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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 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

A Short-Lived Isotope Counting System (SLICS) to measure reaction cross sections producing light, beta-decaying nuclei on OMEGA

A new activation detector optimized for short-lived isotopes was designed, installed, and tested on OMEGA. The Short-Lived Isotope Counting System (SLICS) can be positioned as close as 35 cm from the OMEGA target chamber center in a ten-inch-manipulator. Stable target samples can be mounted on the front end of the detector assembly to undergo triton-, deuteron-, or neutron-induced reactions that produce short-lived reaction products that beta decay. The emitted betas are detected in a phoswich configuration to eliminate the gamma background. The detector is optimized for isotopes with half-lives from 150 ms to 20 s, filling a gap in OMEGA’s current activation detectors for isotopes with half-lives >5 min. In a pilot study, SLICS achieved an efficiency of 24.5% ± 2.0% for counting 8Li, with a total of 505.8 ± 4.4 qualifying events. Using the existing triton laser-ion acceleration platform on OMEGA, this detector can be used to measure rarely studied tritium-induced reactions on light nuclei with an estimated uncertainty of 12%. As a result, the design of the detector and its performance during a first experiment employing deuterium as a surrogate will be discussed.

Beta spectrometry↗
DOE OSTI2026

Rotational coherence dominates early-time dynamics and produces long-time revivals in the S 2 state of azulene

Here, the ultrafast dynamics of azulene have been debated for decades, with reported picosecond decay constants variously attributed to intramolecular vibrational redistribution (IVR), internal conversion, or rotational dephasing. Using polarization- and femtosecond time-resolved resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization spectroscopy with a nanosecond delay window, we disentangle this long-standing inconsistency and show that the early 2–5 ps decay component arises entirely from the rotational dephasing of an excited-state wavepacket. Identical time constants extracted from the decay of the parallel signal and the rise of the perpendicular signal across multiple vibronic origins provide an unambiguous rotational anisotropy signature, eliminating the need for IVR-based interpretations. Extending the measurement window to 1.3 ns reveals well-structured J-type and C-type rotational coherence revivals in S 2 azulene on top of the well-documented fluorescence decay, demonstrating that both the short- and long-time dynamics contain information about the coherent rotational dynamics. These results show that azulene, and by extension polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, can sustain structured rotational coherence deep into the nanosecond regime, positioning PAHs as model systems for quantum-coherent wavepacket dynamics and providing a framework for probing coherence, decoherence, and rotational control in electronically rich molecular systems.

Zhan, Jie [University of Georgia, Athens, GA (Unit↗
DOE OSTI2025

Integration of a real-time orientation measurement system for a real-time evaluator (RTE) to measure the position and orientation of crane-lifted components

Prefabrication of building components holds the potential to revolutionize the construction industry. Prefabrication consists of manufacturing building components, modules, and other elements in a factory to be shipped and installed on a construction site. Prefabricated components have been produced for various applications including precast concrete panels for new construction and exterior wall retrofits. The manufacturing process has seen much innovation in recent years; however, the installation process has seen minimal advancements. A real-time evaluator (RTE) was developed to reduce the installation cost of prefabricated components by reducing installation time, decreasing rework, and improving accuracy. The RTE uses off-the-shelf hardware and novel algorithms to assist erectors with component installation by measuring the real-time positions of connections and prefabricated components, providing installation guidance through a graphical user interface, and monitoring the accumulated installation errors. An overview of the RTE and the proposed workflow is presented. Previous on-site demonstrations provided valuable feedback from users on the potential areas for improvement of the system. One common request was real-time measurement of component orientation during lifting, a process that previously required that the component remain stationary while the laser tracker cycled through target prisms. This paper will present the incorporation and testing of a real-time orientation measurement system as it was implemented into the RTE, allowing for measurement of component orientation during movement.

Selvakumar, Balaji [ORNL]↗
DOE OSTI2026

Design and Performance Assessment of Intermediary Coils for Misalignment Tolerance Improvement in Wireless Power Transfer Systems

This paper investigates the use of intermediate coils positioned between the primary and secondary coils in Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) systems for electric vehicle (EV) charging, with the objective of improving power transfer efficiency and robustness under misalignment conditions. An optimized 1 kW power system that operates at 85 kHz is developed and the misalignment performance was analyzed and compared with and without intermediate coils. A preliminary increase in efficiency of 2.3% at a misalignment of 52% of the coil radius is shown to be possible for a passive intermediate coil. An experimental prototype is built for design verification.

Sivka, Gozde [ORNL]↗
DOE OSTI2024

Inferring Stochastic Rates from Heterogeneous Snapshots of Particle Positions

Many imaging techniques for biological systems—like fixation of cells coupled with fluorescence microscopy—provide sharp spatial resolution in reporting locations of individuals at a single moment in time but also destroy the dynamics they intend to capture. In this study, these snapshot observations contain no information about individual trajectories, but still encode information about movement and demographic dynamics, especially when combined with a well-motivated biophysical model. The relationship between spatially evolving populations and single-moment representations of their collective locations is well-established with partial differential equations (PDEs) and their inverse problems. However, experimental data is commonly a set of locations whose number is insufficient to approximate a continuous-in-space PDE solution. Here, motivated by popular subcellular imaging data of gene expression, we embrace the stochastic nature of the data and investigate the mathematical foundations of parametrically inferring demographic rates from snapshots of particles undergoing birth, diffusion, and death in a nuclear or cellular domain. Toward inference, we rigorously derive a connection between individual particle paths and their presentation as a Poisson spatial process. Using this framework, we investigate the properties of the resulting inverse problem and study factors that affect quality of inference. One pervasive feature of this experimental regime is the presence of cell-to-cell heterogeneity. Rather than being a hindrance, we show that cell-to-cell geometric heterogeneity can increase the quality of inference on dynamics for certain parameter regimes. Altogether, the results serve as a basis for more detailed investigations of subcellular spatial patterns of RNA molecules and other stochastically evolving populations that can only be observed for single instants in their time evolution.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Overview of the Fiber System for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is a revolutionary instrument designed for precise measurements of cosmic distances and the investigation of dark energy. DESI utilizes 5000 optical fibers to simultaneously measure the spectra of distant objects and aims to measure 40 million galaxies and quasars in a 5 yr survey. One of the critical challenges to DESI's success was ensuring that the fiber system was not only highly efficient but also delivered a highly stable beam enabling more reliable sky subtraction for measurements of faint objects. We achieved this stability by minimizing the stress on the fiber system during the manufacture and operation of the telescope and fiber positioning robots. We installed the DESI fiber system on the 4 m Mayall telescope with ≥99% of fibers intact, and the instrument has delivered superb optical performance throughout the initial years of the DESI survey, including ≥90% average throughput when injected with a focal ratio of ~f/3.9 as delivered by the primary focus corrector, excluding fiber absorption losses. The design of DESI required multiple innovations to achieve these requirements, such as cleaved fibers bonded with a UV-curing epoxy to glass ferrules in the focal plane and fusion splicing instead of physical connectors. In this paper, we describe the development, delivery, and installation of the fiber system, the innovations that made the state-of-the-art performance possible, and the key lessons learned that could benefit future projects.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Advancements in reflected target nonintrusive assessment (ReTNA) for large optical surface measurement

Reflected computer vision targets are a powerful tool for measurement of mirror surface shape, with several important advantages over traditional fringe deflectometry methods. This method was first presented in 2021 and has undergone significant improvement and demonstration since. We describe a new baseline system using reflected computer vision targets, and present results from a large-scale measurement campaign conducted on both commercial heliostats and test mirrors in the laboratory. Calibration of the measurement system with photogrammetry allows for accurate measurement without careful control of target shape or camera position. Overall, the results show that a baseline setup using this method achieves measurement uncertainties in the slope error root-mean-square less than ±0.11 milliradian due to a series of repeatability conditions, varying sample position, rotation, lighting, camera settings, and system rebuild and recalibration. We present a detailed description of the setup, the results generated by this measurement tool, repeated measurement results, and the strengths and limitations of this metrology system.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Floating Wind Farm Layout Optimization Considering Moorings and Seabed Variations

This paper presents a method for optimizing the layout of floating wind farms that accounts for realistic seabed variations and the consequent adjustments to the mooring systems required for different turbine positions. The mooring lines of floating wind farms create large spatial constraints that are depth-dependent, since mooring designs must adapt to variations in seabed conditions over the array area. We develop a layout optimization methodology that addresses this, adjusting mooring system designs based on the local seabed characteristics as the layout changes and using steady-state models for the wake effects and mooring lines. The approach includes design algorithms that adjust the anchor positions and line length to achieve the desired mooring line profile for different water depths, and a layout optimization framework that implements spatial constraints between the turbines, mooring lines, and lease area boundaries. Demonstrating the method on several cases shows the effect of the seabed and spatial-constraint factors, as well as their interactions, on the optimal array layout. This demonstration paves the way for scaling up the method, using more powerful optimization algorithms to handle larger farm sizes and situations with more intensely varied seabed conditions.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Controlling interactions between high-frequency phonons and single quantum systems using phononic crystals

The ability to control phonons in solids is key in many fields of quantum science, ranging from quantum information processing to sensing. Phonons often act as a source of noise and decoherence when solid-state quantum systems interact with the phonon bath of their host matrix. In this study, we demonstrate the ability to control the phononic local density of states of the host matrix using phononic crystals and measure its positive impact on single quantum systems. We design and fabricate diamond phononic crystals with features down to around 20 nm, resulting in a high-frequency complete phononic bandgap from 50 to 70 GHz. The engineered local density of states is probed using single silicon-vacancy colour centres embedded in the phononic crystals. We observe an 18-fold reduction in the phonon-induced orbital relaxation rate of the emitters compared to bulk, thereby demonstrating that the phononic crystal suppresses spontaneous single-phonon processes. Furthermore, we show that our approach can efficiently suppress single-phonon-emitter interactions up to 20 K, allowing the investigation of multi-phonon processes in the emitters. Our results represent an important step towards the realization of efficient phonon-emitter interfaces that can be used for quantum acoustodynamics and quantum phononic networks.

quantum information↗
DOE OSTI2024

Limitations for Quantum Algorithms to Solve Turbulent and Chaotic Systems

We investigate the limitations of quantum computers for solving nonlinear dynamical systems. In particular, we tighten the worst-case bounds of the quantum Carleman linearisation (QCL) algorithm answering one of their open questions. We provide a further significant limitation for any quantum algorithm that aims to output a quantum state that approximates the normalized solution vector. Given a natural choice of coordinates for a dynamical system with one or more positive Lyapunov exponents and solutions that grow sub-exponentially, we prove that any such algorithm has complexity scaling at least exponentially in the integration time. As such, an efficient quantum algorithm for simulating chaotic systems or regimes is likely not possible.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Benchmarking thermal energy storage cost for industrial process heat

Process heat accounts for roughly half of industrial energy demand, and currently 95% of process heat is derived from the combustion of natural gas, oil, and coal. Electrification of industrial heating could be an alternative, potentially expanding locations suitable for manufacturing; however, industrial facility owners may desire energy storage to stabilize energy costs. In this work, the economic benefits of pairing thermal storage with electrified process heat to reduce the average price paid for energy are analyzed. Cost savings focus on energy arbitrage, or leveraging flexible energy pricing schemes, alone. The cost of natural gas combustion across decades (2019-2060) is compared to the costs of electricity and thermal energy storage in four United States Independent System Operator (ISO) regions. Systems installed today may not yield positive net present value (NPV) compared to the use of natural gas. However, using estimated electricity prices, systems installed in 2030 using arbitrage alone could be profitable when compared to natural gas in some regions of the U.S. Furthermore, if capital expenditures could be reduced by 50% for sensible thermal storage systems by 2030, profitable systems are found across all regions. This implies that electrification of industrial process heat, when paired with inexpensive thermal energy storage systems, could be less expensive than brownfield natural gas systems, using arbitrage as the only source of revenue and without a dependency on any future policy drivers such as pricing externalities that could further incentivize the electrification of industrial process heat.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Mechanochemical topological defects in an active nematic

We propose a reaction-diffusion system that converts topological information of an active nematic into chemical signals. We show that a curvature-activated reaction dipole is sufficient for creating a system that dynamically senses topology by producing a concentration field possessing local extrema coinciding with ±$\frac{1}{2}$ defects. The enabling term is analogous to polarization charge density seen in dielectric materials. We demonstrate the ability of this system to identify defects in both passive and active nematics. Our results illustrate that a relatively simple feedback scheme, expressed as a system of partial differential equations, is capable of producing chemical signals in response to inherently nonlocal structures in anisotropic media. Here, we posit that such coarse-grained systems can help generate testable hypotheses for regulated processes in biological systems, such as morphogenesis, and motivate the creation of bio-inspired materials that utilize dynamic coupling between nematic structure and biochemistry.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

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

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

Cold pools↗
DOE OSTI2026

Supervised Learning-Based Spatial Position Estimation with Vertical Displacement for Hovering UAV Wireless Power Transfer

This study presents a supervised learning-based spatial position estimation approach for wireless power transfer (WPT) systems supporting hovering unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) charging. Unlike stationary charging scenarios, hovering UAVs introduce continuous lateral misalignment and vertical displacement, leading to variations in magnetic coupling and reduced power transfer efficiency. To address this challenge, the proposed method estimates the relative spatial position of the receiver coil using only electrical measurements obtained at the secondary side. A supervised learning model is trained to map output voltage and current features to spatial coordinates, enabling position awareness without requiring external sensors, vision systems, or communication links. The sensing functionality is inherently integrated into the WPT system, allowing simultaneous power transfer and localization through the same magnetic interface. Experimental validation is conducted on a laboratory-scale prototype under varying lateral offsets and air-gap conditions. In addition, spline-based interpolation is employed to increase spatial data density for training. The results demonstrate that the proposed framework can capture spatial variations associated with both lateral and vertical displacement, providing reliable position estimation under hovering conditions. This work establishes a hardware-efficient, sensorless solution for UAV wireless charging and serves as a baseline for advanced data-driven position estimation methods in dynamic WPT systems.

Asa, Erdem [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000190884812)↗
DOE OSTI2026

CHICOX, a heavy-ion detection system for GRETA

The CHICOX detection system is an array of position sensitive parallel plate avalanche counters used for heavy ion detection in in-beam particle-gamma coincidence experiments. CHICOX, an upgrade of the CHICO2 array, is geometrically compatible with the GRETINA and GRETA gamma-ray arrays and provides an angular resolution sufficient to utilize the excellent position resolution of GRETINA/GRETA. CHICOX was successfully commissioned and fielded as an auxiliary detector to GRETINA in a campaign of stable-beam Coulomb excitation experiments at the ATLAS facility of Argonne National Laboratory. We report here on the design and in-beam performance of the CHICOX array.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Passive high explosive neutron inspection (PHENIX): a new method to confirm the presence or absence of high explosives for nuclear treaty verification

Advanced instruments and methods need to be developed now to create a technical basis to support the negotiation of future nuclear arms control treaties. One new capability that is anticipated is the ability to confirm either the declared presence or declared absence of high explosive (HE) material in the presence of special nuclear material (SNM). Towards this goal, Passive HE Neutron Inspection (PHENIX) has been developed and demonstrated as a method for confirming the presence or absence of HE in the presence of plutonium. The method exploits the inherent presence of neutrons associated with the decay of plutonium as an internal probe source for performing prompt gamma-ray neutron activation analysis (PGNAA), searching for the presence of HE as revealed by the emission of characteristic gamma rays following neutron absorption in hydrogen and nitrogen which are building blocks of present-day, military-grade HE. Tests using stoichiometrically-correct hemishells of mock HE with plutonium show that a system can be expected to positively confirm the presence or absence of these signatures, supporting determination of HE presence or absence with Pu, in a few hours. To protect other potentially sensitive gamma-ray signatures from a treaty accountable item, an analog information barrier has been conceptualized and tested which physically prevents the collection of gamma-ray spectral data outside of user selected energy windows strategically chosen to view only narrow spectral regions corresponding to the hydrogen (2223.2 keV) and nitrogen (9807.2 keV, 10,318.2 keV, and 10,829.2 keV) PGNAA signatures.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Classifying topology in photonic crystal slabs with radiative environments

Abstract In the recent years, photonic Chern materials have attracted substantial interest as they feature topological edge states that are robust against disorder, promising to realize defect-agnostic integrated photonic crystal slab devices. However, the out-of-plane radiative losses in those photonic Chern slabs has been previously neglected, yielding limited accuracy for predictions of these systems’ topological protection. Here, we develop a general framework for measuring the topological protection in photonic systems, such as in photonic crystal slabs, while accounting for in-plane and out-of-plane radiative losses. Our approach relies on the spectral localizer that combines the position and Hamiltonian matrices of the system to draw a real-picture of the system’s topology. This operator-based approach to topology allows us to use an effective Hamiltonian directly derived from the full-wave Maxwell equations after discretization via finite-elements method (FEM), resulting in the full account of all the system’s physical processes. As the spectral FEM-localizer is constructed solely from FEM discretization of the system’s master equation, the proposed framework is applicable to any physical system and is compatible with commonly used FEM software. Moving forward, we anticipate the generality of the method to aid in the topological classification of a broad range of complex physical systems.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Search for the production of Higgs-portal scalar bosons in the NuMI beam using the MicroBooNE detector

We present the strongest experimental limits to date on the mixing angle, 𝜃, with which a new scalar particle, 𝑆, mixes with the Higgs field in the mass range 110 MeV < 𝑚 𝑆 <155 MeV. This result uses the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber to search for decays of these Higgs-portal scalar particles through the 𝑆 → 𝑒 + ⁢𝑒 − channel with the decays of kaons in the NuMI neutrino beam acting as the source of the scalar particles. The analysis uses an exposure of 2.01 × 10 21 protons on target of NuMI beam data including periods when the beam focusing system was configured to focus positively charged hadrons and separate periods when negatively charged hadrons were focused. The analysis searches for scalar particles produced from kaons decaying in flight in the beam’s decay volume and at rest in the target and absorber. At 𝑚 𝑆 =125 MeV (𝑚 𝑆 =150 MeV) we set a limit of 𝜃 < 3.19 ×10 −4 (𝜃 < 2.79 ×10 −4 ) at the 95% confidence level.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗