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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 1,333 records · Page 74

Studies of material properties under irradiation at BNL Linear Isotope Producer (BLIP)

Effects of proton beams irradiating materials considered for targets in high-power accelerator experiments have been under study using the Brookhaven National Laboratory's (BNL) 200 MeV Linac. The primary objectives of the study that includes a wide array of materials and alloys ranging between low and high-Z are to (a) observe changes in physio-mechanical properties which are important in maintaining high-power target functionality, (b) identify possible limits of proton flux or fluence above which certain material seize to maintain integrity, (c) study the role of material operating temperature in inducing or maintaining radiation damage reversal, and (d) correlate radiation damage effects of different species such as energetic protons and neutrons on materials by utilizing reactor and particle accelerator experience data. These objectives are specifically being addressed in the latest material irradiation study linked to the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE). Observations on irradiation effects on materials considered for high-power targets and other beam intercepting elements, such as collimators, from past studies and preliminary observations of the ongoing LBNE study are presented in this paper.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Quantitative Principles for Precise Engineering of Sensitivity in Graphene Electrochemical Sensors

Abstract A major difficulty in implementing carbon‐based electrode arrays with high device‐packing density is to ensure homogeneous and high sensitivities across the array. Overcoming this obstacle requires quantitative microscopic models that can accurately predict electrode sensitivity from its material structure. Such models are currently lacking. Here, it is shown that the sensitivity of graphene electrodes to dopamine and serotonin neurochemicals in fast‐scan cyclic voltammetry measurements is strongly linked to point defects, whereas it is unaffected by line defects. Using the physics of point defects in graphene, a microscopic model is introduced that explains how point defects determine sensitivity. The predictions of this model match the empirical observation that sensitivity linearly increases with the density of point defects. This model is used to guide the nanoengineering of graphene structures for optimum sensitivity. This approach achieves reproducible fabrication of miniaturized sensors with extraordinarily higher sensitivity than conventional materials. These results lay the foundation for new integrated electrochemical sensor arrays based on nanoengineered graphene.

Wu, Ting↗

Cost estimates for flat plate and concentrator collector arrays

The current module and installation costs for the U.S. National Photovoltaic Program's grid-connected systems are significantly higher than required for economic viability of this alternative. Attention is accordingly given to the prospects for installed module cost reductions in flat plate, linear focus Fresnel concentrator, and point focus Fresnel concentrator candidate systems. Cost projections indicate that all three systems would meet near-term and midterm goals, provided that module costs of $2.80/W(p) and $0.70/W(p), respectively, are met. The point focus Fresnel system emerges as the most viable for the near term.

Shimada, K.↗

Pixel detectors in 3D technologies for high energy physics

This paper reports on the current status of the development of International Linear Collider vertex detector pixel readout chips based on multi-tier vertically integrated electronics. Initial testing results of the VIP2a prototype are presented. The chip is the second embodiment of the prototype data-pushed readout concept developed at Fermilab. The device was fabricated in the MIT-LL 0.15 {micro}m fully depleted SOI process. The prototype is a three-tier design, featuring 30 x 30 {micro}m{sup 2} pixels, laid out in an array of 48 x 48 pixels.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Vertically integrated pixel readout chip for high energy physics

We report on the development of the vertex detector pixel readout chips based on multi-tier vertically integrated electronics for the International Linear Collider. Some testing results of the VIP2a prototype are presented. The chip is the second iteration of the silicon implementation of the prototype, data-pushed concept of the readout developed at Fermilab. The device was fabricated in the 3D MIT-LL 0.15 {micro}m fully depleted SOI process. The prototype is a three-tier design, featuring 30 x 30 {micro}m{sup 2} pixels, laid out in an array of 48 x 48 pixels.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Enhanced Propagating Surface Plasmon Signal Detection

Overcoming the dissipative nature of propagating surface plasmons (PSPs) is pre-requisite to realizing functional plasmonic circuitry, in which large bandwidth signals can be manipulated over length scales far-below the diffraction limit of light. To this end, we report on a novel PSP enhanced signal detection technique achieved in an all-metallic substrate. We take advantage of two strategically spatio-temporally separated phase-locked femtosecond laser pulses, incident onto lithographically patterned PSP coupling structures. We follow PSP propagation with joint femtosecond temporal and nanometer spatial resolution in a time-resolved non-linear photoemission electron microscopy scheme. Initially, a PSP signal wave packet is launched from a hole etched into the silver surface from where it propagates through an open trench structure and is decoded through the use of a timed probe pulse. FDTD calculations demonstrate that PSP signal waves may traverse open trenches in excess of 10 microns in diameter, thereby allowing remote detection even through vacuum regions. This arrangement results in a 10X enhancement in photoemission relative to readout from the bare metal surface. The enhancement is attributed to an all-optical homodyne detection technique that mixes signal and reference PSP waves in a non-linear scheme. Larger readout trenches achieve higher readout levels, however reduced transmission through the trench limits the trench size to 6 microns for maximum readout levels. However, the use of an array of trenches increases the maximum enhancement to near 30X. The attainable enhancement factor may be harnessed to achieve extended coherent PSP propagation in ultrafast plasmonic circuitry.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗

Simultaneous and coordinated rotational switching of all molecular rotors in a network

A range of artificial molecular systems have been created that can exhibit controlled linear and rotational motion. In the development of such systems, a key step is the addition of communication between molecules in a network. Here, we show that a two-dimensional array of dipolar molecular rotors can undergo simultaneous rotational switching by applying an electric field from the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope. Several hundred rotors made from porphyrin-based double-decker complexes can be simultaneously rotated when in a hexagonal rotor network on a Cu(111) surface by applying biases above ±1 V at 80 K. The phenomenon is observed only in a hexagonal rotor network due to the degeneracy of the ground state dipole rotational energy barrier of the system. Defects are essential to increase electric torque on the rotor network and to stabilize the switched rotor domains. At low biases and low initial rotator angles, slight reorientations of individual rotors can occur resulting in the rotator arms pointing in different directions. In conclusion, analysis reveals that the rotator arm directions here are not random, but are coordinated to minimize energy via cross talk among the rotors through dipolar interactions.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Elastic properties of suspended multilayer WSe{sub 2}

We report the experimental determination of the elastic properties of suspended multilayer WSe{sub 2}, a promising two-dimensional (2D) semiconducting material combined with high optical quality. The suspended WSe{sub 2} membranes have been fabricated by mechanical exfoliation of bulk WSe{sub 2} and transfer of the exfoliated multilayer WSe{sub 2} flakes onto SiO{sub 2}/Si substrates pre-patterned with hole arrays. Then, indentation experiments have been performed on these membranes with an atomic force microscope. The results show that the 2D elastic modulus of the multilayer WSe{sub 2} membranes increases linearly while the prestress decreases linearly as the number of layers increases. The interlayer interaction in WSe{sub 2} has been observed to be strong enough to prevent the interlayer sliding during the indentation experiments. The Young's modulus of multilayer WSe{sub 2} (167.3 ± 6.7 GPa) is statistically independent of the thickness of the membranes, whose value is about two thirds of other most investigated 2D semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides, namely, MoS{sub 2} and WS{sub 2}. Moreover, the multilayer WSe{sub 2} can endure ∼12.4 GPa stress and ∼7.3% strain without fracture or mechanical degradation. The 2D WSe{sub 2} can be an attractive semiconducting material for application in flexible optoelectronic devices and nano-electromechanical systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

WISE J233237.05–505643.5: A double-peaked, broad-lined active galactic nucleus with a spiral-shaped radio morphology

We present radio continuum mapping, optical imaging, and spectroscopy of the newly discovered double-peaked, broad-lined active galactic nucleus (AGN) WISE J233237.05–505643.5 at redshift z = 0.3447. This source exhibits an FR-I and FR-II hybrid morphology, characterized by a bright core, jet, and Doppler-boosted lobe structures in Australian Telescope Compact Array continuum maps at 1.5, 5.6, and 9 GHz. Unlike most FR-II objects, W2332–5056 is hosted by a disk-like galaxy. The core has a projected 5'' linear radio feature that is perpendicular to the curved primary jet, hinting at unusual and complex activity within the inner 25 kpc. The multi-epoch, optical-near-IR photometric measurements indicate significant variability over a 3-20 yr baseline from the AGN component. Gemini South optical data show unusual double-peaked emission-line features: the centroids of the broad-lined components of Hα and Hβ are blueshifted with respect to the narrow lines and host galaxy by ∼3800 km s{sup –1}. We examine possible cases that involve single or double supermassive black holes in the system and discuss the required future investigations to disentangle the mysterious nature of this system.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Noise Radar Approach for Interrogating SAW Sensors Using Software Defined Radio

Passive, wireless surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor systems can be approached from a radar perspective, where the SAW device is thought of as a cooperative target. Here, this paper investigates the use of a commercial-off-the-shelf software defined radio to interrogate wireless SAW sensors with a randomly generated interrogation pulse. The USRP B200mini is utilized as the transceiver platform with custom field-programmable gate array (FPGA) modifications to generate the random interrogation waveform and provide synchronization and buffering to the received signal. Each transmit sample bit in the FPGA is fed by an independent linear-feedback shift register, which generates pseudo-random I and Q samples for the interrogation pulse. An RF daughterboard has also been developed and integrated with the B200mini to increase the transmit power, provide filtering of the RF signals, and switch a signal antenna between the transmit and receive channels. Radio control and matched filter correlator post-processing are accomplished using Python. Design and implementation details for the FPGA modifications, RF daughterboard, and post-processing are discussed. Lastly, the system is demonstrated by wirelessly interrogating SAW temperature sensors at 915 MHz.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Error Correction Decoding for Underwater Acoustic Tag Detection

This paper presents a decoding method applied to a set of underwater acoustic tags that employ very short signal beacons periodically transmitted. The tags use the CRC8- Dallas linear block code for error detection originally. Though the CRC8-Dallas is quite weak, syndrome-based error correction is applied to correct the decoding errors. Meanwhile, multi-channel array receivers are utilized to find the common decodes of the tag IDs, and the list of the true tag IDs is used to test the detection accuracy and false alarm rate. The proposed syndrome decoding method is applied to over 2 million files recorded in field experiments. The results demonstrate that the syndrome method yields around 9.85% more true positive decodes at the cost of a 2 - 5 times increase in false positive rates. Further insights are also gained to enable future improvement of the detection algorithms

Hall, Joseph↗

Charge injection device as a candidate sensor for stellar tracking

Charge transfer devices (CTDs) are superior to the image dissector as stellar tracking sensors, considering their low voltage requirements, insensitivity to magnetic fields, good linearity, and low weight and power. An analysis of one type of CTD, called the charge injection device (CID), revealed an X-Y addressing capability which provides exceptional flexibility in array readout and results in enhanced S/N capability, a surface channel device which produces a larger dynamic range of operation, and exceptional and unique tolerance to optical overloads. A 128 row by 128 column CID array processed on silicon was evaluated in a cooled breadboard camera, and measured results indicate projected performance parameters of a large area CID array as follows: 20 micron square sensing site, noise not greater than 25 carriers per pixel, quantum yield of approximately 40% from 0.4 to 1.0 micron, and cooling requirements on the order of 0 degrees C.

Jones, C. S., Jr.↗

A 90GHz Bolometer Camera Detector System for the Green Bank Telescope

We describe a close-packed, two-dimensional imaging detector system for operation at 90GHz (3.3mm) for the 100 m Green Bank Telescope (GBT) This system will provide high sensitivity (<1mjy in 1s rapid imaging (15'x15' to 250 microJy in 1 hr) at the world's largest steerable aperture. The heart of this camera is an 8x8 close packed, Nyquist-sampled array of superconducting transition edge sensor bolometers. We have designed and are producing a functional superconducting bolometer array system using a monolithic planar architecture and high-speed multiplexed readout electronics. With an NEP of approx. 2.10(exp 17) W/square root Hz, the TES bolometers will provide fast linear sensitive response for high performance imaging. The detectors are read out by and 8x8 time domain SQUID multiplexer. A digital/analog electronics system has been designed to enable read out by SQUID multiplexers. First light for this instrument on the GBT is expected within a year.

Benford, Dominic J.↗

Ka-Band Beam Steering Reflectarray Study

A one-meter diameter, 32 GHz active microstrip reflectarray capable of electronic beam steering has been studied. The 15_500 element array consists of rnicrostrip patch antennas, microstrip phase shifters, and dc bias lines. Specifically, the study focused on the solid-state devices and dc bias layouts for scanning the beam linearly 45 from boresight using 2-bit phase shifters. Three configurations are recommended for the reflectarray with integrated 2-bit phase shifters where the total substrate and cladding mass varies from 8 kg to 14 kg. Additionally, dc power requirements for p-i-n diodes in 1-bit, 2-bit and 3-bit phase shifting circuits are approximately 19 W, 19 W, and 39 W, respectively. The dc power requirement for phase shifters using passive MESFETs is much less than 1 W.

McSpadden, James O.↗

Resolving the Inner Parsec of the Blazar J1924–2914 with the Event Horizon Telescope

The blazar J1924–2914 is a primary Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) calibrator for the Galactic center’s black hole Sagittarius A*. Here we present the first total and linearly polarized intensity images of this source obtained with the unprecedented 20 μas resolution of the EHT. J1924–2914 is a very compact flat-spectrum radio source with strong optical variability and polarization. In April 2017 the source was observed quasi-simultaneously with the EHT (April 5–11), the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (April 3), and the Very Long Baseline Array (April 28), giving a novel view of the source at four observing frequencies, 230, 86, 8.7, and 2.3 GHz. These observations probe jet properties from the subparsec to 100 pc scales. We combine the multifrequency images of J1924–2914 to study the source morphology. We find that the jet exhibits a characteristic bending, with a gradual clockwise rotation of the jet projected position angle of about 90° between 2.3 and 230 GHz. Linearly polarized intensity images of J1924–2914 with the extremely fine resolution of the EHT provide evidence for ordered toroidal magnetic fields in the blazar compact core.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

THE FIRST VERY LONG BASELINE INTERFEROMETRY IMAGE OF A 44 GHz METHANOL MASER WITH THE KVN AND VERA ARRAY (KaVA)

We have carried out the first very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) imaging of a 44 GHz class I methanol maser (7{sub 0}-6{sub 1} A {sup +}) associated with a millimeter core MM2 in a massive star-forming region IRAS 18151–1208 with KaVA (KVN and VERA Array), which is a newly combined array of KVN (Korean VLBI Network) and VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry). We have succeeded in imaging compact maser features with a synthesized beam size of 2.7 milliarcseconds × 1.5 milliarcseconds (mas). These features are detected at a limited number of baselines within the length of shorter than ≈ 650 km corresponding to 100 Mλ in the uv-coverage. The central velocity and the velocity width of the 44 GHz methanol maser are consistent with those of the quiescent gas rather than the outflow traced by the SiO thermal line. The minimum component size among the maser features is ∼5 mas × 2 mas, which corresponds to the linear size of ∼15 AU × 6 AU assuming a distance of 3 kpc. The brightness temperatures of these features range from ∼3.5 × 10{sup 8} to 1.0 × 10{sup 10} K, which are higher than the estimated lower limit from a previous Very Large Array observation with the highest spatial resolution of ∼50 mas. The 44 GHz class I methanol maser in IRAS 18151–1208 is found to be associated with the MM2 core, which is thought to be less evolved than another millimeter core MM1 associated with the 6.7 GHz class II methanol maser.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

UAVSAR Phased Array Aperture

This paper describes the development of a patch antenna array for an L-band repeat-pass interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) instrument that is to be flown on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The antenna operates at a center frequency of 1.2575 GHz and with a bandwidth of 80 MHz, consistent with a number of radar instruments that JPL has previously flown. The antenna is designed to radiate orthogonal linear polarizations in order to facilitate fully-polarimetric measurements. Beam-pointing requirements for repeat-pass SAR interferometry necessitate electronic scanning in azimuth over a range of -20degrees in order to compensate for aircraft yaw. Beam-steering is accomplished by transmit/receive (T/R) modules and a beamforming network implemented in a stripline circuit board. This paper, while providing an overview of phased array architecture, focuses on the electromagnetic design of the antenna tiles and associated interconnects. An important aspect of the design of this antenna is that it has an amplitude taper of 10dB in the elevation direction. This is to reduce multipath reflections from the wing that would otherwise be detrimental to interferometric radar measurements. This taper is provided by coupling networks in the interconnect circuits as opposed to attenuating the output of the T/R modules. Details are given of material choices and fabrication techniques that meet the demanding environmental conditions that the antenna must operate in. Predicted array performance is reported in terms of co-polarized and crosspolarized far-field antenna patterns, and also in terms of active reflection coefficient.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)↗

Nonequilibrium steady state and heat transport in nonlinear open quantum systems: Stochastic influence action and functional perturbative analysis

In this paper, we show that a nonequilibrium steady state (NESS) exists at late times in open quantum systems with weak nonlinearity by following its nonequilibrium dynamics with a perturbative analysis. We consider an oscillator chain containing three-types of anharmonicity: cubic α- and quartic β-type Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou (FPUT) nearest-oscillator interactions and the on-site (pinned) Klein–Gordon (KG) quartic self-interaction. Assuming weak nonlinearity, we introduce a stochastic influence action approach to the problem and obtain the energy flows in different junctures across the chain. The formal results obtained here can be used for quantum transport problems in weakly nonlinear quantum systems. For α-type anharmonicity, we observe that the first-order corrections do not play any role in the thermal transport in the NESS of the configuration we considered. For KG and β-types anharmonicity, we work out explicitly the case of two weakly nonlinearly coupled oscillators, with results scalable to any number of oscillators. We examine the late-time energy flows from one thermal bath to the other via the coupled oscillators, and show that both the zeroth- and the first-order contributions of the energy flows become constant in time at late times, signaling the existence of a late-time NESS to first order in nonlinearity. Our perturbative calculations provide a measure of the strength of nonlinearity for nonlinear open quantum systems, which may help control the mesoscopic heat transport distinct from or close to linear transport. Furthermore, our results also give a benchmark for the numerical challenge of simulating heat transport. Our setup and predictions can be implemented and verified by investigating heat flow in an array of Josephson junctions in the limit of large Josephson energy with the platform of circuit QED.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗