions. In this report, we use apertureless scattering-type near-field optical microscopy operating at Terahertz (THz) frequencies and cryogenic temperatures to study the distinct THz range electromagnetic responses of mono-, bi- and trilayer WTe 2 in the same multi-terraced micro-crystal. THz nano-images of monolayer terraces uncovered weakly insulating behavior that is consistent with transport measurements. The near-field signal on bilayer regions shows moderate metallicity with negligible temperature dependence. Subdiffractional THz imaging data together with theoretical calculations involving thermally activated carriers favor the semimetal scenario with $$\Delta \approx -10\,{{{\rm{meV}}}}$$ Δ ≈ − 10 meV over the semiconductor scenario for bilayer WTe 2 . Also, we observed clear metallic behavior of the near-field signal on trilayer regions. Our data are consistent with the existence of surface plasmon polaritons in the THz range confined to trilayer terraces in our specimens. Finally, data for microcrystals up to 12 layers thick reveal how the response of a few-layer WTe 2 asymptotically approaches the bulk limit.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2022

Ab Initio Prediction of the 4 $\mathrm{H}$e($d, γ$) 6 $\mathrm{L}$i Big Bang Radiative Capture

We report the rate at which helium ( 4 He ) and deuterium (d) fuse together to produce lithium-6 ( 6 Li) and a γ ray, 4 $\mathrm{H}$e($d, γ$) 6 $\mathrm{L}$i, is a critical puzzle piece in resolving the discrepancy between big bang predictions and astronomical observations for the primordial abundance of 6 Li . The accurate determination of this radiative capture rate requires the quantitative and predictive description of the fusion probability across the big bang energy window (30 keV ≲ E ≲ 400 keV), where measurements are hindered by low counting rates. We present first-principle (or, ab initio) predictions of the 4 $\mathrm{H}$e($d, γ$) 6 $\mathrm{L}$i astrophysical S factor using validated nucleon-nucleon and three-nucleon interactions derived within the framework of chiral effective field theory. By employing the ab initio no-core shell model with continuum to describe 4 He-d scattering dynamics and bound 6 Li product on an equal footing, we accurately and consistently determine the contributions of the main electromagnetic transitions driving the radiative capture process. Our results reveal an enhancement of the capture probability below 100 keV owing to previously neglected magnetic dipole (M1) transitions and reduce by an average factor of 7 the uncertainty of the thermonuclear capture rate between 0.002 and 2 GK.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2020

Dynamical Control of Broadband Coherent Absorption in ENZ Films

Interferometric effects between two counter-propagating beams incident on an optical system can lead to a coherent modulation of the absorption of the total electromagnetic radiation with 100% efficiency even in deeply subwavelength structures. Coherent perfect absorption (CPA) rises from a resonant solution of the scattering matrix and often requires engineered optical properties. For instance, thin film CPA benefits from complex nanostructures with suitable resonance, albeit at a loss of operational bandwidth. In this work, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate a broadband CPA based on light-with-light modulation in epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) subwavelength films. We show that unpatterned ENZ films with different thicknesses exhibit broadband CPA with a near-unity maximum value located at the ENZ wavelength. By using Kerr optical nonlinearities, we dynamically tune the visibility and peak wavelength of the total energy modulation. Our results based on homogeneous thick ENZ media open a route towards on-chip devices that require efficient light absorption and dynamical tunability.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗