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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 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Generation of few-cycle pulses in media with alternating sign of effective cubic nonlinearity

An original technique is developed for spectral broadening of femtosecond pulses with compensation for the nonlinear spatial phase during the propagation through nonlinear media with effective cubic nonlinearity of different signs. It was shown that in the region of 1.5 μm, the proposed scheme with BBO crystals at the first stage and NaCl at the second stage allows, using chirped mirrors, the formation of few-cycle pulses of about 7 fs duration with a small B-integral. The possibility of focusing of pulses compressed in the proposed scheme with a large Strehl ratio is demonstrated. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Synthesis, structure, linear and nonlinear optical properties of noncentrosymmetric quaternary diamond-like semiconductors, Cu 2 ZnGeSe 4 (CZGSe) and the novel Cu 4 ZnGe 2 Se 7

In this work, two quaternary diamond-like semiconductors (DLSs) in the Cu-Zn-Ge-Se system, the known Cu 2 ZnGeSe 4 (also referred to as CZGSe) and the new Cu 4 ZnGe 2 Se 7 , are compared in terms of their crystal structures, electronic structures and physicochemical properties. Both compounds were prepared by high-temperature, solid-state synthesis at 800 degrees C. Single crystal X-ray diffraction was used to determine the structure of Cu 4 ZnGe 2 Se 7 . The structures of both Cu 2 ZnGeSe 4 and Cu 4 ZnGe 2 Se 7 can be considered as derivatives of cubic diamond. Cu 4 ZnGe 2 Se 7 , with a reduced symmetry due to the cation ordering pattern, adopts the Cu 4 NiSi 2 S 7 structure type, with space group C2. The corner-sharing tetrahedra in Cu 4 ZnGe 2 Se 7 are slightly distorted because the charge for some of the S 2 - anions is not compensated by the first-nearest-neighbor cations. Rietveld refinements using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data were used to assess the phase purity of the samples and confirm the bulk structural behavior. Diffuse reflectance UV/Vis/NIR spectroscopy shows that Cu 2 ZnGeSe 4 and Cu 4 ZnGe 2 Se 7 have direct optical bandgaps of 1.38 and 0.91 eV, respectively. Electronic structure calculations implementing density functional theory confirm the direct bandgap for Cu 4 ZnGe 2 Se 7 , with a calculated value of 0.62 eV. Both compounds are air stable, thermally stable up to relatively high temperatures, undergo phase transitions and have wide windows of optical clarity. The Kurtz-Perry powder technique was used to determine the second harmonic generation (SHG) responses using a commercial AgGaSe 2 standard. While Cu 4 ZnGe 2 Se 7 displays a weak SHG response, Cu 2 ZnGeSe 4 exhibits a response that is greater than several benchmark materials, with a large SHG coefficient, χ (2) , of 43 ± 6 pm/V at λ = 2900 nm.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Nonlinear regenerative amplification using tunable intracavity cascaded quadratic nonlinearities

Conventional nonlinear regenerative amplification utilizes Kerr (i.e., self-focusing) nonlinearity to broaden the spectrum via self-phase modulation during the direct amplification of ultrashort pulses, which helps overcome spectral gain narrowing for high-energy, ultrashort-pulse generation. We introduce cascaded quadratic nonlinearities from a type-I second-harmonic generation crystal, which can be tuned in both magnitude and sign via the phase-mismatching condition, inside a regenerative amplifier to enable nonlinearity-tunable regenerative amplification. We demonstrate, both experimentally and numerically, a nonlinear Yb:YAG thin-disk regenerative amplifier with either positive or negative net nonlinearity that delivers 1-kHz, >0.4-mJ pulses as short as ∼200 fs and high-quality beams free of self-focusing. The laser’s average power can be scaled to >100 W when seeded and operated at a much higher repetition rate to benefit various applications.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Nematic Colloidal Micro‐Robots as Physically Intelligent Systems

Abstract Physically intelligent micro‐robotic systems exploit information embedded in micro‐robots, their colloidal cargo, and their milieu to interact, assemble, and form functional structures. Nonlinear anisotropic fluids such as nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) provide untapped opportunities to embed interactions via their topological defects, complex elastic responses, and ability to dramatically restructure in dynamic settings. Here a four‐armed ferromagnetic micro‐robot is designed and fabricated to embed and dynamically reconfigure information in the nematic director field, generating a suite of physical interactions for cargo manipulation. The micro‐robot shape and surface chemistry are designed to generate a nemato‐elastic energy landscape in the domain that defines multiple modes of emergent, bottom‐up interactions with passive colloids. Micro‐robot rotation expands the ability to sculpt interactions; the energy landscape around a rotating micro‐robot is dynamically reconfigured by complex far‐from‐equilibrium dynamics of the micro‐robot's companion topological defect. These defect dynamics allow transient information to be programmed into the domain and exploited. Robust micro‐robotic manipulation strategies are demonstrated that exploit these diverse modes of nemato‐elastic interaction to achieve cargo docking, transport, release, and assembly of complex reconfigurable structures at multi‐stable sites. Such structures are of great interest to future developments of LC‐based advanced optical device and micro‐manufacturing in anisotropic environments.

Yao, Tianyi↗
DOE OSTI2021

Giant exciton-enhanced shift currents and direct current conduction with subbandgap photo excitations produced by many-electron interactions

Significance Shift current, a bulk photovoltaic effect, arises from nonlinear light–matter interaction in a noncentrosymmetric crystal under continuous wave illumination. Although it is a promising mechanism for photocurrent generation without p–n junctions, the short-circuit current (which is related to the power efficiency of a solar cell device) is usually low. It is therefore important to understand the physics of the phenomenon and find materials with strong shift current conductivity. We calculate the shift current conductivity including excitonic effects in a real material (monolayer GeS) from first principles. We show that electron–hole interactions can dramatically enhance and qualitatively change shift current in reduced-dimensional materials. Our results indicate low-dimensional materials are promising candidates for next-generation photovoltaic devices with high efficiencies.

Chan, Yang-Hao↗
DOE OSTI2026

Design of an optical amplifier for amplified OSC in IOTA facility at Fermilab

Optical stochastic cooling (OSC) is a cutting-edge beam cooling technology to reduce, control the 3 dimensional spread and the motion of particle beams. It has recently been successfully, experimentally, demonstrated in Fermilab's IOTA storage ring, marking a major step forward in beam cooling. OSC has the potential to significantly improve both the performance and flexibility as a beam cooling system. One promising way to boost OSC performance is by adding a high-gain optical amplifier. However, this amplifier must be carefully designed to meet the specific constraints of the OSC system. A major challenge lies in the limited optical delay, which is just 6 mm for the case of IOTA, set by the beam bypass, restricts us to use a short-length gain medium. This, along with IOTA’s high repetition rate and the relatively long duration of the optical pulses, limits the peak power available for the pump laser without damaging the crystal, which is crucial for achieving strong nonlinear gain. Additionally, it's essential to preserve the phase coherence of the undulator radiation during amplification, which further complicates the amplifier design. This report details a specialized amplifier setup that addresses these challenges, includes simulations of the integrated system, and summarizes the latest experimental progress and results.

Mondal, Abhishek [Fermilab]↗
NASA NTRS1991

Growth of thin films of organic nonlinear optical materials by vapor growth processes - An overview and examination of shortfalls

Research on the growth of second- and third-order nonlinear optical (NLO) organic thin film by vapor deposition is reviewed. Particular attention is given to the experimental methods for growing thin films of p-chlorophenylurea, diacetylenes, and phthalocyanines; characteristics of the resulting films; and approaches for advancing thin film technology. It is concluded that the growth of NLO thin films by vapor processes is a promising method for the fabrication of planar waveguides for nonlinear optical devices. Two innovative approaches are proposed including a method of controlling the input beam frequency to maximize nonlinear effects in thin films and single crystals, and the alternate approach to the molecular design of organic NLO materials by increasing the transition dipole moment between ground and excited states of the molecule.

Frazier, D. O.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Second-harmonic generation in zinc blende crystals under combined action of femtosecond optical and strong terahertz fields

The influence of a short intense (with an electric field strength up to 250 kV cm{sup −1}) terahertz (THz) pulse on the generation of second harmonic (SH) of Ti : sapphire laser radiation in crystals of zinc blende type (InAs and GaAs), characterised by nonzero bulk quadratic susceptibility, is investigated. It is experimentally shown for InAs(100) that, in the case of s-polarised first and second harmonics, an application of s-polarised THz field changes significantly the SH signal. The THz field-induced azimuthal dependence of the SH signal is in good agreement with the results of theoretical calculation within a phenomenological approach. The dependence of the SH signal on the delay time between the optical and THz pulses is investigated. This dependence for the GaAs crystal repeats the envelope of the THz pulse intensity, whereas in the case of InAs crystal there is a significant discrepancy, caused by the nonlinear dynamics of strong THz field in InAs. (nonlinear optical phenomena)

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Effect of Polymer Topology on Microstructure, Segmental Dynamics, and Ionic Conductivity in PEO/PMMA-Based Solid Polymer Electrolytes

We report Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) have attracted much interest due to their high ionic conductivity resulting from inherently fast segmental dynamics and high salt solubility, yet they lack mechanical stability in their neat form. Blending PEO with another rigid, or high glass transition temperature, polymer is a versatile way to improve the mechanical stability; however, the ionic conductivity is strongly reduced due to slower segmental dynamics of highly interpenetrating linear polymer chains. In this work, we used model PEO/PMMA blend systems prepared with various well-defined PEO architectures (linear, stars, hyperbranched, and bottlebrushes) doped with lithium bis(trifluoromethane-sulfonyl)-imide (LiTFSI) and investigated, for the first time, the role of macromolecular architecture of PEO on crystallization, segmental dynamics, and ionic conductivity in the blends and electrolytes. The results suggest that room-temperature miscibility of these polymers can be dramatically extended by using nonlinear PEO in the blends instead of linear chains, which crystallize above 35 wt %. The broadband dielectric spectroscopy results revealed enhanced decoupling of PMMA and PEO segmental dynamics in compact branched architectures, which helps to achieve faster segmental motion of star PEO in glassy PMMA. This manifests as nearly three-fold higher ionic conductivity in these nonlinear blends compared to the conventional linear PEO/PMMA system. Regardless of the PEO architectures, the temperature dependence of ionic conductivity blends with PMMA and LiTFSI is well defined using the Vogel–Fulcher–Tammann mechanism, suggesting that ion transport is mainly affected by the segmental motion. The activation energy values decrease with the increasing ionic conductivity. Overall, our results show that macromolecular architecture can be a tool to decouple segmental dynamics and ion mobility to rationally design SPEs with improved performance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

BaCu 2 SiS 4 : A New Member of the A II B I 2 M IV Q 4 Chalcogenide Family with a Chiral Crystal Structure

Abstract Noncentrosymmetric ternary and quaternary chalcogenides are studied as promising nonlinear optical (NLO) materials in the mid‐infrared region. Here, we report the synthesis of a new material BaCu 2 SiS 4 in the A II B I 2 M IV Q 4 family ( A =divalent metal; B =monovalent metal; M =tetrel, Q =chalcogen), and discuss its crystal structure, thermal stability, optical behavior, and electronic structure. BaCu 2 SiS 4 crystallizes in the noncentrosymmetric chiral space group P 3 2 21 with lattice parameters a =6.1440(3) Å, c =15.3542(8) Å, V =501.95(6) Å 3 , Z =3. The structure features helical channels formed by corner‐sharing [CuS 4 ] and [SiS 4 ] tetrahedral units. Synthesis was carried out in a molten salt flux, as opposed to a traditional solid‐state route from elements, to minimize the formation of a competing ternary phase, Ba 2 SiS 4 . BaCu 2 SiS 4 is a semiconductor with an experimentally‐determined direct bandgap of ~2.2 eV. The material exhibits second harmonic generation (SHG) activity, confirming the noncentrosymmetric nature of the structure. Analysis of reported A II B I 2 M IV Q 4 crystal structures pointed out a correlation among potential structure types and the radii of the constituent elements. Total energy calculations were carried out to explore the relative stability of several reported crystal structures in this family of compounds.

Sarkar, Arka↗
NASA NTRS1987

A numerical study of transient heat and mass transfer in crystal growth

A numerical analysis of transient heat and solute transport across a rectangular cavity is performed. Five nonlinear partial differential equations which govern the conservation of mass, momentum, energy and solute concentration related to crystal growth in solution, are simultaneously integrated by a numerical method based on the SIMPLE algorithm. Numerical results showed that the flow, temperature and solute fields are dependent on thermal and solutal Grashoff number, Prandtl number, Schmidt number and aspect ratio. The average Nusselt and Sherwood numbers evaluated at the center of the cavity decrease markedly when the solutal buoyancy force acts in the opposite direction to the thermal buoyancy force. When the solutal and thermal buoyancy forces act in the same direction, however, Sherwood number increases significantly and yet Nusselt number decreases. Overall effects of convection on the crystal growth are seen to be an enhancement of growth rate as expected but with highly nonuniform spatial growth variations.

Han, Samuel Bang-Moo↗
DOE OSTI2026

Conditional diffusion machine-learning framework for mapping valence electron distribution from convergent beam electron diffraction

Quantitative convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) enables determination of aspherical valence electron distributions through refinement of low-order structure factors, which are highly sensitive to chemical bonding and charge density variations. However, conventional quantitative CBED (QCBED) requires solving a highly nonlinear inverse problem with many coupled parameters, and computationally intensive dynamical diffraction calculations, making it time-consuming and difficult to apply to complex systems. More broadly, reconstructing charge density and orbital electron distribution from diffraction data has long been a central challenge in both x-ray and electron crystallography. Here, in this study, we introduce an artificial-intelligence (AI)-based framework that replaces traditional refinement with a data-driven inverse solver. Using a large synthetic CBED dataset generated by Bloch-wave simulations, we train a conditional diffusion model to directly infer crystal structural parameters and multipole density formalism parameters, and hence valence electron distributions, from CBED patterns alone. By learning from forward simulations across realistic parameter space, the model effectively solves the inverse problem. Compared with direct regression approaches, the diffusion-based framework provides posterior parameter distributions for rigorous uncertainty quantification while preserving quantitative fidelity and reducing analysis time by orders of magnitude. By eliminating the need for external single-crystal x-ray diffraction data and complex nonlinear refinement, this approach enables practical, high-throughput, and in situ quantitative CBED, enabling real-time mapping of valence electron distributions and their correlation with functional responses in quantum and energy materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
NASA NTRS1992

Prediction of dislocation generation during Bridgman growth of GaAs crystals

Dislocation densities are generated in GaAs single crystals due to the excessive thermal stresses induced by temperature variations during growth. A viscoplastic material model for GaAs, which takes into account the movement and multiplication of dislocations in the plastic deformation, is developed according to Haasen's theory. The dislocation density is expressed as an internal state variable in this dynamic viscoplastic model. The deformation process is a nonlinear function of stress, strain rate, dislocation density and temperature. The dislocation density in the GaAs crystal during vertical Bridgman growth is calculated using a nonlinear finite element model. The dislocation multiplication in GaAs crystals for several temperature fields obtained from thermal modeling of both the GTE GaAs experimental data and artificially designed data are investigated.

Tsai, C. T.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Ground Based Experiments in Support of Microgravity Research Results-Vapor Growth of Organic Nonlinear Optical Thin Film

This work is specifically focused on explaining previous results obtained for the crystal growth of an organic material in a reduced gravity environment. On STS-59, in April 1994, two experiments were conducted with N,N-dimethyl-p-(2,2-dicyanovinyl) aniline (DCVA), a promising nonlinear optical (NLO) material. The space experiments were set to reproduce laboratory experiments that yielded small, bulk crystals of DCVA. The results of the flight experiment, however, were surprising. Rather than producing a bulk single crystal, the result was the production of two high quality, single crystalline thin films. This result was even more intriguing when it is considered that thin films are more desirable for NLO applications than are bulk single crystals. Repeated attempts on the ground to reproduce these results were fruitless. A second set of flight experiments was conducted on STS-69 in September 1995. This time eight DCVA experiments were flown, with each of seven experiments containing a slight change from the first reference experiment. The reference experiment was programmed with growth conditions identical to those of the STS-59 mission. The slight variations in each of the other seven were an attempt to understand what particular parameter was responsible for the preference of thin film growth over bulk crystal growth in microgravity. Once again the results were surprising. In all eight cases thin films were grown again, albeit with varying quality. So now we were faced with a phenomenon that not only takes place in microgravity, but also is very robust, resisting all attempts to force the growth of bulk single crystals.

Zugrav, M. Ittu↗
DOE OSTI2023

Impact of longitudinal phase-matching variations on three-wave nonlinear interactions

A general study of three-wave nonlinear mixing in the presence of longitudinal variations in phase-matching conditions is presented. The efficiency of second-harmonic generation and optical parametric amplification is quantified using a normalized set of equations and a polynomial description of the wave-vector mismatch as a function of the longitudinal coordinate. These modeling results are used to estimate the impact of spatial variations in wave-vector mismatch experimentally obtained for five partially deuterated potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystals. The longitudinal inhomogeneities in the properties of crystals of similar quality are not expected to have a significant impact on their use for second-harmonic generation and optical parametric amplification, but the efficiency of nonlinear processes in crystals with larger variations could decrease.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Magnetic field effects and transverse ratchets in charge lattices coupled to asymmetric substrates

We examine a charge lattice coupled to a one-dimensional asymmetric potential in the presence of an applied magnetic field, which induces gyrotropic effects in the charge motion. This system could be realized for Wigner crystals in nanostructured samples, dusty plasmas, or other classical charge-ordered states where gyrotropic motion and damping can arise. For zero magnetic field, an applied external ac drive can produce a ratchet effect in which the particles move along the easy flow direction of the substrate asymmetry. The zero field ratchet effect can only occur when the ac drive is aligned with the substrate asymmetry direction; however, when a magnetic field is added, the gyrotropic forces generate a Hall effect that leads to a variety of new behaviors, including a transverse ratchet motion that occurs when the ac drive is perpendicular to the substrate asymmetry direction. We show that this system exhibits commensuration effects as well as reversals in the ratchet effect and the Hall angle of the motion. The magnetic field also produces a nonmonotonic ratchet efficiency when the particles become localized at high fields.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1992

Real time pre-detection dynamic range compression

A real time, pre-detection optical dynamic range compression system uses a photorefractive crystal, such as BaTiO3 or LiNbO3, in which light induced scattering from crystal inhomogeneities of the optical input occurs as a nonlinear function of the input intensity. The greater the intensity, the faster random interference gratings are created to scatter the incident light. The unscattered portion of the optical signal is therefore reduced in dynamic range over time. The amount or range of dynamic range compression may be controlled by adjusting the time of application of the unscattered crystal output to the photodetector with regard to the time of application of the optical input to the crystal.

Liu, Hua-Kuang↗
NASA NTRS2003

Protein-Precipitant-Specific Criteria for the Impact of Reduced Gravity on Crystal Perfection

The objective of this research is to provide quantitative criteria for the impact of reduced or enhanced convective transport on protein crystal perfection. Our earlier work strongly suggests that the magnitude of (lattice defect-inducing) fluctuations in the crystallization rate of proteins arise from the coupling of bulk transport and nonlinear interface kinetics. Hence, we surmised that, depending on the relative weight of bulk transport and interface kinetics in the control of the crystallization process on Earth, these fluctuations can either increase or decrease under reduced gravity conditions. The sign and magnitude of these changes depend on the specific protein-precipitant system. As a consequence, space environments can be either beneficial or detrimental for achieving structural perfection in protein crystals. The task objectives consist in systematic investigations of this hypothesis.

Vekilov, Peter G.↗