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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

Wedge sampling for computing clustering coefficients and triangle counts on large graphs

Graphs are used to model interactions in a variety of contexts, and there is a growing need to quickly assess the structure of such graphs. Some of the most useful graph metrics are based on triangles, such as those measuring social cohesion. Despite the importance of these triadic measures, algorithms to compute them can be extremely expensive. We discuss the method of wedge sampling. This versatile technique allows for the fast and accurate approximation of various types of clustering coefficients and triangle counts. Furthermore, these techniques are extensible to counting directed triangles in digraphs. Our methods come with provable and practical time-approximation tradeoffs for all computations. We provide extensive results that show our methods are orders of magnitude faster than the state of the art, while providing nearly the accuracy of full enumeration.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

FEASTPACK v. 1.0

The software implements the generative graph algorithm described in the following reference: T. G. Kolda, A. Pinar, T. Plantenga and C. Seshadhri. A Scalable Generative Graph Model with Community Structure, arXiv:1302.6636, March 2013, http:l/arxiv.org/abs/1302.6636. The software also implements the clustering coefficient algorithms described in C. Seshadhri, A. Pinar and T. G. Kolda. Triadic Measures on Graphs: The Power of Wedge Sampling, in Proc. 2013 SIAM International Conference on Data Mining {SDM), May 2013.

None, SeshadhriComandur↗

FEASTPACK v. 1.0

The software implements the generative graph algorithm described in the following reference: T. G. Kolda, A. Pinar, T. Plantenga and C. Seshadhri. A Scalable Generative Graph Model with Community Structure, arXiv:1302.6636, March 2013, http:l/arxiv.org/abs/1302.6636. The software also implements the clustering coefficient algorithms described in C. Seshadhri, A. Pinar and T. G. Kolda. Triadic Measures on Graphs: The Power of Wedge Sampling, in Proc. 2013 SIAM International Conference on Data Mining {SDM), May 2013.

Source record↗

NanoSIMS Imaging Alternation Layers of a Leached SON68 Glass Via A FIB-made Wedged Crater

Currently, nuclear wastes are commonly immobilized into glasses because of their long-term durability. Exposure to water for long periods of time, however, will eventually corrode the waste form and is the leading potential avenue for radionuclide release into the environment. Because such slow processes cannot be experimentally tested, the prediction of release requires a thorough understanding the mechanisms governing glass corrosion. In addition, due to the exceptional durability of glass, much of the testing must be performed on high-surface-area powders. A technique that can provide accurate compositional profiles with very precise depth resolution for non-flat samples would be a major benefit to the field. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) depth profiling is an excellent tool that has long been used to examine corrosion layers of glass. The roughness of the buried corrosion layers, however, causes the corresponding SIMS depth profiles to exhibit erroneously wide interfaces. In this study, NanoSIMS was used to image the cross-section of the corrosion layers of a leached SON68 glass sample. A wedged crater was prepared by a focused ion beam (FIB) instrument to obtain a 5× improvement in depth resolution for NanoSIMS measurements. This increase in resolution allowed us to confirm that the breakdown of the silica glass network is further from the pristine glass than a second dissolution front for boron, another glass former. The existence of these two distinct interfaces, separated by only ~20 nm distance in depth, was not apparent by traditional ToF-SIMS depth profiling but has been confirmed also by atom probe tomography. This novel sample geometry will be a major benefit to efficient NanoSIMS sampling of irregular interfaces at the nanometer scale that would otherwise be obscured within ToF-SIMS depth profiles.

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗

Interface modulated currents in periodically proton exchanged Mg doped lithium niobate

Conductivity in Mg doped lithium niobate (Mg:LN) plays a key role in the reduction of photorefraction and is therefore widely exploited in optical devices. However, charge transport through Mg:LN and across interfaces such as electrodes also yields potential electronic applications in devices with switchable conductivity states. Furthermore, the introduction of proton exchanged (PE) phases in Mg:LN enhances ionic conductivity, thus providing tailorability of conduction mechanisms and functionality dependent on sample composition. To facilitate the construction and design of such multifunctional electronic devices based on periodically PE Mg:LN or similar ferroelectric semiconductors, fundamental understanding of charge transport in these materials, as well as the impact of internal and external interfaces, is essential. In order to gain insight into polarization and interface dependent conductivity due to band bending, UV illumination, and chemical reactivity, wedge shaped samples consisting of polar oriented Mg:LN and PE phases were investigated using conductive atomic force microscopy. In Mg:LN, three conductivity states (on/off/transient) were observed under UV illumination, controllable by the polarity of the sample and the externally applied electric field. Measurements of currents originating from electrochemical reactions at the metal electrode–PE phase interfaces demonstrate a memresistive and rectifying capability of the PE phase. Furthermore, internal interfaces such as domain walls and Mg:LN–PE phase boundaries were found to play a major role in the accumulation of charge carriers due to polarization gradients, which can lead to increased currents. The insight gained from these findings yield the potential for multifunctional applications such as switchable UV sensitive micro- and nanoelectronic devices and bistable memristors.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Experimental study of energy-dependent angular broadening of MeV electron beams for high-resolution imaging in thick samples

In scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), spatial resolution is primarily influenced by the projected size of the electron probe within the specimen. In thin samples, a large semi-convergence angle enables a tightly focused beam and sub-nanometer resolution. However, in thick specimens, resolution is fundamentally limited by transverse beam broadening from multiple large-angle scattering events—for example, a probe with 10 mrad angular divergence can broaden by ∼100 nm over a 10 μm path. Since this broadening scales inversely with beam energy, MeV-STEM offers a promising route for high-resolution imaging in thick materials. To quantitatively assess this effect, we performed high-precision measurements at UCLA’s PEGASUS beamline, characterizing beam divergence and intensity profiles for 3–8 MeV electrons transmitted through a wedged-silicon sample of varying thickness. Our results reconcile discrepancies among analytical models and validate Monte Carlo simulations. Here, we find that increasing beam energy from 3.0 to 5.8 MeV reduces angular broadening by a factor of 2.6, with diminishing returns observed at 7.6 MeV. These findings provide a quantitative framework for optimizing MeV-STEM parameters in high-resolution imaging of thick biological and microelectronic specimens, and for guiding beam energy selection in other advanced imaging modes beyond STEM.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A fast and reliable method for daily quality assurance in spot scanning proton therapy with a compact and inexpensive phantom

In a radiotherapy center, daily quality assurance (QA) measurements are performed to ensure that the equipment can be safely used for patient treatment on that day. In a pencil beam scanning (PBS) proton therapy center, spot positioning, spot size, range, and dose output are usually verified every day before treatments. We designed, built, and tested a new, reliable, sensitive, and inexpensive phantom, coupled with an array of ionization chambers, for daily QA that reduces the execution times while preserving the reliability of the test. The phantom is provided with 2 pairs of wedges to sample the Bragg peak at different depths to have a transposition on the transverse plane of the depth dose. Three “boxes” are used to check spot positioning and delivered dose. The box thickness helps spread the single spot and to fit a Gaussian profile on a low resolution detector. We tested whether our new QA solution could detect errors larger than our action levels: 1 mm in spot positioning, 2 mm in range, and 10% in spot size. Execution time was also investigated. Our method is able to correctly detect 98% of spots that are actually in tolerance for spot positioning and 99% of spots out of 1 mm tolerance. All range variations greater than the threshold (2 mm) were correctly detected. The analysis performed over 1 month showed a very good repeatability of spot characteristics. The time taken to perform the daily quality assurance is 20 minutes, a half of the execution time of the former multidevice procedure. This “in-house build” phantom substitutes 2 very expensive detectors (a multilayer ionization chamber [MLIC] and a strip chamber, reducing by 5 times the cost of the equipment. We designed, built, and validated a phantom that allows for accurate, sensitive, fast, and inexpensive daily QA procedures in proton therapy with PBS.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

A generative modeling approach to reconstructing 21 cm tomographic data

Abstract Analyses of the cosmic 21 cm signal are hampered by astrophysical foregrounds that are far stronger than the signal itself. These foregrounds, typically confined to a wedge-shaped region in Fourier space, often necessitate the removal of a vast majority of modes, thereby degrading the quality of the data anisotropically. To address this challenge, we introduce a novel deep generative model based on stochastic interpolants to reconstruct the 21 cm data lost to wedge filtering. Our method leverages the non-Gaussian nature of the 21 cm signal to effectively map wedge-filtered 3D lightcones to samples from the conditional distribution of wedge-recovered lightcones. We demonstrate how our method is able to restore spatial information effectively, considering both varying cosmological initial conditions and astrophysics. Furthermore, we discuss a number of future avenues where this approach could be applied in analyses of the 21 cm signal, potentially offering new opportunities to improve our understanding of the Universe during the epochs of cosmic dawn and reionization. Code, pre-trained models, and scripts for making plots in this paper can be found here .

Sabti, Nashwan (ORCID:000000027924546X)↗

Formation of conical emission of supercontinuum during filamentation of femtosecond laser radiation in fused silica

The formation of conical emission of supercontinuum during filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses with central wavelengths in a wide range is studied experimentally, numerically, and analytically. The frequency-angular intensity distribution of the spectral components of conical emission is determined by the interference of supercontinuum emission in a filament of a femtosecond laser pulse. The interference of supercontinuum emission has a general character, exists at different regimes of group velocity dispersion, gives rise to the fine spectral structure after the pulse splitting into subpulses and the formation of a distributed supercontinuum source in an extended filament, and causes the decomposition of the continuous spectrum of conical emission into many high-contrast maxima after pulse refocusing in the filament. In spectroscopic studies with a tunable femtosecond radiation source based on a TOPAS parametric amplifier, we used an original scheme with a wedge fused silica sample. Numerical simulations have been performed using a system of equations of nonlinear-optical interaction of laser radiation under conditions of diffraction, wave nonstationarity, and material dispersion in fused silica. The analytic study is based on the interference model of formation of conical emission by supercontinuum sources moving in a filament.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Iterative reconstruction of magnetic induction using Lorentz transmission electron tomography

Intense ongoing research on complex nanomagnetic structures requires a fundamental understanding of the 3D magnetization and the stray fields around the nano-objects. 3D visualization of such fields offers the best way to achieve this. Lorentz transmission electron microscopy provides a suitable combination of high resolution and ability to quantitatively visualize the magnetization vectors using phase retrieval methods. In this paper, we present a formalism to represent the magnetic phase shift of electrons as a Radon transform of the magnetic induction of the sample. Using this formalism, we then present the application of common tomographic methods particularly the iterative methods, to reconstruct the 3D components of the vector held. We present an analysis of the effect of missing wedge and the limited angular sampling as well as reconstruction of complex 3D magnetization in a nanowire using simulations.

Phatak, C.↗

A Simple Preparation Method for Full-Range Electron Tomography of Nanoparticles and Fine Powders

Abstract Electron tomography has become a valuable and widely used tool for studying the three-dimensional nanostructure of materials and biological specimens. However, the incomplete tilt range provided by conventional sample holders limits the fidelity and quantitative interpretability of tomographic images by leaving a “missing wedge” of unknown information in Fourier space. Imaging over a complete range of angles eliminates missing wedge artifacts and dramatically improves tomogram quality. Full-range tomography is usually accomplished using needle-shaped samples milled from bulk material with focused ion beams, but versatile specimen preparation methods for nanoparticles and other fine powders are lacking. In this work, we present a new preparation technique in which powder specimens are supported on carbon nanofibers that extend beyond the end of a tungsten needle. Using this approach, we produced tomograms of platinum fuel cell catalysts and gold-decorated strontium titanate photocatalyst specimens. Without the missing wedge, these tomograms are free from elongation artifacts, supporting straightforward automatic segmentation and quantitative analysis of key materials properties such as void size and connectivity, and surface area and curvature. This approach may be generalized to other samples that can be dispersed in liquids, such as biological structures, creating new opportunities for high-quality electron tomography across disciplines.

Materials Science↗

Spatially Averaged Ice Contents of Ice-Wedge Polygon Cross-Sections to 3-m Depth, July 2013, Utqiagvik, Alaska

This dataset contains spatially averaged estimates of ice content (volume percent) for two-dimensional cross-sectional profiles (from trough center to trough center to a depth of 3 meters) of low- and flat-centered ice-wedge polygons (three of each type) located near Utqiagvik, Alaska. A combination of soil pits, trenches, and cores were used to describe, sample, and map the cross-section stratigraphy of soil horizons and ice wedges for each polygon at 6 depth intervals. Observed soil horizons were assigned to four types with increasing amounts of organic components (mineral, mineral/organic, organic/mineral, and organic). The average ice contents of each soil horizon type below the permafrost boundary and wedge ice were weighted by their cross-sectional area fractions to calculate spatially averaged estimates of ice content for each polygon. In the active layer, spatially averaged estimates of volumetric water contents were similarly determined and reported here as “ice” content to enable estimates of the soil’s structurally competent porosity and excess ice in permafrost layers. In this dataset, the file AK13_ice_contents.csv includes cross-sectional area fractions and spatially averaged ice contents for soil layers and horizon types at the six depth intervals. The file AK13_permafrost_ice_fractions.csv contains the calculated partitioning of ice contents into pore ice and excess ice fractions for the three permafrost-dominated depth intervals. In addition, there is a data dictionary file for each of these data files and a file-level metadata file. These data were generated by the Department of Energy’s Soil Carbon Response to Environmental Change Scientific Focus Area and were used as inputs to model simulations examining the consequences of thaw-affected subsidence and microtopography change on active layer thickness of low-relief polygonal tundra landscapes in a warming Arctic.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Evaluation of a Fluorochlorozirconate Glass-Ceramic Storage Phosphor Plate for Gamma-Ray Computed Radiography

In this paper, a fluorochlorozirconate (FCZ) glass-ceramic containing orthorhombic barium chloride crystals doped with divalent europium was evaluated for use as a storage phosphor in gamma-ray imaging. X-ray diffraction and phosphorimetry of the glass-ceramic sample showed the presence of a significant amount of orthorhombic barium chloride crystals in the glass matrix. Transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to identify crystal size, structure, and morphology. The size of the orthorhombic barium chloride crystals in the FCZ glass matrix was very large, ~0.5–0.7 μm, which can limit image resolution. The FCZ glass-ceramic sample was exposed to 1 MeV gamma rays to determine its photostimulated emission characteristics at high energies, which were found to be suitable for imaging applications. Test images were made at 2 MeV energies using gap and step wedge phantoms. Gaps as small as 101.6 μm in a 440 stainless steel phantom were imaged using the sample imaging plate. Analysis of an image created using a depleted uranium step wedge phantom showed that emission is proportional to incident energy at the sample and the estimated absorbed dose. Finally, the results showed that the sample imaging plate has potential for gamma-ray-computed radiography and dosimetry applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Solid Collection Efforts: Ta Collimator Evaluation

Ta collimator sets that were part of the gated x-ray detector diagnostic (GXD) at NIF were analyzed for debris distribution and damage in 2011. These disks (ranging in thickness from 250 to 750 {mu}m) were fielded approximately 10 cm from target chamber center (TCC) on various symcap, THD and re-emit shots. The nose cone holder and forward Ta collimator (facing target chamber center, TCC) from all shots show evidence of surface melt. Non-destructive analysis techniques such as optical microscopy, surface profilometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and x-ray fluorescence (XRF) were used to determine debris composition and degree of deformation associated with each Ta disk. Molten debris from the stainless steel nose cone contaminated the surface of the collimators along with other debris associated with the target assembly (Al, Si, Cu, Au and In). Surface elemental analysis of the forward collimator Ta disks indicates that Au hohlraum debris is less concentrated on these samples versus those fielded 50 cm from TCC in the wedge range filter (WRF) assembly. It is possible that the Au is distributed below or within the stainless steel melt layer covering the disk, as most of the foreign debris is captured in the melted coating. The other disks (fielded directly behind the forward collimator in a sandwiched configuration) have visible forms of deformation and warping. The degree of warping increases as the shock wave penetrates the assembly with the most damage sustained on the back collimator. In terms of developing a solid collection capability, the collimator analyses suggests that close proximity may cause more interference with capsule debris collection and more damage to the surface of the collector diagnostic. The analyses of the Ta collimators were presented to the Target and Laser Interaction Sphere (TaLIS) group; a representative presentation is attached to this document.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Combined Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy Tilt- and Focal Series

In this study, a combined tilt- and focal series is proposed as a new recording scheme for high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) tomography. Three-dimensional (3D) data were acquired by mechanically tilting the specimen, and recording a through-focal series at each tilt direction. The sample was a whole-mount macrophage cell with embedded gold nanoparticles. The tilt focal algebraic reconstruction technique (TF-ART) is introduced as a new algorithm to reconstruct tomograms from such combined tilt- and focal series. The feasibility of TF-ART was demonstrated by 3D reconstruction of the experimental 3D data. The results were compared with a conventional STEM tilt series of a similar sample. The combined tilt- and focal series led to smaller missing wedge artifacts, and a higher axial resolution than obtained for the STEM tilt series, thus improving on one of the main issues of tilt series-based electron tomography.

Dahmen, Tim↗