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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Proof of Concept Coded Aperture Miniature Mass Spectrometer Using a Cycloidal Sector Mass Analyzer, a Carbon Nanotube (CNT) Field Emission Electron Ionization Source, and an Array Detector

Despite many potential applications, miniature mass spectrometers have had limited adoption in the field due to the tradeoff between throughput and resolution that limits their performance relative to laboratory instruments. Recently, a solution to this tradeoff has been demonstrated by using spatially coded apertures in magnetic sector mass spectrometers, enabling throughput and signal-to-background improvements of greater than an order of magnitude with no loss of resolution. This paper describes a proof of concept demonstration of a cycloidal coded aperture miniature mass spectrometer (C-CAMMS) demonstrating use of spatially coded apertures in a cycloidal sector mass analyzer for the first time. C-CAMMS also incorporates a miniature carbon nanotube (CNT) field emission electron ionization source and a capacitive transimpedance amplifier (CTIA) ion array detector. Results confirm the cycloidal mass analyzer’s compatibility with aperture coding. A >10× increase in throughput was achieved without loss of resolution compared with a single slit instrument. Several areas where additional improvement can be realized are identified. .

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Large‐Area, High‐Numerical‐Aperture, Freeform Metasurfaces

Abstract Nanophotonic devices are optical platforms capable of unprecedented wavefront control. To push the limits of experimental device performance, scalable design methodologies that combine the simplicity and fabricability of conventional design paradigms with the extended capabilities of freeform optimization are required. A novel gradient‐based design framework for large‐area freeform metasurfaces is introduced in which nonlocal interactions between simply shaped nanostructures, placed on an irregular lattice, are tailored to produce high‐order hybridized modes that support customizable large‐angle scattering profiles. Utilizing this approach, multifunctional super‐dispersive metalenses are designed and experimentally demonstrated. The approach to high‐numerical‐aperture radial metalenses capable of diffraction limited focusing and the generation of donut‐shaped point spread functions is also extended. It is anticipated that these concepts will have utility in super‐resolution microscopy, particle trapping, additive manufacturing, and metrology applications that require ultra‐high numerical apertures.

Optics↗
DOE OSTI2020

Geochemical narrowing of cement fracture aperture during multiphase flow of supercritical CO2 and brine

For carbon capture and storage operations, wells are used as a necessary conduit for injecting CO2 at depth, but they can also act as leakage conduits if the cement seals are compromised. The specific objective of this research was to investigate the nature of self-healing of a fracture within cement under multiphase flow of CO2 and brine, and to compare this to a newly developed model. This was accomplished through a laboratory investigation, flowing reacting supercritical CO2 and brine through a cement fracture with multiphase flow. The influent end of the fracture was degraded as evidenced by the formation of cracks across the surface. At the effluent end of the fracture, the initial aperture of 137 µm was reduced to 50 µm. This reduction by 87 µm was similar to results from a recently developed model tested in this study, which predicted an aperture reduction of 80 µm. Our results demonstrated that the model accurately predicted the reactions which occurred in this multiphase flow system.

wellbore, cement, fracture, multiphase-flow, super↗
DOE OSTI2018

Effects of Magnetic and Electric Field Uniformity on Coded Aperture Imaging Quality in a Cycloidal Mass Analyzer

Cycloidal mass analyzers are unique sector mass analyzers as they exhibit perfect double focusing, making them ideal for incorporating spatial aperture coding, which can increase the throughput of a mass analyzer without affecting the resolving power. However, the focusing properties of the cycloidal mass analyzer depend on the uniformity of the electric and magnetic fields. In this paper, finite element simulation and charged particle tracing were used to investigate the effect of field uniformity on imaging performance of a cycloidal mass analyzer. For the magnetic field, we evaluate a new permanent magnet geometry by comparing it to a traditional geometry. Results indicate that creating an aperture image in a cycloidal mass spectrometer with the same FWHM as the slit requires less than 1% variation in magnetic field strength along the ion trajectories. The new magnet design, called the opposed dipole magnet, has less than 1% field variation over an area approximately 62 × 65 mm; nearly twice the area available in a traditional design of similar size and weight. This allows ion imaging across larger detector arrays without loss of resolving power. In addition, we compare the aperture imaging quality of a traditionally used cycloidal mass spectrometer electric design with a new optimized design with improved field uniformity. .

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2017

Summary of Test Results of MQXFS1—The First Short Model 150 mm Aperture Nb 3 Sn Quadrupole for the High-Luminosity LHC Upgrade

The development of Nb 3 Sn quadrupole magnets for the High-Luminosity LHC upgrade is a joint venture between the US LHC Accelerator Research Program (LARP)* and CERN with the goal of fabricating large aperture quadrupoles for the LHC interaction regions (IR). The inner triplet (low-β) NbTi quadrupoles in the IR will be replaced by the stronger Nb3Sn magnets boosting the LHC program of having 10-fold increase in integrated luminosity after the foreseen upgrades. Previously, LARP conducted successful tests of short and long models with up to 120 mm aperture. The first short 150 mm aperture quadrupole model MQXFS1 was assembled with coils fabricated by both CERN and LARP. The magnet demonstrated a strong performance at Fermilab's vertical magnet test facility reaching the LHC operating limits. This paper presents the latest results from MQXFS1 tests with changed prestress levels. The overall magnet performance, including quench training and memory, ramp rate, and temperature dependence, is also summarized.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Impact of Concurrent Solubilization and Fines Migration on Fracture Aperture Growth in Shales during Acidized Brine Injection

Acidic hydraulic fracturing fluid chemically and physically alters shale rock fabric during injection and shut-in, creating a “reaction-altered zone” along the fracture faces. To better characterize the variable thickness and composition of this reaction-altered zone under advective flow, we take a coupled experimental and modeling approach. A fluidic cell, with six fiducial markers, is first fabricated to keep the rock sample in place during the core floods and to allow image alignment of acquired images. Then, we conduct a series of reactive core floods in a clay-rich siliceous Wolfcamp shale sample with 10 wt % carbonate, using a synthetic fracturing fluid under no confining stress and at room temperature. High-resolution computed tomography (CT) scans are periodically conducted to observe the spatial alteration of the fracture network. We then perform scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS) on the two orthogonal surfaces (fracture surface and freshly cut profile face) to generate high-resolution elemental maps that show the change in mineralogy, both with distance along a given flow path along a fracture surface and with depth from the fracture surface into the shale matrix. These results are contrasted against a two-dimensional (2D) advection-diffusion reaction model developed previously for batch reactions between shale and synthetic fracturing fluids. The model simulates the geochemical interaction occurring at the fracture/matrix interface and penetrating into the shale matrix during the reactive core flood. Both model and experimental results show that the acidic brine is neutralized during the core flood, corresponding to an increase in fracture aperture as a function of fluid volume injected with the greatest change near the inlet. SEM-EDS scans reveal significant dissolution of carbonates on the fracture surface without pyrite oxidation. The reactive transport model indicates that carbonate depletion into the shale interior should be observable, yet SEM-EDS shows no discernible loss of carbonate in the orthogonal profile face. The combination of these observations suggests an additional fracture evolution mechanism in the reactive system, i.e., fines migration. We show that fines migration enhances the access of fracturing fluid to the matrix resulting in a more pronounced fracture widening. Finally, we conclude that coupled mineral dissolution and fines migration govern fracture aperture growth during acidized brine injection. In this work, we effectively show the underlying risk of relying solely on models that do not include an important (transport) process that can alter the system significantly and propose a combined chemomechanical mechanism for fracture evolution appropriate for this shale mineralogy.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Practical Three-Dimensional Curvilinear Aperture Monopulse Synthetic Aperture Radar

When collected over a curved path, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) contains information about the three-dimensional content of a scene that can aid interpretation of this difficult imaging modality. In a point scatterer simulation with amplitudes and heights derived from a real SAR image pair, we supplement confocal processing with a monopulse-based algorithm to compute heights of certain bright points, which we find automatically. In SAR, bright points often reflect man-made infrastructure central to scene interpretation.

Story, Mark [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000289148911)↗
DOE OSTI2025

Chasing ghosts: characterization of artifact generation in coded aperture decoding due to experimental implementation

Coded aperture imaging is a form of lensless aperture imaging that projects multiple overlapping images of the source onto the detector, enhancing signal strength, which is advantageous for low-flux sources or high-resolution imaging. This technique requires decoding of the detector signal to reconstruct the original source, which involves convolving the detector data with the aperture pattern. When the signal is from a centered point source, the reconstructed source image is known as the point spread function (PSF). A clean PSF without artifacts is a Dirac delta function [Appl. Opt. 20, 1858 (1981)]. This paper examines the robustness of the decoding process against variations in experimental tolerances by analyzing artifact growth in the reconstructed PSF. We illustrate the effects of incorrect magnification, rotation, and detector size and find that aperture–detector rotational misalignment about the imaging axis is the most sensitive parameter, with significant artifact generation occurring with angular offsets of less than one degree. We discuss compensation methods for imperfect aperture placement, finding that small detector sizes produce uncompensatable artifact generation, and compare theoretical predictions with experimental PSF measurements of a rank , 6.8 mm thick (less than one mean free path) coded aperture with a 3.5 mm cell size, conducted at the MegaJOuLe Neutron Imaging Radiography dense plasma focus [IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 49, 3299 (2021)] using a 2.45 MeV neutron source. Based on our findings, we recommend using magnified coded apertures in the under-sampled regime, which allows for the inclusion of fiducial markers to characterize aperture–detector rotational offsets and the addition of mechanical coupling, where possible, to constrain rotational and magnification offsets.

Selwood, M. P. [Lawrence Livermore National Labora↗
DOE OSTI2020

Comparison of thermionic filament and carbon nanotube field emitter-based electron ionization sources in cycloidal coded aperture mass analyzers

This report compares the coded aperture imaging performance of thermionic filament and carbon nanotube (CNT) field emitter-based electron sources in cycloidal-coded aperture mass spectrometers. The use of spatially coded apertures in mass spectrometry enables miniaturization by improving throughput without sacrificing resolution. CNT-based electron ionization sources for mass spectrometers provide several potential benefits over conventional thermionic emitters, including low voltage and low power consumption, room temperature operation, long lifetime, and ability to emit electrons in a pulsed mode. However, spatiotemporal variation in electron emission from CNTs is a major disadvantage. In this study, electron emission stability and spatiotemporal stability of the coded aperture image were compared for coded aperture cycloidal mass analyzers with either a CNT-based ion source or a thermionic filament-based ion source. We found that the thermionic filament-based ion source produced a significantly more stable coded aperture image than the CNT based ion source. The aperture image fluctuations in the CNT-based source are likely a result of adsorption and desorption of molecules on the CNT surface that cause local work function changes and induce spatiotemporal variation in electron emission and subsequent ion generation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Effect of Quartz Aperture Covers on the Fluid Dynamics and Thermal Efficiency of Falling Particle Receivers

Falling particle receivers are an emerging technology for use in concentrating solar power systems. In this paper, quartz half-shells are investigated for use as full or partial aperture covers to reduce receiver thermal losses. Quartz half-shell aperture covers offer the ability to minimally interfere with incoming solar radiation from the heliostat field while obstructing thermal radiation and advection from leaving the receiver cavity. The fluid dynamics and heat transfer of a receiver subdomain and surrounding air are modeled using ANSYS®FLUENT We compare the percentage of total incident solar power lost due to conduction through the receiver walls, advective losses through the aperture, and radiation exiting the aperture. Contrary to expected outcomes, results show that quartz aperture covers can increase radiative losses and result in modest to nonexistent reductions in advective losses. The increased radiative losses are driven by elevated quartz half-shell temperatures and have the potential to be mitigated by active cooling and/or material selection. Quartz half-shell total transmissivity was measured experimentally using a radiometer and the National Solar Thermal Test Facility heliostat field with values up to 0.97 ± 0.01. Quartz half-shell aperture covers did not yield expected efficiency gains in numerical results due to increased radiative losses, but efficiency improvement in some numerical results and the performance of quartz half-shells subject to concentrated solar radiation suggest that quartz half-shell aperture covers should be investigated further.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Design and fabrication of a four-rod radio frequency quadrupole with a variable aperture

Radiofrequency quadrupole (RFQ) linear accelerators with variable aperture cell parameters offer an effective means of accelerating high-intensity ion beams exceeding 100 mA and have been implemented in various RFQ designs. However, in a four-rod RFQ, the use of dielectric perturbation methods to measure the voltage distribution behind the rod electrodes is not applicable when implementing variable aperture geometries, because changes in the rod shape influence the electric field at the location of the perturbation element. Therefore, it was necessary to design the rod profile for each cell such that the electric field distribution behind the rods remains unaffected by changes in the aperture. In this study, we present a method to adjust the voltage distribution by modifying the geometry of the rod electrodes according to each cell's aperture parameters. This design approach enables the integration of variable aperture cells into a four-rod RFQ linac, significantly enhancing the achievable beam current. To ensure uniform capacitance and maintain a constant rod-electrode voltage despite variations in the average aperture radius, we developed a systematic method for shaping the rod electrodes. This method was refined using two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) electromagnetic field simulations to optimize the electrode cross-sectional profiles. The fabricated rod electrodes were then installed in a four-rod RFQ, and the electric field distribution was measured using the perturbation method and tuned by adjusting the base plates. As a result, the measured variation of ±1.1 % confirms that this design methodology can produce a sufficiently uniform voltage distribution for high-current beam acceleration. These results demonstrate the practical feasibility of a variable-aperture four-rod RFQ linac.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Scalable En Echelon Shear‐Fracture Aperture‐Roughness Mechanism: Theory, Validation, and Implications

Abstract Shear fractures can facilitate fluid conductivity through rock. Aperture and roughness are controlling characteristics for a fracture's fluid conductivity. Inspired by en echelon fractures, we develop a shear “fracturelet” model that predicts anisotropic aperture with respect to the direction of shearing, rougher (nonplanar) rather than smoother (planar) fractures, and the bounds of this roughness for a coalesced fracture. This tendency for rougher fracture creation is validated by in situ X‐ray images and fluid conductivity measurements from triaxial direct shear experiments on anhydrite and shale. These experiments were conducted at confining stresses from 4 to 30 MPa and shear displacement magnitudes from 0 to 2 mm on initially intact rock specimens. Hydraulic, dilatational, and local fracture apertures were measured in the experiments. Apertures exhibited strong anisotropy with more conductive flow paths forming perpendicular to the direction of shearing. Local and dilatational aperture were found to be positively correlated with increasing shear displacement but hydraulic aperture was found to vary significantly, always having values smaller than the other aperture measures at factors ranging from 0.6 to 0.0. An implication of these results is that shear fractures have a mechanism for simultaneously exhibiting very low fluid conductivity and high fluid storage volume.

Frash, Luke P.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Optimization of the size and shape of the scanning aperture in autocollimator-based deflectometric profilometers

Deflectometric profilometers based on industrial electronic autocollimators (ACs), as the ELCOMAT-3000, have become indispensable tools for precision form measurements of optical surfaces. A growing number of labs at synchrotron and free electron laser x-ray facilities are going for BESSY-II NOM-like versions of the AC-based profilometers. These tools have proven capable of characterizing state-of-the-art aspherical x-ray optics with an accuracy on the level of 100 nrad (root-mean-square) over the spatial frequency range limited by the size of the aperture used in the profilometer. Normally, a round aperture with a diameter of about 2.5 mm is used. Previous investigations have shown that with the optimally aligned 2.5-mm aperture, the spatial resolution of a NOM-like profilometer corresponding to the first zero-crossing of the optical transform function (OTF) is ~1.2 mm. In this paper, we investigate the performance of an AC ELCOMAT-3000 for a slope profilometer with different aperture sizes and shapes. The results of angular calibration of the AC equipped with circular and rectangular apertures placed at different distances from the AC are discussed. The calibration was performed at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt using the original experimental arrangements, also discussed in the paper. The OTF measurements with the specially developed test sample with chirped surface slope profiles were performed at the Advanced Light Source X-Ray Optics Laboratory (XROL) in application to a new optical surface measuring system under development at the XROL. In the OTF measurements, we have shown that application of a rectangular aperture with dimensions of 1.5 mm × 3 mm improves the spatial resolution in the tangential direction by a factor of ~1.4 compared to that of the standard circular aperture of 2.5-mm diameter. We postulate that the conclusions of our investigations are crucial for reaching fundamental metrological limits in deflectometric profilometry utilizing state-of-the-art electronic autocollimators.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Comparative Analysis of Imaging and Measurements of Micrometer-Scale Fracture Aperture Fields Within a Heterogeneous Rock Using PET and X-ray CT

Knowledge of the spatial distribution of fracture apertures is essential for reliable characterization of flow and transport processes in fractured systems and for better understanding of physicochemical matrix–fracture interactions. Here, we propose and test two image-based methods, thereby extending the current experimental capabilities to characterize aperture size distribution in structurally heterogeneous geologic porous media noninvasively. The first approach utilizes an inversion method based on the dataset acquired from positron emission tomography (PET) and the second approach considers an extension of the classic missing attenuation technique that relies on clinical X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT). Independent sets of imaging experiments are conducted on a fractured basalt core with heterogeneous matrix properties and aperture distributions to compare the two methodologies. A repeat of each experiment is conducted to verify the proposed workflows. The performance of these two imaging techniques is systematically evaluated through the analysis of signal-to-noise ratio, minimum fracture size detectability, and measurement errors. While both approaches provide a reliable estimation of fracture aperture distributions, PET yields a signal-to-noise ratio that is substantially higher than the corresponding X-ray CT measurements. Furthermore, uncertainties of the aperture values for PET are considerably lower ($\bar {\sigma}_{\text {d}} = 15\%$) compared to those obtained from X-ray CT ($\bar {\sigma}_{\text {d}} = 29\%$), allowing for the detection of minimum aperture sizes of 20 $\mu$m with 70% confidence level. Finally, these approaches provide key experimental tools for better understanding dynamic hydromechanical fracture properties in geologic systems.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

A novel sector mass spectrograph design for high-order coded aperture Mass Spectrometry with stigmatic aberration correction

Previous works experimentally demonstrated that the application of spatially-coded apertures to simple sector mass spectrographs can result in increased signal intensity while maintaining spectral resolution comparable to that of a conventional slit aperture.[Chen, E.X., et al.: J Am Soc Mass Spectr. 26, 1633 (2015)][Russell, Z.E., et al.: J Am Soc Mass Spectr. 26, 248 (2015)] This spatial coding technique was later applied to a double-focusing Mattauch-Herzog mass spectrograph, and shown to be generally compatible with the architecture.[Russell, Z.E., et al.: J Am Soc Mass Spectr. 27, 1 (2016)] However, the achieved signal gain was limited by the spatial size of the electric sector gap. In this work, we introduce a modified version of the Mattauch-Herzog mass spectrograph with a wide-gap electric sector that is enabled by a novel, segmented-electrode approach, and show via simulation that this modified architecture alone (without aperture coding) achieves a 1.8x improvement in mass resolving power compared to a conventional Mattauch-Herzog spectrograph of equivalent size. Further, simulation of an aperture-coded version of the instrument supports a predicted signal strength increase of 50x with minimal loss of aperture clarity on the sensor due to the increased open area of the high-order coded aperture which can be passed.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗