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At least 1,729 records · Page 96

Measurements of the imploding plasma sheath in triple-nozzle gas-puff z pinches

Gas-puff z-pinch implosions are characterized by the formation of a dense annular plasma shell, the sheath, that is driven to the axis by magnetic forces and therefore subject to the magneto-Rayleigh–Taylor instability. Here, the conditions within these sheaths are measured on the 1-MA COBRA generator at Cornell University for various gas species and initial fill densities. The gas-puff loads are initialized by a 7 cm diameter triple-nozzle gas valve assembly with concentric outer and inner annular nozzles and a central gas jet. Thomson scattering and laser interferometry provide spatially resolved flow, temperature, and electron density profiles midway through the implosion, while extreme ultraviolet pinhole cameras record the evolution of the plasma column and photoconducting diodes measure x-ray emission. Analysis of the scattering spectra includes a means of discriminating between thermal and non-thermal broadening to test for the presence of hydrodynamic turbulence. Two types of sheath profiles are observed, those with sharp discontinuities at the leading edge and those with smooth gradients. In both cases, non-thermal broadening is generally peaked at the front of the sheath and exhibits a characteristic decay length that roughly scales with the sheath ion mean free path. Here, we demonstrate that this non-thermal broadening term is inconsistent with laminar velocity gradients and is more consistent with dissipative turbulence driven by unstable plasma waves in a collisionless shock. The resulting differences in sheath profile are then set by the sheath ion collisionality in a manner consistent with recent 1D kinetic simulations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Modeling the partitioning of amphiphilic molecules and co-solvents in biomembranes

We report amphiphilic co-solvents can have a significant impact on the structure, organization and physical properties of lipid bilayers. Describing the mutual impact of partitioning and induced structure changes is therefore a crucial consideration for a range of topics such as anesthesia and other pharmacokinetic effects, as well as microbial solvent tolerance in the production of biofuels and other fermentation products, where molecules such as ethanol, butanol or acetic acid might be generated. Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) is a key method for studying lipid and polymer bilayer structures, with many models for extracting bilayer structure (thickness, area per lipid etc.) from scattering data in use today. However, the molecular details of co-solvent partitioning are conflated with induced changes to bilayer structure, making interpretation and modeling of the scattering curves a challenge with the existing set of models. To address this, a model of a bilayer structure is presented which invokes a two-term partition constant accounting for the localization of the co-solvent within the bilayer. This model was validated using a series of SANS measurements of lipid vesicles in the presence of the co-solvent tetrahydrofuran (THF), showing several strategies of how to deploy the two-parameter partition constant model to describe scattering data and extract both structure and partitioning information from the data. Molecular dynamics simulations are then used to evaluate assumptions of the model, provide additional molecular scale details and illustrate its complementary nature to the data fitting procedure. This approach results in estimates of the partition coefficient for THF in 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine at 35°C, along with an estimate of the fraction of THF residing in the hydrophobic core of the membrane. The authors envision that this model will be applicable to a wide range of other bilayer/amphiphile interactions and provide the associated code needed to implement this model as a fitting algorithm for scattering data in the SasView suite.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Can radiomics features be reproducibly measured from CBCT images for patients with non-small cell lung cancer?

Purpose: Increasing evidence suggests radiomics features extracted from computed tomography (CT) images may be useful in prognostic models for patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study was designed to determine whether such features can be reproducibly obtained from cone-beam CT (CBCT) images taken using medical Linac onboard-imaging systems in order to track them through treatment. Methods: Test-retest CBCT images of ten patients previously enrolled in a clinical trial were retrospectively obtained and used to determine the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) for 68 different texture features. The volume dependence of each feature was also measured using the Spearman rank correlation coefficient. Features with a high reproducibility (CCC > 0.9) that were not due to volume dependence in the patient test-retest set were further examined for their sensitivity to differences in imaging protocol, level of scatter, and amount of motion by using two phantoms. The first phantom was a texture phantom composed of rectangular cartridges to represent different textures. Features were measured from two cartridges, shredded rubber and dense cork, in this study. The texture phantom was scanned with 19 different CBCT imagers to establish the features’ interscanner variability. The effect of scatter on these features was studied by surrounding the same texture phantom with scattering material (rice and solid water). The effect of respiratory motion on these features was studied using a dynamic-motion thoracic phantom and a specially designed tumor texture insert of the shredded rubber material. The differences between scans acquired with different Linacs and protocols, varying amounts of scatter, and with different levels of motion were compared to the mean intrapatient difference from the test-retest image set. Results: Of the original 68 features, 37 had a CCC >0.9 that was not due to volume dependence. When the Linac manufacturer and imaging protocol were kept consistent, 4–13 of these 37 features passed our criteria for reproducibility more than 50% of the time, depending on the manufacturer-protocol combination. Almost all of the features changed substantially when scatter material was added around the phantom. For the dense cork, 23 features passed in the thoracic scans and 11 features passed in the head scans when the differences between one and two layers of scatter were compared. Using the same test for the shredded rubber, five features passed the thoracic scans and eight features passed the head scans. Motion substantially impacted the reproducibility of the features. With 4 mm of motion, 12 features from the entire volume and 14 features from the center slice measurements were reproducible. With 6–8 mm of motion, three features (Laplacian of Gaussian filtered kurtosis, gray-level nonuniformity, and entropy), from the entire volume and seven features (coarseness, high gray-level run emphasis, gray-level nonuniformity, sum-average, information measure correlation, scaled mean, and entropy) from the center-slice measurements were considered reproducible. Conclusions: Some radiomics features are robust to the noise and poor image quality of CBCT images when the imaging protocol is consistent, relative changes in the features are used, and patients are limited to those with less than 1 cm of motion.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Probing the microscopic corrugation of liquid surfaces with gas-liquid collisions

We have measured the directions and velocities of Ne, Ar, and Xe atoms scattering from perfluorinated ether and hydrocarbon liquids to probe the relationship between the microscopic roughness of liquid surfaces and gas-liquid collision dynamics. Impulsive energy transfer is governed by the angle of deflection: head-on encounters deposit more energy than grazing collisions. Many atoms scatter in the forward direction, particularly at glancing incidence. These results imply that the incoming atoms recoil locally from protruding C-H and C-F groups in hard spherelike collisions.

King, Mackenzie E.↗

First-principles modeling of plasmons in aluminum under ambient and extreme conditions

The theoretical understanding of plasmon behavior is crucial for an accurate interpretation of inelastic scattering diagnostics in many experiments. In this work, we highlight the utility of linear response time-dependent density functional theory (LR-TDDFT) as a first-principles framework for consistently modeling plasmon properties. We provide a comprehensive analysis of plasmons in aluminum from ambient to warm dense matter conditions and assess typical properties such as the dynamical structure factor, the plasmon dispersion, and the plasmon lifetime. We compare our results with scattering measurements and with other TDDFT results as well as models such as the random phase approximation, the Mermin approach, and the dielectric function obtained using static local field corrections of the uniform electron gas parametrized from path-integral Monte Carlo simulations. We conclude that results for the plasmon dispersion and lifetime are inconsistent between experiment and theories and that the common practice of extracting and studying plasmon dispersion relations is an insufficient procedure to capture the complicated physics contained in the dynamic structure factor in its full breadth.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Effects of elevated-temperature deposition on the atomic structure of amorphous Ta 2 O 5 films

Brownian thermal noise as a result of mechanical loss in optical coatings will become the dominant source of noise at the most sensitive frequencies of ground-based gravitational-wave detectors. Experiments found, however, that a candidate material, amorphous Ta 2 O 5 , is unable to form an ultrastable glass and, consequently, to yield a film with significantly reduced mechanical loss through elevated-temperature deposition alone. X-ray scattering PDF measurements are carried out on films deposited and subsequently annealed at various temperatures. Inverse atomic modeling is used to analyze the short and medium range features in the atomic structure of these films. Furthermore, in silico deposition simulations of Ta 2 O 5 are carried out at various substrate temperatures and an atomic level analysis of the growth at high temperatures is presented. It is observed that upon elevated-temperature deposition, short range features remain identical, whereas medium range order increases. After annealing, however, both the short and medium range orders of films deposited at different substrate temperatures are nearly identical. A discussion on the surface diffusion and glass transition temperatures indicates that future pursuits of ultrastable low-mechanical-loss films through elevated temperature deposition should focus on materials with a high surface mobility, and/or lower glass transition temperatures in the range of achievable deposition temperatures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Light-Induced Dynamic Frequency Shifting of Microwave Photons in a Superconducting Electro-Optic Converter

Hybrid superconducting-photonic microresonators are a promising platform for realizing microwave-to-optical transduction. However, the absorption of scattered photons by the superconductors leads to unintended microwave resonance-frequency variation and line-width broadening. Here, we experimentally study the dynamics of this effect and its impact on microwave-to-optics conversion in an integrated lithium niobate–superconductor hybrid-resonator platform. Here, we unveil an adiabatic frequency shifting of the intracavity microwave photons induced by the fast photoresponses of the thin-film superconducting resonator. As a result, the temporal and spectral responses of electro-optics transduction are modified and well described by our theoretical model. This work provides insights into the light-induced conversion dynamics that must be considered in future designs of hybrid superconducting-photonic system.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Attosecond Probing of Coherent Vibrational Dynamics in CBr 4

A coherent vibrational wavepacket is launched and manipulated in the symmetric stretch (a1) mode of CBr 4 , by impulsive stimulated Raman scattering (ISRS) from nonresonant 400 nm laser pump pulses with various peak intensities on the order of tens of 10 12 W/cm 2 . Extreme ultraviolet (XUV) attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (ATAS) records the wavepacket dynamics as temporal oscillations in XUV absorption energy at the bromine M 4,5 3d 3/2,5/2 edges around 70 eV. The results are augmented by nuclear timedependent Schrödinger equation simulations. Slopes of the (Br 3d 3/2,5/2 ) –1 10a 1 * core-excited state potential energy surface (PES) along the a 1 mode are calculated to be –9.4 eV/Å from restricted open-shell Kohn–Sham calculations. Using analytical relations derived for the small-displacement limit and the calculated slopes of the core-excited state PES, a deeper insight into the vibrational dynamics is obtained by retrieving the experimental excursion amplitude of the vibrational wavepacket and the amount of population transferred to the vibrational first-excited state as a function of pump-pulse peak intensity. Experimentally, the results show that XUV ATAS is capable of resolving oscillations in the XUV absorption energy on the order of a few to tens of meV with tens of femtosecond time precision. This corresponds to change in C–Br bond length on the order of 10 –4 to 10 –3 Å. The results and the analytic relationships offer a clear physical picture, on multiple levels of understanding, of how the pump-pulse peak intensity controls the vibrational dynamics launched by nonresonant ISRS in the small-displacement limit.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Initial transient stage of pin-to-pin nanosecond repetitively pulsed discharges in air

In this work, evolution of parameters of nanosecond repetitively pulsed (NRP) discharges in pin-to-pin configuration in air was studied during the transient stage of initial 20 discharge pulses. Gas and plasma parameters in the discharge gap were measured using coherent microwave scattering, optical emission spectroscopy, and laser Rayleigh scattering for NRP discharges at repetition frequencies of 1, 10, and 100 kHz. Memory effects (when perturbations induced by the previous discharge pulse would not decay fully until the subsequent pulse) were detected for the repetition frequencies of 10 and 100 kHz. For 10 kHz NRP discharge, the discharge parameters experienced significant change after the first pulse and continued to substantially fluctuate between subsequent pulses due to rapid evolution of gas density and temperature during the 100 μs inter-pulse time caused by intense redistribution of the flow field in the gap on that time scale. For 100 kHz NRP discharge, the discharge pulse parameters reached a new steady-state at about five pulses after initiation. Further, this new steady-state was associated with well-reproducible parameters between the discharge pulses and substantial reduction in breakdown voltage, discharge pulse energy, and electron number density in comparison to the first discharge pulse. For repetition frequencies 1–100 kHz considered in this work, the memory effects can be likely attributed to the reduction in gas number density and increase in the gas temperature that cannot fully recover to ambient conditions before subsequent discharge pulses.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Spin dynamics and exchange interaction in orthoferrite TbFeO 3 with non-Kramers rare-earth ion

The low-temperature spin dynamics of the orthorhombic TbFeO 3 perovskite has been studied. It has been found that the inelastic neutron scattering (INS) spectrum of the investigated compound contains two modes corresponding to different sublattices. It is shown that the iron subsystem orders antiferromagnetically at T N =632 K and exhibits the high-energy magnon dispersion. The magnetic dynamics of this subsystem has been described within the linear spin wave theory and the in-plane and out-of-plane exchange anisotropy has been demonstrated. The approach proposed previously to describe the magnon dispersion in the TmFeO 3 compound has been used. Three levels of the nondispersive crystal electric field corresponding to Tb 3+ ions have been found in the energy region below 40 meV at about 17, 26, and 35 meV. The behavior of the magnetic correlation length of the terbium subsystem has been determined by studying the diffuse scattering at different temperatures. The evolution of this subsystem has been numerically described within the point charge model. In conclusion, it is shown that the numerical data agree satisfactorily with the experiment and with the general concept of the single-ion approximation applied to the rare-earth subsystem of orthorhombic perovskites.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Exciton-Phonon Interaction and Relaxation Times from First Principles

Electron-phonon interactions are key to understanding the dynamics of electrons in materials and can be modeled accurately from first principles. However, when electrons and holes form Coulomb-bound states (excitons), quantifying their interactions and scattering processes with phonons remains an open challenge. Here we show a rigorous approach for computing exciton-phonon (ex-ph) interactions and the associated exciton dynamical processes from first principles. Starting from the ab initio Bethe-Salpeter equation, we derive expressions for the ex-ph matrix elements and relaxation times. Finally, we apply our method to bulk hexagonal boron nitride, for which we map the ex-ph relaxation times as a function of exciton momentum and energy, analyze the temperature and phonon-mode dependence of the ex-ph scattering processes, and accurately predict the phonon-assisted photoluminescence. The approach introduced in this work is general and provides a framework for investigating exciton dynamics in a wide range of materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Linear and nonlinear spin-wave dynamics in ultralow-damping microstructured Co 2 FeAl Heusler waveguide

Here, we report on the investigation of linear and nonlinear spin-wave dynamics of a microstructured Co 2 FeAl Heusler waveguide using the microfocus Brillouin light scattering technique. A significantly increased decay length of 19.55 μm owing to decreased Gilbert damping has been observed for waves propagating in the linear regime. Furthermore, the localized edge mode caused by the demagnetizing field leads to the nonlinear generation of high-order harmonics at double and triple excitation frequencies at high powers. The obtained results provide valuable insights into the linear and nonlinear spin wave dynamics of the Heusler waveguide and could potentially be applied in the implementation of spin wave frequency multipliers for magnonic applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Information Content of Aerosol Retrievals in the Sunglint Region

We exploit quantitative metrics to investigate the information content in retrievals of atmospheric aerosol parameters (with a focus on single-scattering albedo), contained in multi-angle and multi-spectral measurements with sufficient dynamical range in the sunglint region. The simulations are performed for two classes of maritime aerosols with optical and microphysical properties compiled from measurements of the Aerosol Robotic Network. The information content is assessed using the inverse formalism and is compared to that deriving from observations not affected by sunglint. We find that there indeed is additional information in measurements containing sunglint, not just for single-scattering albedo, but also for aerosol optical thickness and the complex refractive index of the fine aerosol size mode, although the amount of additional information varies with aerosol type.

aerosols↗

Prediction of Broadband Blade-Wake Back-Scatter Noise from a Hovering Ideally Twisted Rotor using OVERFLOW2-ANOPP2

This work illustrates the use of a hybrid RANS/LES framework for the prediction of broadband noise via integral formulations from an ideally twisted hovering rotor. Four simulations were conducted, which investigated the effect of different turbulence modeling and spatiotemporal resolutions. The aerodynamic performance and aeroacoustics predicted by these four computational cases were compared against data acquired in the Small Hover Anechoic Chamber at the NASA Langley Research Center and against previous simulations conducted using the lattice-Boltzmann solver, PowerFLOW. The simulation case with the finest spatial resolution had the most favorable aerodynamic performance and broadband noise comparison with measured data; however, the simulation case utilizing the SST-DDES turbulence model predicted the most accurate tonal noise signature. Aerodynamic flowfield visualizations identified near-wake trailing edge vortex shedding, perpendicular blade-vortex interactions, and tip vortex formation, which are known to cause broadband noise. The fluid dynamics associated with a new broadband noise source, blade-wake back-scatter, were also identified. Lastly, a broadband noise source visualization technique was utilized to confirm the presence of blade-wake back-scatter as a dominant broadband noise source.

blade-wake back-scatter↗

Spectroscopic signatures of next-nearest-neighbor hopping in the charge and spin dynamics of doped one-dimensional antiferromagnets

In this work, we study the impact of next-nearest-neighbor (nnn) hopping on the low-energy collective excitations of strongly correlated doped antiferromagnetic cuprate spin chains. Specifically, we use exact diagonalization and the density matrix renormalization group method to study the single-particle spectral function, the dynamical spin and charge structure factors, and the Cu L-edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) intensity of the doped t-t'-J model for a set of t' values. We find evidence for the breakdown of spin-charge separation as |t'| increases and identify its fingerprints in the dynamical response functions. The inclusion of nnn hopping couples the spinon and holon excitations, resulting in the formation of a spin-polaron, where a ferromagnetic spin polarization cloud dresses the doped carrier. The spin-polaron manifests itself as additional spectral weight in the dynamical correlation functions, which appear simultaneously in the spin- and charge-sensitive channels. We also demonstrate that RIXS can provide a unique view of the spin-polaron, due to its sensitivity to both the spin and charge degrees of freedom.

1D spin chains↗

Role of Confinement on Adsorption and Dynamics of Ethane and an Ethane–CO 2 Mixture in Mesoporous CPG Silica

It was found that ethane is confined to mineral and organic pores in certain shale formations. Effects of confinement on structural and dynamic properties of ethane in mesoporous controlled pore glass (CPG) were studied by gravimetric adsorption and quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) measurements. The obtained isotherms and scattering data complement each other by quantifying the relative strength of the solid–fluid interactions and the transport properties of the fluid under confinement, respectively. We used a magnetic suspension balance to measure the adsorption isotherms at two temperatures and over a range of pressures corresponding to a bulk density range of 0.01–0.35 g/cm 3 . Key confinement effects were highlighted through differences between isotherms for the two pore sizes. A comparison was made with previously published isotherms for CO 2 on the same CPG materials. Behavior of ethane in the smaller pore size was probed further using quasi-elastic neutron scattering. By extracting the self-diffusivity and residence time, we were able to study the effect of pressure and transition from gaseous to supercritical densities on the dynamics of confined ethane. Moreover, a temperature variation QENS study was also completed with pure ethane and a CO 2 –ethane mixture. Activation energies extracted from the Arrhenius plots show the effects of CO 2 addition on ethane mobility.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Observation of Phonon Condensate

Using quantum tunneling of electrons into vibrating surface atoms, phonon oscillations can be observed on the atomic scale. Phonon interference patterns with unusually large signal amplitudes have been revealed by scanning tunneling microscopy in intercalated van der Waals heterostructures. Our results show that the effective radius of these phonon quasi-bound states, the real-space distribution of phonon standing wave amplitudes, the scattering phase shifts, and the nonlinear intermode coupling strongly depend on the presence of defect-induced scattering resonance. The observed coherence of these quasi-bound states most likely arises from phase- and frequency-synchronized dynamics of all phonon modes, and indicates the formation of many-body condensate of optical phonons around resonant defects. We found that increasing the strength of the scattering resonance causes the increase of the condensate droplet radius without affecting the condensate fraction inside it. The condensate can be observed at room temperature.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A New Optical Aerosol Spectrometer

An optical particle spectrometer capable of measuring aerosol particle size distributions from 0.02 to 100 micrometers has been developed. This instrument combines several optical methods in one, in-situ configuration; it can provide continuous data collection to encompass the wide dynamic size ranges and concentrations found in studies of modeled planetary atmospheres as well as terrestrial air quality research. Currently, the system is incorporated into an eight liter capacity spherical pressure vessel that is appropriate both for flowthrough and for in-situ particle generation. The optical sizing methods include polarization ratio, The scattering, and forward scattering detectors, with illumination from a fiber-coupled, Argon-ion laser. As particle sizes increase above 0.1 micrometer, a customized electronics and software system automatically shifts from polarization to diffraction-based measurements as the angular scattering detectors attain acceptable signal-to-noise ratios. The number concentration detection limits are estimated to be in the part-per-trillion (ppT by volume) range, or roughly 1000 submicron particles per cubic centimeter. Results from static experiments using HFC134A (approved light scattering gas standard), flow-through experiments using sodium chloride (NaCl) and carbon particles, and dynamic 'Tholin' (photochemical produced particles from ultraviolet (UV)-irradiated acetylene and nitrogen) experiments have been obtained. The optical spectrometer data obtained with particles have compared well with particle sizes determined by electron microscopy. The 'Tholin' tests provided real-time size and concentration data as the particles grew from about 30 nanometers to about 0.8 micrometers, with concentrations ranging from ppT to ppB, by volume. Tests are still underway, to better define sizing accuracy and concentration limits, these results will be reported.

Fonda, Mark↗