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At least 487 records · Page 27

Torque Transient of Magnetically Drive Flow for Viscosity Measurement

Viscosity is a good indicator of structural changes for complex liquids, such as semiconductor melts with chain or ring structures. This paper discusses the theoretical and experimental results of the transient torque technique for non-intrusive viscosity measurement. Such a technique is essential for the high temperature viscosity measurement of high pressure and toxic semiconductor melts. In this paper, our previous work on oscillating cup technique was expanded to the transient process of a magnetically driven melt flow in a damped oscillation system. Based on the analytical solution for the fluid flow and cup oscillation, a semi-empirical model was established to extract the fluid viscosity. The analytical and experimental results indicated that such a technique has the advantage of short measurement time and straight forward data analysis procedures

Ban, Heng↗

Assessing Spontaneous Combustion Instability with Nonlinear Time Series Analysis

Considerable interest lies in the ability to characterize the onset of spontaneous instabilities within liquid propellant rocket engine (LPRE) combustion devices. Linear techniques, such as fast Fourier transforms, various correlation parameters, and critical damping parameters, have been used at great length for over fifty years. Recently, nonlinear time series methods have been applied to deduce information pertaining to instability incipiency hidden in seemingly stochastic combustion noise. A technique commonly used in biological sciences known as the Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis has been extended to the combustion dynamics field, and is introduced here as a data analysis approach complementary to linear ones. Advancing, a modified technique is leveraged to extract artifacts of impending combustion instability that present themselves a priori growth to limit cycle amplitudes. Analysis is demonstrated on data from J-2X gas generator testing during which a distinct spontaneous instability was observed. Comparisons are made to previous work wherein the data were characterized using linear approaches. Verification of the technique is performed by examining idealized signals and comparing two separate, independently developed tools.

Eberhart, C. J.↗

Inclusive cross section measurements in final states with and without protons for charged-current ν μ -Ar scattering in MicroBooNE

A detailed understanding of inclusive muon neutrino charged-current interactions on argon is crucial to the study of neutrino oscillations in current and future experiments using liquid argon time projection chambers. To that end, we report a comprehensive set of differential cross section measurements for this channel that simultaneously probe the leptonic and hadronic systems by dividing the channel into final states with and without protons. Measurements of the proton kinematics and proton multiplicity of the final state are also presented. For these measurements, we utilize data collected with the MicroBooNE detector from 6.4 × 10 20 protons on target from the Fermilab booster neutrino beam at a mean neutrino energy of approximately 0.8 GeV. We present in detail the cross section extraction procedure, including the unfolding, and model validation that uses data to model comparisons and the conditional constraint formalism to detect mismodeling that may introduce biases to extracted cross sections that are larger than their uncertainties. The validation exposes insufficiencies in the overall model, motivating the inclusion of an additional data-driven reweighting systematic to ensure the accuracy of the unfolding. The extracted results are compared to a number of event generators and their performance is discussed with a focus on the regions of phase space that indicate the greatest need for modeling improvements. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Experimental Demonstration of the Molten Oxide Electrolysis Method for Oxygen and Iron Production from Simulated Lunar Materials

This paper presents the results of a Marshall Space Flight Center funded effort to conduct an experimental demonstration of the processing of simulated lunar resources by the molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) process to produce oxygen and metal from lunar resources to support human exploration of space. Oxygen extracted from lunar materials can be used for life support and propellant, and silicon and metallic elements produced can be used for in situ fabrication of thin-film solar cells for power production. The Moon is rich in mineral resources, but it is almost devoid of chemical reducing agents, therefore, molten oxide electrolysis, MOE, is chosen for extraction, since the electron is the most practical reducing agent. MOE was also chosen for following reasons. First, electrolytic processing offers uncommon versatility in its insensitivity to feedstock composition. Secondly, oxide melts boast the twin key attributes of highest solubilizing capacity for regolith and lowest volatility of any candidate electrolytes. The former is critical in ensuring high productivity since cell current is limited by reactant solubility, while the latter simplifies cell design by obviating the need for a gas-tight reactor to contain evaporation losses as would be the case with a gas or liquid phase fluoride reagent operating at such high temperatures. In the experiments reported here, melts containing iron oxide were electrolyzed in a low temperature supporting oxide electrolyte (developed by D. Sadoway, MIT).

Curreri, P. A.↗

Lunar Metal Oxide Electrolysis with Oxygen and Photovoltaic Array Production Applications

This paper presents the results of a Marshall Space Flight Center funded effort to conduct an experimental demonstration of the processing of simulated lunar resources by the molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) process to produce oxygen and metal from lunar resources to support human exploration of space. Oxygen extracted from lunar materials can be used for life support and propellant, and silicon and metallic elements produced can be used for in situ fabrication of thin-film solar cells for power production. The Moon is rich in mineral resources, but it is almost devoid of chemical reducing agents, therefore, molten oxide electrolysis, MOE, is chosen for extraction, since the electron is the most practical reducing agent. MOE was also chosen for following reasons. First, electrolytic processing offers uncommon versatility in its insensitivity to feedstock composition. Secondly, oxide melts boast the twin key attributes of highest solubilizing capacity for regolith and lowest volatility of any candidate electrolytes. The former is critical in ensuring high productivity since cell current is limited by reactant solubility, while the latter simplifies cell design by obviating the need for a gas-tight reactor to contain evaporation losses as would be the case with a gas or liquid phase fluoride reagent operating at such high temperatures. In the experiments reported here, melts containing iron oxide were electrolyzed in a low temperature supporting oxide electrolyte (developed by D. Sadoway, MIT). The production of oxygen and reduced iron were observed. Electrolysis was also performed on the supporting electrolyte with JSC-1 Lunar Simulant. The cell current for the supporting electrolyte alone is negligible while the current for the electrolyte with JSC-1 shows significant current and a peak at about -0.6 V indicating reductive reaction in the simulant.

Curreri, P. A.↗

Integrated Bosch Process System Models for In-Situ Oxygen and Carbon Production

In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) technology is a vital component to NASA’s mission of a sustainable presence on the Moon and Mars. Local resources can be leveraged to reduce resupply frequency and mass. Elements of the Bosch process, combined with the carbothermal reduction process, can produce oxygen on the lunar surface with minimal consumables. The Bosch process can also produce oxygen on the Martian surface by using the CO 2 -rich environment. Between both systems, adsorption pump, solar thermal energy, carbon formation reactor, and water recovery subsystems are modeled and integrated to create a functional model in MATLAB software. The model is used to simulate performance of the system and reduce mass, power, and volume requirements. This integrated system model provides a tool to scale ISRU technologies for oxygen and carbon production. The MATLAB model is created by developing a system of independent subsystem models that are solved for their quasi-steady state values which can be integrated with respect to time to determine the change in current states. A flexible time stepping method is used to ensure a high level of accuracy during periods of rapid change while still making use of a simple explicit integration method. The flexible time step is calculated for each independent subsystem and the minimum value from those is used as the overall time step. A flexible time step is calculated by dividing a resolution value, or the maximum change per time step, by the variables current rate of change. The maximum value from all points in space is used for subsystem models that contain multiple values. The process is done for every variable that is being monitored in each subsystem and the global minimum is used as that iteration’s timestep. Several assumptions used in the MATLAB model for fluid flow dynamics, such as 1-D gas flow through the sorption pump, are supported by modeling in Ansys Fluent software. The Lunar oxygen production system is outlined in Fig. 1. The carbothermal reduction subsystem uses solar energy to heat a mixture of lunar regolith and carbon powder to produce carbon monoxide. To begin, the carbon monoxide feeds to the modified Bosch subsystem along with hydrogen gas. The reactants then enter the carbon formation reactor where water and carbon powder are produced. Solar thermal energy is used to add energy to the reactor, but waste heat from the carbothermal process is another potential heat source. The water is collected and electrolyzed to produce hydrogen which reenters the Bosch subsystem, and the oxygen is stored for downstream use. The carbon powder is collected and feeds back into the carbothermal subsystem. The Martian oxygen production system uses the full Bosch process and is outlined in Fig 2. A CO 2 adsorption pump thermally cycles to scrub and pressurize CO 2 from the environment. Along with an initial supply of hydrogen, the reactants enter the Reverse Water Gas Shift Reactor (RWGSR) which produces carbon monoxide and water. Carbon monoxide and unreacted hydrogen enter the carbon formation reactor to produce water and carbon powder. The water is collected from both reactors and electrolyzed to reintroduce hydrogen and store oxygen for propellant production or life support. Carbon is removed from the carbon formation reactor and stored. The adsorption pump utilizes rapid cycle temperature swings within a stack of zeolite coated surfaces. The subsystem model solves 1-D quasi-steady conservation laws of the quasi-steady form, shown in Eq. 1, for the gas stream and heat exchange liquid to predict performance parameters such as breakthrough capacity and optimum cycle time. The source term S is used to capture interactions between the fluid flows and the sorbent. A quasi-steady-state scheme is used where no time derivatives appear in the governing equations, except for those in the source terms. This results in an autonomous system, where ∂F/∂x = ƒ(F). The fluxes F are provided at the inlet, and an explicit method is used to solve for the spatial distribution of F. The heat and mass flows to the sorbent are then extracted from the source terms. These flows are numerically integrated to produce a 1-D solution for the system’s state as a function of both time and space. The body of the adsorption pump is separated into two semi-independent models: the heat exchanger fluid flow and gas flow through the zeolite coated surfaces. Both models are solved using the above-described method to find a 1-D solution as a function of space and interact only once a timestep is taken. The interaction point is the sorbent through which all heat transfer between the two models must occur. Sorbent mass adsorption is calculated using the Lagergren model, shown in Eq. 2, where the transfer coefficient, λ D , is found by solving a system of nondimensionalized equations derived by using the heat and mass transfer analogy for transport phenomena. Using Grade 544 Type 13X zeolite as the sorbent material, the equilibrium concentration, θ eq , is calculated using the k-site Langmuir isotherm and fit parameters. Additionally, the enthalpy of adsorption used in the model is computed by interpolation of available data [1]. The subsystem model was validated using the Rapid Cycle Temperature Swing Adsorption (RC-TSA) pump. The solar thermal energy subsystem focuses on a solar concentrator concept with a heat exchanger to heat the reactants before entering the carbon formation reactor. The subsystem model assumes a fixed solar flux and reflector efficiency to calculate the reactant temperature given the incoming temperature, pressure, and exchanger geometry. The receiver is a custom manufactured series of copper blocks with serpentine channels to increase its surface area and the residence time of the reactants to heat up to 550 °C. The subsystem model was validated using a heat exchanger developed at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). The solar thermal energy subsystem focuses on a solar concentrator concept with a heat exchanger to heat the reactants before entering the carbon formation reactor. The subsystem model assumes a fixed solar flux and reflector efficiency to calculate the reactant temperature given the incoming temperature, pressure, and exchanger geometry. The receiver is a custom manufactured series of copper blocks with serpentine channels to increase its surface area and the residence time of the reactants to heat up to 550 °C. The subsystem model was validated using a heat exchanger developed at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC).

In situ Resource Utilization↗

The chemical composition of the cores of the terrestrial planets and the moon

Using models of the quasi-chemical theory of solutions, the activity coefficients of silicon are calculated in the melts Fe-Si, Ni-Si, and Fe-Ni-Si. The calculated free energies of solution of liquid nickel and silicon in liquid iron in the interval 0 to 1400 kbar and 1500 to 4000 K, shows that Fe-Ni-Si alloy is stable under the conditions of the outer core of the earth and the cores of the terrestrial planets. The oxidation-reduction conditions are studied, and the fugacity of oxygen in the mantles of the planets and at the core-mantle boundary are calculated. The mechanism of reduction of silicon is analyzed over a broad interval of p and T. The interaction between the matter of the core and mantle is studied, resulting in the extraction of silicon from the mantle and its solution in the material of the core. It is concluded that silicon can enter into the composition of the outer core of the earth and Venus, but probably does not enter into the composition of the cores of Mercury, Mars, and the moon, if in fact the latter possesses one.

Kuskov, O. L.↗

X-ray absorption spectroscopy of lanmodulin-derived peptides bound to rare earth elements

A sustainable and robust supply chain of rare earth elements (REEs) is necessary to meet our consumer, national security and clean energy goals. However, current intra-REE separation technologies (e.g. solvent extraction) are costly and carry a heavy environmental burden. Therefore, the development of new aqueous based ligands that are selective for individual REEs will be integral in future REE production systems. To develop these ligands, an understanding of how ligand coordination structure relates to selectivity is imperative. We used X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) to observe the local structure around four lanthanide (Ln) ions (La, Ce, Pr and Nd) complexed by water and several relevant chelating ligands [lanmodulin EF-hand 1 peptides (LanM1), ethyl­enedi­amine­tetra­acetic acid (EDTA), amino­tris­(methyl­ene­phospho­nic acid) (ATMP) and citric acid]. To collect these liquid-phase XAS spectra, we developed a new flow cell that prevents bubble interference and beam damage to the samples. In the X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES), we observed energy shifts in the white line, white line broadening and differences in the white line intensity of different Ln–ligand complexes between ligands. In the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), we distinguished differences in peak intensity and distance between coordinating ligands. Differences in the local coordination structure between Ln–LanM1 peptide complexes were more subtle compared with the other ligands (La–water, La–EDTA, La–ATMP and La–citric acid complexes). Further XANES and EXAFS studies, in combination with modelling and other techniques, could greatly improve our structural knowledge of how these aqueous ligands bind Ln ions and how they can be used to design more selective ligands for more efficient and sustainable REE separations.

EDTA↗

Comparison of different cooling regimes within a shortened liquid cooling/warming garment on physiological and psychological comfort during exercise

The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of different cooling regime intensities to maintain physiological and subjective comfort during physical exertion levels comparable to that engaged in during extravehicular activities (EVA) in space. We studied eight subjects (six males, two females) donned in our newly developed physiologically based shortened liquid cooling/warming garment (SLCWG). Rigorous (condition 1) and mild (condition 2) water temperature cooling regimes were compared at physical exertion levels comparable to that performed during EVA to ascertain the effectiveness of a lesser intensity of cooling in maintaining thermal comfort, thus reducing energy consumption in the portable life support system. Exercise intensity was varied across stages of the session. Finger temperature, rectal temperature, and subjective perception of overall body and hand comfort were assessed. Finger temperature was significantly higher in the rigorous cooling condition and showed a consistent increase across exercise stages, likely due to the restriction of heat extraction because of the intensive cold. In the mild cooling condition, finger temperature exhibited an overall decline with cooling, indicating greater heat extraction from the body. Rectal temperature was not significantly different between conditions, and showed a steady increase over exercise stages in both rigorous and mild cooling conditions. Ratings of overall comfort were 30% higher (more positive) and more stable in mild cooling (p<0.001). The mild cooling regime was more effective than rigorous cooling in allowing the process of heat exchange to occur, thus maintaining thermal homeostasis and subjective comfort during physical exertion.

NASA Discipline Life Sciences Technologies↗

Subsurface cosmogenic and radiogenic production of 42 Ar

Radioactive decays from 42 Ar and its progeny 42 K are potential background sources in large-scale liquid-argon-based neutrino and dark matter experiments. In the atmosphere, 42 Ar is produced primarily by cosmogenic activation on 40 Ar. The use of low radioactivity argon from cosmogenically shielded underground sources can expand the reach and sensitivity of liquid-argon-based rare event searches. We estimate 42 Ar production underground by nuclear reactions induced by natural radioactivity and cosmic-ray muon-induced interactions. At 3,000 mwe, 42 Ar production rate is 1.8×10 -3 atoms per ton of crust per year, 7 orders of magnitude smaller than the 39 Ar production rate at a similar depth in the crust. In conclusion, by comparing the calculated production rate of 42 Ar to that of 39 Ar for which the concentration has been measured in an underground gas sample, we estimate the activity of 42 Ar in gas extracted from 3,000 mwe depth to be less than two decays per ton of argon per year.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

Dehydrating and Sterilizing Wastes Using Supercritical CO2

A relatively low-temperature process for dehydrating and sterilizing biohazardous wastes in an enclosed life-support system exploits (1) the superior mass-transport properties of supercritical fluids in general and (2) the demonstrated sterilizing property of supercritical CO2 in particular. The wastes to be treated are placed in a chamber. Liquid CO2, drawn from storage at a pressure of 850 psi (approx.=5.9 MPa) and temperature of 0 C, is compressed to pressure of 2 kpsi (approx.=14 MPa) and made to flow into the chamber. The compression raises the temperature to 10 C. The chamber and its contents are then further heated to 40 C, putting the CO2 into a supercritical state, in which it kills microorganisms in the chamber. Carrying dissolved water, the CO2 leaves the chamber through a back-pressure regulator, through which it is expanded back to the storage pressure. The expanded CO2 is refrigerated to extract the dissolved water as ice, and is then returned to the storage tank at 0 C

Brown, Ian J.↗

Isolation of Purines and Pyrimidines from the Murchison Meteorite Using Sublimation

The origin of life on Earth, and possibly on other planets such as Mars, would have required the presence of liquid water and a continuous supply of prebiotic organic compounds. The exogenous delivery of organic matter by asteroids, comets, and carbonaceous meteorites could have contributed to the early Earth s prebiotic inventory by seeding the planet with biologically important organic compounds. A wide variety of prebiotic organic compounds have previously been detected in the Murchison CM type carbonaceous chondrite including amino acids, purines and pyrimidines. These compounds dominate terrestrial biochemistry and are integral components of proteins, DNA and RNA. Several purines including adenine, guanine, hypoxanthine, and xanthine, as well as the pyrimidine uracil, have previously been detected in water or formic acid extracts of Murchison using ion-exclusion chromatography and ultraviolet spectroscopy. However, even after purification of these extracts, the accurate identification and quantification of nucleobases is difficult due to interfering UV absorbing compounds. In order to reduce these effects, we have developed an extraction technique using sublimation to isolate purines and pyrimidines from other non-volatile organic compounds in Murchison acid extracts.

Glavin, D. P.↗

Radio Sounding Techniques for the Galilean Icy Moons and their Jovian Magnetospheric Environment

Radio sounding of the Earth's topside ionosphere and magnetosphere is a proven technique from geospace missions such as the International Satellites for Ionospheric Studies (ISIS) and the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE). Application of this technique to Jupiter's icy moons and the surrounding Jovian magnetosphere will provide unique remote sensing observations of the plasma and magnetic field environments and the subsurface conductivities, of Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Spatial structures of ionospheric plasma above the surfaces of the moons vary in response to magnetic-field perturbations from (1) magnetospheric plasma flows, (2) ionospheric currents from ionization of sputtered surface material, and (3) induced electric currents in salty subsurface oceans and from the plasma flows and ionospheric currents themselves. Radio sounding from 3 kHz to 10 MHz can provide the global electron densities necessary for the extraction of the oceanic current signals and supplements in-situ plasma and magnetic field measurements. While radio sounding requires high transmitter power for subsurface sounding, little power is needed to probe the electron density and magnetic field intensity near the spacecraft. For subsurface sounding, reflections occur at changes in the dielectric index, e.g., at the interfaces between two different phases of water or between water and soil. Variations in sub-surface conductivity of the icy moons can be investigated by radio sounding in the frequency range from 10 MHz to 50 MHz, allowing the determination of the presence of density and solid-liquid phase boundaries associated with oceans and related structures in overlying ice crusts. The detection of subsurface oceans underneath the icy crusts of the Jovian moons is one of the primary objectives of the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) mission. Preliminary modeling results show that return signals are clearly distinguishable be&een an ice crust with a thickness of 7 km on 1) an ocean and 2) a layer of bedrock. Knowledge of the ionospheric contributions to the time delay of the low-frequency subsurface radar is shown to be important in obtaining accurate depth information.

Green, James L.↗

The Second SeaWiFS HPLC Analysis Round-Robin Experiment (SeaHARRE-2)

Eight international laboratories specializing in the determination of marine pigment concentrations using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were intercompared using in situ samples and a variety of laboratory standards. The field samples were collected primarily from eutrophic waters, although mesotrophic waters were also sampled to create a dynamic range in chlorophyll concentration spanning approximately two orders of magnitude (0.3 25.8 mg m-3). The intercomparisons were used to establish the following: a) the uncertainties in quantitating individual pigments and higher-order variables (sums, ratios, and indices); b) an evaluation of spectrophotometric versus HPLC uncertainties in the determination of total chlorophyll a; and c) the reduction in uncertainties as a result of applying quality assurance (QA) procedures associated with extraction, separation, injection, degradation, detection, calibration, and reporting (particularly limits of detection and quantitation). In addition, the remote sensing requirements for the in situ determination of total chlorophyll a were investigated to determine whether or not the average uncertainty for this measurement is being satisfied. The culmination of the activity was a validation of the round-robin methodology plus the development of the requirements for validating an individual HPLC method. The validation process includes the measurements required to initially demonstrate a pigment is validated, and the measurements that must be made during sample analysis to confirm a method remains validated. The so-called performance-based metrics developed here describe a set of thresholds for a variety of easily-measured parameters with a corresponding set of performance categories. The aggregate set of performance parameters and categories establish a) the overall performance capability of the method, and b) whether or not the capability is consistent with the required accuracy objectives.

Source record↗

Multi-Differential Charged Current $\nu_{\mu}$ - Argon Cross Section without Pions in the Final State Measurement in MicroBooNE

MicroBooNE, an 85-tonne liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) detector is on-axis to the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) beamline facility at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. MicroBooNE is elucidating neutrino interactions with argon through cross-section measurements to refine interaction models and reduce uncertainties. In this poster, we present the status of the single and double multi-differential charged current (CC) cross section with zero pions in the final state (CC-0$\pi$) as a function of muon momentum ($0.1<p_\mu<2.0\,\mathrm{GeV/c}$) and the cosine of the muon angle ($-1<\cos\theta_\mu<1$). We present the details of the event selection and cross section extraction along with a set of tests using fake data to establish the robustness of the analysis methodology. We also discuss prospects for a future combined measurement with the Gd-H$_2$O target at the ANNIE experiment, to explore MicroBooNE’s proton multiplicity alongside ANNIE’s neutron multiplicity.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Inclusive Charged-Current Electron Neutrino Interactions in SBND

The Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND), a 112 ton liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC), is the near detector of the Short- Baseline Neutrino Program at Fermilab. Due to its proximity to the Booster Neutrino Beam target, SBND has already seen a record-breaking number of electron neutrino interactions on argon. We present preliminary results from SBND’s differential inclusive electron neutrino charged-current analysis from our first year of beam data, selecting over 2,000 interactions. This analysis will present the largest sample of electron neutrinos on argon to date, as well as the first differential cross section measurement of electron neutrinos. This poster will give an overview of the selection, cross-section extraction, and demonstrate SBND’s detector and electromagnetic shower reconstruction performance through data/MC comparisons.

Tung, Lynn [Chicago U.]↗

Organic Analysis in the Miller Range 090657 CR2 Chondrite: Part 2 Amino Acid Analyses

Primitive carbonaceous chondrites contain a wide variety of organic material, ranging from soluble discrete molecules to insoluble, unstructured kerogen-like components, as well as structured nano-globules of macromolecular carbon. The relationship between the soluble organic molecules, macromolecular organic material, and host minerals are poorly understood. Due to the differences in extractability of soluble and insoluble organic materials, the analysis methods for each differ and are often performed independently. The combination of soluble and insoluble analyses, when performed concurrently, can provide a wider understanding of spatial distribution, and elemental, structural and isotopic composition of organic material in primitive meteorites. Using macroscale extraction and analysis techniques in combination with in situ microscale observation, we have been studying both insoluble and soluble organic material in the primitive CR2 chondrite Miller Range (MIL) 090657. In accompanying abstracts (Cao et al. and Messenger et al.) we discuss insoluble organic material in the samples. By performing the consortium studies, we aim to improve our understanding of the relationship between the meteorite minerals and the soluble and insoluble organic phases and to delineate which species formed within the meteorite and those that formed in nebular or presolar environments. In this abstract, we present the results of amino acid analyses of MIL 090657 by ultra performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection and quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry. Amino acids are of interest because they are essential to life on Earth, and because they are present in sufficient structural, enantiomeric and isotopic diversity to allow insights into early solar system chemical processes. Furthermore, these are among the most isotopically anomalous species, yet at least some fraction are thought to have formed by aqueously-mediated processes during parent body alteration.

Burton, A. S.↗

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of epitaxial films and heterostructures

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is a powerful experimental technique that yields invaluable information on a range of phenomena that occur in solids, liquids, and gasses. The binding energy and shape of a photoemission peak is sensitive not only to the atomic number, valence and orbital from which the electron is ejected, but also to complex many-body effects that accompany photoemission. Provided the influences of these different drivers of spectral line shapes can be disentangled, a great deal can be learned about the electronic structures of specific atoms in the material of interest. In addition to these largely local effects, the long-range electrostatic environment and resulting electric potential at the emitting atom have a direct effect on the measured binding energies. Furthermore, this fact opens the door to extracting information about the dependence of the valence and conduction band minima on depth below the surface, which in turn allows both vertical and lateral electrical transport data to be better understood. One purpose of this Report is to describe how the different physical forces described above impact spectral properties of complex oxide epitaxial films. This class of materials typically incorporates transition metal cations in different valences and of all the elements, these exhibit the most complex core-level spectra. A second purpose is to show how a comprehensive understanding of local physical effects in x-ray photoemission allows one to extract detailed information on internal electric fields and band edge discontinuities in heterostructures involving complex oxides from core-level line shapes.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗