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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 847 records · Page 47
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Towards high-efficiency particle detection using superconducting microwire arrays

Here, we present a detailed study of an 8-channel 1×1 mm 2 WSi superconducting microwire single photon detector (SMSPD) array exposed to 120 GeV hadron beam and 120 GeV muon beam at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron H6 beamline. Following up on our first detailed characterization of the efficiency and response of an SMSPD fabricated on a 3 nm WSi film, we report measurements of enhanced particle detection efficiency using a sensor fabricated from a thicker 4.7 nm-thick WSi film. We also report the first SMSPD detection efficiency measurement made for muons. Measurements are enabled by a silicon tracking telescope providing 10 μm in-situ spatial resolution. The results show a fill factor-normalized detection efficiency of 75% and a time resolution of about 130 ps across pixels. These findings represent a significant advancement toward developing high-efficiency SMSPD charged particle tracking systems with simultaneous precision timing, with potential applications in future accelerator-based experiments such as the FCC-ee and Muon Collider.

Cryogenic detectors↗
DOE OSTI2023

3D theory of microscopic instabilities driven by space-charge forces

Microscopic, or short-wavelength, instabilities are known for a drastic reduction of the beam quality and strong amplification of the noise in a beam. Space charge and coherent synchrotron radiation are known to be the leading causes of such instabilities. In this paper, we present a rigorous 3D theory of such instabilities driven by the space-charge forces. We define the condition when our theory is applicable to an arbitrary accelerator system with 3D coupling. Finally, we derive a linear integral equation describing such instability and identify conditions when it can be reduced to an ordinary second-order differential equation.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Inverse Method for Noninvasive Material Discrimination with Multienergy X-Ray Radiography

Active x-ray inspections have great potential for noninvasive detection of illicit materials. Dual-energy x-ray radiography, in particular, has been used to determine material composition by utilizing the energy-dependence of the x-ray attenuation coefficients. However, current implementations of this method are limited in their ability to determine the material composition of composite objects. Here, in this paper, we present an inverse algorithm that uses multienergy x-ray radiography data to noninvasively reconstruct the contents of a container. A critical feature of the current contribution is that material identification can be performed using conventional detectors and x-ray spectra with different endpoint energies produced by varying nothing more than the tube voltage. Adaptive regularization is used to increase the accuracy of material estimations from multienergy data sets. The utility of these methods is demonstrated with experimentally acquired radiographs obtained using a tunable x-ray source that produces spectra with endpoint energies of 100–450 keV. The object inspected is a scale model of a nuclear materials storage container composed of three-dimensional printed plastic and stainless-steel spheres inside a thin-walled steel container. Reconstructions of the steel sphere thicknesses are within a root-mean-square error of 0.37 cm.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Passive and active neutron signatures of 233 U for nondestructive assay

The thorium fuel cycle is emerging as an attractive alternative to conventional nuclear fuel cycles, as it does not require the enrichment of uranium for long-term sustainability. The operating principle of this fuel cycle is the irradiation of 232 Th to produce 233 U, which is fissile and sustains the fission chain reaction. 233 U poses unique challenges for nuclear safeguards, as it is associated with a uniquely extreme γ-ray environment from 232 U contamination, which limits the feasibility of the γ-ray-based assay, as well as more conservative accountability requirements than for 235 U set by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Consequently, instrumentation used for safeguarding 235 U in traditional fuel cycles may be inapplicable. It is essential that the nondestructive signatures of 233 U be characterized so that nuclear safeguards can be applied to thorium fuel-cycle facilities as they come online. In this work, a set of 233 U 3 O 8 plates, containing 984 g 233 U, was measured at the National Criticality Experiments Research Center. A high-pressure 4 He gaseous scintillation detector, which is insensitive to γ-rays, was used to perform a passive fast neutron spectral signature measurement of 233 U 3 O 8 , and was used in conjunction with a pulsed deuterium-tritium neutron generator to demonstrate the differential die-away signature of this material. Furthermore, an array of 3 He detectors was used in conjunction with the same neutron generator to measure the delayed neutron time profile of 233 U, which is unique to this nuclide. These measurements provide a benchmark for future nondestructive assay instrumentation development, and demonstrate a set of key neutron signatures to be leveraged for nuclear safeguards in the thorium fuel cycle.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Cross sections for the formation of Rb84m,g, Rb83, and Rb82m in Sr86(d,x) reactions up to deuteron energies of 49 MeV: Competition between α-particle and multinucleon emission processes

Cross sections of Sr86(d,x) reactions leading to the products Rb84m,g, Rb83, and Rb82m were measured by the stacked-sample activation technique up to deuteron energies of 49 MeV. Nuclear model calculations were performed using the codes talys and empire, which combine the statistical, precompound, and direct interaction components. In all cases, the empire results were much higher than the talys calculation. Fairly good agreement was obtained between measured data and the talys calculation after some optimization of the input model parameters. Insight into competition between α-particle and multinucleon emission in the Y88 compound-nucleus system was also gained.

59 ≤ A ≤ 89↗
DOE OSTI2017

Impact of Linearity and Write Noise of Analog Resistive Memory Devices in a Neural Algorithm Accelerator

Resistive memory (ReRAM) shows promise for use as an analog synapse element in energy-efficient neural network algorithm accelerators. A particularly important application is the training of neural networks, as this is the most computationally-intensive procedure in using a neural algorithm. However, training a network with analog ReRAM synapses can significantly reduce the accuracy at the algorithm level. In order to assess this degradation, analog properties of ReRAM devices were measured and hand-written digit recognition accuracy was modeled for the training using backpropagation. Bipolar filamentary devices utilizing three material systems were measured and compared: one oxygen vacancy system, Ta-TaO x , and two conducting metallization systems, Cu-SiO 2 , and Ag/chalcogenide. Analog properties and conductance ranges of the devices are optimized by measuring the response to varying voltage pulse characteristics. Key analog device properties which degrade the accuracy are update linearity and write noise. Write noise may improve as a function of device manufacturing maturity, but write nonlinearity appears relatively consistent among the different device material systems and is found to be the most significant factor affecting accuracy. As a result, this suggests that new materials and/or fundamentally different resistive switching mechanisms may be required to improve device linearity and achieve higher algorithm training accuracy.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Understanding SYCL Portability for Pseudorandom Number Generation: a Case Study with Gene-Expression Connectivity Mapping

Towards the goal of improving functional and performance portability of SYCL, we study a bioinformatics application that has been accelerated with CUDA and fast pseudorandom number generation on a GPU. We describe the experience of migrating pseudorandom number generation from CUDA to SYCL, evaluate the performance of pseudorandom number generators using the CUDA random number generation library, suggest the support of the XORWOW pseudorandom number generator in the oneAPI math kernel library (oneMKL) interface for performance portability, and identify the performance gap using the MKL interface in SYCL that supports pseudorandom number generation with third-party libraries. We hope that the results are valuable for the development of the SYCL ecosystem.

Jin, Zheming↗
DOE OSTI2018

Accelerated Architectures Create Programming Opportunities

In the early 2000s, industry switched to multicore microprocessors to address semiconductors' speed and power limits. However, the change was unsuccessful, leading to dire claims that “Moore's law is ending.” In conclusion, this column suggests that while the approach was sound, it needed a deeper architectural transformation. Industry has since discovered a suitable architecture, but work remains on software to support it.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Re-Assembly and Test of a COMB Dipole Magnet With STAR Wires

Rare-Earth Barium Copper Oxide (REBCO) coated conductors are an attractive option for application in high field accelerator magnets due to their high critical field and the convenience of fabrication without heat treatment compared to some other superconductors. A small REBCO accelerator magnet was previously fabricated and tested in liquid nitrogen, demonstrating over 90% critical current retention in the coils. This paper describes the magnet re-assembly with a different support structure and its test in liquid helium at 1.8–4.5 K. The magnet quench history along with the instrumentation data is presented and discussed.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2015

SU-E-T-126: Application of PIPSpro and EPID for Quality Assurance of Medical Accelerators

Purpose: The purpose is to study applying PIPSpro and EPID for routine quality assurance of medical accelerators. Methods: (1) The coincidence of Light field and radiation field: Placed the FC-2 phantom on the treatment couch at the 100cm SSD. Using jaw set 10×10 cm{sup 2} or 15×15 cm{sup 2} field. Verified that the light field aligns with the engraved squares on the phantom. Placed the Crosshair Marker phantom on the top of the FC-2 phantom with the cross-hair and spherical marker aligned to the center of the light field. Acquired images with EPID and the images should be exported preferably in DICOM format. Analyzed Follow the recommended procedures in the radiation light field module of PIPSpro software.(2)MLC QA:Set up the MLC phantom on the treatment couch at isocenter. Positioned the EPID imager at the highest possible position without colliding with either the couch or the phantom. Created and delivered four different patterns for testing the MLC leaf position, leaf width, multi-port and leaf transmission. (3)Radiation isocenter test: Included the isocenter of collimator rotation, gantry rotation and couch rotation. Set the jaws of the collimator to create a thin field as 0.4cm x 20cm.Irradiated film or EPID using an equidistant 15° spacing angles with rotating collimator, gantry and couch respectively. Results: We analyzed imagers from EPID and film with PIPSPro software. As a Result, we acquired the specifications of medical accelerators quickly. In the meantime, the results were saved to database for trending and future analysis. Conclusion: Quality assurance of medical accelerator is very important. We used PIPSpro and EPID for routine detection, not only improved our efficiency, but also saved the cost. It is an good method.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2019

Bedrock v1.0

Bedrock is a code set of firmware libraries written in Verilog used by LBNL for accelerator controls and other applications. A set of commonly used building blocks in DSP (Digital Signal Processing) are present such as a CORDIC implementation, CIC filters, etc. Other useful functions include an in-fabric Ethernet core implementation to communicate with FPGAs over the network and support drivers for components such as ADCs and DACs we have used in our designs. The code base is intended to serve as a support library for HDL designs.

Doolittle, Lawrence↗
DOE OSTI2021

A survey of numerical linear algebra methods utilizing mixed-precision arithmetic

The efficient utilization of mixed-precision numerical linear algebra algorithms can offer attractive acceleration to scientific computing applications. Especially with the hardware integration of low-precision special-function units designed for machine learning applications, the traditional numerical algorithms community urgently needs to reconsider the floating point formats used in the distinct operations to efficiently leverage the available compute power. In this study, we provide a comprehensive survey of mixed-precision numerical linear algebra routines, including the underlying concepts, theoretical background, and experimental results for both dense and sparse linear algebra problems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Time-Resolved Electron-Bunch Diagnostics Using Transverse Wakefields

The development of future free electron lasers (FELs) requires reliable time-resolved measurement of variable ultra-short electron-bunchs characteristics. A possible technique is to streak the bunch in the transverse direction by means of time-dependent external fields. In this paper we explore the possible use of self-generated electromagnetic fields *. A passive deflector, consisting of a dielectric-lined waveguide, is used to produce wakefields that impart a time-dependent transverse kick to the relativistic electron bunch passing off-axis. We investigate the technique and its performances and explore its possible application at the Fermilab Accelerator Science & Technology (FAST) facility.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Preliminary Tests and Beam Dynamics Simulations of a Straight-Merger Beamline

Beamlines capable of merging beams with different energies are critical to many applications related to advanced accelerator concepts and energy-recovery linacs (ERLs). In an ERL, a low-energy "fresh" bright bunch is generally injected into a superconducting linac for acceleration using the fields established by a decelerated "spent" beam traveling on the same axis. A straight-merger system composed of a selecting cavity with a superimposed dipole magnet was proposed and recently test at AWA. This paper reports on the experimental results obtained so far along with detailed beam dynamics investigations of the merger concept and its ability to conserve the beam brightness associated with the fresh bunch.

Al Marzouk, A. A.↗
DOE OSTI2023

THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF SRF NIOBIUM

Bulk and thin films of niobium are the materials of choice in fabricating superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities for modern particle accelerators and quantum computing applications. The thermodynamic properties of Nb are of particular interest in heat management in cryogenic environments. Here, we report the results of measurements of the thermodynamic properties of niobium used in the fabrication of SRF cavities. The temperature and magnetic field dependence of thermal conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and specific heat capacity was measured on bulk niobium samples.

Dhakal, Pashupati↗
DOE OSTI2016

Design of the Next Generation Target at the Lujan Neutron Scattering Center, LANSCE

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) supports scientific research in many diverse fields such as biology, chemistry, and nuclear science. The Laboratory was established in 1943 during the Second World War to develop nuclear weapons. Today, LANL is one of the largest laboratories dedicated to nuclear defense and operates an 800 MeV proton linear accelerator for basic and applied research including: production of high- and low-energy neutrons beams, isotope production for medical applications and proton radiography. This accelerator is located at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE). The work performed involved the redesign of the target for the low-energy neutron source at the Lujan Neutron Scattering Center, which is one of the facilities built around the accelerator. The redesign of the target involves modeling various arrangements of the moderator-reflector-shield for the next generation neutron production target. This is done using Monte Carlo N-Particle eXtended (MCNPX), and ROOT analysis framework, a C++ based-software, to analyze the results.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2021

Expanded Capabilities and Opportunities for Virtual Beamline Code

In the 25 years since LLNL broke ground on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) - a cornerstone of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Stockpile Stewardship Program - the NIF and Photon Science (NIF&PS) Directorate has steadily pushed the boundaries of laser physics, nonlinear optics, and photonics in service of inertial confinement fusion experiments, and advanced photon sources development. Beyond the 192 beamlines of the primary laser facility with its world-record energy and fusion yields, NIF&PS capabilities have expanded to include chirped-pulse amplification, kilojoule petawatt-class short-pulse systems to generate hard x-ray radiographic probes, high-average power lasers as secondary sources for generation or wake field particle acceleration along directed energy applications, and other scientific pursuits. The Computing Directorate partners with NIF&PS on numerous projects and technologies from diagnostic measurements and high performance control systems to data analysis, information technology infrastructure, and scientific simulation code development. “This strong collaboration enables cutting-edge science, particularly with regard to physics-based modeling and simulation,” says physicist Jean-Michel Di Nicola. One crucial capability for NIF&PS is the Virtual Beamline (VBL) laser simulation code. It can model all the major laser physics and technology involved in the design optimization, commissioning, and operations of advanced laser architectures from tabletop to NIF-scale. VBL provides researchers with high-fidelity models and high-resolution calculations of laser performance predictions—including for the entire NIF laser system, the Advanced Radiographic Capability, parts of the High Repetition-Rate Advanced Petawatt Laser System laser delivered to the Czech Republic, and the Optical Science Laser. After more than two decades of experimentally verified physics and computing enhancements, this unique workhorse code is wrapping up another major milestone: migration from Java to C++ with a flurry of user interface and optimization features, as well as laser physics and high-resolution enhancements thanks to parallel execution on Livermore Computing platforms.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗