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At least 19 records

Adjusting process count on demand for petascale global optimization

There are many challenges that need to be met before efficient and reliable computation at the petascale is possible. Many scientific and engineering codes running at the petascale are likely to be memory intensive, which makes thrashing a serious problem for many petascale applications. One way to overcome this challenge is to use a dynamic number of processes, so that the total amount of memory available for the computation can be increased on demand. This paper describes modifications made to the massively parallel global optimization code pVTdirect in order to allow for a dynamic number of processes. In particular, the modified version of the code monitors memory use and spawns new processes if the amount of available memory is determined to be insufficient. The primary design challenges are discussed, and performance results are presented and analyzed.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Upgrading a high-throughput spectrometer for high-frequency (<400 kHz) measurements

The upgraded spectrometer used for charge exchange recombination spectroscopy on the Madison Symmetric Torus resolves emission fluctuations up to 400 kHz. The transimpedance amplifier’s cutoff frequency was increased based upon simulations comparing the change in the measured photon counts for time-dynamic signals. We modeled each signal-processing stage of the diagnostic and scanned the filtering frequency to quantify the uncertainty in the photon counting rate. This modeling showed that uncertainties can be calculated based on assuming each amplification stage is a Poisson process and by calibrating the photon counting rate with a DC light source to address additional variation.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Raman Lidar MERGE Value-Added Product

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility Raman lidars (RLs) are semi-autonomous, land-based, laser remote sensing systems that provide height- and time-resolved measurements of water vapor mixing ratio, temperature, aerosol backscatter, extinction, and linear depolarization ratio from about 200 m to greater than 10 km AGL. These systems transmit at a wavelength of 355 nm with 300 mJ, ~5 ns pulses, and a pulse repetition frequency of 30 Hz. The receiver incorporates nine detection channels, including two water vapor channels at 408 nm, two nitrogen channels at 387 nm, three elastic channels, and two rotational Raman channels for temperature profiling at 354 and 353 nm. Figure 1 illustrates the layout of the ARM RL receiver system. Backscattered light from the atmosphere enters the telescope and is directed into the receiver system (i.e., aft optics). This signal is then split between a narrow-field-of-view radiometer (NFOV) path (blue) and a wide-field-of-view zenith radiometer (WFOV) path (red). The WFOV (2 mrad) path contains three channels (water vapor, nitrogen, and unpolarized elastic), and the NFOV (0.3 mrad) path contains six channels (water vapor, nitrogen, parallel and perpendicular elastic, and two rotational Raman). All nine detection channels use Electron Tubes 9954B photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). The signals from each of the nine PMTs are acquired using transient data recorders from Licel GbR (Berlin, Germany). The Licel data recorders provide simultaneous measurements of both analog photomultiplier current and photon counts at height resolution of 7.5 m and a time resolution of 10 s. The analog signal provides good linearity in the strong signal regime, but poor sensitivity at low signal levels. Conversely, the photo counting signal provides good sensitivity in the weak signal regime, but is strongly nonlinear at higher signal levels. The advantage in recording both signals is that they can be combined (or merged) into a single signal with improved dynamic range. The process of combining the analog and photon counting data has become known as “gluing” (Whiteman et al., 2006).

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Apparatus and method for high dynamic range counting by pixelated detectors

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and methods for generating a hybrid image by high-dynamic-range counting. In an embodiment, the apparatus includes a processing circuitry configured to acquire an image from a pixelated detector, obtain a sparsity map of the acquired image, the sparsity map indicating low-flux regions of the acquired image and high-flux regions of the acquired image, generate a low-flux image and a high-flux image based on the sparsity map, perform event analysis of the acquired image based on the low-flux image and the high-flux image, the event analysis including detecting, within the low-flux image, incident events by an event counting mode, multiply, by a normalization constant, resulting intensities of the high-flux image and the detected incident events of the low-flux image, and generate the hybrid image by merging the low-flux image and the high-flux image.

Bammes, Benjamin↗

A High-Speed, Event-Driven, Active Pixel Sensor Readout for Photon-Counting Microchannel Plate Detectors

Silicon array readouts for microchannel plate intensifiers offer several attractive features. In this class of detector, the electron cloud output of the MCP intensifier is converted to visible light by a phosphor; that light is then fiber-optically coupled to the silicon array. In photon-counting mode, the resulting light splashes on the silicon array are recognized and centroided to fractional pixel accuracy by off-chip electronics. This process can result in very high (MCP-limited) spatial resolution while operating at a modest MCP gain (desirable for dynamic range and long term stability). The principal limitation of intensified CCD systems of this type is their severely limited local dynamic range, as accurate photon counting is achieved only if there are not overlapping event splashes within the frame time of the device. This problem can be ameliorated somewhat by processing events only in pre-selected windows of interest of by using an addressable charge injection device (CID) for the readout array. We are currently pursuing the development of an intriguing alternative readout concept based on using an event-driven CMOS Active Pixel Sensor. APS technology permits the incorporation of discriminator circuitry within each pixel. When coupled with suitable CMOS logic outside the array area, the discriminator circuitry can be used to trigger the readout of small sub-array windows only when and where an event splash has been detected, completely eliminating the local dynamic range problem, while achieving a high global count rate capability and maintaining high spatial resolution. We elaborate on this concept and present our progress toward implementing an event-driven APS readout.

Kimble, Randy A.↗

Parallel point defect identification in molecular dynamics simulations without post-processing: A compute and dump style for LAMMPS

Two classes for the molecular dynamics program LAMMPS – one compute style and one dump style – are presented that are designed to identify, count, and output point defects in cascade damage and related molecular dynamics simulations. The calculations are done in parallel across multiple MPI processes, and can be done at the same time as the original simulation. This drastically reduces storage requirements by eliminating the need to post-process every atom in the system. Non-cubic lattices, free surfaces, and large voids can be eliminated from the output by suitable choices of the reference lattice. The classes are derived from LAMMPS’s Dump and Compute classes, and pose no additional overhead to LAMMPS if they are not used.

42 ENGINEERING↗

A High-Speed, Event-Driven, Active Pixel Sensor Readout for Photon-Counting Microchannel Plate Detectors

Silicon array readouts for microchannel plate intensifiers offer several attractive features. In this class of detector, the electron cloud output of the MCP intensifier is converted to visible light by a phosphor; that light is then fiber-optically coupled to the silicon array. In photon-counting mode, the resulting light splashes on the silicon array are recognized and centroided to fractional pixel accuracy by off-chip electronics. This process can result in very high (MCP-limited) spatial resolution for the readout while operating at a modest MCP gain (desirable for dynamic range and long term stability). The principal limitation of intensified CCD systems of this type is their severely limited local dynamic range, as accurate photon counting is achieved only if there are not overlapping event splashes within the frame time of the device. This problem can be ameliorated somewhat by processing events only in pre-selected windows of interest or by using an addressable charge injection device (CID) for the readout array. We are currently pursuing the development of an intriguing alternative readout concept based on using an event-driven CMOS Active Pixel Sensor. APS technology permits the incorporation of discriminator circuitry within each pixel. When coupled with suitable CMOS logic outside the array area, the discriminator circuitry can be used to trigger the readout of small sub-array windows only when and where an event splash has been detected, completely eliminating the local dynamic range problem, while achieving a high global count rate capability and maintaining high spatial resolution. We elaborate on this concept and present our progress toward implementing an event-driven APS readout.

Kimble, Randy A.↗

Wide dynamic range neutron flux monitor having fast time response for the Large Helical Device

A fast time response, wide dynamic range neutron flux monitor has been developed toward the LHD deuterium operation by using leading-edge signal processing technologies providing maximum counting rate up to ∼5 × 10{sup 9} counts/s. Because a maximum total neutron emission rate over 1 × 10{sup 16} n/s is predicted in neutral beam-heated LHD plasmas, fast response and wide dynamic range capabilities of the system are essential. Preliminary tests have demonstrated successful performance as a wide dynamic range monitor along the design.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Channeling, Volume Reection and Gamma Emission Using 14GeV Electrons in Bent Silicon Crystals

High energy electrons can be deflected with very tight bending radius using a bent silicon crystal. This produces gamma radiation. As these crystals can be thin, a series of bent silicon crystals with alternating direction has the potential to produce coherent gamma radiation with reasonable energy of the driving electron beam. Such an electron crystal undulator offers the prospect for higher energy radiation at lower cost than current methods. Permanent magnetic undulators like LCLS at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory are expensive and very large (about 100 m in case of the LCLS undulator). Silicon crystals are inexpensive and compact when compared to the large magnetic undulators. Additionally, such a high energy coherent light source could be used for probing through materials currently impenetrable by x-rays. In this work we present the experimental data and analysis of experiment T523 conducted at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. We collected the spectrum of gamma ray emission from 14 GeV electrons on a bent silicon crystal counting single photons. We also investigated the dynamics of electron motion in the crystal i.e. processes of channeling and volume reflection at 14 GeV, extending and building off previous work. Our single photon spectrum for the amorphous crystal orientation is consistent with bremsstrahlung radiation and the volume reflection crystal orientation shows a trend consistent with synchrotron radiation at a critical energy of 740 MeV. We observe that in these two cases the data are consistent, but we make no further claims because of statistical limitations. We also extended the known energy range of electron crystal dechanneling length and channeling efficiency to 14 GeV.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Channeling, volume reflection and gamma emission using 14GeV electrons in bent silicon crystals - Oral presentation [Slides]

High energy electrons can be deflected with very tight bending radius using a bent silicon crystal. This produces gamma radiation. As these crystals can be thin, a series of bent silicon crystals with alternating direction has the potential to produce coherent gamma radiation with reasonable energy of the driving electron beam. Such an electron crystal undulator offers the prospect for higher energy radiation at lower cost than current methods. Permanent magnetic undulators like LCLS at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory are expensive and very large (about 100 m in case of the LCLS undulator). Silicon crystals are inexpensive and compact when compared to the large magnetic undulators. Additionally, such a high energy coherent light source could be used for probing through materials currently impenetrable by x-rays. In this work we present the experimental data and analysis of experiment T523 conducted at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. We collected the spectrum of gamma ray emission from 14 GeV electrons on a bent silicon crystal counting single photons. We also investigated the dynamics of electron motion in the crystal i.e. processes of channeling and volume reflection at 14 GeV, extending and building off previous work. Our single photon spectrum for the amorphous crystal orientation is consistent with bremsstrahlung radiation and the volume reflection crystal orientation shows a trend consistent with synchrotron radiation at a critical energy of 740 MeV. We observe that in these two cases the data are consistent, but we make no further claims because of statistical limitations. We also extended the known energy range of electron crystal dechanneling length and channeling efficiency to 14 GeV.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Scalable Thin Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Light Sheet Platform

The goal of the Scalable Thin Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Light Sheet Platform project is to derisk the manufacturing scalability for a high chip count heterogeneous smart lighting platform, with the potential to enable significant energy savings through dynamic directional light control and custom. Specifically, the project derisks the scalability of a disruptive new computer controlled microassembly fabrication process SRI International is developing, to address fundamental cost barriers to mass production of high chip count systems. This is key for enabling mass adoption and thus maximum societal energy savings impact. The LED light sheet technology is a smart illumination platform that can be applied to lighting, signage, and display. It has features and a form factor similar to bendable or conformal OLED light sheets but uses more efficient LEDs with a remote phosphor layer that is very close to the LED to deliver a luminous efficacy that exceeds 125 lumen/Watt and enable > 50% Lighting Application Efficiency (LAE) energy savings. During Budget Period 1 (BP1), all of the BP1 milestones were successfully completed: (M2.0.1) Design demonstrator details that will meet the final project goals, (M6.1.1) Show lighting output model can predict illuminance, spatial, spectral distribution for specific light-sheet designs and use case, (M3.2.1) Automated loading supports 200 chip arrays, and (M3.3.1) Finish first interconnect process run for 200 chip array. The BP1 Go/No-Go Decision Point (G/NG 1) 200 chip demonstrator sample was in the process of final assembly and test at the end of BP1 on December 31, 2023. The objective was successfully achieved on January 16, 2024, when a wired 200-chip sample underwent confirmation testing that demonstrated a 93.75% first pass electrical yield that successfully exceeded the 75% first-pass electrical yield BP1 G/NG requirement. In addition, all 93.75% of the sample devices lit up, further demonstrating the ability to assemble and transfer small LED chips without damaging their functionality.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Superfluid effective field theory for dark matter direct detection

We develop an effective field theory (EFT) framework for superfluid 4 He to model the interactions among quasiparticles, helium atoms and probe particles. Our effective field theory approach brings together symmetry arguments and power-counting and matches to classical fluid dynamics. We then present the decay and scattering rates for the relevant processes involving quasiparticles and helium atoms. The presented EFT framework and results can be used to understand the dynamics of thermalization in the superfluid, and can be further applied to sub-GeV dark matter direct detection with superfluid 4 He.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Vectorization of Dynamic Subgraphs via Generative Models (Final Report)

An important class of data analysis tasks stem from comparing subsets of connected records within massive sets of complex relational data. A common approach is to represent each set of connected records with a small graph, or set of data entities (graph vertices) and their relationships (graph edges), and efficient methods to gauge similarity for pairs of graphs are of high interest. This project concentrated on dynamic graphs, where each edge record has an associated timestamp denoting the time of observation. Pre-existing techniques for comparing dynamic graphs concentrate on either computing graph edit distance (number of vertex and edge deletion, addition, and timestamp modifications) or vectorizing the graph with counts of a limited set of dynamic graph motifs (tiny fundamental subgraphs) and computing distances between the vectors. These approaches are less able to see similarities in graphs that are fairly different in size but come from identical graph generation processes. The motif counting approach can be improved for graphs from the same process, but suffers from requiring many types of motifs meaning it is expensive. Moreover, many motifs are not present for small graphs, meaning realizing a a much larger graph came from the same process is difficult.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

A method to improve the sensitivity of neutron porosity measurement based on D-T source

Compensated porosity logging tool utilizing deuterium-tritium (D-T) source shows a lower sensitivity to the variation of formation porosity compared with that adopting Am-Be source. In order to improve the sensitivity, the factors of an infinite homogeneous formation influencing slowing-down length and the near to far counts ratio are analyzed in this paper. Then Monte Carlo simulation method is used to build well logging models to study the responses of a neutron porosity logging tool to hydrogen index and formation density. It shows that in addition to hydrogen index, the variation of the density also has a great impact on slowing-down length and the ratio which reduces the response sensitivity to porosity. A new model depicts the relationship between the count ratio and porosity is proposed. Finally, when the model is used to process the measured ratio, the ratio shows improved dynamic range and sensitivity to porosity compared with the values without processing.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Performance and Accuracy Implications of Parallel Split Physics-Dynamics Coupling in the Energy Exascale Earth System Atmosphere Model

Simultaneous calculation of atmospheric processes is faster than calculating processes one at a time. This type of parallelism is beneficial or perhaps even necessary to provide good performance on modern supercomputers, which achieve faster performance through increased processor count rather than improved clock speed. The scalability of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) Atmosphere Model (EAM) is limited by the fluid dynamics which scales up to the number of mesh cells in the global mesh. In contrast, the suite of physics parameterizations in EAM is scalable up to the total number of physics columns, which is an order of magnitude greater than the number of mesh cells. A proposed solution to unlocking the greater potential performance from the physics suite is to solve the physics and dynamics in parallel. This work represents a first attempt at parallel splitting of the grid-scale fluid dynamics model and the subgrid-scale physics parameterizations in a global atmosphere model. We will demonstrate that switching to parallel physics-dynamics coupling extends the scalability of the EAM to up to 3 times the previous peak scalability limit and is up to 20% faster than the sequentially split coupling at the highest core counts and the same time step. Decadal simulations of both coupling approaches show very little impact to the model climate. This improved performance does not come without drawbacks, however. Parallel splitting requires a shorter time step and other modifications which largely offset performance gains. A mass fixer is required for conservation. Techniques for mitigating these issues are also discussed.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Probing the photoluminescence properties of gold nanoclusters by fluorescence lifetime correlation spectroscopy

Gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) have attracted much attention for promising applications in biological imaging owing to their tiny sizes and biocompatibility. So far, most efforts have been focused on the strategies for fabricating high-quality Au NCs and then characterized by conventional ensemble measurement. Here, a fusion single-molecule technique combining fluorescence correlation spectroscopy and time-correlated single-photon counting can be successfully applied to probe the photoluminescence (PL) properties for sparse Au NCs. In this case, the triplet-state dynamics and diffusion process can be observed simultaneously and the relevant time constants can be derived. This work provides a complementary insight into the PL mechanism at the molecular levels for Au NCs in solution.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Transformation of two and three-dimensional regions by elliptic systems

A reliable linear system is presented for grid generation in 2-D and 3-D. The method is robust in the sense that convergence is guaranteed but is not as reliable as other nonlinear elliptic methods in generating nonfolding grids. The construction of nonfolding grids depends on having reasonable approximations of cell aspect ratios and an appropriate distribution of grid points on the boundary of the region. Some guidelines are included on approximating the aspect ratios, but little help is offered on setting up the boundary grid other than to say that in 2-D the boundary correspondence should be close to that generated by a conformal mapping. It is assumed that the functions which control the grid distribution depend only on the computational variables and not on the physical variables. Whether this is actually the case depends on how the grid is constructed. In a dynamic adaptive procedure where the grid is constructed in the process of solving a fluid flow problem, the grid is usually updated at fixed iteration counts using the current value of the control function. Since the control function is not being updated during the iteration of the grid equations, the grid construction is a linear procedure. However, in the case of a static adaptive procedure where a trial solution is computed and used to construct an adaptive grid, the control functions may be recomputed at every step of the grid iteration.

Mastin, C. Wayne↗

TH-CD-207B-07: Noise Modeling of Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) for Photon Counting CT Applications

Purpose: Silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) has recently emerged as a promising photodetector for biomedical imaging applications. Due to its high multiplication gain (comparable to PMT), fast timing, low cost and compactness, it is considered a good candidate for photon counting CT. Dark noise is a limiting factor which impacts both energy resolution and detection dynamic range. Our goal is to develop a comprehensive model for noise sources for SiPM sensors. Methods: The physical parameters used in this work were based upon a test SPAD fabricated in 130nm CMOS process. The SPAD uses an n+/p-well junction, which is isolated from the p-substrate by a deep n-well junction. Inter-avalanche time measurement was used to record the time interval between two adjacent avalanche pulses. After collecting 1×106 counts, the histogram was obtained and multiple exponential fitting process was used to extract the lifetime associated with the traps within the bandgap. Results: At room temperature, the breakdown voltage of the SPAD is ∼11.4V and shows a temperature coefficient of 7.7mV/°C. The dark noise of SPAD increases with both the excess biasing voltage and temperature. The primary dark counts from the model were validated against the measurement results. A maximum relative error of 8.7% is observed at 20 °C with an excess voltage of 0.5V. The probabilities of after-pulsing are found to be dependent of both temperature and excess voltage. With 0.5V excess voltage, the after-pulsing probability is 63.5% at - 30 °C and drops to ∼6.6% at 40 °C. Conclusion: A comprehensive noise model for SPAD sensor was proposed. The model takes into account of static, dynamic and statistical behavior of SPADs. We believe that this is the first SPAD circuit simulation model that includes the band-to-band tunneling dark noise contribution and temporal dependence of the after-pulsing probability.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗