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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 127 records · Page 7

Area and thickness dependence of Auger recombination in nanoplatelets

The ability to control both the thickness and the lateral dimensions of colloidal nanoplatelets offers a test-bed for area and thickness dependent properties in 2D materials. An important example is Auger recombination, which is typically the dominant process by which multiexcitons decay in nanoplatelets. In this report, we uncover fundamental properties of biexciton decay in nanoplatelets by comparing the Auger recombination lifetimes based on interacting and noninteracting formalisms with measurements based on transient absorption spectroscopy. Specifically, we report that electron-hole correlations in the initial biexcitonic state must be included in order to obtain Auger recombination lifetimes in agreement with experimental measurements and that Auger recombination lifetimes depend nearly linearly on the lateral area and somewhat more strongly on the thickness of the nanoplatelet. We also connect these scalings to those of the area and thickness dependencies of single exciton radiative recombination lifetimes, exciton coherence areas, and exciton Bohr radii in these quasi-2D materials.

2D materials↗

Characteristics of 1D ordered arrays of optical centers in solid-state photonics

Abstract Collective interaction of emitter arrays has lately attracted significant attention due to its role in controlling directionality of radiation, spontaneous emission and coherence. We focus on light interactions with engineered arrays of solid-state emitters in photonic resonators. We theoretically study light interaction with an array of emitters or optical centers embedded inside a microring resonator and discuss its application in the context of solid-state photonic systems. We discuss how such arrays can be experimentally realized and how the inhomogeneous broadening of mesoscopic atomic arrays can be leveraged to study broadband collective excitations in the array.

Kling, Trevor (ORCID:0000000314967717)↗

Design of an optical amplifier for amplified OSC in IOTA facility at Fermilab

Optical stochastic cooling (OSC) is a cutting-edge beam cooling technology to reduce, control the 3 dimensional spread and the motion of particle beams. It has recently been successfully, experimentally, demonstrated in Fermilab's IOTA storage ring, marking a major step forward in beam cooling. OSC has the potential to significantly improve both the performance and flexibility as a beam cooling system. One promising way to boost OSC performance is by adding a high-gain optical amplifier. However, this amplifier must be carefully designed to meet the specific constraints of the OSC system. A major challenge lies in the limited optical delay, which is just 6 mm for the case of IOTA, set by the beam bypass, restricts us to use a short-length gain medium. This, along with IOTA’s high repetition rate and the relatively long duration of the optical pulses, limits the peak power available for the pump laser without damaging the crystal, which is crucial for achieving strong nonlinear gain. Additionally, it's essential to preserve the phase coherence of the undulator radiation during amplification, which further complicates the amplifier design. This report details a specialized amplifier setup that addresses these challenges, includes simulations of the integrated system, and summarizes the latest experimental progress and results.

Mondal, Abhishek [Fermilab]↗

Efficient end-to-end simulation of time-dependent coherent X-ray scattering experiments

Physical optics simulations for beamlines and experiments allow users to test experiment feasibility and optimize beamline settings ahead of beam time in order to optimize valuable beam time at synchrotron light sources like NSLS-II. Further, such simulations also help to develop and test experimental data processing methods and software in advance. The Synchrotron Radiation Workshop ( SRW ) software package supports such complex simulations. We demonstrate how recent developments in SRW significantly improve the efficiency of physical optics simulations, such as end-to-end simulations of time-dependent X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy experiments with partially coherent undulator radiation (UR). The molecular dynamics simulation code LAMMPS was chosen to model the sample: a solution of silica nanoparticles in water at room temperature. Real-space distributions of nanoparticles produced by LAMMPS were imported into SRW and used to simulate scattering patterns of partially coherent hard X-ray UR from such a sample at the detector. The partially coherent UR illuminating the sample can be represented by a set of orthogonal coherent modes obtained by simulation of emission and propagation of this radiation through the coherent hard X-ray (CHX) scattering beamline followed by a coherent-mode decomposition. GPU acceleration is added for several key functions of SRW used in propagation from sample to detector, further improving the speed of the calculations. The accuracy of this simulation is benchmarked by comparison with experimental data.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Excitation and detection of coherent nanoscale spin waves via extreme ultraviolet transient gratings

The advent of free electron lasers has opened the opportunity to explore interactions between extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photons and collective excitations in solids. While EUV transient grating spectroscopy, a noncollinear four-wave mixing technique, has already been applied to probe coherent phonons, the potential of EUV radiation for studying nanoscale spin waves has not been harnessed. Here we report EUV transient grating experiments with coherent magnons in Fe/Gd ferrimagnetic multilayers. Magnons with tens of nanometers wavelengths are excited by a pair of femtosecond EUV pulses and detected via diffraction of a probe pulse tuned to an absorption edge of Gd. The results unlock the potential of nonlinear EUV spectroscopy for studying magnons and provide a tool for exploring spin waves in a wave vector range not accessible by established inelastic scattering techniques.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗

Dynamical Control of Broadband Coherent Absorption in ENZ Films

Interferometric effects between two counter-propagating beams incident on an optical system can lead to a coherent modulation of the absorption of the total electromagnetic radiation with 100% efficiency even in deeply subwavelength structures. Coherent perfect absorption (CPA) rises from a resonant solution of the scattering matrix and often requires engineered optical properties. For instance, thin film CPA benefits from complex nanostructures with suitable resonance, albeit at a loss of operational bandwidth. In this work, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate a broadband CPA based on light-with-light modulation in epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) subwavelength films. We show that unpatterned ENZ films with different thicknesses exhibit broadband CPA with a near-unity maximum value located at the ENZ wavelength. By using Kerr optical nonlinearities, we dynamically tune the visibility and peak wavelength of the total energy modulation. Our results based on homogeneous thick ENZ media open a route towards on-chip devices that require efficient light absorption and dynamical tunability.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Coherent microwave scattering from resonance enhanced multi-photon ionization (Radar REMPI): A review

Coherent microwave scattering from laser-induced plasmas, including weakly ionized plasma, laser sparks, Multiphoton Ionization (MPI), and Resonance Enhanced Multi-Photon Ionizations (Radar REMPI) has achieved much successes in plasma, reactive and nonreactive flow diagnostics. Under illumination of microwaves (Radar), electrons inside the laser-induced plasma oscillate with the electric field of the microwave and re-radiate from the electrons forming coherent scattering. In the far-field approximation, the microwave scattering from the small volume plasma reflects the generation and evolution of unbounded electrons inside the plasma, when the microwave wavelength is much greater than the size of the plasma and the skin layer depth at the microwave frequency is larger than the size of the plasma. Laser excitation schemes, microwave detection methods, calibration of microwave scattering, and the novel applications of the technique have been significantly expanded and improved. Furthermore, this review paper summarizes physical principles, various REMPI excitation schemes for atomic and molecular species, and temperature measurements in plasma and reactive flows. Discussions on new research directions and applications are given at the end.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Optimization of echo-enabled harmonic generation toward coherent EUV and soft X-ray free-electron laser at NSLS-II

Prebunching via echo-enabled harmonic generation (EEHG) is an efficient way to reduce the radiator length and improve the longitudinal coherence as well as output stability in storage-ring-based free-electron lasers. We propose a conceptual design, which uses two straight sections to seed coherent extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) and soft X-ray emission with nearly MHz repetition rate. To take the large energy spread (10 –3 ) of a storage ring into account and utilize the existing bending magnets between the two straight sections as the first chicane, we implement a special modeling tool, named EEHG optimizer. This tool has been successfully applied to maximize the prebunching with a reasonably low energy modulation, thereby generating intense coherent X-ray pulses within a short undulator length (a few meters) limited by the available space of a storage ring. Numerical simulations confirm that the optimized EEHG parameters can be directly applied to generate a 10 MW scale peak power with fully coherent ultrafast EUV to soft X-ray pulses based on the NSLS-II parameters. This method can be easily extended to other types of diffraction-limited storage rings.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Nanoprecipitates to Enhance Radiation Tolerance in High-Entropy Alloys

The growth of advanced energy technologies for power generation is enabled by the design, development, and integration of structural materials that can withstand extreme environments, such as high temperatures, radiation damage, and corrosion. High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are a class of structural materials in which suitable chemical elements in four or more numbers are mixed to typically produce single-phase concentrated solid solution alloys (CSAs). Many of these alloys exhibit good radiation tolerance like limited void swelling and hardening up to relatively medium radiation doses (tens of displacements per atom (dpa)); however, at higher radiation damage levels (>50 dpa), some HEAs suffer from considerable void swelling limiting their near-term acceptance for advanced nuclear reactor concepts. In this study, we developed a HEA containing a high density of Cu-rich nanoprecipitates distributed in the HEA matrix. The Cu-added HEA, NiCoFeCrCu 0.12 , shows excellent void swelling resistance and negligible radiation-induced hardening upon irradiation up to high radiation doses (i.e., higher than 100 dpa). The void swelling resistance of the alloy is measured to be significantly better than NiCoFeCr CSA and austenitic stainless steels. Density functional theory simulations predict lower vacancy and interstitial formation energies at the coherent interfaces between Cu-rich nanoprecipitates and the HEA matrix. The alloy maintained a high sink strength achieved via nanoprecipitates and the coherent interface with the matrix at a high radiation dose (~50 dpa). From our experiments and simulations, the effective recombination of radiation-produced vacancies and interstitials at the coherent interfaces of the nanoprecipitates is suggested to be the critical mechanism responsible for the radiation tolerance of the alloy. Furthermore, the materials design strategy based on incorporating a high density of interfaces can be applied to high-entropy alloy systems to improve their radiation tolerance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Terahertz Spectroscopy of Gas Mixtures with Dual Quantum Cascade Laser Frequency Combs

Terahertz laser frequency combs based on quantum cascade lasers provide coherent, broadband, electrically pumped, THz radiation sources for use in future spectroscopic applications. In this work, we explore the feasibility of such lasers in a dual-comb spectroscopy configuration for the detection of multiple molecular samples in the gas phase. The lasers span approximately 180 GHz of optical bandwidth, centered at 3.4 THz, with submilliwatt total optical power. One of the main advantages of dual-comb spectroscopy is its high speed, which opens up the possibility for direct observations of chemical reaction dynamics in the terahertz spectral region. As a proof-of-concept, we recorded continuously evolving spectra from gas mixtures with 1 ms temporal resolution.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Observation of a massive phason in a charge-density-wave insulator

The lowest-lying fundamental excitation of an incommensurate charge density wave (CDW) material is widely believed to be a massless phason -- a collective modulation of the phase of the CDW order parameter. However, as first pointed out by Lee and Fukuyama, long-range Coulomb interactions should push the phason energy up to the plasma energy of the CDW condensate, resulting in a massive phason and a fully gapped spectrum. Whether such behavior occurs in a CDW system has been unresolved for more than four decades. Using time-domain THz emission spectroscopy, we investigate this issue in the material (TaSe 4 ) 2 I, a classical example of a quasi-one-dimensional CDW insulator. Upon transient photoexcitation at low temperatures, we find the material strikingly emits coherent, narrow-band THz radiation. The frequency, polarization and temperature-dependence of the emitted radiation imply the existence of a phason that acquires mass by coupling to long-range Coulomb interaction. Our observations constitute the first direct evidence of the massive "Lee-Fukuyama" phason and highlight the potential applicability of fundamental collective modes of correlated materials as compact and robust sources of THz radiation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Cold-hot coupled waves in a flowing magnetized plasma

Abstract Nonlinear coupling of cold and hot waves in a flowing magnetized plasma is analyzed with the Vlasov equation. An analytical solution is obtained for cold waves of a small amplitude (weak flow) and a long wavelength. The distribution function is obtained by integrating the kinetic equation along a perturbed phase-space trajectory for a time-varying plasma flow. The kinetic description presents a generalized dispersion relation that involves resonances depending on cold and hot wave dispersions. Coherent fluid motion leads to radiation peaks in addition to the cyclotron harmonics, where the wavenumber of the cold wave determines the peak frequencies. The peaks appear narrow when the wave propagates perpendicular to the time-averaged flow while they become broad due to the Doppler effect when the wave propagates parallel to the flow. Fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations corroborate the theoretical predictions. The dispersion relation and resulting wave spectra provide information about plasma parameters and flow properties.

Physics↗

High-power few-cycle Cr:ZnSe mid-infrared source for attosecond soft x-ray physics

The development of mid-infrared, high-energy pulses of extremely short pulse duration is of great importance to the strong-field physics community, as it enables extension of the high-harmonic cutoff towards the keV range of photon energies. Here we demonstrate a C r 2 + : Z n S e laser amplifier delivering 7 mJ, 100 fs pulses at 1 kHz repetition rate and 2.4 µm central wavelength with excellent energy stability and beam quality. These pulses are post-compressed to 39 fs, 6.2 mJ, and 115 GW peak power in a novel nonlinear compression scheme. The laser system was used to generate coherent soft x-ray radiation up to 0.6 keV covering the entire water window, which is of high importance for bio-relevant applications. The obtained results open a wide range of applications in nonlinear optics, attosecond and strong-field physics, and remote sensing.

Leshchenko, Vyacheslav E. (ORCID:0000000199708559)↗

Current Sheet Alignment in Oblique Black Hole Magnetospheres: A Black Hole Pulsar?

Abstract We study the magnetospheric evolution of a nonaccreting spinning black hole (BH) with an initially inclined split monopole magnetic field by means of 3D general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations. This serves as a model for a neutron star (NS) collapse or a BH–NS merger remnant after the inherited magnetosphere has settled into a split monopole field creating a striped wind. We show that the initially inclined split monopolar current sheet aligns over time with the BH equatorial plane. The inclination angle evolves exponentially toward alignment, with an alignment timescale that is inversely proportional to the square of the BH angular velocity, where higher spin results in faster alignment. Furthermore, magnetic reconnection in the current sheet leads to exponential decay of event-horizon-penetrating magnetic flux with nearly the same timescale for all considered BH spins. In addition, we present relations for the BH mass and spin in terms of the period and alignment timescale of the striped wind. The explored scenario of a rotating, aligning, and reconnecting current sheet can potentially lead to multimessenger electromagnetic counterparts to a gravitational-wave event due to the acceleration of particles powering high-energy radiation, plasmoid mergers resulting in coherent radio signals, and pulsating emission due to the initial misalignment of the BH magnetosphere.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Vibration Studies for the CLARA Interferometer

The purpose of the CLARA experiment is to study the nature of undulator radiation emitted by single electrons circulating in the IOTA storage ring. The classical and quantum properties of the radiation are investigated by measuring its coherence length, intensity fluctuations and time correlations. The experiment took data in IOTA Run 4 (2022-2023). The key component of the apparatus is a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI), in which the optical length of one of the arms can be precisely controlled. For some measurements, the fine regulation of the arm length must be smaller than the radiation wavelength. For this reason, the apparatus is particularly sensitive to mechanical vibrations. In this note, we model and measure the effect of vibrations on the performance of the MZI under various conditions. Several improvements of the setup were implemented to minimize systematic distortions of the observed interference patterns. In this report, we present a mathematical model of the effect of mechanical vibrations on observed detector and coincidence rates. We also describe the measurements that were made to estimate the magnitude and spectra of rate fluctuations and their sources in the CLARA MZI under various conditions. Finally, we estimate the magnitude of arm length fluctuations and we deduce the sensitivity to coincidence-rate variations in our apparatus.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Experimental setup for high-resolution characterization of crystal optics for coherent X-ray beam applications

Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource serves a wide scientific community with its variety of X-ray capabilities. Recently, a wiggler X-ray source located at beamline 10-2 has been employed to perform high-resolution rocking curve imaging (RCI) of diamond and silicon crystals. X-ray RCI is invaluable for the development of upcoming cavity-based X-ray sources at SLAC, including the cavity-based X-ray free-electron laser and X-ray laser oscillator. In this paper, the RCI apparatus is described and experimental results are provided to validate its design. Future improvements of the setup are also discussed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Advanced light source-Upgrade accumulator-ring gas bremsstrahlung production

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is designing a new electron synchrotron for scientific research using synchrotron radiation. An upgrade of the Advanced Light Source (ALS) would position the nation to retain its international competitiveness in the soft X-ray sciences. The ALS is a 1.9 GeV storage ring operating at 500 mA of beam current. It is optimized to produce intense beams of soft X-rays, which offer spectroscopic contrast, nanometer-scale resolution, and broad temporal sensitivity. Upgrading the ALS storage ring from a triple-bend-achromat to a multibend-achromat (MBA) lattice design will provide a soft X-ray source that is up to 100–1,000 times brighter than today’s ALS and will provide a significantly higher fraction of coherent light in the soft X-ray region than is currently available at the ALS. Further, the upgraded ALS will offer the highest coherent flux of any existing or planned storage-ring facility, worldwide, up to a photon energy of 3.5 keV. The addition of an accumulator ring that enables on-axis, swap-out, recovery, and exchange of bunch trains is required to achieve this coherence and brightness. Analysis of the radiation generated and shielding required by the addition of this new accelerator is presented in this paper.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

An Ultra-Compact X-ray Regenerative Amplifier Free-Electron Laser

There is a growing interest in designing and building compact X-ray Free Electron Lasers (FELs) for scientific and industry applications. In this paper, we report an X-ray Regenerative Amplifier FEL (XRAFEL) design based on a proposed Ultra Compact X-ray FEL configuration. Our results show that an XRAFEL can dramatically enhance the temporal coherence and increase the spectral brightness of the radiation in the hard X-ray regime without increasing the footprint of the FEL configuration. The proposed compact, fully coherent, and high-flux hard X-ray source holds promise as a valuable candidate for a wide range of high-impact applications in both academia and industry.

Singleton, Madison↗