Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “frequency shift”

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 721 records · Page 40
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

The Press and Pulse of Climate Change: Extreme Events in the Colorado River Basin

Extremes in temperature and precipitation are associated with damaging floods, prolonged drought, destructive wildfires, agricultural challenges, compromised human health, vulnerable infrastructure, and threatened ecosystems and species. Often, the steady and progressive trends (or presses) of rising global temperature are the central focus in how climate impacts are described. However, observations of extreme weather events (or pulses) increasingly show that the intensity, duration and/or frequency of acute events are also changing, resulting in greater impacts on communities and the environment. Describing how the influence of extreme events may shape water management in the Colorado River Basin in clear terms is critical to sound future planning and efforts to manage risk. Three scenario planning workshops in 2019 and 2020 were held as part of a Colorado River Conversations series, identifying potential impacts from multiple intersecting extreme events. Water managers identified climate-related events of concern in the Colorado River Basin that necessitate greater attention and adaptive responses. To support efforts to include consideration of climate-change-driven extremes in water management and planning, we explore the current state of knowledge at the confluence of long-term climate shifts and extreme weather in the Colorado River Basin related to the events of concern that were identified by scenario planning participants.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Static Subspace Approximation for Random Phase Approximation Correlation Energies: Applications to Materials for Catalysis and Electrochemistry

Modeling complex materials using high-fidelity, ab initio methods at low cost is a fundamental goal for quantum chemical software packages. The GW approximation and random phase approximation (RPA) provide a unified description of both electronic structure and total energies using the same physics in a many-body perturbative approach that can be more accurate than generalized-gradient density functional theory (DFT) methods. However, GW/RPA implementations have historically been limited to either specific materials classes or application toward small chemical systems. Here, the static subspace approximation allows for reduced cost full-frequency GW/RPA calculations and has previously been benchmarked thoroughly for GW calculations. Here, we describe our approach to including partial occupations of electronic orbitals in full-frequency GW and RPA calculations for the study of electrocatalysts. We benchmarked RPA total energy calculations using the subspace approximation across a diverse test suite of materials for a variety of computational parameters. The benchmarking quantifies the impact of different extrapolation procedures for representing the static polarizability at infinite screened cutoff, and shows that using screened cutoffs above 20-25 Ryd result in diminishing accuracy returns for predicting RPA total energies. Additionally, for moderately sized electrocatalytic models, 2-3 times fewer computational resources are used to compute RPA total energies by representing the static polarizability with 20-30% of the static subspace basis, with an error of approximately 0.01 eV or better in RPA adsorption energy calculations. Finally, we show that for these electrochemical models RPA can shift DFT adsorption energy shifts by up to 0.5 eV and that GW can frequently shift DFT eigenvalues of surface and adsorbate states by approximately 0.5-1 eV.

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

High-Efficiency Inductive Output Tubes Using a Third Harmonic Drive on the Grid

In this article, we discuss the use of a third harmonic component to the drive voltage on the grid of an inductive output tube (IOT). High-efficiency IOTs are typically characterized by efficiencies up to 70%–75%. However, the achievement of efficiencies greater than 80% would substantially reduce the operating costs of next-generation accelerators. In order to achieve this goal, we consider the addition of a third harmonic component to the drive signal on the grid of an IOT. The use of a third harmonic drive component in IOT guns has been considered in order to apply such a gun as the injector of radio frequency linear accelerators (RF linacs). Furthermore, we consider that the IOT will be used to provide the rf power to drive RF linacs and apply the third harmonic with the intention of increasing the efficiency of the RF output of the IOT. We consider a model IOT with a 700-MHz resonant cavity and using an annular beam with a voltage of 30 kV, an average current of 6.67 A yielding a perveance of about 1.3 μP. We simulate this IOT using the NEMESIS simulation code which has been successfully validated by comparison with the K5H90W-2 IOT developed by Communications and Power Industries. It is found that the effect of the third harmonic on the efficiency is greatest when the phase of the third harmonic is shifted by radians with respect to the fundamental drive signal and with third harmonic powers greater than about 50% that of the fundamental drive power. For the present example, we show that efficiencies approaching 86% are possible by this means.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Reviving the carbon sink: The influence of moderate wind disturbance in a secondary temperate mixed forest

Global forests are increasingly exposed to climate-driven perturbations, which may in turn alter their climate mitigation potential. As tropical cyclones expand poleward due to climate warming, wind disturbances in temperate forests have become increasingly frequent. The consequences of moderate wind disturbances remain poorly understood, hindering efforts to quantify their role in the global carbon cycle. Here, we used 16 years of continuous eddy covariance and biometric measurements to investigate the impacts of moderate wind disturbances on the structure and carbon sink dynamics of a temperate forest in Northeast China. Following Typhoon Maysak in 2020, the mortality of large trees (particularly the aging pioneer species) increased ninefold, whereas that of small trees decreased by nearly half. Both stand basal area and leaf area index were reduced between 2019 and 2023, with aging pioneer tree species being more vulnerable than mid-to-late species to wind disturbances. Shifts in species composition altered the environmental sensitivity of forest carbon sink function. Unexpectedly, wind disturbances reversed the declining trends in net ecosystem production and ecosystem carbon use efficiency of this secondary forest. A novel composite structural indicator—the standardized leaf area index (the maximum leaf area supported by per basal area of the stand)—provided robust predictions (R 2 > 0.4) of carbon sink dynamics throughout the study period. The selective removal of less efficient pioneer trees accelerated succession and reversed the aging-related decline in forest carbon sink strength and carbon use efficiency. In conclusion, these findings highlight the potential role of moderate wind disturbances in enhancing forest carbon sink function and offer a framework for understanding, assessing, and predicting forest carbon dynamics under increasing disturbance frequencies driven by climate change.

Carbon sink↗
DOE OSTI2025

Dirhodium(II,II) Complexes as Panchromatic Single-Molecule Photocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution

The growing global energy demand and climate change have prompted a shift from carbon-based fuels to sustainable energy sources. Hydrogen production by harnessing solar energy and using abundant proton sources represents an attractive approach to addressing this crisis. Single-molecule single-chromophore photocatalysts, capable of both absorbing the incident photon and catalyzing the chemical transformation, are able to circumvent energy losses present in multicomponent systems that require a photosensitizer and a catalyst, often employing additional redox relay molecules. Here, the series of complexes derived from cis-[Rh 2 (μ-DPhF) 2 (μ-bncn) 2 ] 2+ (1; DPhF = N,N′-diphenylformamidinate, bncn = benzo[c]cinnoline) discussed in this Account presents robust and air-stable single-molecule photocatalysts with panchromatic absorption from the ultraviolet spectral region to the near-infrared (NIR), with high turnover frequencies of ∼20 to 30 h –1 under red light irradiation. For comparison, other single-molecule hydrogen-evolving photocatalysts reported to date exhibit low photocatalytic efficiency, are not operable in the visible or NIR regions, and are unstable under an ambient atmosphere.

Absorption↗
DOE OSTI2023

Laser Characterization of Optically Smooth BREAD parts

The Broadband Reflector Experiment for Axion Detection is a dish antenna experiment probing the axion and dark photon parameter space in the [1 μeV, 1 eV] mass range, or [.02, 200] THz frequency range. In the pilot design for the InfraBREAD model, the dish antenna includes an optically smooth coaxial parabolic reflector to focus incoming photons in the near Infrared spectrum, created by the spontaneous photoconversion of axions and dark photons, onto a Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detector at the focus point of the reflector. As the pilot begins as a dark photon detector, sensitivity estimates hypothesize that it could cover unprobed parameter space in the search for the dark photon. Because of this, it is of critical importance that the reflector and SNSPD be placed at the correct points in the dish antenna, as previous work has shown that in addition to the focal spot of the photons being smeared to an area larger than the SNSPD, detection efficiency is s ensitive to shifts on the millimeter scale. In order to constrain this barrier to efficiency, the reflector had its focal spot, roughness, and length of surface waves measured by lasers in an optical bench setup. Results show the focal point diverging slightly from its theorized position in the antenna, while uncertainty in the height at which the detector should be placed was constrained to 10s of microns, the uncertainty in radial position could not be constrained to smaller than the detector given the methods used. Results for the roughness and surface wavelength show that the reflector was uniformly machined in a diamond-turning process used to fabricate optically smooth parts, as well as support a roughly 90% detection efficiency, reinforcing the sensitivity estimates presented.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Weather and climate extremes in a changing Arctic

Weather and climate extremes are increasingly occurring in the Arctic. Here, in this Review, we evaluate historical and projected changes in rare Arctic extremes across the atmosphere, cryosphere and ocean and elucidate their driving mechanisms. Clear shifts occur in mean and extreme distributions after ~2000. For instance, pre-2000 to post-2000 observational probabilities of 1.5 standard deviation events increase by 20% for atmospheric heat waves, 76.7% for Atlantic layer warm events, 83.5% for Arctic sea ice loss and 62.9% for Greenland Ice Sheet melt extent — in many cases, low probability, rare extreme events in the early period become the norm in the latter period. These observed changes can be explained using a ‘pushing and triggering’ concept, representing interplay between external forcing and internal variability: long-term warming destabilizes the climate system and ‘pushes’ it to a new state, allowing subsequent variability associated with large-scale atmosphere–ocean–ice interactions and synoptic systems to ‘trigger’ extreme events over different timescales. Ongoing anthropogenic warming is expected to further increase the frequency and magnitude of extremes, such that simulated probabilities of 1.5 standard deviation events increase by 72.6% for atmospheric heat waves, 68.7% for Atlantic layer warm events and 93.3% for Greenland Ice Sheet melt rate between historic (1984–2014) and future (2069–2099) periods under a very high emission scenario. Future research should prioritize the development of physically based metrics, enhance high-resolution observation and modelling capabilities and improve understanding of multiscale Arctic climate drivers.

atmospheric dynamics↗
DOE OSTI2021

NMR spectroscopy of coin cell batteries with metal casings

Battery cells with metal casings are commonly considered incompatible with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy because the oscillating radio-frequency magnetic fields (“rf fields”) responsible for excitation and detection of NMR active nuclei do not penetrate metals. Here, we show that rf fields can still efficiently penetrate nonmetallic layers of coin cells with metal casings provided “B 1 damming” configurations are avoided. With this understanding, we demonstrate noninvasive high-field in situ 7 Li and 19 F NMR of coin cells with metal casings using a traditional external NMR coil. This includes the first NMR measurements of an unmodified commercial off-the-shelf rechargeable battery in operando, from which we detect, resolve, and separate 7 Li NMR signals from elemental Li, anodic β-LiAl, and cathodic Li x MnO 2 compounds. Real-time changes of β-LiAl lithium diffusion rates and variable β-LiAl 7 Li NMR Knight shifts are observed and tied to electrochemically driven changes of the β-LiAl defect structure.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2024

High energy electron diffraction instrument with tunable camera length

Ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) stands as a powerful technique for real-time observation of structural dynamics at the atomic level. In recent years, the use of MeV electrons from radio frequency guns has been widely adopted to take advantage of the relativistic suppression of the space charge effects that otherwise limit the temporal resolution of the technique. Nevertheless, there is not a clear choice for the optimal energy for a UED instrument. Scaling to beam energies higher than a few MeV does pose significant technical challenges, mainly related to the inherent increase in diffraction camera length associated with the smaller Bragg angles. In this study, we report a solution by using a compact post-sample magnetic optical system to magnify the diffraction pattern from a crystal Au sample illuminated by an 8.2 MeV electron beam. Our method employs, as one of the lenses of the optical system, a triplet of compact, high field gradients (>500 T/m), small-gap (3.5 mm) Halbach permanent magnet quadrupoles. Shifting the relative position of the quadrupoles, we demonstrate tuning the magnification by more than a factor of two, a 6× improvement in camera length, and reciprocal space resolution better than 0.1 Å –1 in agreement with beam transport simulations.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Identifying Suspect Instrument Intervals Using Midnight Noise Time Histories

With an intense work ethic, and high levels of devotion to their craft, seismologists continue to battle the elements and wrestle with complex logistics in their efforts to field instrumentation over the entire globe. We are fortunate to see data volumes accelerating in size, and quality continuing to improve; for example, universal timing issues can now be considered rare. However, instrument response issues are still common, and can hinder research that seeks to understand amplitudes of seismic wavefields. We are interested in using the accumulations of seismic data to develop models that will predict high frequency (0.2-20 Hz, and higher) signal amplitudes for explosion monitoring purposes over broad areas, which requires large data sets and extensive quality control. To identify response and station health issues, we have collected noise time histories for global seismic data, focusing on measurements near (but not restricted to) midnight to eliminate diurnal variations, and have manually determined time intervals that appear inconsistent with background behavior. We assign descriptive labels, but do not attempt to diagnose causes. We use these intervals to discard data. To date, we have examined 39,260 channels from 11,105 stations, heavily weighted toward IRIS holdings, dates through 2017 (depending on station, roughly the date we started our manual review), bands between 1 and 8 Hz, finding 24,733 anomalous time intervals. The great majority (90%) of these intervals appear to be shifts of constant offset, often bounded by times of known instrument changes, likely the result of poor documentation of response parameters at one of many stages between the field and the plotter. We hope these results can be of use to our colleagues, and would encourage community efforts to diagnose anomalous behavior, and fix poor responses. We also hope these results will support automation efforts, including application of supervised learning techniques.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Advances in phosphor two-color ratio method thermography for full-field surface temperature measurements

We report thermographic phosphors can be employed for optical sensing of surface, gas phase, and bulk material temperatures through different strategies including the time-decay method, time-integrated method, and frequency-domain method. We focus on the time-integrated method, also known as the ratio method, as it can be more practical in many situations. This work advances the ratio method using two machine vision cameras with CMOS detectors for full-field temperature measurements of a solid surface. A phosphor calibration coupon is fabricated using aerosol deposition and employed for in situ determination of the temperature-versus-intensity ratio relationship. Algorithms from digital image correlation are employed to determine the stereoscopic imaging system intrinsic and extrinsic parameters, and accurately register material points on the sample to subpixel locations in each image with 0.07 px or better accuracy. Detector nonlinearity is carefully characterized and corrected. Temperature-dependent, spatial non-uniformity of the full-field intensity ratio—posited to be caused by a blue-shift effect of the bandpass filter for non-collimated light and/or a wavelength-dependent transmission efficiency of the lens—is assessed and treated for cases where a standard flat-field correction fails to correct the non-uniformity. In sum, pixel-wise calibration curves relating the computed intensity ratio to temperature in the range of T = 300–430 K are generated, with an embedded error of less than 3 K. This work offers a full calibration methodology and several improvements on two-color phosphor thermography, opening the door for full-field temperature measurements in dynamic tests with deforming test articles.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2026

The SPT-3G+ Experiment on the South Pole Telescope

Observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) offer an unparalleled opportunity to advance our understanding of fundamental physics. SPT-3G+ is an upgraded receiver for the arcminute-resolution South Pole Telescope (SPT) that plans to deploy in late 2028. SPT-3G+ will increase the CMB mapping speed of SPT by nearly an order of magnitude over the currently installed SPT-3G receiver. SPT-3G+ will have ~24,000 transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers in two frequency bands with center frequencies at 95 GHz and 150 GHz that will be read out with microwave multiplexing. SPT-3G+ will measure the CMB lensing spectrum and galaxy clusters to constrain the growth of structure, dark matter, and dark energy. SPT-3G+ will also reach critical thresholds on inflationary constraints by combining data with BICEP/Keck, forming the South Pole Observatory (SPO). BICEP/Keck has deep degree-angular scale measurements but is currently delensing-limited, while SPT-3G+ will provide deep lensing measurements. Forecasts show that SPO will reach an uncertainty on the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ of $\sigma(r) \sim 1.2\times 10^{-3}$ by 2034. A detection at these levels would provide evidence of inflation and probe new physics at grand unified theory energy scales, while no detection would exclude large classes of models and shift the scientific paradigm describing the early universe. I will give an overview of SPT-3G+ including its design and current status.

Simon, Sara M. [Fermilab] (ORCID:0009000006683584)↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Review of Resilience and Long-Term Planning in Power and Water Systems in the United States

There is recognition among power and water utilities that the frequency and magnitude of high consequence and low probability events could increase as a result of climate change. The interconnected nature of energy-water systems raises the possibility of cascading failures, increasing complexity and risks. Resilience and long-term planning are important ways of weathering the effects of climate change. First, to understand more about resilience, we reviewed existing literature on resilience definitions, metrics, and modeling, focusing on integrated water-power systems. Second, to understand how resilience and planning are being applied in practice, we interviewed utilities and organized, curated, and synthesized the interview data to arrive at several key findings, which are presented here. We found that there is not a consistent definition for resilience, yet it is something that utilities regularly plan for, often with different names and varying methods/measures. However, there is a tangible shift in the industry towards defining and determining measurable resilience metrics. While the exact metrics are a work in progress, utilities are taking steps forward by (1) putting people and culture at the center of resilience, (2) recognizing their own interdependencies, and (3) pursuing better cross-sector collaboration.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Projecting Future Energy Production from Operating Wind Farms in North America. Part II: Statistical Downscaling

Abstract Capacity factors (CFs) derived from daily expected power at 22 operating wind farms in different regions of North America are used as predictands to train statistical downscaling algorithms using output from ERA5. The statistical downscaling models are then used to make CF projections for a suite of CMIP6 Earth System Models (ESMs). Downscaling is performed using a hybrid statistical approach that employs synoptic types derived using k -means clustering applied to sea level pressure fields with variance corrections applied as a function of the pressure gradient intensity. ESMs exhibit marked variability in terms of the skill with which the frequency of synoptic types and pressure gradients are reproduced relative to ERA5, and that differential skill is used to infer differential credibility in the associated CF projections. Projections of median annual mean CF [P50(CF)] in each 20-yr period from 1980 to 2099 show evidence of declines at most wind farms except in parts of the southern Great Plains, although the magnitude of the changes is strongly dependent on the ESM. For example, P50(CF) in 2080–99 deviate from those in 1980–99 by from −3.1 to +0.2 percentage points in the Northeast. The largest-magnitude declines in P50(CF) ranging from −3.9 to −2 percentage points are projected for the southern West Coast. CF trends exhibit marked seasonality and are strongly linked to changes in the relative intensity of future synoptic patterns, with much less impact from shifts in the occurrence of synoptic types over time. Internal climate modes continue to play a significant role in inducing interannual variability in wind power production, even under high radiative forcing scenarios. Significance Statement We describe how future climate changes may affect wind resources and wind power generation. Near-term changes in projected wind power electricity generation potential at operating wind farms over North America are small, but by the end of the current century electricity production is projected to decrease in many areas but may increase in parts of the southern Great Plains. The amount of change in projected wind power production is a strong function of the Earth system model that is downscaled and also depends on the continued presence of internally forced climate variability. An additional dependence on the amount of greenhouse gas–induced global warming indicates the transition of the energy sector to low-carbon sources may assist in maintaining the abundant U.S. wind resource.

Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences↗
DOE OSTI2024

Kubo-Anderson theory of polariton line shape

We apply the Kubo-Anderson stochastic theory of molecular spectral line shapes to the case of polaritons formed in the collective strong-coupling regime. We investigate both the fast and slow limits of the random frequency modulation of the emitter as well as the intermediate regime and show how the interplay between the characteristic timescales of the cavity and the molecular disorder is expressed in the observed polaritons line shapes. The analytical solution obtained for the slow limit is valid for any ratio between the inhomogeneous broadening of the molecules and the Rabi splitting, which is especially relevant for molecular polaritons where these two quantities can be of the same order of magnitude.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Multi-Scale Temporal Patterns in Stream Biogeochemistry Indicate Linked Permafrost and Ecological Dynamics of Boreal Catchments

Temporal patterns in stream chemistry provide integrated signals describing the hydrological and ecological state of whole catchments. However, stream chemistry integrates multi-scale signals of processes occurring in both the catchment and stream. Deconvoluting these signals could identify mechanisms of solute transport and transformation and provide a basis for monitoring ecosystem change. Here, we applied trend analysis, wavelet decomposition, multivariate autoregressive state-space modeling, and analysis of concentration-discharge relationships to assess temporal patterns in high-frequency (15 min) stream chemistry from permafrost-influenced boreal catchments in Interior Alaska at diel, storm, and seasonal time scales. We compared catchments that varied in spatial extent of permafrost to identify characteristic biogeochemical signals. Catchments with higher spatial extents of permafrost were characterized by increasing nitrate concentration through the thaw season, an abrupt increase in nitrate and fluorescent dissolved organic matter (fDOM) and declining conductivity in late summer, and flushing of nitrate and fDOM during summer rainstorms. In contrast, these patterns were absent, of lower magnitude, or reversed in catchments with lower permafrost extent. Solute dynamics revealed a positive influence of permafrost on fDOM export and the role of shallow, seasonally dynamic flowpaths in delivering solutes from high-permafrost catchments to streams. Lower spatial extent of permafrost resulted in static delivery of nitrate and limited transport of fDOM to streams. Shifts in concentration-discharge relationships and seasonal trends in stream chemistry toward less temporally dynamic patterns might therefore indicate reorganized catchment hydrology and biogeochemistry due to permafrost thaw.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Moisture‐Budget Drivers of Global Projections of Meteorological Drought From Multiple GCM Large Ensembles

Future projections of global meteorological drought are evaluated in the Multi‐Model Large Ensemble Archive, including an evaluation of the atmospheric moisture budget, conditioned on drought years. Drought is defined as 5‐year running‐mean annual precipitation below some threshold, for example, 10th percentile. Drought increases in frequency over the subtropics, in addition to certain tropical regions, consistent with previous studies. Here, the moisture‐budget decomposition allows drought to be defined as mean‐flow, eddy, or feedback droughts, depending on which term in the equation contributes the largest negative interannual anomaly. In the historical climate, mean‐flow droughts constitute most droughts at low latitudes; eddy droughts are equally common at higher latitudes; feedback droughts (i.e., droughts exacerbated by land–atmosphere feedbacks) constitute almost all droughts in water‐limited subtropical/Mediterranean regions. The future drought increases are predominantly due to increases in feedback droughts in regions where these droughts are common historically but also over the Amazon. However, over most Mediterranean‐type regions mean‐flow droughts are also large contributors, resulting from dynamics. Eddy droughts also contribute to future increases along the equatorward flanks of historical eddy‐driven jets, likely reflecting poleward shifts therein. Model uncertainty is particularly large over the Amazon and Australia, a reflection of model diversity in processes associated with land‐atmosphere interaction. Based on these results, an availability of 3‐D atmospheric data from a wider swath of global climate model large ensembles could help constrain global drought projections based on the representation of drought mechanisms in the historical climate.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Role of gas composition in weakened nonlinear standing wave excitation and improved plasma radial uniformity in very-high-frequency asymmetric capacitive Ar/CF 4 discharges

Abstract The higher harmonics generated by nonlinear sheath motion would enhance the standing wave effect, and thus lead to center-peaked plasma density profile in very-high-frequency (VHF) capacitive discharges. In this work, a nonlinear transmission line (NTL) model introduced in Zhouet al(2021Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.30125017) has been extended, with radial transport of various particles and nonlinear sheath motion into account, to investigate the effects of CF 4 fraction α on the nonlinear standing wave excitation and plasma radial uniformity in VHF (60 MHz) capacitively coupled Ar/CF 4 plasmas at 3 Pa. The results indicate that for pure Ar discharges (i.e. α = 0%), the nonlinearly excited harmonics with short wavelength significantly enhance the electron power absorption at the radial center, resulting in a pronounced central-high plasma density profile. As α increases, the high-order harmonics are gradually damped due to the increase of resistance, as well as the longer wavelength caused by thicker sheath thickness. Thus, the radial profile of the electron absorbed power density shifts from center-peak to edge-high. Besides, at the radial center, the electron density and Ar + ion density decrease with α , CF 3 + ion density shows an increasing trend, while F − ion density initially rises and then decreases. Moreover, the density profiles of all the species become more uniform at higher CF 4 fraction, due to the suppressed nonlinear standing wave excitation and the longer wavelength of the nonlinear harmonics.

Physics↗