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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

Science of the Van Allen Probes Science Operations Centers

The Van Allen Probes mission operations materialized through a distributed model in which operational responsibility was divided between the Mission Operations Center (MOC) and separate instrument specific SOCs. The sole MOC handled all aspects of telemetering and receiving tasks as well as certain scientifically relevant ancillary tasks. Each instrument science team developed individual instrument specific SOCs proficient in unique capabilities in support of science data acquisition, data processing, instrument performance, and tools for the instrument team scientists. In parallel activities, project scientists took on the task of providing a significant modeling tool base usable by the instrument science teams and the larger scientific community. With a mission as complex as Van Allen Probes, scientific inquiry occurred due to constant and significant collaboration between the SOCs and in concert with the project science team. Planned cross-instrument coordinated observations resulted in critical discoveries during the seven-year mission. Instrument cross-calibration activities elucidated a more seamless set of data products. Specific topics include post-launch changes and enhancements to the SOCs, discussion of coordination activities between the SOCs, SOC specific analysis software, modeling software provided by the Van Allen Probes project, and a section on lessons learned. One of the most significant lessons learned was the importance of the original decision to implement individual team SOCs providing timely and well-documented instrument data for the NASA Van Allen Probes Mission scientists and the larger magnetospheric and radiation belt scientific community.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

10 Boron-film-based gas detectors at ESS

The development of detectors for the European Spallation Source is an important parallel element to the effort put into the design and construction of the neutron source and instruments. The 10Boron-film-based detector developments that started over a decade ago as basic detector concepts have now reached technical maturity after intense prototyping work and numerous testing campaigns. Several of the ESS beamlines that will soon enter the commissioning phase started welcoming the detector systems built with the 10 B-film converter technology. The real-size demonstrators evolved in the last 2–3 years into a diverse suite of gas proportional counters for use in diffraction, reflectometry and small-angle scattering studies in spite of the operational complexity posed by the requirements for large-area coverage, low material budget and robustness for operation in the high-flux and high-radiation environment of ESS. The detectors are now being shipped to ESS or undergoing the last performance and calibration tests before being handed over to the instrument teams for installation in the host beamlines. A common feature of these detector systems is the very large number of readout channels that they are instrumented with in order to fulfill the demanding requirements for sensitivity, spatial resolution and count-rate capability. Across all of the detector types that will operate at ESS, the integration, testing and commissioning of the read-out technologies and software tools for data reduction, calibration and analysis are the focus of the detector and integration teams. These will yield a wealth of knowledge about their operation as well as initial results on the in-situ performance, a very important asset to ensure rapid commissioning of the detectors when neutrons from the ESS source become available. In this paper we will give an overview of the 10 B-film-based detector technologies included in the ESS detector suite that are currently facing the transition from the production phase to installation and integration with the other beamline components, which comes with its own specific challenges of both organizational and technical nature.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

New Optical Designs for Radiation Imaging Systems [Slides]

Presentation to be presented during the first annual Prompt Radiation Detection and Imaging Workshop, hosted by the NNSS Dynamic Instruments Team, April 25–28, 2022, at NLV C-01 Auditorium and via Webex.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

What is happening at NNSS today

Presentation to be presented during the first annual Prompt Radiation Detection and Imaging Workshop, hosted by the NNSS Dynamic Instruments Team, April 25–28, 2022, at NLV C-01 Auditorium and via closed Webex.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Planting a Lyman alpha forest on ABACUSSUMMIT

The full-shape correlations of the Lyman alpha (Ly$α$) forest contain a wealth of cosmological information through the Alcock Paczynski effect. However, these measurements are challenging to model without robustly testing and verifying the theoretical framework used for analyzing them. Here, we leverage the accuracy and volume of the $N$-body simulation suite ABACUSSUMMIT to generate high-resolution Ly$α$ skewers and quasi-stellar object (QSO) catalogs. One of the main goals of our mocks is to aid in the full-shape Ly$α$ analysis planned by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) team. We provide optical depth skewers for six of the fiducial cosmology base-resolution simulations ($L$ box = 2 $h$ -1 Gpc, $N$ = 6912 3 ) at $z$ = 2.5. We adopt a simple recipe based on the Fluctuating Gunn-Peterson Approximation (FGPA) for constructing these skewers from the matter density in an $N$-body simulation and calibrate it against the 1D and 3D Ly$α$ power spectra extracted from the hydrodynamical simulation IllustrisTNG (TNG; $L$ box = 205 $h$ -1 Mpc, $N$ = 2500 3 ). As an important application, we study the non-linear broadening of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) peak and show the cross-correlation between DESI-like QSOs and our Ly$α$ forest skewers. We find differences on small scales between the Kaiser approximation prediction and our mock measurements of the Ly$α$×QSO cross-correlation, which would be important to account for in upcoming analyses. The ABACUSSUMMIT Ly$α$ forest mocks open up the possibility for improved modelling of cross correlations between Ly$α$ and cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing and Ly$α$ and QSOs, and for forecasts of the 3-point Ly$α$ correlation function. Furthermore, our catalogues and skewers are publicly available on Globus via the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) (full link under Data Availability).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Optical Particle Measurements during EPCAPE Field Campaign Report

This campaign requested the deployment of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) User Facility optical particle counter (OPC) at the first ARM Mobile Facility (AMF1) located at the Scripps Pier in La Jolla, California during the Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE). The addition of the OPC was requested for two reasons. (1) Close the gap between the scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) and aerodynamic particle sizer (APS) size distribution from the Aerosol Observing System (AOS) measurements. (2) Principal investigator Petters has been working with Tracking Aerosol Convection Interaction Experiment (TRACER) data to compute particle fluxes from Doppler lidar (Petters et al. 2024). Briefly, backscatter flux is obtained using the eddy covariance technique using the Doppler vertical velocity and attenuated backscatter. Building upon prior studies, we were able to relate backscatter to particle number concentration by calibrating the lidar retrievals against optical particle counter-measured ground-based aerosol size distribution and radiosonde-interpolated relative humidity at lidar sample height. Performing similar analysis was of interest to EPCAPE to better understand the emissions and vertical transport of large particles into the overlying stratus clouds. However, as stated above, this analysis requires an optical size distribution that covers the 0.3-30-μm-diameter size range. The OPC was deployed between 2023-04-14 and 2024-02-14. The deployment, data quality analysis, and data archiving was handled by the DOE ARM instrument mentor team without additional involvement by the principal investigator. Data quality was marked as “routine” for the majority of the campaign.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Radiation tolerance of the PNI RM3100 magnetometer for a Europa lander mission

The results of two radiation test campaigns on a low-cost commercial off-the-shelf magnetometer are presented. The test setup and the total ionization dose (TID) levels studied were designed to meet the requirements of a mission to land on Europa. Based on the Europa Lander Science Definition Team report, instruments inside an aluminum vault at the surface of Europa would need to withstand TID of up to 300 krad(SI). In order to evaluate the performance of the PNI RM3100 magnetometer, nine separate sensors were irradiated at two different facilities during two separate campaigns and under different configurations, including passive and active tests. Of the nine sensors, seven survived the TID of 300 krad(SI) while the other two sensors started presenting failures after reaching 150 krad(SI). Post-irradiation tests showed that eight of the nine sensors continued to work without appreciable degradation after stopping exposure, while one sensor stopped working altogether.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Development of Large-Volume-Diamond Anvil Cell for Neutron Diffraction: The Neutron Diamond Anvil Cell Project at ORNL

10 years ago, Dave Mao, director of EFree (energy frontier research in extreme environments), a DOE energy frontier recognized the importance of neutron science for energy research. The subsequent establishment of a neutron group within EFree lead to the establishment of an “Instrument Development Team” for SNAP, the High-Pressure beamline at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The idea was to develop novel high pressure techniques to expand the pressure range for neutron diffraction. A goal was set to reach half megabar levels (50 GPa), which at the time was considered as extremely challenging. Here we will give a brief overview of the developments during the last decade in this novel area of research. Fortunately, during this period multi carat diamond anvils have become available mainly by the chemical vapor deposition process (CVD), making research in this pressure range and beyond rather routine. This paper shows the latest developments in large anvil designs, compact multiple ton diamond cells and some examples of high-quality neutron diffraction patterns of sample sizes far below conventional levels.

Boehler, Reinhard↗

Designing an Observing System to Study the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) of the Earth in the 2020s

Abstract Observations of planet Earth from space are a critical resource for science and society. Satellite measurements represent very large investments and United States (US) agencies organize their effort to maximize the return on that investment. The US National Research Council conducts a survey of Earth science and applications to prioritize observations for the coming decade. The most recent survey prioritized a visible to shortwave infrared imaging spectrometer and a multispectral thermal infrared imager to meet a range of needs for studying Surface Biology and Geology (SBG). SBG will be the premier integrated observatory for observing the emerging impacts of climate change by characterizing the diversity of plant life and resolving chemical and physiological signatures. It will address wildfire risk, behavior, and recovery as well as responses to hazards such as oil spills, toxic minerals in minelands, harmful algal blooms, landslides, and other geological hazards. The SBG team analyzed needed instrument characteristics (spatial, temporal, and spectral resolutions, measurement uncertainty) and assessed the cost, mass, power, volume, and risk of different architectures. We present an overview of the Research and Applications trade‐study analysis of algorithms, calibration and validation needs, and societal applications with specifics of substudies detailed in other articles in this special collection. We provide a value framework to converge from hundreds down to three candidate architectures recommended for development. The analysis identified valuable opportunities for international collaboration to increase the revisit frequency, adding value for all partners, leading to a clear measurement strategy for an observing system architecture.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Atom Probe characterization of neutron irradiated commercial ZIRLO® and AXIOM X2® alloys

As part of the Mechanistic Understanding of ZIrconium Corrosion (MUZIC) program, this team has been instrumental to obtain EPRI and Westinghouse sponsorships to prepare the neutron irradiated ZIRLO® and X2® from Vogtle nuclear power plant and ship them from Studsvik’s (Sweden) hot cells to Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to be part of the NSUF library. The uniqueness of these sets of neutron irradiated alloys is that they are at the same two extremes of the fuel cycles, allowing us to study the microchemistry evolution as a function of irradiation doses, exposure time and solute content. Advanced commercial Zirconium-Niobium (Zr-Nb) alloys, such as ZIRLO® and AXIOM®, have been developed by Westinghouse to enhance the corrosion resistance of fuel cladding material for longer service time. This study specifically aims at investigating the neutron irradiation induced Nb redistribution in AXIOM® X2® to understand the effect of neutron irradiation induced microchemistry changes and the irradiation enhanced corrosion resistance observed in ZrNb alloys. The detailed sample information on chemical composition and irradiation is given in shown in Table 1a and 1b respectively. To study the neutron IIP/nanoclusters and Nb concentration in the solid solution, atom probe tomography (APT) is the primary tool to obtain reliable chemical information. APT specimens were prepared in shielded focused ion beam (FIB) at the Irradiated Materials Characterization Laboratory (IMCL) at INL followed by APT analysis at CAES facility using LEAP 4000XR

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Design and implementation of a portable diagnostic system for Thomson scattering and optical emission spectroscopy measurements

A diagnostic system, which has a design goal of high-portability, has been designed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). This project aims at providing measurements of key plasma parameters (ne, Te, ni, Ti) for fusion-relevant devices, utilizing Thomson scattering (TS) and optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The innovative design employs mostly commercial off-the-shelf instrumentation and a traveling team of researchers to conduct measurements at various magnetic-confinement plasma devices. The TS diagnostic uses a Quantel Q-smart 1500 Nd:YAG laser with a 2ω harmonic generator to produce up to 850 mJ of 532 nm laser pulses at 10 Hz. Collection optics placed at the detection port consists of an 11 × 3 optical fiber bundle, where the TS diagnostic uses an 11 × 1 subset array of the fibers, the OES diagnostic uses another 11 fibers, and the remaining fibers are available to the host institution. The detection system is comprised of two separate IsoPlane-320 spectrometers with triple-grating turrets of various line spacing and two PI-MAX 4 intensified CCD detectors, used simultaneously to measure a broad range of ion, impurity, and electron parameters. The self-contained diagnostic package also includes a data processing and storage system. The design and initial implementation of the TS-OES diagnostic system are described. The experiments from the proof-of-principle operation of the portable package on a high density (∼2.5 × 1022 m−3) and low-temperature (∼5 eV) electrothermal arc source at ORNL are also discussed.

Kafle, N. (ORCID:000000028144787X)↗

INL Alpha Radiation Background Study

During a radiological emergency, swift determination of the extent and intensity of the radiological materials that have been released to the environment are important for decision makers to correctly assess the hazards and recommend protective actions. In a radiological emergency, natural background counts need to be subtracted from the total activity for the actual amount of activity present to be assessed. This study provides documented survey results of the soils in and around the INL using instrumentation utilized by field monitoring teams that support the INL. Over three hundred alpha background counts were taken. The average alpha background count rate on portable instruments in use by field monitoring teams is 5 counts per minute and the decision level for activity that should be considered as having activity greater than background is 10 counts per minute. It was also shown that rain or snow can increase the background and its effects are difficult to quantify.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

Wind Energy Instrumentation Development Roadmap

The current instrumentation for observing the complex flow fields in and around wind plants struggles to match the fidelity of existing simulation tools. As a result, these measurement limitations create a hurdle for validating and assessing the quality of the wind plant numerical models. This roadmap for instrumentation development recommendations was created to offer guidance on narrowing the gap between measurement and simulation fidelity. A process was established to identify where gaps in instrumentation exist for wind energy test campaigns by analyzing the capabilities of instrumentation for capturing the various important phenomena at the necessary resolution for both the science goal and validation objectives. To this end, a multi-disciplinary team of experts on instrumentation, wind energy, and atmospheric science was assembled to identify these significant instrumentation needs. A recommendation for instrumentation to be developed is provided, and the framework developed through this process is expected to be useful to the design of future test campaigns. The mapping tools developed for this process will be distributed as part of a future International Energy Agency Wind Technology Collaboration Program task on instrumentation development.

17 WIND ENERGY↗