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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 289 records · Page 16
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Nature-GL: A Revolutionary Learning Paradigm Unleashing Nature’s Power in Real-World Spatial-Temporal Graph Learning

Spatial-Temporal Graph Learning (ST-GL) is a prominent research area due to its unique capability to effectively learn real-world graphs. Applications of ST-GL pose stringent and various demands on not only real-time inference with low energy cost and high ac- curacy but also fast training. Unfortunately, as Moore’s Law approaches its limits and ST-GL model complexity drastically grows, the gap between digital hardware’s computational power and ST- GL application demands is widening. In response, this paper introduces Nature-GL, a nature-powered graph learning paradigm that exploits the principle of entropy increase to advance graph learning. In particular, Nature-GL transforms both the training and inference of real-valued ST-GL into electron-speed natural anneal- ing processes of a parameterized dynamical system that represents the target graphs. Experimental results across four real-world ap- plications with six datasets demonstrate that Nature-GL achieves orders-of-magnitude speedups in both training and inference, delivering higher accuracy compared to Graph Neural Networks.

Liu, Chuan [University of Rochester]↗
DOE OSTI2025

Artificial Intelligence for (AI) Nuclear Security: Expert Perspectives on AI Priorities for the Office of International Nuclear Security

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform nuclear security operations, offering opportunities to enhance effectiveness while simultaneously introducing new challenges. As AI technologies rapidly evolve, agencies across the United States Government (USG) are researching, implementing, and evaluating various AI models and systems. Given the broad capabilities and applications of these technologies, it is essential for each agency to identify and articulate those areas where it can make meaningful contributions aligned with its mission and expertise. To address this need for strategic focus, in late Fiscal Year 2025 (FY2025), the Office of International Nuclear Security (INS) established an AI Task Force (AITF) to gather input from subject matter experts (SMEs) regarding the most appropriate role INS could serve in researching, evaluating, or implementing AI for nuclear security. The AITF engaged 15 experts from national laboratories with backgrounds in cyber security, physical security, transport security, insider threat mitigation, nuclear engineering, human-systems engineering, and AI/ML development. This white paper summarizes the insights gathered from these SMEs and presents a potential roadmap for INS engagement with AI technologies. The recommendations outlined here are intended to inform INS leadership as they make strategic decisions about resource allocation and program direction in this rapidly evolving technological domain.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Small arms suppression project (LLNL final report)

US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) was seeking a technological leap in small firearms weapon suppressor technology, because anticipated enemy capabilities are requiring the operators to have smaller detection cross sections to ensure the safe execution of missions. Suppressors have been developed almost exclusively through trial-and-error methods since the time of the original design by Hiram Maxim over one hundred years ago. Consequently USSOCOM deemed it prudent to perform a physicsbased study of weapon suppression to understand performance limits and possibly identify breakthrough technologies. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) high performance production level computational tool called ALE3D (Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian 3D and 2D) has unique physics models and numerical algorithms for modeling suppressor dynamics. The flexible and extendable code framework supports fully integrated hydrodynamics, heat transfer, solid and fluid dynamics, and chemistry that can be applied to simulating propellant-driven motion of a bullet down a gun barrel, the transfer of heat from the burning propellant to the barrel and suppressor, the chemistry of muzzle flash, and the shock/acoustic/optical signatures in the near-field. LLNL’s originally anticipated role was to augment ALE3D for this task, by developing the software and analysis methodologies specific to the simulation of blast and muzzle flash phenomena. It was believed that insights provided by our ALE3D simulations in tandem with a coordinated experimental component by our other team members from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the U. S. Army Armament, Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC), would have excellent prospects of yielding useful suppressor design improvements that could be transitioned to industry and utilized by US Special Operations Command. The three year effort has come to fruition with the development of revolutionary suppressor designs that far outperform any previous or current design by anyone outside this multi-lab team.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Searching for Strongly-Interacting Dark Matter with the Heavy Photon Search Experiment

The Heavy Photon Search Experiment (HPS) is a fixed-target experiment at Jefferson Lab’s Hall B, designed to explore a hidden sector (HS) of particles containing dark matter and a new force mediator known as the “heavy photon” (A'). The A' is a massive spin-1 gauge boson associated with a new U (1)D symmetry in the HS that kinetically mixes with the Standard Model () photon with a weak coupling strength parameterized by ¿, with ¿2 ~ 10-2 -10-10. HPS utilizes a high-intensity electron beam on a thin tungsten target to produce heavy photons in the MeV-GeV mass range via “dark bremsstrahlung,” a process analogous to SM bremsstrahlung but suppressed by ¿2. The A' can decay resonantly to SM leptons, allowing HPS to conduct both mass resonance searches for prompt decays (large ¿) and displaced vertex searches for long-lived particles (small ¿). In addition to the minimal A' model, HPS probes more complex extensions such as the QCD-like strongly-interacting massive particles (SIMPs) HS containing “dark” pions (pD) and vector mesons (VD), with pD as dark matter candidates. These particles introduce new thermal dark matter freeze- out scenarios and visible signals through long-lived VD decays to SM leptons, which are accessible to HPS. This analysis conducted a displaced vertex search for VD ¿ e-e+ in the mass range 30 MeV to 124 MeV and ¿ between 10-6 < ¿ < 10-2 using data from the 2016 Engineering Run (10.753 nb-1) at 2.3 GeV. Unlike the minimal A' search, SIMP signal kinematics required new approaches to signal normalization and SM background rejection. The strongest signal evidence was a local p-value of 0.01317 for mVD = 119 MeV, corresponding to a global significance of 0.9s. Although no signal was found, this search excluded a region of the SIMP parameter space at 90 % confidence. This work demonstrates HPS’s competitive capability to probe SIMP sectors within cosmologically significant parameters and introduces a new method for HPS displaced vertex searches using track vertical impact parameter cuts

Spellman, Alic [Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, C↗
DOE OSTI2025

Accelerating GNNs on GPU Sparse Tensor Cores through N:M Sparsity-Oriented Graph Reordering

Recent advancements in GPU hardware support have introduced the capability to leverage N:M sparse patterns for substantial performance gains. Graphs in Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) are typically sparse, but the sparsity is often irregular, not conforming to such sparse patterns. In this paper, we propose a novel graph reordering algorithm, the first of its kind, to reshape irregular graph data into the N:M structured sparse pattern at the tile level, allowing linear-algebra-based graph operations in GNNs to benefit from the N:M sparse hardware. The optimization is lossless, maintaining the accuracy of GNN. It can remove 98-100\% violations of the N:M sparse patterns at the vector level, and increase the proportion of conforming graphs in SuiteSparse collection from 5-9\% to 88.7-93.5\%. On A100 GPUs, the optimization accelerates Sparse Matrix Matrix (SpMM) by up to 43X (2.3X -- 7.5X on average) and speeds up the key graph operations in GNNs on real graphs by as much as 8.6X (3.5X on average).

artificial intelligence, graph neural networks↗
DOE OSTI2025

FY25 Theory and Simulation Performance Target: Development of an integrated modeling framework for fusion reactor design and assessment (Final Report)

This report documents the FY25 Theory and Simulation Performance Target (TSPT) of developing an integrated modeling framework for fusion reactor design and assessment (FREDA). Over Q1-Q4, new capabilities were developed across both plasma and engineering domains and demonstrated on an example representation of a Compact Advanced Tokamak with a Dual Cooled Lead Lithium blanket. This represents a first-of-a-kind demonstration of coupled core-to-wall-to-engineering for a reactor. Self-consistent CESOL workflows were applied to provide core, pedestal, and SOL prediction; new modules were developed for energetic particle stability (FAR3D) and transport (TGLF-EP) analysis; and boundary plasma modeling (SOLPS-ITER, BOUT++/Hermes-3) was expanded to evaluate wall and divertor heat fluxes and interface with engineering thermal analysis. A parameterized CAD tool, TRACER, was expanded to generate medium-fidelity divertor, blanket, and coil geometries; OpenFOAM and Diablo workflows were applied for first-wall and divertor thermal analyses with helium cooling; and reduced-order models were created for high-mass-flux divertor cooling. Magnet multiphysics capabilities were verified between Elmer, Diablo, and a new MFEM-based solver, and workflows enable stress, thermal, and neutron-fluence analysis of TF coils with neutronics-driven heating. Nuclear and blanket analysis workflows were demonstrated, including tritium breeding, transport, and CFD-informed thermo-mechanical assessment. Preliminary multi-fidelity uncertainty quantification workflows were applied to boundary modeling codes and shown to achieve variance reductions with fewer high-fidelity boundary simulations. Key findings highlight the challenges of resolving the ITEP gap to find suitable balance between wall and divertor loads, neutron heating, and practical limits of PFC cooling. Next step priorities are to develop automated workflows to check boundary code convergence and detachment, implement tighter physics-engineering CAD provenance tracking, and inclusion of plasma-material interface models for SLAG and tungsten cracking behavior. Collectively, these developments establish sophisticated capabilities for predictive, multi-fidelity, whole-device modeling that integrates plasma physics, materials, magnets, and nuclear engineering to guide pathways to viable Fusion Pilot Plant design points.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Heterogeneous Integration Technologies for High-temperature, High-density, Low-profile Power Modules of Wide Bandgap Devices in Electric Drive Applications (Final Technical Report)

The goal of this project is to develop packaging technologies for making high-temperature, high-density, and low-profile wide-bandgap (WBG) power electronics modules for electric drives. These modules are aimed at enabling the DOE’s University Consortium to reach its 2025 inverter targets of ≥ 100 kW/L and ≤ 2.7 $/kW. The specific objectives are to: design and fabricate SiC half-bridge power modules with double-sided cooling and parasitic inductances < 5 nH, heat flux density > 400 W/cm 2 , and working junction temperature of 200 o C; design, fabricate, and deliver a gate driver with double-sided cooled modules for the construction of a 100 kW/L inverter at Oak Ridge National Lab; and design and prototype intelligent gate drivers with integrated current sensor and a low-profile DC-DC power supply with air-core transformer for testing power modules at 200 o C junction temperature. We followed an iterative technical approach of design, simulation, fabrication, and testing of various versions of modules, current sensors, and power supply. The state-of-the-art silicon carbide devices rated at 1.2 kV and 149 A were packaged by sintered-silver bonding on an aluminum nitride direct-bond-copper substrate for high thermal conductivity, high working temperature, and high joint reliability. Porous silver posts were used to interconnect the device’s source pads to the other direct-bond-copper substrate for low mechanical stresses, ease of manufacturing, and double-sided cooling. A current sensor based on package parasitic inductance was developed to measure switching current. A dynamic feedback scheme was developed to compensate the effect of parasitic resistance and temperature variation. A constant-current class-E dc-dc converter with air-core transformer was developed. Air-core transformer was used due to the unavailability of magnetic core at high temperatures. Gate driver and power supply were integrated with the double-side cooled, high temperature SiC power modules for testing the modules at 200 o C junction temperature. Double-pulse and continuous testing of the integrated technologies validated the design and fabrication of the three component technologies. Throughout the project, we overcame the challenge for design verification caused by low prototyping yield, which then helped train the graduate students, the future workforce, to learn the engineering know-how for low-cost manufacturing of reliable products. Below is a summary of the major accomplishments of this project: development of a prototyping process for fabricating double-side cooled (1200 V, 149 A) SiC phase-leg modules capable of working to 200 o C Tj; simulation and experimental verification of the improvement of thermo-mechanical reliability of the double-side cooled SiC phase-leg module by using rigid encapsulant; design and experimental validation of a current sensor based on package parasitic inductance and a compensation solution for eliminating the effect of parasitic resistance; design and experimental validation of a low-profile power supply with six-output air-core transformer for gate driver; functional demonstration of a SiC phase-leg module integrated with its gate driver, current sensor, and an air-core power supply at 200 o C Tj in a double-pulse switching test setup and Buck converter continuous test setup; successful completion of six PhD and two MS students who are or will work at Apple Inc., Tesla Inc., Wolfspeed Inc., Microchip Inc., Monolithic Power Systems Inc., and LG Magna Inc.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2026

Characterization of volcanic tuff pores pre- and post-underground nuclear detonation using ultra-small and small angle neutron scattering

The ability to accurately model the subsurface transport of radionuclides is fundamental to the remote detection and characterization of underground nuclear explosion (UNE) events. Developing more sophisticated transport models presents a significant opportunity to enhance monitoring capabilities, particularly in the reliable prediction of signature migration. Experimentally determined characterization of geologic materials associated with transport properties is the pertinent base information for such robust model development and calibration. Here, we report results from an unprecedented study demonstrating changes to the pore and fracture network structures in geological materials in response to UNEs over nanometer to micrometer length scales. Volcanic tuffs of five different lithological formations from pre- and post-UNE environments were collected from the Nevada National Security Site. Combined ultra-small and small-angle neutron scattering techniques were used to characterize the tuff pore structure. The results demonstrate measurable differences in the specific surface area and porosity of samples pre- and post-shot from texturally similar lithological formations, indicating that pore properties can serve as a direct physical signature of a UNE. The results also provide experimentally determined transport parameters in support of advanced model development through the integration of gas migration, hydrodynamic simulations, and geologic framework models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Direct Experimental Proof of the Principal Role of Reduced High-Mode Hydrodynamic Mix in Recent Ignition Success on NIF

This Letter details the role of reduced hydrodynamic mix in achieving the first fusion plasma to satisfy the Lawson criterion for ignition. Using novel 3D measurements of the temperature and density of the burning deuterium-tritium plasma across a series of experiments, we demonstrate that hydrodynamic mixing from small-scale capsule defects was a key degradation mechanism inhibiting ignition. A series of five layered deuterium-tritium experiments using 1.9 MJ of laser energy demonstrates a 2 × reduction of the thermonuclear yield when a lower quality capsule, typical of preignition experiments, is used. Radiation hydrodynamic calculations consistent with the observed mix profile show that the mixed fuel’s reduced compression and increased radiative loss explain the yield reduction. Furthermore, a hydroscaling argument suggests that a ∼ 3 MJ laser would be needed to reach ignition with such a capsule, well beyond the current capabilities of high energy laser systems. As such, this Letter gives critical insight into the physics of mix in self-heated fusion plasmas and establishes a foundation to evaluate capsule quality needs of future inertial fusion designs that aim at ignition and high gain.

High-energy-density plasmas↗
DOE OSTI2024

Residual resistance ratio measurement system for Nb 3 Sn wires extracted from Rutherford cables

Residual resistance ratio (RRR) of superconducting strands is an important parameter for magnet electrical stability. RRR serves as a measure of the low-temperature electrical conductivity of the copper within a conductor that has a copper stabilization matrix. For Nb 3 Sn, due to the need of a reaction heat treatment, the technical requirements for high quality measurements of strands extracted from Rutherford cables are particularly demanding. Quality of wire, cabling deformation, heat treatment temperature, heat treatment atmosphere, sample handling, and measurement methods can all affect the RRR. Therefore, as an integral part of the electrical quality control (QC) of Nb 3 Sn Rutherford cables manufactured at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, it was prudent that we established a RRR measurement system that can isolate the assessment of cable-fabrication-related impacts from sample preparation and measurement factors. Here we describe a bespoke cryocooler-based measurement system, capable of measuring RRR of over 80 samples in a single cooldown. The samples are mounted on custom-designed printed circuit boards that accommodate the shape of strands extracted from a Rutherford cable without added deformation, which we will show is critical in ensuring that the measurements accurately represent the RRR values of the conductor within the cable. Using this sample mounting solution, we routinely measure the overall RRR of the strand as well as individual intra-strand sections corresponding to both cable edges and cable broad faces with high reproducibility. Such measurements provide valuable information on the variation of RRR along the length of the strands as well as across strand productions and cable runs over time.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2025

The Triple Catalytic Action of Tertiary Nitrogen Catalysts in Recyclable Epoxy-Anhydride Thermosets

The thermosetting polymer matrix in fiber reinforced composites is an important component for energy related applications, such as the lightweighting of vehicles or their use in wind and waterpower turbine blades, due to their ability to provide superior adhesion, stiffness, and applicability to a wide range of manufacturing processes. Despite these benefits, today's thermosets are widely considered to be unrecyclable; thus, there is a large interest in redesigning these materials to be inherently recyclable so that energy intensive production of fibers and monomers can be circumvented, bolstering composite manufacture supply chains. Polyester covalent adaptable networks (PECANs) are one such promising alternative to the incumbent, nonrecyclable epoxy-amine thermosets. PECANs can be formed from the ring-opening co-polymerization (ROCOP) of epoxy-anhydride monomer mixtures and subsequent curing at mild temperatures to exhibit similar performance to conventional epoxies while also possessing unique dynamic chemistries along the ester-hydroxyl backbone that are capable of transesterification and thus reprocessability. While significant advancements have been made in formulating these materials for improved mechanical properties or optimizing solvolysis and reprocessing strategies, less attention has been placed on the impact of the residing amine catalyst used to generate the polyester network. In this work, we evaluated the triple-catalytic efficacy of 12 tertiary amines that act as a curing (bulk ROCOP), a transesterification (internal bond exchange), and a deconstruction (methanolysis) catalyst for PECAN thermosets. Specifically, we first distinguish between chain-growth and step-growth polymerization mechanisms for epoxy-amine and epoxy-anhydride mechanisms. We also utilized density functional theory (DFT) to estimate the basicity (pKb) of each catalyst. Of the tested catalysts, the ROCOP of the studied PECAN network can be completed between 95 and 247 min (at 80 degrees C), with variable gelation phenomena. Additionally, the stress relaxation (transesterification metric) efficiency of the tested PECAN networks with alternative embedded catalysts ranged from 95% to 15% reduction in stress after 5 h at 200 degrees C, and the depolymerization efficacy ranged from 2.5% to 9.8% deconstruction after 36 h at 130 degrees C. Overall, the nitrogen-based moieties were demonstrated to influence polymerization kinetics, catalyze the dynamic transesterification exchange mechanism, and aid in the solvolysis of the thermosets at end-of-life.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Rare Earth Element Detection and Quantification in Coal and Rock Mineral Matrices

As global demand for rare earth elements (REEs) increases, maintaining the production and supply chain is critical. Technologies capable of being used in the field and in situ in the subsurface for rapid REE detection and quantification facilitates the efficient mining of known resources and exploration of new and unconventional resources. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a promising technique for rapid elemental analysis both in the laboratory and in the field. Multiple articles have been published evaluating LIBS for detection and quantification of REEs; however, REEs in their natural deposits have not been adequately studied. In this work, detection and quantification of two REEs, La and Nd, have been studied in both synthetic and natural mineral matrices at concentrations relevant to REE extraction. Measurements were performed on REE-containing rock and coal samples (natural and synthetic) utilizing different LIBS instruments and techniques, specifically a commercial benchtop instrument, a custom benchtop instrument (single- and double-pulse modes), and a custom LIBS probe currently being developed for in situ, subsurface, borehole wall detection and quantification of REEs. Plasma expansion, emission intensity, detection limits, and double-pulse signal enhancement were studied. The limits of detection (LOD) were found to be 10/14 ppm for La and 15/25 ppm for Nd in simulated coal/rock matrices in single-pulse mode. Signal enhancement of 3.5 to 6-fold was obtained with double-pulse mode as compared to single-pulse operation.

La detection↗
DOE OSTI2024

Commercialization of High-Density High Assay Low Enriched Uranium Fuel Systems

The Office of Reactor Conversion and Uranium Supply (NA 231) at the National Nuclear Security Administration leads the conversion effort for the United States High Performance Research Reactors (USHPRR). These reactors are the final civilian reactors in the US to transition from High Enriched Uranium (HEU) to high assay low enriched uranium (HALEU). Each of these reactors represents unique capabilities and no currently available fuel system meets their needs for conversion. The Fuel Fabrication (FF) Pillar of the USHPRR project is responsible for the fabrication of experimental elements, conversion elements, and establishing a commercial economical production capability. FF is also responsible to share with the domestic and international community the theoretical knowledge gained. Other pillars within the USHPRR project provide the experimental and conversion fuel designs, assist the reactors with licensing activities, and ensure the entire fuel cycle is evaluated. Over the last decade, FF has worked with the production partners at Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12) and BWXT Nuclear Operations Group, Research and Test Reactors (BWXT). Y-12 has begun processing the alloy feedstock for the conversion elements with a qualified process. BWXT has started the final fabrication of the experimental elements. Once the experimental elements are complete, BWXT will begin conversion element fabrication. The FF Pillar resides at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and uses PNNL, universities, commercial vendors, and the DOE national laboratory system to evaluate process development activities to improve the process steps. FF supports the fabrication of two high density fuel systems, monolithic U-10Mo (Figure 1) and Uranium Silicide (Figure 2). The U-10Mo fuel system is further along the development process. FF assists in long term planning with the production partners. This includes ramping production of the elements from experimental quantities to annual steady state needs. As part of the ramp up, opportunities to improve yield and product quality are identified to ensure the fuel systems are cost effective.

Catalan, Michael A. [BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)]↗
DOE OSTI2025

Proceedings for the Workshop on Applied Nuclear Data Activities 2025

The 2025 Workshop for Applied Nuclear Data Activities (WANDA) covered four topic areas in nuclear data: Nuclear Data and Deterrence, Nuclear Data Prioritization for Fusion, High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium and Novel Moderators for Advanced Reactors, and Data Preservation and Data Workflows. The intention of this workshop is to connect different communities that are invested in nuclear data and have their own unique sets of needs for the purposes of sharing information, fostering collaboration in areas of shared interest, and leveraging synergistic capabilities. The attendance of federal program managers at these workshops is essential in creating awareness of the needs of their respective communities and in providing information to better guide funding investments. In each of these topical sessions, a general description of the nuclear data needs and/or capabilities was presented, along with discussions of existing capabilities that could be leveraged, potential synergistic needs or resources, and challenges that must be overcome for the application space to progress. There are many synergistic nuclear data needs among these application spaces. The discussion largely focused on increasing the accuracy of the nuclear data and better quantifying the data uncertainties that have the greatest impact on applications. The full-day session on data processing and data workflows was by nature intended to be synergistic and applicable to all technical sessions at WANDA. A notable common theme that was highlighted across all sessions was the need for accelerated delivery of nuclear data products across complex and time-consuming workflows.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

A terminology for scientific workflow systems

The term “scientific workflow” has evolved over the last two decades to encompass a broad range of compositions of interdependent compute tasks and data movements. It has also become an umbrella term for processing in modern scientific applications. Today, many scientific applications can be considered as workflows made of multiple dependent steps, and hundreds of workflow systems have been developed to manage and run these scientific workflows. However, no turnkey solution has emerged from the field to address the diversity of scientific processes and the infrastructure on which they are supposed to be implemented. Instead, new research problems requiring the execution of scientific workflows with some novel feature often lead to the development of an entirely new workflow system. A direct consequence of this situation is that many existing workflow management systems (WMSs) share some salient features, offer similar functionalities, and can manage the same categories of workflows but at the same time also have some distinct capabilities that can be important for specific applications. This situation makes researchers who develop workflows face the complex question of selecting a WMS. This selection can be driven by technical considerations, to find the system that is the most appropriate for their application and for the computing and storage resources available to them, or other factors such as reputation, adoption, strong community support, or long-term sustainability. To address this problem, a group of WMS developers and practitioners joined their efforts to produce a community-based terminology of WMSs. This paper summarizes their findings and introduces this new terminology to characterize WMSs. Furthermore, this terminology is composed of fives axes: workflow structure and characteristics, composition, orchestration, data management, and metadata capture. Each axis comprises several concepts that capture the prominent features of WMSs. Based on this terminology, this paper also presents a classification of 23 existing WMSs according to the proposed axes and terms.

Community-based terminology↗
DOE OSTI2025

The Energy Exascale Earth System Model Version 3: 1. Overview of the Atmospheric Component

This paper describes the atmospheric component of the US Department of Energy's Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) version 3. Significant updates have been made to the atmospheric physics compared to earlier versions. Specifically, interactive gas chemistry has been implemented, along with improved representations of aerosols and dust emissions. A new stratiform cloud microphysics scheme more physically treats ice processes and aerosol‐cloud interactions. The deep convection parameterization has been largely improved with sophisticated microphysics for convective clouds, making model convection sensitive to large‐scale dynamics, and incorporating the dynamical and physical effects of organized mesoscale convection. Improvements in aerosol wet removal processes and parameter re‐tuning of key aerosol and cloud processes have improved model aerosol radiative forcing. The model's vertical resolution has increased from 72 to 80 layers with the extra eight layers added in the lower stratosphere to better simulate the Quasi‐Biennial Oscillation. These improvements have enhanced E3SM's capability to couple aerosol, chemistry, and biogeochemistry and reduced some long‐standing biases in simulating tropical variability. Compared to its predecessors, the model shows a much stronger signal for the Madden‐Julian Oscillation, Kelvin waves, mixed Rossby‐gravity waves, and eastward inertia‐gravity waves. Aerosol radiative forcing has been considerably reduced and is now better aligned with community best estimates, leading to significantly improved skill in simulating historical temperature records. Its simulated mean‐state climate is largely comparable to E3SMv2, but with some notable degradation in shortwave cloud radiative effect, precipitable water, and surface wind stress, which will be addressed in future updates.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Solar Radiation Research Laboratory (SRRL) Core Project Final Report: Fiscal Years 2022-2024

The Solar Radiation Research Laboratory (SRRL) at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) is a world-leading solar calibration and measurement facility and maintains and disseminates the World Radiation Reference (essentially the W/m2) for the United States that is essential for traceable and accurate measurements of solar radiation at all solar generation facilities. SRRL operates two calibration facilities that meet International Standards Organization-17025 (ISO-17025) standards and provide unique high-quality calibrations to NREL and other U.S. Department of Energy laboratories. The Baseline Measurement System (BMS) at SRRL provides a high-quality record of solar irradiance and surface meteorological conditions. SRRL capabilities are used to develop (1) improved methods for the calibration of solar radiometers; (2) new standards through the ISO, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and the American Standards for Testing of Materials (ASTM) International; (c) solar radiation and meteorological models; and (d) advanced instrumentation and methods for operating solar measurement stations. The SRRL datasets are also critical for the validation of new models and datasets, such as the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB). The research and development of solar radiation measurement systems and resource modeling techniques are essential for advancing the scientific basis for producing reliable resource data. Specifically, the spatial, temporal, and spectral (wavelength dependency) characteristics of the solar resource are required in several different time frames for various project phases.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Distributed Magnetic Field and Temperature Monitoring for Superconducting Radio Frequency Cavities

The overall objective of the proposed Phase I program was to design, construct and demonstrate a fiber optic sensing system capable of providing temperature and magnetic field measurements with an enhanced spatial resolution that can be implemented over a large surface area (cryomodules) to survey superconducting radio frequency cavities and magnets. A magnetic field sensor capable of detecting fluxes on the order of 1 μT is required to detect the distribution of trapped flux on the cavity surface. A unique distributed magnetic field sensor was successfully designed and constructed to demonstrate the detection of magnetic fluxes less than 500 nT. The sensor leveraged the ultra-high sensitivity of Sentek’s picoDAS to measure the magnetostriction induced vibrations in a commercially available Metglas 2605 SC ribbon that was in physical contact with sensing fiber. Static magnetic fields were detected by applying an alternating current a copper wire proximate to the Metglas 2605SC ribbon to create an AC bias magnetic field. In an alternative approach, an AC bias magnetic field was applied to a special magnetic field sensing fiber with Metglas 2605SC cladding successfully detect a magnetic field flux of a 3 μT. Exhaustive testing was performed to characterize the dependency of sensor response on the direction of the applied magnetic field. Although the special sensing fiber based magnetic field sensor did not exhibit an observable dependence on the direction of the magnetic field, the Metglas 2605SC ribbon sensor exhibited a clear directional dependence. A wide variety of polymer materials were evaluated to enhance the temperature response of an FBG based sensor at cryogenic temperatures. The processing and performance challenges provided the motivation to develop a new simple cryogenic temperature sensor that uses a commercially available fiber optic splice protector. The EVA hot melt tube that becomes adhered to the optical fiber and the polyolefin outer tube that shrinks upon heating in the fusion splicer heater provide the high thermal expansion coefficient necessary to impart a significant strain on the FBG when exposed to cryogenic temperatures. The temperature sensitivity (Δ𝜆𝐵𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑔~ 62 𝑝𝑝𝑚/℃) of the FBG-based sensor was on par with the best reported to date. The simple design, use of readily available cost-effective materials, and well-established processing techniques lends this approach to the creation of hundreds to thousands of temperature sensors on one single optical fiber length. The inherently small form factor also allows for co-location with the distributed magnetic field sensor. In preparation for field testing of the prototype sensing system at the Jefferson Labs in potential Phase II program, several different cable designs were evaluated to package the sensors. The preliminary successful demonstration of fully functional sensing cables provides the foundation for subsequent development efforts to advance the Technology Readiness Level of the technology. The technical feasibility of the proposed approach was successfully demonstrated in this Phase I effort.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗