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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 361 records · Page 20
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Spatio-Kinetic Electronic Heterogeneity in MoS 2 Revealed by Ultrafast Electron Microscopy: Implications for Optoelectronics

There is broad interest in layered, two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors owing to their high optical absorption and ability to heterogeneously integrate with various substrates. In such layered semiconductors, mesoscopic imperfections, such as surface step edges, may affect charge carrier kinetics and device performance, but studying their effects on carrier transport with sufficient spatial and temporal resolution is a challenge. Using scanning ultrafast electron microscopy, we image the near-surface charge carrier kinetics with μm/ps spatiotemporal resolution in single-crystal MoS 2 samples with surface steps tens of nanometers in height. We find an approximately 3-fold increase in surface trap density near such surface steps compared to the uniform, flat surface regions. Despite the difference in trap state density, filling of the traps occurs over the same time scale (∼100 ps), but carrier recovery is much slower near the step compared to the uniform regions of the material. Furthermore, these results provide an approach to measure ultrafast dynamics and determine the required uniformity of layered materials depending on the speed limit constraints for specific applications.

SEM↗
DOE OSTI2025

Time-resolved probing of laser-induced nanostructuring processes in liquids

Laser synthesis and processing of colloids (LSPC) in liquids has gained widespread applications in producing nanomaterials of different classes of solids. While the technical processes in different cases of ablation, fragmentation or colloidal fusion may look macroscopically different in each application, the underlying fundamental mechanisms are always the same cascade of laser interaction with matter, non-thermal or thermal energy deposition, phase transitions, and the subsequent structure formation processes. Disentangling these mechanisms represents a veritable challenge, as ultrafast and structurally sensitive experimental methods are required. This review presents a discussion of how state-of-the-art experimental protocols using ultrafast lasers and sensitive structural probes, such as electrons or X-rays are able to address this challenge. In particular, it is possible to investigate LSPC on single objects using single probe pulses and avoid accumulation effects in a heterogeneous sample. The presented results capture structure formation with femtosecond and atomic scale resolution. Ultrafast time-resolved probing approaches are key to revealing the transient states and pathways that govern material transformation in LSPC.

X-ray scattering↗
NASA NTRS1983

Airborne dual laser excitation and mapping of phytoplankton photopigments in a Gulf Stream Warm Core Ring

Utilization of a two-color airborne lidar system in the systematic study of a major oceanographic feature is reported here for the first time. An excimer pumped dye laser was optically and electronically integrated into the NASA Airborne Oceanographic Lidar for simultaneous use with a frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser. The output beams exit the laser system along parallel paths after being produced on an alternating pulse basis at a combined rate of 12.5 pps. Results are presented for missions flown over a Gulf Stream Warm Core Ring (WCR) as well as over shelf, slope, Gulf Stream, and Sargasso Sea waters. From the airborne data a high coherence is shown between the two-color chlorophyll a data and between the Nd:YAG chlorophyll a and phycoerythrin responses within each of these water masses. However, distinct differences in the response patterns of these photopigments are shown to exist between the differing water masses. At certain of the boundaries separating the water masses a sharp transition is seen to occur, while at others a wider transition zone was observed in which the correlation between the photopigments appears to degrade.

Hoge, F. E.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Efficient frequency conversion of laser sources in nonlinear crystals

The use of nonlinear crystals to extend the frequency range of solid-state laser sources is proposed. The harmonic generation of high-average-power laser sources and CW-laser-sources nonlinear crystals is considered. The development of Nd:YAG pumped parametric oscillators and optical parametric amplifiers using LiNbO3 or AgGaS2 is studied. The LiNbO3 oscillator has tunable output over the 1.4-4.0 micron range and is applicable for remote sensing measurements of molecules and of humidity and temperature; AgGaS2 oscillators provide the potential for 3-15 micron infrared generation. Advances in material synthesis techniques related to the design and synthesis of nonlinear media are discussed. Various procedures for the synthesis of nonlinear crystals are described.

Byer, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Coherence properties of a doubly resonant monolithic optical parametric oscillator

A doubly resonant optical parametric oscillator (DRO) pumped with the second harmonic of a narrow-linewidth Nd:YAG laser is described. The linewidth of the DRO signal was less than 13 kHz, the DRO was shown to generate a phase-locked subharmonic of the pump at degeneracy, and the signal and the idler were shown to be mutually coherent with the pump and to be phase-anticorrelated with each other away from degeneracy. The signal-idler heterodyne linewidth was 500 Hz, and pump phase modulation was shown to transfer to the DRO phase at degeneracy.

Nabors, C. D.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Phase conjugate Twyman-Green interferometer for testing spherical surfaces and lenses and for measuring refractive indices of liquids or solid transparent materials

The present paper describes an application of a phase conjugate Twyman-Green interferometer using barium titanate as a self-pumping mirror for testing optical components like concave and convex spherical mirrors and lenses. The aberrations introduced by the beam splitter while testing concave or convex spherical mirrors of large aperture are automatically eliminated due to self-focussing property of the phase conjugate mirror. There is no necessity for a good spherical surface as a reference surface unlike in classical Twyman-Green interferometer or Williams interferometer. The phase conjugate Twyman Green interferometer with a divergent illumination can be used as a test plate for checking spherical surfaces. A nondestructive technique for measuring the refractive indices of a Fabry Perot etalon by using a phase conjugate interferometer is also suggested. The interferometer is found to be useful for measuring the refractive indices of liquids and solid transparent materials with an accuracy of the order of + or - 0.0004.

Shukla, R. P.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Microwave Treatment for Cardiac Arrhythmias

Method and apparatus are provided for propagating microwave energy into heart tissues to produce a desired temperature profile therein at tissue depths sufficient for thermally ablating arrhythmogenic cardiac tissue to treat ventricular tachycardia and other arrhythmias while preventing excessive heating of surrounding tissues, organs, and blood. A wide bandwidth double-disk antenna is effective for this purpose over a bandwidth of about six gigahertz. A computer simulation provides initial screening capabilities for an antenna such as antenna, frequency, power level, and power application duration. The simulation also allows optimization of techniques for specific patients or conditions. In operation, microwave energy between about 1 Gigahertz and 12 Gigahertz is applied to monopole microwave radiator having a surface wave limiter. A test setup provides physical testing of microwave radiators to determine the temperature profile created in actual heart tissue or ersatz heart tissue. Saline solution pumped over the heart tissue with a peristaltic pump simulates blood flow. Optical temperature sensors disposed at various tissue depths within the heart tissue detect the temperature profile without creating any electromagnetic interference. The method may be used to produce a desired temperature profile in other body tissues reachable by catheter such as tumors and the like.

Arndt, G. Dickey↗
NASA NTRS2000

Transcatheter Antenna For Microwave Treatment

Method and apparatus are provided for propagating microwave energy into heart tissues to produce a desired temperature profile therein at tissue depths sufficient for thermally ablating arrhythmogenic cardiac tissue to treat ventricular tachycardia and other arrhythmias while preventing excessive heating of surrounding tissues, organs, and blood. A wide bandwidth double-disk antenna is effective for this purpose over a bandwidth of about six gigahertz. A computer simulation provides initial screening capabilities for an antenna such as antenna, frequency, power level, and power application duration. The simulation also allows optimization of techniques for specific patients or conditions. In operation, microwave energy between about 1 Gigahertz and 12 Gigahertz is applied to monopole microwave radiation having a surface wave limiter. A test setup provides physical testing of microwave radiators to determine the temperature profile created in actual heart tissue or ersatz heart tissue. Saline solution pumped over the heart tissue with a peristaltic pump simulates blood flow. Optical temperature sensors disposed at various tissue depths within the heart tissue detect the temperature profile without creating any electromagnetic interference. The method may he used to produce a desired temperature profile in other body tissues reachable by catheter such as tumors and the like.

Arndt, G. Dickey↗
NASA NTRS2001

In Vivo Simulator for Microwave Treatment

Method and apparatus are provided for propagating microwave energy into heart tissues to produce a desired temperature profile therein at tissue depths sufficient for thermally ablating arrhythmogenic cardiac tissue to treat ventricular tachycardia and other arrhythmias while preventing excessive heating of surrounding tissues, organs, and blood. A wide bandwidth double-disk antenna is effective for this purpose over a bandwidth of about 6 GHz. A computer simulation provides initial screening capabilities for an antenna such as antenna. frequency, power level, and power application duration. The simulation also allows optimization of techniques for specific patients or conditions. In operation, microwave energy between about 1 GHz and 12 GHz is applied to monopole microwave radiator having a surface wave limiter. A test setup provides physical testing of microwave radiators to determine the temperature profile created in actual heart tissue or ersatz heart tissue. Saline solution pumped over the heart tissue with a peristaltic pump simulates blood flow. Optical temperature sensors disposed at various tissue depths within the heart tissue detect the temperature profile without creating any electromagnetic interference. The method may be used to produce a desired temperature profile in other body tissues reachable by catheter such as tumors and the like.

Arndt, G. Dickey↗
NASA NTRS2007

High-Reliability Pump Module for Non-Planar Ring Oscillator Laser

We propose and have demonstrated a prototype high-reliability pump module for pumping a Non-Planar Ring Oscillator (NPRO) laser suitable for space missions. The pump module consists of multiple fiber-coupled single-mode laser diodes and a fiber array micro-lens array based fiber combiner. The reported Single-Mode laser diode combiner laser pump module (LPM) provides a higher normalized brightness at the combined beam than multimode laser diode based LPMs. A higher brightness from the pump source is essential for efficient NPRO laser pumping and leads to higher reliability because higher efficiency requires a lower operating power for the laser diodes, which in turn increases the reliability and lifetime of the laser diodes. Single-mode laser diodes with Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) stabilized wavelength permit the pump module to be operated without a thermal electric cooler (TEC) and this further improves the overall reliability of the pump module. The single-mode laser diode LPM is scalable in terms of the number of pump diodes and is capable of combining hundreds of fiber-coupled laser diodes. In the proof-of-concept demonstration, an e-beam written diffractive micro lens array, a custom fiber array, commercial 808nm single mode laser diodes, and a custom NPRO laser head are used. The reliability of the proposed LPM is discussed.

micro lens array↗
NASA NTRS2018

System for Transmitting and Receiving Electromagnetic Radiation

A system for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic radiation includes a beam splitter and a transceiver. The beam splitter is configured to separate an optical pulse into a pump pulse and a probe pulse. The transceiver may include a transmitter switch and a receiver switch. The pump pulse is directed toward the transmitter switch and the probe pulse is directed towards the receiver switch. Electromagnetic radiation is emitted from the transceiver when the pump pulse strikes the transmitter switch. The electromagnetic radiation may be terahertz radiation in either a pulsed or continuous wave form.

Strong, Timothy↗
DOE OSTI2024

Truncated nonlinear interferometer-based sensor system

A truncated non-linear interferometer-based sensor system includes an input port that receives an optical beam and a non-linear amplifier that amplifies the optical beam with a pump beam and renders a probe beam and a conjugate beam. The system's local oscillators have a relationship with the respective beams. The system includes a sensor that transduces an input with the probe beam and the conjugate beam or their respective local oscillators. It includes one or more phase-sensitive detectors that detect a phase modulation between the respective local oscillators and the probe beam and the conjugate beam. Output from the phase-sensitive-detectors is based on the detected phase modulation. The phase-sensor-detectors include measurement circuitry that measure the phase signals. The measurement is the sum or difference of the phase signals in which the measured combination exhibit a quantum noise reduction in an intensity difference or a phase sum or an amplitude difference quadrature.

Pooser, Raphael C.↗
NASA NTRS1988

OPO performance with a long pulse length, single frequency Nd:YAG laser pump

With the advent of new nonlinear materials and single-frequency pump sources, there is renewed interest in optical parametric oscillators (OPOs). A single-mode diode-laser-pumped monolithic Nd:YAG nonplanar ring laser that is both amplified and frequency doubled is used to pump a monolithic MgO:LiNbO3 pulsed singly resonant OPO. The OPO signal output was temperature tuned from 834 to 958 nm, producing an idler tuning from 1.47 to 1.2 microns. Efforts toward a CW all-solid-state doubly resonant OPO are also described.

Kozlovsky, W. J.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Fiber Pulling Apparatus

The fiber optics industry has grown into a multi-billion marketplace that will continue to grow into the 21st century. Optical fiber communications is currently dominated by silica glass technology. Successful efforts to improve upon the low loss transmission characteristics of silica fibers have propelled the technology into the forefront of the communications industry. However, reaching the theoretical transmission capability of silica fiber through improved processing has still left a few application areas in which other fiber systems can provide an influential role due to specific characteristics of high theoretical transmission in the 2 - 3 micron wavelength region. One of the other major materials used for optical fibers is the systems based upon Heavy Metal Fluoride Glass (HMFG). Commercial interest is driven primarily by the potential for low loss repeaterless infrared fibers. An example of the major communications marketplace which would benefit from the long distance repeaterless capability of infrared fibers is the submarine cables which link the continents. When considering commercial interests, optical fiber systems provide a healthy industrial position which continues to expand. Major investments in the systems used for optical fiber communications have continued to increase each year and are predicted to continue well into the next century. Estimates of 8.5% compounded annually are predicted through 1999 for the North American market and 1 1 % worldwide. The growth for the optical fiber cable itself is expected to continue between 44 and 50 per cent of the optical fiber communications budget through 1999. The total budget in 1999 world-wide is expected to be in the neighborhood of $9 billion. Another survey predicts that long haul telecommunications represents 15% of a world-wide fiber optics market in 1998. The actual amount allotted to cable was not specified. However, another market research had predicted that the cable costs alone represents more than 50% of the total budget each year through 1998. A newly emerging activity is the commercial development of doped optical fibers which can be pumped by laser diodes to provide amplification of the communication signals. This technology is newly emerging and will be developed for commercial interests in the United States by Galileo Electro-optical Incorporated in Sturbridge, MA on a license from British Telecom. Long repeaterless communication links provide the biggest stimulus for this technology. As an example of the of the revenues involved in the optical fiber communications 3 industry, the current trade journal lists that for the fiscal years, 1991 - 1994, 185 separate undersea links were established. In addition, another 105 links are planned through 1998. The distribution of revenues involved in the undersea installations is roughly $8.5 billion through 1993 and another $13 billion planned through 1998. A large portion of the future activity (34%) is planned for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Region. Other examples of the commercial utility of optical fiber networks is given in a recent scientific symposium in which the outlook for HMFG infrared fiber was determined to be very bright.Another area of interest lies in the use of fiber optics for laser surgery delivery systems.

Workman, Gary L.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Coherent communication link using diode-pumped lasers

Work toward developing a diffraction limited, single frequency, modulated transmitter suitable for coherent optical communication or direct detection communication is discussed. Diode pumped, monolithic Nd:YAG nonplanar ring oscillators were used as the carrier beam. An external modulation technique which can handle high optical powers, has moderate modulation voltage, and which can reach modulation rates of 1 GHz was invented. Semiconductor laser pumped solid-state lasers which have high output power (0.5 Watt) and which oscillate at a single frequency, in a diffraction limited beam, at the wavelength of 1.06 microns were built. A technique for phase modulating the laser output by 180 degrees with a 40-volt peak to peak driving voltage is demonstrated. This technique can be adapted for amplitude modulation of 100 percent with the same voltage. This technique makes use of a resonant bulk modulator, so it does not have the power handling limitations of guided wave modulators.

Kane, Thomas J.↗
NASA NTRS1999

The Ratio of Ortho- to Para-H2 in Photodissociation Regions

We discuss the ratio of ortho- to para-H2 in photodissociation regions (PDRs). We draw attention to an apparent confusion in the literature between the ortho-to-para ratio of molecules in FUV-pumped vibrationally excited states and the total H2 ortho-to-para abundance ratio. These ratios are not the same because the process of FUV pumping of fluorescent H2 emission in PDRs occurs via optically thick absorption lines. Thus gas with an equilibrium ratio of ortho- to para-H2 equal to 3 will yield FUV-pumped vibrationally excited ortho-to-para ratios smaller than 3, because the ortho-H2 pumping rates are preferentially reduced by optical depth effects. Indeed, if the ortho and para pumping lines are on the "square root" part of the curve of growth, then the expected ratio of ortho and para vibrational line strengths is 3(sup 1/2) approximately 1.7, close to the typically observed value. Thus, contrary to what has sometimes been stated in the literature, most previous measurements of the ratio of ortho- to para-H2 in vibrationally excited states are entirely consistent with a total ortho-to-para ratio of 3, the equilibrium value for temperatures greater than 200 K. We present an analysis and several detailed models that illustrate the relationship between the total ratios of ortho- to para-H2 and the vibrationally excited ortho-to-para ratios in PDRs. Recent Infrared Space Observatory measurements of pure rotational and vibrational H2 emissions from the PDR in the star-forming region S140 provide strong observational support for our conclusions.

Sternberg, Amiel↗
NASA NTRS2011

Method for Implementing Optical Phase Adjustment

A method has been developed to mechanically implement the optical phase shift by adjusting the polarization of the pump and probe beams in an NMOR (nonlinear magneto-optical rotation) magnetometer as the proper phase shift is necessary to induce self-oscillation. This innovation consists of mounting the pump beam on a ring that surrounds the atomic vapor sample. The propagation of the probe beam is perpendicular to that of the pump beam. The probe beam can be considered as defining the axis of a cylinder, while the pump beam is directed radially. The magnetic field to be measured defines a third vector, but it is also taken to lie along the cylinder axis. Both the pump and probe beams are polarized such that their electric field vectors are substantially perpendicular to the magnet field. By rotation of the ring supporting the pump beam, its direction can be varied relative to the plane defined by the probe electric field and the magnetic field to be measured.

Hovde, David C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Frequency Swept Diode-pumped Single Frequency TM,Ho:YLiF Laser for spaceborne Doppler Lidar

Optical heterodyne experiments involving the photomixing of two single frequency, deode-pumped thulium holmium yttrium lithium flouride lasers are described. Operated in external frquency stabilization loops, the lasers exhibit 1MHz short term stability, and are photomixed and offset-locked at 140 MHz. Summation of sine wave modulation onto the PZT control voltage on one laser results in frequency swept operation over a continuous tuning range of 160 MHz.

Doppler Lidar Optical heterodyne experiments↗