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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 415 records · Page 23
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1988

Early Precambrian crustal evolution in Eastern India: The ages of the Singhbhum granite and included remnants of older gneiss

Geochronology of samples from the Indian Shield was discussed. New Sm-Nd data was given for the Singhbhum granite, which give model ages (T sub DM of 3.36 to 3.40 Ga, essentially equivalent to ages of included gneissic remnants of the older metamorphic group (OMG) (T sub DM = 3.35 to 3.41 Ga). Lead-lead and Rb-Sr ages of the granite and OMG range between 3.28 to 3.38 Ga. These results are considerably younger than the 3775 + or - 89 Ma Sm-Nd isochron of Basu et al., which Taylor and colleagues interpret as an artifact caused by regressing two suites of unrelated rock samples.

Moorbath, Stephen↗
NASA NTRS1989

Prototype laser-diode-pumped solid state laser transmitters

Monolithic, diode-pumped Nd:YAG ring lasers can provide diffraction-limited, single-frequency, narrow-linewidth, tunable output which is adequate for use as a local oscillator in a coherent communication system. A laser was built which had a linewidth of about 2 kHz, a power of 5 milliwatts, and which was tunable over a range of 30 MHz in a few microseconds. This laser was phase-locked to a second, similar laser. This demonstrates that the powerful technique of heterodyne detection is possible with a diode-pumped laser used as the local oscillator. Laser diode pumping of monolithic Nd:YAG rings can lead to output powers of hundreds of milliwatts from a single laser. A laser was built with a single-mode output of 310 mW. Several lasers can be chained together to sum their power, while maintaining diffraction-limited, single frequency operation. This technique was demonstrated with two lasers, with a total output of 340 mW, and is expected to be practical for up to about ten lasers. Thus with lasers of 310 mW, output of up to 3 W is possible. The chaining technique, if properly engineered, results in redundancy. The technique of resonant external modulation and doubling is designed to efficiently convert the continuous wave, infrared output of our lasers into low duty-cycle pulsed green output. This technique was verified through both computer modeling and experimentation. Further work would be necessary to develop a deliverable system using this technique.

Kane, Thomas J.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Diode-pumped laser research

The Laboratory for Oceans is currently working on the development of compact laser diode array (LD) pumped Nd:YAG lasers for use in space-based altimetry and ranging. Laser diode-array pumping technology promises to increase the electrical to optical efficiency of solid state lasers by an order of magnitude with a lifetime increase of nearly three orders of magnitude relative to today's conventional flashlamp-pumped laser systems. The small size, efficiency, and ruggedness make LD-pumped solid state lasers ideal for space based applications. In an in-house RTOP effort, a novel multiple-pass LD-pumped Nd:YAG laser amplifier was designed and tested to increase the 100 microjoule output pulse energy of the Lightwave laser oscillator. Preliminary results have yielded a round trip amplifier gain of about 15 percent using 7 microjoule LD-pump energy. As a parallel activity, funding was recently obtained to investigate the possible use of custom made fiber optic arrays to obtain an efficient optical coupling mechanism between the emitting laser diode-arrays and the target solid state laser material. Fiber optic coupling arrays would allow for the easy manipulation of the spatial emitting pattern of the diode pump sources to match either an end or side pumping laser configuration.

Ramos-Izquierdo, L.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Stored mafic/ultramafic crust and early Archean mantle depletion

The global Nd isotopic evidence for early mantle depletion, which shows that some enriched reservoir must have persisted for at least 300 Ma in the early Archean, is discussed. Numerical models of the isotopic effects of melt extraction from the mantle are used to show that early oceanic crust is a more likely candidate for the enriched reservoir than early continental crust. It is suggested that subduction of an early mafic/ultramafic crust and temporary storage may be responsible for the depletion and high epsilon(Nd) values of the Archean upper mantle.

Chase, C. G.↗
NASA NTRS1989

River Valley pluton, Ontario - A late-Archean/early-Proterozoic anorthositic intrusion in the Grenville Province

This paper presents Nd, Sr, and Pb isotopic data indicating a late-Archean/early-Proterozoic age for the River Valley anorthositic pluton of the southwestern Grenville Province of Sudbury, Ontario. Pb-Pb isotopic data on 10 whole-rock samples ranging in composition from anorthosite to gabbro yield an age of 2560 + or - 155 Ma. The River Valley pluton is thus the oldest anorthositic intrusive yet recognized within the Grenville Province. The Sm-Nd isotopic system records an age of 2377 + or - 68 Ma. High Pb-208/Pb-204 of deformed samples relative to igneous-textured rocks implies Th introduction and/or U loss during metamorphism in the River Valley area. Rb-Sr data from igneous-textured and deformed samples and from mineral separates give an age of 2185 + or - 105 Ma, indicating substantial disturbance of the Rb-Sr isotopic system.

Ashwal, Lewis D.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Ar-40/Ar-39 laser-probe dating of diamond inclusions from the Premier kimberlite

The results of Ar-40/Ar-39 laser-probe analyses of individual eclogitic clinopyroxene inclusions from Premier diamonds are reported which yield a mean age of 1198 + or - 14 Myr. This age agrees well with Sm-Nd and Ar-40/Ar-39 analyses on similar Premier inclusions and is indistinguishable from the inferred time of emplacement of the host kimberlite, which implies that diamond formation was essentially synchronous with kimberlite generation. The extrapolated nonradiogenic Ar-40/Ar-36 ratio of 334 + or - 102 is similar to the present-day atmospheric composition. This value is inconsistent with Sr and Nd isotopic signatures from Premier eclogite inclusions, which suggest a depleted mantle source. Preentrapment equilibration of the inclusions with an Ar-36-rich fluid is the most probable explanation for the low nonradiogenic composition.

Phillips, D.↗
NASA NTRS1989

The presence of Sm-146 in the early solar system and implications for its nucleosynthesis

A correlation of Nd-142/Nd-144 with Sm-144/Nd-144 in two meteorites which have a large range in Sm-144/Nd-144 in their constituent mineral phases is presented as evidence for the presence of the p-process nucleus Sm-146 in the early solar system and its alpha-decay into Nd-142. The ratio Sm-146/Sm-144 is estimated to be about 0.015 at the time of solar system formation, 4.56 AE ago. It is suggested that the abundance of Sm-146 is compatible with p-proc ess production rate estimates, but not with the production rate for Sm-146 based on a photodisintegration model for the production of p-process nuclides.

Prinzhoffer, A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Excited state absorption of pump radiation as a loss mechanism in solid-state lasers

The characteristics of optical pumping dynamics in laser-pumped, rare-earth-doped, solid-state laser materials are investigated by using a tunable alexandrite laser to pump Y3Al5O12:Nd(3+) in an optical cavity. It is found that the slope efficiency of the Nd laser operation depends strongly on the wavelength of the pump laser. For pump wavelengths resulting in low slope efficiencies, intense fluorescence emission is observed from the sample in the blue-green spectral region. This is attributed to the excited-state absorption of pump photons which occurs during radiationless relaxation from the pump band to the metastable state. This type of process is an important loss mechanism for monochromatic pumping of laser systems at specific pump wavelengths.

Kliewer, Michael L.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Generating Second Harmonics In Nonlinear Resonant Cavities

Single-axial-mode lasers pump very-low-loss doubling crystals. Important advance in making resonant generation of second harmonics possible for diode-laser-pumped solid-state lasers is recent development of monolithic nonplanar ring geometries in neodymium:yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) lasers that produce frequency-stable single-mode outputs. Other advance is development of high-quality MgO:LiNbO3 as electro-optically nonlinear material. Series of experiments devised to improve doubling efficiency of low-power lasers, and particularly of diode-laser-pumped continuous-wave Nd:YAG lasers.

Kozlovsky, William J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Stored mafic/ultramafic crust and early Archean mantle depletion

Both early and late Archean rocks from greenstone belts and felsic gneiss complexes exhibit positive epsilon(Nd) values of +1 to +5 by 3.5 Ga, demonstrating that a depleted mantle reservoir existed very early. The amount of preserved pre-3.0 Ga continental crust cannot explain such high epsilon values in the depleted residue unless the volume of residual mantle was very small: a layer less than 70 km thick by 3.0 Ga. Repeated and exclusive sampling of such a thin layer, especially in forming the felsic gneiss complexes, is implausible. Extraction of enough continental crust to deplete the early mantle and its destructive recycling before 3.0 Ga ago requires another implausibility, that the sites of crustal generation of recycling were substantially distinct. In contrast, formation of mafic or ultramafic crust analogous to present-day oceanic crust was continuous from very early times. Recycled subducted oceanic lithosphere is a likely contributor to present-day hotspot magmas, and forms a reservoir at least comparable in volume to continental crust. Subduction of an early mafic/ultramafic oceanic crust and temporary storage rather than immediate mixing back into undifferentiated mantle may be responsible for the depletion and high epsilon(Nd) values of the Archean upper mantle.

Chase, Clement G.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Structure and superconducting properties of ((Ln(1-x)Ln*(x) 1/2 (Ba(1-y)Sr(y) 1/3 Ce 1/6) 8Cu6O(z)

A variety of new oxide superconductors were prepared. The crystallographic structures of the oxides were all tetragonal and of the (Ln(+), Ce)4(Ln(+),Ba)4Cu6Oz (Ln(+) = Nd, Sm or Eu) type which had been previously discovered by Akimitsu et al. As the Sr content, y, increased when Ln = Ln(excited state) = Nd, the oxygen content, z, monotonically increased and the superconducting transition temperature, T(sub c), varied exhibiting a maximum. When z was controlled directly by means of high oxygen pressure sintering techniques, T(sub c) was changed accordingly. T(sub c's) of samples with different combinations of Ln and Ln(excited state) and different values of x and y were found to depend on the magnitude of the bond valence sum for a Cu atom located in the bottom plane of the Cu-O5 pyramid. Transport and magnetization measurements were carried out to investigate the magnetic field dependence of superconducting properties and to determine the phenomenological parameters. The Hall coefficients were positive below room temperature and varied yielding a maximum with respect to temperature.

Yamauchi, H.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Photovoltaic converters for solar-pumped lasers

The authors describe a mathematical parametric study of converters used to convert laser radiation to electricity for space-based laser power systems. Two different lasers, the 1.06-micron Nd laser and the 1.315-micron iodine laser, are used in the vertical junction converter. The calculated efficiency is 50 percent for a 100-junction Si photovoltaic converter when used with a Nd laser. The calculated efficiency for a 1000-junction Ga(0.53)In(0.47)As photovoltaic converter is 43 percent when used with an iodine laser.

Walker, Gilbert H.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Development of a two photon/laser induced fluorescence technique for the detection of atmospheric OH radicals

The development of a new mid-IR laser source was the primary goal. Backward propagating stimulated D2 Raman frequency down conversion of a commercially available 1.06 micron Nd:YAG laser was shown to generate an efficient source of 1.56 micron radiation with near diffraction limited beam quality. The efficient generation of a 2.9 micron laser source was also achieved using backward propagating CH4 Raman frequency down conversion of the 1.56 micron pump. Slightly higher efficiencies were obtained for frequency down conversion of the 1.06 micron Nd:YAG using the H2 Raman shift yielding a near diffraction limited source in the 200 mJ range at 1.9 micron. Similar conversion efficiencies are anticipated as a result of extending the wavelength coverage of recently available Ti:sapphire pulse laser to not only cover the 740 to 860 nm fundamental wavelength range but also the .95 to 1.15 and 1.06 to 1.33 micron range using D2 and H2, respectively. The anticipated sensitivity of a TP-LIF OH sensor using this mid-IR source would give signal limited detection of 1.4 x 10(exp 5) OH/cu cm under boundary layer conditions and 5.5 x 10(exp 4) OH/cu cm under free troposphere sampling conditions for a five minute signal integration period. This level of performance coupled with the techniques non-perturbing nature and freedom from both interferences and background would allow reliable tropospheric OH measurement to be obtained under virtually any ambient condition of current interest, including interstitial and sampling.

Bradshaw, John↗
NASA NTRS1990

New laser materials for laser diode pumping

The potential advantages of laser diode pumped solid state lasers are many with high overall efficiency being the most important. In order to realize these advantages, the solid state laser material needs to be optimized for diode laser pumping and for the particular application. In the case of the Nd laser, materials with a longer upper level radiative lifetime are desirable. This is because the laser diode is fundamentally a cw source, and to obtain high energy storage, a long integration time is necessary. Fluoride crystals are investigated as host materials for the Nd laser and also for IR laser transitions in other rare earths, such as the 2 micron Ho laser and the 3 micron Er laser. The approach is to investigate both known crystals, such as BaY2F8, as well as new crystals such as NaYF8. Emphasis is on the growth and spectroscopy of BaY2F8. These two efforts are parallel efforts. The growth effort is aimed at establishing conditions for obtaining large, high quality boules for laser samples. This requires numerous experimental growth runs; however, from these runs, samples suitable for spectroscopy become available.

Jenssen, H. P.↗
NASA NTRS1990

On the correlation of indices of vegetation and surface temperature over south-eastern Australia

Relationships between radiant surface temperature and vegetation indices for scenes with equal areas of forest and agricultural land use were studied using a Landsat TM scene during spring and an NOAA AVHRR scene during summer. The relationships between T sub R and the normalized difference (ND) index of vegetation for agricultural land use were different from those for forests. At the same T sub R, the forest had lower near infrared reflectance. This caused the ND of forests to fall below the T sub R/ND relationships formed by agricultural land use. This difference between forest and agricultural land use did not exist when visible reflectance was used as the index of vegetation.

Smith, R. C. G.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Megaregolith insulation and the duration of cooling to isotopic closure within differential asteroids and the moon

Global cooling of the moon and large (R = 40-250 km) asterodis, was modeled, starting at or near the solidus. A crucial factor in determining the prevailing interval (Ic) of cooling between igenous crystallization and isotopic closure, for any given depth in the crust, is the extent to which the body is insulated by a regolith/megaregolith layer of porous, fragmental impact debris. Given plausible assumptions regarding the thicknesses of such layers on the moon and the eucrite parent asteroid (and regarding the radius of the eucrite asteroid), the results indicate that deep-crustal regions tend to remain above the Nd and Sr isotopic closure temperature for intervals that are long in comparison to the precision of modern Nd- and Sr-based age measurements, and in comparison to suggested chronologic scenarios of global differentiation. Ic intervals of as long as 100 my may be common among available samples of primordial, deep-crustal cumulates from both bodies. Chronologies for the gross solidification of the moon and the eucrite asteroid should allow for the possibility that any single age for a coarse-grained 'plutonic' or cumulate-textured rock might be many tens of millions of years younger than the igneous crystallization age.

Warren, Paul H.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Effects of leading-edge flap oscillation on unsteady delta wing flow and rock control

The isolated and interdisciplinary problems of unsteady fluid dynamics and rigid-body dynamics and control of delta wings with and without leading-edge flap oscillation are considered. For the fluid dynamics problem, the unsteady, compressible, thin-layer Navier-Stokes (NS) equations, which are written relative to a moving frame of reference, are solved along with the unsteady, linearized, Navier-displacement (ND) equations. The NS equations are solved for the flowfield using an implicit finite-volume scheme. The ND equations are solved for the grid deformation, if the leading-edge flaps oscillate, using an ADI scheme. For the dynamics and control problem, the Euler equation of rigid-body rolling motion for a wing and its flaps are solved interactively with the fluid dynamics equations for the wing-rock motion and subsequently for its control. A four-stage Runge-Kutta scheme is used to explicitly integrate the dynamics equation.

Kandil, Osama A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Synchronous pumping of picosecond dye laser using high efficiency second harmonic generation from optical fibres

The stable operation of a mode-locked dye laser synchronously pumped by the second harmonic of an Nd:YAG laser produced in an Nd codoped germanosilicate optical fiber is reported. The optical fiber preparation technique, which results in a second harmonic conversion efficiency of 2 percent, is described. This optical fiber SHG conversion efficiency is the highest reported to date using a continuous-wave mode-locked laser.

Lawandy, N. M.↗