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At least 145 records · Page 8

Controlled skyrmion ratchet in linear protrusion defects

Using atomistic simulations, we investigate the dynamical behavior of a single skyrmion interacting with an asymmetric linear protrusion array under external ac driving. The linear protrusion array is placed in the xy plane and is composed of magnetic walls near the edge of the nanotrack that have angled linear protrusions into the nanotrack. The structure forms a hard axis for –x direction motion and an easy axis for +x direction motion. When the ac drive is applied along the x direction, the skyrmion moves along the hard direction of the substrate asymmetry in three phases: a pinned phase with localized skyrmion orbits, a constant velocity phase where the orbits become delocalized, and a reentrant pinned phase with larger localized orbits. We measure the dependence of the skyrmion velocity on the frequency and amplitude of the ac drive. All three phases appear for all frequency values simulated here, and in the constant velocity phase the skyrmion velocity depends only on the frequency and not on the amplitude of the ac drive. When ac driving is applied in the y direction, the skyrmion moves along the easy direction of the substrate asymmetry and exhibits the same three phases as for x-direction driving along with a fourth phase which, at high driving frequencies, consists of a series of constant velocity phases, each with different average skyrmion velocities. For low frequencies, the constant velocity phase is lost and the skyrmion speed increases linearly with increasing ac drive amplitude due to a Magnus boost effect. Finally, our findings suggest new ways to create reliable data transport for spintronic devices using skyrmions as information carriers, where the skyrmion direction and speed can be controlled by varying only the ac drive amplitude and frequency.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

$\gamma$-ray angular correlations, distributions and linear polarization in tracking arrays

With $\gamma $-ray tracking arrays, the angular correlation and, especially, the linear polarization of $\gamma $ rays can be measured with high precision. However, because of the complexity of these spectrometers, measuring angular distributions is more involved. The techniques and associated formalisms were developed and established in the 1950s. The experimental setups of that era were relatively simple when compared to the advanced $\gamma $-ray tracking arrays available today. This paper aims to review and refine these techniques, unify the nomenclatures and, specifically, adapt them for use with the newest tracking arrays. In addition, new methods for producing the required response functions for these arrays are introduced.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Materials Identification System for 200 liter/55 gallon Waste Drums using Computer Tomographic Techniques - 17162

In 2014 a thermal runaway event within a drum in-situ at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) facility near Carlsbad, NM, resulted in the drum being breached and activity released. This emphasized the need for a better determination of drum contents and identification of material combinations and in-drum conditions. Enhanced characterization is required to identify and quantify the presence of absorbent materials, determine whether they are organic or inorganic, locate their position in the drum with respect to other materials, and quantify how much liquid is being held in the absorbent material. As part of the waste characterization process to ensure compliance with the WIPP waste acceptance criteria, drums are currently inspected by Real Time Radioscopic (RTR) x-ray to identify prohibited items such as free liquids and un-punctured aerosol cans, but that technique cannot satisfy these newly identified requirements, and a new approach to non-destructive examination was required. This approach complements the current RTR inspection with Cone-Beam Area Detector Computed Tomography (CT) scanning of the whole drum, followed by more-quantitative CT scanning of specific areas of concern, using a highly collimated Linear Detector Array. The density of representative waste drums required x-ray energies of up to 9 MeV, which meant that sorting of materials by their photo-electric absorption is not viable as this occurs in the 80 - 180 keV range. However, a notable characteristic of higher energy imaging in this context is the general correspondence between material density and total attenuation in the 1.5-4.0 MeV range due to Compton Scatter. Development of the imaging chain, comprising the x-ray source and the detectors was critical to achieving the required system performance. Theoretical analysis of the energy spectra of the 9 MeV beam, and filtration of the beam to remove the lower energies which cause beam hardening artifacts in the image was required. Theoretical evaluation of the required efficiency and image acquisition performance of area detectors and linear array detectors, was carried out to complete the selection of equipment. A system of density calibration rods was designed and, together with the selected equipment, was configured and used to acquire cone-beam CT data and line-scan CT data by scanning a 55 gallon drum containing surrogate waste. From the acquired data, CT reconstruction was performed and the basis of algorithms to identify materials were developed. Following this, a series of blind tests were done using a range of surrogate materials the contents of which were unknown to the system operators. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Effect of the plasma production rate on the implosion dynamics of cylindrical wire/fiber arrays with a profiled linear mass

Results are presented from experimental studies on the implosion of arrays made of wires and metalized fibers under the action of current pulses with an amplitude of up to 3.5 MA at the Angara-5-1 facility. The effect of the parameters of an additional linear mass of bismuth and gold deposited on the wires/fibers is investigated. It is examined how the material of the wires/fibers and the metal coating deposited on them affect the penetration of the plasma with the frozen-in magnetic field into a cylindrical array. Information on the plasma production rate <##> } } m &#x02D9;<!-- ?? --> } B i $ /dot m{sub {Bi}} $ m-dot {sub Bi} </##> for different metals is obtained by analyzing optical streak images of imploding arrays. The plasma production rate for cylindrical arrays made of the kapron fibers coated with bismuth is determined. For the initial array radius of R{sub 0} = 1 cm and discharge current of I = 1 MA, the plasma production rate is found to be <##> } } m &#x02D9;<!-- ?? --> } B i &#x2248;<!-- ??? --> 0.095 &#x00B1;<!-- ?? --> 0.015 $ /dot m{sub {Bi}} /approx 0.095 /pm 0.015 $ m-dot {sub Bi}≈0.095±0.015 </##> μg/(cm{sup 2} ns).

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Synthetic aperture microwave imaging with active probing for fusion plasma diagnostics

A Synthetic Aperture Microwave Imaging (SAMI) system has been designed and built to obtain 2-D images at several frequencies from fusion plasmas. SAMI uses a phased array of linearly polarised antennas. The array configuration has been optimised to achieve maximum synthetic aperture beam efficiency. The signals received by antennas are down-converted to the intermediate frequency range and then recorded in a full vector form. Full vector signals allow beam focusing and image reconstruction in both real time and a post-processing mode. SAMI can scan over 16 pre-programmed frequencies in the range of 10-35GHz with a switching time of 300ns. The system operates in 2 different modes simultaneously: both a 'passive' imaging of plasma emission and also an 'active' imaging of the back-scattered signal of the radiation launched by one of the antennas from the same array. This second mode is similar to so-called Doppler backscattering (DBS) reflectometry with 2-D resolution of the propagation velocity of turbulent structures. Both modes of operation show good performance in fusion plasma experiments on Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST). We have obtained the first ever 2-D images of BXO mode conversion windows. With active probing, first ever turbulence velocity maps have been obtained. We present an overview of the diagnostic and discuss recent results. In contrast to quasi-optical microwave imaging systems SAMI requires neither big aperture viewing ports nor large 2-D detector arrays to achieve the desired imaging resolution. The number of effective 'pixels' of the synthesized image is proportional to the number of receiving antennas squared. Thus only a small number of optimised antennas is sufficient for the majority of applications. Possible implementation of SAMI on ITERand DEMO is discussed.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

BICEP2/Keck Array. VII. Matrix based e/b separation applied to BICEP2 and the Keck Array

A linear polarization field on the sphere can be uniquely decomposed into an E-mode and a B-mode component. These two components are analytically defined in terms of spin-2 spherical harmonics. Maps that contain filtered modes on a partial sky can also be decomposed into E-mode and B-mode components. However, the lack of full sky information prevents orthogonally separating these components using spherical harmonics. In this paper, we present a technique for decomposing an incomplete map into E and B-mode components using E and B eigenmodes of the pixel covariance in the observed map. This method is found to orthogonally define E and B in the presence of both partial sky coverage and spatial filtering. This method has been applied to the Bicep2 and the Keck Array maps and results in reducing E to B leakage from ΛCDM E-modes to a level corresponding to a tensor-to-scalar ratio of r<1×10{sup −4}.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Position sensor for linear synchronous motors employing halbach arrays

A position sensor suitable for use in linear synchronous motor (LSM) drive systems employing Halbach arrays to create their magnetic fields is described. The system has several advantages over previously employed ones, especially in its simplicity and its freedom from being affected by weather conditions, accumulated dirt, or electrical interference from the LSM system itself.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

SU-E-P-24: Simplified EDW Profile Measurements Using Two Commonly Available Detector Arrays

Purpose: Enhanced dynamic wedge (EDW) profiles are needed as part of the commissioning of a treatment planning system. This work compares the acquisition of EDW profiles using a linear diode array (LDA) with two commonly used detector arrays available in the clinics, with the goal of identifying the simplest approach for these measurements. Methods: The measurements of EDW profiles were performed on a Varian TrueBeam linear accelerator for 6, 10, and 18 MV photon beams for all seven wedge angles at four depths. The measurements were done using the LDA 99 in Blue Phantom2 (IBA Dosimetry), and IC Profiler and MapCHECK2 (Sun Nuclear) in solid water phantoms. The water phantom was set up at 100 cm SSD, whereas the two other devices were set up at 75 cm due to the size limitations of the devices. The largest possible field size was used. The average and maximum percentage differences were examined within the central 90% of the field and in the penumbra. Results: Dose profiles measured with IC Profiler were in a good agreement with LDA 99 data. The average percentage difference within the field did not exceed 0.5% for all energies. MapCHECK2 measurements matched well with LDA 99 for 10 and 18 MV (within 0.3%) with discrepancies of up to 1.4% observed for the 6 MV beam. The maximum percentage differences for both devices in the penumbra exhibited larger variations than LDA 99 results due to differences in detector spacing and high dose gradient, as expected. Conclusion: Common linac QA devices such as IC Profiler or MapCHECK2 provide EDW beam profile data of reasonable accuracy as compared to measurements performed using a linear diode array in a water phantom, saving the expense and time involved in acquiring and setting up a LDA.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Magnetic and dielectric properties of one-dimensional array of S = 1/2 linear trimer system Na{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}Ge{sub 4}O{sub 12}

Magnetic susceptibility χ, specific heat C, capacitance C{sub p}, and {sup 23}Na-NMR measurements have been carried out on polycrystalline samples of quantum spin linear trimer system Na{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}Ge{sub 4}O{sub 12}, which has the one-dimensional array of Cu{sub 3}O{sub 8} trimers formed of edge-sharing three CuO{sub 4} square planes. The exchange interactions between the Cu{sup 2+} (S = 1/2) spins have been determined by analyzing χ-T and C-T curves. By employing the isolated S = 1/2 Heisenberg trimer model above 70 K, the nearest-neighbor exchange couplings J{sub 1} and the second-neighbor one J{sub 2} in trimer have been evaluated to J{sub 1}/k{sub B} = 30 ± 20 K (antiferromagnetic) and J{sub 2}/k{sub B} = 340 ± 20 K. At low temperature region, two spins of the edge in the Cu{sub 3}O{sub 8} trimers form a nonmagnetic singlet by strong antiferromagnetic interaction J{sub 2}, and the spin left in the center of the Cu{sub 3}O{sub 8} trimer forms one-dimensional chains by the exchange interaction J{sub 3} between the trimers. By employing the S = 1/2 uniform Heisenberg chain model below 70 K, we have evaluated to J{sub 3}/k{sub B} = 18 ± 1 K. The mechanism of multiferroic behavior at T{sub c} = 2 K is discussed.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Computed Tomography of Dry Cask Storage for Used Fuel

The demand for dry cask storage for used nuclear fuel is on the rise due to the continuous operation of currently existing nuclear plants which are reaching or have reached the capacity of their used fuel pools. Dry cask storage allows used fuel that has already been cooled in the used fuel pool for at least five years to be surrounded by an inert gas inside a specially designed and licensed cask. Currently, 75 of the 78 U.S.A reactor sites either have or are pursuing an independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) for dry cask fuel storage [1] with over 2,000 casks already loaded [2]. Cask loading will only continue to increase until a final repository solution is operational or the U.S. begins to recycle fuel. The challenge of monitoring the condition of the used fuel inside the cask without exposing the used fuel has been apparent since the 1980s. The objective of the University of Florida (UF) project is ultimately to investigate the feasibility of imaging the used fuel assemblies’ location and evaluating the inner structural condition using emission source computed tomography (CT). A combination of radiation transport models will be used to simulate gamma-rays and neutrons traversing through the used fuel, structure, and cask body materials. In the simulations, multiple linear detector arrays will record the radiation outside the cask wall and will be placed at various angles in order to model rotating a linear detector array around the entire cask. The combination of data from all the detectors will give the planar radiation projection onto the detectors, more commonly called the Radon transform, of the structure of used fuel assemblies. This project can be processed with filtered back projection or other more advanced reconstructive imaging algorithms to recreate the fuel structures. A majority of the historical work done for used fuel has been on verification, diversion detection, and burnup credit validation in order to meet regulatory guidelines. One of the more commonly used systems for single assembly verification is the Fork Detector developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1988 [3]. A group at the Idaho National Laboratory developed a Compton Dry-Cask Imaging Scanner that has the ability to detect empty vs full storage positions but it suffered a setback when transported to the Doel Nuclear Power Plant near Antwerp, Belgium; the system was unable to detect full energy peaks because of the additional scattering caused by a thick ballistic steel shield [4]. As detectors, computational power, and modeling improves, a few groups have leveraged these advancements and started to investigate CT hoping, that despite the difficulties, the technique can give information on fuel condition. So far the groups have mostly limited the tomographic work to a per assembly basis [5] [6] [7], rather than the full dry cask as the University of Florida plans to investigate. The downsides of CT versus simpler verification and validation are the amount of data required and the time it takes to acquire that data. Given that dry casks are intended to sit undistributed for up to 60 years, a scanning time of several weeks to several months is not unreasonable if such systems do not require human operators beyond the initial setup.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Computed Tomography of Dry Cask Storage for Used Fuel

The demand for dry cask storage for used nuclear fuel is on the rise due to the continuous operation of currently existing nuclear plants which are reaching or have reached the capacity of their used fuel pools. Dry cask storage allows used fuel that has already been cooled in the used fuel pool for at least five years to be surrounded by an inert gas inside a specially designed and licensed cask. Currently, 75 of the 78 U.S.A reactor sites either have or are pursuing an independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) for dry cask fuel storage with over 2,000 casks already loaded. Cask loading will only continue to increase until a final repository solution is operational or the U.S. begins to recycle fuel. The challenge of monitoring the condition of the used fuel inside the cask without exposing the used fuel has been apparent since the 1980's. The objective of the University of Florida (UF) project is ultimately to investigate the feasibility of imaging the used fuel assemblies' location and evaluating the inner structural condition using emission source computed tomography (CT). A combination of radiation transport models will be used to simulate gamma-rays and neutrons traversing through the used fuel, structure, and cask body materials. In the simulations, multiple linear detector arrays will record the radiation outside the cask wall and will be placed at various angles in order to model rotating a linear detector array around the entire cask. The combination of data from all the detectors will give the planar radiation projection onto the detectors, more commonly called the Radon transform, of the structure of used fuel assemblies. This project can be processed with filtered back projection or other more advanced reconstructive imaging algorithms to recreate the fuel structures. A majority of the historical work done for used fuel has been on verification, diversion detection, and burnup credit validation in order to meet regulatory guidelines. One of the more commonly used systems for single assembly verification is the Fork Detector developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1988. A group at the Idaho National Laboratory developed a Compton Dry-Cask Imaging Scanner that has the ability to detect empty vs full storage positions but it suffered a setback when transported to the Doel Nuclear Power Plant near Antwerp, Belgium; the system was unable to detect full energy peaks because of the additional scattering caused by a thick ballistic steel shield. As detectors, computational power, and modeling improves, a few groups have leveraged these advancements and started to investigate CT hoping, that despite the difficulties, the technique can give information on fuel condition. So far the groups have mostly limited the tomographic work to a per assembly basis , rather than the full dry cask as the University of Florida plans to investigate. The downsides of CT versus simpler verification and validation are the amount of data required and the time it takes to acquire that data. Given that dry casks are intended to sit undistributed for up to 60 years, a scanning time of several weeks to several months is not unreasonable if such systems do not require human operators beyond the initial setup. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Absolute energy calibration of FD by an electron linear accelerator for Telescope Array

The primary energy of the ultra-high energy cosmic rays(UHECR) are measured with the number of fluorescence photons which are detected with fluorescence detectors(FD) in the Telescope Array experiment(TA). Howevery since there is large uncertinty as 19% in the measurement of the energy scale, the most important theme is improvement of the energy calibration. The electron light source(ELS) is a small electron linear accelerator for new energy calibration. The ELS is located 100 m far from the FD station, and injects electron beam which is accelerated to 40 MeV energy into the sky. We can calibrate the FD energy scale by detection the air shower directly which is generated by the electron beam. The ELS was developed in KEK Japan, and moved to the TA site in March 2009. We started the beam operation in September 2010, in consequence we detected the air shower which was generated by electron beam in the air. The output kinetic energy of the electron beam was 41.1 MeV, we adjusted the output charge from 40 to 140 pC/pulse. We expect that we can improve the uncertinty of the energy scale to about 10% with the ELS, futhermore ELS will be a very useful apparatus for R and D of future UHECR observation.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Systems and methods for plane-wave and fan-beam ultrasound-waveform tomography

A method for plane-wave or fan-beam ultrasound tomography includes: controlling, by a processor, a multi-channel ultrasound array controller to control a linear ultrasound transducer array to emit plane-wave or fan-beam ultrasound into a biological tissue, the linear ultrasound transducer array including a plurality of transducers; receiving, by the processor, plane-wave or fan-beam ultrasound waveform data from the transducers, the plane-wave or fan-beam ultrasound waveform data including reflections of the plane-wave or fan-beam ultrasound from the biological tissue; computing, by the processor, a synthetic ultrasound-waveform inversion from the received plane-wave or fan-beam ultrasound waveform data; and computing, by the processor, an image of the biological tissue from the synthetic ultrasound-waveform inversion.

Huang, Lianjie↗

Materials Issues in High Temperature Ultrasonic Transducers for Under-Sodium Viewing

Liquid sodium is used as the coolant in some fast spectrum nuclear reactors. This material is optically opaque. To facilitate operations and maintenance activities, an ultrasonic under-sodium viewing system has been developed. In the USA, the technology was successfully demonstrated in the 1970's, and, over the intervening 30+ years the capability was lost. This paper reports materials challenges encountered in developing both single-element and linear phased array 2 MHz transducers that must operate at temperatures up to 260C. The critical issues are fundamentally material selection: the ability of a transducer to be immersed into liquid sodium and function at 260C, to achieve wetting and transmission of ultrasound into the sodium, and to be able to be removed and re-used.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Corrections for the geometric distortion of the tube detectors on SANS instruments at ORNL

Small-angle neutron scattering instruments at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's High Flux Isotope Reactor were upgraded in area detectors from the large, single volume crossed-wire detectors originally installed to staggered arrays of linear position-sensitive detectors (LPSDs). The specific geometry of the LPSD array requires that approaches to data reduction traditionally employed be modified. Here, two methods for correcting the geometric distortion produced by the LPSD array are presented and compared. The first method applies a correction derived from a detector sensitivity measurement performed using the same configuration as the samples are measured. In the second method, a solid angle correction is derived that can be applied to data collected in any instrument configuration during the data reduction process in conjunction with a detector sensitivity measurement collected at a sufficiently long camera length where the geometric distortions are negligible. Furthermore, both methods produce consistent results and yield a maximum deviation of corrected data from isotropic scattering samples of less than 5% for scattering angles up to a maximum of 35°. The results are broadly applicable to any SANS instrument employing LPSD array detectors, which will be increasingly common as instruments having higher incident flux are constructed at various neutron scattering facilities around the world.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Standard, Random, and Optimum Array conversions from Two-Pole resistance data

We present an array evaluation of standard and nonstandard arrays over a hydrogeological target. We develop the arrays by linearly combining data from the pole-pole (or 2-pole) array. The first test shows that reconstructed resistances for the standard Schlumberger and dipoledipole arrays are equivalent or superior to the measured arrays in terms of noise, especially at large geometric factors. The inverse models for the standard arrays also confirm what others have presented in terms of target resolvability, namely the dipole-dipole array has the highest resolution. In the second test, we reconstruct random electrode combinations from the 2-pole data segregated into inner, outer, and overlapping dipoles. The resistance data and inverse models from these randomized arrays show those with inner dipoles to be superior in terms of noise and resolution and that overlapping dipoles can cause model instability and low resolution. Finally, we use the 2-pole data to create an optimized array that maximizes the model resolution matrix for a given electrode geometry. The optimized array produces the highest resolution and target detail. Thus, the tests demonstrate that high quality data and high model resolution can be achieved by acquiring field data from the pole-pole array.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Fallon FORGE: Lithology Logs and Well 21-31 Drilling Data

This submission includes lithology logs for all Fallon FORGE area wells; determined from core, cuttings, and thin section. Wells included are 84-31, 21-31, 82-36, FOH-3D, 62-36, 18-5, 88-24, 86-25, FOH-2, 14-36, 17-16, 34-33, 35A-11, 51A-20, 62-15, 72-7, 86-15, Carson_Strat_1_36-32, and several others. Lithology logs last updated 3/13/2018 with confirmation well 21-31 data, and revisited existing wells. Also included is well logging data for Fallon FORGE 21-31. Well logging data includes daily reports, well logs (drill rate, lithology, fractures, mud losses, minerals, temperature, gases, and descriptions), mud reports, drilling parameter plots, daily mud loss summaries, survey reports, progress reports, plan view maps (easting, northing), and wireline logs (caliper [with GR], triple combo [GR, caliper, SP, resistivity, array induction, density, photoelectric factor, and neutron porosity], array induction with linear correlation [GR, SP, Array Induction, caliper, conductivity], and monopole compression dipole shear [GR, SP, Caliper, sonic porosity, delta-T compressional, and delta-T shear])

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗