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At least 415 records · Page 23

On the mechanism of ionization oscillations in Hall thrusters

Low-frequency ionization oscillations involving plasma and neutral density (breathing modes) are the most violent perturbations in Hall thrusters for electric propulsion. Because of its simplicity, the zero-dimensional (0D) predator–prey model of two nonlinearly coupled ordinary differential equations for plasma and neutral density has often been used for the characterization of such oscillations and scaling estimates. In this work, we investigate the properties of its continuum analog, the one-dimensional (1D) system of two nonlinearly coupled equations in partial derivatives (PDEs) for plasma and neutral density. This is a more general model, of which the standard 0D predator–prey model is a special limit case. We show that the 1D model is stable and does not show any oscillations for the boundary conditions relevant to Hall thrusters and the uniform ion velocity. We then propose a reduced 1D model based on two coupled PDEs for plasma and neutral densities that is unstable and exhibit oscillations if the ion velocity profile with the near-the-anode back-flow (toward the anode) region is used. Comparisons of the reduced model with the predictions of the full model that takes into account the self-consistent plasma response show that the main properties of the breathing mode are well captured. In particular, it is shown that the frequency of the breathing mode oscillations is weakly dependent on the final ion velocity but shows a strong correlation with the width of the ion back-flow region.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Generation of Giant Amplitude Pulses in a Klystron Chaos Auto-Oscillator

The presented experimental results demonstrate that microwave pulses of giant amplitude are generated in a klystron generator operating in the self-excited mode of chaotic oscillations. The auto-oscillator is assembled using a noisetron scheme that contains two five-cavity floating-drift klystrons serially connected in a ring, one of which operates in the mode of linear signal amplification (the linear klystron) and the other works in the mode of nonlinear signal amplification (the nonlinear klystron). It is established that, at a certain value of the beam current of a nonlinear klystron, intermittency of chaos–chaos type is realized in the auto-oscillation system in the form of chaotic sequences of microwave pulses of giant amplitude formed over the chaotic amplitude background. This type of intermittency is caused by the amplitude bistability of the nonlinear floating-drift klystron.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

OBSERVATIONS OF FIVE-MINUTE SOLAR OSCILLATIONS IN THE CORONA USING THE EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET SPECTROPHOTOMETER (ESP) ON BOARD THE SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET VARIABILITY EXPERIMENT (SDO/EVE)

We report on the detection of oscillations in the corona in the frequency range corresponding to five-minute acoustic modes of the Sun. The oscillations have been observed using soft X-ray measurements from the Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrophotometer (ESP) of the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The ESP zeroth-order channel observes the Sun as a star without spatial resolution in the wavelength range of 0.1-7.0 nm (the energy range is 0.18-12.4 keV). The amplitude spectrum of the oscillations calculated from six-day time series shows a significant increase in the frequency range of 2-4 mHz. We interpret this increase as a response of the corona to solar acoustic (p) modes and attempt to identify p-mode frequencies among the strongest peaks. Due to strong variability of the amplitudes and frequencies of the five-minute oscillations in the corona, we study how the spectrum from two adjacent six-day time series combined together affects the number of peaks associated with the p-mode frequencies and their amplitudes. This study shows that five-minute oscillations of the Sun can be observed in the corona in variations of the soft X-ray emission. Further investigations of these oscillations may improve our understanding of the interaction of the oscillation modes with the solar atmosphere, and the interior-corona coupling, in general.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Mode competition and selection in overmoded surface wave oscillator

The overmoded surface wave oscillator (SWO) is one of the promising devices to generate high-power millimeter and subterahertz waves for its merits of high efficiency and easy fabrication. But the employed slow wave structure with large diameter may introduce mode competition as the adverse effects. Therefore, the mode competition and selection in the overmoded surface wave oscillator are investigated in detail in this paper. By using the theoretical analysis and particle-in-cell simulation, the potential transverse mode and axial mode competition is pointed out, and the physical mechanisms and methods for mode selection are investigated. At last, the results are verified in the design of a 0.14 THz overmoded SWO without mode competition, which can generate the output power up to 70 MW at the frequency of 146.3 GHz with conversion efficiency almost 20% when beam voltage and current are, respectively, about 313 kV and 1.13 kA.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Convective-core Overshoot and Suppression of Oscillations: Constraints from Red Giants in NGC 6811

Using data from the NASA spacecraft Kepler , we study solar-like oscillations in red giant stars in the open cluster NGC 6811. We determine oscillation frequencies, frequency separations, period spacings of mixed modes, and mode visibilities for eight cluster giants. The oscillation parameters show that these stars are helium-core-burning red giants. The eight stars form two groups with very different oscillation power spectra; the four stars with the lowest Δ ν values display rich sets of mixed l = 1 modes, while this is not the case for the four stars with higher Δ ν . For the four stars with lowest Δ ν , we determine the asymptotic period spacing of the mixed modes, Δ P , which together with the masses we derive for all eight stars suggest that they belong to the so-called secondary clump. Based on the global oscillation parameters, we present initial theoretical stellar modeling that indicates that we can constrain convective-core overshoot on the main sequence and in the helium-burning phase for these ∼2 M {sub ⊙} stars. Finally, our results indicate less mode suppression than predicted by recent theories for magnetic suppression of certain oscillation modes in red giants.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Stochastic transition in synchronized spiking nanooscillators

This work reports that synchronization of Mott material-based nanoscale coupled spiking oscillators can be drastically different from that in conventional harmonic oscillators. We investigated the synchronization of spiking nanooscillators mediated by thermal interactions due to the close physical proximity of the devices. Controlling the driving voltage enables in-phase 1:1 and 2:1 integer synchronization modes between neighboring oscillators. Transition between these two integer modes occurs through an unusual stochastic synchronization regime instead of the loss of spiking coherence. In the stochastic synchronization regime, random length spiking sequences belonging to the 1:1 and 2:1 integer modes are intermixed. The occurrence of this stochasticity is an important factor that must be taken into account in the design of large-scale spiking networks for hardware-level implementation of novel computational paradigms such as neuromorphic and stochastic computing.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Quantum entanglement and teleportation in pulsed cavity optomechanics

Entangling a mechanical oscillator with an optical mode is an enticing and yet a very challenging goal in cavity optomechanics. Here we consider a pulsed scheme to create Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-type entanglement between a traveling-wave light pulse and a mechanical oscillator. The entanglement can be verified unambiguously by a pump-probe sequence of pulses. In contrast to schemes that work in a steady-state regime under a continuous-wave drive, this protocol is not subject to stability requirements that normally limit the strength of achievable entanglement. We investigate the protocol's performance under realistic conditions, including mechanical decoherence, in full detail. We discuss the relevance of a high mechanical Qf product for entanglement creation and provide a quantitative statement on which magnitude of the Qf product is necessary for a successful realization of the scheme. We determine the optimal parameter regime for its operation and show it to work in current state-of-the-art systems.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Baroclinic instability in stellar radiation zones

Surfaces of constant pressure and constant density do not coincide in differentially rotating stars. Stellar radiation zones with baroclinic stratification can be unstable. Instabilities in radiation zones are of crucial importance for angular momentum transport, mixing of chemical species, and, possibly, for magnetic field generation. This paper performs linear analysis of baroclinic instability in differentially rotating stars. Linear stability equations are formulated for differential rotation of arbitrary shape and then solved numerically for rotation nonuniform in radius. As the differential rotation increases, r- and g-modes of initially stable global oscillations transform smoothly into growing modes of baroclinic instability. The instability can therefore be interpreted as stability loss to r- and g-modes excitation. Regions of stellar parameters where r- or g-modes are preferentially excited are defined. Baroclinic instability onsets at a very small differential rotation of below 1%. The characteristic time of instability growth is about 1000 rotation periods. Growing disturbances possess kinetic helicity. Magnetic field generation by the turbulence resulting from baroclinic instability in differentially rotating radiation zones is therefore possible.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Magnetoplasma oscillations of a two-dimensional electron system with spin-orbit interaction in a lateral superlattice

Low-frequency magnetoplasmon modes in a one-dimensional lateral superlattice with Rashba spin-orbit splitting are considered. Such modes correspond to oscillations related to virtual transitions within a Landau level that become possible due to the broadening of each Landau level into a band produced by the superlattice potential. The specificity of the one-dimensional intersubband plasmons emerging in such a system has been revealed.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Neutrino Oscillations in Supernovae

A (core-collapse) supernova is the final death call of a massive star during which a gigantic amount of a special kind of elementary particles known as neutrinos are released for a brief period of time. An earlier work by the PI and his collaborators has shown that the dense neutrino gas deep inside the supernova can experience "flavor transformation" or "oscillations" in a collective fashion, a macroscopic quantum phenomenon spanning over distances of 100-1000 kilometers. During this process neutrinos of different energies and propagation directions change their identities simultaneously. This phenomenon may be a key to understanding the mechanism of supernova explosion and the origin of many of the chemical elements found on the earth which were produced in the supernovae exploded in the past. The previous understanding of neutrino oscillations in supernovae was based on a stationary 3-dimensional model with 1 spatial dimension and 2 momentum dimensions. In this "neutrino bulb model" neutrinos are emitted from a spherically symmetric surface and they are decoupled from the motion of matter and the production of chemical elements. In order to accurately model the neutrino oscillations in supernovae and determine its physical consequences, sophisticated 7-dimensional (1 temporal dimension + 3 spatial dimensions + 3 momentum dimensions) modelling of neutrino transport must be performed self-consistently together with the hydrodynamic simulation of the flow of energy and matter inside the supernova and with the calculation of the production and destruction of chemical elements through a large nucleosynthesis network. Although it will be long journey to achieve the lofty goal, our project has made important progress in three different fronts towards this goal. In the first front we explored new computing hardware on which the next generation simulation codes may be run. We ported the neutrino bulb code to the platform of Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and then later developed a new bulb code that can be run on supercomputers equipped with the Intel Xeon CPUs and/or the Xeon Phi coprocessors. In the second front we developed new algorithms that can be used towards computing neutrino oscillations in multi-dimensional models. We have developed a moment expansion method which is approximately 10 times more efficient than the old algorithm. We have also developed numerical codes to solve neutrino oscillations in toy models with two spatial dimensions. In the last front we used analytic methods to study neutrino oscillations in more sophisticated models, e.g. of multiple spatial dimensions and/or with time dependence. By analyzing the neutrino oscillations in toy models with two spacial dimensions we found that the approximate spacial translation symmetry, which is similar to the spherical symmetry in the neutrino bulb model, can be broken spontaneously as neutrino oscillations begin. By analyzing a time-dependent neutrino bulb model we found that certain modes of neutrino oscillations that are suppressed in the stationary model can become active in the time-dependent model. We have also developed theories which give insights to how ordinary matter may affect neutrino oscillations in supernovae and other astrophysical environments.

Duan, Huaiyu↗

Dependence of the colored frequency noise in spin torque oscillators on current and magnetic field

The nano-scale spin torque oscillator (STO) is a compelling device for on-chip, highly tunable microwave frequency signal generation. Currently, one of the most important challenges for the STO is to increase its longer-time frequency stability by decreasing the 1/f frequency noise, but its high level makes even its measurement impossible using the phase noise mode of spectrum analyzers. Here, we present a custom made time-domain measurement system with 150 MHz measurement bandwidth making possible the investigation of the variation of the 1/f as well as the white frequency noise in a STO over a large set of operating points covering 18–25 GHz. The 1/f level is found to be highly dependent on the oscillation amplitude-frequency non-linearity and the vicinity of unexcited oscillation modes. These findings elucidate the need for a quantitative theoretical treatment of the low-frequency, colored frequency noise in STOs. Based on the results, we suggest that the 1/f frequency noise possibly can be decreased by improving the microstructural quality of the metallic thin films.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Suppression of the asymmetric modes for experimentally achieving gigawatt-level radiation from a Ku-band Cerenkov type oscillator

We present the analysis and suppression of asymmetric modes in a Ku-band Cerenkov-type oscillator numerically and experimentally. The asymmetric modes generated in the initial experiments were identified to be HE{sub 11}, HE{sub 21}, and HE{sub 31} modes, respectively, by analyzing of the dispersion relationships, the simulation results and the experiment phenomenon. The factors, such as the cathode emission uniformity, the diode voltage, guiding magnetic field, and the concentricity play key roles in the excitation and suppression of these asymmetric modes. In the improved experiments, the asymmetric modes were suppressed effectively. In the improved experiments the asymmetric modes are suppressed effectively, and the designed TM{sub 01} mode microwave is generated at a frequency of 13.76 GHz with a power of 1.1 GW, which is in good agreement with numerically predications.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Behavior of n = 1 magnetohydrodynamic modes of infernal type at high-mode pedestal with plasma rotation

Magnetohydrodynamic instabilities of high-mode (H-mode) pedestal are investigated in this paper with the inclusion of bootstrap current for equilibrium and rotation for stability. The jointed European torus-like equilibria of H-mode discharges are generated numerically using the VMEC code. It is found that, when the bootstrap current is taken into account, a safety-factor reversal or plateau can be generated near plasma edge. This confirms previous results of numerical equilibrium reconstructions using other types of codes. The n = 1 magnetohydrodynamic instabilities, where n is toroidal mode number, are investigated numerically in this type of equilibria using the AEGIS code. It is found that the infernal type harmonic can prevail at safety-factor reversal or plateau region. The toroidal plasma rotation effect with low Mach number is investigated. The numerical results show that the mode frequency is close to the rotation frequency at pedestal top, when the value of safety factor at plateau is slightly above a rational number. This mode frequency range seems to coincide with the experimentally observed frequencies of n = 1 edge harmonic oscillations (or outer modes) at the quiescent H-mode discharges.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Global climate mode resonance due to rapidly intensifying El Niño-Southern Oscillation

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) influences climate variability globally, encompassing various other modes of variability, and thus represents a key predictable climate signal on seasonal timescales. Yet, its response to greenhouse warming remains uncertain, with models projecting a range of outcomes. Here, we demonstrate that in response to warming, a state-of-the-art high-resolution climate model simulates a rapid transition from a moderate-amplitude irregular regime, as observed in the current climate, to a highly regular oscillation with intensifying amplitude. This behaviour can be attributed to increasing air-sea feedbacks, which approach criticality in the second half of this century, and growing atmospheric noise. As ENSO intensifies in this model, it synchronizes with other prominent climate modes, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Indian Ocean Dipole, thereby imprinting its regular, predictable variability on them. If realized, this global climate mode resonance would have wide-ranging whiplash impacts on regional hydroclimates.

Atmospheric dynamics↗

Quantum correlation dynamics in photosynthetic processes assisted by molecular vibrations

During the long course of evolution, nature has learnt how to exploit quantum effects. In fact, recent experiments reveal the existence of quantum processes whose coherence extends over unexpectedly long time and space ranges. In particular, photosynthetic processes in light-harvesting complexes display a typical oscillatory dynamics ascribed to quantum coherence. Here, we consider the simple model where a dimer made of two chromophores is strongly coupled with a quasi-resonant vibrational mode. We observe the occurrence of wide oscillations of genuine quantum correlations, between electronic excitations and the environment, represented by vibrational bosonic modes. Such a quantum dynamics has been unveiled through the calculation of the negativity of entanglement and the discord, indicators widely used in quantum information for quantifying the resources needed to realize quantum technologies. We also discuss the possibility of approximating additional weakly-coupled off-resonant vibrational modes, simulating the disturbances induced by the rest of the environment, by a single vibrational mode. Within this approximation, one can show that the off-resonant bath behaves like a classical source of noise.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Coherent band-edge oscillations and dynamic longitudinal-optical phonon mode splitting as evidence for polarons in perovskites

The coherence of collective modes, such as phonons and polarons, and their modulation of electronic states is long sought in complex systems, which is a crosscutting issue in photovoltaics and quantum electronics. In photovoltaic cells and lasers based on metal halide perovskites, the presence of polarons, i.e., photocarriers dressed by the macroscopic motion of charged lattice, assisted by terahertz (THz) longitudinal-optical (LO) phonons, has been intensely studied yet is still debated. This may be key for explaining the remarkable properties of the perovskite materials, e.g., defect tolerance, long charge lifetimes, and diffusion lengths. In this work we use the intense single-cycle THz pulse with peak electric field up to E THz = 1000 kV/cm to drive coherent polaronic band-edge oscillations at room temperature in CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 (MAPbI 3 ). We reveal the oscillatory behavior is dominated by a specific quantized lattice vibration mode at $ω$ LO ~ 4 THz, which is both dipole and momentum forbidden. THz-driven coherent polaron dynamics exhibits distinguishing features: room temperature coherent oscillations at ω LO longer than 1 ps in both single crystals and thin films, mode-selective modulation of different band-edge states assisted by electron-phonon interaction, and dynamic mode splitting at low temperature due to entropy and anharmonicity of organic cations. Our results demonstrate intense THz-driven coherent band-edge modulation is a powerful probe of electron-lattice coupling phenomena and polaronic quantum control in perovskites.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The Nature of Standing Plasma Waves Following Fast Breakdown in Thunderstorms

Narrow bipolar events (NBEs) are produced by large-scale systems of streamer corona discharges that occur inside thunderstorms and radiate intensely at very-high frequencies. Here we examine 14 high-power NBEs recorded in Florida which are followed by a lasting oscillatory signal. We isolate the dominant frequencies of the oscillations using empirical mode decomposition methods, and cross-reference this information with the radiator size inferred from broadband interferometry. We conclude that the oscillations are evidence of a standing electromagnetic wave in the plasma cavity created by the preceding streamer system, that is, the cavity's fundamental mode with wavelength equal to twice the radiator length. Contrasting the dispersive and attenuation properties of these waves across several different events allows us to conclude that the cavity is filled with ions resulting in an average conductivity of 0.01–0.1 mS/m, which are left behind after the streamers decay via electron attachment to oxygen molecules.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗