Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “vibrator array”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Active–Source Seismic Tomography at the Brady Geothermal Field, Nevada, with Dense Nodal and Fiber–Optic Seismic Arrays

We deployed a dense seismic array to image the shallow structure in the injection area of the Brady Hot Springs geothermal power plant in western Nevada. The array was composed of 238 three-component, 5 Hz nodal instruments, 8700 m of distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) fiber-optic cable (FOC) installed horizontally in surface trenches, and 400 m of FOC installed vertically in a borehole. The geophone array had about 60 m instrument spacing in the target zone, whereas DAS channel separations were about 1 m with an averaging (gauge) length of 10 m. The acquisition systems provided 15 days of continuous records, including active-source and ambient noise signals. A large vibroseis truck was operated at 196 locations, exciting a swept-frequency signal from 5 to 80 Hz over 20 s using three vibration modes (vertical, longitudinal, and transverse), with three sweeps per mode at each site. Sweeps were repeated up to four times at each site during four different stages of power plant operation: normal operation, shutdown, high and oscillatory injection and production, and normal operation. After removal of the sweep signal from the raw data, the first P-wave arrivals were automatically picked using a combination of methods. Here, the travel times were then used to invert for the 3D P-wave velocity structure. Models with 100 m horizontal and 20–50 m vertical node spacing were obtained, covering an area 2000 m by 1300 m, with acceptable resolution extending to about 250 m below surface. The travel-time data were fit to a root mean square (rms) misfit of 31 ms, close to our estimated picking uncertainty. Lateral boundaries between high and low velocity zones agree relatively well with the location of local faults from previous studies, and low near-surface velocities are associated with faults and fumarole locations. A sharp increase in velocity from < 1500 to > 2000 m/s at approximately 50 m below the ground surface in many parts of the study area may indicate a shallower water table than expected for the region.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

FY 2025 End of Year Report: Seismic Monitoring of Underground Vibration Sources using Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) and Seismometers

This end-of-year report summarizes progress on using seismic monitoring to detect, associate, and locate anomalous vibration signals that may indicate potential containment breaches. The work focused on four key tasks: 1. Developing a database of continuous waveforms and ground-truth event data from multiple sensing modalities. 2. Refining and implementing detection and association algorithms to generate a catalog of anomalous underground activities. 3. Testing and improving distributed acoustic sensing amplitude-based geolocation methods to build an event location catalog. 4. Testing and refining seismic array polarization-based geolocation methods to build an event location catalog. This report provides a brief recap of results from the FY25 midyear report (Tasks 1 and 2) and presents new findings from geolocation methods (Tasks 3 and 4).

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

High Temperature Superconductivity - Unifying Themes in Diverse Materials

Understanding high temperature superconductivity is a grand challenge of current-day condensed matter physics. Superconductivity describes a coherent macroscopic quantum state of electron pairs. Conventional superconductivity arises in simple metals, where the electrons form pairs from an effective attractive interaction produced by their coupling with the ionic vibrations. In high-temperature and related unconventional superconductors, the electron pairing is believed to be primarily driven by the interactions among the electron correlations themselves. How the repulsive electron-electron interactions can lead to superconductivity is a key open question that is pertinent to a variety of electronic materials. Time is ripe to address this basic question and search for the organizing principles of the interacting electrons in a diverse array of materials with high temperature or otherwise unconventional superconductivity. Recent developments in the study of the iron-based superconductors have renewed hope of reaching even higher superconducting transition temperature, and led to considerable progresses in their understanding. Meanwhile, the study of the copper-based superconductors has undergone a drastic resurgence. The conference will aim to take an especially holistic view about diverse superconducting materials and, in so doing, search for and synthesize the unifying themes of their microscopic physics. The conference will compare and contrast the superconductivity of the iron- and copper-based systems with that of heavy fermion and organic superconductors, as well as superconductivity above 200K that has been reported under extreme pressure in the past three years. In addition, the conference will highlight the recent progresses on quantum criticality and spin liquid physics, which may underlie the unconventional superconductivity in the variety of material s. Funding for the conference would primarily be used to support early career researchers, including those from under-represented groups.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2026

FY 2026 Midyear Report: Seismic Monitoring of Underground Vibration Sources Using Distributed Acoustic Sensing and Seismometers

Safeguards-relevant temporal changes in underground facilities can be observed using geophysical monitoring techniques. Seismic waves, in particular, provide valuable insights into subsurface activities and can serve as an important tool for detecting anomalous events that may indicate containment breaches at geological repositories. This midyear report summarizes ongoing efforts to automatically and rapidly detect and locate anomalous vibration signals that could be indicative of potential containment breaches. Previous work during FY25 focused on compiling continuous seismic datasets from two underground sites and developing a database of continuous waveforms and ground-truth event data derived from multiple sensing modalities. Building on this foundation, we are adapting anomaly detection and geolocation algorithms to explore methods for monitoring underground activities using two relatively low-maintenance sensing technologies: a dense surface geophone array deployed at the Pleasant Gap mine in Pennsylvania, and a three-dimensional fiber-optic cable array for distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) installed in the subsurface at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in South Dakota. This report summarizes work conducted during the first two quarters of FY26, during which we refined a dynamic power spectral density (PSD)-based detector, applied it independently to each geophone station, and then combined the per‑station detections with density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) to cluster events and produce spatial maps over a nine‑day interval. In addition, we outline plans for a field trial at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico to compare traditional seismic monitoring approaches with DAS techniques and to evaluate the benefits of combined data analysis. Activities during the past two quarters have included the preparation and submission of a Field Test Plan to WIPP for approval, as well as submission to headquarters for review and feedback.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Insight into the Selectivity of Isopropanol Conversion at Strontium Titanate (100) Surfaces: A Combination Kinetic and Spectroscopic Study

This work aims to better understand the role of interfacial molecular structure that governs selectivity and activity in heterogeneous catalytic reactions. To address this, a comprehensive study of isopropanol conversion over an archetypal perovskite material, strontium titanate (SrTiO 3 or STO), was performed with an array of techniques sensitive to orthogonal aspects of the ensuing chemistry. Cubic-shape STO nanoparticles with only the (100) facet exposed were synthesized and used to study the ensemble kinetic conversion of isopropanol over the surfaces, which showed a remarkable selectivity to form acetone, with minor propylene products appearing at elevated temperatures. These results in combination with inelastic neutron scattering measurements provide not only new insight into the selectivity and overall activity of the catalysts but also low frequency vibrational signatures of the adsorbed and reacted species. To compliment these measurements, pristine thin films of STO (100) were synthesized and used in combination with vibrational sum frequency generation spectroscopy to extract the absolute molecular orientation of the adsorbed molecules at the interface. It was found that the isopropanol assumes an orientation where the -CH group points towards the STO surface; this pre-reaction geometry offers an obvious pathway to produce acetone by abstracting the alpha-proton and, thus, provides a mechanistic explanation of selectivity at STO (100) surfaces. This new insight opens up pathways to explore and modify surfaces to tune the activity/selectivity though a molecular level understanding of the reactions at the surface.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Hybrid Metasurface-Based Mid-Infrared Biosensor for Simultaneous Quantification and Identification of Monolayer Protein

Metasurfaces emerge as a promising photonic platform for biosensing because they offer strong optical confinement and tunable optical resonances. Here, we show that metasurface-based biosensors consisting of gold nanoantenna arrays loaded with graphene and working in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral range can achieve simultaneous high-sensitivity and high-specificity detection of biomolecules. Strong light–molecule interactions in deeply subwavelength optical spots created by the biosensors allow us to determine the concentration of protein molecules via spectral shifts of the metasurface resonance. A combination of passive and active tuning of the metasurface sensors allows us to spectrally overlap the metasurface resonance and the protein vibrational modes, so that protein molecules can be identified via their characteristic mid-IR “fingerprints”. As a result, the high sensitivity and specificity of the metasurface sensors enable us to determine the secondary structure of protein immunoglobulin (IgG) molecules 4 orders of magnitude more sensitive than attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Seismic monitoring of a small CO 2 injection using a multi-well DAS array: Operations and initial results of Stage 3 of the CO 2 CRC Otway project

Active time-lapse seismic is widely employed for monitoring CO 2 geosequestration due to its ability to track the distribution of fluids in space and time. However, standard 4D seismic monitoring suffers from several challenges, including high cost, disruption to other land uses, and, consequently, relatively large intervals between monitor surveys. Some of these challenges can be mitigated using permanently installed sources and receivers. Such an approach was tested at the CO 2 CRC Otway site by continuous offset VSP monitoring of 15,000 t of supercritical CO 2 injected into an aquifer 1,500 m deep with nine permanent seismic sources (surface orbital vibrators or SOVs) and five downhole fibre-optic receivers. This continuous monitoring is complemented by multi-well 4D VSP using a mobile vibroseis source and the same DAS receivers, which included one baseline and two monitor surveys after injection of 4,000 and 12,000 t of CO 2 . The continuous DAS-SOV monitoring detected an abrupt increase of travel times below the injection interval on the second day of injection (after injection of 300 t of CO 2 ) and tracked the growth of the areal CO 2 plume by mapping changes of reflection amplitudes. The plume is also detected by time-lapse changes of reflection amplitudes in multi-well 4D VSPs. The plume images obtained from continuous offset VSP and 4D VSP are broadly consistent with each other but with some differences due to differences in illumination, lateral variations of velocities and seismic anisotropy. Furthermore, these differences also serve as a measure of uncertainty of 4D VSP images.

4D VSP↗
DOE OSTI2023

Optical design and synthetic analysis of the electron cyclotron emission imaging diagnostic of HL-2M tokamak

The electron cyclotron emission imaging (ECEI) diagnostic is a powerful tool to study the MHD and turbulent transport in magnetically confined fusion plasmas. In this work, the optical system including the local oscillator (LO) coupling and radio frequency (RF) receiving optics, has been designed and analyzed for the HL-2M ECEI diagnostic. The LO optics can illuminate the antenna array and drive the mixer diode to work efficiently, with more than 36% of the beam intensity for the channels which probe the plasma edge relative to those of channels which probe the plasma core. The RF optics aims at guiding the plasma emission signal to the antenna array. To meet different physical requirements, three types of field of view have been achieved for the plasma imaging, with zoom factors of around 1, 1.5 and 2, respectively. The focal surfaces are almost flat, with a maximum off-mapping (defined as the radial distance between the beam waists of the lower-/uppermost antennas and electron cyclotron emission layer) less than 2.5 cm, which can match the electron cyclotron emission layer quite well and suppress the image distortion in the plasma edge region. Furthermore, the impact of possible vibrations and installation error on the focal plane has been evaluated. In addition, the predefined MHD and turbulence perturbations are well reproduced by combining the optical simulation results and synthetic ECEI modeling, which further verifies the good performance of the RF optics.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Structure of 0 + excitations in the mass A ≈ 100 region: 0 2 + bands in Sr 98 and Zr 100

0 + 2 bands in 98 Sr and 100 Zr, populated in spontaneous fission of 248 Cm and 252 Cf, have been studied using the Eurogam2 and Gammasphere arrays. Phenomenological classification of excited 0 + levels in even-even nuclei of the A ≈ 100 region into four categories is presented and an interpretation for each category is proposed. Highly deformed 0 + 1 ground states and low-energy 0 + 2 levels in both nuclei are probably due to the 2p-2h excitation of two neutrons from the 9/2 + [404] extruder to the low-Ω prolate and the 11/2 – [505] oblate orbitals originating from the h 11/2 shell, respectively. As a result, candidates for 0 + , β vibrational states in A ≈ 100 region are suggested at N > 60.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Detection and Association of Operational Events using DAS and Seismometers (FY 2025 Mid-Year Report)

This mid-year report summarizes ongoing work to identify anomalous vibration signals indicative of potential containment breaches. This work includes compiling continuous seismic datasets and testing and refining underground detection and geolocation techniques. In the first two quarters of FY25, we have completed two project work plan tasks: (1) creating a database of continuous waveforms and ground truth event data from multiple modalities and (2) refining and implementing a detection and association algorithm to create a catalog of anomalous underground activities. This report contains a summary of the seismic database including the continuous seismic data collected by a dense array of surface seismic stations above Pleasant Gap Mine, and continuous seismic data collected using subsurface distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) in the subsurface at Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) and the ground truth information gathered from both sites. This report also includes results from refining and applying a dynamic power spectral density detector to both continuous seismic datasets. Finally, the report provides an initial catalog of subsurface operational events from both sensing modalities.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Enhanced light–matter interaction of aligned armchair graphene nanoribbons using arrays of plasmonic nanoantennas

We couple photoluminescent semiconducting 7-atom wide armchair edge graphene nanoribbons to plasmonic nanoantenna arrays and demonstrate an enhancement of the photoluminescence and Raman scattering intensity of the nanoribbons by more than an order of magnitude averaged over large areas, and by three orders of magnitude in the hot spots of plasmonic antennas. The increase in signal allows us to study Raman spectra with high signal-to-noise ratio. Using plasmonic enhancement we are able to detect the off-resonant Raman scattering from the modified radial breathing-like mode (RBLM) due to physisorbed molecules, the 3rd order RBLM, and C-H vibrations. We find excellent agreement between experimental data and simulations describing the spectral dependence of the enhancement and modifications of the polarization anisotropy. The strong field gradients in the optical near-field further allow us to probe the subwavelength coherence properties of the phonon modes in the nanoribbons. We theoretically model this considering a finite phonon correlation length along the GNR direction. Our results allow estimating the correlation length in graphene nanoribbons.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Model for describing plasmonic nanolasers using Maxwell-Liouville equations with finite-difference time-domain calculations

In this work, we present a theoretical study of lasing action when plasmonic metallic structures that show lattice plasmon resonances are embedded in a gain medium. Our model combines classical electrodynamics for arrays of gold nanoparticles with a four-level quantum Liouville model of the laser dye photophysics. A numerical solution was implemented using finite-difference time-domain calculations coupled with a finite-difference solution to the Liouville equation. A particular focus of this work is the influence of dephasing in the quantum dynamics on the emission intensity at the threshold for lasing. We find that dephasing in the quantum system leads to reduced lasing emission, but with little effect on the long-term population inversion. Both electronic and vibrational dephasing is considered, but only electronic dephasing is significant, with the fully dephased result appearing for dephasing times comparable to plasmon dephasing (~10 fs) while fully coherent results involve >100 ps dephasing times as determined by the rate of stimulated emission. There are factor-of-2 differences between the Maxwell-Liouville results (greater emission intensities and narrower widths) compared to the corresponding results of rate-equation models of the dye states, which indicates the importance of using the Maxwell-Liouville approach in modeling these systems. We also examine rate-equation models with and without constraints arising from the Pauli exclusion principle, and we find relatively small effects.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Fabrication, thermal analysis, and heavy ion irradiation resistance of epoxy matrix nanocomposites loaded with silane-functionalized ceria nanoparticles

This paper describes a detailed understanding of how nanofillers function as radiation barriers within the polymer matrix, and how their effectiveness is impacted by factors such as composition, size, loading, surface chemistry, and dispersion. Here, we designed a comprehensive investigation of heavy ion irradiation resistance in epoxy matrix composites loaded with surface-modified ceria nanofillers, utilizing tandem computational and experimental methods to elucidate radiolytic damage processes and relate them to chemical and structural changes observed through thermal analysis, vibrational spectroscopy, and electron microscopy. A detailed mechanistic examination supported by FTIR spectroscopy data identified the bisphenol A moiety as a primary target for degradation reactions. Results of computational modeling by the Stopping Range of Ions in Matter (SRIM) Monte Carlo simulation were in good agreement with damage analysis from surface and cross-sectional SEM imaging. All metrics indicated that ceria nanofillers reduce the damage area in polymer nanocomposites, and that nanofiller loading and homogeneity of dispersion are key to effective damage prevention. The results of this study represent a significant pathway for engineered irradiation tolerance in a diverse array of polymer nanocomposite materials. Numerous areas of materials science can benefit from utilizing this facile and effective method to extend the reliability of polymer materials.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

A large field-of-view high-resolution hard x-ray microscope using polymer optics

Here, we present an effective approach using a matched pair of polymer-based condenser-objective lenses to build a compact full-field X-ray microscope with a high spatial resolution. A unique condenser comprising arrays of high-aspect-ratio prisms with equilateral cross-section is used for uniformly illuminating samples over a large field of view (FoV) from all angles, which match the acceptance of an objective made of interdigitated orthogonal rows of one-dimensional lenses. State-of-the-art Talbot grating interferometry used to characterize these lenses for the first time revealed excellent focusing properties and minimal wave-front distortions. Using a specific lens-pair designed for 20 keV X-rays, short-exposure times, and image registration with a cross-correlation technique, we circumvent vibrational instabilities to obtain distortion-free images with a uniform resolution of 240 nm (smallest resolvable line pair) over a large FoV, 80 × 80 µm 2 in extent. The results were contrasted with those collected under illumination using commercial two-dimensional parabolic lenses with a smaller FoV. This approach implemented on a diffractometer would enable diffraction-contrast or dark-field microscopy for fast observations of ‘mesoscopic’ phenomena in real space complementing reciprocal-space studies using diffraction on the same instrument.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Seismic savanna: machine learning for classifying wildlife and behaviours using ground‐based vibration field recordings

Abstract We develop a machine learning approach to detect and discriminate elephants from other species, and to recognise important behaviours such as running and rumbling, based only on seismic data generated by the animals. We demonstrate our approach using data acquired in the Kenyan savanna, consisting of 8000 h seismic recordings and 250 k camera trap pictures. Our classifiers, different convolutional neural networks trained on seismograms and spectrograms, achieved 80%–90% balanced accuracy in detecting elephants up to 100 m away, and over 90% balanced accuracy in recognising running and rumbling behaviours from the seismic data. We release the dataset used in this study: SeisSavanna represents a unique collection of seismic signals with the associated wildlife species and behaviour. Our results suggest that seismic data offer substantial benefits for monitoring wildlife, and we propose to further develop our methods using dense arrays that could result in a seismic shift for wildlife monitoring.

Szenicer, Alexandre↗
DOE OSTI2023

Dispersion-Engineered Deep Sub-Wavelength Plasmonic Metasurfaces for Broadband Seira Applications

Surface enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) spectroscopy is a powerful tool in which plasmonically enhanced electromagnetic fields provide high-sensitivity molecular detection. Most SEIRA platforms operate at a single resonant frequency, which must be tuned to match that of the target molecule, and commonly rely on time-consuming lithographic techniques. This study presents a high-throughput and cost-effective plasmonic metasurface for broadband, tunable, and strong infrared signal enhancement. The platform is built upon the principle of dispersion-engineered plasmonic Fabry–Pérot (FP) nanocavity arrays. It offers 1) tight squeezing of infrared (IR) photons into deep sub-wavelength nano-volumes and 2) spectrally tunable near-field enhancements of up to ≈10 6 , two to three orders of magnitude higher than most optical metasurface systems. By coupling multilayer nano-thin film deposition and nanoskiving fabrication techniques, the dispersive FP metasurfaces can be rapidly and reproducibly constructed in a scalable and lithography-free manner. Using IR spectroscopy, the selective and sensitive label-free detection of a molecular monolayer is achieved at a range of frequencies. An enhancement factor of nearly 10 5 is measured at the carbonyl (C = O) vibrational marker band of the molecule. The confluence of high field enhancement, broadband plasmonic response, and facile fabrication makes this metasurface a promising platform for SEIRA spectroscopy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

The transient properties of 2D magnets: from mechanical exfoliation to ultrafast optical spectroscopy of CrX 3 materials

The discovery of two-dimensional (2D) systems hosting intrinsic long-range magnetic order represents a seminal achievement, adding to the already diverse array of physics supported by layered van der Waals (vdW) materials. This finding has spurred great interest among the research community, with efforts aimed at uncovering their fundamental properties and light- matter interactions. A prototypical example of a 2D magnetic material is Crl 3 , where the strong relationship between crystalline structure and magnetic order, along with strong light- matter interactions, provide a promising platform to explore the nature of couplings between magnetism and the other degrees of freedom at the 2D limit. In this report, we highlight our efforts involving the use of time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect (TR-MOKE) spectroscopy to probe the magnetization and vibrational dynamics of Crl 3 . These measurements reveal evidence of strong exchange-mediated coupling between lattice vibrations and spin oscillations. Additionally, we discuss our related efforts to explore other material from the Chromium trihalide family through mechanical exfoliation to support subsequent optical spectroscopy investigations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Physical and Chemical Responses of Amidine-Containing Polymers in the Capture and Release of CO 2

Polymeric materials containing amidine motifs are of high interest due to their ability to reversibly capture and release CO 2 at ambient temperature. Here, in this study, we probe physical and chemical responses of styrene-based copolymers containing linear amidine motifs as functions of CO 2 and inert gas exposures and temperature. A copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition “click” reaction involving N′-propargyl-N,N-dimethylacetamidine is used to modify random copolymers, resulting in an array of linear amidine motifs along the chain backbone with the amount of CO 2 -active amidine controlled by the copolymer composition. Through thermogravimetric measurements, we demonstrate that the amidine-functionalized copolymers efficiently capture CO 2 upon exposure to a stream of CO 2 (at 27 °C) and release it at a slightly elevated temperature (50 °C) when exposed to an inert gas stream (N 2 ). In addition to displaying a maximum adsorption capacity of 22 wt % in the presence of pure CO 2 , the copolymers show composition-dependent direct air capture (DAC) behaviors. Small molecule analogs are used to definitively understand degradation via chemical hydrolysis of the amidine moiety, which leads to insolubility and a large reduction in CO 2 adsorption capacity (1.7 wt %). Neutron vibrational spectroscopy and DFT calculations confirm that CO 2 binds strongly to the amidine motif, inducing a strong bending of the CO 2 molecule from its linear geometry. The coupled insights into mechanisms and behaviors of CO 2 adsorption in amidine-functionalized polymers provides a foundation for future investigations of CO 2 -responsive polymers and soft materials to improve carbon capture and sequestration technologies.

Chun, Danielle J.↗