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Results for “STRONG INTERACTIONS”

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 973 records · Page 54
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Capacitive coupling in hybrid graphene/GaAs nanostructures

Coupled hybrid nanostructures are demonstrated using the combination of lithographically patterned graphene on top of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) buried in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. The graphene forms Schottky barriers at the surface of the heterostructure and therefore allows tuning the electronic density of the 2DEG. Conversely, the 2DEG potential can tune the graphene Fermi energy. Graphene-defined quantum point contacts in the 2DEG show half-plateaus of quantized conductance in finite bias spectroscopy and display the 0.7 anomaly for a large range of densities in the constriction, testifying to their good electronic properties. Finally, we demonstrate that the GaAs nanostructure can detect charges in the vicinity of the heterostructure's surface. This confirms the strong coupling of the hybrid device: localized states in the graphene ribbon could, in principle, be probed by the underlying confined channel. The present hybrid graphene/GaAs nanostructures are promising for the investigation of strong interactions and coherent coupling between the two fundamentally different materials.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Broadband resonances in indium-tin-oxide nanorod arrays

There is currently much discussion within the nanophotonics community regarding the origin of wavelength selective absorption/scattering of light by the resonances in nanorod arrays. Here, we report a study of resonances in ordered indium-tin-oxide nanorod arrays resulting from waveguide-like modes. We find that with only a 2.4% geometrical coverage, micron-length nanorod arrays interact strongly with light across a surprisingly wide band from the visible to the mid-infrared, resulting in less than 10% transmission. Simulations show excellent agreement with our experimental observations. The field profile in the vicinity of the rods obtained from simulations shows that the electric field is mainly localized on the surfaces of the nanorods for all resonances. Based on our analysis, the resonances in the visible are different in character from those in the infrared. When light is incident on the array, part of it propagates in the space between the rods and part of it is guided within the rods. The phase difference (interference) at the ends of the rods forms the basis for the resonances in the visible region. The resonances in the infrared are Fabry-Perot-like resonances involving standing surface waves between the opposing ends of the rods. Simple analytical formulae predict the spectral positions of these resonances. It is suggested that these phenomena can be utilized for wavelength-selective photodetectors, modulators, and nanorod-based solar cells.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Four-way coupled simulations of small particles in turbulent channel flow: The effects of particle shape and Stokes number

This paper investigates the effects of particle shape and Stokes number on the behaviour of non-spherical particles in turbulent channel flow. Although there are a number of studies concerning spherical particles in turbulent flows, most important applications occurring in process, energy, and pharmaceutical industries deal with non-spherical particles. The computation employs a unique and novel four-way coupling with the Lagrangian point-particle approach. The fluid phase at low Reynolds number (Re{sub τ} = 150) is modelled by direct numerical simulation, while particles are tracked individually. Inter-particle and particle-wall collisions are also taken into account. To explore the effects of particles on the flow turbulence, the statistics of the fluid flow such as the fluid velocity, the terms in the turbulence kinetic energy equation, the slip velocity between the two phases and velocity correlations are analysed considering ellipsoidal particles with different inertia and aspect ratio. The results of the simulations show that the turbulence is considerably attenuated, even in the very dilute regime. The reduction of the turbulence intensity is predominant near the turbulence kinetic energy peak in the near wall region, where particles preferentially accumulate. Moreover, the elongated shape of ellipsoids strengthens the turbulence attenuation. In simulations with ellipsoidal particles, the fluid-particle interactions strongly depend on the orientation of the ellipsoids. In the near wall region, ellipsoids tend to align predominantly within the streamwise (x) and wall-normal (y) planes and perpendicular to the span-wise direction, whereas no preferential orientation in the central region of the channel is observed. Important conclusions from this work include the effective viscosity of the flow is not affected, the direct dissipation by the particles is negligible, and the primary mechanism by which the particles affect the flow is by altering the turbulence structure around the turbulence kinetic energy peak.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Theoretical study of hydrogen adsorption on Ca-decorated C{sub 48}B{sub 12} clusters

The hydrogen adsorption on Ca-decorated C{sub 48}B{sub 12} clusters is studied using density functional theory. The favorable binding site for Ca atom is the hexagonal C{sub 4}B{sub 2} rings. The strong interaction between Ca atoms and C{sub 48}B{sub 12} cluster hinders the aggregation of Ca atoms on the cluster surface. C{sub 48}B{sub 12} is an electron deficient system with a large electron affinity of 2.952 eV. The decorated Ca atoms transfer their electrons to the cluster easily. The net charges on the Ca atoms are in the range of 1.101 to 1.563 e. When H{sub 2} molecules approach the Ca atoms, they are moderately polarized and adsorbed around the Ca atoms in molecular form. The adsorption strength can reach up to 0.133 eV/H{sub 2}. Each Ca atom in the Ca-decorated C{sub 48}B{sub 12} complexes can adsorb three H{sub 2} molecules. The fully decorated C{sub 48}B{sub 12}Ca{sub 6} can hold up to 18 H{sub 2} molecules.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Luminescence enhancement by energy transfer in melamine-Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}:Tb{sup 3+} nanohybrids

The phenomenon of luminescence enhancement was studied in melamine-Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}:Tb hybrids. Terbium doped Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} mesoporous nanowires were synthesized by hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction patterns and Raman scattering spectra testified the realization of a cubic crystal phase. Organic-inorganic melamine-Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}:Tb{sup 3+} hybrid system was successfully obtained by vapour deposition method. Vibration Raman active modes of the organic counterpart were investigated in order to verify the achievement of hybrid system. Photoluminescence excitation and photoluminescence spectra, preformed in the region between 250 and 350 nm, suggest a strong interaction among melamine and Terbium ions. In particular, a remarkable improvement of {sup 5}D{sub 4}→ F{sub J} Rare Earth emission (at about 542 nm) of about 10{sup 2} fold was observed and attributed to an efficient organic-Tb energy transfer. The energy transfer mechanism was studied by the use of time resolved photoluminescence measurements. The melamine lifetime undergoes to a significant decrease when adsorbed to oxide surfaces and it was connected to a sensitization mechanism. The detailed analysis of time decay profile of Terbium radiative recombination shows a variation of double exponential law toward a single exponential one. Its correlation with surface defects and non-radiative recombination was thus discussed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Liquid-induced damping of mechanical feedback effects in single electron tunneling through a suspended carbon nanotube

In single electron tunneling through clean, suspended carbon nanotube devices at low temperature, distinct switching phenomena have regularly been observed. These can be explained via strong interaction of single electron tunneling and vibrational motion of the nanotube. We present measurements on a highly stable nanotube device, subsequently recorded in the vacuum chamber of a dilution refrigerator and immersed in the {sup 3}He/ {sup 4}He mixture of a second dilution refrigerator. The switching phenomena are absent when the sample is kept in the viscous liquid, additionally supporting the interpretation of dc-driven vibration. Transport measurements in liquid helium can thus be used for finite bias spectroscopy where otherwise the mechanical effects would dominate the current.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Photodissociation of the carbon monoxide dication in the {sup 3}Σ{sup −} manifold: Quantum control simulation towards the C{sup 2+} + O channel

The photodissociation and laser assisted dissociation of the carbon monoxide dication X{sup 3}Π CO{sup 2+} into the {sup 3}Σ{sup −} states are investigated. Ab initio electronic structure calculations of the adiabatic potential energy curves, radial nonadiabatic couplings, and dipole moments for the X {sup 3}Π state are performed for 13 excited {sup 3}Σ{sup −} states of CO{sup 2+}. The photodissociation cross section, calculated by time-dependent methods, shows that the C{sup +} + O{sup +} channels dominate the process in the studied energy range. The carbon monoxide dication CO{sup 2+} is an interesting candidate for control because it can be produced in a single, long lived, v = 0 vibrational state due to the instability of all the other excited vibrational states of the ground {sup 3}Π electronic state. In a spectral range of about 25 eV, perpendicular transition dipoles couple this {sup 3}Π state to a manifold of {sup 3}Σ{sup −} excited states leading to numerous C{sup +} + O{sup +} channels and a single C{sup 2+} + O channel. This unique channel is used as target for control calculations using local control theory. We illustrate the efficiency of this method in order to find a tailored electric field driving the photodissociation in a manifold of strongly interacting electronic states. The selected local pulses are then concatenated in a sequence inspired by the “laser distillation” strategy. Finally, the local pulse is compared with optimal control theory.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

Review of hadrons in medium

I review the present status in the theoretical and phenomenological understanding of hadron properties in strongly interacting matter. The topics covered are the EMC effect, nucleon structure functions in cold nuclear matter, spectral properties of light vector mesons in hot and cold nuclear matter, and in-medium properties of heavy flavored hadrons.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

The critical end point through observables

We develop the model of the critical phenomena of strongly interacting matter at high temperatures and baryon densities. The dual Yang-Mills theory with scalar degrees of freedom (the dilatons) is used. The dilatons are the consequence of a spontaneous breaking of a scale symmetry. The phase transitions are considered in systems where the field conjugate to the order parameter has the critical end mode. The critical end point (CEP) is a distinct singular feature existence of which is dictated by the chiral dynamics. The physical realization of CEP is via the influence quantum fluctuations of two-body Bose-Einstein correlations for observed particles to which the critical end mode couples.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Entropically induced asymmetric passage times of charged tracers across corrugated channels

We analyze the diffusion of charged and neutral tracers suspended in an electrolyte embedded in a channel of varying cross section. Making use of systematic approximations, the diffusion equation governing the motion of tracers is mapped into an effective 1D equation describing the dynamics along the longitudinal axis of the channel where its varying-section is encoded as an effective entropic potential. This simplified approach allows us to characterize tracer diffusion under generic confinement by measuring their mean first passage time (MFPT). In particular, we show that the interplay between geometrical confinement and electrostatic interactions strongly affect the MFTP of tracers across corrugated channels hence leading to alternative means to control tracers translocation across charged pores. Finally, our results show that the MFPTs of a charged tracer in opposite directions along an asymmetric channel may differ We expect our results to be relevant for biological as well synthetic devices whose dynamics is controlled by the detection of diluted tracers.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2016

Determining a hopping polaron's bandwidth from its Seebeck coefficient: Measuring the disorder energy of a non-crystalline semiconductor

Charge carriers that execute multi-phonon hopping generally interact strongly enough with phonons to form polarons. A polaron's sluggish motion is linked to slowly shifting atomic displacements that severely reduce the intrinsic width of its transport band. Here a means to estimate hopping polarons' bandwidths from Seebeck-coefficient measurements is described. The magnitudes of semiconductors' Seebeck coefficients are usually quite large (>k/|q| = 86 μV/K) near room temperature. However, in accord with the third law of thermodynamics, Seebeck coefficients must vanish at absolute zero. Here, the transition of the Seebeck coefficient of hopping polarons to its low-temperature regime is investigated. The temperature and sharpness of this transition depend on the concentration of carriers and on the width of their transport band. This feature provides a means of estimating the width of a polaron's transport band. Since the intrinsic broadening of polaron bands is very small, less than the characteristic phonon energy, the net widths of polaron transport bands in disordered semiconductors approach the energetic disorder experienced by their hopping carriers, their disorder energy.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Dye-sensitization of CdS nano-cage - A density functional theory approach

Quantum dots a few nanometer in size exhibit unique properties in comparison to bulk due to quantum confinement. Their properties can be tuned according to their sizes. Dye sensitized quantum dot (DSQD) solar cells are based on the same principle with surface dangling bonds as a challenge. Researches have shown the existence and stability of nano-cages which are assembled such as to minimize the surface dangling bonds and hence maximize stability. Here, we report a first principles DFT study of optical and electronic properties of CdS-cage (Cd{sub 34}S{sub 34}) sensitized with nkx-2388 dye in three different geometric configurations of dye attachment. A significant distortion is found to occur in the geometric structure of the cage when it interacts strongly with the dye. The relative positioning of dye and cage energy levels is found to be different in different configurations. The absorption spectrum has been analyzed with the help of natural transition orbitals (NTO).

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

Enhanced flashover strength in polyethylene nanodielectrics by secondary electron emission modification

This work studies the correlation between secondary electron emission (SEE) characteristics and impulse surface flashover in polyethylene nanodielectrics both theoretically and experimentally, and illustrates the enhancement of flashover voltage in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) through incorporating Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanoparticles. SEE characteristics play key roles in surface charging and gas desorption during surface flashover. This work demonstrates that the presence of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanoparticles decreases the SEE coefficient of LDPE and enhances the impact energy at the equilibrium state of surface charging. These changes can be explained by the increase of surface roughness and of surface ionization energy, and the strong interaction between nanoparticles and the polymer dielectric matrix. The surface charge and flashover voltage are calculated according to the secondary electron emission avalanche (SEEA) model, which reveals that the positive surface charges are reduced near the cathode triple point, while the presence of more nanoparticles in high loading samples enhances the gas desorption. Consequently, the surface flashover performance of LDPE/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanodielectrics is improved.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Self-assembly and glass-formation in a lattice model of telechelic polymer melts: Influence of stiffness of the sticky bonds

Telechelic polymers are chain macromolecules that may self-assemble through the association of their two mono-functional end groups (called “stickers”). A deep understanding of the relation between microscopic molecular details and the macroscopic physical properties of telechelic polymers is important in guiding the rational design of telechelic polymer materials with desired properties. The lattice cluster theory (LCT) for strongly interacting, self-assembling telechelic polymers provides a theoretical tool that enables establishing the connections between important microscopic molecular details of self-assembling polymers and their bulk thermodynamics. The original LCT for self-assembly of telechelic polymers considers a model of fully flexible linear chains [J. Dudowicz and K. F. Freed, J. Chem. Phys. 136, 064902 (2012)], while our recent work introduces a significant improvement to the LCT by including a description of chain semiflexibility for the bonds within each individual telechelic chain [W.-S. Xu and K. F. Freed, J. Chem. Phys. 143, 024901 (2015)], but the physically associative (or called “sticky”) bonds between the ends of the telechelics are left as fully flexible. Motivated by the ubiquitous presence of steric constraints on the association of real telechelic polymers that impart an additional degree of bond stiffness (or rigidity), the present paper further extends the LCT to permit the sticky bonds to be semiflexible but to have a stiffness differing from that within each telechelic chain. An analytical expression for the Helmholtz free energy is provided for this model of linear telechelic polymer melts, and illustrative calculations demonstrate the significant influence of the stiffness of the sticky bonds on the self-assembly and thermodynamics of telechelic polymers. A brief discussion is also provided for the impact of self-assembly on glass-formation by combining the LCT description for this extended model of telechelic polymers with the Adam-Gibbs relation between the structural relaxation time and the configurational entropy.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2018

Strong bonds and far-from-equilibrium conditions minimize errors in lattice-gas growth

We use computer simulation to study the layer-by-layer growth of particle structures in a lattice gas, taking the number of incorporated vacancies as a measure of the quality of the grown structure. A dynamic scaling relation describes the quality of structures in and out of equilibrium and reveals that the highest-quality structures are obtained, for fixed observation time, using strong interactions and far-from-equilibrium growth conditions. This result contrasts with the usual assumption that weak interactions and mild nonequilibrium conditions are the best way to minimize errors during assembly.

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

Structure and dynamics of hydrodynamically interacting finite-size Brownian particles in a spherical cavity: Spheres and cylinders

The structure and dynamics of confined suspensions of particles of arbitrary shape are of interest in multiple disciplines from biology to engineering. Theoretical studies are often limited by the complexity of long-range particle-particle and particle-wall forces, including many-body fluctuating hydrodynamic interactions. Here, we report a computational study on the diffusion of spherical and cylindrical particles confined in a spherical cavity. We rely on an immersed-boundary general geometry Ewald-like method to capture lubrication and long-range hydrodynamics and include appropriate non-slip conditions at the confining walls. A Chebyshev polynomial approximation is used to satisfy the fluctuation-dissipation theorem for the Brownian suspension. We explore how lubrication, long-range hydrodynamics, particle volume fraction, and shape affect the equilibrium structure and the diffusion of the particles. It is found that once the particle volume fraction is greater than 10%, the particles start to form layered aggregates that greatly influence particle dynamics. Hydrodynamic interactions strongly influence the particle diffusion by inducing spatially dependent short-time diffusion coefficients, stronger wall effects on the particle diffusion toward the walls, and a sub-diffusive regime-caused by crowding-in the long-time particle mobility. The level of asymmetry of the cylindrical particles considered here is enough to induce an orientational order in the layered structure, decreasing the diffusion rate and facilitating a transition to the crowded mobility regime at low particle concentrations. Our results offer fundamental insights into the diffusion and distribution of globular and fibrillar proteins inside cells.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Microscopic-macroscopic level densities for low excitation energies

Level density ρ(E,Q) is derived within the micro-macroscopic approximation (MMA) for a system of strongly interacting Fermi particles with the energy E and additional integrals of motion Q , in line with several topics of the universal and fruitful activity of A. S. Davydov. Within the extended Thomas Fermi and semiclassical periodic orbit theory beyond the Fermi-gas saddle-point method, we obtain ρ ∝ I ν (S)/S ν , where I ν (S) is the modified Bessel function of the entropy S . For small shell-structure contribution, one finds ν = κ/2 + 1, where κ is the number of additional integrals of motion. This integer number is a dimension of Q, Q = { N, Z , …} for the case of two-component atomic nuclei, where N and Z are the numbers of neutrons and protons, respectively. For much larger shell structure contributions, one obtains ν = κ /2 + 2. The MMA level density ρ reaches the well-known Fermi gas asymptote for large excitation energies and the finite micro-canonical combinatoric limit for low excitation energies. Further, the additional integrals of motion can also be the projection of the angular momentum of a nuclear system for nuclear rotations of deformed nuclei, number of excitons for collective dynamics, and so on. Fitting the MMA total level density ρ( E , Q) for a set of the integrals of motion Q = { N, Z }, to experimental data on a long nuclear isotope chain for low excitation energies, one obtains the results for the inverse level-density parameter K , which differs significantly from those of neutron resonances due to shell, isotopic asymmetry, and pairing effects.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Excited nucleon spectrum and structure studies with CLAS and CLAS12

The study of the spectrum and structure of excited nucleon states employing the electroproduction of exclusive reactions is an important avenue for exploring the nature of the non-perturbative strong interaction. The CLAS detector in Hall B has provided the dominant part of the available world data on most relevant meson electroproduction channels off the nucleon in the resonance region for Q2 up to 5 GeV2. Analyses of CLAS data for the exclusive channels πN, ηN, and π+π-p on a proton target have provided the only results available on the Q2 evolution of the electro-excitation amplitudes for the transitions from the initial photon-proton to the final N* states in the mass range up to W =1.8 GeV. These electrocouplings allow for exploration of the internal structure of the produced excited nucleon states. This work has made it clear that consistent results from independent analyses of several exclusive channels with different resonance hadronic decay parameters and non-resonant backgrounds but the same N* electro-excitation amplitudes, is essential to have confidence in the extracted results. Starting in early 2018, a program to study the spectrum and structure of N* states in various exclusive electroproduction channels using the new CLAS12 spectrometer commenced. These studies will probe the structure of N* states in the mass range up to W =3 GeV and for Q2 as low as 0.05 GeV2 and as high as 10-12 GeV2, thus providing a means to access N* structure information spanning a broad range of distance scales. Quasi-real photoproduction studies are also planned to search for additional N* states, the so-called hybrid baryons, for which the glue serves as an active structural component. In this talk the N* programs from both CLAS and CLAS12 will be reviewed.

Carman, D. S.↗