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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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Improved technique was developed for transferring and storing data at faster than real time speeds on hybrid computer. Predominant advantage is combined use of electronic relays, track and store units, and analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion units of hybrid computer.
Preliminary measurements of electron number density and temperature near Venus and Mercury and some results on flow speeds are presented. It is concluded that the interaction of the solar wind with Venus probably results in a bow shock characterized by H/r = 0.01 (ratio of the ionospheric scale height to the planetocentric distance of the nose of the ionopause); an extended exosphere appears unlikely. This direct interaction is indicated by the behavior of electrons with energies of 100-500 eV. Some unusual downstream effects suggest a comet-like tail several hundred scale lengths long. Near Mercury, a fully developed bow shock and magnetosheath were observed. Inside the magnetosheath there is a region analogous to the magnetosphere of the earth and populated by electrons of lower density and temperature than those found in the solar wind. The solar wind ram pressure corresponds to a stagnation pressure equivalent to a 170 gamma magnetic field. The strong solar wind interaction with Mercury is definitely magnetic, but not ionospheric or atmospheric. Spectra and particle flux varied widely while the spaceship was within the magnetosphere itself; temporal events like substorms may be responsible.
Analyses of Voyager 1 radio occultation measurements of the Saturn atmosphere near 75 deg south latitude and of the Titan equatorial atmosphere are presented. Molecular nitrogen appears to be the primary atmospheric constituent of Titan, whose clouds are probably methane ice. Solar abundance considerations of the data suggest large quantities of surface methane near its triple-point temperature, so that the three phases of methane could play a role on Titan analogous to that of water on earth. Ionospheric electron concentration and plasma scale height for the Saturn polar cap and monochromatic attenuation of the Saturn rings are also considered, along with radio tracking figures for the masses of two moons, Rhea and Titan.
Since the prebiotic atmosphere was anaerobic, if not reducing, a useful function of primordial photosynthesis would have been to photooxidize reduced substrates such as Fe(+2), S(-2) or reduced organic molecules and to emit hydrogen. Experiments have shown that the early biogenic pigments uroporphyrin and coproporphyrin do photooxidize organic compounds and emit hydrogen in the presence of a platinum catalyst. These experiments were carried out in dilute aqueous solution near neutral pH under anaerobic atmosphere, and quantum yields near 10-2 were obtained. Thus relevant prebiotic conditions were maintained. Rather then to further optimize conditions, attempts were made to replace the platinum catalyst by a more prebiotically suitable catalyst. Trials with an Fe4S4(SR)4 cluster, in analogy to the present hydrogenase and nitrogenase, were not successful. However, experiments using cobalt complexes to catalyze the formation of hydrogen are promising. In analogy with biological photosynthetic systems which group pigments, electron transfer molecules and enzymes in clusters for efficiency, it was found that binding the biogenic porphyrins to the polyvinyl alcohol used to support the platinum catalyst did increase the quantum yield of the reaction. It was also found that ultraviolet light can serve to photo-oxidize porphyrinogens to porphyrins under anaerobic conditions. Thus the formation of the colorless porphyriogens by the extraordinarily simple biosynthetic pathway would not be a problem because of the prevalence of UV light in the prebiotic, anoxic atmosphere.
An electronic neural network with feedback architecture, implemented in analog custom VLSI is described. Its application to problems of global optimization for dynamic assignment is discussed. The convergence properties of the neural network hardware are compared with computer simulation results. The neural network's ability to provide optimal or near optimal solutions within only a few neuron time constants, a speed enhancement of several orders of magnitude over conventional search methods, is demonstrated. The effect of noise on the circuit dynamics and the convergence behavior of the neural network hardware is also examined.
There are two basic areas of interest for diffractive optics. In the first, the property of wavefront division is exploited for achieving optical fanout, analogous to the more familiar electrical fanout of electronic circuitry. The basic problem here is that when using a simple uniform diffraction grating the energy input is divided unevenly among the output beams. The other area of interest is the use of diffractive elements to replace or supplement standard refractive elements such as lenses. Again, local grating variations can be used to control the amount of bending imparted to optical rays, and the efficiency of the diffractive element will depend on how closely the element can be matched to the design requirements. In general, production restrictions limit how closely the element approaches the design, and for the common case of photolithographic production, a series of binary masks is required to achieve high efficiency. The actual design process is much more involved than in the case of elements for optical fanout, as the desired phase of the optical wavefront over some reference plane must be specified and the phase alteration to be introduced at each point by the diffraction element must be known. This generally requires the utilization of a standard optical design program. Two approaches are possible. In the first approach, the diffractive element is treated as a special type of lens and the ordinary optical design equations are used. Optical design programs tend to follow a second approach, namely, using the equations of optical interference derived from holographic theory and then allowing the introduction of phase front corrections in the form of polynomial equations. By using either of these two methods, diffractive elements can be used not only to compensate for distortions such as chromatic or spherical aberration, but also to perform the work of a variety of other optical elements such as null correctors, beam shapers, etc. The main focus of the project described in this report is how the design information from the lens design program is incorporated into the photolithographic process. It is shown that the MANN program, a photolithographic mask generator, fills the need for a link between lens design programs and mask generation controllers.The generated masks can be used to expose a resist-coated substrate which is etched and then must be re-coated, re-exposed, and re-etched for making copies, just as in the electronics industry.
We employed density functional theory (DFT) calculations to model the photoionization behavior of benzene and small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons when they are embedded in a matrix of water ice in order to investigate issues raised by recent experimental work by Gudipati and Allamandola. The ionization energies of benzene, naphthalene, anthracene, and pyrene were found to be lowered by 1.5-2.1 eV in water ice. Low-lying vertical electronic excitation energies were computed with time-dependent DFT for both neutral and ionized species and are found in both cases to be remarkably unaffected by the ice matrix. Chemical behavior in ultraviolet-photoprocessed ices is also discussed, with a focus on electron recombination and pathways leading to phenol and analogous products.
A novel silicon detector configuration for radiation dose measurements in an environment where solar energetic particles are of most concern is described. The dosimeter would also measure the dose from galactic cosmic rays. In the lunar environment a large range in particle flux and ionization density must be measured and converted to dose equivalent. This could be accomplished with a thick (e.g. 2mm) silicon detector segmented into cubic volume elements "voxels" followed by a second, thin monolithic silicon detector. The electronics needed to implement this detector concept include analog signal processors (ASIC) and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) for data accumulation and conversion to linear energy transfer (LET) spectra and to dose-equivalent (Sievert). Currently available commercial ASIC's and FPGA's are suitable for implementing the analog and digital systems.
Using deep narrow-band (NB) imaging and optical spectroscopy from the Keck telescope and the Multi Mirror Telescope (MMT), we identify a sample of 20 emission-line galaxies (ELGs) at z = 0.065-0.90 where the weak auroral emission line, [O iii] lambda4363, is detected at >=3sigma. These detections allow us to determine the gas-phase metallicity using the "direct" method. With electron temperature measurements, and dust attenuation corrections from Balmer decrements, we find that 4 of these low-mass galaxies are extremely metal-poor with 12+log(O/H) <= 7.65 or one-tenth solar. Our most metal-deficient galaxy has 12+log(O/H)= 7.24(+0.45 / −0.30) (95% confidence), similar to some of the lowest metallicity galaxies identified in the local universe. We find that our galaxies are all undergoing significant star formation with average specific star formation rate (SFR) of (100 Myra)(exp −1), and that they have high central SFR surface densities (average of 0.5 Solar M / yr/ sq. kpc). In addition, more than two-thirds of our galaxies have between one and four nearby companions within a projected radius of 100 kpc, which we find is an excess among star-forming galaxies at z =0.4 -- 0.85. We also find that the gas-phase metallicities for a given stellar mass and SFR lie systematically lower than the local stellar M-Z-(SFR) relation by approx. = 0.2 dex (2 sigma significance). These results are partly due to selection effects, since galaxies with strong star formation and low metallicity are more likely to yield [O iii] lambda4363 detections. Finally, the observed higher ionization parameter and high electron density suggest that they are lower redshift analogs to typical z approx. > 1 galaxies.
The need for miniaturization in advanced science sensor systems has led to the development of a new image sensor technology, the active pixel image sensor (APS). The development of CMOS APS technology allows the integration of timing and control electronics, imaging detector arrays, signal chains and analog-to-digital conversion on a single integrated circuit. The impact on the imaging system is to reduce power by approximately 1000x over existing systems - from tens of watts to tens of milliwatts.
For the calculation of electron molecule collision cross sections R-matrix methods automatically take advantage of the division of configuration space into an inner region (I) bounded by radius tau b, where the scattered electron is within the molecular charge cloud and the system is described by an correlated Configuration Interaction (CI) treatment in close analogy to bound state calculations, and an outer region (II) where the scattered electron moves in the long-range multipole potential of the target and efficient analytic methods can be used for solving the asymptotic Schroedinger equation plus boundary conditions.
The elementary basis of intelligence in organisms with a central nervous system includes neurons and synapses and their complex interconnections forming neural circuits. In non-neural organisms such as slime mold with gel-like media, viscosity modulation enables adaptation to changing environments. At a larger scale, collective intelligence emerges via social interactions and feedback in animal colonies. Learning and memory are therefore multi-scale features that evolve as a result of constant interactions with the environment. There is growing interest in emulating such features of intelligence in computing machines and autonomous systems. Materials that can respond to their environment in a manner similar to organisms (referred to as "organismic materials") therefore may be of interest as hardware components in artificial intelligence machines. In this brief review, we present a class of semiconductors called correlated oxides as candidates for learning machines. The term "correlated" refers to the fact that electrons in such lattices strongly interact and the ground state is not what is predicted by classical band theory. Such materials can undergo insulator-metal transitions at near ambient conditions under external stimuli such as thermal or electrical fields, strain, and chemical doping. Depending on the mechanism driving the transition, intermediate states can be metastable with different volatilities, and the time scales of phase change can be controlled over many orders of magnitude. The change in electronic properties can be sharp or gradual, leading to digital or analog behavior. These properties enable the realization of artificial neurons and synapses and emulate the associative and non-associative learning characteristics found in various organisms. We examine microscopic properties concerning electronic and structural transitions leading to collective behavior and theoretical treatments of the ground state and dynamical response, showcasing VO 2 as a model system. Next, we briefly review algorithms designed from the plasticity demonstrated by phase changing systems. Finally, we conclude the brief review with suggestions for future research toward realizing non-von Neumann machines.
The nightside ionosphere of Mars could be produced by electron precipitation or by plasma transport from the dayside, by analogy to the Venus, but few measurements are available. We report here model calculations of upper limits to the nightside ion densities on Mars that would be produced by both mechanisms. For the auroral model, we have adopted the downward traveling portions of the electron spectra measured by the HARP instrument on the Soviet Phobos spacecraft in the Martian plasma sheet and in the magnetotail lobes. For the plasma transport case, we have imposed on a model of the nightside thermosphere, downward fluxes of O(+), C(+), N(+), NO(+) and O2(+) that are near the maximum upward fluxes that can be sustained by the dayside ionosphere. The computed electron density peaks are in the range (1.3 - 1.9) x 10 exp 4/cu cm at altitudes of 159 to 179 kin. The major ion for all the models is O2(+), but significant differences in the composition of the minor ions are found for the ionospheres produced by auroral precipitation and by plasma transport. The calculations reported here provide a guide to the data that should be acquired during a future aeronomy mission to Mars, in order to determine the sources of the nightside ionosphere.
Safe and effective generation of terrestrial nuclear power greatly benefits from the actionable data provided by the array of sensors located throughout a plant to provide a holistic online indication of reactor operation. This array includes sensors for monitoring coolant flow and pressure, temperature and heat transfer, radiation levels, structure health monitoring, and other critical parameters for reactor operation. While sensors capable of measuring these parameters have been developed, the electronics used in the pre-amplification and analog-to-digital conversion of the small signals they produce are extremely sensitive and susceptible to damage by high-temperatures and radiation environments nuclear reactors encounter while generating power. The small signals from sensors in nuclear power plants (NPPs) are transmitted over long cable runs which introduce dispersion artifacts into the signals of interest as well as electromagnetic interference (EMI) from lighting fixtures, pumps, mains electricity, and other equipment. To overcome these challenges, a front-end digitization (FREND) platform has been developed to use radiation-tolerant electronics to multiplex, amplify, and optically encode signals from an array of sensors for transmission over an optical fiber to mitigate dispersion and EMI artifacts from long runs of electrical cabling. To recover the optically transmitted data, a signal processing scheme based on 1-dimensional template matching to an indexing channel is described herein and demonstrated to have an effective bit-depth of 9.2 bits (1%). This scheme has been validated in proof-of-concept, non-nuclear testing and preliminary experimental results show good agreement between the measured optical output and and sensor input signals. The FREND system represents a low-loss data link between sensors in nuclear environments and data acquisition hardware which is aimed at improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the data acquired from these sensors to provide better information to operators and researchers.
Maps of the variation in bolometric Bond albedo and thermal inertia across Rhea and Dione have been produced using various day and nighttime observations, taken by Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS). The albedo maps show the same trend that has been previously observed on these satellites from reflected sunlight and thermal observations: a higher albedo on their leading hemispheres. The thermal inertia maps show two previously unknown anomalous high thermal inertia regions: low latitudes on Dione's leading hemisphere and the bright ejecta blanket of Rhea's Inktomi crater. The thermal inertia on Dione increases modestly from a background value of 8 J m(exp -2) K(exp -1) s(exp -1/2) to 11 J m(exp -)2 K(exp -1) s(exp -1/2) in a region preferentially bombarded by high-energy electrons. We believe that this region on Dione is probably analogous to the thermally anomalous regions recently discovered at equivalent locations on Mimas and Tethys, dubbed Pac-Man features. The smaller magnitude of Dione's thermal anomaly, compared to that of Mimas and Tethys, provides additional evidence that surface alteration by high-energy electrons produces these anomalies, as the high-energy electron flux decreases with increasing distance from Saturn. However, unlike on Mimas and Tethys, the thermally anomalous region on Dione does not display a spatially correlated decrease in the IR/UV (0.930 micrometers/0.338 micrometers) color ratio, implying that the minimum electron energy threshold of the IR/UV ice surface darkening mechanism is not met on Dione. The average of the mapped bolometric Bond albedos on the leading and trailing hemispheres of Dione are 0.49 +/- 0.11 and 0.44 +/- 0.13 respectively. On Rhea the thermal inertia increases from a background value of 10 J m(exp -2) K (exp -1) s(exp -1/2) to 19 J m(exp -2) K(exp -1) s(exp -1/2) on the ejecta blanket of Inktomi crater, probably due to a mixture of high and low thermal inertia material in this region, such as a fine- and large-grain ice mixture. This is the first time a thermal inertia anomaly has been associated with an impact crater on an icy saturnian satellite. On Rhea the average of the mapped bolometric Bond albedos on the leading and trailing hemispheres are 0.59 +/- 0.11 and 0.56 +/- 0.13 respectively.
Far-infrared detector arrays such as the 16x32 superconducting bolometer array for the SAFIRE instrument (flying on the SOFIA airborne observatory) require systems of readout and control electronics to provide translation between a user-driven, digital PC and the cold, analog world of the cryogenic detector. In 2001, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed their Mark III electronics for purposes of control and readout of their 1x32 SQUID Multiplexer chips. We at NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center acquired a Mark 111 system and subsequently designed upgrades to suit our and our collaborators purposes. We developed an arbitrary, programmable multiplexing system that allows the user to cycle through rows in a SQUID array in an infinite number of combinations. We provided hooks in the Mark III system to allow readout of signals from outside the Mark 111 system, such as telescope status information. Finally, we augmented the heart of the system with a new feedback algorithm implementation, flexible diagnostic tools, and informative telemetry.
A composite fermion (CF) is a topological quasiparticle that emerges from a nonperturbative attachment of vortices to electrons in strongly correlated two-dimensional materials. Similar to noninteracting fermions that form Landau levels in a magnetic field, CFs can fill analogous “Lambda” levels, giving rise to the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effect of electrons. Here, we show that Lambda levels can be directly visualized through the characteristic peak structure in the signal obtained via spectroscopy with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) on a FQH state. Complementary to transport, which probes the low-energy properties of CFs, we show that high-energy features in STM spectra can be interpreted in terms of Lambda levels. We numerically demonstrate that STM spectra can be accurately modeled using Jain's CF theory. Our results show that STM provides a powerful tool for revealing the anatomy of FQH states and identifying physics beyond the noninteracting CF paradigm.
Here, the tuning of catalyst activity via stereoelectronic modulation of the active-site structure remains a grand challenge in heterogeneous catalysis. In homogeneous catalysis, the redox noninnocent ligands can be introduced to organometallic fragments to donate electrons to the metal center and fine-tune the catalytic activity. Analogously, lithium-ion battery materials, such as lithium manganese oxide (LMO), lithium titanium oxides (LTO), etc., can serve as redox noninnocent catalyst support to modulate the electronic structures of the active site via lithiation, hence tuning the catalytic activity of supported active sites. Experimentally, the Ni single-atom site was supported on LiMn 2 O 4 via oxidative grafting and exhibited no catalytic activity toward the hydrogenation of cyclohexene. After introducing additional Li into the catalyst support forming Li 2 Mn 2 O 4 , the Ni single-atom site becomes active, with the catalytic rates increasing as a function of the lithiation for Li/Mn ratios >0.9. In this paper, density functional theory (DFT) calculations are performed to study the Ni site structure via X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) simulations and investigate the electronic properties of Ni single-atom site before and after the addition of intercalated lithium in the LMO spinel structure. Furthermore, the study of the reaction mechanism is also carried out to understand the thermodynamically and kinetically favored pathways. XANES simulation suggests that the Ni single-atom site is likely to stay in the Li channel of the spinel support structure and form an octahedral structure. After Li intercalation, the Ni site becomes less positively charged, indicating the partial reduction of the Ni site. The simulated reaction energy profile over the LiMn 2 O 4 support exhibits high-energy barriers (1.07 eV) for the hydrogenation of cyclohexene; however, the Li 2 Mn 2 O 4 support is able to better stabilize low-coordinated ion sites and improve ion mobility, leading to lower overall energy barriers (0.64 eV). The reduced and low-coordinated ion site, thus, can better stabilize the reaction intermediates and promote hydrogenation reaction. Similarly, other transition metal ions (Fe, Co, and Cu) are also considered over the LiMn 2 O 4 and Li 2 Mn 2 O 4 catalyst supports for hydrogenation reaction.