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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 721 records · Page 40
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2012

Role of ionization and electron drift velocity profile to Rayleigh instability in a Hall thruster plasma

Role of ionization to Rayleigh instability is clarified in a Hall thruster plasma under the variety of profiles of electron drift velocity, namely, step-like profile (SLP) and two different super-Gaussian profiles (SGP1 and SGP2). For this, a relevant Rayleigh equation is derived and solved numerically using fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. Interestingly, an upper cutoff frequency of oscillations {omega}{sub max} is realized for the occurrence of the instability that shows dependence on the ionization rate {alpha}, electron drift velocity u{sub 0}, electron cyclotron frequency {Omega}, azimuthal wave number k{sub y}, plasma density n{sub 0}, density gradient {partial_derivative}n{sub 0}/{partial_derivative}x, ion (electron) thermal speed V{sub thI}(V{sub thE}), and ion (electron) plasma frequency {omega}{sub pi}({omega}{sub pe}). The frequency {omega}{sub max} follows the trend {omega}{sub max} (for SGP2) >{omega}{sub max} (for SLP) >{omega}{sub max} (for SGP1) and shows a similar behaviour with ionization for all types of the velocity profiles. The instability is found to grow faster for the higher {alpha} and the ion temperature but it acquires lower rate under the effect of the higher electron temperature; the perturbed potential also varies in accordance with the growth rate. The electron temperature influences the growth rate and cutoff frequency less significantly in comparison with the ion temperature.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Measurements of neutral density profiles using a deuterium Balmer-alpha diagnostic in the C-2 FRC plasma

In C-2 field-reversed configuration (FRC) device, low neutral density outside the FRC separatrix is required to minimize the charge exchange loss of fast particles. Titanium gettering is used in C-2 to reduce the wall recycling and keep the neutral density low in plasma edge. The measurements of neutral density radial profile are desirable to understand the plasma recycling and the effects of titanium gettering. These measurements are also needed to study the interaction of neutral beams with FRC plasma and confinement of fast ions. Diagnostic based on absolute deuterium Balmer-alpha (D-alpha) radiation measurements is developed and deployed on C-2 device to measure the radial profile of neutral density. Simultaneous measurements of electron density and temperature are done using CO{sub 2} interferometer, Thomson scattering, and triple probes diagnostics along with absolute D-alpha radiation. Abel inversion was performed to get the time dependent radial profile of the local D-alpha emission density. Neutral density profiles are obtained under different machine conditions of titanium deposition.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2012

Stationary self-focusing of intense laser beam in cold quantum plasma using ramp density profile

By using a transient density profile, we have demonstrated stationary self-focusing of an electromagnetic Gaussian beam in cold quantum plasma. The paper is devoted to the prospects of using upward increasing ramp density profile of an inhomogeneous nonlinear medium with quantum effects in self-focusing mechanism of high intense laser beam. We have found that the upward ramp density profile in addition to quantum effects causes much higher oscillation and better focusing of laser beam in cold quantum plasma in comparison to that in the classical relativistic case. Our computational results reveal the importance and influence of formation of electron density profiles in enhancing laser self-focusing.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Investigation of the effect of bilayer membrane structures and fluctuation amplitudes on SANS/SAXS profile for short membrane wavelength

The effect of bilayer membrane structures and fluctuation amplitudes on small angle neutron scattering (SANS) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) profile is investigated based on harmonic motions of the surfactant bilayers with bending as well as thickness fluctuation motions. In this study we consider the case in which the wavelength of the bilayer membrane is shorter than the thickness of the membrane. We find that the thickness of the surfactant bilayer membrane, d{sub m}, affects both q{sub dip} and q{sub peak} of I(q,0) profile, and that the fluctuation amplitude, a, of the membrane changes the peak of I(q,0). A simple formula is derived to estimate the thickness of the bilayer based on the q{sub dip} of the profile obtained from the simulation. The resulting estimates of the thickness of the bilayer with harmonic motion showed accuracy within 1%. Moreover, the bilayer thicknesses estimated from the proposed formula show an excellent agreement with the SANS and SAXS experimental results available in the literatures. We also propose a curve fit model, which describes the relationship between the fluctuation amplitude and the normalized q{sub peak} ratio. The present results show the feasibility of the simple formula to estimate the fluctuation amplitude based on the SANS and SAXS profiles.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2014

Development of frequency modulated continuous wave reflectometer for electron density profile measurement on the HL-2A tokamak

The frequency modulated continuous wave reflectometer was developed for the first time on the HL-2A tokamak. The system utilizes a voltage controlled oscillator and an active multiplier for broadband coverage and detects as heterodyne mode. Three reflectometers have been installed and operated in extraordinary mode polarization on HL-2A to measure density profiles at low field side, covering the Q-band (33–50 GHz), V-band (50–75 GHz), and W-band (75–110 GHz). For density profile reconstruction from the phase shift of the probing wave, a corrected phase unwrapping method is introduced in this article. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated. The density profile behavior of a fast plasma event is presented and it demonstrates the capability of the reflectometer. These diagnostics will be contributed to the routine density profile measurements and the plasma physics study on HL-2A.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Electron-beam induced variation of surface profile in amorphous As{sub 20}Se{sub 80} films

Unusual profile variation of holographic surface relief gratings is detected in thin (2 μm) As{sub 20}Se{sub 80} chalcogenide films under e-beam irradiation: gratings of small periods were smoothed, whereas the gratings of larger periods increased their amplitudes. Irradiation was carried out in SEM, with 20 kV voltage and 8 nA current; the profiles of the irradiated areas were analyzed both by AFM and SEM. It is found that the kinetics of both flattening and growth followed by exponential law and took place due to lateral mass transport accelerated by e-irradiation. It is shown that the profile variation is mainly caused by competition between capillary forces and “chemical” forces induced by broken and deformed atomic bonds under e-beam irradiation. The kinetics of profile variation was calculated assuming that the mechanism of e-beam induced mass transfer is volume diffusion. The diffusion coefficients were estimated from the experimental data using theoretical expressions derived.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Observed damage during Argon gas cluster depth profiles of compound semiconductors

Argon Gas Cluster Ion Beam (GCIB) sources have become very popular in XPS and SIMS in recent years, due to the minimal chemical damage they introduce in the depth-profiling of polymer and other organic materials. These GCIB sources are therefore particularly useful for depth-profiling polymer and organic materials, but also (though more slowly) the surfaces of inorganic materials such as semiconductors, due to the lower roughness expected in cluster ion sputtering compared to that introduced by monatomic ions. We have examined experimentally a set of five compound semiconductors, cadmium telluride (CdTe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), gallium phosphide (GaP), indium arsenide (InAs), and zinc selenide (ZnSe) and a high-κ dielectric material, hafnium oxide (HfO), in their response to argon cluster profiling. An experimentally determined HfO etch rate of 0.025 nm/min (3.95 × 10{sup −2} amu/atom in ion) for 6 keV Ar gas clusters is used in the depth scale conversion for the profiles of the semiconductor materials. The assumption has been that, since the damage introduced into polymer materials is low, even though sputter yields are high, then there is little likelihood of damaging inorganic materials at all with cluster ions. This seems true in most cases; however, in this work, we report for the first time that this damage can in fact be very significant in the case of InAs, causing the formation of metallic indium that is readily visible even to the naked eye.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Measuring the depth profiles of strain/composition in AlGaN-graded layer by high-resolution x-ray diffraction

Here, we demonstrate X-ray fitting through kinematical simulations of the intensity profiles of symmetric reflections for epitaxial compositionally graded layers of AlGaN grown by molecular beam epitaxy pseudomorphically on [0001]-oriented GaN substrates. These detailed simulations depict obvious differences between changes in thickness, maximum concentration, and concentration profile of the graded layers. Through comparison of these simulations with as-grown samples, we can reliably determine these parameters, most important of which are the profiles of the concentration and strain which determine much of the electrical properties of the film. In addition to learning about these parameters for the characterization of thin film properties, these fitting techniques create opportunities to calibrate growth rates and control composition profiles of AlGaN layers with a single growth rather than multiple growths as has been done traditionally.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Investigation of Compton profiles of molecular methane and ethane

The Compton profiles of methane and ethane molecules have been determined at an incident photon energy of 20 keV based on the third generation synchrotron radiation, and the statistical accuracy of 0.2% is achieved near p{sub z} = 0. The density functional theory with aug-cc-pVTZ basis set was used to calculate the Compton profiles of methane and ethane. The present experimental Compton profiles are in better agreement with the theoretical calculations in the whole p{sub z} region than the previous experimental results, which indicates that the present experimental Compton profiles are accurate enough to serve as the benchmark data for methane and ethane molecules.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Profile measurements in the plasma edge of mega amp spherical tokamak using a ball pen probe

The ball pen probe (BPP) technique is used successfully to make profile measurements of plasma potential, electron temperature, and radial electric field on the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak. The potential profile measured by the BPP is shown to significantly differ from the floating potential both in polarity and profile shape. By combining the BPP potential and the floating potential, the electron temperature can be measured, which is compared with the Thomson scattering (TS) diagnostic. Excellent agreement between the two diagnostics is obtained when secondary electron emission is accounted for in the floating potential. From the BPP profile, an estimate of the radial electric field is extracted which is shown to be of the order ∼1 kV/m and increases with plasma current. Corrections to the BPP measurement, constrained by the TS comparison, introduce uncertainty into the E{sub R} measurements. The uncertainty is most significant in the electric field well inside the separatrix. The electric field is used to estimate toroidal and poloidal rotation velocities from E × B motion. This paper further demonstrates the ability of the ball pen probe to make valuable and important measurements in the boundary plasma of a tokamak.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Bootstrap performance profiles in stochastic algorithms assessment

Optimization with stochastic algorithms has become a relevant research field. Due to its stochastic nature, its assessment is not straightforward and involves integrating accuracy and precision. Performance profiles for the mean do not show the trade-off between accuracy and precision, and parametric stochastic profiles require strong distributional assumptions and are limited to the mean performance for a large number of runs. In this work, bootstrap performance profiles are used to compare stochastic algorithms for different statistics. This technique allows the estimation of the sampling distribution of almost any statistic even with small samples. Multiple comparison profiles are presented for more than two algorithms. The advantages and drawbacks of each assessment methodology are discussed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Experimental investigation on plasma parameter profiles on a wafer level with reactor gap lengths in an inductively coupled plasma

The gap length effect on plasma parameters is investigated in a planar type inductively coupled plasma at various conditions. The spatial profiles of ion densities and the electron temperatures on the wafer level are measured with a 2D probe array based on the floating harmonic method. At low pressures, the spatial profiles of the plasma parameters rarely changed by various gap lengths, which indicates that nonlocal kinetics are dominant at low pressures. However, at relatively high pressures, the spatial profiles of the plasma parameter changed dramatically. These plasma distribution profile characteristics should be considered for plasma reactor design and processing setup, and can be explained by the diffusion of charged particles and the local kinetics.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Two-dimensional profile measurement of plasma parameters in radio frequency-driven argon atmospheric pressure plasma jet

The two-dimensional profiles of the electron density, electron temperature, neutral translational temperature, and molecular rotational temperature are investigated in an argon atmospheric pressure plasma jet, which is driven by the radio frequency of 13.56 MHz by means of the laser scattering methods of Thomson, Rayleigh, and Raman. All measured parameters have maximum values at the center of the discharge and decrease toward the plasma edge. The results for the electron temperature profile are contrary to the results for the microwave-driven plasma. From our experimental results, the profiles of the plasma parameters arise from the radial contraction of plasmas and the time averaged profile of the electric field, which is obtained by a microwave simulation performed under identical conditions to the plasma jet. In the case of the neutral temperature, a higher translational temperature than the rotational temperature is measured, and its discrepancy is tentatively explained in terms of the low ion-neutral charge exchange rate and the additional degrees of freedom of the molecules. The description of our experimental results and the underlying physics are addressed in detail.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Measurement of heat load density profile on acceleration grid in MeV-class negative ion accelerator

To understand the physics of the negative ion extraction/acceleration, the heat load density profile on the acceleration grid has been firstly measured in the ITER prototype accelerator where the negative ions are accelerated to 1 MeV with five acceleration stages. In order to clarify the profile, the peripheries around the apertures on the acceleration grid were separated into thermally insulated 34 blocks with thermocouples. The spatial resolution is as low as 3 mm and small enough to measure the tail of the beam profile with a beam diameter of ∼16 mm. It was found that there were two peaks of heat load density around the aperture. These two peaks were also clarified to be caused by the intercepted negative ions and secondary electrons from detailed investigation by changing the beam optics and gas density profile. This is the first experimental result, which is useful to understand the trajectories of these particles.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Admittance–voltage profiling of Al{sub x}Ga{sub 1−x}N/GaN heterostructures: Frequency dependence of capacitance and conductance

Admittance–voltage profiling of Al{sub x}Ga{sub 1−x}N/GaN heterostructures was used to determine the frequency dependent capacitance and conductance of FET devices in the frequency range from 50 Hz to 1 MHz. The nominally undoped low pressure metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy structures were grown with an Al-content of 30%. An additional 1 nm thick AlN interlayer was placed in one structure before the Al{sub 0.3}Ga{sub 0.7}N layer growth. For frequencies below 10{sup 8} Hz it is convenient to use equivalent circuits to represent electric or dielectric properties of a material, a method widely used, for example, in impedance spectroscopy. We want to emphasize the relation between frequency dependent admittance–voltage profiling and the corresponding equivalent circuits to the complex dielectric function. Debye and Drude models are used for the description of the frequency dependent admittance profiles in a range of depletion onset of the two-dimensional electron gas. Capacitance- and conductance-frequency profiles are fitted in the entire measured range by combining both models. Based on our results, we see contributions to the two-dimensional electron gas for our samples from surface states (80%) as well as from background doping in the Al{sub 0.3}Ga{sub 0.7}N barriers (20%). The specific resistance of the layers below the gate is above 10{sup 5} Ω cm for both samples and increases with increasing negative bias, i.e., the layers below the gate are essentially depleted. We propose that the resistance due to free charge carriers, determined by the Drude model, is located between gate and drain and, because of the AlN interlayer, the resistance is lowered by a factor of about 30 if compared to the sample without an AlN layer.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Time evolution of negative ion profile in a large cesiated negative ion source applicable to fusion reactors

To understand the physics of the cesium (Cs) recycling in the large Cs-seeded negative ion sources relevant to ITER and JT-60SA with ion extraction area of 45-60 cm × 110-120 cm, the time evolution of the negative ion profile was precisely measured in JT-60SA where the ion extraction area is longitudinally segmented into 5. The Cs was seeded from the oven at 180 °C to the ion source. After 1 g of Cs input, surface production of the negative ions appeared only in the central segment where a Cs nozzle was located. Up to 2 g of Cs, the negative ion profile was longitudinally expanded over full ion extraction area. The measured time evolution of the negative ion profile has the similar tendency of distribution of the Cs atoms that is calculated. From the results, it is suggested that Cs atom distribution is correlated with the formation of the negative ion profile.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

Implementation of the new multichannel X-mode edge density profile reflectometer for the ICRF antenna on ASDEX Upgrade

A new multichannel frequency modulated continuous-wave reflectometry diagnostic has been successfully installed and commissioned on ASDEX Upgrade to measure the plasma edge electron density profile evolution in front of the Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies (ICRF) antenna. The design of the new three-strap ICRF antenna integrates ten pairs (sending and receiving) of microwave reflectometry antennas. The multichannel reflectometer can use three of these to measure the edge electron density profiles up to 2 × 10{sup 19} m{sup −3}, at different poloidal locations, allowing the direct study of the local plasma layers in front of the ICRF antenna. ICRF power coupling, operational effects, and poloidal variations of the plasma density profile can be consistently studied for the first time. In this work the diagnostic hardware architecture is described and the obtained density profile measurements were used to track outer radial plasma position and plasma shape.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2017

Theory and discretization of ideal magnetohydrodynamic equilibria with fractal pressure profiles

In three-dimensional ideal magnetohydrodynamics, closed flux surfaces cannot maintain both rational rotational-transform and pressure gradients, as these features together produce unphysical, infinite currents. A proposed set of equilibria nullifies these currents by flattening the pressure on sufficiently wide intervals around each rational surface. Such rational surfaces exist at every scale, which characterizes the pressure profile as self-similar and thus fractal. The pressure profile is approximated numerically by considering a finite number of rational regions and analyzed mathematically by classifying the irrational numbers that support gradients into subsets. As a result, applying these results to a given rotational-transform profile in cylindrical geometry, we find magnetic field and current density profiles compatible with the fractal pressure.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗