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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 91 records · Page 5

Roadmap for transforming heterogeneous catalysis with artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to transform heterogeneous catalysis, opening avenues for catalytic materials discovery. By uncovering intricate patterns in high-dimensional data, AI has been reshaping our pursuit of sustainable catalytic processes across the energy, environmental and chemical sectors. This promise, however, hinges on overcoming fundamental barriers, including limitations in data availability and quality, challenges in the generalizability and interpretability of data-augmented decisions, and the persistent gap between in silico predictions and experiments. Furthermore, we outline a forward-looking roadmap for deeply integrating AI into heterogeneous catalysis with an AI-ready data ecosystem, multimodal foundation models, and ultimately autonomous laboratories to accelerate the development of next-generation catalytic technologies via AI-empowered human–machine collaboration.

Computational methods↗

An Integrated ML/AI Framework for Digitizing, Structuring and Searching DOE U-TRU-Fuels Data with Gap Analysis of Non-DOE Records

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) is advancing transmutation fuel technologies to reduce long-lived radioactive waste by converting minor actinides into shorter-lived or stable elements through irradiation in sodium-cooled fast reactors. Key experiments such as AFC-1, AFC-2, FUels for the transmutation of Trans-URanium elements In phéniX (FUTURIX)-Fortes Teneurs en Actinides (FTA), and Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) X501 have provided fuel fabrication, irradiation, and performance data on various transuranic-bearing fuel forms. This report documents the creation of an artificial-intelligence assisted database, which has consolidated all DOE-owned data related to Transuranic (TRU)-bearing fuel experiments and stored across it across both the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Nuclear Data Management and Analysis System and the INL high performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. A dedicated webpage, hosted on the INL HPC system, has been developed to support role-based access and data interaction. The database architecture allows researchers to navigate large, heterogeneous archives with far greater speed and accuracy than manual search and lays the foundation for future expansion into multimodal nuclear materials analysis environments. The database represents a major step towards a nationally integrated fuels database utilizing artificial intelligence tools.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Autonomous Propulsion System Technology Being Developed to Optimize Engine Performance Throughout the Lifecycle

The goal of the Autonomous Propulsion System Technology (APST) project is to reduce pilot workload under both normal and anomalous conditions. Ongoing work under APST develops and leverages technologies that provide autonomous engine monitoring, diagnosing, and controller adaptation functions, resulting in an integrated suite of algorithms that maintain the propulsion system's performance and safety throughout its life. Engine-to-engine performance variation occurs among new engines because of manufacturing tolerances and assembly practices. As an engine wears, the performance changes as operability limits are reached. In addition to these normal phenomena, other unanticipated events such as sensor failures, bird ingestion, or component faults may occur, affecting pilot workload as well as compromising safety. APST will adapt the controller as necessary to achieve optimal performance for a normal aging engine, and the safety net of APST algorithms will examine and interpret data from a variety of onboard sources to detect, isolate, and if possible, accommodate faults. Situations that cannot be accommodated within the faulted engine itself will be referred to a higher level vehicle management system. This system will have the authority to redistribute the faulted engine's functionality among other engines, or to replan the mission based on this new engine health information. Work is currently underway in the areas of adaptive control to compensate for engine degradation due to aging, data fusion for diagnostics and prognostics of specific sensor and component faults, and foreign object ingestion detection. In addition, a framework is being defined for integrating all the components of APST into a unified system. A multivariable, adaptive, multimode control algorithm has been developed that accommodates degradation-induced thrust disturbances during throttle transients. The baseline controller of the engine model currently being investigated has multiple control modes that are selected according to some performance or operational criteria. As the engine degrades, parameters shift from their nominal values. Thus, when a new control mode is swapped in, a variable that is being brought under control might have an excessive initial error. The new adaptive algorithm adjusts the controller gains on the basis of the level of degradation to minimize the disruptive influence of the large error on other variables and to recover the desired thrust response.

Litt, Jonathan S.↗

Multimodal sensor fusion for real-time standoff estimation in directed energy deposition

In Laser Powder-based Direct Energy Deposition (LP-DED) systems, achieving consistency, precision and quality of produced parts requires tight control over printing parameters. One of the critical parameters is the standoff distance. Maintaining an optimal standoff height is crucial for achieving correct laser power density and powder catchment efficiency, as both laser and powder streams are focused at this distance. Here, this study introduces a novel approach using multimodal sensor fusion to predict standoff height in real-time. The proposed system integrates two low-profile, cost-effective sensors: an RGB coaxial camera and a high frequency and high dynamic range microphone. By utilizing a simple fully connected neural network, trained on a limited dataset, data fusion of these sensors allowed for the real-time prediction of the standoff height. The results demonstrate high resolution and accuracy of the predictions across multiple geometries and a wide range of standoff heights. This approach offers a simple, and cost-effective solution for real-time standoff height monitoring and lays the groundwork for future integration into commercial LP-DED systems.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Integrated multi-wavelength microscope combining TIRFM and IRM modalities for imaging cellulases and other processive enzymes

We describe a multimodal microscope for visualizing processive enzymes moving on immobilized substrates. The instrument combines interference reflection microscopy (IRM) with multi-wavelength total internal reflectance fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM). The microscope can localize quantum dots with a precision of 2.8 nm at 100 frames/s, and was used to image the dynamics of the cellulase, Cel7a interacting with surface-immobilized cellulose. The instrument, which was built with off-the-shelf components and is controlled by custom software, is suitable for tracking other degradative enzymes such as collagenases, as well as motor proteins moving along immobilized tracks.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Ultracoherent SRF Cavity-Based Multi-Qudit Platform with Error-Resilient Control

Superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities offer a promising platform for quantum computing due to their long coherence times, yet integrating nonlinear elements like transmons for control often introduces additional loss. We report a multimode quantum system based on a 2-cell elliptical shaped SRF cavity, comprising two cavity modes weakly coupled to an ancillary transmon circuit, designed to preserve coherence while enabling efficient control of the cavity modes. We mitigate the detrimental effects of the transmon decoherence through careful design optimization that reduces transmon-cavity couplings and participation in the dielectric substrate and lossy interfaces, to achieve single-photon lifetimes of 20.6\,ms and 15.6\,ms for the two modes, and a pure dephasing time exceeding 40\,ms. This marks an order-of-magnitude improvement over prior 3D multimode memories. Leveraging sideband interactions and novel error-resilient protocols, including measurement-based correction and post-selection, we achieve high-fidelity control over quantum states. This enables the preparation of Fock states up to $N = 20$ with fidelities exceeding 95\%, the highest reported to date to the authors' knowledge, as well as two-mode entanglement with an estimated coherence-limited fidelities of 99.9\% after post-selection. These results establish our platform as a robust foundation for quantum information processing, allowing for future extensions to high-dimensional qudit encodings.

Kim, T. [Northwestern U.]↗

Ultracoherent superconducting cavity-based multiqudit platform with error-resilient control

Superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities offer a promising platform for quantum computing due to their long coherence times, yet integrating nonlinear elements like transmons for control often introduces additional loss. We report a multimode quantum system based on a 2-cell elliptical-shaped SRF cavity, comprising two cavity modes weakly coupled to an ancillary transmon circuit, designed to preserve coherence while enabling efficient control of the cavity modes. We mitigate the detrimental effects of the transmon decoherence through careful design optimization that reduces transmon-cavity couplings and participation in the dielectric substrate and lossy interfaces, to achieve single-photon lifetimes of 20.6 ms and 15.6 ms for the two modes, and a pure dephasing time exceeding 40 ms. This marks an order-of-magnitude improvement over prior 3D multimode memories. Leveraging sideband interactions and novel error-resilient protocols, including measurement-based correction and post-selection, we achieve high-fidelity control over quantum states. This enables the preparation of Fock states up to N = 20 with fidelities exceeding 95%, the highest reported to date to the authors' knowledge, as well as two-mode entanglement with an estimated coherence-limited fidelities of 99.9% after post-selection. These results establish our platform as a robust foundation for quantum information processing, allowing for future extensions to high-dimensional qudit encodings.

Lu, Yao [Fermilab] (ORCID:000000020413698X)↗

Ultracoherent superconducting cavity-based multiqudit platform with error-resilient control

Superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities offer a promising platform for quantum computing due to their long coherence times, yet integrating nonlinear elements like transmons for control often introduces additional loss. We report a multimode quantum system based on a 2-cell elliptical-shaped SRF cavity, comprising two cavity modes weakly coupled to an ancillary transmon circuit, designed to preserve coherence while enabling efficient control of the cavity modes. We mitigate the detrimental effects of the transmon decoherence through careful design optimization that reduces transmon-cavity couplings and participation in the dielectric substrate and lossy interfaces, to achieve single-photon lifetimes of 20.6 ms and 15.6 ms for the two modes, and a pure dephasing time exceeding 40 ms. This marks an order-of-magnitude improvement over prior 3D multimode memories. Leveraging sideband interactions and novel error-resilient protocols, including measurement-based correction and post-selection, we achieve high-fidelity control over quantum states. This enables the preparation of Fock states up to N = 20 with fidelities exceeding 95%, the highest reported to date to the authors' knowledge, as well as two-mode entanglement with an estimated coherence-limited fidelities of 99.9% after post-selection. These results establish our platform as a robust foundation for quantum information processing, allowing for future extensions to high-dimensional qudit encodings.

Lu, Yao [Fermilab] (ORCID:000000020413698X)↗

Ultracoherent superconducting cavity-based multiqudit platform with error-resilient control

Superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities offer a promising platform for quantum computing due to their long coherence times, yet integrating nonlinear elements like transmons for control often introduces additional loss. We report a multimode quantum system based on a 2-cell elliptical shaped SRF cavity, comprising two cavity modes weakly coupled to an ancillary transmon circuit, designed to preserve coherence while enabling efficient control of the cavity modes. We mitigate the detrimental effects of the transmon decoherence through careful design optimization that reduces transmon-cavity couplings and participation in the dielectric substrate and lossy interfaces, to achieve single-photon lifetimes of 20.6 ms and 15.6 ms for the two modes, and a pure dephasing time exceeding 40 ms. This marks an order-of-magnitude improvement over prior 3D multimode memories. Leveraging sideband interactions and novel error-resilient protocols, including measurement-based correction and post-selection, we achieve high-fidelity control over quantum states. This enables the preparation of Fock states up to $N = 20$ with fidelities exceeding 95%, the highest reported to date to the authors' knowledge, as well as two-mode entanglement with an estimated coherence-limited fidelities of 99.9% after post-selection. These results establish our platform as a robust foundation for quantum information processing, allowing for future extensions to high-dimensional qudit encodings.

Kim, Taeyoon [Fermilab; Northwestern U.]↗

Coupling Shared E-scooters and Public Transit: A Spatial and Temporal Analysis

The integration of shared e-scooters with public transit is a promising solution for urban mobility's first/last-mile challenge. This study explores spatiotemporal factors influencing this integration, using 35-day e-scooter trip data from Chicago. Employing a random-effect negative binomial approach, we modeled the frequency of e-scooter trips to access/egress to/from bus stops and train stations. Results indicate that weather conditions, design features like intersection density, and multimodal network density significantly influence usage. The transit system characteristics such as service frequency have a positive effect on the integration of e-scooters and trains while a similar effect for bus and e-scooter integration was not significant. Furthermore, safety-related variables such as accident and crime rates as well as demographic characteristics were also revealed to be significant factors in our study. These findings offer vital insights to urban planners and policymakers for infrastructure, safety enhancements, and interventions to encourage efficient e-scooter-public transit integration.

Chicago↗

A guide to the BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network data ecosystem

Characterizing cellular diversity at different levels of biological organization and across data modalities is a prerequisite to understanding the function of cell types in the brain. Classification of neurons is also essential to manipulate cell types in controlled ways and to understand their variation and vulnerability in brain disorders. The BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN) is an integrated network of data-generating centers, data archives, and data standards developers, with the goal of systematic multimodal brain cell type profiling and characterization. Emphasis of the BICCN is on the whole mouse brain with demonstration of prototype feasibility for human and nonhuman primate (NHP) brains. Here, we provide a guide to the cellular and spatial approaches employed by the BICCN, and to accessing and using these data and extensive resources, including the BRAIN Cell Data Center (BCDC), which serves to manage and integrate data across the ecosystem. We illustrate the power of the BICCN data ecosystem through vignettes highlighting several BICCN analysis and visualization tools. Finally, we present emerging standards that have been developed or adopted toward Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) neuroscience. The combined BICCN ecosystem provides a comprehensive resource for the exploration and analysis of cell types in the brain.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Advancing Industry 4.0: Multimodal Sensor Fusion for AI-Based Fault Detection in 3D Printing

Additive manufacturing, particularly fused deposition modeling, is transforming modern production by enabling rapid prototyping and complex part fabrication. However, its layer-by-layer process remains vulnerable to faults such as nozzle clogging, filament runout, and layer misalignment, which compromise print quality and reliability. Traditional inspection methods are costly, time-intensive, and often limited to post-process analysis, making them unsuitable for real-time intervention. In this current study, the authors developed a novel, low-cost, and portable faultdetection system that leverages multimodal sensor fusion and artificial intelligence for real-time monitoring in FDM-based 3D printing. The system integrates acoustic, vibration, and thermal sensing into a non-intrusive architecture, capturing complementary data streams that reflect both mechanical and process-related anomalies. Acoustic and thermal sensors operate in a fully contactless manner, while the vibration sensor requires minimal attachment such that it will not interfere with printer hardware, thereby preserving portability and ease of deployment. The multimodal signals are processed into spectrograms and time-frequency features, which are classified using convolutional neural networks for intelligent fault detection. The proposed system advances Industry 4.0 objectives by offering an affordable, scalable, and practical monitoring solution that improves faultdetection accuracy, reduces waste, and supports sustainable, adaptive manufacturing.

42 ENGINEERING↗

AI-Based Analytics and Energy Modeling Framework for Characterizing Urban Energy Systems

Developing location-specific district energy models is essential for understanding energy patterns and supporting efficient management and planning decisions. However, accurately characterizing these models remains challenging due to gaps in building characteristics and labor-intensive traditional modeling workflows. To address these challenges, we develop an AI-based framework that integrates top-down and bottom-up building energy data to automate urban energy model characterization. The framework trains multimodal deep learning models using heterogeneous ResStockTM datasets to infer missing building characteristics from varying levels of known information and generate simulation-ready inputs for district-scale energy modeling. It also employs a conditioning-based injection approach to generate ”what-if” scenarios, enabling users to explore retrofit, efficiency, and technology-upgrade pathways. Integrated within URBANoptTM, a bottom-up district energy modeling platform for simulating co-located buildings, the framework infers detailed building-level inputs required for bottom-up simulations. Both localized and generalized AI models are developed to learn relationships across categorical, numerical, and time-series data, enabling reconstruction of missing attributes and generation of targeted upgrade scenarios. We demonstrate this methodology on a residential neighborhood in Baltimore, MD, assessing internal consistency against ResStock reference data and URBANopt simulation, and comparing selected attributes against real-world building characteristics. Results show strong overall predictive accuracy in data completion and scenario generation, with localized and generalized models offering complementary trade-offs between precision and scalability. Overall, our automated framework streamlines energy modeling and provides a reliable framework for urban building energy characterization.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Contemplating the plasmalemmal control center model

An abundant epidermal mechanosensory calcium-selective ion channel appears able not only to detect mechanical stimuli such as those that initiate gravitropism but also to detect thermal, electrical, and various chemical stimuli. Because it responds to multimodal input with a second messenger output, this channel system seems likely to be an integrator that can engage in feedbacks with many other systems of the cell--and feedback is the hallmark of regulation. In general, the mechanical tension required for channel activation is likely transmitted from the relatively rigid cell wall to the plasma membrane system via linkage or adhesion sites that display antigenicities recognized by antibodies to animal beta-1 integrin, vitronectin, and fibronectin and which have mechanical connections to the cytoskeleton. Thus, functionally, leverage exerted against any given adhesion site will tend to control channels within a surrounding domain. Reactions initiated by passage of calcium ions through the channels could presumably be more effectively regulated if channels within the domains were somewhat clustered and if appropriate receptors, kinases, porters, pumps, and some key cytoskeletal anchoring sites were in turn clustered about them. Accumulating evidence suggests not only that activity of clusters of channels may contribute to control of cytoskeletal architecture and of regulatory protein function within their domain, but also that both a variety of regulatory proteins and components of the cortical cytoskeleton may contribute to control of channel activity. The emerging capabilities of electronic optical microscopy are well suited for resolving the spatial distributions of many of these cytoskeletal and regulatory molecules in living cells, and for following some of their behaviors as channels are stimulated to open and cytosolic calcium builds in their vicinity. Such microscopy, coupled with biochemical and physiological probing, should help to establish the nature of the feedback loops putatively controlled by the linkage sites and their channel domains.

Review↗

Toward Intelligent Multimodal Holography for Real-Time Chemical Imaging of Dynamic Ion Separation

Molecular-level visualization of ion transport and separation dynamics in complex environments is crucial for advancing energy systems, water purification, and critical materials recovery. Achieving this requires imaging platforms that combine structural sensitivity, chemical specificity, and real-time operation. Digital off-axis holography (DOAH) provides high-throughput, label-free quantitative phase imaging but inherently lacks chemical selectivity. Integrating DOAH with complementary spectroscopic channels such as fluorescence or hyperspectral imaging introduces the needed molecular specificity, while also creating challenges in multimodal data fusion, synchronization, and computational throughput. Artificial intelligence offers a powerful route to address these limitations by uniting physics-based reconstruction with data-driven interpretation. In this Perspective, we outline a framework for intelligent multimodal holography and demonstrate its potential using a preliminary AI-driven test case. Raw DOAH holograms of lanthanide solutions subjected to magnetic field gradients were analyzed using multi-agent AI workflows that autonomously selected reconstruction tools, extracted NMF components, and generated scientific claims consistent with true paramagnetic and diamagnetic behavior. This demonstration shows how AI-enabled reasoning can deliver real-time chemical–structural interpretation directly from raw holograms. Together, these advances define a path toward adaptive, intelligent holography platforms capable of supporting in situ chemical separations, dynamic ion transport analysis, and next-generation interfacial science.

Ricchiuti, Giovanna↗

Multimode theory of electron hole transverse instability

We present Vlasov–Poisson three-dimensional linear stability analysis of an initially planar electron hole structure, solving for the distribution function by integration along unperturbed orbits. The non-sinusoidal potential perturbation shape (parallel to $B$ ) is expanded in eigenfunctions of the adiabatic Poisson operator, generalizing the prior assumption of a rigid shift of the equilibrium. We show that the shiftmode is then modified by a second discrete mode plus an integral over a continuum of wave-like modes. A rigorous treatment shows that the continuum can be approximated effectively by a single mode that satisfies the external wave dispersion relation, thus making the perturbation a weighted sum of three modes. We find numerically the solution for the complex instability frequency, and the corresponding three mode amplitudes determining the perturbation eigenmode. This multimode analysis refines the accuracy of the prior single-mode results, giving slightly higher growth rates at most parameters, as expected from the extra mode shape freedom. Oscillating modes near stability boundaries have larger mode distortions which help explain particle-in-cell simulations that observe instability up to ${\sim }20$ % beyond the prior shiftmode thresholds, and narrowing of the perturbation. At high magnetic field, the multimode analysis predicts a reduction of the already small growth rate.

Physics↗

Achieving Multimodal and Multicolor Luminescence in LaAlO 3 :Pr 3+ , Gd 3+ via Trap Engineering and Energy Transfer

Achieving multimodal luminescence within a single phosphor is vital for multifunctional applications but remains challenging due to complex color tuning and trap engineering. In this study, we report Pr 3+ and Gd 3+ co‐doped LaAlO 3 (LAO:PG) phosphors, designed through careful modulation of multilevel traps and Pr 3+ → Gd 3+ energy transfer dynamics. These materials exhibit diverse luminescence modes, including down‐conversion luminescence (DCL), up‐conversion luminescence (UCL), persistent luminescence (PersL), optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), and thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL) across a wide spectral range. Unlike previously studied Pr 3+ ‐doped LAO, the co‐doped LAO:PG shows DCL in both UV‐visible and NIR regions and displays ultraviolet‐C UCL under visible excitation. Notably, we observe, for the first time, PersL lasting several minutes in these phosphors—an improvement over the non‐PersL behavior of Pr 3+ ‐only doped LAO. Additionally, the LAO:PG phosphors exhibit strong OSL response. TSL analysis reveals five distinct trap levels linked to these properties. Density functional theory calculations further correlate intrinsic defects to these traps, supporting a proposed mechanism for the observed multimodal luminescence. These findings highlight LAO:PG as a promising platform for developing advanced phosphors with integrated luminescence modes, paving the way for future applications in data storage, phototherapy, and anti‐counterfeiting technologies.

Chemistry↗