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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 505 records · Page 28

Magnetosphere-Regolith/Exosphere Coupling: Differences and Similarities to the Earth Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling

Of the three Mercury passes made by Mariner 10, the first and third went through the Mercury magnetosphere. The third encounter which occurred during northward IMF (interplanetary magnetic field) showed quiet time magnetic fields. In contrast the third encounter observed clear substorm signatures including dipolarization, field-aligned currents (FACs) and injection of energetic electrons at geosynchronous orbit. However, the determined cross-tail potential drop and the assumed height integrated conductance indicate that the FAC should be 2-50 times weaker than observed. We address this inconsistency and the fundamental problem of FAC closure whether this takes place in the regolith or in the exosphere. The current state of knowledge of the magnetosphere-exosphere/regolith coupling is addressed and similarities and differences to the Earth magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling are discussed.

Gjerleov, J. W.↗

Space Weather Workshop

This workshop will focus on what space weather is about and its impact on society. An overall picture will be "painted" describing the Sun's influence through the solar wind on the near-Earth space environment, including the aurora, killer electrons at geosynchronous orbit, million ampere electric currents through the ionosphere and along magnetic field lines, and the generation of giga-Watts of natural radio waves. Reference material in the form of Internet sites will be provided so that teachers can discuss space weather in the classroom and enable students to learn more about this topic.

Gallagher, D. L.↗

Charge singlets and orbital-selective charge density wave transitions

The possibility of “orbitally selective Mott transitions” within a multiband Hubbard model, in which one orbital with large on-site electron-electron repulsion U 1 is insulating and another orbital, to which it is hybridized, with small U –1 , is metallic, is a problem of long-standing debate and investigation. In this paper we study an analogous phenomenon, the coexistence of metallic and insulating bands in a system of orbitals with different electron-phonon coupling. To this end, we examine two variants of the bilayer Holstein model: a uniform bilayer and a “Holstein-metal interface” where the electron-phonon coupling, λ, is zero in the “metallic” layer. In the uniform bilayer Holstein model, charge density wave (CDW) order dominates at small interlayer hybridization t 3 , but decreases and eventually vanishes as t 3 grows, providing a charge analog of singlet (spin liquid) physics. In the interface case, we show that CDW order penetrates into the metal layer and forms long-range CDW order at an intermediate ratio of inter- to intralayer hopping strengths, 1.4 ≲ t 3 /t ≲ 3.4. Furthermore, this is consistent with the occurrence of an “orbitally selective CDW” regime at weak t3 in which the layer with λ 1 ≠ 0 exhibits long-range charge order, but the “metallic layer” with λ –1 = 0, to which it is hybridized, does not.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Microscopic subsurface characterization of layered magnetic materials using magnetic resonance force microscopy

This project resulted in the following accomplishments: 1) The invention of scanned probe ferromagnetic resonance microscopy. Upon implementation and refinement this approach was used to measure static and dynamic magnetic resonance properties of ferromagnets with an unprecedented combination of spectral and spatial resolution. 2) Demonstration and study of spin pumping in a pristine ferromagnet across a boundary defined entirely by a magnetic field gradient, and so free of materials discontinuities. 3) First demonstrated highly efficient dynamic spin injection from Y 3 Fe 5 O 12 (YIG) into NiO, an antiferromagnetic (AF) insulator and robust spin propagation in AF NiO over distances up to 100-nm thickness; both spin injection and spin transport are mediated by the AF spin correlations. 4) Demonstration of exceptionally high efficiency conversion of spin current to charge current achieved in spin pumping from the dynamic magnetization of a ferromagnetic insulator into a variety of adjacent metal films. 5) Seminal study of the nature of spin-orbit coupling in d-electron metals that revealed the dominant sensitivity of the d-orbital moment to the d-electron count and revealing the important roles of both d-electron configuration and atomic number in the physics of the spin Hall effect. 6) Demonstration of observation of FMR by means of optically-detected NV diamond relaxometry that provided a highly sensitive, spatially resolved FMR detection method and revealed spin pumping across 100-nm length scales by means of dipolar coupling. 7) Using magnetic field localization, developed for FMR imaging, demonstrated a novel approach to discretizing spin wave modes to improve the characteristics of auto-oscillators driven by pure spin currents produced by the spin Hall effect. 8) We demonstrated large spin pumping signals from propagating high wavevector spinwaves in thin film YIG find that the spin pumping efficiency was insensitive to wavevector thus emphasizing the promise of thin YIG films for spinwave-based spintronics by allowing for predictable down-scaling of device dimensions and enabling a broad range of operational frequencies.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Connectivity between Static Field and Continuous Wave Field Effects on Excitation-Induced H 2 Activation

Due to the tremendous applications of the plasmon resonance excitation process, such as improvements in catalytic efficiency due to plasmonic enhancement and/or hot-electron processes, understanding the mechanism behind these processes has become a popular topic in recent years. In this work, we focus on unraveling the mechanism of excitation-induced H 2 activation using a simplified triangular Au 6 /Ag 6 cluster to investigate the effects of the electric field on electron redistribution and bond activation. We applied both static and continuous wave fields to investigate how these fields affect the systems. Geometrical changes (such as bond lengthening), molecular orbital reordering (affecting the relative energies of orbitals corresponding to hot-electron and charge-transfer excited states), and electronic charge redistribution between the cluster and the adsorbate occur upon application of a static electric field. To study H 2 activation, we apply Ehrenfest dynamics with real-time time-dependent density functional theory and examine how different excitation frequencies and polarizations affect bond activation. Moreover, electron-only dynamics are examined with real-time time-dependent density functional theory, and the time-dependent variations in the orbital populations and electronic transitions provide information about the excitation and relaxation processes of hot electrons with applied electric fields. Here, the static field results represent structures that can be accessed during the evolution of the systems when applying continuous wave fields. Through these studies, the effects of static and continuous wave field effects on plasmon-induced H 2 activation can be understood.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Nightside energetic particle decreases at the synchronous orbit

More than 100 cases of major decreases of proton and electron fluxes at the synchronous orbit have been observed and interpreted as a movement of the energetic particle trapping boundary earthward of 6.6 earth radii before the substorm expansion phase. These events are observed only between 1700 and 0800 LT and are consistent with the existence of a westward magnetospheric electric field of a few tenths of a millivolt per meter before substorm expansion. Most substorm particle events seen on the nightside do not exhibit this behavior, presumably because the trapping boundary moves inside 6.6 earth radii only during major events. Such events show evidence of particle acceleration, which probably was concentrated at higher L values, near the instantaneous location of the trapping boundary.

Bogott, F. H.↗

Core-Level Spectroscopy of 2-Thiouracil at the Sulfur L1- and L2,3-Edges Utilizing a SASE Free-Electron Laser

In this paper, we report X-ray absorption and core-level electron spectra of the nucleobase derivative 2-thiouracil at the sulfur L1- and L2,3-edges. We used soft X-rays from the free-electron laser FLASH2 for the excitation of isolated molecules and dispersed the outgoing electrons with a magnetic bottle spectrometer. We identified photoelectrons from the 2p core orbital, accompanied by an electron correlation satellite, as well as resonant and non-resonant Coster–Kronig and Auger–Meitner emission at the L1- and L2,3-edges, respectively. We used the electron yield to construct X-ray absorption spectra at the two edges. The experimental data obtained are put in the context of the literature currently available on sulfur core-level and 2-thiouracil spectroscopy.

NEXAFS↗

Real-time GW -BSE investigations on spin-valley exciton dynamics in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenide

We develop an ab initio nonadiabatic molecular dynamics (NAMD) method based on GW plus real-time Bethe-Salpeter equation (GW + rtBSE-NAMD) for the spin-resolved exciton dynamics. From investigations on MoS 2 , we provide a comprehensive picture of spin-valley exciton dynamics where the electron-phonon (e-ph) scattering, spin-orbit interaction (SOI), and electron-hole (e-h) interactions come into play collectively. In particular, we provide a direct evidence that e-h exchange interaction plays a dominant role in the fast valley depolarization within a few picoseconds, which is in excellent agreement with experiments. Moreover, there are bright-to-dark exciton transitions induced by e-ph scattering and SOI. Our study proves that e-h many-body effects are essential to understand the spin-valley exciton dynamics in transition metal dichalcogenides and the newly developed GW + rtBSE-NAMD method provides a powerful tool for exciton dynamics in extended systems with time, space, momentum, energy, and spin resolution.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

VLF wave emissions by pulsed and dc electron beams in space. I - Spacelab 2 observations

The properties of radio waves generated by electron beams in space were investigated using data from the wideband wave receiver on the Spacelab 2. The VLF observations were found to confirm the results of the STS 3/OSS-1 mission. It was found that a 1-keV electron beam injected from the orbiter produced copious broadband electromagnetic emissions. When the electron beam was square-wave modulated, narrow-band emissions at the pulsing frequency and harmonics of that frequency were produced along with the broadband emissions. The observations indicated that dc 50-mA electron beams and pulsed 50-percent duty-cycle 100-mA beams produce broadband radiation which is comparable in intensity and spectral shape at all points for which the wave field was sampled.

Reeves, G. D.↗

Design and "As Flown" Radiation Environments for Materials in Low Earth Orbit

A conservative design approach was adopted by the International Space Station Program for specifying total ionizing radiation dose requirements for use in selecting and qualifying materials for construction of the International Space Station. The total ionizing dose design environment included in SSP 30512 Space Station Ionizing Radiation Design Environment is based on trapped proton and electron fluence derived from the solar maximum versions of the AE-8 and AP-8 models, respectively, specified for a circular orbit at 500 km altitude and 51.7 degree inclination. Since launch, the range of altitudes utilized for Space Station operations vary from a minimum of approximately 330 km to a maximum of approximately 405 km with a mean operational altitude less than 400 km. The design environment, therefore, overestimates the radiation environment because the particle flux in the South Atlantic Anomaly is the primary contributor to radiation dose in low Earth orbit and flux within the Anomaly is altitude dependent. In addition, a 2X multiplier is often applied to the design environment to cover effects from the contributions of galactic cosmic rays, solar energetic particle events, geomagnetic storms, and uncertainties in the trapped radiation models which are not explicitly included in the design environment. Application of this environment may give radiation dose overestimates on the order of 1OX to 30X for materials exposed to the space environment, suggesting that materials originally qualified for ten year exposures on orbit may be used for longer periods without replacement. In this paper we evaluate the "as flown" radiation environments derived from historical records of the ISS flight trajectory since launch and compare the results with the SSP 30512 design environment to document the magnitude of the radiation dose overestimate provided by the design environment. "As flown" environments are obtained from application of the AE-8/AP-8 trapped particle models along the ISS flight trajectory including variations in altitude due to decay of the vehicle orbit and periodic reboosts to higher altitudes. In addition, an estimate of the AE-8 model to predict low Earth orbit electron flux (because the radiation dose for thin materials is dominated by the electron component of the radiation environment) is presented based on comparisons of the AE-8 model to measurements of electron integral flux at approximately 850 km from the Medium Energy Proton and Electron Detector on board the NOAA Polar Operational Environmental Satellite.

Minow, Joseph↗

Relativistic Effects From Coupled-Cluster Theory

We discuss the theory and computational challenges of the relativistic coupled-cluster methods. Example calculations of heavy-atom-containing molecules are then presented to demonstrate the importance of scalar-relativistic, spin-orbit coupling, and electron-correlation effects on molecular properties as well as the applicability and usefulness of relativistic coupled-cluster methods in calculations aiming at high-accuracy results. Here, a unique applicability of the spinor-based relativistic coupled-cluster methods is also highlighted using the calculations of open shell actinide-containing small molecules. As a result, a summary is given together with an outlook into future developments.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Combined space environment on spacecraft engineering materials

Spacecraft structures and surface materials exposed to the space environment for extended periods, up to thirty years, have increased potential for damage from long term exposure to the combined space environment including solar ultraviolet radiation, electrons, and protons and orbiting space debris. The space environment in which the Space Station Freedom and other space platforms will orbit is truly a hostile environment. For example, the currently estimated integral fluence for electrons above 1 Mev at 2000 nautical miles is above 2 x 10(exp 10) electrons/cm(sup 2)/day and the proton integral fluence is above 1 x 10(exp 9) protons/cm(sup 2)/day. At the 200 - 400 nautical miles, which is more representative of the altitude which will provide the environment for the Space Station, each of these fluences will be proportionately less; however, the data indicates that the radiation environment will obviously have an effect on structural materials exposed to the environment for long durations. The effects of ultraviolet radiation, particularly in the vacuum ultraviolet (less than 200 nm wavelength) is more difficult to characterize at this time. Very little data is available in the literature which can be used for determining the life cycle of a material placed in space for extended durations of time. In order to obtain critical data for planning and designing of spacecraft systems, use of a small vacuum system at the Environmental Effects Facility at MSFC, which can be used for these purposes was used. A special effort was made to build up this capability during the course of this research effort and perform a variety of experiments on materials proposed for the Space Station. A description of the apparatus and the procedure devised to process potential spacecraft materials is included.

Workman, Gary L.↗

Spin-orbit–driven ferromagnetism at half moiré filling in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene

Strong electron correlation and spin-orbit coupling (SOC) can have a profound influence on the electronic properties of materials. We examined their combined influence on a two-dimensional electronic system at the atomic interface between magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene and a tungsten diselenide crystal. We found that strong electron correlation within the moiré flatband stabilizes correlated insulating states at both quarter and half filling, and that SOC transforms these Mott-like insulators into ferromagnets, as evidenced by a robust anomalous Hall effect with hysteretic switching behavior. The coupling between spin and valley degrees of freedom could be demonstrated through control of the magnetic order with an in-plane magnetic field or a perpendicular electric field. Our findings establish an experimental knob to engineer topological properties of moiré bands in twisted bilayer graphene and related systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Electronic Properties of UN and UN – from Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Correlated Molecular Orbital Theory

In this work, the results of calculations of the properties of the anion UN – including electron detachment are described, which further expand our knowledge of this diatomic molecule. High-level electronic structure calculations were conducted for the UN and UN – diatomic molecules and compared to photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. The low-lying Ω states were obtained using multireference CASPT2 including spin-orbit effects up to ~20,000 cm –1 . At the Feller–Peterson–Dixon (FPD) level, the adiabatic electron affinity (AEA) of UN is estimated to be 1.402 eV and the vertical detachment energy (VDE) is 1.423 eV. The assignment of the UN excited states shows good agreement with the experimental results with a VDE of 1.424 eV. An Ω = 4 ground state was obtained for UN – which is mainly associated with the 3 H ΛS state. Thermochemical calculations estimate a bond dissociation energy (BDE) for UN – (U – + N) of 665.9 kJ/mol, ~15% larger than that of UN and UN + . The NBO analysis reveals U–N triple bonds for the UN, UN – , and UN + species.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Chemical Interpretation of Charged Point Defects in Semiconductors: A Case Study of Mg 2 Si

The electronic structures of charged point defects influence electrical and optical properties of semiconductors. Understanding the orbital interactions responsible for the electronic structures of defects therefore promotes a chemical intuition for defect-driven mechanisms in semiconductors. In this tutorial, we discuss a molecular orbital theory-based framework for understanding defect-induced electronic states based on local chemical interactions between the defect and the atoms surrounding the defect site. By using Mg 2 Si as a case study, we show how both the chemical interactions and molecular orbitals (i. e., wave functions) responsible for the charge state(s) of a defect can be understood from the bonding symmetry of the defect site. We anticipate that a chemistry-based perspective of charged defects will enrich defect engineering efforts for electronic and optical materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

High-performance n-Type Polymers Based on Multiple Electron-withdrawing Groups Decorated ( E )-1,2-Di(thiophen-2-yl)ethene Building Blocks

The performance of n-type conjugated polymers lags far behind that of p-type polymers, which significantly restricts the development of organic electronics. The (E)-1,2-di(thiophen-2-yl)ethene (TVT) unit, owing to its unique advantages, has been widely applied in the design of p-type polymer semiconductors. Previous studies have demonstrated that introducing electron-withdrawing groups can lower the frontier orbital energy levels of polymers and enhance electron injection/transporting capabilities. Based on this, we proposed incorporating multiple electronwithdrawing groups, such as amide groups, fluorine atoms, and cyano groups, into the polymer backbones of TVT-based polymer to facilitate the electron transport. Here, we successfully designed and synthesized the polymers TVTDA-4FTVT and TVTDA-2F2CNTVT. Both polymers exhibited low frontier orbital energy levels. Due to its significantly higher crystallization tendency and favorable intermolecular packing structure, the organic field-effect transistor (OFET) device based on TVTDA-4FTVT demonstrated an electron mobility one order of magnitude higher than that of TVTDA-2F2CNTVT. TVTDA-4FTVT showed the highest electron mobility of 0.87 cm 2 ·V −1 ·s −1 , while TVTDA-2F2CNTVT exhibited the highest electron mobility of 0.049 cm 2 ·V −1 ·s −1 . Owing to its deeper lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) level, the OFET devices based on TVTDA-2F2CNTVT showed good air stability after being placed in a natural environment for 15 d.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A disk about PSR 1957+20?

Although the PSR 1957+20 binary system displays a large orbital period derivative, radio observations of the ablated wind from the companion reveal a low free electron density. If the orbital period derivative provides a true indication of the mass loss rate, then the ablated material must be overwhelmingly neutral or largely confined to a narrow region about the orbital plane. However, the companion's high orbital velocity, the observed turbulence in the eclipsing wind, and the energy density of the pulsar's spin-down radiation conspire to make a neutral evaporate unlikely. Radio, optical and infrared observations are shown to suggest that the companion to PSR 1957+20 is bloated, perhaps approaching the size of its Roche lobe. The wind off the companion is most probably a low velocity flow which does not travel far from the orbital plane.

Fruchter, A. S.↗