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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 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

The FRAM robotic telescope for atmospheric monitoring at the Pierre Auger Observatory

FRAM (F/Photometric Robotic Atmospheric Monitor) is a robotic telescope operated at the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina for the purposes of atmospheric monitoring using stellar photometry. As a passive system which does not produce any light that could interfere with the observations of the fluorescence telescopes of the observatory, it complements the active monitoring systems that use lasers. We discuss the applications of stellar photometry for atmospheric monitoring at optical observatories in general and the particular modes of operation employed by the Auger FRAM. We describe in detail the technical aspects of FRAM, the hardware and software requirements for a successful operation of a robotic telescope for such a purpose and their implementation within the FRAM system.

Optics↗
DOE OSTI2021

Reflectivity of VUV-sensitive silicon photomultipliers in liquid Xenon

Silicon photomultipliers are regarded as a very promising technology for next-generation, cutting-edge detectors for low-background experiments in particle physics. This work presents systematic reflectivity studies of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM) and other samples in liquid xenon at vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) wavelengths. A dedicated setup at the University of Münster has been used that allows to acquire angle-resolved reflection measurements of various samples immersed in liquid xenon with 0.45° angular resolution. Four samples are investigated in this work: one Hamamatsu VUV4 SiPM, one FBK VUV-HD SiPM, one FBK wafer sample and one Large-Area Avalanche Photodiode (LA-APD) from EXO-200. Here, the reflectivity is determined to be 25–36 % at an angle of incidence of 20° for the four samples and increases to up to 65 % at 70° for the LA-APD and the FBK samples. The Hamamatsu VUV4 SiPM shows a decline with increasing angle of incidence. The reflectivity results will be incorporated in upcoming light response simulations of the nEXO detector.

(pin diodes, APDs, SiPMs, G-APDs, CCDs, EBCCDs, EM↗
DOE OSTI2024

Doping liquid argon with xenon in ProtoDUNE Single-Phase: effects on scintillation light

Doping of liquid argon TPCs (LArTPCs) with a small concentration of xenon is a technique for light-shifting and facilitates the detection of the liquid argon scintillation light. In this paper, we present the results of the first doping test ever performed in a kiloton-scale LArTPC. From February to May 2020, we carried out this special run in the single-phase DUNE Far Detector prototype (ProtoDUNE-SP) at CERN, featuring 720 t of total liquid argon mass with 410 t of fiducial mass. A 5.4 ppm nitrogen contamination was present during the xenon doping campaign. The goal of the run was to measure the light and charge response of the detector to the addition of xenon, up to a concentration of 18.8 ppm. The main purpose was to test the possibility for reduction of non-uniformities in light collection, caused by deployment of photon detectors only within the anode planes. Light collection was analysed as a function of the xenon concentration, by using the pre-existing photon detection system (PDS) of ProtoDUNE-SP and an additional smaller set-up installed specifically for this run. In this paper we first summarize our current understanding of the argon-xenon energy transfer process and the impact of the presence of nitrogen in argon with and without xenon dopant. We then describe the key elements of ProtoDUNE-SP and the injection method deployed. Two dedicated photon detectors were able to collect the light produced by xenon and the total light. The ratio of these components was measured to be about 0.65 as 18.8 ppm of xenon were injected. We performed studies of the collection efficiency as a function of the distance between tracks and light detectors, demonstrating enhanced uniformity of response for the anode-mounted PDS. We also show that xenon doping can substantially recover light losses due to contamination of the liquid argon by nitrogen.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Batch VUV4 characterization for the SBC-LAr10 scintillating bubble chamber

The Scintillating Bubble Chamber (SBC) collaboration purchased 32 Hamamatsu VUV4 silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) for use in SBC-LAr10, a bubble chamber containing 10 kg of liquid argon. A dark-count characterization technique, which avoids the use of a single-photon source, was used at two temperatures to measure the VUV4 SiPMs breakdown voltage (V BD ), the SiPM gain (g SiPM ), the rate of change of g SiPM with respect to voltage (m), the dark count rate (DCR), and the probability of a correlated avalanche (P CA ) as well as the temperature coefficients of these parameters. A Peltier-based chilled vacuum chamber was developed at Queen's University to cool down the Quads to 233.15 ± 0.2 K and 255.15 ± 0.2 K with average stability of ±20 mK. An analysis framework was developed to estimate V BD to tens of mV precision and DCR close to Poissonian error. The temperature dependence of V BD was found to be 56 ± 2 mV K -1 , and m on average across all Quads was found to be (459 ± 3(stat.)±23(sys.))× 10 3 e- PE -1 V -1 . The average DCR temperature coefficient was estimated to be 0.099 ± 0.008 K -1 corresponding to a reduction factor of 7 for every 20 K drop in temperature. The average temperature dependence of P CA was estimated to be 4000 ± 1000 ppm K -1 . P CA estimated from the average across all SiPMs is a better estimator than the P CA calculated from individual SiPMs, for all of the other parameters, the opposite is true. All the estimated parameters were measured to the precision required for SBC-LAr10, and the Quads will be used in conditions to optimize the signal-to-noise ratio.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

DUNE Photon Detection System

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) aims to provide a broad physics program primarily addressed to probing CP violation in the neutrino sector and identifying the neutrino mass hierarchy. The search for proton decay, the observation of supernova neutrino bursts, and the investigation of solar neutrinos represent other additional goals of DUNE experiment, which can be enhanced by the use and the high performances of the Photon Detection System (PDS). Using the technology based on liquid argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC), the experiment plans to observe neutrino interactions inside detectors located 1300 km away from the Long Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), where the neutrinos are produced. The experiment consists of two main parts, respectively the far and near detectors. The far site will comprise four detector modules. The first module is constituted by a vertical drift single-phase LArTPC, while the second module provides a horizontal drift single-phase LArTPC. The configurations of the other modules are still under definition. Neutrino detection in LArTPCs is achieved by identifying the charge and light generated from its interactions with liquid argon. The wire planes of the instrumented anode and the PDS detect these signals, respectively. The PDS in the first two modules, detailed in the present document, uses a modified version of the so-called ARAPUCA technology, named X-ARAPUCA. This system consisting of a highly reflecting box with an entrance window made by dichroic filters and wavelength shifters, creates a trap to detect the VUV (128 nm) scintillation photons. The X-ARAPUCA of the first module is called Supercell, and it has dimensions of 488×100 mm 2 , while Megacell is the second module version, with an active area of 60×60 cm 2 . This latter configuration also represents a significant technological advancement. Since half of the modules are placed on the cathode at high voltage, they are powered and read out using innovative power-over-fiber (PoF) and signal-over-fiber (SoF) technologies. Meanwhile, the other half are installed in a membrane behind the field cage, with a total transparency of around 70%.

Neutrino detectors↗
DOE OSTI2022

Search For Excited Cascade Hypersons (¿*-) Using the CLAS12 Spectrometer at Jefferson Laboratory

The number of experimentally observed doubly strange Cascade states to date is far fewer than has been predicted theoretically. The CLAS12 Very Strange physics program (E12- 11-005A) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility aims to study the electroproduction of these states using the newly upgraded CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer for 12 GeV (CLAS12) in experimental Hall B. In this project, the reaction ep ! e0K+K+??? ! e0K+K+K?(?=?0) is studied using CLAS12 Run Group A (RG-A) data sets taken by impinging electron beams of 10:2 and 10:6 GeV energies on an LH2 target. Scattered electrons are detected with either the Forward Detector (FD), covering a polar angle range of 5? to 35? to study electroproduction, or with the Forward Tagger (FT), covering a polar angle range of 2:5? to 4:5?, to study quasi-real photoproduction. The CLAS12 detector with nearly a 4? solid angle coverage is used to detect scattered electrons and charged kaons in the ?final state. ?=?0 hyperons are reconstructed using the missing mass technique to explore intermediate doubly-strange hyperons (???) that decay to K? and ?=?0. No statistically significant ??? states other than the ???(1530) were found in the missing mass spectra based on the currently available statistics in the CLAS12-FD acceptance only. A maximum log-likelihood method is implemented to determine the statistical significance and the upper limits on the ???(1820) electroproduction cross section by constructing 95% confidence level boundaries on the ???(1820) yields. Additional research was conducted to investigate the upper limit electroproduction cross section of the reaction ep ! e0K+K+??? ! e0K+K+K?(?=?0) as a function of the electroproduced ??? mass and the differential cross section ( d?dMM(e0K+K+) ) as a function of missing mass MM(e0K+K+) for electroproduction and quasi-real photoproduction processes.

Khanal, Achyut↗
DOE OSTI2023

Non-Markovian Hole Excess Noise in Avalanche Amorphous Selenium Thin Films

Enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio in avalanche photodiodes by utilizing impact ionization gain requires materials exhibiting low excess noise factors. Amorphous selenium (a-Se) as a wide bandgap at ~2.1 eV, a solid-state avalanche layer, demonstrates single-carrier hole impact ionization gain and manifests ultralow thermal generation rates. A comprehensive study of the history dependent and non-Markovian nature of hot hole transport in a-Se was modeled using a Monte Carlo (MC) random walk of single hole free flights, interrupted by instantaneous phonon, disorder, hole–dipole, and impact-ionization scattering interactions. The hole excess noise factors were simulated for 0.1–15 μm a-Se thin-films as a function of mean avalanche gain. The hole excess noise factors in a-Se decreases with an increase in electric field, impact ionization gain, and device thickness. The history dependent nature of branching of holes is explained using a Gaussian avalanche threshold distance distribution and the dead space distance, which increases determinism in the stochastic impact ionization process. An ultralow non-Markovian excess noise factor of ~1 was simulated for 100 nm a-Se thin films corresponding to avalanche gains of 1000. Future detector designs can utilize the nonlocal/non-Markovian nature of the hole avalanche in a-Se, to enable a true solid-state photomultiplier with noiseless gain.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Mechanical quantum sensing in the search for dark matter

Numerous astrophysical and cosmological observations are best explained by the existence of dark matter, a mass density which interacts only very weakly with visible, baryonic matter. Here, searching for the extremely weak signals produced by this dark matter strongly motivate the development of new, ultra-sensitive detector technologies. Paradigmatic advances in the control and readout of massive mechanical systems, in both the classical and quantum regimes, have enabled unprecedented levels of sensitivity. In this white paper, we outline recent ideas in the potential use of a range of solid-state mechanical sensing technologies to aid in the search for dark matter in a number of energy scales and with a variety of coupling mechanisms.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Studies in pulse shape discrimination for an optimized ASIC design

The continued advancements of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) have made them viable photosensors for low recoil energy Pulse Shape Discrimination (PSD) between fast neutron and gamma interactions when coupled to an appropriate scintillator. At the same time, the large number of channels in a typical array calls for the development of low-cost and low-power electronics. A custom integrated circuit (ASIC) is an ideal solution for this purpose. To assess the requirements for such an ASIC, studies were performed using two scintillators, Stilbene and EJ-276, coupled to a 6 x 6 mm SiPM from Onsemi. We demonstrate that both scintillators are viable for performing PSD for interaction energies from 100 keV to several MeV while optimizing the integration periods used in the PSD metric. These measurements inform the design parameters of the ASIC under development.

Si-PMTs↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Transverse Structure of the Deuteron with Drell-Yan

We propose to measure neutron and deuteron transversity TMDs. The quark transversity distributions of the nucleon are decoupled from the deuteron gluon transversity in the $Q^2$ evolution due to the chiral-odd property in the transversely-polarized target. The gluon transversity TMD only exists for targets of spin greater or equal to 1 and does not mix with quark distributions at leading twist, thereby providing a particularly clean probe of gluonic degrees of freedom. This experiment would be the first of its kind and would probe the gluonic structure of the deuteron, investigating exotic glue contributions in the nucleus not associated with individual nucleons. This experiment can be performed with the SpinQuest polarized target recently assembled for experiment E1039 and the spectrometer already in place in NM4. This new experimental setup would require very minimal modification to the target system and no modification to the detector package. An additional RF-circuit and target coil are necessary to RF-modulate across the domain of the Larmor frequency to manipulate the solid-state target spin population densities. Dedicated beam-time with this novel target system is required to achieve our physics goals.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

A nanocryotron memory and logic family

The development of superconducting electronics based on nanocryotrons has been limited so far to few device circuits, in part due to the lack of standard and robust logic cells. Here, we introduce and experimentally demonstrate designs for a set of nanocryotron-based building blocks that can be configured and combined to implement memory and logic functions. The devices were fabricated by patterning a single superconducting layer of niobium nitride and measured in liquid helium on a wide range of operating points. The tests show 10 - 4 bit error rates with above ± 20 % margins up to 50 MHz and the possibility of operating under the effect of an out-of-plane 36 mT magnetic field, with ± 30 % margins at 10 MHz. Additionally, we designed and measured an equivalent delay-flip-flop made of two memory cells to show the possibility of combining multiple building blocks to make larger circuits. These blocks may constitute a solid foundation for the development of nanocryotron logic circuits and finite-state machines with potential applications in the integrated processing and control of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Test beam study of SiPM-on-tile configurations

Light yield and spatial uniformity for a large variety of configurations of scintillator tiles were studied. The light from each scintillator was collected by a Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) directly viewing the produced scintillation light (SiPM-on-tile technique). The varied parameters included tile transverse size, tile thickness, tile wrapping material, scintillator composition, and SiPM model. Furthermore, these studies were performed using 120 GeV protons at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility. External tracking allowed the position of each proton penetrating a tile to be measured. The results were compared to a GEANT4 simulation of each configuration of scinitillator, wrapping, and SiPM.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Investigating resource-efficient neutron/gamma classification ML models targeting eFPGAs

There has been considerable interest and resulting progress in implementing machine learning (ML) models in hardware over the last several years from the particle and nuclear physics communities. A big driver has been the release of the Python package, hls4ml, which has enabled porting models specified and trained using Python ML libraries to register transfer level (RTL) code. So far, the primary end targets have been commercial field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or synthesized custom blocks on application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). However, recent developments in open-source embedded FPGA (eFPGA) frameworks now provide an alternate, more flexible pathway for implementing ML models in hardware. These customized eFPGA fabrics can be integrated as part of an overall chip design. In general, the decision between a fully custom, eFPGA, or commercial FPGA ML implementation will depend on the details of the end-use application. In this work, we explored the parameter space for eFPGA implementations of fully-connected neural network (fcNN) and boosted decision tree (BDT) models using the task of neutron/gamma classification with a specific focus on resource efficiency. We used data collected using an AmBe sealed source incident on Stilbene, which was optically coupled to an OnSemi J-series silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) to generate training and test data for this study. We investigated relevant input features and the effects of bit-resolution and sampling rate as well as trade-offs in hyperparameters for both ML architectures while tracking total resource usage. The performance metric used to track model performance was the calculated neutron efficiency at a gamma leakage of 10 -3 . The results of the study will be used to aid the specification of an eFPGA fabric, which will be integrated as part of a test chip.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2020

ElectroMon Geometry Considerations: Simulations of Electron Transport to a Diamond-Based Detector

Particle-in-Cell simulations were performed to investigate the effects of electrode bias and pitch on the expected number of electrons arriving at a diamond-based detector at a set of relevant incident electron energies for electron cloud monitoring. Results of these simulations indicate that the pitch of the electrodes directly impacts the number of incident electrons based on complete opacity of the electrodes to the electrons; image charge does not play a role at any relevant electron energy. Positive bias on the incident electrodes directly increases the energy of the incident electrons, while negative bias reduces the energy and completely repels incoming electrons of energies lower than the applied bias. These results are intended to be used as input parameters for a solid-state simulation which will determine the collection efficiency of the electron-hole pairs produced within the diamond as a function of position and energy.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Control Design for Inhomogeneous-Broadening Compensation in Single-Photon Transducers

We report a transducer of single photons between microwave and optical frequencies can be used to realize quantum communication over optical fiber links between distant superconducting quantum computers. A promising scalable approach to constructing such a transducer is to use ensembles of quantum emitters interacting simultaneously with electromagnetic fields at optical and microwave frequencies. However, inhomogeneous broadening in the transition frequencies of the emitters can be detrimental to this collective action. In this paper, we utilize a gradient-based optimization strategy to design the temporal shape of the laser field driving the transduction system to mitigate the effects of inhomogeneous broadening. We study the improvement of transduction efficiencies as a function of inhomogeneous broadening in different single-emitter cooperativity regimes and correlate it with a restoration of super-radiance effects in the emitter ensembles. Furthermore, to assess the optimality of our pulse designs, we provide certifiable bounds on the design problem and compare them to the achieved performance.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Proton branching ratios in 22 Mg for X-ray bursts

Here, decay protons from 22 Mg energy levels populated through a previously reported 24 Mg(p, t) 22 Mg transfer reaction (Chae et al. in Phys Rev C 79:055804, 2009) have been analyzed for proton branching ratios as a follow-up analysis. The measurement was performed at the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility of Oak Ridge National Laboratory by utilizing 41-MeV proton beams and 24 Mg solid targets. Decay protons and reaction tritons were simultaneously detected with a silicon detector array. By investigating the 24 Mg(p, t) 22 Mg*(p) 21 Na channels, the proton branching ratios of five 22 Mg excited states were obtained. The measured branching ratios provide constraints on the proton partial widths of the populated 22 Mg levels, which have implications for X-ray burst nucleosynthesis.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Prospects for Machine Learning and Pulse Shaping on the Scorpius Accelerator [Poster]

The Advanced Sources and Detectors (ASD) project aims to build Scorpius, a multi pulse linear induction accelerator capable of delivering a 1.4 kA electron beam at energies up to 24 MeV. One of the primary advancements of Scorpius is the use of solid state pulsed power (SSPP) to provide flexibility in pulse shaping by independently triggering 45 individual stages stacked in each of 984 line replaceable units (LRU), with 168 LRUs dedicated to the injector. By leveraging circuit modeling of each LRU stage, a machine learning model of the SSPP will be developed to allow for optimization of the pulse shape, including pulse flattening and reflection mitigation. Particle-in-cell simulations of Scorpius have, for example, demonstrated that reducing reflections during multi-pulse operation mitigates beam spill by preventing the production of off-energy electrons between pulses, thereby abating stimulated ion desorption from the wall and beam charge neutralization. This machine learning model will be validated and tuned with experimental data collected from the Scorpius injector and Integrated Test Stand

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗