SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “radiation front”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

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

At least 91 records · Page 5

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2023

Cooling flow regime of a plasma thermal quench

A large class of Laboratory, Space, and Astrophysical plasmas is nearly collisionless. When a localized energy or particle sink, for example, in the form of a radiative cooling spot or a black hole, is introduced into such a plasma, it can trigger a plasma thermal collapse, also known as a thermal quench in tokamak fusion. Here we show that the electron thermal conduction in such a nearly collisionless plasma follows the convective energy transport scaling in itself or in its spatial gradient, due to the constraint of ambipolar transport. As a result, a robust cooling flow aggregates mass toward the cooling spot and the thermal collapse of the surrounding plasma takes the form of four propagating fronts that originate from the radiative cooling spot, along the magnetic field line in a magnetized plasma. The slowest one, which is responsible for deep cooling, is a shock front.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2026

Thermal Studies of CMS High-Granularity Calorimeter (HGCAL) Cassettes for the HL-LHC Upgrade

The CMS High Granularity Calorimeter (HGCAL) is a key endcap upgrade for the High-Luminosity LHC, designed to operate in an environment of extreme radiation and high particle rates. Each HGCAL cassette integrates silicon and scintillator modules, front-end ASICs, and a copper cooling plate that provides both mechanical integrity and thermal coupling using two-phase CO₂ cooling. Stable and uniform temperature control is essential to ensure reliable performance of the front-end electronics and to limit radiation-induced leakage currents in the silicon sensors. We present results from thermal characterization studies of pre-series HGCAL cassettes assembled and tested at Fermilab. Embedded RTD/PT1000 temperature sensors were used to measure gradients across copper cooling plates, module layers, and cassette edges under powering conditions representative of operation. The measured thermal behavior demonstrates effective heat transport through the cassette stack and highlights small but systematic variations correlated with geometry and assembly tolerances. These results validate the cooling performance of HGCAL cassettes.

Wang, Jinglu [Northwestern U.]↗

DOE OSTI2025

An Observational Evaluation of RKW Theory over the U.S. Southern Great Plains

The theory of Rotunno et al. (“RKW” theory) addresses the behavior of squall-line cold pools in vertically sheared flows. It predicts that, within a given thermodynamic environment, a balance between baroclinic vorticity generation by the cold pool and low-level environmental vertical wind shear induces an upright updraft along the gust front that maximizes the initiation of new convective cells. Although this theory has been evaluated numerically, its applicability to observed systems remains unclear and is limited by a lack of critical measurements, including high-frequency thermodynamic and wind profiles across the gust front. Herein, observations from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Southern Great Plains (ARM-SGP) observatory near Lamont, Oklahoma, are used to evaluate RKW theory for 10 well-observed squall lines over a 11-yr period. For this evaluation, RKW parameters including cold-pool intensity (c), low-level ambient, line-normal vertical shear (ΔV n ), subcloud and cloud-layer updraft tilts, and multiple measures of system intensity are estimated. Furthermore, the c estimates rely on thermodynamic retrievals from the Atmosphere Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI), which are uncertain but verify reasonably well against independent observations. As predicted by the theory, for c/ΔV n ≥ 1, c/ΔV n correlates positively with updraft tilt and negatively with system intensity, but these results are not always statistically significant and are also sensitive to the method by which ΔV n is evaluated. Specifically, ΔV n evaluations that extend above the cold-pool top yield greater consistency with RKW predictions. Also, some measures of intensity correlate more strongly with standard moist instability metrics than with RKW parameters.

Cold pools↗

DOE OSTI2021

Improvement of Front-Junction GaInP by Point-Defect Injection and Annealing

Traditional front junction GaInP solar cells are radiation tolerant and can have good diffusion length, but have limited voltage and thus efficiency. Here, we investigate the impact of annealing on GaInP device performance. First, Zn-doped GaInP/AlGaInP double heterojunction structures are studied in order to investigate the impact of annealing in a simple structure. While standard anneals lower diffusion length and lifetime, annealing after injecting point-defects improves material quality, presumably by eliminating sources of non-radiative recombination. Atomic ordering is reduced by the anneal, which raises the device bandgap and requires consideration. These results can be used to improve front junction device performance while controlling the bandgap. Then, GaInP front-junction devices are created using anneals with and without point-defect injection. Voc and EQE trends follow the diffusion length and lifetime trends from the DH structures. Baseline devices have Woc of 0.484 V, raising to 0.504 V after a high temperature anneal. However, injecting point defects prior to the anneal results in a front junction device with Woc of 0.405 V and a diffusion length greater than 8 micrometers. Optimized front-junction GaInP devices with an ARC have ~20% efficiency without a rear reflector.

anneal↗

NASA NTRS2016

Global Effects of Transmitted Shock Wave Propagation Through the Earth's Inner Magnetosphere: First Results from 3-D Hybrid Kinetic Modeling

We use a new hybrid kinetic model to simulate the response of ring current, outer radiation belt, and plasmaspheric particle populations to impulsive interplanetary shocks. Since particle distributions attending the interplanetary shock waves and in the ring current and radiation belts are non-Maxwellian, waveparticle interactions play a crucial role in energy transport within the inner magnetosphere. Finite gyroradius effects become important in mass loading the shock waves with the background plasma in the presence of higher energy ring current and radiation belt ions and electrons. Initial results show that shocks cause strong deformations in the global structure of the ring current, radiation belt, and plasmasphere. The ion velocity distribution functions at the shock front, in the ring current, and in the radiation belt help us determine energy transport through the Earth's inner magnetosphere.

Lipatov, A. S.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Improvement of Front-Junction GaInP by Point-Defect Injection and Annealing: Preprint

anneal↗

DOE OSTI2023

The dynamics, mixing, and thermonuclear burn of compressed foams with varied gas fills

Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions involve highly coupled physics and complex hydrodynamics that are challenging to model computationally. Due to the sensitivity of such implosions to small features, detailed simulations require accurate accounting of the geometry and dimensionality of the initial conditions, including capsule defects and engineering features such as fill tubes used to insert gas into the capsule, yet this is computationally prohibitive. It is therefore difficult to evaluate whether discrepancies between the simulation and experiment arise from inadequate fidelity to the capsule geometry and drive conditions, uncertainties in physical data used by simulations, or inadequate physics. We present results from detailed high-resolution three-dimensional simulations of ICF implosions performed as part of the MARBLE campaign on the National Ignition Facility [Albright et al., Phys. Plasmas 29, 022702 (2022)]. These experiments are foam-filled separated-reactant experiments, where deuterons reside in the foam and tritons reside in the capsule gas fill and deuterium–tritium (DT) fusion reactions only occur in the presence of mixing between these materials. Material mixing in these experiments is primarily seeded by shock interaction with the complex geometry of the foam and gas fill, which induces the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability. We compare results for experiments with two different gas fills (ArT and HT), which lead to significant differences in the hydrodynamic and thermodynamic developments of the materials in the implosion. Our simulation results show generally good agreement with experiments and demonstrate a substantial impact of hydrodynamic flows on measured ion temperatures. The results suggest that viscosity, which was not included in our simulations, is the most important unmodeled physics and qualitatively explains the few discrepancies between the simulation and experiment. The results also suggest that the hydrodynamic treatment of shocks is inadequate to predict the heating and yield produced during shock flash, when the shock converges at the center of the implosion. Alternatively, underestimation of the level of radiative preheat from the shock front could explain many of the differences between the experiment and simulation. Nevertheless, simulations are able to reproduce many experimental observables within the level of experimental reproducibility, including most yields, time-resolved X-ray self-emission images, and an increase in burn-weighted ion temperature and neutron down-scattered ratio in the line of sight that includes a jet seeded by the glue spot that joins capsule hemispheres.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Mixing Driven by Critical Reflection of Near-Inertial Waves over the Texas–Louisiana Shelf

Studies of internal wave-driven mixing in the coastal ocean have been focused on internal tides, while wind-driven near-inertial waves (NIWs) have received less attention in this regard. Here, this study demonstrates a scenario of NIW-driven mixing over the Texas–Louisiana shelf. Supported by a high-resolution simulation over the shelf, the NIWs driven by land–sea breeze radiate downward at a sharp front and enhance the mixing in the bottom boundary layer where the NIWs are focused because of slantwise critical reflection. The criterion for slantwise critical reflection of NIWs is ω=$\sqrt{f{^2}+s^{2}_{bot}N{^2}(1-s_{ρ}/s_{bot})}$ (where ω is the wave frequency, s bot is the bottom slope, and s ρ is the isopycnal slope), under the assumption that the mean flow is in a thermal wind balance and only varies in the slope-normal direction. The mechanism driving the enhanced mixing is explored in an idealized simulation. During slantwise critical reflection, NIWs are amplified with enhanced shear and periodically destratify a bottom boundary layer via differential buoyancy advection, leading to periodically enhanced mixing. Turbulent transport of tracers is also enhanced during slantwise critical reflection of NIWs, which has implications for bottom hypoxia over the Texas–Louisiana shelf.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1976

A simplified analytical solution for thermal response of a one-dimensional, steady state transpiration cooling system in radiative and convective environment

A simplified analytical method for calculation of thermal response within a transpiration-cooled porous heat shield material in an intense radiative-convective heating environment is presented. The essential assumptions of the radiative and convective transfer processes in the heat shield matrix are the two-temperature approximation and the specified radiative-convective heatings of the front surface. Sample calculations for porous silica with CO2 injection are presented for some typical parameters of mass injection rate, porosity, and material thickness. The effect of these parameters on the cooling system is discussed.

Kubota, H.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Relativistic particle acceleration in plerions

We discuss recent research on the structure and particle acceleration properties of relativistic shock waves in which the magnetic field is transverse to the flow direction in the upstream medium, and whose composition is either pure electrons and positrons or primarily electrons and positrons with an admixture of heavy ions. Particle-in-cell simulation techniques as well as analytic theory have been used to show that such shocks in pure pair plasmas are fully thermalized -- the downstream particle spectra are relativistic Maxwellians at the temperature expected from the jump conditions. On the other hand, shocks containing heavy ions which are a minority constituent by number but which carry most of the energy density in the upstream medium do put approximately 20% of the flow energy into a nonthermal population of pairs downstream, whose distribution in energy space is N(E) varies as E(exp -2), where N(E)dE is the number of particles with energy between E and E+dE. The mechanism of thermalization and particle acceleration is found to be synchrotron maser activity in the shock front, stimulated by the quasi-coherent gyration of the whole particle population as the plasma flowing into the shock reflects from the magnetic field in the shock front. The synchrotron maser modes radiated by the heavy ions are absorbed by the pairs at their (relativistic) cyclotron frequencies, allowing the maximum energy achievable by the pairs to be gamma(sub +/-)m(sub +/-)c squared = m(sub i)c squared gamma(sub 1)/Z(sub i), where gamma(sub 1) is the Lorentz factor of the upstream flow and Z(sub i) is the atomic number of the ions. The shock's spatial structure is shown to contain a series of 'overshoots' in the magnetic field, regions where the gyrating heavy ions compress the magnetic field to levels in excess of the eventual downstream value. This shock model is applied to an interpretation of the structure of the inner regions of the Crab Nebula, in particular to the 'wisps,' surface brightness enhancements near the pulsar. We argue that these surface brightness enhancements are the regions of magnetic overshoot, which appear brighter because the small Larmor radius pairs are compressed and radiate more efficiently in the regions of more intense magnetic field. This interpretation suggests that the structure of the shock terminating the pulsar's wind in the Crab Nebula is spatially resolved, and allows one to measure gamma(sub 1) and a number of other properties of the pulsar's wind. We also discuss applications of the shock theory to the termination shocks of the winds from rotation-powered pulsars embedded in compact binaries. We show that this model adequately accounts for (and indeed predicted) the recently discovered X-ray flux from PSR 1957+20, and we discuss several other applications to other examples of these systems.

Arons, Jonathan↗

NASA NTRS1995

New far infrared images of bright, nearby, star-forming regions

Broadband imaging in the far infrared is a vital tool for understanding how young stars form, evolve, and interact with their environment. As the sensitivity and size of detector arrays has increased, a richer and more detailed picture has emerged of the nearest and brightest regions of active star formation. We present data on M 17, M 42, and S 106 taken recently on the Kuiper Airborne Observatory with the Yerkes Observatory 60-channel far infrared camera, which has pixel sizes of 17 in. at 60 microns, 27 in. at 100 microns, and 45 in. at 160 and 200 microns. In addition to providing a clearer view of the complex central cores of the regions, the images reveal new details of the structure and heating of ionization fronts and photodissociation zones where radiation form luminous stars interacts with adjacent molecular clouds.

Harper, D. AL, Jr.↗

NASA NTRS2020

A Survey of Small-Scale Waves and Wave-Like Phenomena in Jupiter’s Atmosphere Detected by JunoCam

In the first 20 orbits of the Juno spacecraft around Jupiter, we have identified a variety of wave‐like features in images made by its public‐outreach camera, JunoCam. Because of Juno's unprecedented and repeated proximity to Jupiter's cloud tops during its close approaches, JunoCam has detected more wave structures than any previous surveys. Most of the waves appear in long wave packets, oriented east‐west and populated by narrow wave crests. Spacing between crests were measured as small as ~30 km, shorter than any previously measured. Some waves are associated with atmospheric features, but others are not ostensibly associated with any visible cloud phenomena and thus may be generated by dynamical forcing below the visible cloud tops. Some waves also appear to be converging, and others appear to be overlapping, possibly at different atmospheric levels. Another type of wave has a series of fronts that appear to be radiating outward from the center of a cyclone. Most of these waves appear within 5° of latitude from the equator, but we have detected waves covering planetocentric latitudes between 20°S and 45°N. The great majority of the waves appear in regions associated with prograde motions of the mean zonal flow. Juno was unable to measure the velocity of wave features to diagnose the wave types due to its close and rapid flybys. However, both by our own upper limits on wave motions and by analogy with previous measurements, we expect that the waves JunoCam detected near the equator are inertia‐gravity waves.

Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration↗

DOE OSTI2020

Methods and systems for determining soiling on photovoltaic devices

An aspect of the present disclosure relates to radiating light on to a front surface of a glass pane comprising a first surface and a second surface defining a thickness between the first surface and the second surface, wherein the first surface is substantially parallel to the second surface; detecting a transmittance of the light through the glass pane; comparing the transmittance through the glass pane to a reference transmittance value corresponding to a clean reference glass pane; and determining, using the transmittance and the reference transmittance, a soiling metric of a photovoltaic module.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

PIXEL2020: Tenth International Workshop on Semiconductor Pixel Detectors for Particles and Imaging

This workshop covers various topics related to pixel detector technology. Development and applications will be discussed for charged particle tracking in High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, Astrophysics, and X-ray imaging in Astronomy, Biology, Medicine and Material Science. The conference program will also include reports on front and back end electronics, radiation effects, low mass mechanics and construction techniques, and new technologies such as monolithic and 3D integrated detectors.

Sally, Seidel↗

NASA NTRS1980

Shock-tube studies of radiative base heating of Jovian probe

A 6.4-cm-diameter scale model of the Jovian entry vehicle is tested in an electric-arc-driven shock tube and a 5-cm-diameter sphere model is tested in a combustion-driven shock tube and in an electric-arc-driven shock tunnel. The radiative heat-transfer rate and pressure on the front and the base regions are measured in the absence of ablation with sensors imbedded in the models in a stream consisting of 10% hydrogen in a bath of either neon or argon. The measured radiative heat-transfer rates and pressures range to about 22 kW/sq cm and 12 atm, respectively, at the front stagnation point. The ratio of the radiative heat-transfer rate at the base stagnation point to that at the front stagnation point is found to be about 1/4 for the sphere at Mach 1.8, about 1/30 for the sphere at Mach 4.8, and about 1/6 for the scale model at Mach 1.7. The present experimental results agree well with the theoretical predictions of Park, thus indicating that Park's theory is valid.

Shirai, H.↗

DOE OSTI2022

Waveform processing using neural network algorithms on the front-end electronics

In a multi-channel radiation detector readout system, waveform sampling, digitization, and raw data transmission to the data acquisition system constitute a conventional processing chain. The deposited energy on the sensor is estimated by extracting peak amplitudes, area under pulse envelopes from the raw data, and starting times of signals or time of arrivals. However, such quantities can be estimated using machine learning algorithms on the front-end Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), often termed as “edge computing”. Edge computation offers enormous benefits, especially when the analytical forms are not fully known or the registered waveform suffers from noise and imperfections of practical implementations. In this work, we aim to predict peak amplitude from a single waveform snippet whose rising and falling edges containing only 3 to 4 samples. We thoroughly studied two well-accepted neural network algorithms, Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) by varying their model sizes. Further, to better fit front-end electronics, neural network model reduction techniques, such as network pruning methods and variable-bit quantization approaches, were also studied. By combining pruning and quantization, our best performing model has the size of 1.5 KB, reduced from 16.6 KB of its full model counterpart. It can reach mean absolute error of 0.034 comparing to that of a naive baseline of 0.135. Such parameter-efficient and predictive neural network models established feasibility and practicality of their deployment on front-end ASICs.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

NASA NTRS1978

Performance analysis of a filtered wide field-of-view radiometer for earth radiation budget measurements

The proposed Earth Radiation Budget Satellite System (ERBSS) of the 1980's will include a wide field-of-view (WFOV) fixed axes earth radiator discriminator consisting of a shortwave channel and a total (unfiltered) channel. The broadband spectral isolation required for the shortwave channel is achieved by use of a hemispherical fused silica (Suprasil W) dome filter placed in front of a wire wound thermopile radiation detector. A description is presented of the thermal response of the single-fused silica dome filter in the ERBSS WFOV shortwave channel conceptual design and the impact of that response on the channel measurement. Results from design definition and performance analysis studies are included. Problems associated with achieving the desired levels of confidence in a high accuracy filtered, WFOV radiometer are discussed. Design approaches, ground calibration, and data reduction techniques which minimize measurement uncertainties are explained.

Cooper, J. E.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Blast wave formation of the extended stellar shells surrounding elliptical galaxies

The existence of stellar shells at large distances from isolated elliptical galaxies is explained in terms of a blast wave associated with an active nucleus phase early in the history of the galaxy. The blast wave sweeps the initial interstellar medium out of the galaxy into an expanding shell which radiatively cools behind its leading shock front. Cooling of the shell following turnoff of the nucleus activity, which keeps the shell photoionized, leads to a brief epoch of star formation which is terminated by heating of the shell from supernovae and UV radiation from massive stars. The stars so formed follow similar, highly radial, bound orbits, moving in phase with each other and spending much of their time near apogalacteum, thus taking on the appearance of a shell. Multiple shells may be produced when conditions allow repeated episodes of shell cooling and supernovae heating to occur in the blast wave.

Williams, R. E.↗