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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

Cooling black body: A mechanism for cosmic gamma-ray bursts

An examination was made of black body emission as a possible radiation mechanism for cosmic ray bursts. It was suggested that black body radiation of variable temperature causes the bursts. Temperature variations are caused by cooling due to gamma ray emission.

Ramaty, R.↗

Testing Thermophotovoltaic Cells With Black-Body Radiation

Method of testing thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells involves maintaining cells at various temperatures while exposing cells to black-body radiation at various intensities from black-body sources at various other temperatures. Provides for simulation and evaluation of performance under variety of operating conditions and could become standard testing method for government and industry.

Lin, James J.↗

Black body grids at HFIR CG-1D and NCNR BT2

Data sets from evaluation of prototype black body grids produced by thick film printing at the HFIR CG-1D cold neutron imaging beamline and the NCNR BT2 thermal neutron imaging beamline.

black body grids↗

System and method for portable multi-band black body simulator

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for simulating a black body spectrum. The apparatus makes use of a broadband light source and a light guide configured to receive light generated by the light source and to generate first and second optical signals. A first signal processing subsystem may be used to enable adjustment of both a signal spectrum and an intensity of the first optical signal. A second signal processing subsystem may be used to enable adjustment of both a signal spectrum and an intensity of the second optical signal. A beam cube may be used to combine the first and second optical signals to produce a final light output signal having a desired signal spectrum and a desired intensity.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Reference black body is compact, convenient to use

To replace the classical hollow sphere, a compact reference black body has been constructed from stacked razor blades. Treated with a deposit of black oxide on the surfaces or notches between the upper edges of the blades, the device is useful over a wide range of incident angles.

Dimeff, J.↗

Aether Drift and the isotropy of the universe: A measurement of anisotropes in the primordial black-body radiation

Large-angular-scale anisotropies in the 3 K primordial black-body radiation were detected and mapped with a sensitivity of 2 x to the minus 4 power K and an angular resolution of about 10 deg. The motion of the Earth with respect to the distant matter of the Universe ("Aether Drift") was measured and the homogeneity and isotropy of the Universe (the "Cosmological Principle") was probed. The experiment uses two Dicke radiometers, one at 33 GHz to detect the cosmic anisotropy, and one at 54 GHz to detect anisotropies in the residual oxygen above the detectors. The system was installed in the NASA-Ames Earth survey aircraft (U-2), and operated successfully in a series of flights in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Data taking and analysis to measure the anisotropy were successful.

Smoot, G. F.↗

Scatter Removal using Black Body Grids and Determining the Minimum Resolvable Hydrogen Concentration at MARS

This dataset was used to develop and validate a scatter-correction pipeline for neutron radiographs acquired at the MARS beamline, based on the methodology of Carminati et al. (2019). Scatter removal was performed using 36 gadolinium black bodies to characterize and remove the spatially varying neutron scatter field that cannot be eliminated by conventional open-beam normalization. The dataset comprises eight samples - four single-crystal nickel and four polycrystalline austenitic 316L stainless steel. Within each material system, samples were pre-charged with hydrogen gas at four charging pressures (1.5, 5, 12.5, and 20 kpsi). Following scatter correction, the pipeline was applied to all radiographs to recover quantitative attenuation maps. After subtracting the known attenuation contribution of the metal matrix, spatial maps of the hydrogen attenuation coefficient were obtained for each sample. This data was then used to construct a calibration curve relating hydrogen attenuation to hydrogen concentration and to determine the minimum resolvable hydrogen concentration at the MARS beamline. The resulting dataset provides a pressure-resolved calibration standard for quantitative hydrogen mapping using neutron radiography.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Aether drift and the isotropy of the universe: a measurement of anisotropies in the primordial black-body radiation

This experiment detected and mapped large-angular-scale anisotropies in the 3 K primordial black-body radiation with a sensitivity of 2x.0001k and an angular resolution of about 10 degs. It measured the motion of the Earth with respect to the distant matter of the Universe (Aether Drift), and probed the homogeneity and isotropy of the Universe (the Cosmological Principle). The experiment used two Dicke radiometers, one at 33 GHz to detect the cosmic anisotropy, and one at 54 GHz to detect anisotropies in the residual oxygen above the detectors. The system was installed in the NASA-Ames Earth Survey Aircraft (U-2), and operated successfully in a series of flights.

Muller, R. A.↗

Fabrication of Black Body Grids by Thick Film Printing for Quantitative Neutron Imaging

Neutron imaging offers deep penetration through many high-Z materials while also having high sensitivity to certain low-Z isotopes such as 1H, 6Li, and 10B. This unique combination of properties has made neutron imaging an attractive tool for a wide range of material science and engineering applications. However, measurements made by neutron imaging or tomography are generally qualitative in nature due to the inability of detectors to discriminate between neutrons which have been transmitted through the sample and neutrons which are scattered by the sample or within the detector. Recent works have demonstrated that deploying a grid of small black bodies (BBs) in front of the sample can allow for the scattered neutrons to be measured at the BB locations and subsequently subtracted from the total measured intensity to yield a quantitative transmission measurement. While this method can be very effective, factors such as the scale and composition of the sample, the beam divergence, and the resolution and construction of the detector may require optimization of the grid design to remove all measurement biases within a given experimental setup. Therefore, it is desirable to have a method by which BB grids may be rapidly and inexpensively produced such that they can easily be tailored to specific applications. In this work, we present a method for fabricating BB patterns by thick film printing of Gd2O3 and evaluate the performance with variation in feature size and number of print layers with cold and thermal neutrons.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Diagnostics of Carbon Nanotube Formation in a Laser Produced Plume: Spectroscopic in situ nanotube detection using spectral absorption and surface temperature measurements by black body emission

Carbon nanotubes hold great promise for material advancements in the areas of composites and electronics. The advancement of research in these areas is dependent upon the availability of carbon nanotubes to a broad spectrum of academic and industrial researchers. Although there has been much progress made in reducing the costs of carbon nanotubes and increasing the quality and purity of the products, an increase in demand for still less expensive and specific nanotubes types has also grown. This summer's work has involved two experiments that have been designed to further the understanding of the dynamics and chemical mechanisms of carbon nanotube formation. It is expected that a better understanding of the process of formation of nanotubes will aid current production designs and stimulate ideas for future production designs increasing the quantity, quality, and production control of carbon nanotubes. The first experiment involved the measurement of surface temperature of the target as a function of time with respect to the ablation lasers. A peak surface temperature of 5000 K was determined from spectral analysis of black body emission from the target surface. The surface temperature as a function of various changes in operating parameters was also obtained. This data is expected to aid the modeling of ablation and plume dynamics. The second experiment involved a time and spatial measurement of the spectrally resolved absorbance of the laser produced plume. This experiment explored the possibility of developing absorbance and fluorescence to detect carbon nanotubes during production. To attain control over the production of nanotubes with specific properties and reduce costs, a real time in situ diagnostics method would be very beneficial. Results from this summer's work indicate that detection of nanotubes during production may possibly be used for production feed back control.

DeBoer, Gary D.↗

Exploring a Black Body Source as an Absolute Radiometric Calibration Standard and Comparison with a NIST Traced Lamp Standard

Radiometric calibration of the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) is required for the scientific research and application objectives pursued with the spectroscopic measurements. Specifically calibration is required for: inter-comparison of AVIRIS data measured at different locations and at different times; analysis of AVIRIS data with data measured by other instruments; and analysis of AVIRIS data in conjunction with computer models. The primary effect of radiometric calibration is conversion of AVIRIS instrument response values (digitized numbers, or DN) to units of absolute radiance. For example, a figure shows the instrument response spectrum measured by AVIRIS over a portion of Rogers Dry Lake, California, and another figure shows the same spectrum calibrated to radiance. Only the calibrated spectrum may be quantitatively analyzed for science research and application objectives. Since the initial development of the AVIRIS instrument-radiometric calibration has been based upon a 1000-W irradiance lamp with a calibration traced to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). There are several advantages to this irradiance-lamp calibration approach. First, the considerable effort of NIST backs up the calibration. Second, by changing the distance to the lamp, the output can closely span the radiance levels measured by AVIRIS. Third, this type of standard is widely used. Fourth, these calibrated lamps are comparatively inexpensive. Conversely, there are several disadvantages to this approach as well. First, the lamp is not a primary standard. Second, the lamp output characteristics may change in an unknown manner through time. Third, it is difficult to assess, constrain, or improve the calibration uncertainty delivered with the lamp. In an attempt to explore the effect and potentially address some of these disadvantages a set of analyses and measurements comparing an irradiance lamp with a black-body source have been completed. This research is ongoing, and the current set of measurements, analyses, and results are presented in this paper.

Green, Robert O.↗