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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 1,117 records · Page 62

Spatial coherence of room-temperature monolayer WSe 2 exciton-polaritons in a trap

The emergence of spatial and temporal coherence of light emitted from solid-state systems is a fundamental phenomenon intrinsically aligned with the control of light-matter coupling. It is canonical for laser oscillation, emerges in the superradiance of collective emitters, and has been investigated in bosonic condensates of thermalized light, as well as exciton-polaritons. Our room temperature experiments show the strong light-matter coupling between microcavity photons and excitons in atomically thin WSe 2 . We evidence the density-dependent expansion of spatial and temporal coherence of the emitted light from the spatially confined system ground-state, which is accompanied by a threshold-like response of the emitted light intensity. Additionally, valley-physics is manifested in the presence of an external magnetic field, which allows us to manipulate K and K’ polaritons via the valley-Zeeman-effect. Our findings validate the potential of atomically thin crystals as versatile components of coherent light-sources, and in valleytronic applications at room temperature.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Excerpt from Oxygen Monitor Clean Testing Report Performed in 2010

The Rosemount X-STREAM Series X2GP is a paramagnetic oxygen analyzer with a 0-25% oxygen measurement range. It claims a drift less than 2% of span (0.10% volume oxygen) per week, and a response time of less than 5 seconds (for the analyzer to report 90% of a step change). Our test equipment was set-up such that the same gas was running through each oxygen analyzer at the same time. This allowed Calibration Error, Calibration Drift, and Loss of Power Testing to be run on all monitors at the same time, eliminating any variability between the analyzers from tolerances in the gas cylinder, ambient temperature, ambient pressure, test duration, etc. An APTech pressure regulator was placed on the gas cylinder manifold and a 23 psia Paroscientific pressure transducer measured the regulator’s outlet pressure. This did not give the inlet pressure on any one analyzer but outlet pressure from the manifold before the stream was split. The APTech pressure regulator was used to keep operating conditions consistent. A DWYER rotameter was installed on each oxygen monitor’s outlet piping. With the exception of Variation of Flow Rate Testing, the rotameter was left fully open for all testing. The flow rate through each oxygen monitor was controlled by a Swagelok needle valve that was installed on each analyzer’s inlet piping. Additionally, a filter was installed in the each monitor’s inlet piping to keep particles from the measurement cells and a Swagelok ball valve was installed on each monitor’s outlet piping to isolate each monitor between tests. No pumps were installed. Each of the cylinders used was at a pressure greater than ambient room barometric pressure. This pressure differential was used to move gas through the testing equipment. The flow rate through each analyzer was controlled by the Swagelok needle valve installed on each analyzer’s inlet piping. Finally, for all tests, a Paroscientific Digiquartz Barometer was used to measure ambient room barometric pressure and a Fluke Thermo-hygrometer was used to measure ambient room temperature.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Continuous Encodable Reshaping of Gold Nanocrystals through Facet Modulation

Shape control of nanocrystals (NCs) is crucial for tuning their assembly behavior and functional properties, yet the precise manipulation of facet composition remains challenging. Here, we present a nanocrystal reshaping strategy to control and modulate the facets of gold (Au) NCs. Our one-pot approach, conducted at room temperature, requires only initial Au NCs, Au 3+ ions, and surfactants, distinguishing it from conventional reduction-mediated “etching-and-regrowth” methods. Detailed structural studies using electron microscopy, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and UV−vis spectroscopy reveal the surfactant-encoded pathway for NC transformation from shaped particles to spheres and then into various polyhedral shapes while preserving the individual particles' volume. The proposed reshaping mechanism involves the dissolution of surface Au atoms into Au + complexes in the presence of Au 3+ and surfactant, followed by surfactant-guided redeposition and formation of facets with different atomic planes. Using the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) as a probe, we observe a quasi-linear decrease in onset potential and an increase in activity with increasing {100} facet exposure. This work broadens synthetic strategies by offering precise NC reshaping and facet control.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Contamination control and cleanliness level integrity for the Space Shuttle Orbiter PLB, payloads and facilities at KSC

The PLB, its cargo, and payload canister must satisfy the cleanliness requirements of visual clean (VC) level 1, 2, 3, or special as stated in NASA document SN-C-0005A. The specific level of cleanliness is chosen by the payload bay customer for their mission. During orbiter turnaround processing at KSC, the payload bay is exposed to the environments of the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) and the Payload Changeout Room (PCR). In supportive response to the orbiter payload bay/facility interface, it is necessary that the facility environment be controlled and monitored to protect the cleanliness/environmental integrity of the payload bay and its cargo. Techniques used to meet environmental requirements during orbiter processing are introduced.

Bartelson, D.↗

Reconfigurable room temperature metamaterial infrared emitter

The marriage of micro/nanoelectromechanical systems with metamaterials offers a viable route to achieving reconfigurable devices, which control the emission of energy. Here we propose and demonstrate the idea of a metamaterial microelectromechanical system (MEMS) capable of tailoring the energy emitted from a surface, without changing the temperature, but, instead, only altering the spectral emissivity. Our metamaterial achieves a range of emissivities equivalent to a nearly 20°C temperature change when viewed with a thermal infrared camera. We tessellate a surface with individually reconfigurable MEMS metamaterial pixels, thus realizing a spatiotemporal emitter capable of displaying thermal infrared patterns up to 110 kHz. Furthermore, our results may be scaled to nearly any sub-optical range of the electromagnetic spectrum, and validate the potential of MEMS metamaterials to operate as reconfigurable multifunctional devices with unprecedented energy control capabilities.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Assessment of shuttle payloads gaseous environment contamination and its control

A prediction is given of the in-orbit gaseous environment and the contamination it could produce on cryogenic and room temperature surfaces of payloads in the shuttle bay. The time varying environment was obtained by the superposition of the calculated shuttle environment for a discrete time and payload induced environments measured in large space chambers. Representative contaminant surface accretions were calculated for flights 1 week and 1 month long for payloads having the largest source of outgassing and an orbit of 200 km. A number of calculations were based on the magnitude of the sources, the molecular natures, the decay rate with time, the sticking coefficients, the view factors, and the temperatures of the surfaces being contaminated. Significant results are reported.

Scialdone, J. J.↗

Voltage control of unidirectional anisotropy in ferromagnet-multiferroic system

Demonstration of ultralow energy switching mechanisms is imperative for continued improvements in computing devices. Ferroelectric (FE) and multiferroic (MF) order and their manipulation promise an ideal combination of state variables to reach attojoule range for logic and memory (i.e., ~30× lower switching energy than nanoelectronics). In BiFeO 3 (BFO), the coupling between the antiferromagnetic (AFM) and FE order is robust at room temperature, scalable in voltage, stabilized by the FE order, and can be integrated into a fabrication process for a beyond-CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) era. The presence of the AFM order and a canted magnetic moment in this system causes exchange interaction with a ferromagnet such as Co 0.9 Fe 0.1 or La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 . Previous research has shown that exchange coupling (uniaxial anisotropy) can be controlled with an electric field. However, voltage modulation of unidirectional anisotropy, which is preferred for logic and memory technologies, has not yet been demonstrated. Here, we present evidence for electric field control of exchange bias of laterally scaled spin valves that is exchange coupled to BFO at room temperature. We show that the exchange bias in this bilayer is robust, electrically controlled, and reversible. We anticipate that magnetoelectricity at these scaled dimensions provides a powerful pathway for computing beyond modern nanoelectronics by enabling a new class of nonvolatile, ultralow energy computing elements.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Quality concerns caused by quality control — deformation of silicon strip detector modules in thermal cycling tests

The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is currently preparing to replace its present Inner Detector (ID) with the upgraded, all-silicon Inner Tracker (ITk) for its High-Luminosity upgrade (HL-LHC). The ITk will consist of a central pixel tracker and the outer strip tracker, consisting of about 19,000 strip detector modules. Each strip module is assembled from up to two sensors, and up to five flexes (depending on its geometry) in a series of gluing, wirebonding and quality control steps. During detector operation, modules will be cooled down to temperatures of about -35 °C (corresponding to the temperature of the support structures on which they will be mounted) after being initially assembled and stored at room temperature. In order to ensure compatibility with the detector's operating temperature range, modules are subjected to thermal cycling as part of their quality control process. Ten cycles between -35 °C and +40 °C are performed for each module, with full electrical characterisation tests at each high and low temperature point. As part of an investigation into the stress experienced by modules during cooling, it was observed that modules generally showed a change in module shape before and after thermal cycling. This paper presents a summary of the discovery and understanding of the observed changes, connecting them with excess module stress, as well as the resulting modifications to the module thermal cycling procedure.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Human-in-the-loop Sensing and Control for Commercial Building Energy Efficiency and Occupant Comfort

Most of the existing heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in commercial buildings operate in a conservative manner by assuming maximum occupancy in each room during pre-specified periods of the week, leading to significant energy being wasted as rooms are over-conditioned compared to the actual requirements of the occupants. Though critical, our understanding of occupancy patterns and thermal comfort needs of the occupants in commercial buildings is lacking and it is well known that both of these quantities are stochastic and time-varying, thus requiring sensing solutions to estimate them. This project had the goal of designing, implementing and evaluating a hardware and software solution to ameliorate this challenge. In particular, a depth camera (one whose pixels reveal distance from the camera as opposed to color values) placed on doorways is used to detect entrance and exit events from thermal zones in the building, and thereby estimate their occupancy levels. This information is then fed to a novel control algorithm that can, through interactions with the HVAC system, learn how to provide control inputs that maximize comfort and minimize energy waste. The resulting system represents a significant improvement over existing controllers for commercial HVAC systems and allowed us to improve our understanding of the design of future human-in-the-loop control solutions. For this solution to be feasible, the project had target metrics for its performance and cost. In particular, entrance and exit events for occupants moving about the building would need to be detected with an accuracy higher than 97%; and the resulting control inputs derived from this information would need to lead to approximately 10% energy savings compared to a schedule-based controller. Furthermore, regarding the final hardware design, the project had a target bill of materials (BOM) cost for the sensing solution of less than US$200 per unit while using less than 25W of power on average. All of these target metrics were met or exceeded by our final proposed solution. We performed evaluations by deploying the system in over 20 rooms of different types across 6 commercial buildings in Pittsburgh, PA over the course of three years, and performing targeted controlled experiments to test its performance along the different metrics. The human-in-the-loop control solutions (both hardware and software) developed through this project are expected to lead to significant improvements in the comfort and energy efficiency of HVAC systems used in commercial buildings. The insights we developed through the project pave the way to HVAC systems that can condition interior spaces according to their real-time utilization and the thermal comfort needs of the occupants, thereby reducing energy use. They also open up a new learning-based way of configuring HVAC controllers without having to manually fine-tune them for each building. These innovations can significantly increase the adoption of novel control solutions by the industry and thereby save resources and reduce costs of operation.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Glass-Like Through-Plane Thermal Conductivity Induced by Oxygen Vacancies in Nanoscale Epitaxial La 0.5 Sr 0.5 CoO 3– δ [Glass-Like Thermal Conductivity Induced by Oxygen Vacancies in Nanoscale Epitaxial La 0.5 Sr 0.5 CoO 3– δ ]

Here, ultrafast time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR) is utilized to extract the through-plane thermal conductivity (Λ LSCO ) of epitaxial La 0.5 Sr 0.5 CoO 3–δ (LSCO) of varying thickness (<20 nm) on LaAlO 3 and SrTiO 3 substrates. These LSCO films possess ordered oxygen vacancies as the primary means of lattice mismatch accommodation with the substrate, which induces compressive/tensile strain and thus controls the orientation of the oxygen vacancy ordering (OVO). TDTR results demonstrate that the room-temperature Λ LSCO of LSCO on both substrates (1.7 W m –1 K –1 ) are nearly a factor of four lower than that of bulk single-crystal LSCO (6.2 W m –1 K –1 ). Remarkably, this approaches the lower limit of amorphous oxides (e.g., 1.3 W m –1 K –1 for glass), with no dependence on the OVO orientation. Through theoretical simulations, origins of the glass-like thermal conductivity of LSCO are revealed as a combined effect resulting from oxygen vacancies (the dominant factor), Sr substitution, size effects, and the weak electron/phonon coupling within the LSCO film. The absence of OVO dependence in the measured Λ LSCO is rationalized by two main effects: (1) the nearly isotropic phononic thermal conductivity resulting from the imperfect OVO planes when δ is small; (2) the missing electronic contribution to Λ LSCO along the through-plane direction for these ultrathin LSCO films on insulating substrates.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Evaluating the role of acidic, basic, and polar amino acids and dipeptides on a molecular electrocatalyst for H 2 oxidation

Amino acids and peptides have been shown to have a significant influence on the H2 production and oxidation reactivity of Ni(P R 2 N R’ 2 ) 2 , where P R 2 N R’ 2 = 1,5-diaza-3,7-diphosphacyclooctane, R is either phenyl (Ph) or cyclohexyl (Cy), and R’ is either an amino acid or peptide. Most recently, the Ni(P Cy 2 Naminoacid 2 ) 2 complexes (CyAA) have shown enhanced H 2 oxidation rates, water solubility, and in the case of arginine (CyArg) and phenylalanine (CyPhe), electrocatalytic reversibility. Both the backbone –COOH and side chain interactions were shown to be critical to catalytic performance. Here we further investigate the roles of the outer coordination sphere by evaluating amino acids with acidic, basic, and hydrophilic side chains, as well as dipeptides which combine multiple successful features from previous complexes. Six new complexes were prepared, three containing single amino acids: aspartic acid (CyAsp), lysine (CyLys), and serine (CySer) and three containing dipeptides: glycine-phenylalanine (Cy(GlyPhe)), phenylalanine-glycine (Cy(PheGly)), and aspartic acid-phenylananine (Cy(AspPhe)). The resulting catalytic performance demonstrates that complexes need both interactions between side chain and –COOH groups for fast, efficient catalysis. The fastest of all of the catalysts, Cy(AspPhe), had both of these features, while the other dipeptide complexes with an amide replacing the -COOH were both slower; however, the amide group was demonstrated to participate in the proton pathway when side chain interactions are present to position it. Both the hydrophilic and basic side chains, notably lacking in side chain interactions, significantly increased the overpotential, with only modest increases in TOF. Of all of the complexes, only CyAsp was reversible at room temperature, and only in water, the first of these complexes to demonstrate room temperature reversibility in water. These results continue to provide and solidify design rules for controlling reactivity and efficiency of Ni(P 2 N 2 ) 2 complexes with the outer coordination sphere.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Xenon doping of glow discharge polymer by ion implantation

We demonstrate controlled doping of a glow discharge polymer by implantation with 500 keV Xe ions at room temperature. The Xe retention exhibits a threshold behavior, with a threshold dose of {approx}2 x 10{sup 14} cm{sup -2}. Doping is accompanied by irradiation-induced changes in the polymer composition, including gradual H loss and a more complex non-monotonic behavior of the O concentration. The matrix composition saturates at C{sub 0.77}H{sub 0.22}O{sub 0.01} for Xe doses above {approx}5 x 10{sup 14} cm{sup -2} and up to the maximum dose studied (5 x 10{sup 15} cm{sup -2}). The retention mechanism is attributed to the modification of the polymer from a chain-like to clustered ring structure. The dopant profile and the elemental composition of the implanted polymer exhibit good stability upon thermal annealing up to 305 deg. C.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Achieving large uniform tensile elasticity in microfabricated diamond

Diamond is not only the hardest material in nature, but is also an extreme electronic material with an ultrawide bandgap, exceptional carrier mobilities, and thermal conductivity. Straining diamond can push such extreme figures of merit for device applications. We microfabricated single-crystalline diamond bridge structures with ~1 micrometer length by ~100 nanometer width and achieved sample-wide uniform elastic strains under uniaxial tensile loading along the [100], [101], and [111] directions at room temperature. We also demonstrated deep elastic straining of diamond microbridge arrays. The ultralarge, highly controllable elastic strains can fundamentally change the bulk band structures of diamond, including a substantial calculated bandgap reduction as much as ~2 electron volts. Our demonstration highlights the immense application potential of deep elastic strain engineering for photonics, electronics, and quantum information technologies.

Dang, Chaoqun↗

Performance Evaluation of Gray-box and Machine Learning Models of a Thermal Energy Storage System with Active Insulation

An interior partition wall integrated with active thermal storage and a dynamic insulation system was built and then installed in an office building in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, TN. This smart wall, termed the Empower Wall, was equipped with embedded pipes in the building envelope core component and an additional pipe network enclosing rigid insulation to switch on and off the active insulation dynamically. The performance of the wall's contribution to cooling load reduction under different parameters has been investigated in previous publications. Aiming to be deployed into model predictive control and other optimization methods, simplified and reliable models for the developed wall and the room accommodating it are required. They are needed to characterize the properties and thermal response of both Empower Wall and building envelope, which form an essential component for accurate indoor temperature or cooling/heating demand prediction. In this study, simplified gray-box and regression models as well as machine learning model were developed and the performance of them were compared and analyzed.

Cui, Borui↗

Production-Ready CsPbBr3 Module Fabrication

The purpose of this SBIR was to work on evaluation, development, and testing of CsPbBr3 semiconductors for use in commercial gamma-ray detection. The overarching goal was to demonstrate the capability to fabricate functional detectors through resources available to H3D, Inc in pursuit of an alternative to CdZnTe for room-temperature semiconductor detectors. Throughout the project, CdZnTe crystals from Redlen were used as a control group to demonstrate whether the fabrication processes could produce reasonable results. The CdZnTe crystals were diced into roughly 6 mm x 6 mm x 4.5 mm pieces and electrodes were evaporated onto planar faces. In one case, pixels were patterned through a laser ablation method; in the other, a rudimentary pixel shadow-mask was fabricated, and the pixels were generated in the evaporation process. A 16 mm x 16 mm x 14 mm CsPbBr3 crystal was diced into four smaller crystals. These CsPbBr3 had electrodes applied in a similar way to the CdZnTe samples with a rudimentary mask used for pixels on the cathode. Tested CdZnTe pieces were found to generally function with reasonable, low-energy performance. CsPbBr3 crystals were found to be non-functional under forward bias with a large dark-current. A separate attempt, using reverse bias in a non-H3D, Inc test system, observed a dark current similar to previous observations, and some active pixels but no waveforms were observed.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Large charged drop levitation against gravity

A hybrid electrostatic-acoustic levitator that can levitate and manipulate a large liquid drop in one gravity is presented. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time such large drops (up to 4 mm in diameter in the case of water) have been levitated against 1-gravity. This makes possible, for the first time, many new experiments both in space and in ground-based laboratories, such as 1)supercooling and superheating, 2) containerless crystal growth from various salt solutions or melts, 3) drop dynamics of oscillating or rotating liquid drops, 4) drop evaporation and Rayleigh bursting, and 5) containerless material processing in space. The digital control system, liquid drop launch process, principles of electrode design, and design of a multipurpose room temperature levitation chamber are described. Preliminary results that demonstrate drop oscillation and rotation, and crystal growth from supersaturated salt solutions are presented.

Rhim, Won-Kyu↗

Launch vehicle operations cost reduction through artificial intelligence techniques

NASA's Kennedy Space Center has attempted to develop AI methods in order to reduce the cost of launch vehicle ground operations as well as to improve the reliability and safety of such operations. Attention is presently given to cost savings estimates for systems involving launch vehicle firing-room software and hardware real-time diagnostics, as well as the nature of configuration control and the real-time autonomous diagnostics of launch-processing systems by these means. Intelligent launch decisions and intelligent weather forecasting are additional applications of AI being considered.

Davis, Tom C., Jr.↗

Fatigue damage growth mechanisms in continuous fiber reinforced titanium matrix composites

The role of fiber/matrix interface strength, residual thermal stresses, and fiber and matrix properties on fatigue damage accumulation in continuous fiber metal matrix composites (MMC) is discussed. Results from titanium matrix silicon carbide fiber composites is the primary topic of discussion. Results were obtained from both notched and unnotched specimens at room and elevated temperatures. The stress in the 0 deg fibers was identified as the controlling factor in fatigue life. Fatigue of the notched specimens indicated that cracks can grow in the matrix materials without breaking fibers.

Johnson, W. S.↗