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At least 1,441 records · Page 80

Power scaling of Tm-doped fibre lasers using an all-fibre composite Michelson-type cavity

We report a 4-W all-fibre Tm-doped fibre laser using a composite cavity with a centre wavelength of 1952.02 nm. The composite cavity consists of two interferometric laser arms that are efficiently combined. Each interferometric laser arm contains a double-clad Tm-doped silica fibre operating in cw mode and pumped by pigtailed laser diodes with a centre wavelength of 793 nm. A high combining efficiency of 93.9 % and a narrow linewidth of 0.1 nm are obtained. The output power of the laser can be scaled straight forwardly by improving the pump power and optimising the component parameters at 2 μm (control of laser radiation parameters)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

The metastable dynamo model of stellar rotational evolution

This paper introduces a new empirical model for the rotational evolution of Sun-like stars—those with surface convection zones and non-convective interior regions. Previous models do not match the morphology of observed (rotation period)-color diagrams, notably the existence of a relatively long-lived 'C-sequence' of fast rotators first identified by Barnes. This failure motivates the Metastable Dynamo Model (MDM) described here. The MDM posits that stars are born with their magnetic dynamos operating in a mode that couples very weakly to the stellar wind, so their (initially very short) rotation periods at first change little with time. At some point, this mode spontaneously and randomly changes to a strongly coupled mode, the transition occurring with a mass-dependent lifetime that is of the order of 100 Myr. I show that with this assumption, one can obtain good fits to observations of young clusters, particularly for ages of 150-200 Myr. Previous models and the MDM both give qualitative agreement with the morphology of the slower-rotating 'I-sequence' stars, but none of them have been shown to accurately reproduce the stellar-mass-dependent evolution of the I-sequence stars, especially for clusters older than a few hundred million years. I discuss observational experiments that can test aspects of the MDM, and speculate that the physics underlying the MDM may be related to other situations described in the literature, in which stellar dynamos may have a multi-modal character.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Radio–X-ray synergy to discover and study jetted tidal disruption events

Observational consequences of tidal disruption of stars by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) can enable us to discover quiescent SMBHs, constrain their mass function, and study the formation and evolution of transient accretion disks and jet formation. A couple of jetted tidal disruption events (TDEs) have been recently claimed in hard X-rays, challenging jet models, which were previously applied to γ-ray bursts and active galactic nuclei. It is therefore of paramount importance to increase the current sample. In this paper, we find that the best strategy is not to use upcoming X-ray instruments alone, which will yield between several (eRosita) and a couple of hundred (Einstein Probe) events per year below redshift one. We rather claim that a more efficient TDE hunter will be the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) operating in survey mode at 1.4 GHz. It may detect up to several hundred events per year below z ∼ 2.5 with a peak rate of a few tens per year at z ≈ 0.5. Therefore, even if the jet production efficiency is not 100% as assumed here, the predicted rates should be large enough to allow for statistical studies. The characteristic TDE decay of t{sup −5/3}, however, is not seen in radio, whose flux emission is quite featureless. Identification therefore requires localization and prompt repointing by higher energy instruments. If radio candidates would be repointed within a day by future X-ray observatories (e.g., Athena- and LOFT-like missions), it will be possible to detect up to ≈400 X-ray counterparts, almost up to redshift 2. The shortcoming is that only for redshift below ≈0.4 will the trigger times be less than 10 days from the explosion. In this regard the X-ray surveys are better suited to probe the beginning of the flare, and are therefore complementary to SKA.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Time resolved surface photovoltage measurements using a big data capture approach to KPFM

Optoelectronic behavior in materials such as organic/inorganic hybrid perovskites depend on a complex interplay between fast (electronic) and slower (ionic) processes. These processes are thought to be influenced by structural inhomogeneities (e.g. interfaces and grain boundaries) bringing forward the necessity for development of techniques capable of correlating nanostructure and photo-transport behavior. While Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) is ideally suited to map surface potentials on relevant length scales, it lacks sufficient temporal resolution to extract the meaningful system dynamics. Here, we develop a time resolved surface photovoltage (SPV) measurement based on full information capture of the photodetector stream during open loop KPFM operation. G-Mode, or G-KPFM allows quantification of SPV with microsecond temporal and nanoscale spatial resolution. Using this technique, we observe concurrent spatial and fast temporal variations in the SPV generated across a methylammonium lead bromide (MAPbBr3) thin film, a possible indicator relating microstructure with heterogenous photo-transport behavior. Here, we further demonstrate the advantage of adopting big data analytics including unsupervised clustering methods to quickly discern spatial variability in the information rich SPV dataset. Beyond G-KPFM, such clustering methods will be useful for interpretation of the multidimensional datasets arising from the growing number of time resolved KPFM approaches now available.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Role of 3D neoclassical particle flux in density pump-out during ELM control by RMP in DIII-D

Application of three-dimensional (3-D) resonant magnetic perturbations, for the purpose of controlling edge localized modes (ELMs) in high confinement (H-mode) tokamak fusion operations, routinely leads to significantly reduction of the plasma density during the discharge, a phenomenon termed 'density pump-out'. Understanding the density pump-out phenomenon due to 3-D fields is a longstanding challenging issue. This work discusses a self-consistent toroidal model that allows initial value simulation of the density pump-out effect. The model successfully reproduces pump-out phenomenology in DIII-D ELM suppression experiments. The radial particle flux, associated with the 3-D neoclassical effects (the neoclassical toroidal viscosity, NTV), is discovered to play an important role in producing the observed large density pump- out. The key physics is associated with the drift kinetic Landau resonances between the toroidal precession of trapped thermal ions and electrons from one side, and the magnetic field perturbation from the other side. Such resonances, occurring near the top of the pedestal region, substantially enhances the radial particle flux associated with NTV. As a general consequence of the resonant NTV flux, larger density pump- out occurs in plasmas with lower collisionality and slower toroidal rotation.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Characterization of the DUNE photodetectors and study of the event burst phenomenon

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an upcoming neutrino physics experiment that will answer some of the most compelling questions in particle physics and cosmology. The DUNE far detectors employ silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) to detect light produced by charged particles interacting in a large liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC). The SiPMs are photosensors consisting of an array of single-photon avalanche diodes (SPAD) operating in Geiger mode. Their high sensitivity and dynamic range, as well as the possibility to fill large surfaces with high-granularity sensors, makes them an ideal choice for DUNE. An international consortium of research groups is currently engaged in a systematic comparison of the performances of the SiPM models that have been custom developed for DUNE by two manufacturers. Such detailed studies, which include gain measurements and a structure study of the dark count rate at 77 K, are meant to determine the best choice of the photodetection system for DUNE, as well as characterize the response of the chosen detectors for the DUNE simulation. Moreover, an investigation of a newly observed phenomenon, in which quick bursts of tens of events at close range are collected in individual SiPMs, is being carried out, which potentially impacts the design of future models and their implementation in particle physics experiments.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Comparison of measurement and simulation of ATLAS cavern radiation background

Sixteen Medipix2 pixel detector based (MPX) devices were operated at various positions within the ATLAS detector and cavern continuously from early 2008 up to 2013. In addition to photons, each MPX detector is capable to detect charged particles, and neutrons as it is covered with a mask of converter materials dividing its area into regions sensitive to thermal or fast neutrons. The MPX detector network was effectively used for real-time measurements of the spectral characteristics and composition of complex radiation fields in ATLAS. This article reports comparison of the results of measurements performed with MPX detectors during the LHC operation period in 2010 and 2011 with Monte Carlo simulations results from the FLUGG and GCALOR codes. For the purpose of this comparison, the MPX detectors were operated in tracking mode with low threshold (8–10 keV) allowing one to distinguish among particle categories based on the recognition of track patterns left by the particles in the MPX sensitive layer. The comparison of measurements with simulations shows that the agreement between measured and simulated data is satisfactory in most cases within a factor of two.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Fermionic systems for quantum information people

The operator algebra of fermionic modes is isomorphic to that of qubits, the difference between them is twofold: the embedding of subalgebras corresponding to mode subsets and multiqubit subsystems on the one hand, and the parity superselection in the fermionic case on the other. We discuss these two fundamental differences extensively, and illustrate these through the Jordan–Wigner representation in a coherent, self-contained, pedagogical way, from the point of view of quantum information theory. Our perspective leads us to develop useful new tools for the treatment of fermionic systems, such as the fermionic (quasi-)tensor product, fermionic canonical embedding, fermionic partial trace, fermionic products of maps and fermionic embeddings of maps. We formulate these by direct, easily applicable formulas, without mode permutations, for arbitrary partitionings of the modes. It is also shown that fermionic reduced states can be calculated by the fermionic partial trace, containing the proper phase factors. We also consider variants of the notions of fermionic mode correlation and entanglement, which can be endowed with the usual, local operation based motivation, if the parity superselection rule is imposed. We also elucidate some other fundamental points, related to joint map extensions, which make the parity superselection inevitable in the description of fermionic systems.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Design, construction and commissioning of the proximity cryogenics systems serving two large-scale prototypes of the future DUNE neutrino detector

In the context of the Neutrino Platform, CERN has designed, constructed, and commissioned the proximity cryogenics systems that serve two CERN based large-scale prototypes of future neutrino detectors. Each of these prototypes features a high voltage time projection chamber placed inside a membrane cryostat being submerged in 600m3 of liquid argon at about 1.0 bar. A copper and molecular sieve based cryogenic purification system has to ensure that the argon in the cryostat has a contamination level below 100 ppt oxygen equivalent. The two proximity cryogenics systems provide the purging, cool-down, filling, normal operation and emptying modes for each cryostat. This paper reports on the design, construction and commissioning of the ProtoDUNE proximity cryogenics facilities.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Instabilities in neutrino systems induced by interactions with scalars

If there are scalar particles of small or moderate mass coupled very weakly to Dirac neutrinos, in a minimal way, then neutrino-anti-neutrino clouds of sufficient number density can experience an instability in which helicities are suddenly reversed. The predicted collective evolution is many orders of magnitude faster than given by cross section calculations. The instabilities are the analogue of the 'flavor-angle' instabilities (enabled by the Z exchange force) that may drive very rapid flavor exchange among the neutrinos that emerge from a supernova. These exchanges do require a tiny seed in addition to the scalar couplings, but the transition time is proportional to the negative of the logarithm of the seed strength, so that the size of this parameter is comparatively unimportant. For our actual estimates we use a tiny nonconservation of leptons; an alternative would be a neutrino magnetic moment in a small magnetic field. The possibility of a quantum fluctuation as a seed is also discussed. Operating in the mode of putting limits on the coupling constant of the scalar field, for the most minimal coupling scheme, with independent couplings to all three {nu}, we find a rough limit on the dimensionless coupling constant for a neutrino-flavor independent coupling of G<10{sup -10}, to avoid the effective number of light neutrinos in the early universe being essentially six. If, on the other hand, we wish to fine-tune the model to give a more modest excess (over three) in the effective neutrino number, as may be needed according to recent WMAP analyses, it is easy to do so.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Identification of two mechanisms for current production in a biharmonic flashing electron ratchet

Ratchets rectify the motion of randomly moving particles, which are driven by isotropic sources of energy such as thermal and chemical energy, without applying a net, time-averaged force between source and drain. We describe the behavior of a damped electron, modeled by a quantum Lindblad master equation, within a flashing ratchet (a one-dimensional potential that oscillates between a flat surface and a periodic asymmetric surface). By investigating the complete space of all biharmonic potential shapes and a large range of oscillation frequencies, two modes of ratchet operation, differentiated by their oscillation frequencies (relative to the rate of electron relaxation), are identified. Slow-oscillating, strong friction ratchets operate by a classical, overdamped mechanism. In fast-oscillating, weak friction ratchets, current is primarily produced when the frequency of the oscillating potential is resonant with the beating of the electron wave function in the potential well. The shape of the ratchet potential determines the direction of the current (and, in some cases, straightforwardly accounts for current reversals), but the maximum achievable current at any shape is controlled by the degree of friction applied to the electron.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Generation of EM radiations using intense electron beam produced in vacuum

The results of a pulse power generator driving an axial virtual cathode oscillator are being presented in this paper as a source of high power microwave (HPM) radiations. The electron beam generator is also modified to attain the intense X-ray burst. The pulse power generator used for these applications is common and is having 10 ohms as its characteristic impedance with 50nS of pulse width. The peak charging voltage of the pulse forming line is 450 kV and hence 225 kV and 22.5 kA is peak voltage and peak current delivery capabilities respectively for the pulse power generator. The peak electrical power of the generator is 5GW for a matched load. The charging power supply for the pulse forming line consists of a high voltage generator made by pulse transformer and charging the pulse forming line in the first cycle of the charging pulse. To utilize the energy of the primary capacitive storage efficiently the pulse transformer is having 0.8 coupling coefficient between its primary and the secondary. The axial vircator chamber is evacuated to attain the vacuum of 2 x 10{sup -4} torr for the HPM application. In the case of modified electron beam chamber for the generation of X-rays the vacuum of same order is used. The pulse forming line is made using equal lengths of high voltage transmission lines, each having a length of 10 meters, connected in the parallel to give a net source impedance of 10 ohm. The pulse power generator can operate in repetitive mode and hence the HPM as well as X-rays may be generated in the repetitive burst. (author)

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Using a Grid-Forming Inverter to Stabilize a Low-Inertia Power System - Maui Hawaiian Island

As power systems around the world integrate greater amounts of wind and solar photovoltaic power, periods of very high instantaneous power shares of inverters, the primary interfacing technology for these generation sources, are complicating system stability and control. The contemporary, primary mode of inverter operation, grid-following, which explicitly assumes the presence of a local, stable voltage waveform, yields operational inadequacy at high instantaneous power shares potentially leading to instability due to the low-inertia conditions, as well as the correlated reduced voltage forming capacity on the respective system. Parallel connected grid-forming inverters, which directly regulate the local voltage, are a solution that is expected to bolster system stability and mitigate the shortcomings of the grid-following technology. In this paper, grid-following and two types of grid-forming inverter control, the traditional linear droop and the recently introduced nonlinear exponential droop (Droop-e), are simulated on a low-inertia, H = 0.48s, high inverter-based resource scenario, 97%, with a validated electromagentic transient domain model of the Hawaiian island of Maui power system. The benefit of a single grid-forming device over its grid-following counterpart is significant, both in terms frequency deviation and voltage stability. Further, the superiority of the Droop-e and the associated secondary power sharing control over both grid-following and linear droop grid-forming technologies is displayed, with improved nadir and rate of change of frequency over the linear droop control.

droop control↗

Design and Implementation of an Underlay Control Channel for Cognitive Radios

Implementation of any cognitive radio network requires an effective control channel that can operate under various modes of activity from the primary users. This paper reports the design and implementation of a filter bank multicarrier spread spectrum (FBMC-SS) system for use as the control channel in cognitive radio networks. The proposed design is based on a filtered multitone (FMT) implementation. Carrier and timing acquisition and tracking methods as well as a blind channel estimation method are developed for the proposed control channel. We also report an implementation of the proposed FBMC-SS system on a hardware platform; a FlexRIO FPGA module from National Instruments.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Comparison of simulated and experimentally measured detector impulse responses to pulsed x-rays

The Gamma Array Simulation Toolkit (GAST) is a multi-physics software stack comprised of Geant4, MATLAB, and experimentally measured photomultiplier tube (PMT) impulse response waveforms that is used to model and inform the end-toend performance of radiation detector systems. In order to validate the ability of GAST to predict the impulse response of a modeled detector configuration operated in current mode, experimental measurements using the Nevada National Security Site Transformational Diagnostics and Imaging 2 MeV endpoint energy electron linear accelerator (linac) with a tungsten target were performed. Seven different detector configurations consisting of unique combinations of scintillator material, size, reflectivity conditions, presence or absence of light guide, and PMT were evaluated. The resultant impulse response of each detector configuration was recorded and compared to a GAST simulation that emulated the respective linac experiment conditions. The comparison of the experimental and simulated detector impulse responses indicated that GAST can reliably predict detector impulse responses.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Distributed Load Sharing Under False Data Injection Attack in an Inverter-Based Microgrid

In microgrids, distributed load sharing plays an important role in maintaining the supply-demand balance of power. Because false data injection (FDI) is one of the crucial threats faced by future microgrids, the study of the impact of FDI on distributed load sharing is both of theoretical merit and practical value. Here, we consider the distributed load sharing problem of the microgrids operating in autonomous mode under FDI. Each bus is assumed to be equipped with an agent. Under a well-developed distributed load sharing protocol based on multiagent systems, we first construct an FDI attack model, where the attacker is capable of injecting false data into the bus agents. Finally, a utilization level is introduced for coordinating generators, and its variation is evaluated in the presence of FDI attacks with given injection strategies. The stable region of the microgrid is defined, and conditions are given to determine stability. In conclusion, theoretical results are validated on the Canadian urban distribution system.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Deep Reinforcement Learning From Demonstrations to Assist Service Restoration in Islanded Microgrids

Microgrids can be operated in island mode during utility grid outages to support service restoration and improve system resilience. To schedule and dispatch distributed energy resources (DERs) in an islanded microgrid, conventional model-based methods rely on accurate distribution network models and lack generalization and adaptability. Data-driven methods are promising for DER coordination but face practical challenges such as potential hazards to microgrids during online training and insufficient online training opportunities due to low outage rates. This paper presents a novel two-stage learning framework that builds on the deep deterministic policy gradient from demonstrations to identify an optimal restoration strategy. At the pre-training stage, imitation learning is applied to equip the control agent with expert experiences to guarantee acceptable initial performance. At the online training stage, action clipping, reward shaping, and expert demonstrations are leveraged to ensure safe exploration while accelerating the training process. In conclusion, the proposed method is illustrated using the IEEE 123-node system and compared with a representative model-based method and the standard deep deterministic policy gradient method to prove solution accuracy and demonstrate increased computational efficiency.

Du, Yan↗

SiC MOSFET Based Modular Universal Power Electronics Regulator

A modular and scalable SiC MOSFET based universal power electronics regulator (UPER) allows coordinated integration of energy resources and loads, elimination of extra power conversion stages, and allowance of more sources or loads added with a simple plug and play feature. A comprehensive investigation has been conducted in term of the typical distributed generations and loads employed in buildings, in order to outline a detailed specification for UPER. Thus, a common DC bus voltage of 500 V and power rating of 3 kW are dedicatedly selected. The UPER hardware design and implementation are completely illustrated, including the static and dynamic characterization of the employed SiC MOSFET. The dedicated universal power cell and Plug-and-Play gate driver performs reliable continuous operation even exposed to an extreme fast switching speed (> 100 V/ns). The continuous operation of buck mode verified the UPER hardware development at 50 kHz with an overall efficiency of 98.19%. A new voltage polarity reversal phenomenon was also discovered in the verification of the isolated DAB stage with planar transformers.

Zheng, Sheng↗