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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 307 records · Page 17

Ignition and Combustion of Bulk Metals in a Microgravity Environment

Results of a study of heterogeneous and homogeneous combustion of metals in reduced gravity are presented. Cylindrical titanium and magnesium samples are radiatively ignited in pure-oxygen at 1 atm. Qualitative observations, propagation rates, and burning times are extracted from high-speed cinematography. Time-resolved emission spectra of gas-phase reactions are acquired with an imaging spectrograph. Lower propagation rates of the reacting mass on titanium and of ignition waves on magnesium are obtained at reduced gravity. These rates are compared to theoretical results from fire-spread analyses with a diffusion/convection controlled reaction. The close agreement found between experimental and theoretical propagation rates indicates the strong influence of natural-convection-enhanced oxygen transp6rt on burning rates. Lower oxygen flux and lack of condensed product removal appear to be responsible for longer burning times of magnesium gas-phase diffusion flames in reduced gravity. Spherically symmetric explosions in magnesium flames at reduced gravity (termed radiation-induced metal explosions, or RIME) may be driven by increased radiation heat transfer from accumulated condensed products to an evaporating metal core covered by a porous, flexible oxide coating. In titanium specimens, predominantly heterogeneous burning characterizes the initial steady propagation of the molten mass, while homogeneous gas-phase reactions are detected around particles ejected from the molten mixture. In magnesium specimens, band and line reversal of all the UV spectral systems of Mg and MgO are attributed to the interaction between small oxide particles and the principal gaseous emitters.

Branch, Melvyn C.↗

Near-ultraviolet imaging of Jupiter's satellite Io with the Hubble Space Telescope

The surface of Jupiter's Galilean satellite Io has been resolved for the first time in the near ultraviolet at 2850 A by the Faint Object Camera (FOC) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The restored images reveal significant surface structure down to the resolution limit of the optical system corresponding to approximately 250 km at the sub-earth point.

Paresce, F.↗

Studying cataclysmic variables with the Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope with its UV and imaging capabilities will allow new methods of investigating cataclysmic variables to be used. It provides the first opportunity to obtain high-time-resolution UV observations of cataclysmic variables, both spectroscopically and photometrically. Phase-resolved observations of eclipses can now be obtained which will allow the UV surface-brightness distributions in accretion disks to be studied. Eclipses of white dwarfs that were not visible in optical light will be detected in some systems. Other variations such as dips (in dwarf novae, intermediate polars, and polars), flickering, and oscillations can also be resolved for the first time in the UV. High-spatial-resolution, long-slit spectroscopy, and imaging with the FOC and WF/PC can be used to study the physical condition and morphology of ejected material around novae, recurrent novae, and precataclysmic variables. The UV and H-alpha imaging capabilities will also enable searches for cataclysmic variables in globular clusters to be carried out further into their cores than has been possible before.

Wood, Janet H.↗

Correlated spin-wave generation and domain-wall oscillation in a topologically textured magnetic film

Spin waves, or magnons, are essential for next-generation energy-efficient spintronics and magnonics. Yet, visualizing spin-wave dynamics at nanoscale and microwave frequencies remains a formidable challenge due to the lack of spin-sensitive, time-resolved microscopy. Here, in this study, we report a breakthrough in imaging dipole-exchange spin waves in a ferromagnetic film owing to the development of laser-free ultrafast Lorentz electron microscopy, which is equipped with a microwave-mediated electron pulser for high spatiotemporal resolution. Using topological spin textures, we captured the emission, propagation, reflection and interference of spin waves from spin anti-vortices under radio-frequency excitations. Remarkably, we show that spin-wave generation is closely tied to the oscillatory motion of specific magnetic domain walls, providing the missing link between wave emission and wall dynamics near magnetic singularities. This work opens new possibilities in magnonics, offering a nanoscopic view of spin dynamics via transmission electron microscopy and enabling controlled excitation via radio-frequency fields for exploring non-equilibrium states in magnetic and multiferroic systems.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Variability-selected Intermediate-mass Black Hole Candidates in Dwarf Galaxies from ZTF and WISE

While it is difficult to observe the first black hole seeds in the early universe, we can study intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) in local dwarf galaxies for clues about their origins. In this paper we present a sample of variability-selected active galactic nuclei (AGN) in dwarf galaxies using optical photometry from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and forward-modeled mid-IR photometry of time-resolved Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) co-added images. We found that 44 out of 25,714 dwarf galaxies had optically variable AGN candidates and 148 out of 79,879 dwarf galaxies had mid-IR variable AGN candidates, corresponding to active fractions of 0.17% ± 0.03% and 0.19% ± 0.02%, respectively. We found that spectroscopic approaches to AGN identification would have missed 81% of our ZTF IMBH candidates and 69% of our WISE IMBH candidates. Only nine candidates have been detected previously in radio, X-ray, and variability searches for dwarf galaxy AGN. The ZTF and WISE dwarf galaxy AGN with broad Balmer lines have virial masses of 10 5 M ⊙ < M BH < 10 7 M ⊙ , but for the rest of the sample, BH masses predicted from host galaxy mass range between 10 5.2 M ⊙ < M BH < 10 7.25 M ⊙ . We found that only 5 of 152 previously reported variability-selected AGN candidates from the Palomar Transient Factory in common with our parent sample were variable in ZTF. We also determined a nuclear supernova fraction of 0.05% ± 0.01% yr -1 for dwarf galaxies in ZTF. Our ZTF and WISE IMBH candidates show the promise of variability searches for the discovery of otherwise hidden low-mass AGN.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Thermal Performance of LANDSAT-7 ETM+ Instruments During First Year in Flight

Landsat-7 was successfully launched into orbit on April 15, 1999. After devoting three months to the t bakeout and cool-down of the radiative cooler, and on- t orbit checkout, the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) began the normal imaging phase of the mission in mid-July 1999. This paper presents the thermal performance of the ETM+ from mid-July 1999 to mid-May 2000. The flight temperatures are compared to the yellow temperature limits, and worst cold case and worst hot case flight temperature predictions in the 15-orbit mission design profile. The flight temperature predictions were generated by a thermal model, which was correlated to the observatory thermal balance test data. The yellow temperature limits were derived from the flight temperature predictions, plus some margins. The yellow limits work well in flight, so that only several minor changes to them were needed. Overall, the flight temperatures and flight temperature predictions have good agreement. Based on the ETM+ thermal vacuum qualification test, new limits on the imaging time are proposed to increase the average duty cycle, and to resolve the problems experienced by the Mission Operation Team.

Choi, Michael K.↗

Time Resolved 3-D Mapping of Atmospheric Aerosols and Clouds During the Recent ARM Water Vapor IOP

The HARLIE lidar was deployed at the ARM SGP site in north central Oklahoma and recorded over 100 hours of data on 16 days between 17 September and 6 October 2000 during the recent Water Vapor Intensive Operating Period (IOP). Placed in a ground-based trailer for upward looking scanning measurements of clouds and aerosols, HARLIE provided a unique record of time-resolved atmospheric backscatter at 1 micron wavelength. The conical scanning lidar images atmospheric backscatter along the surface of an inverted 90 degree (full angle) cone up to an altitude of 20 km. 360 degree scans having spatial resolutions of 20 meters in the vertical and 1 degree in azimuth were obtained every 36 seconds. Various boundary layer and cloud parameters are derived from the lidar data, as well as atmospheric wind vectors where there is Sufficiently resolved structure that can be traced moving through the surface described by the scanning laser beam. Comparison of HARLIE measured winds with radiosonde measured winds validates the accuracy of this new technique for remotely measuring atmospheric winds without Doppler information.

Schwemmer, Geary↗

Thermographic phosphor digital image correlation

The invention advances the ratio method of phosphor thermography using two machine vision cameras for full-field temperature measurements of a solid surface. As an example, algorithms from digital image correlation (DIC) can be used to determine the stereoscopic imaging system intrinsic and extrinsic parameters, and accurately register material points on the sample to subpixel locations in each image with 0.07 px or better accuracy. A phosphor calibration sample fabricated using aerosol deposition can be used for in situ determination of the temperature-versus-intensity ratio relationship. The full calibration methodology and several improvements on two-color phosphor thermography open the door for full-field temperature measurements in dynamic tests with deforming test specimens. In particular, thermographic phosphors can be combined with stereo digital image correlation in a novel diagnostic, TP+DIC, to measure time-resolved full-field surface strains and temperatures simultaneously, thereby enabling testing in combined thermo-mechanical environments.

Winters, Caroline↗

Observation of a single protein by ultrafast X-ray diffraction

The idea of using ultrashort X-ray pulses to obtain images of single proteins frozen in time has fascinated and inspired many. It was one of the arguments for building X-ray free-electron lasers. According to theory, the extremely intense pulses provide sufficient signal to dispense with using crystals as an amplifier, and the ultrashort pulse duration permits capturing the diffraction data before the sample inevitably explodes. This was first demonstrated on biological samples a decade ago on the giant mimivirus. Since then, a large collaboration has been pushing the limit of the smallest sample that can be imaged. The ability to capture snapshots on the timescale of atomic vibrations, while keeping the sample at room temperature, may allow probing the entire conformational phase space of macromolecules. Here we show the first observation of an X-ray diffraction pattern from a single protein, that of Escherichia coli GroEL which at 14 nm in diameter is the smallest biological sample ever imaged by X-rays, and demonstrate that the concept of diffraction before destruction extends to single proteins. From the pattern, it is possible to determine the approximate orientation of the protein. Our experiment demonstrates the feasibility of ultrafast imaging of single proteins, opening the way to single-molecule time-resolved studies on the femtosecond timescale.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Time-resolved spray characterization via unified optical flow and binarization technique

This work leverages an unsupervised machine learning and advanced image processing techniques to characterize the breakup of fuel sprays in a small-scale combustor under reacting conditions, providing valuable insights into near-nozzle flow phenomenology. The proposed methodology integrates an improved optical flow model on a convolutional neural network to extract flow vectors with a binarization technique to assess droplets’ size and shape across the region of interest. The velocimetry approach demonstrates superior performance compared to a state-of-the-art optical flow model when applied to high-speed X-ray phase contrast spray images, achieving more accurate and reliable flow predictions. Moreover, breakup processes are quantified by breakup length and sphericity in accordance with velocity estimations, allowing a more complete characterization of the flow. This study establishes a robust methodology for analyzing spray morphology and primary breakup in compact combustors, contributing valuable means of understanding and optimizing fuel spray behavior in advanced combustion systems.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Simultaneous measurements of kinetic and scalar energy spectrum time evolution in the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability upon reshock

The Richtmyer–Meshkov instability (Richtmyer, Commun. Pure Appl. Maths , vol. 13, issue 2, 1960, pp. 297–319; Meshkov, Fluid Dyn. , vol. 4, issue 5, 1972, pp. 101–104) of a twice-shocked gas interface is studied using both high spatial resolution single-shot (SS) and lower spatial resolution, time-resolved, high-speed (HS) simultaneous planar laser-induced fluorescence and particle image velocimetry in the Wisconsin Shock Tube Laboratory's vertical shock tube. The initial condition (IC) is a shear layer with broadband diffuse perturbations at the interface between a helium–acetone mixture and argon. This IC is accelerated by a shock of nominal strength Mach number $M = 1.75$ , and then accelerated again by the transmitted shock that reflects off the end wall of the tube. An ensemble of experiments is analysed after reshock while the interface mixing width grows linearly with time. The kinetic and scalar energy spectra and the terms of their evolution equation are calculated and compared between SS and HS experiments. The inertial range scaling of the scalar power spectrum is found to follow Gibson's relation (Gibson, Phys. Fluids , vol. 11, issue 11, 1968, pp. 2316–2327) as a function of Schmidt number when the effective turbulent Schmidt number is used in place of the material Schmidt number that controls equilibrium scaling. Further, the spatially integrated scalar flux follows similar behaviour observed for the kinetic energy in large eddy simulation studies by Zeng et al. ( Phys. Fluids , vol. 30, issue 6, 2018, 064106) while the spatially varying scalar flux exhibits back scatter along the centre of the mixing layer and forward energy transfer in the spike and bubble regions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Instrument design for an inertial confinement fusion ion temperature imager

A mix of contaminant mass is a known, performance-limiting factor for laser-driven inertial confinement fusion (ICF). It has also recently been shown that the contaminant mass is not necessarily in thermal equilibrium with the deuterium–tritium plasma. Contaminant mass temperature is one of the dominant uncertainties in contaminant mass estimates. The MixIT diagnostic is a new and potentially transformative diagnostic, capable of spatially resolving ion temperature. The approach combines principles of neutron time-of-flight and neutron imaging diagnostics. The information from the MixIT diagnostic can be used to optimize ICF target and laser drive designs as well as provide key constraints on ICF radiation-hydrodynamic simulations that are critical to contaminant mass estimates. This work details the design and optimization of the major components of the MixIT diagnostic: the neutron aperture, the neutron detector (scintillator), and the recording system.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Simultaneous CARS and Interferometric Rayleigh Scattering

This paper reports for the first time the combination of a dual-pump coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering system with an interferometric Rayleigh scattering system (CARS - IRS) to provide time-resolved simultaneous measurement of multiple properties in combustion flows. The system uses spectrally narrow green (seeded Nd:YAG at 532 nm) and yellow (552.9 nm) pump beams and a spectrally-broad red (607 nm) beam as the Stokes beam. A spectrometer and a planar Fabry-Perot interferometer used in the imaging mode are used to record the spectrally broad CARS spectra and the spontaneous Rayleigh scattering spectra, respectively. Time-resolved simultaneous measurement of temperature, absolute mole fractions of N2, O2, and H2, and two components of velocity in a Hencken burner flame were performed to demonstrate the technique.

Bivolaru, Daniel↗

NucD-24 Nuclear Diagnostics Development: Time resolved 12 C-rhoR on GCD and NIS technology development for polar LOS and data quality [Slides]

The Neutron Imaging team is readying for the NIS2 polar LOS development and future improvements to data quality on all LOS given consistently higher yields at NIF. Next-gen nano guide scintillators for NIS2 and CMOS cameras to replace outdated CCDs will be studied. Digital image plates will be tested for better data quality on passive imaging systems. The transition into the ignition regime is expected to show a significant signature in the ablator areal density. In the marginal ignition regime, a decrease of 12C-rhoR (ablator areal density) is expected but once the burn propagation produces a shock and compresses the ablator the trend reverses. GCD with the PD-PMT can resolve this effect in the ablator areal density by a temporal shift in the carbon signal. To give quantitative results a calibration of the detector for the Hohlraum/TMP signal is needed. Shots using Al, Si, and Au pucks will yield the needed information to move forward with this project.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

In Situ Synchrotron Micro-CT of Microballoon-Filled RTV Silicone During Thermal Decomposition

This work investigates the thermal decomposition of microballoon-filled room-temperature-vulcanizing (RTV) silicone using time-resolved synchrotron micro-CT at the Advanced Light Source. In situ imaging of constrained and unconstrained samples captures the evolution of the internal microstructure during heating, including material expansion, microballoon and void growth, tearing, pyrolysis, shrinkage, and increasing porosity. The measurements provide new insight into the mechanisms governing RTV degradation and generate three-dimensional data for future quantitative analysis and material-response model development.

TPS↗

In-Situ Photostability Analysis of Perovskite Solar Cells by Time-Evolving Photoluminescence Imaging

In this work we investigate reversible metastabilities and irreversible degradation due to light soaking of triple-cation mixed-halide perovskite p-i-n solar cells. We use spatially resolved luminescence imaging to document the spatial inhomogeneities that exist even in high-performance devices with median efficiencies >20%. We monitor light-soaking degradation in-situ using time-evolving photoluminescence images, electro-luminescence images, and transient photovoltage. Post-stress measurements of external quantum efficiency and Kelvin- probe force microscopy suggest that long-term degradation primarily affects electrode interfaces rather than the absorber layer.

electroluminescence↗

Strictly Enforcing Invertibility and Conservation in CNN-Based Super Resolution for Scientific Datasets

Abstract Recently, deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have revolutionized image “super resolution” (SR), dramatically outperforming past methods for enhancing image resolution. They could be a boon for the many scientific fields that involve imaging or any regularly gridded datasets: satellite remote sensing, radar meteorology, medical imaging, numerical modeling, and so on. Unfortunately, while SR-CNNs produce visually compelling results, they do not necessarily conserve physical quantities between their low-resolution inputs and high-resolution outputs when applied to scientific datasets. Here, a method for “downsampling enforcement” in SR-CNNs is proposed. A differentiable operator is derived that, when applied as the final transfer function of a CNN, ensures the high-resolution outputs exactly reproduce the low-resolution inputs under 2D-average downsampling while improving performance of the SR schemes. The method is demonstrated across seven modern CNN-based SR schemes on several benchmark image datasets, and applications to weather radar, satellite imager, and climate model data are shown. The approach improves training time and performance while ensuring physical consistency between the super-resolved and low-resolution data. Significance Statement Recent advancements in using deep learning to increase the resolution of images have substantial potential across the many scientific fields that use images and image-like data. Most image super-resolution research has focused on the visual quality of outputs, however, and is not necessarily well suited for use with scientific data where known physics constraints may need to be enforced. Here, we introduce a method to modify existing deep neural network architectures so that they strictly conserve physical quantities in the input field when “super resolving” scientific data and find that the method can improve performance across a wide range of datasets and neural networks. Integration of known physics and adherence to established physical constraints into deep neural networks will be a critical step before their potential can be fully realized in the physical sciences.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Imaging Three-Dimensional Molecular Structure and Dynamics with Multiparticle Covariance and Cumulant Coulomb Explosion Analysis

Coulomb explosion imaging (CEI) provides a direct means of imaging molecular geometry by correlating fragment ion momenta following the fragmentation of a molecular polycation. Here, we demonstrate the use of three-body covariance and four-body cumulant analysis to extract three-dimensional (3D) structural information from the X-ray-induced Coulomb explosion of tert-butyl iodide (C4H9I). Site-selective ionization at the iodine 4d edge with intense femtosecond soft X-ray pulses from an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) enables rapid charge buildup and molecular breakup. By correlating ionic fragments in the molecular frame, we isolate complete dissociation channels and reveal subtle structural changes, such as umbrella-type motion of the branched alkyl chain, during the ionization process. Comparison with point-charge simulations of the Coulomb explosion shows close agreement, validating the approach. Furthermore, these results establish covariance/cumulant mapping as a powerful strategy for imaging complex three-dimensional molecular structures and point the way toward time-resolved CEI using both XFEL and tabletop sources for capturing ultrafast structural dynamics.

Imaging↗