Coupled electronic and atomic effects on defect evolution in silicon carbide under ion irradiation
Not Available
Zhang, Yanwen↗
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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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Design and Development of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Electrical Power System
The SDO spacecraft was designed to help us understand the Sun's influence on Earth and Near-Earth space by studying the solar atmosphere on small scales of space and time and in many wavelengths simultaneously. It will perform its operations in a geosynchronous orbit of the earth. This paper will present background on the SDO mission, an overview of the design and development activities associated specifically with the SDO electrical power system (EPS), as well as the major driving requirements behind the mission design. The primary coverage of the paper will be devoted to some of the challenges faced during the design and development phase. This will include the challenges associated with development of a compatible CompactPCI (cPCI) interface within the Power System Electronics (PSE) in order to utilize a "common" processor card, implementation of new solid state power controllers (SSPC) for primary load distribution switching and over current protection in the PSE, and the design approach adopted to meet single fault tolerance requirements for all of the SDO EPS functions.
Denney, Keys↗
Influence of emitter ring manufacturing tolerances on electron beam quality of high power gyrotrons
A sensitivity analysis of manufacturing imperfections and possible misalignments of the emitter ring in the gyrotron cathode structure on the electron beam quality has been performed. It has been shown that a possible radial displacement of the emitter ring of the order of few tens of microns can cause dramatic effects on the beam quality and therefore the gyrotron operation. Two different design approaches are proposed in order to achieve an electron beam which is less sensitive to manufacturing imperfections.
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
Electron-Nanobunch-Width-Dominated Spectral Power Law for Relativistic Harmonic Generation from Ultrathin Foils
Relativistic high-order harmonic generation from solid-density plasma offers a compact source of coherent ultraviolet and x-ray light. For solid targets much thinner than the laser wavelength, the plasma thickness can be tuned to increase conversion efficiency; a reduction in total charge allows for balancing the laser and plasma driving forces, producing the most effective interaction. Unlike for semi-infinite plasma surfaces, in this study we find that for ultrathin foil targets the dominant factor in the emission spectral shape is the finite width of the electron nanobunches, leading to a power-law exponent of approximately 10/3. Ultrathin foils produce higher-efficiency frequency conversion than solid targets for moderately relativistic (1 0 <40) interactions and also provide unique insight into how the trajectories of individual electrons combine and interfere to generate reflected attosecond pulses.
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
Energy storage: The future enabled by nanomaterials
Lithium-ion batteries, which power portable electronics, electric vehicles, and stationary storage, have been recognized with the 2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry. The development of nanomaterials and their related processing into electrodes and devices can improve the performance and/or development of the existing energy storage systems. We provide a perspective on recent progress in the application of nanomaterials in energy storage devices, such as supercapacitors and batteries. The versatility of nanomaterials can lead to power sources for portable, flexible, foldable, and distributable electronics; electric transportation; and grid-scale storage, as well as integration in living environments and biomedical systems. To overcome limitations of nanomaterials related to high reactivity and chemical instability caused by their high surface area, nanoparticles with different functionalities should be combined in smart architectures on nano- and microscales. The integration of nanomaterials into functional architectures and devices requires the development of advanced manufacturing approaches. We discuss successful strategies and outline a roadmap for the exploitation of nanomaterials for enabling future energy storage applications, such as powering distributed sensor networks and flexible and wearable electronics.
catalysis (heterogeneous)↗
Toward a theory of interstellar turbulence. 2: Strong alfvenic turbulence
We continue to investigate the possibility that interstellar turbulence is caused by nonlinear interactions among shear Alfven waves. Here, we restrict attention to the symmetric case where the oppositely directed waves carry equal energy fluxes. This precludes application to the solar wind in which the outward flux significantly exceeds the ingoing one. All our detailed calculations are carried out for an incompressible magnetized fluid. In incompressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), nonlinear interactions only occur between oppositely direct waves. We present a theory for the strong turbulence of shear Alfven waves. It has the following main characteristics. (1) The inertial-stage energy spectrum exhibits a critical balance between linear wave periods and nonlinear turnover timescales. (2) The 'eddies' are elongated in the direction of the field on small spatial scales; the parallel and perpendicular components of the wave vector, k(sub z) and k(perpendicular) are related by k(sub z) approximately equals k(sub perpendicular to)(exp 2/3) L(exp -1/3), where L is the outer scale of the turbulence. (3) The 'one-dimensional' energy spectrum is proportional to k(sub perpendicular)(exp -5/3)-an anisotropic Kolmogorov energy spectrum. Shear Alfvenic turbulence mixes specific entropy as a passive contaminant. This gives rise to an electron density power spectrum whose form mimics the energy spectrum of the turbulence. Radio wave scattering by these electron density fluctuations produces anisotropic scatter-broadened images. Damping by ion-neutral collisions restricts Alfvenic turbulence to highly ionized regions of the interstellar medium.
Goldreich, P.↗
Scatterings and Quantum Effects in ( Al , In ) N / GaN Heterostructures for High-Power and High-Frequency Electronics
Charge transport in the wide-band-gap ( Al , In ) N / GaN heterostructures with high carrier density approximately 2 × 10 13 cm - 2 is investigated over a large range of temperature ( 270 mK ≤ T ≤ 280 K ) and magnetic field ( 0 ≤ B ≤ 18 T ). We observe the first evidence of weak localization in the two-dimensional electron gas in this system. From the Shubnikov–de Haas (SdH) oscillations a relatively light effective mass of 0.23 m e is determined. Furthermore, the linear dependence with temperature ( T < 20 K ) of the inelastic scattering rate ( τ i - 1 ∝ T ) is attributed to the phase breaking by electron-electron scattering. Also in the same temperature range the less-than unit ratio of quantum lifetime to Hall transport time ( τ q / τ t < 1 ) is taken to signify the dominance of small-angle scattering. Above 20 K, with increasing temperature scattering changes from acoustic phonon to optical phonon scattering, resulting in a rapid decrease in carrier mobility and increase in sheet resistance. Furthermore, suppression of such scatterings will lead to higher mobility and a way forward to high-power and high-frequency electronics.
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
Leveraging electron-phonon interaction to enhance the thermoelectric power factor in graphene-like semimetals
Electron-phonon interactions (EPIs) are presumably detrimental for thermoelectric performance in semiconductors because they limit carrier mobility. Here we show that enhanced EPIs with strong energy dependence offer an intrinsic pathway to a significant increase in the Seebeck coefficient and the thermoelectric power factor, particularly in the context of two-dimensional (2D) graphene-like Dirac bands. The increase is realized by enabling electron energy filtering through preferential scattering of electron/hole carriers. We prove this concept by implementing first-principles computational methods with explicit treatment of EPIs for a 2D gapless MoS 2 allotrope, which has both massless Dirac bands and a heavy-fermion state that acts as the filter. We determine that the optimal location of the heavy state and hence the onset of the filtering process is at the Dirac point. Our study opens an avenue for attaining ultrahigh power factors via engineering the EPIs in graphene-like semimetals or identifying new compounds that intrinsically possess the featured electronic structure.
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
Studies of high-current relativistic electron beam interaction with gas and plasma in Novosibirsk
This paper presents an overview of the studies on the interaction of a high-power relativistic electron beam (REB) with dense plasma confined in a long open magnetic trap. The main goal of this research is to achieve plasma parameters close to those required for thermonuclear fusion burning. The experimental studies were carried over the course of four decades on various devices: INAR, GOL, INAR-2, GOL-M, and GOL-3 (Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics) for a wide range of beam and plasma parameters.
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
Detector with Adjustable Aperture for Electron Beam Monitoring
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
Low-voltage polymer/small-molecule blend organic thin-film transistors and circuits fabricated via spray deposition
Organic thin-film electronics have long been considered an enticing candidate in achieving high-throughput manufacturing of low-power ubiquitous electronics. However, to achieve this goal, more work is required to reduce operating voltages and develop suitable mass-manufacture techniques. Here, we demonstrate low-voltage spray-cast organic thin-film transistors based on a semiconductor blend of 2,8-difluoro- 5,11-bis (triethylsilylethynyl) anthradithiophene and poly(triarylamine). Both semiconductor and dielectric films are deposited via successive spray deposition in ambient conditions (air with 40%–60% relative humidity) without any special precautions. Despite the simplicity of the deposition method, p-channel transistors with hole mobilities of >1 cm{sup 2}/Vs are realized at −4 V operation, and unipolar inverters operating at −6 V are demonstrated.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Reliable Breakdown Obtained in Silicon Carbide Rectifiers
The High Temperature Integrated Electronics and Sensor (HTIES) Program at the NASA Lewis Research Center is currently developing silicon carbide (SiC) for use in harsh conditions where silicon, the semiconductor used in nearly all of today's electronics, cannot function. Silicon carbide's demonstrated ability to function under extreme high-temperature, high-power, and/or high-radiation conditions will enable significant improvements to a far-ranging variety of applications and systems. These range from improved high-voltage switching for energy savings in public electric power distribution and electric vehicles, to more powerful microwave electronics for radar and cellular communications, to sensor and controls for cleaner-burning, more fuel-efficient jet aircraft and automobile engines.
Neudeck, Philip G.↗
Sensitivity of an (α,n) neutron source to (α,n) cross sections and stopping powers
The first-order sensitivities of the (α,n) neutron source rate density in a homogeneous material to isotopic (α,n) cross sections, elemental electronic stopping power data, and general coefficients for the nuclear stopping power are derived for the total neutron source and the energy-dependent neutron source. The physics bases for some of the equations in the SOURCES4C calculation of the stopping power are briefly discussed. The derivatives have been implemented in SOURCES4C. In simple PuO 2 and PuB 2 test problems, the computed derivatives compare extremely well with central differences. As a result, the first-order sensitivities are applied to show that improving the value of one of SOURCES4C’s stopping-power coefficients changes the (α,n) neutron source rate by 1.738 × 10 –6 % in the PuO 2 problem.
(α,n) neutron source↗
High-powerC.W. transferred-electron oscillators
CW high power operation of transferred-electron oscillators realized by low thermal resistance, describing fabrication
Enstrom, R. E.↗
Next-Generation, High-temperature, High-frequency, High-efficiency, High-power-density Traction System
To meet performance and reliability requirements necessary for broader adoption of electric drive vehicles, the Electrical and Electronics Technical Team of the U.S. Drive partnership has established aggressive design goals for next-generation electric vehicle drivetrains. Specifically, the 2025 roadmap stipulates a 100 kW/L power density target and a $\$$2.7/kW cost target for power electronics, in addition to high-voltage operation (i.e., greater than 800 VDC). The additional targets for traction motor and the overall system performance impose further challenges on the power electronics design. For example, many high specific power machines have reduced iron content, and therefore reduced intrinsic filtering, thus requiring the inverter to supply a low-distortion drive current. These machines also typically have a high pole count, thus requiring drive current at a higher electrical frequency. Other motors, such as brush-less dc and switch reluctance machines, require a carefully-shaped, non-sinusoidal drive current (Yang, Shang, Brown, & Krishnamurthy, 2015), (Zhang, Bowman, O'Connel, & Haran, 2018), (Anderson, et al., 2018). Two- and three-level inverter topologies are the conventional framework for the power electronics design of the drivetrain, and some demonstrations have shown recent progress towards addressing cost, power density and efficiency goals (Gurpinar & Ozpineci, 2018), (Zhu, Kim, Chen, Erickson, & Maksimović, 2018), (Deshpande, Chen, Narayanasamy, Sathyanarayanan, & Luo, 2018), (Alizadeh, et al., 2019). However, an unconventional approach may be necessary to take the dramatic leap in power density necessitated by the roadmap—while simultaneously addressing the other system needs. Therefore, this project leverages the flying capacitor multilevel (FCML) topology, together with a scalable, modular approach, to address these needs. This type of hybrid converter has several advantages: lower voltage (i.e., less than 300 V) transistors can be used, energy-dense capacitors process most of the power, and the output current waveform is multilevel and exhibits a frequency multiplying effect—in other words, the output has reduced dv/dt and filtering requirements for the same high voltage dc bus. For example, in an electric vehicle with an 800 V bus, a 10-level FCML could leverage 100 V, commercially available GaN devices switching at 115 kHz to produce a ~1 MHz switching waveform (modulated according to the motor drive requirements) with one ninth of the dv/dt of a two-level converter. Prior work has already demonstrated promising performance and gravimetric power density figures for more electric aircraft applications (Pallo, Foulkes, Modeer, Coday, & Pilawa-Podgurski, 2018). This project leverages lessons learned to achieve the volumetric power density of 100 kW/L by employing advanced liquid cooling, address the 300,000 mile reliability challenge with redundant design, topology failure studies and online health monitoring, and reduce costs to $\$$2.7/kW through the use of low-cost GaN devices, modular converter assemblies, and modest modifications to traditional manufacturing methods. The project involved several hardware designs, each achieving increasing performance. At the conclusion of the project, a volumetric power density of 380 kW/L was achieved, in a 800V dc-ac converter, greatly surpassing even the aggressive target goal.
33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
Validation of electron backscattering in the MCNP6.3 code
A new electron backscattering validation suite has been developed for the MCNP® code. The calculations in this suite cover both condensed history and single-event transport methods, seven different elemental materials ranging from beryllium to uranium, and incident electron energies from 200 eV to 14.1 MeV. In general, the accuracy of the MCNP code for electron backscattering calculations is energy-dependent. For incident electron energies below 2 keV, the condensed history method is not applied while the single-event method shows poor agreement with experimental measurements due to poor accuracy of the underlying atomic data. For incident energies between 2 keV and 256 keV, the single-event method typically shows better agreement with experiments, while for incident energies above 256 keV the condensed history method gives better accuracy. Additionally, agreement with experimental data is generally worse for low- Z materials such as beryllium and carbon, which may reflect deficiencies in the data or physics underlying electron transport through light elements in the MCNP code. The new electron backscattering validation suite, along with the previously introduced electron stopping power and Lockwood energy deposition validation suites, provide MCNP users with a quantified understanding of the uncertainties in electron transport calculations. Future improvements to electron transport in the MCNP code are necessary for low energies (≤ 2 keV) and for low- Z materials.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Mega-electron-volt ultrafast electron diffraction at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Not Available
Weathersby, S. P.↗
Effects of Proton Irradiation on GaN Vacuum Electron Nanodiodes
Gallium nitride (GaN)-based nanoscale vacuum electron devices, which offer advantages of both traditional vacuum tube operation and modern solid-state technology, are attractive for radiation-hard applications due to the inherent radiation hardness of vacuum electron devices and the high radiation tolerance of GaN. Here, we investigate the radiation hardness of top-down fabricated n-GaN nanoscale vacuum electron diodes (NVEDs) irradiated with 2.5-MeV protons (p) at various doses. We observe a slight decrease in forward current and a slight increase in reverse leakage current as a function of cumulative protons fluence due to a dopant compensation effect. The NVEDs overall show excellent radiation hardness with no major change in electrical characteristics up to a cumulative fluence of 5E14 p/cm 2 , which is significantly higher than the existing state-of-the-art radiation-hardened devices to our knowledge. In conclusion, the results show promise for a new class of GaN-based nanoscale vacuum electron devices for use in harsh radiation environments and space applications.
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗