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WE-B-BRC-02: Risk Analysis and Incident Learning

Prospective quality management techniques, long used by engineering and industry, have become a growing aspect of efforts to improve quality management and safety in healthcare. These techniques are of particular interest to medical physics as scope and complexity of clinical practice continue to grow, thus making the prescriptive methods we have used harder to apply and potentially less effective for our interconnected and highly complex healthcare enterprise, especially in imaging and radiation oncology. An essential part of most prospective methods is the need to assess the various risks associated with problems, failures, errors, and design flaws in our systems. We therefore begin with an overview of risk assessment methodologies used in healthcare and industry and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. The rationale for use of process mapping, failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) and fault tree analysis (FTA) by TG-100 will be described, as well as suggestions for the way forward. This is followed by discussion of radiation oncology specific risk assessment strategies and issues, including the TG-100 effort to evaluate IMRT and other ways to think about risk in the context of radiotherapy. Incident learning systems, local as well as the ASTRO/AAPM ROILS system, can also be useful in the risk assessment process. Finally, risk in the context of medical imaging will be discussed. Radiation (and other) safety considerations, as well as lack of quality and certainty all contribute to the potential risks associated with suboptimal imaging. The goal of this session is to summarize a wide variety of risk analysis methods and issues to give the medical physicist access to tools which can better define risks (and their importance) which we work to mitigate with both prescriptive and prospective risk-based quality management methods. Learning Objectives: Description of risk assessment methodologies used in healthcare and industry Discussion of radiation oncology-specific risk assessment strategies and issues Evaluation of risk in the context of medical imaging and image quality E. Samei: Research grants from Siemens and GE.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: Cosmological Constraints from Cluster Abundances, Weak Lensing, and Galaxy Clustering

Galaxy clusters provide a unique probe of the late-time cosmic structure and serve as a powerful independent test of the $\Lambda$CDM model. This work presents the first set of cosmological constraints derived with ~16,000 optically selected redMaPPer clusters across nearly 5,000 $\rm{deg}^2$ using DES Year 3 data sets. Our analysis leverages a consistent modeling framework for galaxy cluster cosmology and DES-Y3 joint analyses of galaxy clustering and weak lensing (3x2pt), ensuring direct comparability with the DES-Y3 3x2pt analysis. We obtain constraints of $S_8 = 0.864 \pm 0.035$ and $\Omega_{\rm{m}} = 0.265^{+0.019}_{-0.031}$ from the cluster-based data vector. We find that cluster constraints and 3x2pt constraints are consistent under the $\Lambda$CDM model with a Posterior Predictive Distribution (PPD) value of $0.53$. The consistency between clusters and 3x2pt provides a stringent test of $\Lambda$CDM across different mass and spatial scales. Jointly analyzing clusters with 3x2pt further improves cosmological constraints, yielding $S_8 = 0.811^{+0.022}_{-0.020}$ and $\Omega_{\rm{m}} = 0.294^{+0.022}_{-0.033}$, a $24\%$ improvement in the $\Omega_{\rm{m}}-S_8$ figure-of-merit over 3x2pt alone. Moreover, we find no significant deviation from the Planck CMB constraints with a probability to exceed (PTE) value of $0.6$, significantly reducing previous $S_8$ tension claims. Finally, combining DES 3x2pt, DES clusters, and Planck CMB places an upper limit on the sum of neutrino masses of $\sum m_\nu < 0.26$ eV at 95% confidence under the $\Lambda$CDM model. These results establish optically selected clusters as a key cosmological probe and pave the way for cluster-based analyses in upcoming Stage-IV surveys such as LSST, Euclid, and Roman.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Modified Closures in Monte Carlo Algorithms for Diffusive Binary Stochastic Media Transport Problems

In a stochastic medium, the material properties at a given spatial location are known only statistically. The most common approach to solving particle transport problems involving binary stochastic media (BSM) is to use the atomic mix approximation in which the transport problem is solved using homogenized (volume-averaged) material properties. A common deterministic model developed for solving BSM particle transport problems is the Levermore-Pomraning (LP) model. Zimmerman and Adams proposed a Monte Carlo algorithm (Algorithm A) that solves the LP equations and another Monte Carlo algorithm (Algorithm B) that locally preserves the sampled material realization; we refer to these Monte Carlo algorithms as the LP and LPLRP (LP local realization preserving) algorithms, respectively. One-dimensional (1D) planar geometry benchmark studies have shown that the LPLRP algorithm is often significantly more accurate than the LP algorithm for problems with an incident angular flux as well as for problems with an interior source. The LPLRP algorithm implementation in these benchmark comparisons made explicit use of the one-dimensional nature of the problem. The LP model is derived by assuming an 'upwind' closure in the coupling term relating the two materials in a binary stochastic medium. Su and Pomraning developed a modified form of this closure by considering the small correlation length limit and requiring the modified closure to produce the correct exponential decay for a source-free half-line albedo problem in rod geometry. They concluded that the modified closure is generally not inferior to the LP closure and in some cases is significantly better. Brantley investigated the use of the Su-Pomraning (SP) closure in the Monte Carlo LP algorithm (LP-SP) for the suite of benchmark problems and concluded that 1) the LP-SP algorithm was somewhat more accurate overall than the LP algorithm and somewhat less accurate overall than the LPLRP algorithm for an incident angular flux benchmark suite, and 2) the LP-SP algorithm was generally the least accurate of the algorithms for an interior source benchmark suite. Larsen et al. performed an asymptotic analysis of the transport equation in 1D planar geometry for the situation in which the physical system is 1) a random binary stochastic medium with material macroscopic total cross sections and mean slab width values of O(1) or smaller and 2) optically thick with weak absorption and sources at each spatial point and therefore globally diffusive. The asymptotic analysis demonstrates that, under these assumptions, the transport equation limits to the conventional diffusion equation with atomically-mixed (volume-averaged) material properties. Larsen et al. also demonstrate that, under these same assumptions, the LP equations asymptotically limit to an atomically-mixed diffusion equation with a diffusion coefficient that is too large, leading to an unphysical flattening of the ensemble-averaged scalar flux distribution. Vasques and Yadav recently performed an asymptotic analysis of an adjusted Levermore-Pomraning closure in which the Markovian transition functions are rescaled such that the equations asymptotically limit to the correct atomically-mixed diffusion equation; we refer to this model as LP-VY. In this paper, we demonstrate that the adjusted LP closure proposed by Vasques and Yadav is a special case of the SP closure obtained by assuming that the absorption cross sections in the two materials are equal. We further demonstrate that the Su-Pomraning closure has the correct asymptotic limit for the diffusive physical system and is therefore an appropriate closure for these problems. We also describe how to incorporate these various closures into the Monte Carlo LP and LPLRP particle transport algorithms, and we present numerical results comparing the accuracy of the Monte Carlo LP, LP-VY, LP-SP, LPLRP, and LPLRP-SP algorithms for the set of diffusive benchmark problems. We demonstrated that the SP closure has the correct asymptotic limit for the diffusive physical system under investigation in this paper and that the VY closure is a special case of the SP closure obtained by assuming equal absorption in the two materials. Both of these closures are readily implemented in the Monte Carlo LP and LPLRP algorithms for particle transport in BSM. Through numerical comparisons to a diffusive benchmark suite, we confirmed that 1) the LP and LPLRP algorithms do not limit to the appropriate diffusion solution and 2) the LP-VY, LP-SP, and LPLRP-SP algorithms limit to the appropriate diffusion solution and are of comparable accuracy. The LPLRP algorithm has been shown to be generally more accurate than the LP algorithm for non-diffusive problems. However, the numerical results in this paper indicate that the LPLRP algorithm does not limit to the correct diffusion equation for the asymptotic limit under consideration. The work in this paper demonstrates that the SP algorithm does limit to the correct diffusion equation for the asymptotic limit considered. Future work will investigate the possibility of whether the LPLRP-SP algorithm is accurate for both diffusive and non-diffusive problems.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Cosmology from cross-correlation of ACT-DR4 CMB lensing and DES-Y3 cosmic shear

Cross-correlation between weak lensing of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and weak lensing of galaxies offers a way to place robust constraints on cosmological and astrophysical parameters with reduced sensitivity to certain systematic effects affecting individual surveys. We measure the angular cross-power spectrum between the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) DR4 CMB lensing and the galaxy weak lensing measured by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Y3 data. Our baseline analysis uses the CMB convergence map derived from ACT-DR4 and Planck data, where most of the contamination due to the thermal Sunyaev Zel’dovich effect is removed, thus avoiding important systematics in the cross-correlation. In our modelling, we consider the nuisance parameters of the photometric uncertainty, multiplicative shear bias and intrinsic alignment of galaxies. The resulting cross-power spectrum has a signal-to-noise ratio = 7.1 and passes a set of null tests. We use it to infer the amplitude of the fluctuations in the matter distribution (S_8 ≡ σ_8(Ω_m/0.3)^0.5 = 0.782 ± 0.059) with informative but well-motivated priors on the nuisance parameters. We also investigate the validity of these priors by significantly relaxing them and checking the consistency of the resulting posteriors, finding them consistent, albeit only with relatively weak constraints. This cross-correlation measurement will improve significantly with the new ACT-DR6 lensing map and form a key component of the joint 6×2pt analysis between DES and ACT.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Search for the weak decay ψ (3686) → $Λ^{+}_{c}$ $\overline{Σ}$ - + c.c. *

Using (448.1 ± 2.9) x 10 6 ψ (3686) events collected with the BESIII detector, we perform the first search for the weak baryonic decay ψ (3686) → $Λ^{+}_{c}$ $\overline{Σ}$ - + c.c. . The analysis procedure is optimized using a blinded method. No significant signal is observed, and the upper limit on the branching fraction ($\mathcal{B}$) of ψ (3686) → $Λ^{+}_{c}$ $\overline{Σ}$ - + c.c. is set as 1.4 x 10 -5 at the 90% confidence level.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Multispecies density peaking in gyrokinetic turbulence simulations of low collisionality Alcator C-Mod plasmas

Peaked density profiles in low-collisionality AUG and JET H-mode plasmas are probably caused by a turbulently driven particle pinch, and Alcator C-Mod experiments confirmed that collisionality is a critical parameter. Density peaking in reactors could produce a number of important effects, some beneficial, such as enhanced fusion power and transport of fuel ions from the edge to the core, while others are undesirable, such as lower beta limits, reduced radiation from the plasma edge, and consequently higher divertor heat loads. Fundamental understanding of the pinch will enable planning to optimize these impacts. We show that density peaking is predicted by nonlinear gyrokinetic turbulence simulations based on measured profile data from low collisionality H-mode plasma in Alcator C-Mod. Multiple ion species are included to determine whether hydrogenic density peaking has an isotope dependence or is influenced by typical levels of low-Z impurities, and whether impurity density peaking depends on the species. We find that the deuterium density profile is slightly more peaked than that of hydrogen, and that experimentally relevant levels of boron have no appreciable effect on hydrogenic density peaking. The ratio of density at r/a = 0.44 to that at r/a = 0.74 is 1.2 for the majority D and minority H ions (and for electrons), and increases with impurity Z: 1.1 for helium, 1.15 for boron, 1.3 for neon, 1.4 for argon, and 1.5 for molybdenum. The ion temperature profile is varied to match better the predicted heat flux with the experimental transport analysis, but the resulting factor of two change in heat transport has only a weak effect on the predicted density peaking.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Dark energy survey year 3 results: Cosmological constraints from cluster abundances, weak lensing, and galaxy clustering

Galaxy clusters provide a unique probe of the late-time cosmic structure and serve as a powerful independent test of the Λ⁢CDM model. This work presents the first set of cosmological constraints derived with ∼16,000 optically selected redMaPPer clusters across nearly 5000 deg 2 using DES year 3 datasets. Our analysis leverages a consistent modeling framework for galaxy cluster cosmology and DES-Y3 joint analyses of galaxy clustering and weak lensing (3 × 2⁢pt), ensuring direct comparability with the DES-Y3 3 × 2⁢pt analysis. Here, we obtain constraints of 𝑆 8 = 0.864 ± 0.035 and Ω m = $0.26⁢5^{+0.019}_{−0.031}$ from the cluster-based data vector. We find that cluster constraints and 3 × 2⁢pt constraints are consistent under the Λ⁢CDM model with a posterior predictive distribution (PPD) value of 0.53. The consistency between clusters and 3 × 2⁢pt provides a stringent test of Λ⁢CDM across different mass and spatial scales. Jointly analyzing clusters with 3 × 2⁢pt further improves cosmological constraints, yielding 𝑆 8 = $0.81⁢1^{+0.022}_{−0.020}$ and Ω m = $0.29⁢4^{+0.022}_{−0.033}$, a 24% improvement in the Ω m − 𝑆 8 figure of merit over 3 × 2⁢pt alone. Moreover, we find no significant deviation from the Planck CMB constraints with a probability to exceed (PTE) value of 0.6, significantly reducing previous 𝑆 8 tension claims. Finally, combining DES 3 × 2⁢pt, DES clusters, and Planck CMB places an upper limit on the sum of neutrino masses of ∑𝑚 𝜈 < 0.26 eV at 95% confidence under the Λ⁢CDM model. These results establish optically selected clusters as a key cosmological probe and pave the way for cluster-based analyses in upcoming stage-IV surveys such as LSST, Euclid, and Roman.

Abbott, T. M. C. [NSF’s National Optical-Infrared ↗

First result from Q weak

Initial results are presented from the recently-completed Q{sub weak} experiment at Jefferson Lab. The goal is a precise measurement of the proton's weak charge Q{sub w}{sup p}, to yield a test of the standard model and to search for evidence of new physics. The weak charge is extracted from the parity-violating asymmetry in elastic {rvec e}p scattering at low momentum transfer, Q{sup 2} = 0.025GeV{sup 2}. A 180 {micro} A longitudinally-polarized 1.16 GeV electron beam was scattered from a 35 cm long liquid hydrogen at small angles, 6 {degrees} < {theta} < 12 {degrees} Scattered electrons were analyzed in a toroidal magnetic field and detected using an array of eight Cerenkov detectors arranged symmetrically about the beam axis. The initial result, from 4% of the complete data set, is Q{sub W}{sup p} = 0.064 ± 0.012, in excellent agreement with the standard model expectation. Full analysis of the data is expected to yield a value for the weak charge to about 5% precision.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Applications Of Machine Learning to Gas Plume Analysis In Longwave Infrared Hyperspectral Images

Longwave infrared hyperspectral images can be used for gas plume analysis, as many gases exhibit distinct absorption features in this portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. In practice, accurately identifying weak gas signatures is difficult because the observed radiance is dominated by background radiance, which varies with material, temperature, and viewing conditions. Many gas plume analysis pipelines operate on single images, limiting the ability to leverage spatial and multi-view information that could enhance the analysis. The goal of this dissertation is to explore how machine learning and deep learning methods can complement classical approaches to improve gas plume identification in longwave infrared hyperspectral imagery, and to investigate the use of neural radiance fields for hyperspectral scene reconstruction.

3D Scene Reconstruction↗

Decomposition of Nonlinear Dynamical Networks via Comparison Systems

In analysis and control of large-scale nonlinear dynamical systems, a distributed approach is often an attractive option due to its computational tractability and usually low communication requirements. Success of the distributed control design relies on the separability of the network into weakly interacting subsystems such that minimal information exchange between subsystems is sufficient to achieve satisfactory control performance. While distributed analysis and control design for dynamical network have been well studied, decomposition of nonlinear networks into weakly interacting subsystems has not received as much attention. In this article we propose a vector Lyapunov functions based approach to quantify the energy-flow in a dynamical network via a model of a comparison system. Introducing a notion of power and energy flow in a dynamical network, we use sum-of-squares programming tools to partition polynomial networks into weakly interacting subsystems. Examples are provided to illustrate the proposed method of decomposition.

Maruf, Abdullah Al↗

Isotopic analysis of plutonium measured with very thick absorbers and high-granularity spectra

FRAM is LANL-designed software designed to extract plutonium and uranium isotopic information from gamma ray spectra. This is an important capability for NEST and STAB; however, FRAM performance has been poor when applied to field data collected in these programs. FRAM Version 5 (commercially available) was fine-tuned and validated for laboratory quality measurements but not for measurements of the high-mass and heavily shielded SNM items encountered in NEST. FRAM is untested for spectra collected with high-granularity lower resolution instruments such as the new 8-MeV Detective-X favored by STAB or the new custom electrocooled systems coming into use for NEST. FRAM Version 6.1 (unreleased) has improvements in physics capabilities, and parameter sets may be adapted that are more specific to NEST and STAB, which is what we have attempted for this assignment. Thick shielding attenuates gamma rays profoundly, especially those at low energy, making them too weak to be measured. The missing low-energy peaks force the analysis to employ only the highest-energy peaks. We adapted FRAM 6.1 for analysis of plutonium spectra obtained with very thick Pb filters (a surrogate for NEST-type configurations). New parameter sets employing only very high energy peaks were created for the analysis. High granularity and low resolution make deconvolution of the 600-keV region particularly challenging, and we have worked to optimally extract information from this region. The results shown in this paper give high confidence that we are on the right track. We used a combination of real and synthetically-modified data. Remaining work includes testing the new software and parameters against genuine data collected with Detective-X and new NEST systems, but such datasets at the moment are unavailable. It also remains to develop and test parameter sets specific to uranium and the new detectors.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

Constraining the masses of high-redshift clusters with weak lensing: Revised shape calibration testing for the impact of stronger shears and increased blending

Weak lensing measurements suffer from well-known shear estimation biases, which can be partially corrected for with the use of image simulations. Here we present an analysis of simulated images that mimic Hubble Space Telescope/Advance Camera for Surveys observations of high-redshift galaxy clusters, including cluster specific issues such as non-weak shear and increased blending. Our synthetic galaxies have been generated to have similar observed properties as the background-selected source samples studied in the real images. First, we used simulations with galaxies placed on a grid to determine a revised signal-to-noise-dependent (S/N KSB ) correction for multiplicative shear measurement bias, and to quantify the sensitivity of our KSB+ bias calibration to mismatches of galaxy or PSF properties between the real data and the simulations. Next, we studied the impact of increased blending and light contamination from cluster and foreground galaxies, finding it to be negligible for high-redshift (z > 0.7) clusters, whereas shear measurements can be affected at the ~1% level for lower redshift clusters given their brighter member galaxies. Finally, we studied the impact of fainter neighbours and selection bias using a set of simulated images that mimic the positions and magnitudes of galaxies in Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) data, thereby including realistic clustering. While the initial SExtractor object detection causes a multiplicative shear selection bias of –0.028 ± 0.002, this is reduced to –0.016 ± 0.002 by further cuts applied in our pipeline. Given the limited depth of the CANDELS data, we compared our CANDELS-based estimate for the impact of faint neighbours on the multiplicative shear measurement bias to a grid-based analysis, to which we added clustered galaxies to even fainter magnitudes based on Hubble Ultra Deep Field data, yielding a refined estimate of ~ –0.013. Our sensitivity analysis suggests that our pipeline is calibrated to an accuracy of ~0.015 once all corrections are applied, which is fully sufficient for current and near-future weak lensing studies of high-redshift clusters. As an application, we used it for a refined analysis of three highly relaxed clusters from the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zeldovich survey, where we now included measurements down to the cluster core (r > 200 kpc) as enabled by our work. Compared to previously employed scales (r > 500 kpc), this tightens the cluster mass constraints by a factor 1.38 on average.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Dark Energy Survey year 1 results: Joint analysis of galaxy clustering, galaxy lensing, and CMB lensing two-point functions

We perform a joint analysis of the auto and cross-correlations between three cosmic fields: the galaxy density field, the galaxy weak lensing shear field, and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) weak lensing convergence field. These three fields are measured using roughly 1300 sq. deg. of overlapping optical imaging data from first year observations of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and millimeter-wave observations of the CMB from both the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel’dovich survey and Planck. We present cosmological constraints from the joint analysis of the two-point correlation functions between galaxy density and galaxy shear with CMB lensing. We test for consistency between these measurements and the DES-only two-point function measurements, finding no evidence for inconsistency in the context of flat Λ CDM cosmological models. Performing a joint analysis of five of the possible correlation functions between these fields (excluding only the CMB lensing autospectrum) yields S 8 ≡ σ 8 $\sqrt{Ω_{m}}/0.3$ = 0.782$^{+0.019}_{-0.025}$ and Ω m = 0.260$^{+0.029}_{-0.019}$. We test for consistency between these five correlation function measurements and the Planck -only measurement of the CMB lensing autospectrum, again finding no evidence for inconsistency in the context of flat Λ CDM models. Combining constraints from all six two-point functions yields S 8 = 0.776$^{+0.014}_{-0.021}$ and Ω m = 0.271$^{+0.022}_{-0.016}$. These results provide a powerful test and confirmation of the results from the first year DES joint-probes analysis.

Abbott, T. M. C.↗

QCD as a topologically ordered system

We argue that QCD belongs to a topologically ordered phase similar to many well-known condensed matter systems with a gap such as topological insulators or superconductors. Our arguments are based on an analysis of the so-called “deformed QCD” which is a weakly coupled gauge theory, but nevertheless preserves all the crucial elements of strongly interacting QCD, including confinement, nontrivial θ dependence, degeneracy of the topological sectors, etc. Specifically, we construct the so-called topological “BF” action which reproduces the well known infrared features of the theory such as non-dispersive contribution to the topological susceptibility which cannot be associated with any propagating degrees of freedom. Furthermore, we interpret the well known resolution of the celebrated U(1){sub A} problem where the would be η{sup ′} Goldstone boson generates its mass as a result of mixing of the Goldstone field with a topological auxiliary field characterizing the system. We then identify the non-propagating auxiliary topological field of the BF formulation in deformed QCD with the Veneziano ghost (which plays the crucial role in resolution of the U(1){sub A} problem). Finally, we elaborate on relation between “string-net” condensation in topologically ordered condensed matter systems and long range coherent configurations, the “skeletons”, studied in QCD lattice simulations. -- Highlights: •QCD may belong to a topologically ordered phase similar to condensed matter (CM) systems. •We identify the non-propagating topological field in deformed QCD with the Veneziano ghost. •Relation between “string-net” condensates in CM systems and the “skeletons” in QCD lattice simulations is studied.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Deep Learning Segmentation of Complex Features in Atomic-Resolution Phase-Contrast Transmission Electron Microscopy Images

Phase-contrast transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a powerful tool for imaging the local atomic structure of materials. TEM has been used heavily in studies of defect structures of two-dimensional materials such as monolayer graphene due to its high dose efficiency. However, phase-contrast imaging can produce complex nonlinear contrast, even for weakly scattering samples. It is, therefore, difficult to develop fully automated analysis routines for phase-contrast TEM studies using conventional image processing tools. For automated analysis of large sample regions of graphene, one of the key problems is segmentation between the structure of interest and unwanted structures such as surface contaminant layers. In this study, we compare the performance of a conventional Bragg filtering method with a deep learning routine based on the U-Net architecture. We show that the deep learning method is more general, simpler to apply in practice, and produces more accurate and robust results than the conventional algorithm. We provide easily adaptable source code for all results in this paper and discuss potential applications for deep learning in fully automated TEM image analysis.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Intrinsic Properties of Individual Inorganic Silicon–Electrolyte Interphase Constituents

Because of the complexity, high reactivity, and continuous evolution of the silicon-electrolyte interphase (SiEI), 'individual' constituents of the SiEI were investigated to understand their physical, electrochemical, and mechanical properties. For the analysis of these intrinsic properties, known SiEI components (i.e., SiO 2 , Li 2 Si 2 O 5 , Li 2 SiO 3 , Li 3 SiO x , Li 2 O, and LiF) were selected and prepared as amorphous thin films. The chemical composition, purity, morphology, roughness, and thickness of prepared samples were characterized using a variety of analytical techniques. On the basis of subsequent analysis we found, LiF shows the lowest ionic conductivity and relatively weak, brittle mechanical properties, while lithium silicates demonstrate higher ionic conductivities and greater mechanical hardness. This research establishes a framework for identifying components critical for stabilization of the SiEI, thus enabling rational design of new electrolyte additives and functional binders for the development of next-generation advanced Li-ion batteries utilizing Si anodes.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗