DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None, None

The Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) reports its status to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in March of each year. The program operates under the authority of DOE Order 413.2B, “Laboratory Directed Research and Development” (April 19, 2006), which establishes DOE’s requirements for the program while providing the Laboratory Director broad flexibility for program implementation. LDRD funds are obtained through a charge to all Laboratory programs. This report includes summaries of all ORNL LDRD research activities supported during FY 2011. The associated FY 2011 ORNL LDRD Self-Assessment (ORNL/PPA-2012/2) provides financial datamore » and an internal evaluation of the program’s management process.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None, None

The Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) reports its status to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in March of each year. The program operates under the authority of DOE Order 413.2B, “Laboratory Directed Research and Development” (April 19, 2006), which establishes DOE’s requirements for the program while providing the Laboratory Director broad flexibility for program implementation. LDRD funds are obtained through a charge to all Laboratory programs. This report includes summaries of all ORNL LDRD research activities supported during FY 2010. The associated FY 2010 ORNL LDRD Self-Assessment (ORNL/PPA-2011/2) provides financial datamore » and an internal evaluation of the program’s management process.« less

NATIONAL LABORATORIES: Better Performance Reporting Could Aid Oversight of Laboratory-Directed R&D Program

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-09-01

Development ( LDRD ) program, which formalized a long-standing policy of allowing its multi-program national laboratories discretion to conduct self...initiated, independent research and development (R&D). DOE requires that LDRD work must focus on the advanced study of scientific or technical problems...

Idaho National Laboratory Annual Report FY 2013 LDRD Project Summaries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dena Tomchak

The FY 2013 LDRD Annual Report is a compendium of the diverse research performed to develop and ensure the INL’s technical capabilities support the current and future DOE missions and national research priorities. LDRD is essential to INL—it provides a means for the Laboratory to maintain scientific and technical vitality while funding highly innovative, high-risk science and technology research and development (R&D) projects. The program enhances technical capabilities at the Laboratory, providing scientific and engineering staff with opportunities to explore proof-of-principle ideas, advanced studies of innovative concepts, and preliminary technical analyses. Established by Congress in 1991, the LDRD Program provesmore » its benefit each year through new programs, intellectual property, patents, copyrights, national and international awards, and publications.« less

Laboratory Directed Research and Development FY 1998 Progress Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

John Vigil; Kyle Wheeler

This is the FY 1998 Progress Report for the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program at Los Alamos National Laboratory. It gives an overview of the LDRD Program, summarizes work done on individual research projects, relates the projects to major Laboratory program sponsors, and provides an index to the principle investigators. Project summaries are grouped by their LDRD component: Competency Development, Program Development, and Individual Projects. Within each component, they are further grouped into nine technical categories: (1) materials science, (2) chemistry, (3) mathematics and computational science, (4) atomic, molecular, optical, and plasma physics, fluids, and particle beams, (5)more » engineering science, (6) instrumentation and diagnostics, (7) geoscience, space science, and astrophysics, (8) nuclear and particle physics, and (9) bioscience.« less

Laboratory directed research and development: FY 1997 progress report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vigil, J.; Prono, J.

1998-05-01

This is the FY 1997 Progress Report for the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program at Los Alamos National Laboratory. It gives an overview of the LDRD program, summarizes work done on individual research projects, relates the projects to major Laboratory program sponsors, and provides an index to the principal investigators. Project summaries are grouped by their LDRD component: Competency Development, Program Development, and Individual Projects. Within each component, they are further grouped into nine technical categories: (1) materials science, (2) chemistry, (3) mathematics and computational science, (4) atomic and molecular physics and plasmas, fluids, and particle beams, (5)more » engineering science, (6) instrumentation and diagnostics, (7) geoscience, space science, and astrophysics, (8) nuclear and particle physics, and (9) bioscience.« less

Laboratory Directed Research and Development FY2001 Annual Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Al-Ayat, R

2002-06-20

Established by Congress in 1991, the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program provides the Department of Energy (DOE)/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) laboratories, like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL or the Laboratory), with the flexibility to invest up to 6% of their budget in long-term, high-risk, and potentially high payoff research and development (R&D) activities to support the DOE/NNSA's national security missions. By funding innovative R&D, the LDRD Program at LLNL develops and extends the Laboratory's intellectual foundations and maintains its vitality as a premier research institution. As proof of the Program's success, many of the research thrusts thatmore » started many years ago under LDRD sponsorship are at the core of today's programs. The LDRD Program, which serves as a proving ground for innovative ideas, is the Laboratory's most important single resource for fostering excellent science and technology for today's needs and tomorrow's challenges. Basic and applied research activities funded by LDRD enhance the Laboratory's core strengths, driving its technical vitality to create new capabilities that enable LLNL to meet DOE/NNSA's national security missions. The Program also plays a key role in building a world-class multidisciplinary workforce by engaging the Laboratory's best researchers, recruiting its future scientists and engineers, and promoting collaborations with all sectors of the larger scientific community.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

SLAC,

The Department of Energy (DOE) and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) encourage innovation, creativity, originality and quality to maintain the Laboratory’s research activities and staff at the forefront of science and technology. To further advance its scientific research capabilities, the Laboratory allocates a portion of its funds for the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program. With DOE guidance, the LDRD program enables SLAC scientists to make rapid and significant contributions that seed new strategies for solving important national science and technology problems. The LDRD program is conducted using existing research facilities.

LDRD FY2004 Annual Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kotta, P. R.; Kline, K. M.

2005-02-28

The Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program is our primary means for pursuing innovative, long-term, high-risk, and potentially high-payoff research that supports the missions of the Laboratory, the Department of Energy, and the National Nuclear Security Administration in national security, homeland security, energy security, environmental management, bioscience and healthcare technology, and breakthroughs in fundamental science and technology. The LDRD Program was authorized by Congress in 1991 and is administered by the Laboratory Science and Technology Office. The accomplishments described in this Annual Report demonstrate how the LDRD portfolio is strongly aligned with these missions and contributes to the Laboratory’smore » success in meeting its goals. The LDRD budget of $69.8 million for FY2004 sponsored 220 projects. These projects were selected through an extensive peer-review process to ensure the highest scientific and technical quality and mission relevance. Each year, the number of meritorious proposals far exceeds the funding available, making the selection a challenging one indeed. Our ongoing investments in LDRD have reaped long-term rewards for the Laboratory and the Nation. Many Laboratory programs trace their roots to research thrusts that began several years ago under LDRD sponsorship. In addition, many LDRD projects contribute to more than one mission area, leveraging the Laboratory’s multidisciplinary team approach to science and technology. Safeguarding the Nation from terrorist activity and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction will be an enduring mission of this Laboratory, for which LDRD will continue to play a vital role. The LDRD Program is a success story. Our projects continue to win national recognition for excellence through prestigious awards, papers published in peer-reviewed journals, and patents granted. With its reputation for sponsoring innovative projects, the LDRD Program is also a major vehicle for attracting and retaining the best and the brightest technical staff and for establishing collaborations with universities, industry, and other scientific and research institutions. By keeping the Laboratory at the forefront of science and technology, the LDRD Program enables us to meet our mission challenges, especially those of our ever-evolving national security and homeland security missions.« less

Laboratory Directed Research and Development FY2008 Annual Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kammeraad, J E; Jackson, K J; Sketchley, J A

The Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program, authorized by Congress in 1991 and administered by the Institutional Science and Technology Office at Lawrence Livermore, is our primary means for pursuing innovative, long-term, high-risk, and potentially high-payoff research that supports the full spectrum of national security interests encompassed by the missions of the Laboratory, the Department of Energy, and National Nuclear Security Administration. The accomplishments described in this annual report demonstrate the strong alignment of the LDRD portfolio with these missions and contribute to the Laboratory's success in meeting its goals. The LDRD budget of $91.5 million for fiscal yearmore » 2008 sponsored 176 projects. These projects were selected through an extensive peer-review process to ensure the highest scientific quality and mission relevance. Each year, the number of deserving proposals far exceeds the funding available, making the selection a tough one indeed. Our ongoing investments in LDRD have reaped long-term rewards for the Laboratory and the nation. Many Laboratory programs trace their roots to research thrusts that began several years ago under LDRD sponsorship. In addition, many LDRD projects contribute to more than one mission area, leveraging the Laboratory's multidisciplinary team approach to science and technology. Safeguarding the nation from terrorist activity and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction will be an enduring mission of this Laboratory, for which LDRD will continue to play a vital role. The LDRD Program is a success story. Our projects continue to win national recognition for excellence through prestigious awards, papers published in peer-reviewed journals, and patents granted. With its reputation for sponsoring innovative projects, the LDRD Program is also a major vehicle for attracting and retaining the best and the brightest technical staff and for establishing collaborations with universities, industry, and other scientific and research institutions. By keeping the Laboratory at the forefront of science and technology, the LDRD Program enables us to meet our mission challenges, especially those of our ever-evolving national security mission. The Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) annual report for fiscal year 2008 (FY08) provides a summary of LDRD-funded projects for the fiscal year and consists of two parts: A broad description of the LDRD Program, the LDRD portfolio-management process, program statistics for the year, and highlights of accomplishments for the year. A summary of each project, submitted by the principal investigator. Project summaries include the scope, motivation, goals, relevance to Department of Energy (DOE)/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) mission areas, the technical progress achieved in FY08, and a list of publications that resulted from the research in FY08. Summaries are organized in sections by research category (in alphabetical order). Within each research category, the projects are listed in order of their LDRD project category: Strategic Initiative (SI), Exploratory Research (ER), Laboratory-Wide Competition (LW), and Feasibility Study (FS). Within each project category, the individual project summaries appear in order of their project tracking code, a unique identifier that consists of three elements. The first is the fiscal year the project began, the second represents the project category, and the third identifies the serial number of the proposal for that fiscal year.« less

2014 Fermilab Laboratory Directoed Research & Development Annual Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

W. Wester

After initiation by the Fermilab Laboratory Director, a team from the senior Laboratory leadership and a Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Advisory Committee developed an implementation plan for LDRD at Fermilab for the first time. This implementation was captured in the approved Fermilab 2014 LDRD Program Plan and followed directions and guidance from the Department of Energy (DOE) order, DOE O 413.2B, a “Roles, Responsibilities, and Guidelines, …” document, and examples of best practices at other DOE Office of Science Laboratories. At Fermilab, a FY14 midyear Call for Proposals was issued. A LDRD Selection Committee evaluated those proposals thatmore » were received and provided a recommendation to the Laboratory Director who approved seven LDRD projects. This Annual Report focuses on the status of those seven projects and provides an overview of the current status of LDRD at Fermilab. The seven FY14 LDRD approved projects had a date of initiation late in FY14 such that this report reflects approximately six months of effort approximately through January 2015. The progress of these seven projects, the subsequent award of six additional new projects beginning in FY15, and preparations for the issuance of the FY16 Call for Proposals indicates that LDRD is now integrated into the overall annual program at Fermilab. All indications are that LDRD is improving the scientific and technical vitality of the Laboratory and providing new, novel, or cutting edge projects carried out at the forefront of science and technology and aligned with the mission and strategic visions of Fermilab and the Department of Energy.« less

Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program Assessment for FY 2008

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Looney, J P; Fox, K J

2008-03-31

Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a multidisciplinary Laboratory that carries out basic and applied research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, and in selected energy technologies. It is managed by Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC, (BSA) under contract with the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE). BNL's Fiscal Year 2008 spending was $531.6 million. There are approximately 2,800 employees, and another 4,300 guest scientists and students who come each year to use the Laboratory's facilities and work with the staff. The BNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program reports its status to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) annuallymore » in March, as required by DOE Order 413.2B, 'Laboratory Directed Research and Development,' April 19, 2006, and the Roles, Responsibilities, and Guidelines for Laboratory Directed Research and Development at the Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration Laboratories dated June 13, 2006. The goals and objectives of BNL's LDRD Program can be inferred from the Program's stated purposes. These are to (1) encourage and support the development of new ideas and technology, (2) promote the early exploration and exploitation of creative and innovative concepts, and (3) develop new 'fundable' R&D projects and programs. The emphasis is clearly articulated by BNL to be on supporting exploratory research 'which could lead to new programs, projects, and directions' for the Laboratory. To be a premier scientific Laboratory, BNL must continuously foster groundbreaking scientific research and renew its research agenda. The competition for LDRD funds stimulates Laboratory scientists to think in new and creative ways, which becomes a major factor in achieving and maintaining research excellence and a means to address National needs within the overall mission of the DOE and BNL. By fostering high-risk, exploratory research, the LDRD program helps BNL to respond new scientific opportunities within existing mission areas, as well as to develop new research mission areas in response to DOE and National needs. As the largest expense in BNL's LDRD program is the support graduate students, post-docs, and young scientists, LDRD provides base for continually refreshing the research staff as well as the education and training of the next generation of scientists. The LDRD Program Assessment Report contains a review of the program. The report includes a summary of the management processes, project peer review, and the portfolio's relatedness to BNL's mission, initiatives and strategic plans. Also included are a metric of success indicators and Self Assessment.« less

Non-invasive current and voltage imaging techniques for integrated circuits using scanning probe microscopy. Final report, LDRD Project FY93 and FY94

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Campbell, A.N.; Cole, E.I. Jr.; Tangyunyong, Paiboon

This report describes the first practical, non-invasive technique for detecting and imaging currents internal to operating integrated circuits (ICs). This technique is based on magnetic force microscopy and was developed under Sandia National Laboratories` LDRD (Laboratory Directed Research and Development) program during FY 93 and FY 94. LDRD funds were also used to explore a related technique, charge force microscopy, for voltage probing of ICs. This report describes the technical work performed under this LDRD as well as the outcomes of the project in terms of publications and awards, intellectual property and licensing, synergistic work, potential future work, hiring ofmore » additional permanent staff, and benefits to DOE`s defense programs (DP).« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Looney,J.P.; Fox, K.

Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a multidisciplinary laboratory that maintains a primary mission focus the physical sciences, energy sciences, and life sciences, with additional expertise in environmental sciences, energy technologies, and national security. It is managed by Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC, (BSA) under contract with the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE). BNL's Fiscal year 2008 budget was $531.6 million. There are about 2,800 employees, and another 4,300 guest scientists and students who come each year to use the Laboratory's facilities and work with the staff. The BNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program reports its status to themore » U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) annually in March, as required by DOE Order 413.2B, 'Laboratory Directed Research and Development,' April 19, 2006, and the Roles, Responsibilities, and Guidelines for Laboratory Directed Research and Developlnent at the Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration Laboratories dated June 13, 2006. Accordingly, this is our Annual Report in which we describe the Purpose, Approach, Technical Progress and Results, and Specific Accomplishments of all LDRD projects that received funding during Fiscal Year 2008. BNL expended $12 million during Fiscal Year 2008 in support of 69 projects. The program has two categories, the annual Open Call LDRDs and Strategic LDRDs, which combine to meet the overall objectives of the LDRD Program. Proposals are solicited annually for review and approval concurrent with the next fiscal year, October 1. For the open call for proposals, an LDRD Selection Committee, comprised of the Associate Laboratory Directors (ALDs) for the Scientific Directorates, an equal number of scientists recommended by the Brookhaven Council, plus the Assistant Laboratory Director for Policy and Strategic Planning, review the proposals submitted in response to the solicitation. The Open Can LDRD category emphasizes innovative research concepts with limited management filtering to encourage the creativity of individual researchers. The competition is open to all BNL staff in programmatic, scientific, engineering, and technical support areas. Researchers submit their project proposals to the Assistant Laboratory Director for Policy and Strategic Planning. A portion of the LDRD budget is held for the Strategic LDRD (S-LDRD) category. Projects in this category focus on innovative R&D activities that support the strategic agenda of the Laboratory. The Laboratory Director entertains requests or articulates the need for S-LDRD funds at any time. Strategic LDRD Proposals also undergo rigorous peer review; the approach to review is tailored to the size and scope of the proposal. These Projects are driven by special opportunities, including: (1) Research project(s) in support of Laboratory strategic initiatives as defined and articulated by the Director; (2) Research project(s) in support of a Laboratory strategic hire; (3) Evolution of Program Development activities into research and development activities; and (4) ALD proposal(s) to the Director to support unique research opportunities. The goals and objectives of BNL's LDRD Program can be inferred fronl the Program's stated purposes. These are to (1) encourage and support the development of new ideas and technology, (2) promote the early exploration and exploitation of creative and innovative concepts, and (3) develop new 'fundable' R&D projects and programs. The emphasis is clearly articulated by BNL to be on supporting exploratory research 'which could lead to new programs, projects, and directions' for the Laboratory. We explicitly indicate that research conducted under the LDRD Program should be highly innovative, and an element of high risk as to success is acceptable. To be one of the premier DOE National Laboratories, BNL must continuously foster groundbreaking scientific research. At Brookhaven National Laboratory one such method is through its LDRD Program. This discretionary research and development tool is critical in maintaining the scientific excellence and long-term vitality of the Laboratory. Additionally, it is a means to stimulate the scientific community and foster new science and technology ideas, which becomes a major factor in achieving and maintaining staff excellence and a means to address National needs within the overall mission of the DOE and BNL.« less

Laboratory-directed research and development: FY 1996 progress report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vigil, J.; Prono, J.

1997-05-01

This report summarizes the FY 1996 goals and accomplishments of Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) projects. It gives an overview of the LDRD program, summarizes work done on individual research projects, and provides an index to the projects` principal investigators. Projects are grouped by their LDRD component: Individual Projects, Competency Development, and Program Development. Within each component, they are further divided into nine technical disciplines: (1) materials science, (2) engineering and base technologies, (3) plasmas, fluids, and particle beams, (4) chemistry, (5) mathematics and computational sciences, (6) atomic and molecular physics, (7) geoscience, space science, and astrophysics, (8) nuclear andmore » particle physics, and (9) biosciences.« less

LDRD Annual Report FY2006

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sketchley, J A; Kotta, P; De Yoreo, J

The Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program, authorized by Congress in 1991 and administered by the Laboratory Science and Technology Office, is our primary means for pursuing innovative, long-term, high-risk, and potentially high-payoff research that supports the missions of the Laboratory, the Department of Energy, and National Nuclear Security Administration in national security, energy security, environmental management, bioscience and technology to improve human health, and breakthroughs in fundamental science and technology. The accomplishments described in this Annual Report demonstrate the strong alignment of the LDRD portfolio with these missions and contribute to the Laboratory's success in meeting its goals.more » The LDRD budget of $92 million for FY2006 sponsored 188 projects. These projects were selected through an extensive peer-review process to ensure the highest scientific quality and mission relevance. Each year, the number of deserving proposals far exceeds the funding available, making the selection a tough one indeed. Our ongoing investments in LDRD have reaped long-term rewards for the Laboratory and the nation. Many Laboratory programs trace their roots to research thrusts that began several years ago under LDRD sponsorship. In addition, many LDRD projects contribute to more than one mission area, leveraging the Laboratory's multidisciplinary team approach to science and technology. Safeguarding the nation from terrorist activity and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction will be an enduring mission of this Laboratory, for which LDRD will continue to play a vital role. The LDRD Program is a success story. Our projects continue to win national recognition for excellence through prestigious awards, papers published in peer-reviewed journals, and patents granted. With its reputation for sponsoring innovative projects, the LDRD Program is also a major vehicle for attracting and retaining the best and the brightest technical staff and for establishing collaborations with universities, industry, and other scientific and research institutions. By keeping the Laboratory at the forefront of science and technology, the LDRD Program enables us to meet our mission challenges, especially those of our ever-evolving national security mission.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

French, T

I am pleased to present the fiscal year 2007 Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) annual report. This represents the first year that SRNL has been eligible for LDRD participation and our results to date demonstrate we are off to an excellent start. SRNL became a National Laboratory in 2004, and was designated the 'Corporate Laboratory' for the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) in 2006. As you will see, we have made great progress since these designations. The LDRD program is one of the tools SRNL is using to enable achievement of our strategic goals for the DOE. Themore » LDRD program allows the laboratory to blend a strong basic science component into our applied technical portfolio. This blending of science with applied technology provides opportunities for our scientists to strengthen our capabilities and delivery. The LDRD program is vital to help SRNL attract and retain leading scientists and engineers who will help build SRNL's future and achieve DOE mission objectives. This program has stimulated our research staff creativity, while realizing benefits from their participation. This investment will yield long term dividends to the DOE in its Environmental Management, Energy, and National Security missions.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sjoreen, Terrence P

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program reports its status to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in March of each year. The program operates under the authority of DOE Order 413.2B, 'Laboratory Directed Research and Development' (April 19, 2006), which establishes DOE's requirements for the program while providing the Laboratory Director broad flexibility for program implementation. LDRD funds are obtained through a charge to all Laboratory programs. This report includes summaries for all ORNL LDRD research activities supported during FY 2007. The associated FY 2007 ORNL LDRD Self-Assessment (ORNL/PPA-2008/2) provides financial data andmore » an internal evaluation of the program's management process. ORNL is a DOE multiprogram science, technology, and energy laboratory with distinctive capabilities in materials science and engineering, neutron science and technology, energy production and end-use technologies, biological and environmental science, and scientific computing. With these capabilities ORNL conducts basic and applied research and development (R&D) to support DOE's overarching mission to advance the national, economic, and energy security of the United States and promote scientific and technological innovation in support of that mission. As a national resource, the Laboratory also applies its capabilities and skills to specific needs of other federal agencies and customers through the DOE Work for Others (WFO) program. Information about the Laboratory and its programs is available on the Internet at http://www.ornl.gov/. LDRD is a relatively small but vital DOE program that allows ORNL, as well as other DOE laboratories, to select a limited number of R&D projects for the purpose of: (1) maintaining the scientific and technical vitality of the Laboratory; (2) enhancing the Laboratory's ability to address future DOE missions; (3) fostering creativity and stimulating exploration of forefront science and technology; (4) serving as a proving ground for new research; and (5) supporting high-risk, potentially high-value R&D. Through LDRD the Laboratory is able to improve its distinctive capabilities and enhance its ability to conduct cutting-edge R&D for its DOE and WFO sponsors. To meet the LDRD objectives and fulfill the particular needs of the Laboratory, ORNL has established a program with two components: the Director's R&D Fund and the Seed Money Fund. As outlined in Table 1, these two funds are complementary. The Director's R&D Fund develops new capabilities in support of the Laboratory initiatives, while the Seed Money Fund is open to all innovative ideas that have the potential for enhancing the Laboratory's core scientific and technical competencies. Provision for multiple routes of access to ORNL LDRD funds maximizes the likelihood that novel ideas with scientific and technological merit will be recognized and supported.« less

Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program Assessment for FY 2015

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hatton, Diane; Barkigia, K.; Giacalone, P.

2016-03-01

This report provides an overview of the BNL LDRD program and a summary of the management processes, project peer review, a financial overview, and the relation of the portfolio of LDRD projects to BNL's mission, initiatives, and strategic plan. Also included are a summary of success indicators and a self-assessment.

LABORATORY DIRECTED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ANNUAL REPORT TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY - DECEMBER 2004

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

FOX,K.J.

Brookhaven National (BNL) Laboratory is a multidisciplinary laboratory that carries out basic and applied research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, and in selected energy technologies. It is managed by Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC, under contract with the U. S. Department of Energy. BNL's total annual budget has averaged about $460 million. There are about 2,800 employees, and another 4,500 guest scientists and students who come each year to use the Laboratory's facilities and work with the staff. The BNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program reports its status to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) annually inmore » March, as required by DOE Order 4 13.2A, ''Laboratory Directed Research and Development,'' January 8, 2001, and the LDRD Annual Report guidance, updated February 12, 1999. The LDRD Program obtains its funds through the Laboratory overhead pool and operates under the authority of DOE Order 413.2A. The goals and objectives of BNL's LDRD Program can be inferred from the Program's stated purposes. These are to (1) encourage and support the development of new ideas and technology, (2) promote the early exploration and exploitation of creative and innovative concepts, and (3) develop new ''fundable'' R&D projects and programs. The emphasis is clearly articulated by BNL to be on supporting exploratory research ''which could lead to new programs, projects, and directions'' for the Laboratory. As one of the premier scientific laboratories of the DOE, BNL must continuously foster groundbreaking scientific research. At Brookhaven National Laboratory one such method is through its LDRD Program. This discretionary research and development tool is critical in maintaining the scientific excellence and long-term vitality of the Laboratory. Additionally, it is a means to stimulate the scientific community and foster new science and technology ideas, which becomes a major factor in achieving and maintaining staff excellence and a means to address national needs within the overall mission of the DOE and BNL. The LDRD Annual Report contains summaries of all research activities funded during Fiscal Year 2004. The Project Summaries with their accomplishments described in this report reflect the above. Aside from leading to new fundable or promising programs and producing especially noteworthy research, the LDRD activities have resulted in numerous publications in various professional and scientific journals and presentations at meetings and forums. All FY 2004 projects are listed and tabulated in the Project Funding Table. Also included in this Annual Report in Appendix A is a summary of the proposed projects for FY 2005. The BNL LDRD budget authority by DOE in FY 2004 was $9.5 million. The actual allocation totaled $8.5 million. The following sections in this report contain the management processes, peer review, and the portfolio's relatedness to BNL's mission, initiatives and strategic plans. Also included is a metric of success indicators and Self Assessment.« less

Idaho National Laboratory LDRD Annual Report FY 2012

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dena Tomchak

This report provides a glimpse into our diverse research and development portfolio, wwhich encompasses both advanced nuclear science and technology and underlying technologies. IN keeping with the mission, INL's LDRD program fosters technical capabilities necessary to support current and future DOE-Office of Nuclear Energy research and development needs.

Selected Examples of LDRD Projects Supporting Test Ban Treaty Verification and Nonproliferation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jackson, K.; Al-Ayat, R.; Walter, W. R.

The Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program at the DOE National Laboratories was established to ensure the scientific and technical vitality of these institutions and to enhance the their ability to respond to evolving missions and anticipate national needs. LDRD allows the Laboratory directors to invest a percentage of their total annual budget in cutting-edge research and development projects within their mission areas. We highlight a selected set of LDRD-funded projects, in chronological order, that have helped provide capabilities, people and infrastructure that contributed greatly to our ability to respond to technical challenges in support of test ban treatymore » verification and nonproliferation.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sjoreen, Terrence P

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program reports its status to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in March of each year. The program operates under the authority of DOE Order 413.2A, 'Laboratory Directed Research and Development' (January 8, 2001), which establishes DOE's requirements for the program while providing the Laboratory Director broad flexibility for program implementation. LDRD funds are obtained through a charge to all Laboratory programs. This report describes all ORNL LDRD research activities supported during FY 2005 and includes final reports for completed projects and shorter progress reports for projects thatmore » were active, but not completed, during this period. The FY 2005 ORNL LDRD Self-Assessment (ORNL/PPA-2006/2) provides financial data about the FY 2005 projects and an internal evaluation of the program's management process. ORNL is a DOE multiprogram science, technology, and energy laboratory with distinctive capabilities in materials science and engineering, neutron science and technology, energy production and end-use technologies, biological and environmental science, and scientific computing. With these capabilities ORNL conducts basic and applied research and development (R&D) to support DOE's overarching national security mission, which encompasses science, energy resources, environmental quality, and national nuclear security. As a national resource, the Laboratory also applies its capabilities and skills to the specific needs of other federal agencies and customers through the DOE Work For Others (WFO) program. Information about the Laboratory and its programs is available on the Internet at . LDRD is a relatively small but vital DOE program that allows ORNL, as well as other multiprogram DOE laboratories, to select a limited number of R&D projects for the purpose of: (1) maintaining the scientific and technical vitality of the Laboratory; (2) enhancing the Laboratory's ability to address future DOE missions; (3) fostering creativity and stimulating exploration of forefront science and technology; (4) serving as a proving ground for new research; and (5) supporting high-risk, potentially high-value R&D. Through LDRD the Laboratory is able to improve its distinctive capabilities and enhance its ability to conduct cutting-edge R&D for its DOE and WFO sponsors. To meet the LDRD objectives and fulfill the particular needs of the Laboratory, ORNL has established a program with two components: the Director's R&D Fund and the Seed Money Fund. As outlined in Table 1, these two funds are complementary. The Director's R&D Fund develops new capabilities in support of the Laboratory initiatives, while the Seed Money Fund is open to all innovative ideas that have the potential for enhancing the Laboratory's core scientific and technical competencies. Provision for multiple routes of access to ORNL LDRD funds maximizes the likelihood that novel and seminal ideas with scientific and technological merit will be recognized and supported.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sjoreen, Terrence P

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program reports its status to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in March of each year. The program operates under the authority of DOE Order 413.2A, 'Laboratory Directed Research and Development' (January 8, 2001), which establishes DOE's requirements for the program while providing the Laboratory Director broad flexibility for program implementation. LDRD funds are obtained through a charge to all Laboratory programs. This report describes all ORNL LDRD research activities supported during FY 2004 and includes final reports for completed projects and shorter progress reports for projects thatmore » were active, but not completed, during this period. The FY 2004 ORNL LDRD Self-Assessment (ORNL/PPA-2005/2) provides financial data about the FY 2004 projects and an internal evaluation of the program's management process. ORNL is a DOE multiprogram science, technology, and energy laboratory with distinctive capabilities in materials science and engineering, neutron science and technology, energy production and end-use technologies, biological and environmental science, and scientific computing. With these capabilities ORNL conducts basic and applied research and development (R&D) to support DOE's overarching national security mission, which encompasses science, energy resources, environmental quality, and national nuclear security. As a national resource, the Laboratory also applies its capabilities and skills to the specific needs of other federal agencies and customers through the DOE Work For Others (WFO) program. Information about the Laboratory and its programs is available on the Internet at . LDRD is a relatively small but vital DOE program that allows ORNL, as well as other multiprogram DOE laboratories, to select a limited number of R&D projects for the purpose of: (1) maintaining the scientific and technical vitality of the Laboratory; (2) enhancing the Laboratory's ability to address future DOE missions; (3) fostering creativity and stimulating exploration of forefront science and technology; (4) serving as a proving ground for new research; and (5) supporting high-risk, potentially high-value R&D. Through LDRD the Laboratory is able to improve its distinctive capabilities and enhance its ability to conduct cutting-edge R&D for its DOE and WFO sponsors. To meet the LDRD objectives and fulfill the particular needs of the Laboratory, ORNL has established a program with two components: the Director's R&D Fund and the Seed Money Fund. As outlined in Table 1, these two funds are complementary. The Director's R&D Fund develops new capabilities in support of the Laboratory initiatives, while the Seed Money Fund is open to all innovative ideas that have the potential for enhancing the Laboratory's core scientific and technical competencies. Provision for multiple routes of access to ORNL LDRD funds maximizes the likelihood that novel and seminal ideas with scientific and technological merit will be recognized and supported.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

FOX,K.J.

Brookhaven National (BNL) Laboratory is a multidisciplinary laboratory that carries out basic and applied research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, and in selected energy technologies. It is managed by Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC, under contract with the U. S. Department of Energy. BNL's total annual budget has averaged about $450 million. There are about 3,000 employees, and another 4,500 guest scientists and students who come each year to use the Laboratory's facilities and work with the staff. The BNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program reports its status to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) annually inmore » March, as required by DOE Order 4 1 3.2A, ''Laboratory Directed Research and Development,'' January 8, 2001, and the LDRD Annual Report guidance, updated February 12, 1999. The LDRD Program obtains its funds through the Laboratory overhead pool and operates under the authority of DOE Order 413.2A. The goals and objectives of BNL's LDRD Program can be inferred from the Program's stated purposes. These are to (1) encourage and support the development of new ideas and technology, (2) promote the early exploration and exploitation of creative and innovative concepts, and (3) develop new ''fundable'' R&D projects and programs. The emphasis is clearly articulated by BNL to be on supporting exploratory research ''which could lead to new programs, projects, and directions'' for the Laboratory. As one of the premier scientific laboratories of the DOE, BNL must continuously foster groundbreaking scientific research. At Brookhaven National Laboratory one such method is through its LDRD Program. This discretionary research and development tool is critical in maintaining the scientific excellence and long-term vitality of the Laboratory. Additionally, it is a means to stimulate the scientific community and foster new science and technology ideas, which becomes a major factor in achieving and maintaining staff excellence and a means to address national needs within the overall mission of the DOE and BNL. The LDRD Annual Report contains summaries of all research activities funded during Fiscal Year 2002. The Project Summaries with their accomplishments described in this report reflect the above. Aside from leading to new fundable or promising programs and producing especially noteworthy research, the LDRD activities have resulted in numerous publications in various professional and scientific journals and presentations at meetings and forums. All Fy 2002 projects are listed and tabulated in the Project Funding Table. Also included in this Annual Report in Appendix A is a summary of the proposed projects for FY 2003. The BNL LDRD budget authority by DOE in FY 2002 was $7 million. The actual allocation totaled $6.7 million. The following sections in this report contain the management processes, peer review, and the portfolio's relatedness to BNL's mission, initiatives and strategic plans. Also included is a metric of success indicators.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

FOX,K.J.

Brookhaven National (BNL) Laboratory is a multidisciplinary laboratory that carries out basic and applied research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, and in selected energy technologies. It is managed by Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC, under contract with the U. S. Department of Energy. BNL's total annual budget has averaged about $450 million. There are about 3,000 employees, and another 4,500 guest scientists and students who come each year to use the Laboratory's facilities and work with the staff. The BNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program reports its status to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) annually inmore » March, as required by DOE Order 41 3.2A, ''Laboratory Directed Research and Development,'' January 8, 2001, and the LDRD Annual Report guidance, updated February 12, 1999. The LDRD Program obtains its funds through the Laboratory overhead pool and operates under the authority of DOE Order 413.2A. The goals and objectives of BNL's LDRD Program can be inferred from the Program's stated purposes. These are to (1) encourage and support the development of new ideas and technology, (2) promote the early exploration and exploitation of creative and innovative concepts, and (3) develop new ''fundable'' R&D projects and programs. The emphasis is clearly articulated by BNL to be on supporting exploratory research ''which could lead to new programs, projects, and directions'' for the Laboratory. As one of the premier scientific laboratories of the DOE, BNL must continuously foster groundbreaking scientific research. At Brookhaven National Laboratory one such method is through its LDRD Program. This discretionary research and development tool is critical in maintaining the scientific excellence and long-term vitality of the Laboratory. Additionally, it is a means to stimulate the scientific community and foster new science and technology ideas, which becomes a major factor in achieving and maintaining staff excellence and a means to address national needs within the overall mission of the DOE and BNL. The LDRD Annual Report contains summaries of all research activities funded during Fiscal Year 2003. The Project Summaries with their accomplishments described in this report reflect the above. Aside from leading to new fundable or promising programs and producing especially noteworthy research, the LDRD activities have resulted in numerous publications in various professional and scientific journals and presentations at meetings and forums. All FY 2003 projects are listed and tabulated in the Project Funding Table. Also included in this Annual Report in Appendix A is a summary of the proposed projects for FY 2004. The BNL LDRD budget authority by DOE in FY 2003 was $8.5 million. The actual allocation totaled $7.8 million. The following sections in this report contain the management processes, peer review, and the portfolio's relatedness to BNL's mission, initiatives and strategic plans. Also included is a metric of success indicators.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

French, T

The Laboratory Director is pleased to have the opportunity to present the 2008 Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) annual report. This is my first opportunity to do so, and only the second such report that has been issued. As will be obvious, SRNL has built upon the excellent start that was made with the LDRD program last year, and researchers have broken new ground in some important areas. In reviewing the output of this program this year, it is clear that the researchers implemented their ideas with creativity, skill and enthusiasm. It is gratifying to see this level ofmore » participation, because the LDRD program remains a key part of meeting SRNL's and DOE's strategic goals, and helps lay a solid scientific foundation for SRNL as the premier applied science laboratory. I also believe that the LDRD program's results this year have demonstrated SRNL's value as the EM Corporate Laboratory, having advanced knowledge in a spectrum of areas, including reduction of the technical risks of cleanup, separations science, packaging and transportation of nuclear materials, and many others. The research in support of Energy Security and National and Homeland Security has been no less notable. SRNL' s researchers have shown again that the nascent LDRD program is a sound investment for DOE that will pay off handsomely for the nation as time goes on.« less

FY04 Engineering Technology Reports Laboratory Directed Research and Development

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sharpe, R M

2005-01-27

This report summarizes the science and technology research and development efforts in Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Engineering Directorate for FY2004, and exemplifies Engineering's more than 50-year history of developing the technologies needed to support the Laboratory's missions. Engineering has been a partner in every major program and project at the Laboratory throughout its existence and has prepared for this role with a skilled workforce and the technical resources developed through venues like the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program (LDRD). This accomplishment is well summarized by Engineering's mission: ''Enable program success today and ensure the Laboratory's vitality tomorrow''. Engineering's investmentmore » in technologies is carried out through two programs, the ''Tech Base'' program and the LDRD program. LDRD is the vehicle for creating those technologies and competencies that are cutting edge. These require a significant level of research or contain some unknown that needs to be fully understood. Tech Base is used to apply technologies to a Laboratory need. The term commonly used for Tech Base projects is ''reduction to practice''. Therefore, the LDRD report covered here has a strong research emphasis. Areas that are presented all fall into those needed to accomplish our mission. For FY2004, Engineering's LDRD projects were focused on mesoscale target fabrication and characterization, development of engineering computational capability, material studies and modeling, remote sensing and communications, and microtechnology and nanotechnology for national security applications. Engineering's five Centers, in partnership with the Division Leaders and Department Heads, are responsible for guiding the long-term science and technology investments for the Directorate. The Centers represent technologies that have been identified as critical for the present and future work of the Laboratory, and are chartered to develop their respective areas. Their LDRD projects are the key resources to attain this competency, and, as such, nearly all of Engineering's portfolio falls under one of the five Centers. The Centers and their Directors are: (1) Center for Computational Engineering: Robert M. Sharpe; (2) Center for Microtechnology and Nanotechnology: Raymond P. Mariella, Jr.; (3) Center for Nondestructive Characterization: Harry E. Martz, Jr.; (4) Center for Precision Engineering: Keith Carlisle; and (5) Center for Complex Distributed Systems: Gregory J. Suski, Acting Director.« less

2014 Fermilab Laboratory Directed Research & Development Program Plan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wester, W., editor

2016-05-26

Fermilab is executing Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) as outlined by order DOE O 413.2B in order to enhance and realize the mission of the laboratory in a manner that also supports the laboratory’s strategic objectives and the mission of the Department of Energy. LDRD funds enable scientific creativity, allow for exploration of “high risk, high payoff” research, and allow for the demonstration of new ideas, technical concepts, and devices. LDRD also has an objective of maintaining and enhancing the scientific and technical vitality of Fermilab.

Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program FY 2008 Annual Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

editor, Todd C Hansen

2009-02-23

The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab or LBNL) is a multi-program national research facility operated by the University of California for the Department of Energy (DOE). As an integral element of DOE's National Laboratory System, Berkeley Lab supports DOE's missions in fundamental science, energy resources, and environmental quality. Berkeley Lab programs advance four distinct goals for DOE and the nation: (1) To perform leading multidisciplinary research in the computing sciences, physical sciences, energy sciences, biosciences, and general sciences in a manner that ensures employee and public safety and protection of the environment. (2) To develop and operatemore » unique national experimental facilities for qualified investigators. (3) To educate and train future generations of scientists and engineers to promote national science and education goals. (4) To transfer knowledge and technological innovations and to foster productive relationships among Berkeley Lab's research programs, universities, and industry in order to promote national economic competitiveness. Berkeley Lab's research and the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program support DOE's Strategic Themes that are codified in DOE's 2006 Strategic Plan (DOE/CF-0010), with a primary focus on Scientific Discovery and Innovation. For that strategic theme, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 LDRD projects support each one of the three goals through multiple strategies described in the plan. In addition, LDRD efforts support the four goals of Energy Security, the two goals of Environmental Responsibility, and Nuclear Security (unclassified fundamental research that supports stockpile safety and nonproliferation programs). The LDRD program supports Office of Science strategic plans, including the 20-year Scientific Facilities Plan and the Office of Science Strategic Plan. The research also supports the strategic directions periodically under consideration and review by the Office of Science Program Offices, such as LDRD projects germane to new research facility concepts and new fundamental science directions. Berkeley Lab LDRD program also play an important role in leveraging DOE capabilities for national needs. The fundamental scientific research and development conducted in the program advances the skills and technologies of importance to our Work For Others (WFO) sponsors. Among many directions, these include a broad range of health-related science and technology of interest to the National Institutes of Health, breast cancer and accelerator research supported by the Department of Defense, detector technologies that should be useful to the Department of Homeland Security, and particle detection that will be valuable to the Environmental Protection Agency. The Berkeley Lab Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program FY2008 report is compiled from annual reports submitted by principal investigators following the close of the fiscal year. This report describes the supported projects and summarizes their accomplishments. It constitutes a part of the LDRD program planning and documentation process that includes an annual planning cycle, project selection, implementation, and review.« less

From Idea to Innovation: The Role of LDRD Investments in Sandia's Recent Successful B61 Experiments.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Arrowsmith, Marie Danielle

The Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program, authorized by U.S. Congress in 1991, enables Department of Energy (DOE) laboratories to devote a small portion of their research funding to high-risk and potentially high-payoff research. Because it is high-risk, LDRD-supported research may not lead to immediate mission impacts; however, many successes at DOE labs can be traced back to investments in LDRD. LDRD investments have a history of enabling significant payoffs for long-running DOE and NNSA missions and for providing anticipatory new technologies that ultimately become critical to future missions. Many of Sandia National Laboratories’ successes can be traced backmore » to investments in LDRD. Capabilities from three LDRDs were critical to recent tests of the B61-12 gravity bomb—tests that would previously have only been performed experimentally.« less

Idaho National Laboratory Directed Research and Development FY-2009

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

2010-03-01

The FY 2009 Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Annual Report is a compendium of the diverse research performed to develop and ensure the INL's technical capabilities can support the future DOE missions and national research priorities. LDRD is essential to the INL - it provides a means for the laboratory to pursue novel scientific and engineering research in areas that are deemed too basic or risky for programmatic investments. This research enhances technical capabilities at the laboratory, providing scientific and engineering staff with opportunities for skill building and partnership development. Established by Congress in 1991, LDRD proves its benefitmore » each year through new programs, intellectual property, patents, copyrights, publications, national and international awards, and new hires from the universities and industry, which helps refresh the scientific and engineering workforce. The benefits of INL's LDRD research are many as shown in the tables below. Last year, 91 faculty members from various universities contributed to LDRD research, along with 7 post docs and 64 students. Of the total invention disclosures submitted in FY 2009, 7 are attributable to LDRD research. Sixty three refereed journal articles were accepted or published, and 93 invited presentations were attributable to LDRD research conducted in FY 2009. The LDRD Program is administered in accordance with requirements set in DOE Order 413.2B, accompanying contractor requirements, and other DOE and federal requirements invoked through the INL contract. The LDRD Program is implemented in accordance with the annual INL LDRD Program Plan, which is approved by the DOE, Nuclear Energy Program Secretarial Office. This plan outlines the method the laboratory uses to develop its research portfolio, including peer and management reviews, and the use of other INL management systems to ensure quality, financial, safety, security and environmental requirements and risks are appropriately handled. The LDRD Program is assessed annually for both output and process efficiency to ensure the investment is providing expected returns on technical capability enhancement. The call for proposals and project selection process for the INL LDRD program begins typically in April, with preliminary budget allocations, and submittal of the technical requests for preproposals. A call for preproposals is made at this time as well, and the preparation of full proposals follows in June and closes in July. The technical and management review follows this, and the portfolio is submitted for DOE-ID concurrence in early September. Project initiation is in early October. The technical review process is independent of, and in addition to the management review. These review processes are very stringent and comprehensive, ensuring technical viability and suitable technical risk are encompassed within each project that is selected for funding. Each proposal is reviewed by two or three anonymous technical peers, and the reviews are consolidated into a cohesive commentary of the overall research based on criteria published in the call for proposals. A grade is assigned to the technical review and the review comments and grade are released back to the principal investigators and the managers interested in funding the proposals. Management criteria are published in the call for proposals, and management comments and selection results are available for principal investigator and other interested management as appropriate. The DOE Idaho Operations Office performs a final review and concurs on each project prior to project authorization, and on major scope/budget changes should they occur during the project's implementation. This report begins with several research highlights that exemplify the diversity of scientific and engineering research performed at the INL in FY 2009. Progress summaries for all projects are organized into sections reflecting the major areas of research focus at the INL. These sections begin with the DOE-NE Nuclear Science and Technology mission support area, followed by the National and Homeland Security and the Energy and Environmental Science and Technology areas. The major INL initiatives and the INL's Distinctive Signatures areas complete the project summaries. The appendices provide information on project relevance to DOE missions and major national programs as well as an author index, list of refereed publications and index of key terms.« less

Laboratory Directed Research and Development Annual Report FY 2017

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sullivan, Kelly O.

A national laboratory must establish and maintain an environment in which creativity and innovation are encouraged and supported in order to fulfill its missions and remain viable in the long term. As such, multiprogram laboratories are given discretion to allocate a percentage of their operating budgets to support research and development projects that align to PNNL’s and DOE’s missions and support the missions of other federal agencies, including DHS, DOD, and others. DOE Order 413.2C sets forth DOE’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) policy and guidelines for DOE multiprogram laboratories, and it authorizes the national laboratories to allocate upmore » to 6 percent of their operating budgets to fund the program. LDRD is innovative research and development, selected by the Laboratory Director or his/her designee, for the purpose of maintaining the scientific and technological vitality of the Laboratory. The projects supported by LDRD funding all have demonstrable ties to DOE/DHS missions and may also be relevant to the missions of other federal agencies that sponsor work at the Laboratory. The program plays a key role in attracting the best and brightest scientific staff, which is needed to serve the highest priority DOE mission objectives. Individual project reports comprise the bulk of this LDRD report. The Laboratory focuses its LDRD research on scientific assets that often address more than one scientific discipline.« less

Laboratory Directed Research and Development Annual Report FY 2016

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sullivan, Kelly O.

A national laboratory must establish and maintain an environment in which creativity and innovation are encouraged and supported in order to fulfill its missions and remain viable in the long term. As such, multiprogram laboratories are given discretion to allocate a percentage of their operating budgets to support research and development projects that align to PNNL’s and DOE’s missions and support the missions of other federal agencies, including DHS, DOD, and others. DOE Order 413.2C sets forth DOE’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) policy and guidelines for DOE multiprogram laboratories, and it authorizes the national laboratories to allocate upmore » to 6 percent of their operating budgets to fund the program. LDRD is innovative research and development, selected by the Laboratory Director or his/her designee, for the purpose of maintaining the scientific and technological vitality of the Laboratory. The projects supported by LDRD funding all have demonstrable ties to DOE/DHS missions and may also be relevant to the missions of other federal agencies that sponsor work at the Laboratory. The program plays a key role in attracting the best and brightest scientific staff, which is needed to serve the highest priority DOE mission objectives. Individual project reports comprise the bulk of this LDRD report. The Laboratory focuses its LDRD research on scientific assets that often address more than one scientific discipline.« less

LDRD 2013 Annual Report: Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program Activities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bookless, W.

This LDRD project establishes a research program led by Jingguang Chen, who has started a new position as a Joint Appointee between BNL and Columbia University as of FY2013. Under this project, Dr. Chen will establish a new program in catalysis science at BNL and Columbia University. The LDRD program will provide initial research funding to start research at both BNL and Columbia. At BNL, Dr. Chen will initiate laboratory research, including hiring research staff, and will collaborate with the existing BNL catalysis and electrocatalysis research groups. At Columbia, a subcontract to Dr. Chen will provide startup funding for hismore » laboratory research, including initial graduate student costs. The research efforts will be linked under a common Catalysis Program in Sustainable Fuels. The overall impact of this project will be to strengthen the BNL catalysis science program through new linked research thrusts and the addition of an internationally distinguished catalysis scientist.« less

1995 Laboratory-Directed Research and Development Annual report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cauffman, D.P.; Shoaf, D.L.; Hill, D.A.

1995-12-31

The Laboratory-Directed Research and Development Program (LDRD) is a key component of the discretionary research conducted by Lockheed Idaho Technologies Company (Lockheed Idaho) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). The threefold purpose and goal of the LDRD program is to maintain the scientific and technical vitality of the INEL, respond to and support new technical opportunities, and enhance the agility and flexibility of the national laboratory and Lockheed Idaho to address the current and future missions of the Department of Energy.

Laboratory Directed Research and Development Annual Report - Fiscal Year 2000

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fisher, Darrell R.; Hughes, Pamela J.; Pearson, Erik W.

The projects described in this report represent the Laboratory's investment in its future and are vital to maintaining the ability to develop creative solutions for the scientific and technical challenges faced by DOE and the nation. In accordance with DOE guidelines, the report provides, a) a director's statement, b) an overview of the laboratory's LDRD program, including PNNL's management process and a self-assessment of the program, c) a five-year project funding table, and d) project summaries for each LDRD project.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

W. Wester

Fermilab is executing Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) as outlined by order DOE O 413.2B in order to enhance and realize the mission of the laboratory in a manner that also supports the laboratory’s strategic objectives and the mission of the Department of Energy. LDRD funds enable scientific creativity, allow for exploration of “high risk, high payoff” research, and allow for the demonstration of new ideas, technical concepts, and devices. LDRD also has an objective of maintaining and enhancing the scientific and technical vitality of Fermilab. LDRD is able to fund employee-initiated proposals that address the current strategic objectivesmore » and better position Fermilab for future mission needs. The request for such funds is made in consideration of the investment needs, affordability, and directives from DOE and Congress. Review procedures of the proposals will insure that those proposals which most address the strategic goals of the DOE and the Laboratory or which best position Fermilab for the future will be recommended to the Laboratory Director who has responsibility for approval. The execution of each approved project will be the responsibility of the Principal Investigator, PI, who will follow existing Laboratory guidelines to ensure compliance with safety, environmental, and quality assurance practices. A Laboratory Director-appointed LDRD Coordinator will work with Committees, Laboratory Management, other Fermilab Staff, and the PI’s to oversee the implementation of policies and procedures of LDRD and provide the management and execution of this Annual Program Plan. FY16 represents third fiscal year in which LDRD has existed at Fermilab. The number of preliminary proposals (117) submitted in response to the LDRD Call for Proposals indicates very strong interest of the program within the Fermilab community. The first two Calls have resulted in thirteen active LDRD projects – and it is expected that between five and seven new projects will be approved in response to the FY16 Call for Proposals. The implementation of the program compared with FY15 is mostly unchanged except that the program is on the expected normal fiscal year calendar cycle with new projects starting at the beginning of the fiscal year. Because of this, there is some expanded discussion that the Laboratory Director may decide to initiate mid-year Late Start or Strategic- Hire LDRD projects.« less

Strengthening LLNL Missions through Laboratory Directed Research and Development in High Performance Computing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Willis, D. K.

2016-12-01

High performance computing (HPC) has been a defining strength of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) since its founding. Livermore scientists have designed and used some of the world’s most powerful computers to drive breakthroughs in nearly every mission area. Today, the Laboratory is recognized as a world leader in the application of HPC to complex science, technology, and engineering challenges. Most importantly, HPC has been integral to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA’s) Stockpile Stewardship Program—designed to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of our nuclear deterrent without nuclear testing. A critical factor behind Lawrence Livermore’s preeminence in HPC ismore » the ongoing investments made by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program in cutting-edge concepts to enable efficient utilization of these powerful machines. Congress established the LDRD Program in 1991 to maintain the technical vitality of the Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories. Since then, LDRD has been, and continues to be, an essential tool for exploring anticipated needs that lie beyond the planning horizon of our programs and for attracting the next generation of talented visionaries. Through LDRD, Livermore researchers can examine future challenges, propose and explore innovative solutions, and deliver creative approaches to support our missions. The present scientific and technical strengths of the Laboratory are, in large part, a product of past LDRD investments in HPC. Here, we provide seven examples of LDRD projects from the past decade that have played a critical role in building LLNL’s HPC, computer science, mathematics, and data science research capabilities, and describe how they have impacted LLNL’s mission.« less

FY2007 Laboratory Directed Research and Development Annual Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Craig, W W; Sketchley, J A; Kotta, P R

The Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) annual report for fiscal year 2007 (FY07) provides a summary of LDRD-funded projects for the fiscal year and consists of two parts: An introduction to the LDRD Program, the LDRD portfolio-management process, program statistics for the year, and highlights of accomplishments for the year. A summary of each project, submitted by the principal investigator. Project summaries include the scope, motivation, goals, relevance to Department of Energy (DOE)/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) mission areas, the technical progress achieved in FY07, and a list of publications that resulted frommore » the research in FY07. Summaries are organized in sections by research category (in alphabetical order). Within each research category, the projects are listed in order of their LDRD project category: Strategic Initiative (SI), Exploratory Research (ER), Laboratory-Wide Competition (LW), and Feasibility Study (FS). Within each project category, the individual project summaries appear in order of their project tracking code, a unique identifier that consists of three elements. The first is the fiscal year the project began, the second represents the project category, and the third identifies the serial number of the proposal for that fiscal year.« less

Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program Activities for FY 2007.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Newman,L.

2007-12-31

Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a multidisciplinary laboratory that carries out basic and applied research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, and in selected energy technologies. It is managed by Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC, (BSA) under contract with the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE). BNL's Fiscal year 2007 budget was $515 million. There are about 2,600 employees, and another 4,500 guest scientists and students who come each year to use the Laboratory's facilities and work with the staff. The BNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program reports its status to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) annuallymore » in March, as required by DOE Order 413.2B, 'Laboratory Directed Research and Development', April 19, 2006, and the Roles, Responsibilities, and Guidelines for Laboratory Directed Research and Development at the Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration Laboratories dated June 13, 2006. In accordance this is our Annual Report in which we describe the Purpose, Approach, Technical Progress and Results, and Specific Accomplishments of all LDRD projects that received funding during Fiscal Year 2007. The goals and objectives of BNL's LDRD Program can be inferred from the Program's stated purposes. These are to (1) encourage and support the development of new ideas and technology, (2) promote the early exploration and exploitation of creative and innovative concepts, and (3) develop new 'fundable' R&D projects and programs. The emphasis is clearly articulated by BNL to be on supporting exploratory research 'which could lead to new programs, projects, and directions' for the Laboratory. We explicitly indicate that research conducted under the LDRD Program should be highly innovative, and an element of high risk as to success is acceptable. In the solicitation for new proposals for Fiscal Year 2007 we especially requested innovative new projects in support of RHIC and the Light Source and any of the Strategic Initiatives listed at the LDRD web site. These included support for NSLS-II, RHIC evolving to a quantum chromo dynamics (QCD) lab, nanoscience, translational and biomedical neuroimaging, energy and, computational sciences. As one of the premier scientific laboratories of the DOE, BNL must continuously foster groundbreaking scientific research. At Brookhaven National Laboratory one such method is through its LDRD Program. This discretionary research and development tool is critical in maintaining the scientific excellence and long-term vitality of the Laboratory. Additionally, it is a means to stimulate the scientific community and foster new science and technology ideas, which becomes a major factor in achieving and maintaining staff excellence and a means to address national needs within the overall mission of the DOE and BNL.« less

Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program FY98

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hansen, T.; Chartock, M.

1999-02-05

The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL or Berkeley Lab) Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program FY 1998 report is compiled from annual reports submitted by principal investigators following the close of the fiscal year. This report describes the supported projects and summarizes their accomplishments. It constitutes a part of the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program planning and documentation process that includes an annual planning cycle, projection selection, implementation, and review. The LBNL LDRD program is a critical tool for directing the Laboratory's forefront scientific research capabilities toward vital, excellent, and emerging scientific challenges. The program providesmore » the resources for LBNL scientists to make rapid and significant contributions to critical national science and technology problems. The LDRD program also advances LBNL's core competencies, foundations, and scientific capability, and permits exploration of exciting new opportunities. All projects are work in forefront areas of science and technology. Areas eligible for support include the following: Advanced study of hypotheses, concepts, or innovative approaches to scientific or technical problems; Experiments and analyses directed toward ''proof of principle'' or early determination of the utility of new scientific ideas, technical concepts, or devices; and Conception and preliminary technical analyses of experimental facilities or devices.« less

Laboratory directed research and development program, FY 1996

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1997-02-01

The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program FY 1996 report is compiled from annual reports submitted by principal investigators following the close of the fiscal year. This report describes the projects supported and summarizes their accomplishments. It constitutes a part of the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program planning and documentation process that includes an annual planning cycle, projection selection, implementation, and review. The Berkeley Lab LDRD program is a critical tool for directing the Laboratory`s forefront scientific research capabilities toward vital, excellent, and emerging scientific challenges. The program provides themore » resources for Berkeley Lab scientists to make rapid and significant contributions to critical national science and technology problems. The LDRD program also advances the Laboratory`s core competencies, foundations, and scientific capability, and permits exploration of exciting new opportunities. Areas eligible for support include: (1) Work in forefront areas of science and technology that enrich Laboratory research and development capability; (2) Advanced study of new hypotheses, new experiments, and innovative approaches to develop new concepts or knowledge; (3) Experiments directed toward proof of principle for initial hypothesis testing or verification; and (4) Conception and preliminary technical analysis to explore possible instrumentation, experimental facilities, or new devices.« less

Laboratory directed research and development annual report 2003.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

2004-03-01

Science historian James Burke is well known for his stories about how technological innovations are intertwined and embedded in the culture of the time, for example, how the steam engine led to safety matches, imitation diamonds, and the landing on the moon.1 A lesson commonly drawn from his stories is that the path of science and technology (S&T) is nonlinear and unpredictable. Viewed another way, the lesson is that the solution to one problem can lead to solutions to other problems that are not obviously linked in advance, i.e., there is a ripple effect. The motto for Sandia's approach tomore » research and development (R&D) is 'Science with the mission in mind.' In our view, our missions contain the problems that inspire our R&D, and the resulting solutions almost always have multiple benefits. As discussed below, Sandia's Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program is structured to bring problems relevant to our missions to the attention of researchers. LDRD projects are then selected on the basis of their programmatic merit as well as their technical merit. Considerable effort is made to communicate between investment areas to create the ripple effect. In recent years, attention to the ripple effect and to the performance of the LDRD Program, in general, has increased. Inside Sandia, as it is the sole source of discretionary research funding, LDRD funding is recognized as being the most precious of research dollars. Hence, there is great interest in maximizing its impact, especially through the ripple effect. Outside Sandia, there is increased scrutiny of the program's performance to be sure that it is not a 'sandbox' in which researchers play without relevance to national security needs. Let us therefore address the performance of the LDRD Program in fiscal year 2003 and then show how it is designed to maximize impact.« less

FY2014 LBNL LDRD Annual Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ho, Darren

2015-06-01

Laboratory (Berkeley Lab or LBNL) is a multi-program national research facility operated by the University of California for the Department of Energy (DOE). As an integral element of DOE’s National Laboratory System, Berkeley Lab supports DOE’s missions in fundamental science, energy resources, and environmental quality. Berkeley Lab programs advance four distinct goals for DOE and the nation. The LDRD program supports Berkeley Lab’s mission in many ways. First, because LDRD funds can be allocated within a relatively short time frame, Berkeley Lab researchers can support the mission of the Department of Energy (DOE) and serve the needs of the nationmore » by quickly responding to forefront scientific problems. Second, LDRD enables Berkeley Lab to attract and retain highly qualified scientists and to support their efforts to carry out worldleading research. In addition, the LDRD program also supports new projects that involve graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, thus contributing to the education mission of Berkeley Lab.« less

Laboratory directed research and development fy1999 annual report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Al-Ayat, R A

2000-04-11

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) was founded in 1952 and has been managed since its inception by the University of California (UC) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Because of this long association with UC, the Laboratory has been able to recruit a world-class workforce, establish an atmosphere of intellectual freedom and innovation, and achieve recognition in relevant fields of knowledge as a scientific and technological leader. This environment and reputation are essential for sustained scientific and technical excellence. As a DOE national laboratory with about 7,000 employees, LLNL has an essential and compelling primary mission to ensuremore » that the nation's nuclear weapons remain safe, secure, and reliable and to prevent the spread and use of nuclear weapons worldwide. The Laboratory receives funding from the DOE Assistant Secretary for Defense Programs, whose focus is stewardship of our nuclear weapons stockpile. Funding is also provided by the Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, many Department of Defense sponsors, other federal agencies, and the private sector. As a multidisciplinary laboratory, LLNL has applied its considerable skills in high-performance computing, advanced engineering, and the management of large research and development projects to become the science and technology leader in those areas of its mission responsibility. The Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program was authorized by the U.S. Congress in 1984. The Program allows the Director of each DOE laboratory to fund advanced, creative, and innovative research and development (R&D) activities that will ensure scientific and technical vitality in the continually evolving mission areas at DOE and the Laboratory. In addition, the LDRD Program provides LLNL with the flexibility to nurture and enrich essential scientific and technical competencies, which attract the most qualified scientists and engineers. The LDRD Program also enables many collaborations with the scientific community in academia, national and international laboratories, and industry. The projects in the FY1999 LDRD portfolio were carefully selected to continue vigorous support of the strategic vision and the long-term goals of DOE and the Laboratory. Projects chosen for LDRD funding undergo stringent selection processes, which look for high-potential scientific return, emphasize strategic relevance, and feature technical peer reviews by external and internal experts. The FY1999 projects described in this annual report focus on supporting the Laboratory's national security needs: stewardship of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, responsibility for the counter- and nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, development of high-performance computing, and support of DOE environmental research and waste management programs. In the past, LDRD investments have significantly enhanced LLNL scientific capabilities and greatly contributed to the Laboratory's ability to meet its national security programmatic requirements. Examples of past investments include technical precursors to the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI), special-materials processing and characterization, and biodefense. Our analysis of the FY1999 portfolio shows that it strongly supports the Laboratory's national security mission. About 95% of the LDRD dollars have directly supported LLNL's national security activities in FY1999, which far exceeds the portion of LLNL's overall budget supported by National Security Programs, which is 63% for FY1999.« less

2014 SRNL LDRD Annual Report, Rev. 0

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mcwhorter, S.

2015-03-15

Laboratory Directed Research and Development is a congressionally authorized program that provides the ‘innovation inspiration’ from which many of the Laboratory’s multi-discipline advancements are made in both science and engineering technology. The program is the backbone for insuring that scientific, technical and engineering capabilities can meet current and future needs. It is an important tool in reducing the probability of technological surprise by allowing laboratory technical staff room to innovate and keep abreast of scientific breakthroughs. Drawing from the synergism among the EM and NNSA missions, and work from other federal agencies ensures that LDRD is the key element inmore » maintaining the vitality of SRNL’s technical programs. The LDRD program aims to position the Laboratory for new business in clean energy, national security, nuclear materials management and environmental stewardship by leveraging the unique capabilities of the Laboratory to yield foundational scientific research in core business areas, while aligning with SRS strategic initiatives and maintaining a vision for ultimate DOE applications.« less

LDRD Program Gives NREL Researchers Path Toward Innovation | News | NREL

Science.gov Websites

projects over the years. Photo by Dennis Schroeder The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy handful of LDRD projects. Photo by Dennis Schroeder Money Funds Brainstorming Work While most of the LDRD , renewable electricity generation, and sustainable transportation. Photo by Dennis Schroeder Different Groups

Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program Assessment for FY 2016

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hatton, Diane; Flynn, Liz

2017-03-31

Each year, Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is required to provide a program description and overview of its Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program (LDRD) to the Department of Energy in accordance with DOE Order 413.2C, and this report fulfills that requirement.

Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program Assessment for FY 2017

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anderson, Jack; Flynn, Liz

Each year, Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is required to provide a program description and overview of its Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program (LDRD) to the Department of Energy in accordance with DOE Order 413.2C. This report fulfills that requirement.

LDRD FY 2014 Program Plan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anita Gianotto; Dena Tomchak

As required by DOE Order 413.2B the FY 2014 Program Plan is written to communicate ares of investment and approximate amounts being requested for the upcoming fiscal year. The program plan also includes brief highlights of current or previous LDRD projects that have an opportunity to impact our Nation's current and future energy challenges.

LDRD Highlights at the National Laboratories

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alayat, R. A.

2016-10-10

To meet the nation’s critical challenges, the Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories have always pushed the boundaries of science, technology, and engineering. The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 provided the basis for these laboratories to engage in the cutting edge of science and technology and respond to technological surprises, while retaining the best scientific and technological minds. To help re-energize this commitment, in 1991 the U.S. Congress authorized the national laboratories to devote a relatively small percentage of their budget to creative and innovative work that serves to maintain their vitality in disciplines relevant to DOE missions. Since then,more » this effort has been formally called the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program. LDRD has been an essential mechanism to enable the laboratories to address DOE’s current and future missions with leading-edge research proposed independently by laboratory technical staff, evaluated through expert peer-review committees, and funded by the individual laboratories consistent with the authorizing legislation and the DOE LDRD Order 413.2C.« less

LBNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program FY2016

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ho, D.

2017-03-01

The Berkeley Lab Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program FY2016 report is compiled from annual reports submitted by principal investigators following the close of the fiscal year. This report describes the supported projects and summarizes their accomplishments. It constitutes a part of the LDRD program planning and documentation process that includes an annual planning cycle, project selection, implementation and review.

Argonne National Laboratory Annual Report of Laboratory Directed Research and Development program activities FY 2011.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Office of The Director)

As a national laboratory Argonne concentrates on scientific and technological challenges that can only be addressed through a sustained, interdisciplinary focus at a national scale. Argonne's eight major initiatives, as enumerated in its strategic plan, are Hard X-ray Sciences, Leadership Computing, Materials and Molecular Design and Discovery, Energy Storage, Alternative Energy and Efficiency, Nuclear Energy, Biological and Environmental Systems, and National Security. The purposes of Argonne's Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program are to encourage the development of novel technical concepts, enhance the Laboratory's research and development (R and D) capabilities, and pursue its strategic goals. projects are selectedmore » from proposals for creative and innovative R and D studies that require advance exploration before they are considered to be sufficiently developed to obtain support through normal programmatic channels. Among the aims of the projects supported by the LDRD Program are the following: establishment of engineering proof of principle, assessment of design feasibility for prospective facilities, development of instrumentation or computational methods or systems, and discoveries in fundamental science and exploratory development.« less

Laboratory directed research and development 2006 annual report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Westrich, Henry Roger

2007-03-01

This report summarizes progress from the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program during fiscal year 2006. In addition to a programmatic and financial overview, the report includes progress reports from 430 individual R&D projects in 17 categories.

Laboratory Directed Research and Development FY 2000 Annual Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Al-Ayat, R

This Annual Report provides an overview of the FY2000 Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and presents a summary of the results achieved by each project during the year.

Petascale Simulation Initiative Tech Base: FY2007 Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

May, J; Chen, R; Jefferson, D

The Petascale Simulation Initiative began as an LDRD project in the middle of Fiscal Year 2004. The goal of the project was to develop techniques to allow large-scale scientific simulation applications to better exploit the massive parallelism that will come with computers running at petaflops per second. One of the major products of this work was the design and prototype implementation of a programming model and a runtime system that lets applications extend data-parallel applications to use task parallelism. By adopting task parallelism, applications can use processing resources more flexibly, exploit multiple forms of parallelism, and support more sophisticated multiscalemore » and multiphysics models. Our programming model was originally called the Symponents Architecture but is now known as Cooperative Parallelism, and the runtime software that supports it is called Coop. (However, we sometimes refer to the programming model as Coop for brevity.) We have documented the programming model and runtime system in a submitted conference paper [1]. This report focuses on the specific accomplishments of the Cooperative Parallelism project (as we now call it) under Tech Base funding in FY2007. Development and implementation of the model under LDRD funding alone proceeded to the point of demonstrating a large-scale materials modeling application using Coop on more than 1300 processors by the end of FY2006. Beginning in FY2007, the project received funding from both LDRD and the Computation Directorate Tech Base program. Later in the year, after the three-year term of the LDRD funding ended, the ASC program supported the project with additional funds. The goal of the Tech Base effort was to bring Coop from a prototype to a production-ready system that a variety of LLNL users could work with. Specifically, the major tasks that we planned for the project were: (1) Port SARS [former name of the Coop runtime system] to another LLNL platform, probably Thunder or Peloton (depending on when Peloton becomes available); (2) Improve SARS's robustness and ease-of-use, and develop user documentation; and (3) Work with LLNL code teams to help them determine how Symponents could benefit their applications. The original funding request was $296,000 for the year, and we eventually received $252,000. The remainder of this report describes our efforts and accomplishments for each of the goals listed above.« less

Nevada Test Site-Directed Research, Development, and Demonstration. FY2005 report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lewis, Will

2006-09-01

The Nevada Test Site-Directed Research, Development, and Demonstration (SDRD) program completed a very successful year of research and development activities in FY 2005. Fifty new projects were selected for funding this year, and five FY 2004 projects were brought to conclusion. The total funds expended by the SDRD program were $5.4 million, for an average per project cost of just under $100,000. Two external audits of SDRD accounting practices were conducted in FY 2005. Both audits found the program's accounting practices consistent with the requirements of DOE Order 413.2A, and one included the observation that the NTS contractor ''did anmore » exceptional job in planning and executing year-start activities.'' Highlights for the year included: the filing of 18 invention disclosures for intellectual property generated by FY 2005 projects; programmatic adoption of 17 FY 2004 SDRD-developed technologies; participation in the tri-lab Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) and SDRD program review that was broadly attended by NTS, NNSA, LDRD, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security representatives; peer reviews of all FY 2005 projects; and the successful completion of 55 R&D projects, as presented in this report.« less

2013 SRNL LDRD Annual Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McWhorter, S.

2014-03-07

This report demonstrates the execution of our LDRD program within the objectives and guidelines outlined by the Department of Energy (DOE) through the DOE Order 413.2b. The projects described within the report align purposefully with SRNL’s strategic vision and provide great value to the DOE. The diversity exhibited in the research and development projects underscores the DOE Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) mission and enhances that mission by developing the technical capabilities and human capital necessary to support future DOE-EM national needs. As a multiprogram national laboratory, SRNL is applying those capabilities to achieve tangible results for the nation inmore » National Security, Environmental Stewardship, Clean Energy and Nuclear Materials Management.« less

FY 2014 LDRD Annual Report Project Summaries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tomchak, Dena

The FY 2014 Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Annual Report is a compendium of the diverse research performed to develop and ensure the INL's technical capabilities can support future DOE missions and national research priorities. LDRD is essential to INL - it provides a means for the laboratory to pursue novel scientific and engineering research in areas that are deemed too basic or risky for programmatic investments. This research enahnces technical capabilities at the laboratory, providing scientific and engineering staff with opportunities for skill building and partnership development.

Laboratory Directed Research and Development annual report, fiscal year 1997

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1998-03-01

The Department of Energy Order 413.2(a) establishes DOE`s policy and guidelines regarding Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) at its multiprogram laboratories. As described in 413.2, LDRD is research and development of a creative and innovative nature which is selected by the Laboratory Director or his or her designee, for the purpose of maintaining the scientific and technological vitality of the Laboratory and to respond to scientific and technological opportunities in conformance with the guidelines in this Order. DOE Order 413.2 requires that each laboratory submit an annual report on its LDRD activities to the cognizant Secretarial Officer through themore » appropriate Operations Office Manager. The report provided in this document represents Pacific Northwest National Laboratory`s LDRD report for FY 1997.« less

Laboratory-Directed Research and Development 2016 Summary Annual Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pillai, Rekha Sukamar; Jacobson, Julie Ann

The Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) reports its status to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) by March of each year. The program operates under the authority of DOE Order 413.2C, “Laboratory Directed Research and Development” (April 19, 2006), which establishes DOE’s requirements for the program while providing the laboratory director broad flexibility for program implementation. LDRD funds are obtained through a charge to all INL programs. This report includes summaries of all INL LDRD research activities supported during Fiscal Year (FY) 2016. INL is the lead laboratory for the DOE Office of Nuclearmore » Energy (DOE-NE). The INL mission is to discover, demonstrate, and secure innovative nuclear energy solutions, other clean energy options, and critical infrastructure with a vision to change the world’s energy future and secure our critical infrastructure. Operating since 1949, INL is the nation’s leading research, development, and demonstration center for nuclear energy, including nuclear nonproliferation and physical and cyber-based protection of energy systems and critical infrastructure, as well as integrated energy systems research, development, demonstration, and deployment. INL has been managed and operated by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (a wholly owned company of Battelle) for DOE since 2005. Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC, is a partnership between Battelle, BWX Technologies, Inc., AECOM, the Electric Power Research Institute, the National University Consortium (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ohio State University, North Carolina State University, University of New Mexico, and Oregon State University), and the Idaho university collaborators (i.e., University of Idaho, Idaho State University, and Boise State University). Since its creation, INL’s research and development (R&D) portfolio has broadened with targeted programs supporting national missions to advance nuclear energy, enable clean energy deployment, and secure and modernize critical infrastructure. INL’s research, development, and demonstration capabilities, its resources, and its unique geography enable integration of scientific discovery, innovation, engineering, operations, and controls into complex large-scale testbeds for discovery, innovation, and demonstration of transformational clean energy and security concepts. These attributes strengthen INL’s leadership as a demonstration laboratory. As a national resource, INL also applies its capabilities and skills to the specific needs of other federal agencies and customers through DOE’s Strategic Partnership Program.« less

Laboratory Directed Research and Development FY2011 Annual Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Craig, W; Sketchley, J; Kotta, P

2012-03-22

A premier applied-science laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has earned the reputation as a leader in providing science and technology solutions to the most pressing national and global security problems. The LDRD Program, established by Congress at all DOE national laboratories in 1991, is LLNL's most important single resource for fostering excellent science and technology for today's needs and tomorrow's challenges. The LDRD internally directed research and development funding at LLNL enables high-risk, potentially high-payoff projects at the forefront of science and technology. The LDRD Program at Livermore serves to: (1) Support the Laboratory's missions, strategic plan, and foundationalmore » science; (2) Maintain the Laboratory's science and technology vitality; (3) Promote recruiting and retention; (4) Pursue collaborations; (5) Generate intellectual property; and (6) Strengthen the U.S. economy. Myriad LDRD projects over the years have made important contributions to every facet of the Laboratory's mission and strategic plan, including its commitment to nuclear, global, and energy and environmental security, as well as cutting-edge science and technology and engineering in high-energy-density matter, high-performance computing and simulation, materials and chemistry at the extremes, information systems, measurements and experimental science, and energy manipulation. A summary of each project was submitted by the principal investigator. Project summaries include the scope, motivation, goals, relevance to DOE/NNSA and LLNL mission areas, the technical progress achieved in FY11, and a list of publications that resulted from the research. The projects are: (1) Nuclear Threat Reduction; (2) Biosecurity; (3) High-Performance Computing and Simulation; (4) Intelligence; (5) Cybersecurity; (6) Energy Security; (7) Carbon Capture; (8) Material Properties, Theory, and Design; (9) Radiochemistry; (10) High-Energy-Density Science; (11) Laser Inertial-Fusion Energy; (12) Advanced Laser Optical Systems and Applications; (12) Space Security; (13) Stockpile Stewardship Science; (14) National Security; (15) Alternative Energy; and (16) Climatic Change.« less

Tiger LDRD final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Steich, D J; Brugger, S T; Kallman, J S

2000-02-01

This final report describes our efforts on the Three-Dimensional Massively Parallel CEM Technologies LDRD project (97-ERD-009). Significant need exists for more advanced time domain computational electromagnetics modeling. Bookkeeping details and modifying inflexible software constitute a vast majority of the effort required to address such needs. The required effort escalates rapidly as problem complexity increases. For example, hybrid meshes requiring hybrid numerics on massively parallel platforms (MPPs). This project attempts to alleviate the above limitations by investigating flexible abstractions for these numerical algorithms on MPPs using object-oriented methods, providing a programming environment insulating physics from bookkeeping. The three major design iterationsmore » during the project, known as TIGER-I to TIGER-III, are discussed. Each version of TIGER is briefly discussed along with lessons learned during the development and implementation. An Application Programming Interface (API) of the object-oriented interface for Tiger-III is included in three appendices. The three appendices contain the Utilities, Entity-Attribute, and Mesh libraries developed during the project. The API libraries represent a snapshot of our latest attempt at insulated the physics from the bookkeeping.« less

LABORATORY DIRECTED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM ANNUAL REPORT TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY FOR FISCAL YEAR 1999. THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, DECEMBER 1999.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

PAUL,P.; FOX,K.J.

2000-07-01

In FY 1999, the BNL LDRD Program funded 33 projects, 25 of which were new starts, at a total cost of $4,525,584. A table is presented which lists all of the FY 1999 funded projects and gives a history of funding for each by year. Several of these projects have already experienced varying degrees of success as indicated in the individual Project Program Summaries which are given. A total of 29 informal publications (abstracts, presentations, reports and workshop papers) were reported and an additional 23 formal (full length) papers were either published, are in press or being prepared for publication.more » The investigators on five projects have filed for patents. Seven of the projects reported that proposals/grants had either been funded or were submitted for funding. The complete summary of follow-on activities is as follows: Information Publications--29, Formal Papers--23, Grants/Proposals/Follow-on Funding--7. In conclusion, a significant measure of success is already attributable to the FY 1999 LDRD Program in the short period of time involved. The Laboratory has experienced a significant scientific gain by these achievements.« less

LDRD Final Report: Global Optimization for Engineering Science Problems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

HART,WILLIAM E.

1999-12-01

For a wide variety of scientific and engineering problems the desired solution corresponds to an optimal set of objective function parameters, where the objective function measures a solution's quality. The main goal of the LDRD ''Global Optimization for Engineering Science Problems'' was the development of new robust and efficient optimization algorithms that can be used to find globally optimal solutions to complex optimization problems. This SAND report summarizes the technical accomplishments of this LDRD, discusses lessons learned and describes open research issues.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wester, W., editor

Fermilab is executing Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) as outlined by order DOE O 413.2B in order to enhance and realize the mission of the laboratory in a manner that also supports the laboratory’s strategic objectives and the mission of the Department of Energy. LDRD funds enable scientific creativity, allow for exploration of “high risk, high payoff” research, and allow for the demonstration of new ideas, technical concepts, and devices. LDRD also has an objective of maintaining and enhancing the scientific and technical vitality of Fermilab.

Multi-attribute criteria applied to electric generation energy system analysis LDRD.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kuswa, Glenn W.; Tsao, Jeffrey Yeenien; Drennen, Thomas E.

2005-10-01

This report began with a Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project to improve Sandia National Laboratories multidisciplinary capabilities in energy systems analysis. The aim is to understand how various electricity generating options can best serve needs in the United States. The initial product is documented in a series of white papers that span a broad range of topics, including the successes and failures of past modeling studies, sustainability, oil dependence, energy security, and nuclear power. Summaries of these projects are included here. These projects have provided a background and discussion framework for the Energy Systems Analysis LDRD team to carrymore » out an inter-comparison of many of the commonly available electric power sources in present use, comparisons of those options, and efforts needed to realize progress towards those options. A computer aid has been developed to compare various options based on cost and other attributes such as technological, social, and policy constraints. The Energy Systems Analysis team has developed a multi-criteria framework that will allow comparison of energy options with a set of metrics that can be used across all technologies. This report discusses several evaluation techniques and introduces the set of criteria developed for this LDRD.« less

An intelligent CNC machine control system architecture

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miller, D.J.; Loucks, C.S.

1996-10-01

Intelligent, agile manufacturing relies on automated programming of digitally controlled processes. Currently, processes such as Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machining are difficult to automate because of highly restrictive controllers and poor software environments. It is also difficult to utilize sensors and process models for adaptive control, or to integrate machining processes with other tasks within a factory floor setting. As part of a Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program, a CNC machine control system architecture based on object-oriented design and graphical programming has been developed to address some of these problems and to demonstrate automated agile machining applications usingmore » platform-independent software.« less

Enhanced Vapor-Phase Diffusion in Porous Media - LDRD Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ho, C.K.; Webb, S.W.

1999-01-01

As part of the Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program at Sandia National Laboratories, an investigation into the existence of enhanced vapor-phase diffusion (EVD) in porous media has been conducted. A thorough literature review was initially performed across multiple disciplines (soil science and engineering), and based on this review, the existence of EVD was found to be questionable. As a result, modeling and experiments were initiated to investigate the existence of EVD. In this LDRD, the first mechanistic model of EVD was developed which demonstrated the mechanisms responsible for EVD. The first direct measurements of EVD have also been conductedmore » at multiple scales. Measurements have been made at the pore scale, in a two- dimensional network as represented by a fracture aperture, and in a porous medium. Significant enhancement of vapor-phase transport relative to Fickian diffusion was measured in all cases. The modeling and experimental results provide additional mechanisms for EVD beyond those presented by the generally accepted model of Philip and deVries (1957), which required a thermal gradient for EVD to exist. Modeling and experimental results show significant enhancement under isothermal conditions. Application of EVD to vapor transport in the near-surface vadose zone show a significant variation between no enhancement, the model of Philip and deVries, and the present results. Based on this information, the model of Philip and deVries may need to be modified, and additional studies are recommended.« less

FY04 Engineering Technology Reports Technology Base

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sharpe, R M

2005-01-27

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Engineering Directorate has two primary discretionary avenues for its investment in technologies: the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program and the ''Tech Base'' program. This volume summarizes progress on the projects funded for technology-base efforts in FY2004. The Engineering Technical Reports exemplify Engineering's more than 50-year history of researching and developing (LDRD), and reducing to practice (technology-base) the engineering technologies needed to support the Laboratory's missions. Engineering has been a partner in every major program and project at the Laboratory throughout its existence, and has prepared for this role with a skilled workforce and technicalmore » resources. This accomplishment is well summarized by Engineering's mission: ''Enable program success today and ensure the Laboratory's vitality tomorrow''. LDRD is the vehicle for creating those technologies and competencies that are cutting edge. These require a significant level of research or contain some unknown that needs to be fully understood. Tech Base is used to apply those technologies, or adapt them to a Laboratory need. The term commonly used for Tech Base projects is ''reduction to practice''. Tech Base projects effect the natural transition to reduction-to-practice of scientific or engineering methods that are well understood and established. They represent discipline-oriented, core competency activities that are multi-programmatic in application, nature, and scope. The objectives of technology-base funding include: (1) the development and enhancement of tools and processes to provide Engineering support capability, such as code maintenance and improved fabrication methods; (2) support of Engineering science and technology infrastructure, such as the installation or integration of a new capability; (3) support for technical and administrative leadership through our technology Centers; and (4) the initial scoping and exploration of selected technology areas with high strategic potential, such as assessment of university, laboratory, and industrial partnerships. Engineering's five Centers, in partnership with the Division Leaders and Department Heads, focus and guide longer-term investments within Engineering. The Centers attract and retain top staff, develop and maintain critical core technologies, and enable programs. Through their technology-base projects, they oversee the application of known engineering approaches and techniques to scientific and technical problems. The Centers and their Directors are as follows: (1) Center for Computational Engineering: Robert M. Sharpe; (2) Center for Microtechnology and Nanotechnology: Raymond P. Mariella, Jr. (3) Center for Nondestructive Characterization: Harry E. Martz, Jr.; (4) Center for Precision Engineering: Keith Carlisle; and (5) Center for Complex Distributed Systems: Gregory J. Suski, Acting Director.« less

Sandia QIS Capabilities.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Muller, Richard P.

2017-07-01

Sandia National Laboratories has developed a broad set of capabilities in quantum information science (QIS), including elements of quantum computing, quantum communications, and quantum sensing. The Sandia QIS program is built atop unique DOE investments at the laboratories, including the MESA microelectronics fabrication facility, the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) facilities (joint with LANL), the Ion Beam Laboratory, and ASC High Performance Computing (HPC) facilities. Sandia has invested $75 M of LDRD funding over 12 years to develop unique, differentiating capabilities that leverage these DOE infrastructure investments.

LABORATORY DIRECTED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ANNUAL REPORT TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY - DECEMBER 2006

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

FOX, K.J.

Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a multidisciplinary laboratory that carries out basic and applied research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, and in selected energy technologies. It is managed by Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC, (BSA) under contract with the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE). BNL's total annual budget has averaged about $460 million. There are about 2,500 employees, and another 4,500 guest scientists and students who come each year to use the Laboratory's facilities and work with the staff. The BNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program reports its status to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)more » annually in March, as required by DOE Order 413.2B, ''Laboratory Directed Research and Development,'' April 19, 2006, and the Roles, Responsibilities, and Guidelines for Laboratory Directed Research and Development at the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration Laboratories dated June 13, 2006. In accordance this is our Annual Report in which we describe the Purpose, Approach, Technical Progress and Results, and Specific Accomplishments of all LDRD projects that received funding during Fiscal Year 2006.« less

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory FY 2016 Laboratory Directed Research and Development Annual Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Al-Ayat, R.; Gard, E.; Sketchley, J.

The LDRD annual report for FY2016 consists of two parts: The Overview. This section contains a broad description of the LDRD Program, highlights of recent accomplishments and awards, Program statistics, and the LDRD portfolio-management processes. Project Reports. Project reports are submitted by all principal investigators at the end of the fiscal year. The length and depth of the report depends on the project’s lifecycle. For projects that will be continuing the following year, the principal investigator submits a continuing project report, which is a brief update containing descriptions of the goals, scope, motivation, relevance (to DOE/NNSA and Livermore mission areas),more » and technical progress achieved in FY16, as well as a list of selected publications and presentations that resulted from the research. For projects that concluded in FY16, a more detailed final report is provided that is technical in nature and includes the background, objectives, scientific approach, accomplishments, and impacts on the Laboratory missions, as well as a list of publications and presentations that resulted from the research. Project reports are listed under their research topics and organized by year and type, such as exploratory research (ER), feasibility study (FS), laboratory-wide competition (LW), and strategic initiative (SI). Each project is assigned a unique tracking code, an identifier that consists of three elements. The first is the fiscal year in which the project began, the second represents the project type, and the third identifies the serial number of the project for that fiscal year. For example, 16-ERD-100 means the project is an exploratory research project that began in FY16. The three-digit number (100) represents the serial number for the project.« less

Laboratory Directed Research and Development FY-10 Annual Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dena Tomchak

2011-03-01

The FY 2010 Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Annual Report is a compendium of the diverse research performed to develop and ensure the INL's technical capabilities can support the future DOE missions and national research priorities. LDRD is essential to the INL -- it provides a means for the laboratory to pursue novel scientific and engineering research in areas that are deemed too basic or risky for programmatic investments. This research enhances technical capabilities at the laboratory, providing scientific and engineering staff with opportunities for skill building and partnership development.

Ultrafast Absorption Spectroscopy of Aluminum Plasmas Created by LCLS using Betatron X-Ray Radiation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Albert, Felicie

2016-10-12

This document summarizes the goals and accomplishments of a six month-long LDRD project, awarded through the LLNL director Early and Mid Career Recognition (EMCR) program. This project allowed us to support beamtime awarded at the Matter under Extreme Conditions (MEC) end station of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). The goal of the experiment was to heat metallic samples with the bright x-rays from the LCLS free electron laser. Then, we studied how they relaxed back to equilibrium by probing them with ultrafast x-ray absorption spectroscopy using laser-based betatron radiation. Our work enabled large collaborations between LLNL, SLAC, LBNL, andmore » institutions in France and in the UK, while providing training to undergraduate and graduate students during the experiment. Following this LDRD project, the PI was awarded a 5-year DOE early career research grant to further develop applications of laser-driven x-ray sources for high energy density science experiments and warm dense matter states.« less

Simulations of the interaction of intense petawatt laser pulses with dense Z-pinch plasmas : final report LDRD 39670.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Welch, Dale Robert; MacFarlane, Joseph John; Mehlhorn, Thomas Alan

We have studied the feasibility of using the 3D fully electromagnetic implicit hybrid particle code LSP (Large Scale Plasma) to study laser plasma interactions with dense, compressed plasmas like those created with Z, and which might be created with the planned ZR. We have determined that with the proper additional physics and numerical algorithms developed during the LDRD period, LSP was transformed into a unique platform for studying such interactions. Its uniqueness stems from its ability to consider realistic compressed densities and low initial target temperatures (if required), an ability that conventional PIC codes do not possess. Through several testmore » cases, validations, and applications to next generation machines described in this report, we have established the suitability of the code to look at fast ignition issues for ZR, as well as other high-density laser plasma interaction problems relevant to the HEDP program at Sandia (e.g. backlighting).« less

Nevada Test Site-Directed Research and Development, FY 2007 Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wil Lewis, editor

2008-02-20

The Nevada Test Site-Directed Research and Development (SDRD) program completed a very successful year of research and development activities in FY 2007. Twenty-nine new projects were selected for funding this year, and eight projects started in FY 2006 were brought to conclusion. The total funds expended by the SDRD program were $5.67 million, for an average per-project cost of $153 thousand. An external audit conducted in September 2007 verified that appropriate accounting practices were applied to the SDRD program. Highlights for the year included: programmatic adoption of 8 SDRD-developed technologies; the filing of 9 invention disclosures for innovation evolving frommore » SDRD projects; participation in the tri-Lab Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) and SDRD Symposium that was broadly attended by Nevada Test Site (NTS), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), LDRD, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) representatives; peer reviews of all FY 2007 projects; and the successful completion of 37 R&D projects, as presented in this report. In response to a company-wide call, authors throughout the NTS complex submitted 182 proposals for FY 2007 SDRD projects. The SDRD program has seen a dramatic increase in the yearly total of submitted proposals--from 69 in FY 2002 to 182 this year--while the number of projects funded has actually decreased from a program high of 57 in FY 2004. The overall effect of this trend has helped ensure an increasingly competitive program that benefited from a broader set of innovative ideas, making project selection both challenging and rewarding. Proposals were evaluated for technical merit, including such factors as innovation, probability of success, potential benefit, and mission applicability. Authors and reviewers benefited from the use of a shortfalls list entitled the 'NTS Technology Needs Assessment' that was compiled from NTS, National Weapons Laboratory (NWL), and NNSA sources. This tool continues to be of considerable value in aligning the SDRD program with mission priorities, and was expanded in FY 2007 to include technology development needs from the DHS and other agencies with missions closely aligned to that of the NTS.« less

High-efficiency high-energy Ka source for the critically-required maximum illumination of x-ray optics on Z using Z-petawatt-driven laser-breakout-afterburner accelerated ultrarelativistic electrons LDRD .

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sefkow, Adam B.; Bennett, Guy R.

2010-09-01

Under the auspices of the Science of Extreme Environments LDRD program, a <2 year theoretical- and computational-physics study was performed (LDRD Project 130805) by Guy R Bennett (formally in Center-01600) and Adam B. Sefkow (Center-01600): To investigate novel target designs by which a short-pulse, PW-class beam could create a brighter K{alpha} x-ray source than by simple, direct-laser-irradiation of a flat foil; Direct-Foil-Irradiation (DFI). The computational studies - which are still ongoing at this writing - were performed primarily on the RedStorm supercomputer at Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque site. The motivation for a higher efficiency K{alpha} emitter was very clear: asmore » the backlighter flux for any x-ray imaging technique on the Z accelerator increases, the signal-to-noise and signal-to-background ratios improve. This ultimately allows the imaging system to reach its full quantitative potential as a diagnostic. Depending on the particular application/experiment this would imply, for example, that the system would have reached its full design spatial resolution and thus the capability to see features that might otherwise be indiscernible with a traditional DFI-like x-ray source. This LDRD began FY09 and ended FY10.« less

1996 Laboratory directed research and development annual report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Meyers, C.E.; Harvey, C.L.; Lopez-Andreas, L.M.

This report summarizes progress from the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program during fiscal year 1996. In addition to a programmatic and financial overview, the report includes progress reports from 259 individual R&D projects in seventeen categories. The general areas of research include: engineered processes and materials; computational and information sciences; microelectronics and photonics; engineering sciences; pulsed power; advanced manufacturing technologies; biomedical engineering; energy and environmental science and technology; advanced information technologies; counterproliferation; advanced transportation; national security technology; electronics technologies; idea exploration and exploitation; production; and science at the interfaces - engineering with atoms.

LDRD final report on massively-parallel linear programming : the parPCx system.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Parekh, Ojas; Phillips, Cynthia Ann; Boman, Erik Gunnar

2005-02-01

This report summarizes the research and development performed from October 2002 to September 2004 at Sandia National Laboratories under the Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project ''Massively-Parallel Linear Programming''. We developed a linear programming (LP) solver designed to use a large number of processors. LP is the optimization of a linear objective function subject to linear constraints. Companies and universities have expended huge efforts over decades to produce fast, stable serial LP solvers. Previous parallel codes run on shared-memory systems and have little or no distribution of the constraint matrix. We have seen no reports of general LP solver runsmore » on large numbers of processors. Our parallel LP code is based on an efficient serial implementation of Mehrotra's interior-point predictor-corrector algorithm (PCx). The computational core of this algorithm is the assembly and solution of a sparse linear system. We have substantially rewritten the PCx code and based it on Trilinos, the parallel linear algebra library developed at Sandia. Our interior-point method can use either direct or iterative solvers for the linear system. To achieve a good parallel data distribution of the constraint matrix, we use a (pre-release) version of a hypergraph partitioner from the Zoltan partitioning library. We describe the design and implementation of our new LP solver called parPCx and give preliminary computational results. We summarize a number of issues related to efficient parallel solution of LPs with interior-point methods including data distribution, numerical stability, and solving the core linear system using both direct and iterative methods. We describe a number of applications of LP specific to US Department of Energy mission areas and we summarize our efforts to integrate parPCx (and parallel LP solvers in general) into Sandia's massively-parallel integer programming solver PICO (Parallel Interger and Combinatorial Optimizer). We conclude with directions for long-term future algorithmic research and for near-term development that could improve the performance of parPCx.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lu, Ping

Controlling metallic nanoparticle (NP) interactions plays a vital role in the development of new joining techniques (nanosolder) that bond at lower processing temperatures but remain viable at higher temperatures. The pr imary objective of this project is t o develop a fundamental understanding of the actual reaction processes, associated atomic mechanisms, and the resulting microstructure that occur during thermally - driven bond formation concerning metal - metal nano - scale (%3C50nm) interfaces. In this LDRD pr oject, we have studied metallic NPs interaction at the elevated temperatures by combining in - situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM ) using an aberrationmore » - corrected scanning transmission electron microscope (AC - STEM) and atomic - scale modeling such as m olecular dynamic (MD) simulations. Various metallic NPs such as Ag, Cu and Au are synthesized by chemical routines. Numerous in - situ e xperiments were carried out with focus of the research on study of Ag - Cu system. For the first time, using in - situ STEM he ating experiments , we directly observed t he formation of a 3 - dimensional (3 - D) epitaxial Cu - Ag core - shell nanoparticle during the thermal interaction of Cu and Ag NPs at elevated temperatures (150 - 300 o C). The reaction takes place at temperatures as low as 150 o C and was only observed when care was taken to circumvent the effects of electron beam irradiation during STEM imaging. Atomic - scale modeling verified that the Cu - Ag core - shell structure is energetically favored, and indicated that this phenomenon is a nano - scale effect related to the large surface - to - volume ratio of the NPs. The observation potentially can be used for developing new nanosolder technology that uses Ag shell as the "glue" that stic ks the particles of Cu together. The LDRD has led to several journal publications and numerous conference presentations, and a TA. In addition, we have developed new TEM characterization techniques and phase - field modeling tools that can be used for future materials research at Sandia. Acknowledgeme nts This work was supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program of Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi - program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidia ry of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE - AC04 - 94AL85000.« less

LATIS3D: The Goal Standard for Laser-Tissue-Interaction Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

London, R. A.; Makarewicz, A. M.; Kim, B. M.; Gentile, N. A.; Yang, T. Y. B.

2000-03-01

The goal of this LDRD project has been to create LATIS3D-the world's premier computer program for laser-tissue interaction modeling. The development was based on recent experience with the 2D LATIS code and the ASCI code, KULL. With LATIS3D, important applications in laser medical therapy were researched including dynamical calculations of tissue emulsification and ablation, photothermal therapy, and photon transport for photodynamic therapy. This project also enhanced LLNL's core competency in laser-matter interactions and high-energy-density physics by pushing simulation codes into new parameter regimes and by attracting external expertise. This will benefit both existing LLNL programs such as ICF and SBSS and emerging programs in medical technology and other laser applications. The purpose of this project was to develop and apply a computer program for laser-tissue interaction modeling to aid in the development of new instruments and procedures in laser medicine.

Dislocation dynamics: simulation of plastic flow of bcc metals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lassila, D H

This is the final report for the LDRD strategic initiative entitled ''Dislocation Dynamic: Simulation of Plastic Flow of bcc Metals'' (tracking code: 00-SI-011). This report is comprised of 6 individual sections. The first is an executive summary of the project and describes the overall project goal, which is to establish an experimentally validated 3D dislocation dynamics simulation. This first section also gives some information of LLNL's multi-scale modeling efforts associated with the plasticity of bcc metals, and the role of this LDRD project in the multiscale modeling program. The last five sections of this report are journal articles that weremore » produced during the course of the FY-2000 efforts.« less

LDRD Report: Topological Design Optimization of Convolutes in Next Generation Pulsed Power Devices.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cyr, Eric C.; von Winckel, Gregory John; Kouri, Drew Philip

This LDRD project was developed around the ambitious goal of applying PDE-constrained opti- mization approaches to design Z-machine components whose performance is governed by elec- tromagnetic and plasma models. This report documents the results of this LDRD project. Our differentiating approach was to use topology optimization methods developed for structural design and extend them for application to electromagnetic systems pertinent to the Z-machine. To achieve this objective a suite of optimization algorithms were implemented in the ROL library part of the Trilinos framework. These methods were applied to standalone demonstration problems and the Drekar multi-physics research application. Out of thismore » exploration a new augmented Lagrangian approach to structural design problems was developed. We demonstrate that this approach has favorable mesh-independent performance. Both the final design and the algorithmic performance were independent of the size of the mesh. In addition, topology optimization formulations for the design of conducting networks were developed and demonstrated. Of note, this formulation was used to develop a design for the inner magnetically insulated transmission line on the Z-machine. The resulting electromagnetic device is compared with theoretically postulated designs.« less

Development of Sample Handling and Analytical Expertise For the Stardust Comet Sample Return

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bradley, J; Bajt, S; Brennan, S

NASA's Stardust mission returned to Earth in January 2006 with ''fresh'' cometary particles from a young Jupiter family comet. The cometary particles were sampled during the spacecraft flyby of comet 81P/Wild-2 in January 2004, when they impacted low-density silica aerogel tiles and aluminum foils on the sample tray assembly at approximately 6.1 km/s. This LDRD project has developed extraction and sample recovery methodologies to maximize the scientific information that can be obtained from the analysis of natural and man-made nano-materials of relevance to the LLNL programs.

Laboratory Directed Research and Development LDRD-FY-2011

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dena Tomchak

2012-03-01

This report provides a summary of the research conducted at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) during Fiscal Year (FY) 2011. This report demonstrates the types of cutting edge research the INL is performing to help ensure the nation's energy security. The research conducted under this program is aligned with our strategic direction, benefits the Department of Energy (DOE) and is in compliance with DOE order 413.2B. This report summarizes the diverse research and development portfolio with emphasis on the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) mission, encompassing both advanced nuclear science and technology and underlying technologies.

Laboratory directed research and development program FY 1999

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hansen, Todd; Levy, Karin

2000-03-08

The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab or LBNL) is a multi-program national research facility operated by the University of California for the Department of Energy (DOE). As an integral element of DOE's National Laboratory System, Berkeley Lab supports DOE's missions in fundamental science, energy resources, and environmental quality. Berkeley Lab programs advance four distinct goals for DOE and the nation: (1) To perform leading multidisciplinary research in the computing sciences, physical sciences, energy sciences, biosciences, and general sciences in a manner that ensures employee and public safety and protection of the environment. (2) To develop and operatemore » unique national experimental facilities for qualified investigators. (3) To educate and train future generations of scientists and engineers to promote national science and education goals. (4) To transfer knowledge and technological innovations and to foster productive relationships among Berkeley Lab's research programs, universities, and industry in order to promote national economic competitiveness. This is the annual report on Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program for FY99.« less

Accommodating complexity and human behaviors in decision analysis.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Backus, George A.; Siirola, John Daniel; Schoenwald, David Alan

2007-11-01

This is the final report for a LDRD effort to address human behavior in decision support systems. One sister LDRD effort reports the extension of this work to include actual human choices and additional simulation analyses. Another provides the background for this effort and the programmatic directions for future work. This specific effort considered the feasibility of five aspects of model development required for analysis viability. To avoid the use of classified information, healthcare decisions and the system embedding them became the illustrative example for assessment.

Multi-Target Camera Tracking, Hand-off and Display LDRD 158819 Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anderson, Robert J.

2014-10-01

Modern security control rooms gather video and sensor feeds from tens to hundreds of cameras. Advanced camera analytics can detect motion from individual video streams and convert unexpected motion into alarms, but the interpretation of these alarms depends heavily upon human operators. Unfortunately, these operators can be overwhelmed when a large number of events happen simultaneously, or lulled into complacency due to frequent false alarms. This LDRD project has focused on improving video surveillance-based security systems by changing the fundamental focus from the cameras to the targets being tracked. If properly integrated, more cameras shouldn’t lead to more alarms, moremore » monitors, more operators, and increased response latency but instead should lead to better information and more rapid response times. For the course of the LDRD we have been developing algorithms that take live video imagery from multiple video cameras, identify individual moving targets from the background imagery, and then display the results in a single 3D interactive video. In this document we summarize the work in developing this multi-camera, multi-target system, including lessons learned, tools developed, technologies explored, and a description of current capability.« less

Multi-target camera tracking, hand-off and display LDRD 158819 final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anderson, Robert J.

2014-10-01

Modern security control rooms gather video and sensor feeds from tens to hundreds of cameras. Advanced camera analytics can detect motion from individual video streams and convert unexpected motion into alarms, but the interpretation of these alarms depends heavily upon human operators. Unfortunately, these operators can be overwhelmed when a large number of events happen simultaneously, or lulled into complacency due to frequent false alarms. This LDRD project has focused on improving video surveillance-based security systems by changing the fundamental focus from the cameras to the targets being tracked. If properly integrated, more cameras shouldn't lead to more alarms, moremore » monitors, more operators, and increased response latency but instead should lead to better information and more rapid response times. For the course of the LDRD we have been developing algorithms that take live video imagery from multiple video cameras, identifies individual moving targets from the background imagery, and then displays the results in a single 3D interactive video. In this document we summarize the work in developing this multi-camera, multi-target system, including lessons learned, tools developed, technologies explored, and a description of current capability.« less

FY06 LDRD Final Report: Broadband Radiation and Scattering

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Madsen, N; Fasenfest, B; White, D

2007-03-08

This is the final report for LDRD 01-ERD-005. The Principle Investigator was Robert Sharpe. Collaborators included Niel Madsen, Benjamin Fasenfest, John D. Rockway, of the Defense Sciences Engineering Division (DSED), Vikram Jandhyala and James Pingenot from the University of Washington, and Mark Stowell of the Center for Applications Development and Software Engineering (CADSE). It should be noted that Benjamin Fasenfest and Mark Stowell were partially supported under other funding. The purpose of this LDRD effort was to enhance LLNL's computational electromagnetics capability in the area of broadband radiation and scattering. For radiation and scattering problems our transient EM codes aremore » limited by the approximate Radiation Boundary Conditions (RBC's) used to model the radiation into an infinite space. Improved RBC's were researched, developed, and incorporated into the existing EMSolve finite-element code to provide a 10-100x improvement in the accuracy of the boundary conditions. Section I provides an introduction to the project and the project goals. Section II provides a summary of the project's research and accomplishments as presented in the attached papers.« less

Laboratory directed research and development annual report 2004.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

This report summarizes progress from the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program during fiscal year 2004. In addition to a programmatic and financial overview, the report includes progress reports from 352 individual R and D projects in 15 categories. The 15 categories are: (1) Advanced Concepts; (2) Advanced Manufacturing; (3) Biotechnology; (4) Chemical and Earth Sciences; (5) Computational and Information Sciences; (6) Differentiating Technologies; (7) Electronics and Photonics; (8) Emerging Threats; (9) Energy and Critical Infrastructures; (10) Engineering Sciences; (11) Grand Challenges; (12) Materials Science and Technology; (13) Nonproliferation and Materials Control; (14) Pulsed Power and High Energy Densitymore » Sciences; and (15) Corporate Objectives.« less

Meso-scale controlled motion for a microfluidic drop ejector.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Galambos, Paul C.; Givler, Richard C.; Pohl, Kenneth Roy

2004-12-01

The objective of this LDRD was to develop a uniquely capable, novel droplet solution based manufacturing system built around a new MEMS drop ejector. The development all the working subsystems required was completed, leaving the integration of these subsystems into a working prototype still left to accomplish. This LDRD report will focus on the three main subsystems: (1) MEMS drop ejector--the MEMS ''sideshooter'' effectively ejected 0.25 pl drops at 10 m/s, (2) packaging--a compact ejector package based on a modified EMDIP (Electro-Microfluidic Dual In-line Package--SAND2002-1941) was fabricated, and (3) a vision/stage system allowing precise ejector package positioning in 3 dimensionsmore » above a target was developed.« less

Department of Energy Lab Management. Hearings before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, One Hundred Eighth Congress, First Session. June 24, 2003, July 17, 2003

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-07-17

what has come to be called Laboratory Directed R&D ( LDRD ). In the 1990s, LDRD became an interesting example of the lack of historical memory and...coordination in the Congress. The House sought to terminate LDRD at the three weapons laboratories as a use of funds for unauthor- ized and unappropriated

FY08 LDRD Final Report A New Method for Wave Propagation in Elastic Media LDRD Project Tracking Code: 05-ERD-079

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Petersson, A

The LDRD project 'A New Method for Wave Propagation in Elastic Media' developed several improvements to the traditional finite difference technique for seismic wave propagation, including a summation-by-parts discretization which is provably stable for arbitrary heterogeneous materials, an accurate treatment of non-planar topography, local mesh refinement, and stable outflow boundary conditions. This project also implemented these techniques in a parallel open source computer code called WPP, and participated in several seismic modeling efforts to simulate ground motion due to earthquakes in Northern California. This research has been documented in six individual publications which are summarized in this report. Of thesemore » publications, four are published refereed journal articles, one is an accepted refereed journal article which has not yet been published, and one is a non-refereed software manual. The report concludes with a discussion of future research directions and exit plan.« less

Chemiresistor microsensors for in-situ monitoring of volatile organic compounds : final LDRD report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thomas, Michael Loren; Hughes, Robert Clark; Kooser, Ara S.

2003-09-01

This report provides a summary of the three-year LDRD (Laboratory Directed Research and Development) project aimed at developing microchemical sensors for continuous, in-situ monitoring of volatile organic compounds. A chemiresistor sensor array was integrated with a unique, waterproof housing that allows the sensors to be operated in a variety of media including air, soil, and water. Numerous tests were performed to evaluate and improve the sensitivity, stability, and discriminatory capabilities of the chemiresistors. Field tests were conducted in California, Nevada, and New Mexico to further test and develop the sensors in actual environments within integrated monitoring systems. The field testsmore » addressed issues regarding data acquisition, telemetry, power requirements, data processing, and other engineering requirements. Significant advances were made in the areas of polymer optimization, packaging, data analysis, discrimination, design, and information dissemination (e.g., real-time web posting of data; see www.sandia.gov/sensor). This project has stimulated significant interest among commercial and academic institutions. A CRADA (Cooperative Research and Development Agreement) was initiated in FY03 to investigate manufacturing methods, and a Work for Others contract was established between Sandia and Edwards Air Force Base for FY02-FY04. Funding was also obtained from DOE as part of their Advanced Monitoring Systems Initiative program from FY01 to FY03, and a DOE EMSP contract was awarded jointly to Sandia and INEEL for FY04-FY06. Contracts were also established for collaborative research with Brigham Young University to further evaluate, understand, and improve the performance of the chemiresistor sensors.« less

Cognitive Computing for Security.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Debenedictis, Erik; Rothganger, Fredrick; Aimone, James Bradley

Final report for Cognitive Computing for Security LDRD 165613. It reports on the development of hybrid of general purpose/ne uromorphic computer architecture, with an emphasis on potential implementation with memristors.

Sandia SCADA Program -- High Surety SCADA LDRD Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

CARLSON, ROLF E.

2002-04-01

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are a part of the nation's critical infrastructure that is especially vulnerable to attack or disruption. Sandia National Laboratories is developing a high-security SCADA specification to increase the national security posture of the U.S. Because SCADA security is an international problem and is shaped by foreign and multinational interests, Sandia is working to develop a standards-based solution through committees such as the IEC TC 57 WG 15, the IEEE Substation Committee, and the IEEE P1547-related activity on communications and controls. The accepted standards are anticipated to take the form of a Common Criteriamore » Protection Profile. This report provides the status of work completed and discusses several challenges ahead.« less

A generalized four-fifth law for compressible turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aluie, Hussein

2016-11-01

Kolmogorov's 4/5-th law is a celebrated exact result of incompressible turbulence, and is key to the formulation of his 1941 phenomenology. We will present its generalization to compressible turbulence. Partial support was provided by NSF Grant OCE-1259794, US Department of Energy (US DOE) Grant DE-SC0014318, and the LANL LDRD program through Project Number 20150568ER.

An electromagnetic induction method for underground target detection and characterization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bartel, L.C.; Cress, D.H.

1997-01-01

An improved capability for subsurface structure detection is needed to support military and nonproliferation requirements for inspection and for surveillance of activities of threatening nations. As part of the DOE/NN-20 program to apply geophysical methods to detect and characterize underground facilities, Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) initiated an electromagnetic induction (EMI) project to evaluate low frequency electromagnetic (EM) techniques for subsurface structure detection. Low frequency, in this case, extended from kilohertz to hundreds of kilohertz. An EMI survey procedure had already been developed for borehole imaging of coal seams and had successfully been applied in a surface mode to detect amore » drug smuggling tunnel. The SNL project has focused on building upon the success of that procedure and applying it to surface and low altitude airborne platforms. Part of SNL`s work has focused on improving that technology through improved hardware and data processing. The improved hardware development has been performed utilizing Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) funding. In addition, SNL`s effort focused on: (1) improvements in modeling of the basic geophysics of the illuminating electromagnetic field and its coupling to the underground target (partially funded using LDRD funds) and (2) development of techniques for phase-based and multi-frequency processing and spatial processing to support subsurface target detection and characterization. The products of this project are: (1) an evaluation of an improved EM gradiometer, (2) an improved gradiometer concept for possible future development, (3) an improved modeling capability, (4) demonstration of an EM wave migration method for target recognition, and a demonstration that the technology is capable of detecting targets to depths exceeding 25 meters.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Galambos, Paul C.

This is the latest in a series of LDRD's that we have been conducting with Florida State University/Florida A&M University (FSU/FAMU) under the campus executive program. This research builds on the earlier projects; ''Development of Highly Integrated Magnetically and Electrostatically Actuated Micropumps'' (SAND2003-4674) and ''Development of Magnetically and Electrostatically Driven Surface Micromachined Pumps'' (SAND2002-0704P). In this year's LDRD we designed 2nd generation of surface micromachined (SMM) gear and viscous pumps. Two SUMMiT{trademark} modules full of design variations of these pumps were fabricated and one SwIFT{trademark} module is still in fabrication. The SwIFT{trademark} fabrication process results in a transparent pump housingmore » cover that will enable visualization inside the pumps. Since the SwIFT{trademark} pumps have not been tested as they are still in fabrication, this report will focus on the 2nd generation SUMMiT{trademark} designs. Pump testing (pressure vs. flow) was conducted on several of the SUMMiT{trademark} designs resulting in the first pump curve for this class of SMM pumps. A pump curve was generated for the higher torque 2nd generation gear pump designed by Jason Hendrix of FSU. The pump maximum flow rate at zero head was 6.5 nl/s for a 30V, 30 Hz square wave signal. This level of flow rate would be more than adequate for our typical SMM SUMMiT{trademark} or SwIFT{trademark} channels which have typical volumes on the order of 50 pl.« less

Molecular characterization of long direct repeat (LDR) sequences expressing a stable mRNA encoding for a 35-amino-acid cell-killing peptide and a cis-encoded small antisense RNA in Escherichia coli.

PubMed

Kawano, Mitsuoki; Oshima, Taku; Kasai, Hiroaki; Mori, Hirotada

2002-07-01

Genome sequence analyses of Escherichia coli K-12 revealed four copies of long repetitive elements. These sequences are designated as long direct repeat (LDR) sequences. Three of the repeats (LDR-A, -B, -C), each approximately 500 bp in length, are located as tandem repeats at 27.4 min on the genetic map. Another copy (LDR-D), 450 bp in length and nearly identical to LDR-A, -B and -C, is located at 79.7 min, a position that is directly opposite the position of LDR-A, -B and -C. In this study, we demonstrate that LDR-D encodes a 35-amino-acid peptide, LdrD, the overexpression of which causes rapid cell killing and nucleoid condensation of the host cell. Northern blot and primer extension analysis showed constitutive transcription of a stable mRNA (approximately 370 nucleotides) encoding LdrD and an unstable cis-encoded antisense RNA (approximately 60 nucleotides), which functions as a trans-acting regulator of ldrD translation. We propose that LDR encodes a toxin-antitoxin module. LDR-homologous sequences are not pre-sent on any known plasmids but are conserved in Salmonella and other enterobacterial species.

Advanced ion trap structures with integrated tools for qubit manipulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sterk, J. D.; Benito, F.; Clark, C. R.; Haltli, R.; Highstrete, C.; Nordquist, C. D.; Scott, S.; Stevens, J. E.; Tabakov, B. P.; Tigges, C. P.; Moehring, D. L.; Stick, D.; Blain, M. G.

2012-06-01

We survey the ion trap fabrication technologies available at Sandia National Laboratories. These include four metal layers, precision backside etching, and low profile wirebonds. We demonstrate loading of ions in a variety of ion traps that utilize these technologies. Additionally, we present progress towards integration of on-board filtering with trench capacitors, photon collection via an optical cavity, and integrated microwave electrodes for localized hyperfine qubit control and magnetic field gradient quantum gates. [4pt] This work was supported by Sandia's Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Thermal conductivity study of warm dense matter by differential heating on LCLS and Titan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hill, M.; McKelvey, A.; Jiang, S.; Shepherd, R.; Hau-Riege, S.; Whitley, H.; Sterne, P.; Hamel, S.; Collins, G.; Ping, Y.; Brown, C.; Floyd, E.; Fyrth, J.; Hoarty, D.; Hua, R.; Bailly-Grandvaux, M.; Beg, F.; Cho, B.; Kim, M.; Lee, J.; Lee, H.; Galtier, E.

2017-10-01

A differential heating platform has been developed for thermal conduction study, where a temperature gradient is induced and subsequent heat flow is probed by time-resolved diagnostics. Multiple experiment using this platform have been carried out at LCLS-MEC and Titan laser facilities for warm dense Al, Fe, amorphous carbon and diamond. Two single-shot time-resolved diagnostics are employed, SOP (streaked optical pyrometry) for surface temperature and FDI (Fourier Domain Interferometry) for surface expansion. Both diagnostics provided excellent data to constrain release equation-of-state (EOS) and thermal conductivity. Data sets with varying target thickness and comparison between simulations with different thermal conductivity models are presented. This work was performed under DOE contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 with support from DOE OFES Early Career program and LLNL LDRD program.

Thermal conduction study of warm dense aluminum by proton differential heating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ping, Y.; Kemp, G.; McKelvey, A.; Fernandez-Panella, A.; Shepherd, R.; Collins, G.; Sio, H.; King, J.; Freeman, R.; Hua, R.; McGuffey, C.; Kim, J.; Beg, F.

2016-10-01

A differential heating platform has been developed for thermal conduction study (Ping et al. PoP 2015), where a temperature gradient is induced and subsequent heat flow is probed by time-resolved diagnostics. An experiment using proton differential heating has been carried out at Titan laser for Au/Al targets. Two single-shot time-resolved diagnostics are employed, SOP (streaked optical pyrometry) for surface temperature and FDI (Fourier Domain Interferometry) for surface expansion. Hydrodynamic simulations show that after 15ps, absorption in underdense plasma needs to be taken into account to correctly interpret SOP data. Comparison between simulations with different thermal conductivity models and a set of data with varying target thickness will be presented. This work was performed under DOE contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 with support from OFES Early Career program and LLNL LDRD program.

Robust Planning for Autonomous Navigation of Mobile Robots in Unstructured, Dynamic Environments: An LDRD Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

EISLER, G. RICHARD

This report summarizes the analytical and experimental efforts for the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project entitled ''Robust Planning for Autonomous Navigation of Mobile Robots In Unstructured, Dynamic Environments (AutoNav)''. The project goal was to develop an algorithmic-driven, multi-spectral approach to point-to-point navigation characterized by: segmented on-board trajectory planning, self-contained operation without human support for mission duration, and the development of appropriate sensors and algorithms to navigate unattended. The project was partially successful in achieving gains in sensing, path planning, navigation, and guidance. One of three experimental platforms, the Minimalist Autonomous Testbed, used a repetitive sense-and-re-plan combination to demonstratemore » the majority of elements necessary for autonomous navigation. However, a critical goal for overall success in arbitrary terrain, that of developing a sensor that is able to distinguish true obstacles that need to be avoided as a function of vehicle scale, still needs substantial research to bring to fruition.« less

Research and Development Supporting a Next Generation Germanium Double Beta Decay Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rielage, Keith; Elliott, Steve; Chu, Pinghan; Goett, Johnny; Massarczyk, Ralph; Xu, Wenqin

2015-10-01

To improve the search for neutrinoless double beta decay, the next-generation experiments will increase in source mass and continue to reduce backgrounds in the region of interest. A promising technology for the next generation experiment is large arrays of Germanium p-type point contact detectors enriched in 76-Ge. The experience, expertise and lessons learned from the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR and GERDA experiments naturally lead to a number of research and development activities that will be useful in guiding a future experiment utilizing Germanium. We will discuss some R&D activities including a hybrid cryostat design, background reduction in cabling, connectors and electronics, and modifications to reduce assembly time. We acknowledge the support of the U.S. Department of Energy through the LANL/LDRD Program.

Tracking of Nuclear Production using Indigenous Species: Final LDRD Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alam, Todd Michael; Alam, Mary Kathleen; McIntyre, Sarah K.

Our LDRD research project sought to develop an analytical method for detection of chemicals used in nuclear materials processing. Our approach is distinctly different than current research involving hardware-based sensors. By utilizing the response of indigenous species of plants and/or animals surrounding (or within) a nuclear processing facility, we propose tracking 'suspicious molecules' relevant to nuclear materials processing. As proof of concept, we have examined TBP, tributylphosphate, used in uranium enrichment as well as plutonium extraction from spent nuclear fuels. We will compare TBP to the TPP (triphenylphosphate) analog to determine the uniqueness of the metabonomic response. We show thatmore » there is a unique metabonomic response within our animal model to TBP. The TBP signature can further be delineated from that of TPP. We have also developed unique methods of instrumental transfer for metabonomic data sets.« less

Critical Infrastructure: Control Systems and the Terrorist Threat

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-01-20

Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web Order Code RL31534 Critical...http://www.pnl.gov/main/sectors/homeland.html]. 68 Rolf Carlson, “Sandia SCADA Program High-Security SCADA LDRD Final Report ,” Sandia Report SAND2002...and Industry Division Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to

Critical Infrastructure: Control Systems and the Terrorist Threat

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-07-14

Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web Order Code RL31534 Critical...available online at [http://www.pnl.gov/main/sectors/homeland.html]. 56 Rolf Carlson, “Sandia SCADA Program High-Security SCADA LDRD Final Report ...Industry Division Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to

Resolving Controversies Concerning the Kinetic Structure of Multi-Ion Plasma Shocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keenan, Brett; Simakov, Andrei; Chacon, Luis; Taitano, William

2017-10-01

Strong collisional shocks in multi-ion plasmas are featured in several high-energy-density environments, including Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) implosions. Yet, basic structural features of these shocks remain poorly understood (e.g., the shock width's dependence on the Mach number and the plasma ion composition, and temperature decoupling between ion species), causing controversies in the literature; even for stationary shocks in planar geometry [cf., Ref. and Ref.]. Using a LANL-developed, high-fidelity, 1D-2V Vlasov-Fokker-Planck code (iFP), as well as direct comparisons to multi-ion hydrodynamic simulations and semi-analytic predictions, we critically examine steady-state, planar shocks in two-ion species plasmas and put forward resolutions to these controversies. This work was supported by the Los Alamos National Laboratory LDRD Program, Metropolis Postdoctoral Fellowship for W.T.T., and used resources provided by the Los Alamos National Laboratory Institutional Computing Program.

Some attributes of a language for property-based testing.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Neagoe, Vicentiu; Bishop, Matt

Property-based testing is a testing technique that evaluates executions of a program. The method checks that specifications, called properties, hold throughout the execution of the program. TASpec is a language used to specify these properties. This paper compares some attributes of the language with the specification patterns used for model-checking languages, and then presents some descriptions of properties that can be used to detect common security flaws in programs. This report describes the results of a one year research project at the University of California, Davis, which was funded by a University Collaboration LDRD entitled ''Property-based Testing for Cyber Securitymore » Assurance''.« less

Final report on LDRD project : coupling strategies for multi-physics applications.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hopkins, Matthew Morgan; Moffat, Harry K.; Carnes, Brian

Many current and future modeling applications at Sandia including ASC milestones will critically depend on the simultaneous solution of vastly different physical phenomena. Issues due to code coupling are often not addressed, understood, or even recognized. The objectives of the LDRD has been both in theory and in code development. We will show that we have provided a fundamental analysis of coupling, i.e., when strong coupling vs. a successive substitution strategy is needed. We have enabled the implementation of tighter coupling strategies through additions to the NOX and Sierra code suites to make coupling strategies available now. We have leveragedmore » existing functionality to do this. Specifically, we have built into NOX the capability to handle fully coupled simulations from multiple codes, and we have also built into NOX the capability to handle Jacobi Free Newton Krylov simulations that link multiple applications. We show how this capability may be accessed from within the Sierra Framework as well as from outside of Sierra. The critical impact from this LDRD is that we have shown how and have delivered strategies for enabling strong Newton-based coupling while respecting the modularity of existing codes. This will facilitate the use of these codes in a coupled manner to solve multi-physic applications.« less

Foreign Trip Report MATGEN-IV Sep 24- Oct 26, 2007

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

de Caro, M S

2007-10-30

Gen-IV activities in France, Japan and US focus on the development of new structural materials for Gen-IV nuclear reactors. Oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) F/M steels have raised considerable interest in nuclear applications. Promising collaborations can be established seeking fundamental knowledge of relevant Gen-IV ODS steel properties (see attached travel report on MATGEN- IV 'Materials for Generation IV Nuclear Reactors'). Major highlights refer to results on future Ferritic/Martensitic steel cladding candidates (relevant to Gen-IV materials properties for LFR Materials Program) and on thermodynamic and mechanic behavior of metallic FeCr binary alloys, base matrix for future candidate steels (for the LLNL-LDRD projectmore » on Critical Issues on Materials for Gen-IV Reactors).« less

LDRD project final report : hybrid AI/cognitive tactical behavior framework for LVC.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Djordjevich, Donna D.; Xavier, Patrick Gordon; Brannon, Nathan Gregory

This Lab-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) sought to develop technology that enhances scenario construction speed, entity behavior robustness, and scalability in Live-Virtual-Constructive (LVC) simulation. We investigated issues in both simulation architecture and behavior modeling. We developed path-planning technology that improves the ability to express intent in the planning task while still permitting an efficient search algorithm. An LVC simulation demonstrated how this enables 'one-click' layout of squad tactical paths, as well as dynamic re-planning for simulated squads and for real and simulated mobile robots. We identified human response latencies that can be exploited in parallel/distributed architectures. We did an experimentalmore » study to determine where parallelization would be productive in Umbra-based force-on-force (FOF) simulations. We developed and implemented a data-driven simulation composition approach that solves entity class hierarchy issues and supports assurance of simulation fairness. Finally, we proposed a flexible framework to enable integration of multiple behavior modeling components that model working memory phenomena with different degrees of sophistication.« less

Rapid Response: D-Wave Effort Debrief Welcome, Logistics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eidenbenz, Stephan Johannes

The main objects of this project is to develop a diverse and sizable workforce, community, interest within LANL for D-Wave and Quantum Computing; identify promising application areas/problems for future projects; and complement other D-Wave work at LANL (LDRD DR, ASC).

Electron Production and Collective Field Generation in Intense Particle Beams

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Molvik, A W; Vay, J; Cohen, R

Electron cloud effects (ECEs) are increasingly recognized as important, but incompletely understood, dynamical phenomena, which can severely limit the performance of present electron colliders, the next generation of high-intensity rings, such as PEP-II upgrade, LHC, and the SNS, the SIS 100/200, or future high-intensity heavy ion accelerators such as envisioned in Heavy Ion Inertial Fusion (HIF). Deleterious effects include ion-electron instabilities, emittance growth, particle loss, increase in vacuum pressure, added heat load at the vacuum chamber walls, and interference with certain beam diagnostics. Extrapolation of present experience to significantly higher beam intensities is uncertain given the present level of understanding.more » With coordinated LDRD projects at LLNL and LBNL, we undertook a comprehensive R&D program including experiments, theory and simulations to better understand the phenomena, establish the essential parameters, and develop mitigating mechanisms. This LDRD project laid the essential groundwork for such a program. We developed insights into the essential processes, modeled the relevant physics, and implemented these models in computational production tools that can be used for self-consistent study of the effect on ion beams. We validated the models and tools through comparison with experimental data, including data from new diagnostics that we developed as part of this work and validated on the High-Current Experiment (HCX) at LBNL. We applied these models to High-Energy Physics (HEP) and other advanced accelerators. This project was highly successful, as evidenced by the two paragraphs above, and six paragraphs following that are taken from our 2003 proposal with minor editing that mostly consisted of changing the tense. Further benchmarks of outstanding performance are: we had 13 publications with 8 of them in refereed journals, our work was recognized by the accelerator and plasma physics communities by 8 invited papers and we have 5 additional invitations for invited papers at upcoming conferences, we attracted collaborators who had SBIR funding, we are collaborating with scientists at CERN and GSI Darmstadt on gas desorption physics for submission to Physical Review Letters, and another PRL on absolute measurements of electron cloud density and Phys. Rev. ST-AB on electron emission physics are also being readied for submission.« less

Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD)

Science.gov Websites

Los Alamos National Laboratory Search Site submit About Mission Business Newsroom Publications Los Innovation in New Mexico Los Alamos Collaboration for Explosives Detection (LACED) SensorNexus Exascale Computing Project (ECP) User Facilities Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) Los Alamos Neutron

LANL LDRD-funded project: Test particle simulations of energetic ions in natural and artificial radiation belts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cowee, Misa; Liu, Kaijun; Friedel, Reinhard H.

2012-07-17

We summarize the scientific problem and work plan for the LANL LDRD-funded project to use a test particle code to study the sudden de-trapping of inner belt protons and possible cross-L transport of debris ions after a high altitude nuclear explosion (HANE). We also discuss future application of the code for other HANE-related problems.

LDRD Annual Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sweany, Melinda

2017-10-01

This is a high-risk effort to leverage knowledge gained from previous work, which focused on detector development leading to better energy resolution and reconstruction errors. This work seeks to enable applications that require precise elemental characterization of materials, such as chemical munitions remediation, offering the potential to close current detection gaps.

Exploration of cloud computing late start LDRD #149630 : Raincoat. v. 2.1.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Echeverria, Victor T.; Metral, Michael David; Leger, Michelle A.

This report contains documentation from an interoperability study conducted under the Late Start LDRD 149630, Exploration of Cloud Computing. A small late-start LDRD from last year resulted in a study (Raincoat) on using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to enhance security in a hybrid cloud environment. Raincoat initially explored the use of OpenVPN on IPv4 and demonstrates that it is possible to secure the communication channel between two small 'test' clouds (a few nodes each) at New Mexico Tech and Sandia. We extended the Raincoat study to add IPSec support via Vyatta routers, to interface with a public cloud (Amazon Elasticmore » Compute Cloud (EC2)), and to be significantly more scalable than the previous iteration. The study contributed to our understanding of interoperability in a hybrid cloud.« less

Towards optimizing two-qubit operations in three-electron double quantum dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frees, Adam; Gamble, John King; Mehl, Sebastian; Friesen, Mark; Coppersmith, S. N.

The successful implementation of single-qubit gates in the quantum dot hybrid qubit motivates our interest in developing a high fidelity two-qubit gate protocol. Recently, extensive work has been done to characterize the theoretical limitations and advantages in performing two-qubit operations at an operation point located in the charge transition region. Additionally, there is evidence to support that single-qubit gate fidelities improve while operating in the so-called ``far-detuned'' region, away from the charge transition. Here we explore the possibility of performing two-qubit gates in this region, considering the challenges and the benefits that may present themselves while implementing such an operational paradigm. This work was supported in part by ARO (W911NF-12-0607) (W911NF-12-R-0012), NSF (PHY-1104660), ONR (N00014-15-1-0029). The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Sandia National Laboratories Truman Fellowship Program, which is funded by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program. Sandia is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under Contract No. DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Development of advanced strain diagnostic techniques for reactor environments.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fleming, Darryn D.; Holschuh, Thomas Vernon,; Miller, Timothy J.

2013-02-01

The following research is operated as a Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) initiative at Sandia National Laboratories. The long-term goals of the program include sophisticated diagnostics of advanced fuels testing for nuclear reactors for the Department of Energy (DOE) Gen IV program, with the future capability to provide real-time measurement of strain in fuel rod cladding during operation in situ at any research or power reactor in the United States. By quantifying the stress and strain in fuel rods, it is possible to significantly improve fuel rod design, and consequently, to improve the performance and lifetime of the cladding.more » During the past year of this program, two sets of experiments were performed: small-scale tests to ensure reliability of the gages, and reactor pulse experiments involving the most viable samples in the Annulated Core Research Reactor (ACRR), located onsite at Sandia. Strain measurement techniques that can provide useful data in the extreme environment of a nuclear reactor core are needed to characterize nuclear fuel rods. This report documents the progression of solutions to this issue that were explored for feasibility in FY12 at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM.« less

Enabling analytical and Modeling Tools for Enhanced Disease Surveillance

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dawn K. Manley

2003-04-01

Early detection, identification, and warning are essential to minimize casualties from a biological attack. For covert attacks, sick people are likely to provide the first indication of an attack. An enhanced medical surveillance system that synthesizes distributed health indicator information and rapidly analyzes the information can dramatically increase the number of lives saved. Current surveillance methods to detect both biological attacks and natural outbreaks are hindered by factors such as distributed ownership of information, incompatible data storage and analysis programs, and patient privacy concerns. Moreover, because data are not widely shared, few data mining algorithms have been tested on andmore » applied to diverse health indicator data. This project addressed both integration of multiple data sources and development and integration of analytical tools for rapid detection of disease outbreaks. As a first prototype, we developed an application to query and display distributed patient records. This application incorporated need-to-know access control and incorporated data from standard commercial databases. We developed and tested two different algorithms for outbreak recognition. The first is a pattern recognition technique that searches for space-time data clusters that may signal a disease outbreak. The second is a genetic algorithm to design and train neural networks (GANN) that we applied toward disease forecasting. We tested these algorithms against influenza, respiratory illness, and Dengue Fever data. Through this LDRD in combination with other internal funding, we delivered a distributed simulation capability to synthesize disparate information and models for earlier recognition and improved decision-making in the event of a biological attack. The architecture incorporates user feedback and control so that a user's decision inputs can impact the scenario outcome as well as integrated security and role-based access-control for communicating between distributed data and analytical tools. This work included construction of interfaces to various commercial database products and to one of the data analysis algorithms developed through this LDRD.« less

DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT RESEARCH AT SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rigali, Mark J.; Miller, James E.; Altman, Susan J.

Water is the backbone of our economy - safe and adequate supplies of water are vital for agriculture, industry, recreation, and human consumption. While our supply of water today is largely safe and adequate, we as a nation face increasing water supply challenges in the form of extended droughts, demand growth due to population increase, more stringent health-based regulation, and competing demands from a variety of users. To meet these challenges in the coming decades, water treatment technologies, including desalination, will contribute substantially to ensuring a safe, sustainable, affordable, and adequate water supply for the United States. This overview documentsmore » Sandia National Laboratories' (SNL, or Sandia) Water Treatment Program which focused on the development and demonstration of advanced water purification technologies as part of the larger Sandia Water Initiative. Projects under the Water Treatment Program include: (1) the development of desalination research roadmaps (2) our efforts to accelerate the commercialization of new desalination and water treatment technologies (known as the 'Jump-Start Program),' (3) long range (high risk, early stage) desalination research (known as the 'Long Range Research Program'), (4) treatment research projects under the Joint Water Reuse & Desalination Task Force, (5) the Arsenic Water Technology Partnership Program, (6) water treatment projects funded under the New Mexico Small Business Administration, (7) water treatment projects for the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), (8) Sandia- developed contaminant-selective treatment technologies, and finally (9) current Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) funded desalination projects.« less

Reduced Dimensionality Lithium Niobate Microsystems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eichenfield, Matt

2017-01-01

The following report describes work performed under the LDRD program at Sandia National Laboratories October 2014 and September 2016. The work presented demonstrates the ability of Sandia Labs to develop state-of-the-art photonic devices based on thin film lithium niobate (LiNbO 3 ). Section 1 provides an introduction to integrated LiNbO 3 devices and motivation for developing thin film nonlinear optical systems. Section 2 describes the design, fabrication, and photonic performance of thin film optical microdisks fabricated from bulk LiNbO 3 using a bulk implantation method developed at Sandia. Sections 3 and 4 describe the development of similar thin film LiNbOmore » 3 structures fabricated from LiNbO 3 on insulator (LNOI) substrates and our demonstration of optical frequency conversion with state-of-the-art efficiency. Finally, Section 5 describes similar microdisk resonators fabricated from LNOI wafers with a buried metal layer, in which we demonstrate electro-optic modulation.« less

Hardness Assurance for Low-Energy Proton-Induced Single-Event Effects: Final report for LDRD Project 173134

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dodds, Nathaniel Anson

2015-08-01

This report briefly summarizes three publications that resulted from a two-year LDRD. The three publications address a recently emerging reliability issue: namely, that low-energy protons (LEPs) can cause single-event effects (SEEs) in highly scaled microelectronics. These publications span from low to high technology readiness levels. In the first, novel experiments were used to prove that proton direct ionization is the dominant mechanism for LEP-induced SEEs. In the second, a simple method was developed to calculate expected on-orbit error rates for LEP effects. This simplification was enabled by creating (and characterizing) an accelerated space-like LEP environment in the laboratory. In themore » third publication, this new method was applied to many memory circuits from the 20-90 nm technology nodes to study the general importance of LEP effects, in terms of their contribution to the total on-orbit SEE rate.« less

Efficient Probability of Failure Calculations for QMU using Computational Geometry LDRD 13-0144 Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mitchell, Scott A.; Ebeida, Mohamed Salah; Romero, Vicente J.

2015-09-01

This SAND report summarizes our work on the Sandia National Laboratory LDRD project titled "Efficient Probability of Failure Calculations for QMU using Computational Geometry" which was project #165617 and proposal #13-0144. This report merely summarizes our work. Those interested in the technical details are encouraged to read the full published results, and contact the report authors for the status of the software and follow-on projects.

Adiabatically-controlled two-qubit gates using quantum dot hybrid qubits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frees, Adam; Gamble, John King; Friesen, Mark; Coppersmith, S. N.

With its recent success in experimentally performing single-qubit gates, the quantum dot hybrid qubit is an excellent candidate for two-qubit gating. Here, we propose an operational scheme which exploits the electrostatic properties of such qubits to yield a tunable effective coupling in a system with a static capacitive coupling between the dots. We then use numerically calculated fidelities to demonstrate the effect of charge noise on single- and two-qubit gates with this scheme. Finally, we show steps towards optimizing the gates fidelities, and discuss ways that the scheme could be further improved. This work was supported in part by ARO (W911NF-12-0607) (W911NF-12-R-0012), NSF (PHY-1104660), ONR (N00014-15-1-0029). The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Sandia National Laboratories Truman Fellowship Program, which is funded by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program. Sandia is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under Contract No. DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Electron shuttling in phosphorus donor qubit systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobson, N. Tobias; Gamble, John King; Nielsen, Erik; Muller, Richard P.; Witzel, Wayne M.; Montano, Ines; Carroll, Malcolm S.

2014-03-01

Phosphorus donors in silicon are a promising qubit architecture, due in large part to their long nuclear coherence times and the recent development of atomically precise fabrication methods. Here, we investigate issues related to implementing qubits with phosphorus donors in silicon, employing an effective mass theory that non-phenomenologically takes into account inter-valley coupling. We estimate the significant sources of decoherence and control errors in this system to compute the fidelity of primitive gates and gate timescales. We include the effects of valley repopulation during the process of shuttling an electron between a donor and nearby interface or between neighboring donors, evaluating the control requirements for ensuring adiabaticity with respect to the valley sector. This work was supported in part by the LDRD program at Sandia National Labs, a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corp, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corp, for the U.S. DOE NNSA under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Bioforensics: Characterization of biological weapons agents by NanoSIMS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Weber, P K; Ghosal, S; Leighton, T J

2007-02-26

The anthrax attacks of Fall 2001 highlight the need to develop forensic methods based on multiple identifiers to determine the origin of biological weapons agents. Genetic typing methods (i.e., DNA and RNA-based) provide one attribution technology, but genetic information alone is not usually sufficient to determine the provenance of the material. Non-genetic identifiers, including elemental and isotopic signatures, provide complementary information that can be used to identify the means, geographic location and date of production. Under LDRD funding, we have successfully developed the techniques necessary to perform bioforensic characterization with the NanoSIMS at the individual spore level. We have developedmore » methods for elemental and isotopic characterization at the single spore scale. We have developed methods for analyzing spore sections to map elemental abundance within spores. We have developed rapid focused ion beam (FIB) sectioning techniques for spores to preserve elemental and structural integrity. And we have developed a high-resolution depth profiling method to characterize the elemental distribution in individual spores without sectioning. We used these newly developed methods to study the controls on elemental abundances in spores, characterize the elemental distribution of in spores, and to study elemental uptake by spores. Our work under this LDRD project attracted FBI and DHS funding for applied purposes.« less

Final Report (O1-ERD-051) Dynamic InSAR: Imaging Seismic Waves Remotely from Space

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vincent, P; Rodgers, A; Dodge, D

2003-02-07

The purpose of this LDRD project was to determine the feasibility of using InSAR (interferometric synthetic aperture radar) to image seismic waves remotely from space. If shown to be feasible, the long-term goal of this project would be to influence future SAR satellite missions and airborne SAR platforms to include a this new capability. This final report summarizes the accomplishments of the originally-planned 2-year project that was cut short to 1 year plus 2 months due to a funding priority change that occurred in the aftermath of the September 11th tragedy. The LDRD-ER project ''Dynamic InSAR: Imaging Seismic Waves frommore » Space'' (01-ERD-051) began in October, (FY01) and ended in December (FY02). Consequently, most of the results and conclusions for this project are represented in the FY0l Annual Report. Nonetheless, additional conclusions and insights regarding the progress of this work are included in this report. In should be noted that this work was restarted and received additional funding under the NA-22 DOE Nonproliferation Program in FY03.« less

Final report for LDRD project 11-0029 : high-interest event detection in large-scale multi-modal data sets : proof of concept.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rohrer, Brandon Robinson

2011-09-01

Events of interest to data analysts are sometimes difficult to characterize in detail. Rather, they consist of anomalies, events that are unpredicted, unusual, or otherwise incongruent. The purpose of this LDRD was to test the hypothesis that a biologically-inspired anomaly detection algorithm could be used to detect contextual, multi-modal anomalies. There currently is no other solution to this problem, but the existence of a solution would have a great national security impact. The technical focus of this research was the application of a brain-emulating cognition and control architecture (BECCA) to the problem of anomaly detection. One aspect of BECCA inmore » particular was discovered to be critical to improved anomaly detection capabilities: it's feature creator. During the course of this project the feature creator was developed and tested against multiple data types. Development direction was drawn from psychological and neurophysiological measurements. Major technical achievements include the creation of hierarchical feature sets created from both audio and imagery data.« less

Molecular Breeding Algae For Improved Traits For The Conversion Of Waste To Fuels And Commodities.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bagwell, C.

This Exploratory LDRD aimed to develop molecular breeding methodology for biofuel algal strain improvement for applications in waste to energy / commodity conversion technologies. Genome shuffling technologies, specifically protoplast fusion, are readily available for the rapid production of genetic hybrids for trait improvement and have been used successfully in bacteria, yeast, plants and animals. However, genome fusion has not been developed for exploiting the remarkable untapped potential of eukaryotic microalgae for large scale integrated bio-conversion and upgrading of waste components to valued commodities, fuel and energy. The proposed molecular breeding technology is effectively sexual reproduction in algae; though compared tomore » traditional breeding, the molecular route is rapid, high-throughput and permits selection / improvement of complex traits which cannot be accomplished by traditional genetics. Genome fusion technologies are the cutting edge of applied biotechnology. The goals of this Exploratory LDRD were to 1) establish reliable methodology for protoplast production among diverse microalgal strains, and 2) demonstrate genome fusion for hybrid strain production using a single gene encoded trait as a proof of the concept.« less

Discriminative feature-rich models for syntax-based machine translation.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dixon, Kevin R.

This report describes the campus executive LDRD %E2%80%9CDiscriminative Feature-Rich Models for Syntax-Based Machine Translation,%E2%80%9D which was an effort to foster a better relationship between Sandia and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). The primary purpose of the LDRD was to fund the research of a promising graduate student at CMU; in this case, Kevin Gimpel was selected from the pool of candidates. This report gives a brief overview of Kevin Gimpel's research.

Gate Set Tomography on a trapped ion qubit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nielsen, Erik; Blume-Kohout, Robin; Gamble, John; Rundinger, Kenneth; Mizrahi, Jonathan; Sterk, Johathan; Maunz, Peter

2015-03-01

We present enhancements to gate-set tomography (GST), which is a framework in which an entire set of quantum logic gates (including preparation and measurement) can be fully characterized without need for pre-calibrated operations. Our new method, ``extended Linear GST'' (eLGST) uses fast, reliable analysis of structured long gate sequences to deliver tomographic precision at the Heisenberg limit with GST's calibration-free framework. We demonstrate this precision on a trapped-ion qubit, and show significant (orders of magnitude) advantage over both standard process tomography and randomized benchmarking. This work was supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program at Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

LDRD Final Report 15-ERD-037 Matthews

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Matthews, Manyalibo J.

2017-10-26

The physics and materials science involved in laser materials processing of metals was studied experimentally using custom-built test beds and in situ diagnostics. Special attention was given to laser-based powder bed fusion additive manufacturing processes, a technology critically important to the stockpile stewardship program in NNSA. New light has been shed on several phenomena such as laser-driven spatter, material displacement and morphology changes. The results presented here and in publications generated by this work have proven impactful and useful to both internal and external communities. New directions in additive manufacturing research at LLNL have been enabled, along with new scientificmore » capabilities that can serve future program needs.« less

Final LDRD Report: Using Linkography of Cyber Attack Patterns to Inform Honeytoken Placement.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mitchell, Robert; Jarocki, John Charles; Fisher, Andrew N

The war to establish cyber supremacy continues, and the literature is crowded with strictly technical cyber security measures. We present the results of a three year LDRD project using Linkography, a methodology new to the field of cyber security, we establish the foundation neces- sary to track and profile the microbehavior of humans attacking cyber systems. We also propose ways to leverage this understanding to influence and deceive these attackers. We studied the sci- ence of linkography, applied it to the cyber security domain, implemented a software package to manage linkographs, generated the preprocessing blocks necessary to ingest raw data,more » produced machine learning models, created ontology refinement algorithms and prototyped a web applica- tion for researchers and practitioners to apply linkography. Machine learning produced some of our key results: We trained and validated multinomial classifiers with a real world data set and predicted the attacker's next category of action with 86 to 98% accuracy; dimension reduction techniques indicated that the linkography-based features were among the most powerful. We also discovered ontology refinement algorithms that advanced the state of the art in linkography in general and cyber security in particular. We conclude that linkography is a viable tool for cyber security; we look forward to expanding our work to other data sources and using our prediction results to enable adversary deception techniques. Acknowledgements Thanks to Phil Bennett, Michael Bernard, Jeffrey Bigg, Marshall Daniels, Tyler Dean, David Dug- gan, Carson Kent, Josh Maine, Marci McBride, Nick Peterson, Katie Rodhouse, Asael Sorenson, Roger Suppona, Scott Watson and David Zage. We acknowledge support for this work by the LDRD Program at Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-mission laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation for the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000. This page intentionally left blank.« less

Technologies for diagnosis and treatment of acute stroke

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fitch, J.P.

1998-02-09

From October 1994 to June 1997, a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory were funded through LDRD to develop and integrate technologies for diagnosis and treatment of acute stroke. The project was summarized in a Science and Technology Review article `Brain Attack` that appeared in June 1997 and again in the Center for Healthcare Technologies Report (UCRL-LR-124761). This article is the best overview of the project, epidemiology of stroke and technical progress. Most of the technical progress has been documented in conference papers and presentations and refereed journal articles. Additional technical publication can be expectedmore » as our remaining patent applications progress through the US Patent and Trademark Office. The purpose of this report is to provide an appropriate introduction and organization to the numerous publications so that interested readers can quickly find information. Because there is no documentation for the history of this project, this report provides a summary. It also provides the final status report for the LDRD funding.« less

Tunable Quantum Dot Solids: Impact of Interparticle Interactions on Bulk Properties

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sinclair, Michael B.; Fan, Hongyou; Brener, Igal

2015-09-01

QD-solids comprising self-assembled semiconductor nanocrystals such as CdSe are currently under investigation for use in a wide array of applications including light emitting diodes, solar cells, field effect transistors, photodetectors, and biosensors. The goal of this LDRD project was develop a fundamental understanding of the relationship between nanoparticle interactions and the different regimes of charge and energy transport in semiconductor quantum dot (QD) solids. Interparticle spacing was tuned through the application of hydrostatic pressure in a diamond anvil cell, and the impact on interparticle interactions was probed using x-ray scattering and a variety of static and transient optical spectroscopies. Duringmore » the course of this LDRD, we discovered a new, previously unknown, route to synthesize semiconductor quantum wires using high pressure sintering of self-assembled quantum dot crystals. We believe that this new, pressure driven synthesis approach holds great potential as a new tool for nanomaterials synthesis and engineering.« less

Predicting the valley physics of silicon quantum dots directly from a device layout

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gamble, John King; Harvey-Collard, Patrick; Jacobson, N. Tobias; Bacewski, Andrew D.; Nielsen, Erik; Montaño, Inès; Rudolph, Martin; Carroll, Malcolm S.; Muller, Richard P.

Qubits made from electrostatically-defined quantum dots in Si-based systems are excellent candidates for quantum information processing applications. However, the multi-valley structure of silicon's band structure provides additional challenges for the few-electron physics critical to qubit manipulation. Here, we present a theory for valley physics that is predictive, in that we take as input the real physical device geometry and experimental voltage operation schedule, and with minimal approximation compute the resulting valley physics. We present both effective mass theory and atomistic tight-binding calculations for two distinct metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) quantum dot systems, directly comparing them to experimental measurements of the valley splitting. We conclude by assessing these detailed simulations' utility for engineering desired valley physics in future devices. Sandia is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under Contract No. DE-AC04-94AL85000. The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the Sandia National Laboratories Truman Fellowship Program, which is funded by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program.

Laboratory Directed Research and Development Annual Report for 2011

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hughes, Pamela J.

2012-04-09

This report documents progress made on all LDRD-funded projects during fiscal year 2011. The following topics are discussed: (1) Advanced sensors and instrumentation; (2) Biological Sciences; (3) Chemistry; (4) Earth and space sciences; (5) Energy supply and use; (6) Engineering and manufacturing processes; (7) Materials science and technology; (8) Mathematics and computing sciences; (9) Nuclear science and engineering; and (10) Physics.

Quantitative adaptation analytics for assessing dynamic systems of systems: LDRD Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gauthier, John H.; Miner, Nadine E.; Wilson, Michael L.

2015-01-01

Our society is increasingly reliant on systems and interoperating collections of systems, known as systems of systems (SoS). These SoS are often subject to changing missions (e.g., nation- building, arms-control treaties), threats (e.g., asymmetric warfare, terrorism), natural environments (e.g., climate, weather, natural disasters) and budgets. How well can SoS adapt to these types of dynamic conditions? This report details the results of a three year Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project aimed at developing metrics and methodologies for quantifying the adaptability of systems and SoS. Work products include: derivation of a set of adaptability metrics, a method for combiningmore » the metrics into a system of systems adaptability index (SoSAI) used to compare adaptability of SoS designs, development of a prototype dynamic SoS (proto-dSoS) simulation environment which provides the ability to investigate the validity of the adaptability metric set, and two test cases that evaluate the usefulness of a subset of the adaptability metrics and SoSAI for distinguishing good from poor adaptability in a SoS. Intellectual property results include three patents pending: A Method For Quantifying Relative System Adaptability, Method for Evaluating System Performance, and A Method for Determining Systems Re-Tasking.« less

Developing Density of Laser-Cooled Neutral Atoms and Molecules in a Linear Magnetic Trap

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Velasquez, Joe, III; Walstrom, Peter; di Rosa, Michael

2013-05-01

In this poster we show that neutral particle injection and accumulation using laser-induced spin flips may be used to form dense ensembles of ultracold magnetic particles, i.e., laser-cooled paramagnetic atoms and molecules. Particles are injected in a field-seeking state, are switched by optical pumping to a field-repelled state, and are stored in the minimum-B trap. The analogous process in high-energy charged-particle accumulator rings is charge-exchange injection using stripper foils. The trap is a linear array of sextupoles capped by solenoids. Particle-tracking calculations and design of our linear accumulator along with related experiments involving 7Li will be presented. We test these concepts first with atoms in preparation for later work with selected molecules. Finally, we present our preliminary results with CaH, our candidate molecule for laser cooling. This project is funded by the LDRD program of Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Proton deflectometry of laser-driven relativistic electron jet from thin foil target

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Chengkun; Palaniyappan, S.; Gautier, D. C.; Johnson, R. P.; Shimada, T.; Fernandez, J. C.; Tsung, F. S.; Mori, W. B.

2017-10-01

Near critical density relativistic electron jets from laser solid interaction carry currents approaching the Alfvén-limit and tens of kilo-Tesla magnetic fields. Such jets are often found in kinetic simulations with low areal density targets, but have not been confirmed experimentally. They may be used for X/gamma-ray generation and is also important for the understanding of post-transparency plasma dynamics. With a short-pulse probe beam at the Trident laser facility, we employed proton deflectometry to infer the jet's properties, structure and the long-time dynamics. We develop corresponding GEANT4 simulation model of the proton deflectometry, with input from the kinetic PIC simulations in 2D and quasi-3D geometry, to compare with the experimental radiography images. Detail comparison of the experimental and simulation features in the deflectometry will be discussed. Work supported by the LDRD program at LANL.

Modeling of Diamond Field-Emitter-Arrays for high brightness photocathode applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwan, Thomas; Huang, Chengkun; Piryatinski, Andrei; Lewellen, John; Nichols, Kimberly; Choi, Bo; Pavlenko, Vitaly; Shchegolkov, Dmitry; Nguyen, Dinh; Andrews, Heather; Simakov, Evgenya

2017-10-01

We propose to employ Diamond Field-Emitter-Arrays (DFEAs) as high-current-density ultra-low-emittance photocathodes for compact laser-driven dielectric accelerators capable of generating ultra-high brightness electron beams for advanced applications. We develop a semi-classical Monte-Carlo photoemission model for DFEAs that includes carriers' transport to the emitter surface and tunneling through the surface under external fields. The model accounts for the electronic structure size quantization affecting the transport and tunneling process within the sharp diamond tips. We compare this first principle model with other field emission models, such as the Child-Langmuir and Murphy-Good models. By further including effects of carrier photoexcitation, we perform simulations of the DFEAs' photoemission quantum yield and the emitted electron beam. Details of the theoretical model and validation against preliminary experimental data will be presented. Work ssupported by LDRD program at LANL.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Corona, Edmundo

The objective of this memo is to present a brief report of the progress achieved during FY2016 on the investigation of ductile failure in the 2013 Sandia Fracture Challenge specimen. The experimental investigation was conducted with both the original steel A286 material used in the fracture challenge as well as with Al 7075-T651. The new results include further microscopy work for the steel A286 specimens, failure criterion verification for both materials and the implementation of a finite element model containing `material imperfections' to simulate the limit load in the response of the steel A286 specimens. Funding used to conduct themore » work presented here was provided by the ASC V&V program on validation of shear failure (Benjamin Reedlunn, PI) and from Sandia's LDRD program.« less

Thermal conductivity measurements of proton-heated warm dense aluminum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKelvey, A.; Kemp, G.; Sterne, P.; Fernandez, A.; Shepherd, R.; Marinak, M.; Link, A.; Collins, G.; Sio, H.; King, J.; Freeman, R.; Hua, R.; McGuffey, C.; Kim, J.; Beg, F.; Ping, Y.

2017-10-01

We present the first thermal conductivity measurements of warm dense aluminum at 0.5-2.7 g/cc and 2-10 eV, using a recently developed platform of differential heating. A temperature gradient is induced in a Au/Al dual-layer target by proton heating, and subsequent heat flow from the hotter Au to the Al rear surface is detected by two simultaneous time-resolved diagnostics. A systematic data set allows for constraining both thermal conductivity and equation-of-state models. Simulations using Purgatorio model or Sesame S27314 for Al thermal conductivity and LEOS for Au/Al release equation-of-state show good agreement with data after 15 ps. Predictions by other models, such Lee-More, Sesame 27311 and 29373, are outside of experimental error bars. Discrepancy still exists at early time 0-15 ps, likely due to non-equilibrium conditions. (Y. Ping et al. Phys. Plasmas, 2015, A. Mckelvey, et al. Sci. Reports 2017). This work was performed under the auspices of the DOE by LLNL under contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 with support from DOE OFES Early Career program and LLNL LDRD program.

Final LDRD report : development of sample preparation methods for ChIPMA-based imaging mass spectrometry of tissue samples.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Maharrey, Sean P.; Highley, Aaron M.; Behrens, Richard, Jr.

2007-12-01

The objective of this short-term LDRD project was to acquire the tools needed to use our chemical imaging precision mass analyzer (ChIPMA) instrument to analyze tissue samples. This effort was an outgrowth of discussions with oncologists on the need to find the cellular origin of signals in mass spectra of serum samples, which provide biomarkers for ovarian cancer. The ultimate goal would be to collect chemical images of biopsy samples allowing the chemical images of diseased and nondiseased sections of a sample to be compared. The equipment needed to prepare tissue samples have been acquired and built. This equipment includesmore » an cyro-ultramicrotome for preparing thin sections of samples and a coating unit. The coating unit uses an electrospray system to deposit small droplets of a UV-photo absorbing compound on the surface of the tissue samples. Both units are operational. The tissue sample must be coated with the organic compound to enable matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) and matrix enhanced secondary ion mass spectrometry (ME-SIMS) measurements with the ChIPMA instrument Initial plans to test the sample preparation using human tissue samples required development of administrative procedures beyond the scope of this LDRD. Hence, it was decided to make two types of measurements: (1) Testing the spatial resolution of ME-SIMS by preparing a substrate coated with a mixture of an organic matrix and a bio standard and etching a defined pattern in the coating using a liquid metal ion beam, and (2) preparing and imaging C. elegans worms. Difficulties arose in sectioning the C. elegans for analysis and funds and time to overcome these difficulties were not available in this project. The facilities are now available for preparing biological samples for analysis with the ChIPMA instrument. Some further investment of time and resources in sample preparation should make this a useful tool for chemical imaging applications.« less

New fission-fragment detector for experiments at DANCE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rusev, G.; Roman, A. R.; Daum, J. K.; Springs, R. K.; Bond, E. M.; Jandel, M.; Baramsai, B.; Bredeweg, T. A.; Couture, A.; Favalli, A.; Ianakiev, K. D.; Iliev, M. L.; Mosby, S.; Ullmann, J. L.; Walker, C. L.

2015-10-01

A fission-fragment detector based on thin scintillating films has been built to serve as a veto/trigger detector in neutron-induced fission measurements at DANCE. The fissile material is surrounded by scintillating films providing a 4 π detection of the fission fragments. The scintillation events caused by the fission fragment interactions in the films are registered with silicon photomultipliers. Design of the detector and test measurements are described. Work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy through the LANL/LDRD Program and the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Nuclear Physics under the Early Career Award No. LANL20135009.

Shale Fracture Analysis using the Combined Finite-Discrete Element Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carey, J. W.; Lei, Z.; Rougier, E.; Knight, E. E.; Viswanathan, H.

2014-12-01

Hydraulic fracturing (hydrofrac) is a successful method used to extract oil and gas from highly carbonate rocks like shale. However, challenges exist for industry experts estimate that for a single $10 million dollar lateral wellbore fracking operation, only 10% of the hydrocarbons contained in the rock are extracted. To better understand how to improve hydrofrac recovery efficiencies and to lower its costs, LANL recently funded the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project: "Discovery Science of Hydraulic Fracturing: Innovative Working Fluids and Their Interactions with Rocks, Fractures, and Hydrocarbons". Under the support of this project, the LDRD modeling team is working with the experimental team to understand fracture initiation and propagation in shale rocks. LANL's hybrid hydro-mechanical (HM) tool, the Hybrid Optimization Software Suite (HOSS), is being used to simulate the complex fracture and fragment processes under a variety of different boundary conditions. HOSS is based on the combined finite-discrete element method (FDEM) and has been proven to be a superior computational tool for multi-fracturing problems. In this work, the comparison of HOSS simulation results to triaxial core flooding experiments will be presented.

Integrated Microsensors for Autonomous Microrobots

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

ADKINS, DOUGLAS R.; BYRNE, RAYMOND H.; HELLER, EDWIN J.

2003-02-01

This report describes the development of a miniature mobile microrobot device and several microsystems needed to create a miniature microsensor delivery platform. This work was funded under LDRD No.10785, entitled, ''Integrated Microsensors for Autonomous Microrobots''. The approach adopted in this project was to develop a mobile platform, to which would be attached wireless RF remote control and data acquisition in addition to various microsensors. A modular approach was used to produce a versatile microrobot platform and reduce power consumption and physical size.

Advanced telemedicine development

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Forslund, D.W.; George, J.E.; Gavrilov, E.M.

1998-12-31

This is the final report of a one-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The objective of this project was to develop a Java-based, electronic, medical-record system that can handle multimedia data and work over a wide-area network based on open standards, and that can utilize an existing database back end. The physician is to be totally unaware that there is a database behind the scenes and is only aware that he/she can access and manage the relevant information to treat the patient.

Hybrid methods for cybersecurity analysis :

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Davis, Warren Leon,; Dunlavy, Daniel M.

2014-01-01

Early 2010 saw a signi cant change in adversarial techniques aimed at network intrusion: a shift from malware delivered via email attachments toward the use of hidden, embedded hyperlinks to initiate sequences of downloads and interactions with web sites and network servers containing malicious software. Enterprise security groups were well poised and experienced in defending the former attacks, but the new types of attacks were larger in number, more challenging to detect, dynamic in nature, and required the development of new technologies and analytic capabilities. The Hybrid LDRD project was aimed at delivering new capabilities in large-scale data modeling andmore » analysis to enterprise security operators and analysts and understanding the challenges of detection and prevention of emerging cybersecurity threats. Leveraging previous LDRD research e orts and capabilities in large-scale relational data analysis, large-scale discrete data analysis and visualization, and streaming data analysis, new modeling and analysis capabilities were quickly brought to bear on the problems in email phishing and spear phishing attacks in the Sandia enterprise security operational groups at the onset of the Hybrid project. As part of this project, a software development and deployment framework was created within the security analyst work ow tool sets to facilitate the delivery and testing of new capabilities as they became available, and machine learning algorithms were developed to address the challenge of dynamic threats. Furthermore, researchers from the Hybrid project were embedded in the security analyst groups for almost a full year, engaged in daily operational activities and routines, creating an atmosphere of trust and collaboration between the researchers and security personnel. The Hybrid project has altered the way that research ideas can be incorporated into the production environments of Sandias enterprise security groups, reducing time to deployment from months and years to hours and days for the application of new modeling and analysis capabilities to emerging threats. The development and deployment framework has been generalized into the Hybrid Framework and incor- porated into several LDRD, WFO, and DOE/CSL projects and proposals. And most importantly, the Hybrid project has provided Sandia security analysts with new, scalable, extensible analytic capabilities that have resulted in alerts not detectable using their previous work ow tool sets.« less

Final report for LDRD project 11-0783 : directed robots for increased military manpower effectiveness.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rohrer, Brandon Robinson; Rothganger, Fredrick H.; Wagner, John S.

The purpose of this LDRD is to develop technology allowing warfighters to provide high-level commands to their unmanned assets, freeing them to command a group of them or commit the bulk of their attention elsewhere. To this end, a brain-emulating cognition and control architecture (BECCA) was developed, incorporating novel and uniquely capable feature creation and reinforcement learning algorithms. BECCA was demonstrated on both a mobile manipulator platform and on a seven degree of freedom serial link robot arm. Existing military ground robots are almost universally teleoperated and occupy the complete attention of an operator. They may remove a soldier frommore » harm's way, but they do not necessarily reduce manpower requirements. Current research efforts to solve the problem of autonomous operation in an unstructured, dynamic environment fall short of the desired performance. In order to increase the effectiveness of unmanned vehicle (UV) operators, we proposed to develop robots that can be 'directed' rather than remote-controlled. They are instructed and trained by human operators, rather than driven. The technical approach is modeled closely on psychological and neuroscientific models of human learning. Two Sandia-developed models are utilized in this effort: the Sandia Cognitive Framework (SCF), a cognitive psychology-based model of human processes, and BECCA, a psychophysical-based model of learning, motor control, and conceptualization. Together, these models span the functional space from perceptuo-motor abilities, to high-level motivational and attentional processes.« less

Phase stability of transition metals and alloys

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hixson, R.S.; Schiferl, D.; Wills, J.M.

1997-06-01

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). This project was focused on resolving unexplained differences in calculated and measured phase transition pressures in transition metals. Part of the approach was to do new, higher accuracy calculations of transmission pressures for group 4B and group 6B metals. Theory indicates that the transition pressures for these baseline metals should change if alloyed with a d-electron donor metal, and calculations done using the Local Density Approximation (LDA) and the Virtual Crystal Approximation (VCA) indicate that this is true. Alloymore » systems were calculated for Ti, Zr and Hf based alloys with various solute concentrations. The second part of the program was to do new Diamond Anvil Cell (DAC) measurements to experimentally verify calculational results. Alloys were prepared for these systems with grain size suitable for Diamond Anvil Cell experiments. Experiments were done on pure Ti as well as Ti-V and Ti-Ta alloys. Measuring unambiguous transition pressures for these systems proved difficult, but a new technique developed yielded good results.« less

The ADMX Microwave Cavity: Present and future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woollett, Nathan; ADMX Collaboration

2017-01-01

The Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX), a direct-detection axion search, uses a tunable resonant cavity to enhance axion to photon conversion rates to a detectable level when the cavity resonance matches the mass of the axion. It has successfully taken data in the 460 - 890 MHz frequency range and is now probing a similar range with much higher sensitivity. However the axion mass is unknown and may be at higher frequencies than the currently operating system. In anticipation of future runs with an increased mass range, ADMX is conducting extensive research and development of microwave cavities. These developments include photonic band-gap cavities, multi-vane cavities, partitioned cavities, in-phase coupled cavities, and superconducting hybrid cavities. Many of these projects are in different stages between simulations and testing of physical prototypes. The status and current objectives of these projects will be presented. Supported by DOE Grants DE-SC0010280, DE-FG02-96ER40956, DE-AC52-07NA27344, DE-AC03-76SF00098, the Heising-Simons Foundation and the LLNL, FNAL and PNNL LDRD program.

New Capabilities for Hostile Environments on Z Grand Challenge LDRD - Final Status

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cuneo, Michael E.; Griffin, P. J.; Balch, D. K.

2016-10-01

The purpose of this project was to develop new physical simulation capabilities in order to support the science-based qualification of nonnuclear weapon components in hostile radiation environments. The project contributes directly to the goals of maintaining a safe, secure, and effective US nuclear stockpile, maintaining strategic deterrence at lower nuclear force levels, extending the life of the nuclear deterrent capability, and to be ready for technological surprise.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

The plpdfa software is a product of an LDRD project at LLNL entitked "Adaptive Sampling for Very High Throughput Data Streams" (tracking number 11-ERD-035). This software was developed by a graduate student summer intern, Chris Challis, who worked under project PI Dan Merl furing the summer of 2011. The software the source code is implementing is a statistical analysis technique for clustering and classification of text-valued data. The method had been previously published by the PI in the open literature.

A complexity science-based framework for global joint operations analysis to support force projection: LDRD Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lawton, Craig R.

2015-01-01

The military is undergoing a significant transformation as it modernizes for the information age and adapts to address an emerging asymmetric threat beyond traditional cold war era adversaries. Techniques such as traditional large-scale, joint services war gaming analysis are no longer adequate to support program evaluation activities and mission planning analysis at the enterprise level because the operating environment is evolving too quickly. New analytical capabilities are necessary to address modernization of the Department of Defense (DoD) enterprise. This presents significant opportunity to Sandia in supporting the nation at this transformational enterprise scale. Although Sandia has significant experience with engineeringmore » system of systems (SoS) and Complex Adaptive System of Systems (CASoS), significant fundamental research is required to develop modeling, simulation and analysis capabilities at the enterprise scale. This report documents an enterprise modeling framework which will enable senior level decision makers to better understand their enterprise and required future investments.« less

Integrated Cavity QED in a linear Ion Trap Chip for Enhanced Light Collection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benito, Francisco; Jonathan, Sterk; Boyan, Tabakov; Haltli, Raymond; Tigges, Chris; Stick, Daniel; Balin, Matthew; Moehring, David

2012-06-01

Realizing a scalable trapped-ion quantum information processor may require integration of tools to manipulate qubits into trapping devices. We present efforts towards integrating a 1 mm optical cavity into a microfabricated surface ion trap to efficiently connect nodes in a quantum network. The cavity is formed by a concave mirror and a flat coated silicon mirror around a linear trap where ytterbium ions can be shuttled in and out of the cavity mode. By utilizing the Purcell effect to increase the rate of spontaneous emission into the cavity mode, we expect to collect up to 13% of the emitted photons. This work was supported by Sandia's Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Higher-Order Mixed Finite Element Methods for Time Domain Electromagnetics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

White, D; Stowell, M; Koning, J

This is the final report for LDRD 01-ERD-005. The Principal Investigator was Niel Madsen of the Defense Sciences Engineering Division (DSED). Collaborators included Daniel White, Joe Koning and Nathan Champagne of DSED, Mark Stowell of Center for Applications Development and Software Engineering (CADSE), and Ph.D. students Rob Rieben and Aaron Fisher at the UC Davis Department of Applied Science. It should be noted that the students were partially supported by the LLNL Student-Employee Graduate Research Fellow program. We begin with an Introduction which provides background and motivation for this research effort. Section II contains high-level description of our Approach, andmore » Section III summarizes our key research Accomplishments. A description of the Software deliverables is provided in Section IV, and Section V includes simulation Validation and Results. It should be noted we do not get into the mathematical details in this report, rather these can be found in our publications which are listed in Section III.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Heroux, Michael Allen; Marker, Bryan

This report summarizes the progress made as part of a one year lab-directed research and development (LDRD) project to fund the research efforts of Bryan Marker at the University of Texas at Austin. The goal of the project was to develop new techniques for automatically tuning the performance of dense linear algebra kernels. These kernels often represent the majority of computational time in an application. The primary outcome from this work is a demonstration of the value of model driven engineering as an approach to accurately predict and study performance trade-offs for dense linear algebra computations.

Emulytics for Cyber-Enabled Physical Attack Scenarios: Interim LDRD Report of Year One Results.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Clem, John; Urias, Vincent; Atkins, William Dee

Sandia National Laboratories has funded the research and development of a new capability to interactively explore the effects of cyber exploits on the performance of physical protection systems. This informal, interim report of progress summarizes the project’s basis and year one (of two) accomplishments. It includes descriptions of confirmed cyber exploits against a representative testbed protection system and details the development of an emulytics capability to support live, virtual, and constructive experiments. This work will support stakeholders to better engineer, operate, and maintain reliable protection systems.

Short Pulse Laser Applications Design

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Town, R J; Clark, D S; Kemp, A J

We are applying our recently developed, LDRD-funded computational simulation tool to optimize and develop applications of Fast Ignition (FI) for stockpile stewardship. This report summarizes the work performed during a one-year exploratory research LDRD to develop FI point designs for the National Ignition Facility (NIF). These results were sufficiently encouraging to propose successfully a strategic initiative LDRD to design and perform the definitive FI experiment on the NIF. Ignition experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) will begin in 2010 using the central hot spot (CHS) approach, which relies on the simultaneous compression and ignition of a spherical fuel capsule.more » Unlike this approach, the fast ignition (FI) method separates fuel compression from the ignition phase. In the compression phase, a laser such as NIF is used to implode a shell either directly, or by x rays generated from the hohlraum wall, to form a compact dense ({approx}300 g/cm{sup 3}) fuel mass with an areal density of {approx}3.0 g/cm{sup 2}. To ignite such a fuel assembly requires depositing {approx}20kJ into a {approx}35 {micro}m spot delivered in a short time compared to the fuel disassembly time ({approx}20ps). This energy is delivered during the ignition phase by relativistic electrons generated by the interaction of an ultra-short high-intensity laser. The main advantages of FI over the CHS approach are higher gain, a lower ignition threshold, and a relaxation of the stringent symmetry requirements required by the CHS approach. There is worldwide interest in FI and its associated science. Major experimental facilities are being constructed which will enable 'proof of principle' tests of FI in integrated subignition experiments, most notably the OMEGA-EP facility at the University of Rochester's Laboratory of Laser Energetics and the FIREX facility at Osaka University in Japan. Also, scientists in the European Union have recently proposed the construction of a new FI facility, called HiPER, designed to demonstrate FI. Our design work has focused on the NIF, which is the only facility capable of forming a full-scale hydro assembly, and could be adapted for full-scale FI by the conversion of additional beams to short-pulse operation.« less

Automated Algorithms for Quantum-Level Accuracy in Atomistic Simulations: LDRD Final Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thompson, Aidan Patrick; Schultz, Peter Andrew; Crozier, Paul

2014-09-01

This report summarizes the result of LDRD project 12-0395, titled "Automated Algorithms for Quantum-level Accuracy in Atomistic Simulations." During the course of this LDRD, we have developed an interatomic potential for solids and liquids called Spectral Neighbor Analysis Poten- tial (SNAP). The SNAP potential has a very general form and uses machine-learning techniques to reproduce the energies, forces, and stress tensors of a large set of small configurations of atoms, which are obtained using high-accuracy quantum electronic structure (QM) calculations. The local environment of each atom is characterized by a set of bispectrum components of the local neighbor density projectedmore » on to a basis of hyperspherical harmonics in four dimensions. The SNAP coef- ficients are determined using weighted least-squares linear regression against the full QM training set. This allows the SNAP potential to be fit in a robust, automated manner to large QM data sets using many bispectrum components. The calculation of the bispectrum components and the SNAP potential are implemented in the LAMMPS parallel molecular dynamics code. Global optimization methods in the DAKOTA software package are used to seek out good choices of hyperparameters that define the overall structure of the SNAP potential. FitSnap.py, a Python-based software pack- age interfacing to both LAMMPS and DAKOTA is used to formulate the linear regression problem, solve it, and analyze the accuracy of the resultant SNAP potential. We describe a SNAP potential for tantalum that accurately reproduces a variety of solid and liquid properties. Most significantly, in contrast to existing tantalum potentials, SNAP correctly predicts the Peierls barrier for screw dislocation motion. We also present results from SNAP potentials generated for indium phosphide (InP) and silica (SiO 2 ). We describe efficient algorithms for calculating SNAP forces and energies in molecular dynamics simulations using massively parallel computers and advanced processor ar- chitectures. Finally, we briefly describe the MSM method for efficient calculation of electrostatic interactions on massively parallel computers.« less

Biosecurity Risk Assessment Methodology (BioRAM) v. 2.0

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

CASKEY, SUSAN; GAUDIOSO, JENNIFER; SALERNO, REYNOLDS

Sandia National Laboratories International Biological Threat Reduction Dept (SNL/IBTR) has an ongoing mission to enhance biosecurity assessment methodologies, tools, and guise. These will aid labs seeking to implement biosecurity as advocated in the recently released WHO's Biorisk Management: Lab Biosecurity Guidance. BioRAM 2.0 is the software tool developed initially using the SNL LDRD process and designed to complement the "Laboratory Biosecurity Risk Handbook" written by Ren Salerno and Jennifer Gaudioso defining biosecurity risk assessment methodologies.

LDRD final report : mesoscale modeling of dynamic loading of heterogeneous materials

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robbins, Joshua; Dingreville, Remi Philippe Michel; Voth, Thomas Eugene

2013-12-01

Material response to dynamic loading is often dominated by microstructure (grain structure, porosity, inclusions, defects). An example critically important to Sandia's mission is dynamic strength of polycrystalline metals where heterogeneities lead to localization of deformation and loss of shear strength. Microstructural effects are of broad importance to the scientific community and several institutions within DoD and DOE; however, current models rely on inaccurate assumptions about mechanisms at the sub-continuum or mesoscale. Consequently, there is a critical need for accurate and robust methods for modeling heterogeneous material response at this lower length scale. This report summarizes work performed as part ofmore » an LDRD effort (FY11 to FY13; project number 151364) to meet these needs.« less

Three component vibrational time reversal communication

DOE PAGES

Anderson, Brian E.; Ulrich, Timothy J.; Ten Cate, James A.

2015-01-01

Time reversal provides an optimal prefilter matched signal to apply to a communication signal before signal transmission. Time reversal allows compensation for wave speed dispersion and can function well in reverberant environments. Time reversal can be used to focus elastic energy to each of the three components of motion independently. A pipe encased in concrete was used to demonstrate the ability to conduct communications of information using three component time reversal. Furthermore, the ability of time reversal to compensate for multi-path distortion (overcoming reverberation) will be demonstrated and the rate of signal communication will be presented. [The U.S. Department ofmore » Energy, through the LANL/LDRD Program, is gratefully acknowledged for supporting this work.]« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Boman, Erik G.

This LDRD project was a campus exec fellowship to fund (in part) Donald Nguyen’s PhD research at UT-Austin. His work has focused on parallel programming models, and scheduling irregular algorithms on shared-memory systems using the Galois framework. Galois provides a simple but powerful way for users and applications to automatically obtain good parallel performance using certain supported data containers. The naïve user can write serial code, while advanced users can optimize performance by advanced features, such as specifying the scheduling policy. Galois was used to parallelize two sparse matrix reordering schemes: RCM and Sloan. Such reordering is important in high-performancemore » computing to obtain better data locality and thus reduce run times.« less

Exploring Ultrahigh-Intensity Laser-Plasma Interaction Physics with QED Particle-in-Cell Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luedtke, S. V.; Yin, L.; Labun, L. A.; Albright, B. J.; Stark, D. J.; Bird, R. F.; Nystrom, W. D.; Hegelich, B. M.

2017-10-01

Next generation high-intensity lasers are reaching intensity regimes where new physics-quantum electrodynamics (QED) corrections to otherwise classical plasma dynamics-becomes important. Modeling laser-plasma interactions in these extreme settings presents a challenge to traditional particle-in-cell (PIC) codes, which either do not have radiation reaction or include only classical radiation reaction. We discuss a semi-classical approach to adding quantum radiation reaction and photon production to the PIC code VPIC. We explore these intensity regimes with VPIC, compare with results from the PIC code PSC, and report on ongoing work to expand the capability of VPIC in these regimes. This work was supported by the U.S. DOE, Los Alamos National Laboratory Science program, LDRD program, NNSA (DE-NA0002008), and AFOSR (FA9550-14-1-0045). HPC resources provided by TACC, XSEDE, and LANL Institutional Computing.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Corona, Edmundo

The objective of this memo is to present a brief report of the progress achieved during FY2016 on the investigation of ductile failure in the 2013 Sandia Fracture Challenge specimen. It is a follow-up to the results of an experimental investigation presented in [1]. The experi- mental investigation was conducted with both the original steel A286 material used in the fracture challenge as well as with Al 7075-T651. The new results include further microscopy work for the steel A286 specimens, failure criterion veri cation for both materials and the implementation of a nite element model containing `material imperfections' to simulatemore » the limit load in the response of the steel A286 specimens. Funding used to conduct the work presented here was provided by the ASC V&V program on validation of shear failure (Benjamin Reedlunn, PI) and from Sandia's LDRD program. This memo assumes that the reader is familiar with the material in [1].« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Doering, C.; Bier, M.; Christodoulou, K.

This is the final report of a one-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Polymers, composites, and synthetic modern materials are replacing traditional materials in many older scientific, engineering, commercial, and military applications. This project sought to focus on the new polymeric materials, deriving and analyzing models that predict their seemingly mysterious transport properties. It sought to identify the dominant physical mechanisms and the pertinent dimensionless parameters, produce viable theoretical models, and devise asymptotic and numerical methods for use in specific problems.

THz transceiver characterization : LDRD project 139363 final report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nordquist, Christopher Daniel; Wanke, Michael Clement; Cich, Michael Joseph

2009-09-01

LDRD Project 139363 supported experiments to quantify the performance characteristics of monolithically integrated Schottky diode + quantum cascade laser (QCL) heterodyne mixers at terahertz (THz) frequencies. These integrated mixers are the first all-semiconductor THz devices to successfully incorporate a rectifying diode directly into the optical waveguide of a QCL, obviating the conventional optical coupling between a THz local oscillator and rectifier in a heterodyne mixer system. This integrated mixer was shown to function as a true heterodyne receiver of an externally received THz signal, a breakthrough which may lead to more widespread acceptance of this new THz technology paradigm. Inmore » addition, questions about QCL mode shifting in response to temperature, bias, and external feedback, and to what extent internal frequency locking can improve stability have been answered under this project.« less

Synchrotron emission diagnostic of full-orbit kinetic simulations of runaway electrons in tokamaks plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carbajal Gomez, Leopoldo; Del-Castillo-Negrete, Diego

2017-10-01

Developing avoidance or mitigation strategies of runaway electrons (RE) for the safe operation of ITER is imperative. Synchrotron radiation (SR) of RE is routinely used in current tokamak experiments to diagnose RE. We present the results of a newly developed camera diagnostic of SR for full-orbit kinetic simulations of RE in DIII-D-like plasmas that simultaneously includes: full-orbit effects, information of the spectral and angular distribution of SR of each electron, and basic geometric optics of a camera. We observe a strong dependence of the SR measured by the camera on the pitch angle distribution of RE, namely we find that crescent shapes of the SR on the camera pictures relate to RE distributions with small pitch angles, while ellipse shapes relate to distributions of RE with larger pitch angles. A weak dependence of the SR measured by the camera with the RE energy, value of the q-profile at the edge, and the chosen range of wavelengths is found. Furthermore, we observe that oversimplifying the angular distribution of the SR changes the synchrotron spectra and overestimates its amplitude. Research sponsored by the LDRD Program of ORNL, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U. S. DoE.

Accelerating large scale Kohn-Sham density functional theory calculations with semi-local functionals and hybrid functionals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Lin

The computational cost of standard Kohn-Sham density functional theory (KSDFT) calculations scale cubically with respect to the system size, which limits its use in large scale applications. In recent years, we have developed an alternative procedure called the pole expansion and selected inversion (PEXSI) method. The PEXSI method solves KSDFT without solving any eigenvalue and eigenvector, and directly evaluates physical quantities including electron density, energy, atomic force, density of states, and local density of states. The overall algorithm scales as at most quadratically for all materials including insulators, semiconductors and the difficult metallic systems. The PEXSI method can be efficiently parallelized over 10,000 - 100,000 processors on high performance machines. The PEXSI method has been integrated into a number of community electronic structure software packages such as ATK, BigDFT, CP2K, DGDFT, FHI-aims and SIESTA, and has been used in a number of applications with 2D materials beyond 10,000 atoms. The PEXSI method works for LDA, GGA and meta-GGA functionals. The mathematical structure for hybrid functional KSDFT calculations is significantly different. I will also discuss recent progress on using adaptive compressed exchange method for accelerating hybrid functional calculations. DOE SciDAC Program, DOE CAMERA Program, LBNL LDRD, Sloan Fellowship.

Final Report: CNC Micromachines LDRD No.10793

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

JOKIEL JR., BERNHARD; BENAVIDES, GILBERT L.; BIEG, LOTHAR F.

2003-04-01

The three-year LDRD ''CNC Micromachines'' was successfully completed at the end of FY02. The project had four major breakthroughs in spatial motion control in MEMS: (1) A unified method for designing scalable planar and spatial on-chip motion control systems was developed. The method relies on the use of parallel kinematic mechanisms (PKMs) that when properly designed provide different types of motion on-chip without the need for post-fabrication assembly, (2) A new type of actuator was developed--the linear stepping track drive (LSTD) that provides open loop linear position control that is scalable in displacement, output force and step size. Several versionsmore » of this actuator were designed, fabricated and successfully tested. (3) Different versions of XYZ translation only and PTT motion stages were designed, successfully fabricated and successfully tested demonstrating absolutely that on-chip spatial motion control systems are not only possible, but are a reality. (4) Control algorithms, software and infrastructure based on MATLAB were created and successfully implemented to drive the XYZ and PTT motion platforms in a controlled manner. The control software is capable of reading an M/G code machine tool language file, decode the instructions and correctly calculate and apply position and velocity trajectories to the motion devices linear drive inputs to position the device platform along the trajectory as specified by the input file. A full and detailed account of design methodology, theory and experimental results (failures and successes) is provided.« less

Code Modernization of VPIC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bird, Robert; Nystrom, David; Albright, Brian

2017-10-01

The ability of scientific simulations to effectively deliver performant computation is increasingly being challenged by successive generations of high-performance computing architectures. Code development to support efficient computation on these modern architectures is both expensive, and highly complex; if it is approached without due care, it may also not be directly transferable between subsequent hardware generations. Previous works have discussed techniques to support the process of adapting a legacy code for modern hardware generations, but despite the breakthroughs in the areas of mini-app development, portable-performance, and cache oblivious algorithms the problem still remains largely unsolved. In this work we demonstrate how a focus on platform agnostic modern code-development can be applied to Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations to facilitate effective scientific delivery. This work builds directly on our previous work optimizing VPIC, in which we replaced intrinsic based vectorisation with compile generated auto-vectorization to improve the performance and portability of VPIC. In this work we present the use of a specialized SIMD queue for processing some particle operations, and also preview a GPU capable OpenMP variant of VPIC. Finally we include a lessons learnt. Work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Dept. of Energy by the Los Alamos National Security, LLC Los Alamos National Laboratory under contract DE-AC52-06NA25396 and supported by the LANL LDRD program.

04-ERD-052-Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Loots, G G; Ovcharenko, I; Collette, N

2007-02-26

Generating the sequence of the human genome represents a colossal achievement for science and mankind. The technical use for the human genome project information holds great promise to cure disease, prevent bioterror threats, as well as to learn about human origins. Yet converting the sequence data into biological meaningful information has not been immediately obvious, and we are still in the preliminary stages of understanding how the genome is organized, what are the functional building blocks and how do these sequences mediate complex biological processes. The overarching goal of this program was to develop novel methods and high throughput strategiesmore » for determining the functions of ''anonymous'' human genes that are evolutionarily deeply conserved in other vertebrates. We coupled analytical tool development and computational predictions regarding gene function with novel high throughput experimental strategies and tested biological predictions in the laboratory. The tools required for comparative genomic data-mining are fundamentally the same whether they are applied to scientific studies of related microbes or the search for functions of novel human genes. For this reason the tools, conceptual framework and the coupled informatics-experimental biology paradigm we developed in this LDRD has many potential scientific applications relevant to LLNL multidisciplinary research in bio-defense, bioengineering, bionanosciences and microbial and environmental genomics.« less

In-Situ Imaging of Particles during Rapid Thermite Deflagrations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grapes, Michael; Sullivan, Kyle; Reeves, Robert; Densmore, John; Willey, Trevor; van Buuren, Tony; Fezaa, Kamel

The dynamic behavior of rapidly deflagrating thermites is a highly complex process involving rapid decomposition, melting, and outgassing of intermediate and/or product gases. Few experimental techniques are capable of probing these phenomena in situ due to the small length and time scales associated with the reaction. Here we use a recently developed extended burn tube test, where we initiate a small pile of thermite on the closed end of a clear acrylic tube. The length of the tube is sufficient to fully contain the reaction as it proceeds and flows entrained particles down the tube. This experiment was brought to the Advanced Photon Source, and the particle formation was X-ray imaged at various positions down the tube. Several formulations, as well as formulation parameters were varied to investigate the size and morphology of the particles, as well as to look for dynamic behavior attributed to the reaction. In all cases, we see evidence of particle coalescence and condensed-phase interfacial reactions. The results improve our understanding of the procession of reactants to products in these systems. Funding provided by the LLNL LDRD program (PLS-16FS-028).

Electronic and energetics properties of oxygen defects in La2-xSrxCuO4 in relation to doping and strain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Sohee; Park, Changwon; Yoon, Mina

The level of oxygen defects in La2-xSrxCuO4 (LSCO), a high temperature superconductor, is known to drastically change LSCO's structural and electronic properties. However, the atomistic understanding of the role of oxygen defects is far from being complete. Using first-principles calculations, we investigated the electronic and energetic properties of oxygen vacancies in LSCO in relation to external parameters such as degree of Sr doping amount and external strain. We find that the relative stabilities between the equatorial vacancy induced in the CuO2 layer and the apical vacancy in the LaO layer can be altered by strain. In addition, Sr doping plays a crucial role in their relative stabilities. Therefore, the complex interplay between those key parameters essentially determines the overall oxygen density. Our finding can be instrumental in the experimental development of LSCO with desired oxygen density. Work supported by the LDRD Program of ORNL managed by UT-Battle, LLC, for the U.S. DOE.

Shockwave dynamics: a comparison between stochastic and periodic porous architectures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Branch, Brittany; Ionite, Axinte; Clements, Bradford; Montgomery, David; Schmalzer, Andrew; Patterson, Brian; Mueller, Alexander; Jensen, Brian; Dattelbaum, Dana

Polymeric foams are used extensively as structural supports and load mitigating materials in which they are subjected to compressive loading at a range of strain rates, up to the high strain rates encountered in blast and shockwave loading. To date, there have been few insights into compaction phenomena in porous structures at the mesoscale, and the influence of structure on shockwave localization. Of particular interest is when the properties of the inherent mesoscopic, periodic structure begin to emerge, versus the discrete behavior of the individual cell. Here, we illustrate, for the first time, modulation of shockwave dynamics controlled at micron-length scales in additively manufactured periodic porous structures measured using in situ, time-resolved x-ray phase contrast imaging at the Advanced Photon Source. Further, we demonstrate how the shockwave dynamics in periodic structures differ from stochastic foams of similar density and we conclude that microstructural control in elastomer foams has a dramatic effect on shockwave dynamics and can be tailored towards a variety of applications. Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program at Los Alamos National Laboratory (project# 20160103DR) and DOE/NNSA Campaign 2.

Phonon Calculations Using the Real-Space Multigrid Method (RMG)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jiayong; Lu, Wenchang; Briggs, Emil; Cheng, Yongqiang; Ramirez-Cuesta, A. J.; Bernholc, Jerry

RMG, a DFT-based open-source package using the real-space multigrid method, has proven to work effectively on large scale systems with thousands of atoms. Our recent work has shown its practicability for high accuracy phonon calculations employing the frozen phonon method. In this method, a primary unit cell with a small lattice constant is enlarged to a supercell that is sufficiently large to obtain the force constants matrix by finite displacements of atoms in the supercell. An open-source package PhonoPy is used to determine the necessary displacements by taking symmetry into account. A python script coupling RMG and PhonoPy enables us to perform high-throughput calculations of phonon properties. We have applied this method to many systems, such as silicon, silica glass, ZIF-8, etc. Results from RMG are compared to the experimental spectra measured using the VISION inelastic neutron scattering spectrometer at the Spallation Neutron Source at ORNL, as well as results from other DFT codes. The computing resources were made available through the VirtuES (Virtual Experiments in Spectroscopy) project, funded by Laboratory Directed Research and Development program (LDRD project No. 7739)

Building more powerful less expensive supercomputers using Processing-In-Memory (PIM) LDRD final report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Murphy, Richard C.

2009-09-01

This report details the accomplishments of the 'Building More Powerful Less Expensive Supercomputers Using Processing-In-Memory (PIM)' LDRD ('PIM LDRD', number 105809) for FY07-FY09. Latency dominates all levels of supercomputer design. Within a node, increasing memory latency, relative to processor cycle time, limits CPU performance. Between nodes, the same increase in relative latency impacts scalability. Processing-In-Memory (PIM) is an architecture that directly addresses this problem using enhanced chip fabrication technology and machine organization. PIMs combine high-speed logic and dense, low-latency, high-bandwidth DRAM, and lightweight threads that tolerate latency by performing useful work during memory transactions. This work examines the potential ofmore » PIM-based architectures to support mission critical Sandia applications and an emerging class of more data intensive informatics applications. This work has resulted in a stronger architecture/implementation collaboration between 1400 and 1700. Additionally, key technology components have impacted vendor roadmaps, and we are in the process of pursuing these new collaborations. This work has the potential to impact future supercomputer design and construction, reducing power and increasing performance. This final report is organized as follow: this summary chapter discusses the impact of the project (Section 1), provides an enumeration of publications and other public discussion of the work (Section 1), and concludes with a discussion of future work and impact from the project (Section 1). The appendix contains reprints of the refereed publications resulting from this work.« less

GEOS. User Tutorials

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fu, Pengchen; Settgast, Randolph R.; Johnson, Scott M.

2014-12-17

GEOS is a massively parallel, multi-physics simulation application utilizing high performance computing (HPC) to address subsurface reservoir stimulation activities with the goal of optimizing current operations and evaluating innovative stimulation methods. GEOS enables coupling of di erent solvers associated with the various physical processes occurring during reservoir stimulation in unique and sophisticated ways, adapted to various geologic settings, materials and stimulation methods. Developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) as a part of a Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Strategic Initiative (SI) project, GEOS represents the culmination of a multi-year ongoing code development and improvement e ort that hasmore » leveraged existing code capabilities and sta expertise to design new computational geosciences software.« less

Development of a portable preconcentrator/ion mobility spectrometer system for the trace detection of narcotics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Parmeter, J.E.; Custer, C.A.

This project was supported by LDRD funding for the development and preliminary testing of a portable narcotics detection system. The system developed combines a commercial trace detector known as an ion mobility spectrometer (IMS) with a preconcentrator originally designed by Department 5848 for the collection of explosives molecules. The detector and preconcentrator were combined along with all necessary accessories onto a push cart, thus yielding a fully portable detection unit. Preliminary testing with both explosives and narcotics molecules shown that the system is operational, and that it can successfully detect drugs as marijuana, methamphetamine (speed), and cocaine based on theirmore » characteristics IMS signatures.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mac Donald, Philip Elsworth; Buongiorno, Jacopo; Davis, Cliff Bybee

The purpose of this collaborative Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project is to investigate the suitability of lead or lead-bismuth cooled fast reactors for producing low-cost electricity as well as for actinide burning. The goal is to identify and analyze the key technical issues in core neutronics, materials, thermal-hydraulics, fuels, and economics associated with the development of this reactor concept. Work has been accomplished in four major areas of research: core neutronic design, plant engineering, material compatibility studies, and coolant activation. The publications derived from workmore » on this project (since project inception) are listed in Appendix A.« less

National information infrastructure applications

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Forslund, D.; George, J.; Greenfield, J.

1996-07-01

This is the final report of a two-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). This project sought to develop a telemedical application in which medical records are electronically searched and digital signatures of real CT scan data are indexed and used to characterize a range of diseases and are used to compare on-line medical data with archived clinical data rapidly. This system includes multimedia data management, interactive collaboration, data compression and transmission, remote data storage and retrieval, and automated data analysis integrated in a distributed application between Los Alamos and the National Jewishmore » Hospital.« less

Sandia National Laboratories: LabNews Articles

Science.gov Websites

, 2016 Sandia economic impact up in 2015; 25 years of LDRD; Enormous blades for offshore energy; ANGLEing ) $_SerializerTool.serialize($alt) November 12, 2015 Partnerships, mission synergy will shape Sandia's future; Managing the

The low-energy program of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Massarczyk, Ralph; MAJORANA Collaboration

2017-01-01

The MAJORANA Collaboration constructed an ultra-low background, modular high-purity Ge detector array to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay in 76Ge. Located at the 4850-ft level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility, the DEMONSTRATOR detector assembly has the goal to show that it is possible to achieve background rates necessary for future ton-scale experiments. The ultra-clean assembly in combination with low-noise p-type point contact detectors allows measurements with thresholds in the keV range. The talk will give an overview of the low-energy physics and recent achievements made since the completed DEMONSTRATOR array started data taking in mid 2016. Recent results from campaign will be presented, including new limits on bosonic dark matter interaction rates. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, the Particle Astrophysics Program of the National Science Foundation, and the Sanford Underground Research Facility. We acknowledge the support of the U.S. Department of Energy through the LANL/LDRD Program.

The Livermore Brain: Massive Deep Learning Networks Enabled by High Performance Computing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Barry Y.

The proliferation of inexpensive sensor technologies like the ubiquitous digital image sensors has resulted in the collection and sharing of vast amounts of unsorted and unexploited raw data. Companies and governments who are able to collect and make sense of large datasets to help them make better decisions more rapidly will have a competitive advantage in the information era. Machine Learning technologies play a critical role for automating the data understanding process; however, to be maximally effective, useful intermediate representations of the data are required. These representations or “features” are transformations of the raw data into a form where patternsmore » are more easily recognized. Recent breakthroughs in Deep Learning have made it possible to learn these features from large amounts of labeled data. The focus of this project is to develop and extend Deep Learning algorithms for learning features from vast amounts of unlabeled data and to develop the HPC neural network training platform to support the training of massive network models. This LDRD project succeeded in developing new unsupervised feature learning algorithms for images and video and created a scalable neural network training toolkit for HPC. Additionally, this LDRD helped create the world’s largest freely-available image and video dataset supporting open multimedia research and used this dataset for training our deep neural networks. This research helped LLNL capture several work-for-others (WFO) projects, attract new talent, and establish collaborations with leading academic and commercial partners. Finally, this project demonstrated the successful training of the largest unsupervised image neural network using HPC resources and helped establish LLNL leadership at the intersection of Machine Learning and HPC research.« less

Free Energy Wells and Barriers to Ion Transport Across Membranes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rempe, Susan

2014-03-01

The flow of ions across cellular membranes is essential to many biological processes. Ion transport is also important in synthetic materials used as battery electrolytes. Transport often involves specific ions and fast conduction. To achieve those properties, ion conduction pathways must solvate specific ions by just the ``right amount.'' The right amount of solvation avoids ion traps due to deep free energy wells, and avoids ion block due to high free energy barriers. Ion channel proteins in cellular membranes demonstrate this subtle balance in solvation of specific ions. Using ab initio molecular simulations, we have interrogated the link between binding site structure and ion solvation free energies in biological ion binding sites. Our results emphasize the surprisingly important role of the environment that surrounds ion-binding sites for fast transport of specific ions. We acknowledge support from Sandia's LDRD program. Sandia National Labs is a multi-program laboratory operated by Sandia Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corp., for the US DOE's NNSA under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Quantum Darwinism in an Everyday Environment: Huge Redundancy in Scattered Photons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riedel, Charles; Zurek, Wojciech

2011-03-01

We study quantum Darwinism---the redundant recording of information about the preferred states of a decohering system by its environment---for an object illuminated by a blackbody. In the cases of point-source, small disk, and isotropic illumination, we calculate the quantum mutual information between the object and its photon environment. We demonstrate that this realistic model exhibits fast and extensive proliferation of information about the object into the environment and results in redundancies orders of magnitude larger than the exactly soluble models considered to date. We also demonstrate a reduced ability to create records as initial environmental mixedness increases, in agreement with previous studies. This research is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy through the LANL/LDRD program and, in part, by the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi).

Bartus Iris biometrics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnston, R.; Grace, W.

1996-07-01

This is the final report of a one-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). We won a 1994 R&D 100 Award for inventing the Bartas Iris Verification System. The system has been delivered to a sponsor and is no longer available to us. This technology can verify the identity of a person for purposes of access control, national security, law enforcement, forensics, counter-terrorism, and medical, financial, or scholastic records. The technique is non-invasive, psychologically acceptable, works in real-time, and obtains more biometric data than any other biometric except DNA analysis. This project soughtmore » to develop a new, second-generation prototype instrument.« less

Network-based collaborative research environment LDRD final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Davies, B.R.; McDonald, M.J.

1997-09-01

The Virtual Collaborative Environment (VCE) and Distributed Collaborative Workbench (DCW) are new technologies that make it possible for diverse users to synthesize and share mechatronic, sensor, and information resources. Using these technologies, university researchers, manufacturers, design firms, and others can directly access and reconfigure systems located throughout the world. The architecture for implementing VCE and DCW has been developed based on the proposed National Information Infrastructure or Information Highway and a tool kit of Sandia-developed software. Further enhancements to the VCE and DCW technologies will facilitate access to other mechatronic resources. This report describes characteristics of VCE and DCW andmore » also includes background information about the evolution of these technologies.« less

Self-assembled nanolaminate coatings (SV)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fan, H.

2012-03-01

Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics (LM Aero) are collaborating to develop affordable, self-assembled, nanocomposite coatings and associated fabrication processes that will be tailored to Lockheed Martin product requirements. The purpose of this project is to develop a family of self-assembled coatings with properties tailored to specific performance requirements, such as antireflective (AR) optics, using Sandia-developed self-assembled techniques. The project met its objectives by development of a simple and economic self-assembly processes to fabricate multifunctional coatings. Specifically, materials, functionalization methods, and associated coating processes for single layer and multiple layers coatings have been developed to accomplish high reflectivemore » coatings, hydrophobic coatings, and anti-reflective coatings. Associated modeling and simulations have been developed to guide the coating designs for optimum optical performance. The accomplishments result in significant advantages of reduced costs, increased manufacturing freedom/producibility, improved logistics, and the incorporation of new technology solutions not possible with conventional technologies. These self-assembled coatings with tailored properties will significantly address LMC's needs and give LMC a significant competitive lead in new engineered materials. This work complements SNL's LDRD and BES programs aimed at developing multifunctional nanomaterials for microelectronics and optics as well as structure/property investigations of self-assembled nanomaterials. In addition, this project will provide SNL with new opportunities to develop and apply self-assembled nanocomposite optical coatings for use in the wavelength ranges of 3-5 and 8-12 micrometers, ranges of vital importance to military-based sensors and weapons. The SANC technologies will be applied to multiple programs within the LM Company including the F-35, F-22, ADP (Future Strike Bomber, UAV, UCAV, etc.). The SANC technologies will establish LMA and related US manufacturing capability for commercial and military applications therefore reducing reliance on off-shore development and production of related critical technologies. If these technologies are successfully licensed, production of these coatings in manufactory will create significant technical employment opportunities.« less

LDRD Final Review: Radiation Transport Calculations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Goorley, John Timothy; Morgan, George Lake; Lestone, John Paul

2017-06-22

Both high-fidelity & toy simulations are being used to understand measured signals and improve the Area 11 NDSE diagnostic. We continue to gain more and more confidence in the ability for MCNP to simulate neutron and photon transport from source to radiation detector.

Quantifying the debonding of inclusions through tomography and computational homology.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lu, Wei-Yang; Johnson, George C.; Mota, Alejandro

2010-09-01

This report describes a Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project to use of synchrotron-radiation computed tomography (SRCT) data to determine the conditions and mechanisms that lead to void nucleation in rolled alloys. The Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) has provided SRCT data of a few specimens of 7075-T7351 aluminum plate (widely used for aerospace applications) stretched to failure, loaded in directions perpendicular and parallel to the rolling direction. The resolution of SRCT data is 900nm, which allows elucidation of the mechanisms governing void growth and coalescence. This resolution is not fine enough, however, formore » nucleation. We propose the use statistics and image processing techniques to obtain sub-resolution scale information from these data, and thus determine where in the specimen and when during the loading program nucleation occurs and the mechanisms that lead to it. Quantitative analysis of the tomography data, however, leads to the conclusion that the reconstruction process compromises the information obtained from the scans. Alternate, more powerful reconstruction algorithms are needed to address this problem, but those fall beyond the scope of this project.« less

Design, fabrication and characterization of rugged, high-performance quantum dot photocathodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pietryga, Jeffrey; Robel, Istvan; Makarov, Nikolay; Lim, Jaehoon; Lin, Qianglu; Lewellen, John; Moody, Nathan

Semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots (QDs) are bright, tunable fluorophores used as, e.g., biolabels and downcoverting phosphors. Such applications make use of over three decades in advances in techniques for overcoming the natural tendency of these materials toward losing photoexcited carriers to surface defect states or to ionization. Ironically, QDs first gained attention as a material class for use in photocatalysis, which uses QD photoionization to drive redox reactions. Here, we explore the use of QDs in an alternative application that also exploits photoionization, namely within photocathodes for the electron guns that will enable next-generation light sources. We evaluate the efficiency of electron photoemission of conductive, solution-cast QD films of a variety of compositions in a typical electron gun configuration. By quantifying photocurrent as a function of excitation photon energy, excitation intensity and pulse duration, we demonstrate efficiencies superior to standard copper cathodes in films that are more robust against oxidation. Finally, we establish the dominant mechanism responsible for electron emission in the multi-photon excitation regime, which suggests numerous pathways for further enhancements. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program.

Understanding the interfacial chain dynamics of fiber-reinforced polymer composite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goswami, Monojoy; Carrillo, Jan-Michael; Naskar, Amit; Sumpter, Bobby

The polymer-fiber interface plays a major role in determining the structural and dynamical properties of fiber reinforced composite materials. We utilized LAMMPS MD package to understand the interfacial properties at the nanoscale. Coarse-grained flexible polymer chains are introduced to compare the various structures and dynamics of the polymer chains. Our preliminary simulation study shows that the rigidity of the polymer chain affects the interfacial morphology and dynamics of the chain on a flat surface. In this work, we identified the `immobile inter-phase' morphology and relate it to rheological properties. We calculated the viscoelastic properties, e.g., shear modulus and storage modulus, which are compared with experiments. MD simulations are used to show the variation of viscoelastic properties with polymer volume fraction. The nanoscale segmental and chain relaxation are calculated from the MD simulations and compared to the experimental data. These observations will be able to identify the fundamental physics behind the effect of the polymer-fiber interactions and orientation of the fiber to the overall rheological properties of the fiber reinforced polymer matrix. Funding for the project was provided by ORNLs Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program.

Uncertainty quantification of US Southwest climate from IPCC projections.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Boslough, Mark Bruce Elrick

2011-01-01

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) made extensive use of coordinated simulations by 18 international modeling groups using a variety of coupled general circulation models (GCMs) with different numerics, algorithms, resolutions, physics models, and parameterizations. These simulations span the 20th century and provide forecasts for various carbon emissions scenarios in the 21st century. All the output from this panoply of models is made available to researchers on an archive maintained by the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (PCMDI) at LLNL. I have downloaded this data and completed the first steps toward a statisticalmore » analysis of these ensembles for the US Southwest. This constitutes the final report for a late start LDRD project. Complete analysis will be the subject of a forthcoming report.« less

Demonstrated Efficient Quasi-Monoenergetic Carbon-Ion Beams Approaching Fast Ignition (FI) Requirements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernández, Juan C.; Palaniyappan, S.; Huang, C.; Gautier, D. C.; Santiago, M.

2015-11-01

Using massive computer simulations of relativistic laser-plasma interactions, we have identified a self-organizing scheme that exploits persisting self-generated plasma electric (~TV/m) and magnetic (~104 Tesla) fields to reduce the ion energy spread of intense laser-driven ion beams after the laser exits the plasma. Consistent with the scheme, we have demonstrated on the LANL Trident laser carbon-ion beams with narrow spectral peaks at 220 MeV, with high conversion efficiency (~ 5%). These parameters are within a factor of 2 of FI requirements. The remaining gap may be bridged by increasing the laser intensity by a factor of 4, according to our data. We also discuss how this beam may be focused, to address the remaining requirement for FI, besides the total laser energy. This work is sponsored by the LANL LDRD Program.

[Industrial production of the LDRD "Siberia-N" digital radiographic devices].

PubMed

Baru, S E; Ukraintsev, Iu G

2004-01-01

It is envisaged, as a key task, in the Federal Program on Tuberculosis Monitoring, that preventive measures and early TB detection is a priority. Fluorography, which is important for the recognition of pulmonary tuberculosis at its early stages, has been used in the diagnostics of pulmonary pathologies. However, according to the statistics provided by the Russian Ministry of Healthcare, around 80% of available medical equipment is now worn and obsolete. Owing to a fruitful research activity related with designing a digital low-dose X-Ray unit (Siberia-N) carried out by the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk), a certain progress can be stated in perfecting the fluorography equipment in Russia. The above unit incorporates all advanced achievements in the field of digital X-Ray diagnostics.

Landau-Zener extension of the Tavis-Cummings model: structure of the solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Chen; Sinitsyn, Nikolai

We explore the recently discovered solution of the driven Tavis-Cummings model (DTCM). It describes interaction of arbitrary number of two-level systems with a bosonic mode that has linearly time-dependent frequency. We derive compact and tractable expressions for transition probabilities in terms of the well known special functions. In the new form, our formulas are suitable for fast numerical calculations and analytical approximations. As an application, we obtain the semiclassical limit of the exact solution and compare it to prior approximations. We also reveal connection between DTCM and q-deformed binomial statistics. Under the auspices of the National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy at Los Alamos National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC52-06NA25396. Authors also thank the support from the LDRD program at LANL.

Trampoline Effect: Observations and Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guyer, R.; Larmat, C. S.; Ulrich, T. J.

2009-12-01

The Iwate-Miyagi earthquake at site IWTH25 (14 June 2008) had large, asymmetric at surface vertical accelerations prompting the sobriquet trampoline effect (Aoi et. al. 2008). In addition the surface acceleration record showed long-short waiting time correlations and vertical-horizontal acceleration correlations. A lumped element model, deduced from the equations of continuum elasticity, is employed to describe the behavior at this site in terms of a surface layer and substrate. Important ingredients in the model are the nonlinear vertical coupling between the surface layer and the substrate and the nonlinear horizontal frictional coupling between the surface layer and the substrate. The model produces results in qualitative accord with observations: acceleration asymmetry, Fourier spectrum, waiting time correlations and vertical acceleration-horizontal acceleration correlations. [We gratefully acknowledge the support of the U. S. Department of Energy through the LANL/LDRD Program for this work].

U.S. EPA, Pesticide Product Label, LEMON FRESH, 09/25/1985

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

2011-04-21

... _e_c_a_~_~1~0? r'L ~t_at ~~_~~_!.~ ~~ldrd to Hu~_a~.'l_~_~~_ d5?~esJi£~~~~als DANGER ~eep Out of Reach of Children, Corrosive Causes ...

Analyst-to-Analyst Variability in Simulation-Based Prediction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Glickman, Matthew R.; Romero, Vicente J.

This report describes findings from the culminating experiment of the LDRD project entitled, "Analyst-to-Analyst Variability in Simulation-Based Prediction". For this experiment, volunteer participants solving a given test problem in engineering and statistics were interviewed at different points in their solution process. These interviews are used to trace differing solutions to differing solution processes, and differing processes to differences in reasoning, assumptions, and judgments. The issue that the experiment was designed to illuminate -- our paucity of understanding of the ways in which humans themselves have an impact on predictions derived from complex computational simulations -- is a challenging and openmore » one. Although solution of the test problem by analyst participants in this experiment has taken much more time than originally anticipated, and is continuing past the end of this LDRD, this project has provided a rare opportunity to explore analyst-to-analyst variability in significant depth, from which we derive evidence-based insights to guide further explorations in this important area.« less

Specification of the Surface Charging Environment with SHIELDS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jordanova, V.; Delzanno, G. L.; Henderson, M. G.; Godinez, H. C.; Jeffery, C. A.; Lawrence, E. C.; Meierbachtol, C.; Moulton, J. D.; Vernon, L.; Woodroffe, J. R.; Brito, T.; Toth, G.; Welling, D. T.; Yu, Y.; Albert, J.; Birn, J.; Borovsky, J.; Denton, M.; Horne, R. B.; Lemon, C.; Markidis, S.; Thomsen, M. F.; Young, S. L.

2016-12-01

Predicting variations in the near-Earth space environment that can lead to spacecraft damage and failure, i.e. "space weather", remains a big space physics challenge. A recently funded project through the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program aims at developing a new capability to understand, model, and predict Space Hazards Induced near Earth by Large Dynamic Storms, the SHIELDS framework. The project goals are to understand the dynamics of the surface charging environment (SCE), the hot (keV) electrons representing the source and seed populations for the radiation belts, on both macro- and microscale. Important physics questions related to rapid particle injection and acceleration associated with magnetospheric storms and substorms as well as plasma waves are investigated. These challenging problems are addressed using a team of world-class experts in the fields of space science and computational plasma physics, and state-of-the-art models and computational facilities. In addition to physics-based models (like RAM-SCB, BATS-R-US, and iPIC3D), new data assimilation techniques employing data from LANL instruments on the Van Allen Probes and geosynchronous satellites are developed. Simulations with the SHIELDS framework of the near-Earth space environment where operational satellites reside are presented. Further model development and the organization of a "Spacecraft Charging Environment Challenge" by the SHIELDS project at LANL in collaboration with the NSF Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) Workshop and the multi-agency Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) to assess the accuracy of SCE predictions are discussed.

Autonomous intelligent assembly systems LDRD 105746 final report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anderson, Robert J.

2013-04-01

This report documents a three-year to develop technology that enables mobile robots to perform autonomous assembly tasks in unstructured outdoor environments. This is a multi-tier problem that requires an integration of a large number of different software technologies including: command and control, estimation and localization, distributed communications, object recognition, pose estimation, real-time scanning, and scene interpretation. Although ultimately unsuccessful in achieving a target brick stacking task autonomously, numerous important component technologies were nevertheless developed. Such technologies include: a patent-pending polygon snake algorithm for robust feature tracking, a color grid algorithm for uniquely identification and calibration, a command and control frameworkmore » for abstracting robot commands, a scanning capability that utilizes a compact robot portable scanner, and more. This report describes this project and these developed technologies.« less

LDRD final report on microencapsulated immunoreagents for development of one-step ELISA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Henderson, C.C.; Singh, A.K.

1997-08-01

Microencapsulation of biological macromolecules was investigated as a method for incorporating the necessary immunoreagents into an improved enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) package that would self-develop. This self-contained ELISA package would eliminate the need for a trained technician to perform multiple additions of immunoreagent to the assay. Microencapsulation by insolution drying was selected from the many available microencapsulation methods, and two satisfactory procedures for microencapsulation of proteins were established. The stability and potential for rapid release of protein from these microencapsulates was then evaluated. The results suggest that the chosen method for protein entrapment produces microcapsules with a considerable amount ofmore » protein in the walls making these particular microcapsules unsuitable for their intended use.« less

Recommended Research Directions for Improving the Validation of Complex Systems Models.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vugrin, Eric D.; Trucano, Timothy G.; Swiler, Laura Painton

Improved validation for models of complex systems has been a primary focus over the past year for the Resilience in Complex Systems Research Challenge. This document describes a set of research directions that are the result of distilling those ideas into three categories of research -- epistemic uncertainty, strong tests, and value of information. The content of this document can be used to transmit valuable information to future research activities, update the Resilience in Complex Systems Research Challenge's roadmap, inform the upcoming FY18 Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) call and research proposals, and facilitate collaborations between Sandia and externalmore » organizations. The recommended research directions can provide topics for collaborative research, development of proposals, workshops, and other opportunities.« less

Electro-Thermal-Mechanical Simulation Capability Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

White, D

This is the Final Report for LDRD 04-ERD-086, 'Electro-Thermal-Mechanical Simulation Capability'. The accomplishments are well documented in five peer-reviewed publications and six conference presentations and hence will not be detailed here. The purpose of this LDRD was to research and develop numerical algorithms for three-dimensional (3D) Electro-Thermal-Mechanical simulations. LLNL has long been a world leader in the area of computational mechanics, and recently several mechanics codes have become 'multiphysics' codes with the addition of fluid dynamics, heat transfer, and chemistry. However, these multiphysics codes do not incorporate the electromagnetics that is required for a coupled Electro-Thermal-Mechanical (ETM) simulation. There aremore » numerous applications for an ETM simulation capability, such as explosively-driven magnetic flux compressors, electromagnetic launchers, inductive heating and mixing of metals, and MEMS. A robust ETM simulation capability will enable LLNL physicists and engineers to better support current DOE programs, and will prepare LLNL for some very exciting long-term DoD opportunities. We define a coupled Electro-Thermal-Mechanical (ETM) simulation as a simulation that solves, in a self-consistent manner, the equations of electromagnetics (primarily statics and diffusion), heat transfer (primarily conduction), and non-linear mechanics (elastic-plastic deformation, and contact with friction). There is no existing parallel 3D code for simulating ETM systems at LLNL or elsewhere. While there are numerous magnetohydrodynamic codes, these codes are designed for astrophysics, magnetic fusion energy, laser-plasma interaction, etc. and do not attempt to accurately model electromagnetically driven solid mechanics. This project responds to the Engineering R&D Focus Areas of Simulation and Energy Manipulation, and addresses the specific problem of Electro-Thermal-Mechanical simulation for design and analysis of energy manipulation systems such as magnetic flux compression generators and railguns. This project compliments ongoing DNT projects that have an experimental emphasis. Our research efforts have been encapsulated in the Diablo and ALE3D simulation codes. This new ETM capability already has both internal and external users, and has spawned additional research in plasma railgun technology. By developing this capability Engineering has become a world-leader in ETM design, analysis, and simulation. This research has positioned LLNL to be able to compete for new business opportunities with the DoD in the area of railgun design. We currently have a three-year $1.5M project with the Office of Naval Research to apply our ETM simulation capability to railgun bore life issues and we expect to be a key player in the railgun community.« less

FY04 LDRD Final Report Stroke Sensor Development Using Microdot Sensor Arrays

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carter, J C; Wilson, T S; Alvis, R M

2005-11-15

Stroke is a major cause of mortality and is the primary cause of long-term disability in the United States. A recent study of Stroke incidence, using conservative calculations, suggests that over 700,000 people annually in this country will have a stroke. Of these 700,000, approximately 150,000 will die and 400,000 will be left with a significant deficit; only one quarter will return to an independent--although not necessarily baseline--level of functioning. The costs of caring for victims of stroke in the acute phase, chronic care, and lost productivity amount to 40 billion per year. Of all strokes, approximately 20% are hemorrhagicmore » and 20% are due to small vessel disease. Thus, the number of people with large vessel thromboembolic disease and the target population of this research is greater than 400,000. Currently, the only approved therapy for treatment of acute ischemic stroke is intravenous thrombolytic drugs. While stroke patients who receive these drugs are more likely to have better outcomes than those who do not, their improvement is highly dependent on the initiation of treatment within three hours of the onset of symptoms, with an increased risk of intracranial hemorrhage if the medication is begun outside this time window. With this rigid temporal limitation, and with the concern over intracranial hemorrhage, only 2-3% of people with acute stroke are currently being treated by these means. There is ongoing research for a second treatment methodology involving the use of mechanical devices for removing the thrombus (clot) in stroke victims. Two recent reports of a mechanical removal of thrombus, with subsequent improved patient outcome, highlight the potential of this developing technology. Researchers in the MTP are responsible for one of the photomechanical devices under FDA trials. It is conceivable that in the near-term, a second approved therapy for treatment of acute ischemic stroke will involve the mechanical removal of the thrombus. Stroke is a major thrust area for the Medical Technology Program (M-division). Through MTP, LLNL has a sizable investment and recognizable expertise in stroke treatment research. The proposed microdot array sensor for stroke will complement this existing program in which mechanical devices are being designed for removing the thrombus. The following list of stroke projects and their relative status shows that MTP has a proven track record of taking ideas to industry: The goal of this LDRD funded project was to develop and demonstrate a minimally invasive optical fiber-based sensor for rapid and in-vivo measurements of multiple stroke biomarkers (e.g. pH and enzyme). The development of this sensor also required the development of a new fabrication technology for attaching indicator chemistries to optical fibers. A benefit of this work is to provide clinicians with a tool to assess vascular integrity of the region beyond the thrombus to determine whether or not it is safe to proceed with the removal of the clot. Such an assessment could extend the use of thrombolytic drug treatment to acute stroke victims outside the current rigid temporal limitation of 3 hours. Furthermore, this sensor would also provide a tool for use with emerging treatments involving the use of mechanical devices for removing the thrombus. The sensor effectively assesses the risk for reperfusion injury.« less

FY09 Final Report for LDRD Project: Understanding Viral Quasispecies Evolution through Computation and Experiment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhou, C

2009-11-12

In FY09 they will (1) complete the implementation, verification, calibration, and sensitivity and scalability analysis of the in-cell virus replication model; (2) complete the design of the cell culture (cell-to-cell infection) model; (3) continue the research, design, and development of their bioinformatics tools: the Web-based structure-alignment-based sequence variability tool and the functional annotation of the genome database; (4) collaborate with the University of California at San Francisco on areas of common interest; and (5) submit journal articles that describe the in-cell model with simulations and the bioinformatics approaches to evaluation of genome variability and fitness.

Critical Issues on Materials for Gen-IV Reactors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Caro, M; Marian, J; Martinez, E

2009-02-27

Within the LDRD on 'Critical Issues on Materials for Gen-IV Reactors' basic thermodynamics of the Fe-Cr alloy and accurate atomistic modeling were used to help develop the capability to predict hardening, swelling and embrittlement using the paradigm of Multiscale Materials Modeling. Approaches at atomistic and mesoscale levels were linked to build-up the first steps in an integrated modeling platform that seeks to relate in a near-term effort dislocation dynamics to polycrystal plasticity. The requirements originated in the reactor systems under consideration today for future sources of nuclear energy. These requirements are beyond the present day performance of nuclear materials andmore » calls for the development of new, high temperature, radiation resistant materials. Fe-Cr alloys with 9-12% Cr content are the base matrix of advanced ferritic/martensitic (FM) steels envisaged as fuel cladding and structural components of Gen-IV reactors. Predictive tools are needed to calculate structural and mechanical properties of these steels. This project represents a contribution in that direction. The synergy between the continuous progress of parallel computing and the spectacular advances in the theoretical framework that describes materials have lead to a significant advance in our comprehension of materials properties and their mechanical behavior. We took this progress to our advantage and within this LDRD were able to provide a detailed physical understanding of iron-chromium alloys microstructural behavior. By combining ab-initio simulations, many-body interatomic potential development, and mesoscale dislocation dynamics we were able to describe their microstructure evolution. For the first time in the case of Fe-Cr alloys, atomistic and mesoscale were merged and the first steps taken towards incorporating ordering and precipitation effects into dislocation dynamics (DD) simulations. Molecular dynamics (MD) studies of the transport of self-interstitial, vacancy and point defect clusters in concentrated Fe-Cr alloys were performed for future diffusion data calculations. A recently developed parallel MC code with displacement allowed us to predict the evolution of the defect microstructures, local chemistry changes, grain boundary segregation and precipitation resulting from radiation enhanced diffusion. We showed that grain boundaries, dislocations and free surfaces are not preferential for alpha-prime precipitation, and explained experimental observations of short-range order (SRO) in Fe-rich FeCr alloys. Our atomistic studies of dislocation hardening allowed us to obtain dislocation mobility functions for BCC pure iron and Fe-Cr and determine for FCC metals the dislocation interaction with precipitates with a description to be used in Dislocation Dynamic (DD) codes. A Synchronous parallel Kinetic Monte Carlo code was developed and tested which promises to expand the range of applicability of kMC simulations. This LDRD furthered the limits of the available science on the thermodynamic and mechanic behavior of metallic alloys and extended the application of physically-based multiscale materials modeling to cases of severe temperature and neutron fluence conditions in advanced future nuclear reactors. The report is organized as follows: after a brief introduction, we present the research activities, and results obtained. We give recommendations on future LLNL activities that may contribute to the progress in this area, together with examples of possible research lines to be supported.« less

The status and initial results of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Xiaoyu; MAJORANA Collaboration

2017-01-01

The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR is an ultra-low background experiment searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay in 76Ge at the Sanford Underground Research Facility. The search for neutrinoless double-beta decay could determine the Dirac vs Majorana nature of neutrino mass and provide insight to the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe. The DEMONSTRATOR is comprised of 44.8 kg (30 kg enriched in 76Ge) of high purity Ge detectors separated into two modules. Construction and commissioning of both modules completed in Summer 2016 and both modules are now acquiring physics data. In my talk, I will discuss the initial results of the first physics run utilizing both modules focusing primarily on the studies of the background and projections to a ton-scale experiment. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, the Particle Astrophysics Program of the National Science Foundation, and the Sanford Underground Research Facility. We acknowledge the support of the U.S. Department of Energy through the LANL/LDRD Program.

Electron and ion dynamics study of iron in warm dense matter regime by time-resolved XAS measurements and from first-principles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ogitsu, T.; Fernandez-Paãella, A.; Correa, A.; Engelhorn, K.; Barbrel, B.; Prendergast, D. G.; Pemmaraju, D.; Beckwith, M.; Kraus, D.; Hamel, S.; Cho, B. I.; Jin, L.; Wong, J.; Heinman, P.; Collins, G. W.; Falcone, R.; Ping, Y.

2016-10-01

We present a study of the electron-phonon coupling of warm dense iron upon femtosecond laser excitation by time-resolved x-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES). The dynamics of iron in electron-ion non-equilibrium conditions was studied using ab-initio density-functional-theory (DFT) simulations combined with the Two Temperature Model (TTM) where spatial inhomogeneity of electron (and ion) temperature(s) due to short ballistic electron transport length in iron was explicitly taken into consideration. Detailed comparison between our simulation results and experiments indicates that the ion temperature dependence on specific heat and on electron-phonon coupling also plays a relevant role in modeling the relaxation dynamics of electrons and ions. These results are the first experimental evidence of the suppression of the electron-phonon coupling factor of a transition metal at electron temperatures ranging 5000- 10000 K. This work was performed under DOE contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 with support from OFES Early Career program and LLNL LDRD program.

Neutron Scattering in Chemistry: Experiments, Models and Statistical Description of Physical Phenomena

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramirez Cuesta, Timmy

Incoherent inelastic neutron scattering spectroscopy is a very powerful technique that requires the use of ab-initio models to interpret the experimental data. Albeit not exact the information obtained from the models gives very valuable insight into the dynamics of atoms in solids and molecules, that, in turn, provides unique access to the vibrational density of states. It is extremely sensitive to hydrogen since the neutron cross section of hydrogen is the largest of all chemical elements. Hydrogen, being the lightest element highlights quantum effects more pronounced than the rest of the elements.In the case of non-crystalline or disordered materials, the models provide partial information and only a reduced sampling of possible configurations can be done at the present. With very large computing power, as exascale computing will provide, a new opportunity arises to study these systems and introduce a description of statistical configurations including energetics and dynamics characterization of configurational entropy. As part of the ICE-MAN project, we are developing the tools to manage the workflows, visualize and analyze the results. To use state of the art computational methods and most neutron scattering that using atomistic models for interpretation of experimental data This work is supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD 8237) program of the UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy.

Particle Tracing Modeling with SHIELDS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woodroffe, J. R.; Brito, T. V.; Jordanova, V. K.

2017-12-01

The near-Earth inner magnetosphere, where most of the nation's civilian and military space assets operate, is an extremely hazardous region of the space environment which poses major risks to our space infrastructure. Failure of satellite subsystems or even total failure of a spacecraft can arise for a variety of reasons, some of which are related to the space environment: space weather events like single-event-upsets and deep dielectric charging caused by high energy particles, or surface charging caused by low to medium energy particles; other space hazards are collisions with natural or man-made space debris, or intentional hostile acts. A recently funded project through the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program aims at developing a new capability to understand, model, and predict Space Hazards Induced near Earth by Large Dynamic Storms, the SHIELDS framework. The project goals are to understand the dynamics of the surface charging environment (SCE), the hot (keV) electrons on both macro- and microscale. These challenging problems are addressed using a team of world-class experts and state-of-the-art physics-based models and computational facilities. We present first results of a coupled BATS-R-US/RAM-SCB/Particle Tracing Model to evaluate particle fluxes in the inner magnetosphere. We demonstrate that this setup is capable of capturing the earthward particle acceleration process resulting from dipolarization events in the tail region of the magnetosphere.

Redundant imprinting of information in non-ideal environments: Quantum Darwinism via a noisy channel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zwolak, Michael; Quan, Haitao; Zurek, Wojciech

2011-03-01

Quantum Darwinism provides an information-theoretic framework for the emergence of the classical world from the quantum substrate. It recognizes that we - the observers - acquire our information about the ``systems of interest'' indirectly from their imprints on the environment. Objectivity, a key property of the classical world, arises via the proliferation of redundant information into the environment where many observers can then intercept it and independently determine the state of the system. While causing a system to decohere, environments that remain nearly invariant under the Hamiltonian dynamics, such as very mixed states, have a diminished ability to transmit information about the system, yet can still acquire redundant information about the system [1,2]. Our results show that Quantum Darwinism is robust with respect to non-ideal initial states of the environment. This research is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy through the LANL/LDRD Program.

Deep bore hole instrumentation along San Francisco Bay Bridges

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bakun, W.; Bowman, J.; Clymer, R.

1998-10-01

The Bay Bridges down hole network consists of sensors in bore holes that are drilled 100 ft. into bedrock around and in the San Francisco Bay. Between 2 and 8 instruments have been spaced along the Dumbarton, San Mateo, Bay, and San Rafael bridges. The instruments will provide multiple use data that is important to geotechnical, structural engineering, and seismological studies. The holes are between 100 and 1000 ft deep and were drilled by Caltrans. There are twenty- one sensor packages at fifteen sites. Extensive financial support is being contributed by Caltrans, UCB, LBL, LLNL-LDRD, U.C. Campus/Laboratory Collaboration (CLC) program,more » and USGS. The down hole instrument package contains a three component HS-1 seismometer and three orthogonal Wilcox 73 1 accelerometers, and is capable of recording a micro g from local M = 1.0 earthquakes to 0.5 g strong ground motion form large Bay Area earthquakes.« less

Terahertz conductivity of twisted bilayer graphene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chia, Elbert E. M.; Zou, Xingquan; Shang, Jingzhi; Leaw, Jianing; Luo, Zhiqiang; Luo, Liyan; Cheong, Siew Ann; Su, Haibin; Zhu, Jian-Xin; Castro Neto, A. H.; Yu, Ting

2013-03-01

Using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, the real part of optical conductivity [σ1 (ω) ] of twisted bilayer graphene was obtained at different temperatures (10 - 300 K) in the frequency range 0.3 - 3 THz. On top of a Drude-like response, we see a strong and narrow peak in σ1 (ω) at ~2.7 THz. We analyze the overall Drude-like response using a disorder-dependent (unitary scattering) model, then attribute the peak at 2.7 THz to an enhanced density of states at that energy, that is caused by the presence of van Hove singularities arising from a commensurate twisting of the two graphene layers. Singapore MOE AcRF Tier 2 (ARC 23/08), NRF-CRP (NRF-CRP4-2008-04), NNSA of the U.S. DOE at LANL (DE-AC52-06NA25396), LANL LDRD Program, NRF-CRP (R-144-000-295-281), DOE DE-FG02-08ER46512, ONR MURI N00014-09-1-1063.

Singlet-to-triplet intermediates and triplet exciton dynamics in pentacene thinfilms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thorsmolle, Verner; Korber, Michael; Obergfell, Emanuel; Kuhlman, Thomas; Campbell, Ian; Crone, Brian; Taylor, Antoinette; Averitt, Richard; Demsar, Jure

Singlet-to-triplet fission in organic semiconductors is a spin-conserving multiexciton process in which one spin-zero singlet excitation is converted into two spin-one triplet excitations on an ultrafast timescale. Current scientific interest into this carrier multiplication process is largely driven by prospects of enhancing the efficiency in photovoltaic applications by generating two long-lived triplet excitons by one photon. The fission process is known to involve intermediate states, known as correlated triplet pairs, with an overall singlet character, before being interchanged into uncorrelated triplets. Here we use broadband femtosecond real-time spectroscopy to study the excited state dynamics in pentacene thin films, elucidating the fission process and the role of intermediate triplet states. VKT and AJT acknowledge support by the LDRD program at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Department of Energy, Grant No. DE-FG02-04ER118. MK, MO and JD acknowledge support by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

An Improved Signal Model for Axion Dark Matter Searches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lentz, Erik; ADMX Collaboration

2017-01-01

To date, most direct detection searches for axion dark matter, such as those by the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX) microwave cavity search, have assumed a signal shape based on an isothermal spherical model of the Milky Way halo. Such a model is not capable of capturing contributions from realistic infall, nor from a baryonic disk. Modern N-Body simulations of structure formation can produce realistic Milky Way-like halos which include the influences of baryons, infall, and environmental influences. This talk presents an analysis of the Romulus25 N-Body simulation in the context of direct dark matter axion searches. An improved signal shape and an account of the relevant halo dynamics are given. Supported by DOE Grants DE-SC0010280, DE-FG02-96ER40956, DE-AC52-07NA27344, DE-AC03-76SF00098, the Heising-Simons Foundation and the LLNL, FNAL and PNNL LDRD program.

Temperature-tunable Fano resonance induced by strong Weyl fermion-phonon coupling in TaAs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dai, Yaomin; Trugman, S. A.; Zhu, J.-X.; Taylor, A. J.; Yarotski, D. A.; Prasankumar, R. P.; Xu, B.; Zhao, L. X.; Wang, K.; Yang, R.; Zhang, W.; Liu, J. Y.; Xiao, H.; Chen, G. F.; Qiu, X. G.

Strong coupling between discrete phonon and continuous electron-hole pair excitations can give rise to a pronounced asymmetry in the phonon line shape, known as the Fano resonance. We present infrared spectroscopic studies on the recently discovered Weyl semimetal TaAs at different temperatures. Our experimental results reveal strong coupling between an infrared-active A1 phonon and electronic transitions near the Weyl points (Weyl fermions), as evidenced by the conspicuous asymmetry in the phonon line shape. More interestingly, the phonon line shape can be continuously tuned by temperature, which we demonstrate to arise from the suppression of the electronic transitions near the Weyl points due to the decreasing occupation of electronic states below the Fermi level with increasing temperature, as well as Pauli blocking caused by thermally excited electrons above the Fermi level. Supported by LANL LDRD and LANL-UCRP programs.

Theory of space charge limited currents in films and nanowires with dopants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xiaoguang; Pantelides, Sokrates

2015-03-01

We show that proper description of the space charge limited currents (SCLC) in a homogeneous bulk material must account fully for the effect of the dopants and the interplay between dopants and traps. The sharp rise in the current at the trap-filled-limit (TFL) is partially mitigated by the dopant energy levels and the Frenkel effect, namely the lowering of the ionization energy by the electric field, which is screened by the free carriers. In nanowires, lack of effective screening causes the trap occupation at small biases to reach a high level comparable to the TFL in bulk. This explains the high current density in SCLCs observed in nanowires. This work is supported by the LDRD program at ORNL. Portion of this research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility.

LDRD Project 52523 final report :Atomic layer deposition of highly conformal tribological coatings.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jungk, John Michael; Dugger, Michael Thomas; George, Steve M.

2005-10-01

Friction and wear are major concerns in the performance and reliability of micromechanical (MEMS) devices. While a variety of lubricant and wear resistant coatings are known which we might consider for application to MEMS devices, the severe geometric constraints of many micromechanical systems (high aspect ratios, shadowed surfaces) make most deposition methods for friction and wear-resistance coatings impossible. In this program we have produced and evaluate highly conformal, tribological coatings, deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD), for use on surface micromachined (SMM) and LIGA structures. ALD is a chemical vapor deposition process using sequential exposure of reagents and self-limiting surfacemore » chemistry, saturating at a maximum of one monolayer per exposure cycle. The self-limiting chemistry results in conformal coating of high aspect ratio structures, with monolayer precision. ALD of a wide variety of materials is possible, but there have been no studies of structural, mechanical, and tribological properties of these films. We have developed processes for depositing thin (<100 nm) conformal coatings of selected hard and lubricious films (Al2O3, ZnO, WS2, W, and W/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} nanolaminates), and measured their chemical, physical, mechanical and tribological properties. A significant challenge in this program was to develop instrumentation and quantitative test procedures, which did not exist, for friction, wear, film/substrate adhesion, elastic properties, stress, etc., of extremely thin films and nanolaminates. New scanning probe and nanoindentation techniques have been employed along with detailed mechanics-based models to evaluate these properties at small loads characteristic of microsystem operation. We emphasize deposition processes and fundamental properties of ALD materials, however we have also evaluated applications and film performance for model SMM and LIGA devices.« less

Use of composite materials, health monitoring and self-healing concepts to refurbish our civil and military infrastructure.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Roach, Dennis Patrick; Delong, Waylon Anthony; White, Scott

An unavoidable by-product of a metallic structure's use is the appearance of crack, corrosion, erosion and other flaws. Economic barriers to the replacement of these structures have created an aging civil and military infrastructure and placed even greater demands on efficient and safe repair and inspection methods. As a result of Homeland Security issues and these aging infrastructure concerns, increased attention has been focused on the rapid repair and preemptive reinforcement of structures such as buildings and bridges. This Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program established the viability of using bonded composite patches to repair metallic structures. High modulusmore » fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) material may be used in lieu of mechanically fastened metallic patches or welds to reinforce or repair damaged structures. Their use produces a wide array of engineering and economic advantages. Current techniques for strengthening steel structures have several drawbacks including requiring heavy equipment for installation, poor fatigue performance, and the need for ongoing maintenance due to continued corrosion attack or crack growth. The use of bonded composite doublers has the potential to correct the difficulties associated with current repair techniques and the ability to be applied where there are currently no rehabilitation options. Applications include such diverse structures as: buildings, bridges, railroad cars, trucks and other heavy machinery, steel power and communication towers, pipelines, factories, mining equipment, ships, tanks and other military vehicles. This LDRD also proved the concept of a living infrastructure by developing custom sensors and self-healing chemistry and linking this technology with the application of advanced composite materials. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems and mountable, miniature sensors were designed to continuously or periodically assess structural integrity. Such systems are able to detect incipient damage before catastrophic failure occurs. The ease of monitoring an entire network of distributed sensors means that structural health assessments can occur more often, allowing operators to be even more vigilant with respect to flaw onset. In addition, the realization of smart structures, through the use of in-situ sensors, allows condition-based maintenance to be substituted for conventional time-based maintenance practices. The sensitivity and reliability of a series of sensor systems was quantified in laboratory and real-world environments. Finally, self healing methods for composite materials were evolved--using resin modules that are released in response to the onset of delaminations--so that these components can provide a living infrastructure with minimal need for human intervention. This program consisted of four related research elements: (1) design, installation, and performance assessment of composite repairs, (2) in-situ sensors for real-time health monitoring, (3) self healing of in-service damage in a repair, and (4) numerical modeling. Deployment of FRP materials and bonded joints requires proper design, suitable surface preparation methods, and adequate surveillance to ensure structural integrity. By encompassing all 'cradle-to-grave' tasks --including design, analysis, installation, durability, flaw containment, and inspection--this program is designed to firmly establish the capabilities of composite doubler repairs and introduce technology to incorporate self-monitoring and self-healing (living structures) methodologies. A proof-of-concept repair was completed on a steel highway bridge in order to demonstrate the potential of composite doubler technology for critical infrastructure use.« less

GLIDES – Efficient Energy Storage from ORNL

ScienceCinema

Momen, Ayyoub M.; Abu-Heiba, Ahmad; Odukomaiya, Wale; Akinina, Alla

2018-06-25

The research shown in this video features the GLIDES (Ground-Level Integrated Diverse Energy Storage) project, which has been under development at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) since 2013. GLIDES can store energy via combined inputs of electricity and heat, and deliver dispatchable electricity. Supported by ORNL’s Laboratory Director’s Research and Development (LDRD) fund, this energy storage system is low-cost, and hybridizes compressed air and pumped-hydro approaches to allow for storage of intermittent renewable energy at high efficiency. A U.S. patent application for this novel energy storage concept has been submitted, and research findings suggest it has the potential to be a flexible, low-cost, scalable, high-efficiency option for energy storage, especially useful in residential and commercial buildings.

GLIDES – Efficient Energy Storage from ORNL

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Momen, Ayyoub M.; Abu-Heiba, Ahmad; Odukomaiya, Wale

2016-03-01

The research shown in this video features the GLIDES (Ground-Level Integrated Diverse Energy Storage) project, which has been under development at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) since 2013. GLIDES can store energy via combined inputs of electricity and heat, and deliver dispatchable electricity. Supported by ORNL’s Laboratory Director’s Research and Development (LDRD) fund, this energy storage system is low-cost, and hybridizes compressed air and pumped-hydro approaches to allow for storage of intermittent renewable energy at high efficiency. A U.S. patent application for this novel energy storage concept has been submitted, and research findings suggest it has the potential to bemore » a flexible, low-cost, scalable, high-efficiency option for energy storage, especially useful in residential and commercial buildings.« less

TrackTable Trajectory Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wilson, Andrew T.

Tracktable is designed for analysis and rendering of the trajectories of moving objects such as planes, trains, automobiles and ships. Its purpose is to operate on large sets of trajectories (millions) to help a user detect, analyze and display patterns. It will also be used to disseminate trajectory research results from Sandia's PANTHER Grand Challenge LDRD.

Towards Accurate Application Characterization for Exascale (APEX)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hammond, Simon David

Sandia National Laboratories has been engaged in hardware and software codesign activities for a number of years, indeed, it might be argued that prototyping of clusters as far back as the CPLANT machines and many large capability resources including ASCI Red and RedStorm were examples of codesigned solutions. As the research supporting our codesign activities has moved closer to investigating on-node runtime behavior a nature hunger has grown for detailed analysis of both hardware and algorithm performance from the perspective of low-level operations. The Application Characterization for Exascale (APEX) LDRD was a project concieved of addressing some of these concerns.more » Primarily the research was to intended to focus on generating accurate and reproducible low-level performance metrics using tools that could scale to production-class code bases. Along side this research was an advocacy and analysis role associated with evaluating tools for production use, working with leading industry vendors to develop and refine solutions required by our code teams and to directly engage with production code developers to form a context for the application analysis and a bridge to the research community within Sandia. On each of these accounts significant progress has been made, particularly, as this report will cover, in the low-level analysis of operations for important classes of algorithms. This report summarizes the development of a collection of tools under the APEX research program and leaves to other SAND and L2 milestone reports the description of codesign progress with Sandia’s production users/developers.« less

Renewable hydrogen production via thermochemical/electrochemical coupling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ambrosini, Andrea; Babiniec, Sean Michael; Miller, James E.

A coupled electrochemical/thermochemical cycle was investigated to produce hydrogen from renewable resources. Like a conventional thermochemical cycle, this cycle leverages chemical energy stored in a thermochemical working material that is reduced thermally by solar energy. However, in this concept, the stored chemical energy only needs to be partially, but not fully, capable of splitting steam to produce hydrogen. To complete the process, a proton-conducting membrane is driven to separate hydrogen as it is produced, thus shifting the thermodynamics toward further hydrogen production. This novel coupled-cycle concept provides several benefits. First, the required oxidation enthalpy of the reversible thermochemical material ismore » reduced, enabling the process to occur at lower temperatures. Second, removing the requirement for spontaneous steam-splitting widens the scope of materials compositions, allowing for less expensive/more abundant elements to be used. Lastly, thermodynamics calculations suggest that this concept can potentially reach higher efficiencies than photovoltaic-to-electrolysis hydrogen production methods. This Exploratory Express LDRD involved assessing the practical feasibility of the proposed coupled cycle. A test stand was designed and constructed and proton-conducting membranes were synthesized. While the full proof of concept was not achieved, the individual components of the experiment were validated and new capabilities that can be leveraged by a variety of programs were developed.« less

Multidimensional, fully implicit, exactly conserving electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chacon, Luis

2015-09-01

We discuss a new, conservative, fully implicit 2D-3V particle-in-cell algorithm for non-radiative, electromagnetic kinetic plasma simulations, based on the Vlasov-Darwin model. Unlike earlier linearly implicit PIC schemes and standard explicit PIC schemes, fully implicit PIC algorithms are unconditionally stable and allow exact discrete energy and charge conservation. This has been demonstrated in 1D electrostatic and electromagnetic contexts. In this study, we build on these recent algorithms to develop an implicit, orbit-averaged, time-space-centered finite difference scheme for the Darwin field and particle orbit equations for multiple species in multiple dimensions. The Vlasov-Darwin model is very attractive for PIC simulations because it avoids radiative noise issues in non-radiative electromagnetic regimes. The algorithm conserves global energy, local charge, and particle canonical-momentum exactly, even with grid packing. The nonlinear iteration is effectively accelerated with a fluid preconditioner, which allows efficient use of large timesteps, O(√{mi/me}c/veT) larger than the explicit CFL. In this presentation, we will introduce the main algorithmic components of the approach, and demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency properties of the algorithm with various numerical experiments in 1D and 2D. Support from the LANL LDRD program and the DOE-SC ASCR office.

Non-Equilibrium Effects on the Hidden Order of Microstructured URu2Si2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winter, Laurel E.; Moll, Philip J. W.; Ramshaw, B. J.; Shekhter, Arkady; Harrison, N.; Bauer, Eric D.; McDonald, Ross D.

Despite extensive studies on the heavy-fermion URu2Si2, the order parameter associated with the hidden order state has yet to be established. It is known, however that the hidden order can be suppressed with pressure and high magnetic fields, which results in the development of antiferromagnetism, and the realization of a polarized state respectively. Focused Ion Beam lithography (FIB) of URu2Si2 has enabled high magnetic field observation of quantum oscillations in the resistance, indicating the preservation of sample quality to micron scale structures. These recent advances in FIB lithography have enabled the application of unprecedented electric fields while minimizing the effects of Joule heating in highly conductive metals at cryogenic temperatures. To this end, we have been able to create the necessary sample geometry to study the effect of an electric field upon hidden order in magnetic fields up to 15 T. Preliminary results suggest that above a characteristic threshold electric field, hidden order is suppressed revealing a state with similar magnetoresistive properties to the Kondo lattice in the absence of hidden order. Work supported by US Dept. of Energy through LANL/LDRD Program and G.T. Seaborg Institute, as well as NSF DMR-1157490 and the State of Florida.

Development of an Updated Societal-Risk Goal for Nuclear Power Safety

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vicki Bier; Michael Corradini; Robert Youngblood

2014-07-01

This report briefly summarizes work done in FY 2013 on the subject LDRD. The working hypothesis is that societal disruption should be addressed in a safety goal. This is motivated by the point that the Fukushima disaster resulted in very little public dose, but enormous societal disruption; a goal that addressed societal disruption would fill a perceived gap in the US NRC safety goal structure. This year's work entailed analyzing the consequences of postulated accidents at various reactor sites in the US, specifically with a view to quantifying the number of people relocated and the duration of their relocation, tomore » see whether this makes sense as a measure of societal disruption.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Goff, F.; Aams, A.I.; McMurtry, G.M.

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Detailed geochemical sampling of high-temperature fumaroles, background water, and fresh magmatic products from 14 active volcanoes reveal that they do not produce measurable amounts of tritium ({sup 3}H) of deep origin (<0.1 T.U. or <0.32 pCi/kg H{sub 2}O). On the other hand, all volcanoes produce mixtures of meteoric and magmatic fluids that contain measurable {sup 3}H from the meteoric end-member. The results show that cold fusion is probably not a significant deep earth process but the samples and data havemore » wide application to a host of other volcanological topics.« less

Recent Progress on Laser Produced Positron Research At LLN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Hui; Hermann, M.; Kalantar, D.; Kemp, A.; Link, A.; Jiang, S.; Martinez, D.; Park, J.; Remington, B.; Sherlock, M.; Williams, Gj; Beg, F.; Edghill, B.; Fedosejevs, R.; Kerr, S.; D'Humieres, E.; Fiuza, F.; Willingale, L.; Fiksel, G.; Nakai, N.; Arikawa, Y.; Morace, A.; Sentoku, Y.

2017-10-01

We report the recent results on laser-produced relativistic electron-positron plasma jets. This includes: the prepulse and material dependence of pair generation; time dependent positron acceleration and maximum achieved pair density. We will highlight the results from recent experiments on the Omega EP laser testing nanostructured target to increase pair yield. We will also report on a newly commissioned platform using the NIF ARC lasers which was developed for efficient pair creation using 10 ps laser duration at near relativistic laser intensity. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. DOE by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344, and funded by LDRD (#17-ERD-010).

High peak current acceleration of narrow divergence ions beams with the BELLA-PW laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steinke, Sven; Ji, Qing; Treffert, Franziska; Bulanov, Stepan; Bin, Jianhui; Nakamura, Kei; Gonsalves, Anthony; Toth, Csaba; Park, Jaehong; Roth, Markus; Esarey, Eric; Schenkel, Thomas; Leemans, Wim

2017-10-01

We present a parameter study of ion acceleration driven by the BELLA-PW laser. The laser repetition rate of 1Hz allowed for scanning the laser pulse duration, relative focus location and target thickness for the first time at laser peak powers of above 1 petawatt. Further, the long focal length geometry of the experiment (f\\65) and hence, large focus size provided ion beams of reduced divergence and unprecedented charge density. This work was supported by Office of Science, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 and Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) funding from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Visible Quantum Nanophotonics.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Subramania, Ganapathi Subramanian; Wang, George T.; Fischer, Arthur J.

2017-09-01

The goal of this LDRD is to develop a quantum nanophotonics capability that will allow practical control over electron (hole) and photon confinement in more than one dimension. We plan to use quantum dots (QDs) to control electrons, and photonic crystals to control photons. InGaN QDs will be fabricated using quantum size control processes, and methods will be developed to add epitaxial layers for hole injection and surface passivation. We will also explore photonic crystal nanofabrication techniques using both additive and subtractive fabrication processes, which can tailor photonic crystal properties. These two efforts will be combined by incorporating the QDsmore » into photonic crystal surface emitting lasers (PCSELs). Modeling will be performed using finite-different time-domain and gain analysis to optimize QD-PCSEL designs that balance laser performance with the ability to nano-fabricate structures. Finally, we will develop design rules for QD-PCSEL architectures, to understand their performance possibilities and limits.« less

Neutron induced radio-isotopes and background for Ge double beta decay experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Pinghan; Majorana Collaboration

2015-10-01

Environmental neutrons, mostly produced by muons in the cosmic rays, might contribute backgrounds to the search for neutrinoless double beta decays. These neutrons can interact with materials and generate radio-isotopes, which can decay and produce radioactive backgrounds. Some of these neutron-induced isotopes have a signature of a time-delayed coincidence, allowing us to study these infrequent events. For example, such isotopes can decay by beta decay to metastable states and then decay by gamma decay to the ground state. Considering the time-delayed coincidence of these two processes, we can determine candidates for these neutron-induced isotopes in the data and estimate the flux of neutrons in the deep underground environment. In this report, we will list possible neutron-induced isotopes and the methodology to detect them, especially those that can affect the search for neutrinoless double beta decays in 76Ge. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, the Particle Astrophysics Program of the National Science Foundation, and the Sanford Underground Research Facility. We acknowledge the support of the U.S. Department of Energy through the LANL/LDRD Program.

Pressure Effect on Hydrogen Tunneling and Vibrational Spectrum in α-Mn

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolesnikov, Alexander; Podlesnyak, Andrey; Sadykov, Ravil; Antonov, Vladimir; Kuzovnikov, Michail; Ehlers, Georg; Granroth, Garrett

The pressure effect on the tunneling mode and vibrational spectra of hydrogen in α-MnH0.07 has been studied by inelastic neutron scattering. Applying hydrostatic pressure of up to 30 kbar is shown to shift both the hydrogen optical modes and the tunneling peak to higher energies. First-principles calculations show that the potential for hydrogen in α-Mn becomes overall steeper with increasing pressure. At the same time, the barrier height and its extent in the direction of tunneling decrease and the calculations predict significant changes of the dynamics of hydrogen in α-Mn at 100 kbar, when the estimated tunneling splitting of the hydrogen ground state exceeds the barrier height. Acknowledgments: Research at ORNL SNS was supported by the Sci. User Facilities Division, Office BES, US DOE, and was sponsored by the LDRD Program of ORNL, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the US DOE. It used resources of the Nat. Energy Res. Sci. Comp. Center, which is supported by the Office of Sci. US DOE under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. A support by a Grant of the Program on Elementary Particle Physics, Fundamental Nuclear Physics and Nuclear Techn. RAS is also acknowledged.

Ion Heating of Plasma to Warm Dense Matter Conditions for the study of High-Z/Low-Z Mixing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roycroft, R.; Dyer, G. M.; McCary, E.; Wagner, C.; Bernstein, A.; Ditmire, T.; Albright, B. J.; Fernandez, J. C.; Bang, W.; Bradley, P. A.; Gautier, D. C.; Hamilton, C. E.; Palaniyappan, S.; Santiago Cordoba, M. A.; Vold, E. L.; Yin, L.; Hegelich, B. M.

2016-10-01

The evolution of the interface between a light and heavy material isochorically heated to warm dense matter conditions is important to the understanding of electrostatic effects on the hydrodynamic models of fluid mixing. In recent experiments at the Trident laser facility, the target, containing a high Z and a low Z material, is heated to around 1eV by laser accelerated aluminum ions. In preparation for continued mixing experiments, we have recently heated aluminum to 20eV by laser accelerated protons on the Texas Petawatt Laser. We fielded a streaked optical pyrometer to measure surface temperature. The pyrometer images the rear surface of a heated target on a sub-nanosecond timescale with 400nm blackbody emissions. This poster presents the details of the experimental setup and pyrometer design, as well as results of ion and proton heating of aluminum targets, and ion heating of high-Z/low-Z integrated targets. Supported by NNSA cooperative agreement DE-NA0002008, the DoE through the LANL LDRD program, the DARPA PULSE program (12-63- PULSE-FP014), and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-14-1-0045).

Density functional calculations of multiphonon capture cross sections at defects in semiconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barmparis, Georgios D.; Puzyrev, Yevgeniy S.; Zhang, X.-G.; Pantelides, Sokrates T.

2014-03-01

The theory of electron capture cross sections by multiphonon processes in semiconductors has a long and controversial history. Here we present a comprehensive theory and describe its implementation for realistic calculations. The Born-Oppenheimer and the Frank-Condon approximations are employed. The transition probability of an incoming electron is written as a product of an instantaneous electronic transition in the initial defect configuration and the line shape function (LSF) that describes the multiphonon processes that lead to lattice relaxation. The electronic matrix elements are calculated using the Projector Augmented Wave (PAW) method which yields the true wave functions while still employing a plane-wave basis. The LSF is calculated by employing a Monte Carlo method and the real phonon modes of the defect, calculated using density functional theory in the PAW scheme. Initial results of the capture cross section for a prototype system, namely a triply hydrogenated vacancy in Si are presented. The results are relevant for modeling device degradation by hot electron effects. This work is supported in part by the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT)'s Global Research Outreach (GRO) Program and by the LDRD program at ORNL.

Testimony to the House Science Space and Technology Committee.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Church, Michael Kenton; Tannenbaum, Benn

Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Johnson, and distinguished members of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, I thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the role of science, engineering, and research at Sandia National Laboratories, one of the nation’s premiere national labs and the nation’s largest Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) laboratory. I am Dr. Susan Seestrom, Sandia’s Associate Laboratories Director for Advanced Science & Technology (AST) and Chief Research Officer (CRO). As CRO I am responsible for research strategy, Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD), partnerships strategy, and technology transfer. As director and line managermore » for AST I manage capabilities and mission delivery across a variety of the physical and mathematical sciences and engineering disciplines, such as pulsed power, radiation effects, major environmental testing, high performance computing, and modeling and simulation.« less

The PANTHER User Experience

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Coram, Jamie L.; Morrow, James D.; Perkins, David Nikolaus

2015-09-01

This document describes the PANTHER R&D Application, a proof-of-concept user interface application developed under the PANTHER Grand Challenge LDRD. The purpose of the application is to explore interaction models for graph analytics, drive algorithmic improvements from an end-user point of view, and support demonstration of PANTHER technologies to potential customers. The R&D Application implements a graph-centric interaction model that exposes analysts to the algorithms contained within the GeoGraphy graph analytics library. Users define geospatial-temporal semantic graph queries by constructing search templates based on nodes, edges, and the constraints among them. Users then analyze the results of the queries using bothmore » geo-spatial and temporal visualizations. Development of this application has made user experience an explicit driver for project and algorithmic level decisions that will affect how analysts one day make use of PANTHER technologies.« less

Specification of the near-Earth space environment with SHIELDS

DOE PAGES

Jordanova, Vania Koleva; Delzanno, Gian Luca; Henderson, Michael Gerard; ...

2017-11-26

Here, predicting variations in the near-Earth space environment that can lead to spacecraft damage and failure is one example of “space weather” and a big space physics challenge. A project recently funded through the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program aims at developing a new capability to understand, model, and predict Space Hazards Induced near Earth by Large Dynamic Storms, the SHIELDS framework. The project goals are to understand the dynamics of the surface charging environment (SCE), the hot (keV) electrons representing the source and seed populations for the radiation belts, on both macro- andmore » micro-scale. Important physics questions related to particle injection and acceleration associated with magnetospheric storms and substorms, as well as plasma waves, are investigated. These challenging problems are addressed using a team of world-class experts in the fields of space science and computational plasma physics, and state-of-the-art models and computational facilities. A full two-way coupling of physics-based models across multiple scales, including a global MHD (BATS-R-US) embedding a particle-in-cell (iPIC3D) and an inner magnetosphere (RAM-SCB) codes, is achieved. New data assimilation techniques employing in situ satellite data are developed; these provide an order of magnitude improvement in the accuracy in the simulation of the SCE. SHIELDS also includes a post-processing tool designed to calculate the surface charging for specific spacecraft geometry using the Curvilinear Particle-In-Cell (CPIC) code that can be used for reanalysis of satellite failures or for satellite design.« less

Overview of the SHIELDS Project at LANL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jordanova, V.; Delzanno, G. L.; Henderson, M. G.; Godinez, H. C.; Jeffery, C. A.; Lawrence, E. C.; Meierbachtol, C.; Moulton, D.; Vernon, L.; Woodroffe, J. R.; Toth, G.; Welling, D. T.; Yu, Y.; Birn, J.; Thomsen, M. F.; Borovsky, J.; Denton, M.; Albert, J.; Horne, R. B.; Lemon, C. L.; Markidis, S.; Young, S. L.

2015-12-01

The near-Earth space environment is a highly dynamic and coupled system through a complex set of physical processes over a large range of scales, which responds nonlinearly to driving by the time-varying solar wind. Predicting variations in this environment that can affect technologies in space and on Earth, i.e. "space weather", remains a big space physics challenge. We present a recently funded project through the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program that is developing a new capability to understand, model, and predict Space Hazards Induced near Earth by Large Dynamic Storms, the SHIELDS framework. The project goals are to specify the dynamics of the hot (keV) particles (the seed population for the radiation belts) on both macro- and micro-scale, including important physics of rapid particle injection and acceleration associated with magnetospheric storms/substorms and plasma waves. This challenging problem is addressed using a team of world-class experts in the fields of space science and computational plasma physics and state-of-the-art models and computational facilities. New data assimilation techniques employing data from LANL instruments on the Van Allen Probes and geosynchronous satellites are developed in addition to physics-based models. This research will provide a framework for understanding of key radiation belt drivers that may accelerate particles to relativistic energies and lead to spacecraft damage and failure. The ability to reliably distinguish between various modes of failure is critically important in anomaly resolution and forensics. SHIELDS will enhance our capability to accurately specify and predict the near-Earth space environment where operational satellites reside.

Specification of the near-Earth space environment with SHIELDS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jordanova, Vania Koleva; Delzanno, Gian Luca; Henderson, Michael Gerard

Here, predicting variations in the near-Earth space environment that can lead to spacecraft damage and failure is one example of “space weather” and a big space physics challenge. A project recently funded through the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program aims at developing a new capability to understand, model, and predict Space Hazards Induced near Earth by Large Dynamic Storms, the SHIELDS framework. The project goals are to understand the dynamics of the surface charging environment (SCE), the hot (keV) electrons representing the source and seed populations for the radiation belts, on both macro- andmore » micro-scale. Important physics questions related to particle injection and acceleration associated with magnetospheric storms and substorms, as well as plasma waves, are investigated. These challenging problems are addressed using a team of world-class experts in the fields of space science and computational plasma physics, and state-of-the-art models and computational facilities. A full two-way coupling of physics-based models across multiple scales, including a global MHD (BATS-R-US) embedding a particle-in-cell (iPIC3D) and an inner magnetosphere (RAM-SCB) codes, is achieved. New data assimilation techniques employing in situ satellite data are developed; these provide an order of magnitude improvement in the accuracy in the simulation of the SCE. SHIELDS also includes a post-processing tool designed to calculate the surface charging for specific spacecraft geometry using the Curvilinear Particle-In-Cell (CPIC) code that can be used for reanalysis of satellite failures or for satellite design.« less

Pico-second laser materials interactions: mechanisms, material lifetime and performance optimization Ted Laurence(14-ERD-014)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Laurence, Ted A.

2016-12-14

Laser-induced damage with ps pulse widths straddles the transition from intrinsic, multiphoton ionization- and avalanche ionization-based ablation with fs pulses to defectdominated, thermal-based damage with ns pulses. We investigated the morphology and scaling of damage for commonly used silica and hafnia coatings as well as fused silica. Using carefully calibrated laser-induced damage experiments, in situ imaging, and high-resolution optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy, we showed that defects play an important role in laser-induced damage for pulse durations as short as 1 ps. Three damage morphologies were observed: standard material ablation, ultra-high density pits, and isolated absorbers.more » For 10 ps and longer, the isolated absorbers limited the damage performance of the coating materials. We showed that damage resulting from the isolated absorbers grows dramatically with subsequent pulses for sufficient fluences. For hafnia coatings, we used electric field modeling and experiments to show that isolated absorbers near the surface were affected by the chemical environment (vacuum vs. air) for pulses as short as 10 ps. Coupled with the silica results, these results suggested that improvements in the performance in the 10 -60 ps range have not reached fundamental limits. These findings motivate new efforts, including a new SI LDRD in improving the laser-damage performance of multi-layer dielectric coatings. A damage test facility for ps pulses was developed and automated, and was used for testing production optics for ARC. The resulting software was transferred to other laser test facilities for fs pulses and multiple wavelengths with 30 ps pulses. Additionally, the LDRD supported the retention and promotion of an important staff scientist in high-resolution dynamic microscopy and laser-damage testing.« less

U.S. EPA, Pesticide Product Label, D.Z.N DIAZINON 50W INSECTICIDE, 04/11/1988

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

2011-04-13

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The effect of chrome adhesion layer on quartz resonator aging.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wessendorf, Kurt O.; Ohlhausen, James Anthony

2011-03-01

This SAND report documents a late start LDRD designed to determine the possible aging effects of a quartz resonator gold adhesion layer. Sandia uses quartz resonators for applications. These applications require a very stable frequency source with excellent aging (low drift) characteristics. These parts are manufactured by one of our qualified vendors outside Sandia Laboratories, Statek Corp. Over the years we, Sandia and the vendor, have seen aging variations that have not been completely explained by the typical mechanisms known in the industry. One theory was that the resonator metallization may be contributing to the resonator aging. This LDRD wouldmore » allow us to test and analyze a group of resonators with known differentiating metallization and via accelerated aging determine if a chrome adhesion layer used to accept the final gold plating may contribute to poor aging. We worked with our main vendor to design and manufacture a set of quartz resonators with a wide range of metallization thickness ratios between the chrome and gold that will allow us determine the cause of this aging and which plating thickness ratios provide the best aging performance while not degrading other key characteristics.« less

Evaluation and Uncertainty of a New Method to Detect Suspected Nuclear and WMD Activity: Project Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kurzeja, R.; Werth, D.; Buckley, R.

The Atmospheric Technology Group at SRNL developed a new method to detect signals from Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) activities in a time series of chemical measurements at a downwind location. This method was tested with radioxenon measured in Russia and Japan after the 2013 underground test in North Korea. This LDRD calculated the uncertainty in the method with the measured data and also for a case with the signal reduced to 1/10 its measured value. The research showed that the uncertainty in the calculated probability of origin from the NK test site was small enough to confirm the test.more » The method was also wellbehaved for small signal strengths.« less

Hybrid plasma modeling.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hopkins, Matthew Morgan; DeChant, Lawrence Justin.; Piekos, Edward Stanley

2009-02-01

This report summarizes the work completed during FY2007 and FY2008 for the LDRD project ''Hybrid Plasma Modeling''. The goal of this project was to develop hybrid methods to model plasmas across the non-continuum-to-continuum collisionality spectrum. The primary methodology to span these regimes was to couple a kinetic method (e.g., Particle-In-Cell) in the non-continuum regions to a continuum PDE-based method (e.g., finite differences) in continuum regions. The interface between the two would be adjusted dynamically ased on statistical sampling of the kinetic results. Although originally a three-year project, it became clear during the second year (FY2008) that there were not sufficientmore » resources to complete the project and it was terminated mid-year.« less

Scalable Entity-Based Modeling of Population-Based Systems, Final LDRD Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cleary, A J; Smith, S G; Vassilevska, T K

2005-01-27

The goal of this project has been to develop tools, capabilities and expertise in the modeling of complex population-based systems via scalable entity-based modeling (EBM). Our initial focal application domain has been the dynamics of large populations exposed to disease-causing agents, a topic of interest to the Department of Homeland Security in the context of bioterrorism. In the academic community, discrete simulation technology based on individual entities has shown initial success, but the technology has not been scaled to the problem sizes or computational resources of LLNL. Our developmental emphasis has been on the extension of this technology to parallelmore » computers and maturation of the technology from an academic to a lab setting.« less

Genetic engineering of cyanobacteria as biodiesel feedstock.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ruffing, Anne.; Trahan, Christine Alexandra; Jones, Howland D. T.

2013-01-01

Algal biofuels are a renewable energy source with the potential to replace conventional petroleum-based fuels, while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The economic feasibility of commercial algal fuel production, however, is limited by low productivity of the natural algal strains. The project described in this SAND report addresses this low algal productivity by genetically engineering cyanobacteria (i.e. blue-green algae) to produce free fatty acids as fuel precursors. The engineered strains were characterized using Sandias unique imaging capabilities along with cutting-edge RNA-seq technology. These tools are applied to identify additional genetic targets for improving fuel production in cyanobacteria. This proof-of-concept studymore » demonstrates successful fuel production from engineered cyanobacteria, identifies potential limitations, and investigates several strategies to overcome these limitations. This project was funded from FY10-FY13 through the President Harry S. Truman Fellowship in National Security Science and Engineering, a program sponsored by the LDRD office at Sandia National Laboratories.« less

The Axion Dark Matter Experiment: Big Science with a (relatively) Small Team

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carosi, Gianpaolo

2016-03-01

The idea of the solitary physicist tinkering alone in a lab was my image of how science was done growing up (mostly influenced by popular culture). Of course this is not generally how experimental physics is done now days with examples of experiments at the LHC now involving thousands of scientists. In this talk I will describe my experience in a relatively modest project, the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX), which involves only a few dozen scientists at various universities and national labs. I will outline ADMX's humble beginnings at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where it began in the mid-1990s, and describe how the collaboration has evolved and grown throughout the years, as we pursue our elusive quarry: the dark-matter axion. Supported by DOE Grants DE-FG02-97ER41029, DE-FG02-96ER40956, DE- AC52-07NA27344, DE-AC03-76SF00098, and the Livermore LDRD program.

Pairing Instability and Quasiparticle Properties of an Unconventional Superconductor with a Skyrmion Texture of Localized Spins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Jian-Xin; Tai, Yuan-Yen

Majorana fermions are believed to perform better than regular fermions in keeping quantum coherence, which is an important factor for quantum computation. Recently there has been intensive interest in their realization in solid-state systems. Zero-energy quasiparticle modes in a superconductor serve as a promising candidate. We present a theoretical study on the influence of a two-dimensional (2D) skyrmion texture of localized spins on the pairing instability and quasiparticle properties in an unconventional superconductor. By solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations for an effective BCS model Hamiltonian with nearest-neighbor pairing interaction on a 2D square lattice, we analyze the spatial dependence of superconducting order parameter for varying strength of spin-exchange interaction. The quasiparticle properties are studied by calculating local density of states and its spatial dependence. This work was supported by U.S. DOE NNSA through the LANL LDRD Program, and by Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, a U.S. DOE BES user facility.

Los Alamos nEDM Experiment and Demonstration of Ramsey's Method on Stored UCNs at the LANL UCN Source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clayton, Steven; Chupp, Tim; Cude-Woods, Christopher; Currie, Scott; Ito, Takeyasu; Liu, Chen-Yu; Long, Joshua; MacDonald, Stephen; Makela, Mark; O'Shaughnessy, Christopher; Plaster, Brad; Ramsey, John; Saunders, Andy; LANL nEDM Collaboration

2017-09-01

The Los Alamos National Laboratory ultracold neutron (UCN) source was recently upgraded for a factor of 5 improvement in stored density, providing the statistical precision needed for a room temperature neutron electric dipole moment measurement with sensitivity 3 ×10-27 e . cm, a factor 10 better than the limit set by the Sussex-RAL-ILL experiment. Here, we show results of a demonstration of Ramsey's separated oscillatory fields method on stored UCNs at the LANL UCN source and in a geometry relevant for a nEDM measurement. We argue a world-leading nEDM experiment could be performed at LANL with existing technology and a short lead time, providing a physics result with sensitivity intermediate between the current limit set by Sussex-RAL-ILL, and the anticipated limit from the complex, cryogenic nEDM experiment planned for the next decade at the ORNL Spallation Neutron Source (SNS-nEDM). This work was supported by the Los Alamos LDRD Program, Project 20140015DR.

Spectral Dependence of Stratified Electrothermal Instability in Tamped Aluminum 6061 with Current in a Skin Layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bauer, Bruno; Hutchinson, Trevor; Awe, Thomas

2017-10-01

The stratified electrothermal instability (ETI) was recently observed on the surface of thick aluminum 6061 pulsed with rapidly rising lineal current density (3 ×1015 A m-1s-1) for 70 ns. A transparent 70- μm-thick Parylene-N coating tamped the aluminum expansion and suppressed surface plasma. The evolution of the aluminum surface emission pattern was recorded with time-resolved microscopy (3- μm resolution). The images were converted into a series of blackbody surface-temperature maps. Analysis of these temperature maps provides information on the evolution of temperature fluctuations, as a function of axial wavelength and azimuthal width. Perturbations with axial wavelength longer than 20 μm grow, while those with axial wavelength shorter than 10 μm decay. Comparing the spectral dependence of growth/decay rates with MHD simulations could test the modeling of ETI positive feedback and of damping by thermal conduction. Work supported by Sandia National Laboratories LDRD program, PO 1742766.

Thermal Transport in Nd-doped CeCoIn5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Duk Y.; Lin, Shi-Zeng; Weickert, Franziska; Rosa, P. F. S.; Bauer, Eric D.; Ronning, Filip; Thompson, J. D.; Movshovich, Roman

Heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn5 shows spin-density-wave (SDW) magnetic order in its superconducting state when a high magnetic field is applied. In this Q-phase, the antiferromagnetic order has a single ordering wave vector, and switches its orientation very sharply as magnetic field is rotated within the ab -plane around the [100] (anti-nodal) direction. This hypersensitivity induces a sharp jump of the thermal conductivity. Recently, the SDW with the same ordering wave vector was observed in Nd-doped CeCoIn5 in zero magnetic field. We have measured the thermal conductivity of 5% Nd-doped CeCoIn5 in the magnetic field rotating within the ab -plane. The anisotropy is significantly smaller in the doped material, and the switching transition is much broader. The superconducting transition near Hc 2 is first order, as for the pure CeCoIn5, which indicates the Pauli limited superconductivity. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the U.S. Department of Energy through the LANL/LDRD Program.

Interplay of temperature, spatial dispersion, and topology in silicene Casimir interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woods, Lilia; Rodriguez-Lopez, Pablo; Kort-Kamp, Wilton; Dalvit, Diego

Graphene materials have given an impetus to the field of electromagnetic fluctuation interactions, such as Casimir forces. The discovery of unusual distance asymptotics, pronounced thermal effects, and strong dependence on the chemical potential in graphene Casimir interactions have shown new directions for control of this universal force. Recently discovered silicene, a graphene-like material with staggered lattice and significant spin-orbit coupling, offers new opportunities to re-evaluate these unusual Casimir interaction functionalities. Utilizing the Lifshitz formalism we investigate how the spatial dispersion and temperature affect the Casimir interaction in silicene undergoing various topological phase transitions under an applied electric field and laser illumination. This study is facilitated by the comprehensive examination of the conductivity components calculated via the Kubo formalism. We show that the interplay between temperature, spatial dispersion, and topology result in novel features in Casimir interactions involving staggered graphene-like lattices. Support from the US Department of Energy under Grant Number DE-FG02-06ER46297 and the LANL LDRD program is acknowledged.

Positron Radiography of Ignition-Relevant ICF Capsules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Jackson; Chen, Hui; Field, John; Landen, Nino; Strozzi, David

2017-10-01

X-ray and neutron radiography are currently used to infer residual ICF shell and fuel asymmetries and areal density non-uniformities near and at peak compression that can impede ignition. Charged particles offer an alternative probe source that, in principle, are capable of radiographing the shell shape and areal density at arbitrary times, even in the presence of large x-ray self-emission. Laser-generated positrons are evaluated as a source to radiograph ICF capsules where current ultraintense laser facilities are capable of producing 2 ×1012 relativistic positrons in a narrow energy bandwidth and short duration. Monte Carlo simulations suggest that both the areal density and shell radius can be reconstructed for ignition-relevant capsules conditions between 0.002-2 g/cm2, and that this technique might be better suited to direct-drive. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 and funded by the LDRD Program under project tracking code 17-ERD-010.

High-resolution imaging of a shock front in plastic by phase contrast imaging at LCLS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beckwith, M.; Jiang, S.; Zhao, Y.; Schropp, A.; Fernandez-Panella, A.; Rinderknecht, H. G.; Wilks, S.; Fournier, K.; Galtier, E.; Xing, Z.; Granados, E.; Gamboa, E.; Glenzer, S. H.; Heimann, P.; Zastrau, U.; Cho, B. I.; Eggert, J. H.; Collins, G. W.; Ping, Y.

2017-10-01

Understanding the propagation of shock waves is important for many areas of high energy density physics, including inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and shock compression science. In order to probe the shock front structures in detail, a diagnostic capable of detecting both the small spatial and temporal changes in the material is required. Here we show the experiment using hard X-ray phase contrast imaging (PCI) to probe the shock wave propagation in polyimide with submicron spatial resolution. The experiment was performed at the Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) endstation of the Linac Coherent Lightsource (LCLS). PCI together with the femtosecond time scales of x-ray free electron lasers enables the imaging of optically opaque materials that undergo rapid temporal and spatial changes. The result reveals the evolution of the density profile with time. Work performed under DOE Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344 with support from OFES Early Career and LLNL LDRD program.

A final report to the Laboratory Directed Research and Development committee on Project 93-ERP-075: ``X-ray laser propagation and coherence: Diagnosing fast-evolving, high-density laser plasmas using X-ray lasers``

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wan, A.S.; Cauble, R.; Da Silva, L.B.

1996-02-01

This report summarizes the major accomplishments of this three-year Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Exploratory Research Project (ERP) entitled ``X-ray Laser Propagation and Coherence: Diagnosing Fast-evolving, High-density Laser Plasmas Using X-ray Lasers,`` tracking code 93-ERP-075. The most significant accomplishment of this project is the demonstration of a new laser plasma diagnostic: a soft x-ray Mach-Zehnder interferometer using a neonlike yttrium x-ray laser at 155 {angstrom} as the probe source. Detailed comparisons of absolute two-dimensional electron density profiles obtained from soft x-ray laser interferograms and profiles obtained from radiation hydrodynamics codes, such as LASNEX, will allow us to validate andmore » benchmark complex numerical models used to study the physics of laser-plasma interactions. Thus the development of soft x-ray interferometry technique provides a mechanism to probe the deficiencies of the numerical models and is an important tool for, the high-energy density physics and science-based stockpile stewardship programs. The authors have used the soft x-ray interferometer to study a number of high-density, fast evolving, laser-produced plasmas, such as the dynamics of exploding foils and colliding plasmas. They are pursuing the application of the soft x-ray interferometer to study ICF-relevant plasmas, such as capsules and hohlraums, on the Nova 10-beam facility. They have also studied the development of enhanced-coherence, shorter-pulse-duration, and high-brightness x-ray lasers. The utilization of improved x-ray laser sources can ultimately enable them to obtain three-dimensional holographic images of laser-produced plasmas.« less

A modeling framework for investment planning in interdependent infrastructures in multi-hazard environments.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brown, Nathanael J. K.; Gearhart, Jared Lee; Jones, Dean A.

Currently, much of protection planning is conducted separately for each infrastructure and hazard. Limited funding requires a balance of expenditures between terrorism and natural hazards based on potential impacts. This report documents the results of a Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) project that created a modeling framework for investment planning in interdependent infrastructures focused on multiple hazards, including terrorism. To develop this framework, three modeling elements were integrated: natural hazards, terrorism, and interdependent infrastructures. For natural hazards, a methodology was created for specifying events consistent with regional hazards. For terrorism, we modeled the terrorists actions based on assumptions regardingmore » their knowledge, goals, and target identification strategy. For infrastructures, we focused on predicting post-event performance due to specific terrorist attacks and natural hazard events, tempered by appropriate infrastructure investments. We demonstrate the utility of this framework with various examples, including protection of electric power, roadway, and hospital networks.« less

Final report for the endowment of simulator agents with human-like episodic memory LDRD.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Speed, Ann Elizabeth; Lippitt, Carl Edward; Thomas, Edward Victor

This report documents work undertaken to endow the cognitive framework currently under development at Sandia National Laboratories with a human-like memory for specific life episodes. Capabilities have been demonstrated within the context of three separate problem areas. The first year of the project developed a capability whereby simulated robots were able to utilize a record of shared experience to perform surveillance of a building to detect a source of smoke. The second year focused on simulations of social interactions providing a queriable record of interactions such that a time series of events could be constructed and reconstructed. The third yearmore » addressed tools to promote desktop productivity, creating a capability to query episodic logs in real time allowing the model of a user to build on itself based on observations of the user's behavior.« less

Figure and caption for LDRD annual report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Suratwala, T.

2017-10-16

Material removal rate of various optical material workpieces polished using various colloidal slurries as a function of partial charge difference. Partial charge difference is a parameter calculated from a new chemical model proposed to link the condensation reaction rate with polishing material removal rate. This chemical model can serve as a global platform to predict & design polishing processes for a wide variety of workpiece materials and slurry compositions.

Direct Measurements of the Baroclinic Instability in the Ocean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadek, Mahmoud; Aluie, Hussein; Hecht, Matthew; Vallis, Geoffrey

2016-11-01

The ocean is mechanically driven by wind and buoyancy at the surface which produce sloping isopycnals with a reservoir of available potential energy (APE). Large scale APE can be converted to kinetic energy via the baroclinic instability, which produces mesoscale eddies. Mesoscale eddies are ubiquitous in mid- and high-latitudes, and play a primary role in determining the strength and trajectories of currents and in generating intrinsic climate variability. The widespread belief that mesoscale eddies are generated through baroclinic instability is based on general accord between observations and linear stability analysis and the predicted behavior of nonlinear models. However, these models are unable to give us quantitative evidence of the extent to which the instability is responsible for eddy generation at various locations in the ocean. To this end, we implement a new coarse-graining framework, recently developed to study flow on a sphere, to directly analyze the baroclinic instability as a function of scale and geographic location, and implement it using strongly eddying high-resolution simulations in the North Atlantic and in the Southern Ocean. The results give us new information about location and intensity of the instability in both physical and spectral space. Partial support was provided by National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant OCE-1259794, US Department of Energy (US DOE) Grant DE-SC0014318, and the LANL LDRD program through Project Number 20150568ER.

Machine Learning of ABO3 Crystalline Compounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gubernatis, J. E.; Balachandran, P. V.; Lookman, T.

We apply two advanced machine learning methods to a database of experimentally known ABO3 materials to predict the existence of possible new perovskite materials and possible new cubic perovskites. Constructing a list of 625 possible new materials from charge conserving combinations of A and B atoms in known stable ABO3 materials, we predict about 440 new perovskites. These new perovskites are predicted most likely to occur when the A and B atoms are a lanthanide or actinide, when the A atom is a alkali, alkali earth, or late transition metal, and a when the B atom is a p-block atom. These results are in basic agreement with the recent materials discovery by substitution analysis of Hautier et al. who data-mined the entire ICSD data base to develop the probability that in any crystal structure atom X could be substituted for by atom Y. The results of our analysis has several points of disagreement with a recent high throughput DFT study of ABO3 crystalline compounds by Emery et al. who predict few, if any, new perovskites whose A and B atoms are both a lanthanide. They also predict far more new cubic perovskites than we do: We predict few, if any, with a high degree of probability. This work was supported by the LDRD DR program of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Bell-Plesset effects in Rayleigh-Taylor instability of finite-thickness spherical and cylindrical shells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Velikovich, A. L.; Schmit, P. F.

2015-11-01

Bell-Plesset effects accounting for the time dependence of the radius, velocity and acceleration of the Rayleigh-Taylor-unstable surface are ubiquitous in the instability of spherical laser targets and magnetically driven cylindrical liners. We present an analytical model that, for an ideal incompressible fluid and small perturbation amplitudes, exactly accounts for the Bell-Plesset effects in finite-thickness targets and liners through acceleration and deceleration phases. We derive the time-dependent dispersion equations determining the ``instantaneous growth rate'' and demonstrate that by integrating this growth rate over time (the WKB approximation) we accurately evaluate the number of perturbation e-foldings during the acceleration phase. In the limit of the small target/liner thickness, we obtain the exact thin-shell perturbation equations and approximate thin-shell dispersion relations, generalizing the earlier results of Harris (1962), Ott (1972) and Bud'ko et al. (1989). This research was supported by the US DOE/NNSA (A.L.V.), and in part by appointment to the Sandia National Laboratories Truman Fellowship in National Security Science and Engineering (P.F.S.), which is part of the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program, Project No. 165746, and sponsored by Sandia Corporation (a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation) as Operator of Sandia National Laboratories under its U.S. Department of Energy Contract No. DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Development of pair distribution function analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vondreele, R.; Billinge, S.; Kwei, G.

1996-09-01

This is the final report of a 3-year LDRD project at LANL. It has become more and more evident that structural coherence in the CuO{sub 2} planes of high-{Tc} superconducting materials over some intermediate length scale (nm range) is important to superconductivity. In recent years, the pair distribution function (PDF) analysis of powder diffraction data has been developed for extracting structural information on these length scales. This project sought to expand and develop this technique, use it to analyze neutron powder diffraction data, and apply it to problems. In particular, interest is in the area of high-{Tc} superconductors, although wemore » planned to extend the study to the closely related perovskite ferroelectric materials andother materials where the local structure affects the properties where detailed knowledge of the local and intermediate range structure is important. In addition, we planned to carry out single crystal experiments to look for diffuse scattering. This information augments the information from the PDF.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Frank, Jonathan H.; Pickett, Lyle M.; Bisson, Scott E.

In this LDRD project, we developed a capability for quantitative high - speed imaging measurements of high - pressure fuel injection dynamics to advance understanding of turbulent mixing in transcritical flows, ignition, and flame stabilization mechanisms, and to provide e ssential validation data for developing predictive tools for engine combustion simulations. Advanced, fuel - efficient engine technologies rely on fuel injection into a high - pressure, high - temperature environment for mixture preparation and com bustion. Howe ver, the dynamics of fuel injection are not well understood and pose significant experimental and modeling challenges. To address the need for quantitativemore » high - speed measurements, we developed a Nd:YAG laser that provides a 5ms burst of pulses at 100 kHz o n a robust mobile platform . Using this laser, we demonstrated s patially and temporally resolved Rayleigh scattering imaging and particle image velocimetry measurements of turbulent mixing in high - pressure gas - phase flows and vaporizing sprays . Quantitativ e interpretation of high - pressure measurements was advanced by reducing and correcting interferences and imaging artifacts.« less

Neutron star evolution and emission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Epstein, R. I.; Edwards, B. C.; Haines, T. J.

1997-01-01

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The authors investigated the evolution and radiation characteristics of individual neutron stars and stellar systems. The work concentrated on phenomena where new techniques and observations are dramatically enlarging the understanding of stellar phenomena. Part of this project was a study of x-ray and gamma-ray emission from neutron stars and other compact objects. This effort included calculating the thermal x-ray emission from young neutron stars, deriving the radio and gamma-ray emission from active pulsars and modeling intense gamma-ray bursts in distant galaxies. They also measured periodic optical and infrared fluctuations from rotating neutron stars and search for high-energy TeV gamma rays from discrete celestial sources.

Processing and Monthly Summaries of Downscaled Climate Data for Knoxville, Tennessee and Surrounding Region

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sylvester, Linda; Omitaomu, Olufemi A.; Parish, Esther S.

2016-09-01

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the City of Knoxville, Tennessee have partnered to work on a Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project towards investigating climate change, mitigation, and adaptation measures in mid-sized cities. ORNL has statistically and dynamically downscaled ten Global Climate Models (GCMs) to both 1 km and 4 km resolutions. The processing and summary of those ten gridded datasets for use in a web-based tool is described. The summaries of each model are shown individually to assist in determining the similarities and differences between the model scenarios. The variables of minimum and maximum daily temperature andmore » total monthly precipitation are summarized for the area of Knoxville, Tennessee for the periods of 1980-2005 and 2025-2050.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Perry, F.V.; Valentine, G.A.; Crowe, B.M.

This is the final report of a one-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The objective of this project was to determine whether isotopic techniques can be used to assess the eruption potential and eruption volume of continental stratovolcanoes. Large-volume eruptions from stratovolcanoes pose significant hazards to population and infrastructure in many parts of the world. We are testing whether this technique will allow a short- to medium-term (decades to millennia) probabilistic hazard assessment of large-volume eruptions. If successful, the technique will be useful to countries or regions that must consider medium tomore » long-term volcanic (e.g., nuclear waste facilities). We have begun sample acquisition and isotopic measurements at two stratovolcanoes, Pico de Orizaba in eastern Mexico and Daisen in western Japan.« less

Sheath field dynamics from time-dependent acceleration of laser-generated positrons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kerr, Shaun; Fedosejevs, Robert; Link, Anthony; Williams, Jackson; Park, Jaebum; Chen, Hui

2017-10-01

Positrons produced in ultraintense laser-matter interactions are accelerated by the sheath fields established by fast electrons, typically resulting in quasi-monoenergetic beams. Experimental results from OMEGA EP show higher order features developing in the positron spectra when the laser energy exceeds one kilojoule. 2D PIC simulations using the LSP code were performed to give insight into these spectral features. They suggest that for high laser energies multiple, distinct phases of acceleration can occur due to time-dependent sheath field acceleration. The detailed dynamics of positron acceleration will be discussed. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344, and funded by LDRD 17-ERD-010.

LDRD Final Report for''Tactical Laser Weapons for Defense'' SI (Tracking Code 01-SI-011)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beach, R; Zapata, L

The focus of this project was a convincing demonstration of two new technological approaches to high beam quality; high average power solid-state laser systems that would be of interest for tactical laser weapon applications. Two pathways had been identified to such systems that built on existing thin disk and fiber laser technologies. This SI was used as seed funding to further develop and vet these ideas. Significantly, the LLNL specific enhancements to these proposed technology paths were specifically addressed for devising systems scaleable to the 100 kW average power level. In the course of performing this work we have establishedmore » an intellectual property base that protects and distinguishes us from other competitive approaches to the same end.« less

FY07 LDRD Final Report A Fracture Mechanics and Tribology Approach to Understanding Subsurface Damage on Fused Silica during Grinding and Polishing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Suratwala, T I; Miller, P E; Menapace, J A

The objective of this work is to develop a solid scientific understanding of the creation and characteristics of surface fractures formed during the grinding and polishing of brittle materials, specifically glass. In this study, we have experimentally characterized the morphology, number density, and depth distribution of various surface cracks as a function of various grinding and polishing processes (blanchard, fixed abrasive grinding, loose abrasive, pitch polishing and pad polishing). Also, the effects of load, abrasive particle (size, distribution, foreign particles, geometry, velocity), and lap material (pitch, pad) were examined. The resulting data were evaluated in terms of indentation fracture mechanicsmore » and tribological interactions (science of interacting surfaces) leading to several models to explain crack distribution behavior of ground surfaces and to explain the characteristics of scratches formed during polishing. This project has greatly advanced the scientific knowledge of microscopic mechanical damage occurring during grinding and polishing and has been of general interest. This knowledge-base has also enabled the design and optimization of surface finishing processes to create optical surfaces with far superior laser damage resistance. There are five major areas of scientific progress as a result of this LDRD. They are listed in Figure 1 and described briefly in this summary below. The details of this work are summarized through a number of published manuscripts which are included this LDRD Final Report. In the first area of grinding, we developed a technique to quantitatively and statistically measure the depth distribution of surface fractures (i.e., subsurface damage) in fused silica as function of various grinding processes using mixtures of various abrasive particles size distributions. The observed crack distributions were explained using a model that extended known, single brittle indentation models to an ensemble of loaded, sliding particles. The model illustrates the importance of the particle size distribution of the abrasive and its influence on the resulting crack distribution. The results of these studies are summarized in references 1-7. In the second area of polishing, we conducted a series of experiments showing the influence of rogue particles (i.e., particles in the polishing slurry that are larger than base particles) on the creation of scratches on polished surfaces. Scratches can be thought of a as a specific type of sub-surface damage. The characteristics (width, length, type of fractures, concentration) were explained in terms of the rogue particle size, the rogue particle material, and the viscoelastic properties of the lap. The results of these studies are summarized in references 6-7. In the third area of etching, we conducted experiments aimed at understanding the effect of HF:NH{sub 4}F acid etching on surface fractures on fused silica. Etching can be used as a method: (a) to expose sub-surface mechanical damage, (b) to study the morphology of specific mechanical damage occurring by indentation, and (c) to convert a ground surface containing a high concentration of sub-surface mechanical damage into surface roughness. Supporting models have been developed to describe in detail the effect of etching on the morphology and evolution of surface cracks. The results of these studies are summarized in references 8-9. In the fourth area of scratch forensics or scratch fractography, a set of new scratch forensic rule-of-thumbs were developed in order to aid the optical fabricator and process engineer to interpret the cause of scratches and digs on surfaces. The details of how these rules were developed are described in each of the references included in this summary (1-9). Figure 2 provides as a summary of some of the more commonly used rules-of-thumbs that have been developed in this study. In the fifth and final area of laser damage, we demonstrated that the removal of such surface fractures from the surface during optical fabrication can dramatically improve the laser damage.« less

Inexpensive Chemiresistor Sensors for Real Time Ground Water Contamination Measurement

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-04-01

for Liquid Phase PEVA -40-C Chemiresistor Under Vapor Phase Exposure...29 6 -40-C (’ DIP • LDRD LOD MTBE ppb ppm PCP PDPP PECH PEVA PIB RH SAW SEED SERDP SLM trans-DCE TCE VERI voc L1R!Ro...Nomenclature Suffix for polymer inks, indicating percentage of total solids weight made up of graphitized carbon particles (e.g., PEVA -40-C) dual inline

Final Report on Institutional Computing Project s15_hilaserion, “Kinetic Modeling of Next-Generation High-Energy, High-Intensity Laser-Ion Accelerators as an Enabling Capability”

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Albright, Brian James; Yin, Lin; Stark, David James

This proposal sought of order 1M core-hours of Institutional Computing time intended to enable computing by a new LANL Postdoc (David Stark) working under LDRD ER project 20160472ER (PI: Lin Yin) on laser-ion acceleration. The project was “off-cycle,” initiating in June of 2016 with a postdoc hire.

Reduced Order Modeling for Prediction and Control of Large-Scale Systems.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kalashnikova, Irina; Arunajatesan, Srinivasan; Barone, Matthew Franklin

2014-05-01

This report describes work performed from June 2012 through May 2014 as a part of a Sandia Early Career Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project led by the first author. The objective of the project is to investigate methods for building stable and efficient proper orthogonal decomposition (POD)/Galerkin reduced order models (ROMs): models derived from a sequence of high-fidelity simulations but having a much lower computational cost. Since they are, by construction, small and fast, ROMs can enable real-time simulations of complex systems for onthe- spot analysis, control and decision-making in the presence of uncertainty. Of particular interest tomore » Sandia is the use of ROMs for the quantification of the compressible captive-carry environment, simulated for the design and qualification of nuclear weapons systems. It is an unfortunate reality that many ROM techniques are computationally intractable or lack an a priori stability guarantee for compressible flows. For this reason, this LDRD project focuses on the development of techniques for building provably stable projection-based ROMs. Model reduction approaches based on continuous as well as discrete projection are considered. In the first part of this report, an approach for building energy-stable Galerkin ROMs for linear hyperbolic or incompletely parabolic systems of partial differential equations (PDEs) using continuous projection is developed. The key idea is to apply a transformation induced by the Lyapunov function for the system, and to build the ROM in the transformed variables. It is shown that, for many PDE systems including the linearized compressible Euler and linearized compressible Navier-Stokes equations, the desired transformation is induced by a special inner product, termed the “symmetry inner product”. Attention is then turned to nonlinear conservation laws. A new transformation and corresponding energy-based inner product for the full nonlinear compressible Navier-Stokes equations is derived, and it is demonstrated that if a Galerkin ROM is constructed in this inner product, the ROM system energy will be bounded in a way that is consistent with the behavior of the exact solution to these PDEs, i.e., the ROM will be energy-stable. The viability of the linear as well as nonlinear continuous projection model reduction approaches developed as a part of this project is evaluated on several test cases, including the cavity configuration of interest in the targeted application area. In the second part of this report, some POD/Galerkin approaches for building stable ROMs using discrete projection are explored. It is shown that, for generic linear time-invariant (LTI) systems, a discrete counterpart of the continuous symmetry inner product is a weighted L2 inner product obtained by solving a Lyapunov equation. This inner product was first proposed by Rowley et al., and is termed herein the “Lyapunov inner product“. Comparisons between the symmetry inner product and the Lyapunov inner product are made, and the performance of ROMs constructed using these inner products is evaluated on several benchmark test cases. Also in the second part of this report, a new ROM stabilization approach, termed “ROM stabilization via optimization-based eigenvalue reassignment“, is developed for generic LTI systems. At the heart of this method is a constrained nonlinear least-squares optimization problem that is formulated and solved numerically to ensure accuracy of the stabilized ROM. Numerical studies reveal that the optimization problem is computationally inexpensive to solve, and that the new stabilization approach delivers ROMs that are stable as well as accurate. Summaries of “lessons learned“ and perspectives for future work motivated by this LDRD project are provided at the end of each of the two main chapters.« less

Ion-conduction mechanisms in NaSICON-type membranes for energy storage and utilization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McDaniel, Anthony H.; Ihlefeld, Jon F.; Bartelt, Norman Charles

2015-10-01

Next generation metal-ion conducting membranes are key to developing energy storage and utilization technologies like batteries and fuel ce lls. Sodium super-ionic conductors (aka NaSICON) are a class of compounds with AM 1 M 2 (PO 4 ) 3 stoichiometry where the choice of "A" and "M" cation varies widely. This report, which de scribes substitutional derivatives of NZP (NaZr 2 P 3 O 12 ), summarizes the accomplishments of a Laboratory D irected Research and Development (LDRD) project to analyze transport mec hanisms using a combination of in situ studies of structure, composition, and bonding, com bined with firstmore » principles theory and modeling. We developed an experimental platform and applied methods, such as synchrotron- based X-ray spectroscopies, to probe the electronic structure of compositionally well-controlled NaSICON films while in operation ( i.e ., conducting Na ions exposed to oxygen or water va por atmospheres). First principles theory and modeling were used to interpret the experimental observations and develop an enhanced understanding of atomistic processes that give rise to, and affect, ion conduction.« less

Improving axion detection sensitivity in high purity germanium detector based experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Wenqin; Elliott, Steven

2015-04-01

Thanks to their excellent energy resolution and low energy threshold, high purity germanium (HPGe) crystals are widely used in low background experiments searching for neutrinoless double beta decay, e.g. the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR and the GERDA experiments, and low mass dark matter, e.g. the CDMS and the EDELWEISS experiments. A particularly interesting candidate for low mass dark matter is the axion, which arises from the Peccei-Quinn solution to the strong CP problem and has been searched for in many experiments. Due to axion-photon coupling, the postulated solar axions could coherently convert to photons via the Primakeoff effect in periodic crystal lattices, such as those found in HPGe crystals. The conversion rate depends on the angle between axions and crystal lattices, so the knowledge of HPGe crystal axis is important. In this talk, we will present our efforts to improve the HPGe experimental sensitivity to axions by considering the axis orientations in multiple HPGe crystals simultaneously. We acknowledge the support of the U.S. Department of Energy through the LANL/LDRD Program.

Low-energy nuclear astrophysics studies at the Multicharged Ion Research Facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Febbraro, Michael; Pain, Steven; Bannister, Mark; Deboer, Richard; Chipps, Kelly; Havener, Charles; Peters, Willan; Ummel, Chad; Smith, Michael; Temanson, Eli; Toomey, Rebecca; Walter, David

2017-09-01

As low-energy nuclear astrophysics progresses toward measuring reaction cross sections in the stellar burning regimes, a worldwide effort is underway to continue these measurements at underground laboratories to achieve the requisite ultra-low-background environment. These facilities are crucial for providing the required low-background environments to perform such measurements of astrophysical importance. While advances have been made in the use of accelerators underground, of equal importance is the detectors, high-current targets, and techniques required to perform such measurements. With these goals in mind, a newly established astrophysics beamline has been built at the Multicharged Ion Research Facility (MIRF) located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The unique capabilities of MIRF will be demonstrated through two recent low-energy above-ground measurements of the dominant s-process neutron source 13C(α,n)16O and associated beam-induced background source 13C(d,n)14N. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. DOE, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics. Research sponsored by the LDRD Program of ORNL, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. DOE.

Laser Cooling the Diatomic Molecule CaH

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Velasquez, Joe, III; Di Rosa, Michael

2014-06-01

To laser-cool a species, a closed (or nearly closed) cycle is required to dissipate translational energy through many directed laser-photon absorption and subsequent randomly-directed spontaneous emission events. Many atoms lend themselves to such a closed-loop cooling cycle. Attaining laser-cooled molecular species is challenging because of their inherently complex internal structure, yet laser-cooling molecules could lead to studies in interesting chemical dynamics among other applications. Typically, laser-cooled atoms are assembled into molecules through photoassociation or Feschbach resonance. CaH is one of a few molecules whose internal structure is quite atom-like, allowing a nearly closed cycle without the need for many repumping lasers. We will also present our work-to-date on laser cooling this molecule. We employ traditional pulsed atomic/molecular beam techniques with a laser vaporization source to generate species with well-defined translational energies over a narrow range of velocity. In this way, we can apply laser-cooling to most species in the beam along a single dimension (the beam's axis). This project is funded by the LDRD program of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Atomic Rearrangements in Electron Attachment to Laser-Excited Molecules^*

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinnaduwage, Lal; McCorkle, Dennis

1996-10-01

We report the observation of extensive atomic rearrangements in dissociative electron attachment to triethylamine " (Pinnaduwage and McCorkle, Chem.Phys. Lett. (in press, 1996))" and benzene laser excited to energies above their ionization thresholds. Large signal of "rearranged" negative ions, such as C_3^- (which is observed in both cases), were observed. This is in contrast to negative-ion formation via electron attachment to molecules in their ground states, where "rearranged" negative ions are comparatively weak and have been observed only occasionally. However, formation of "rearranged" positive ions is of common occurrence in the ionization of polyatomic molecules; it is possible that the formation of "rearranged" positive ions in the ionization processes, and the formation of such negative ions via electron attachment to excited states located close to the ionization threshold, are related. * Work supported by the LDRD Program of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corp. for the US Department of Energy under contract number DE-AC05-96OR22464, and by the National Science Foundation under contract CHE-93113949 with the Univ. of Tenn., Knoxville.

Particle-In-Cell simulations of electron beam microbunching instability in three dimensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Chengkun; Zeng, Y.; Meyers, M. D.; Yi, S.; Albright, B. J.; Kwan, T. J. T.

2013-10-01

Microbunching instability due to Coherent Synchrotron Radiation (CSR) in a magnetic chicane is one of the major effects that can degrade the electron beam quality in an X-ray Free Electron Laser. Self-consistent simulation using the Particle-In-Cell (PIC) method for the CSR fields of the beam and their effects on beam dynamics have been elusive due to the excessive dispersion error on the grid. We have implemented a high-order finite-volume PIC scheme that models the propagation of the CSR fields accurately. This new scheme is characterized and optimized through a detailed dispersion analysis. The CSR fields from our improved PIC calculation are compared to the extended CSR numerical model based on the Lienard-Wiechert formula in 2D/3D. We also conduct beam dynamics simulation of the microbunching instability using our new PIC capability. Detailed self-consistent PIC simulations of the CSR fields and beam dynamics will be presented and discussed. Work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy through the LDRD program at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Recent progress on the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khatiwada, Rakshya; ADMX Collaboration

2017-01-01

The Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX) is one of the three ``Generation-2'' direct dark matter searches and the only one dedicated to finding the axion. It looks for axions that convert into photons through the Primakoff process in the presence of a strong magnetic field. The mass of the axion is unknown but expected to be few to tens of μeV, which corresponds to photons in the GHz range. The expected signal power is of the order 10-24 W, which puts stringent requirements on the system's noise level. ADMX has recently started its Generation-2 data run with the recent upgrades of a dilution refrigerator, which cools the system to sub-K temperature suppressing the thermal background noise and tunable, near quantum noise-limited SQUID amplifiers. This talk will summarize the current status and operation of ADMX experiment as it searches for dark matter axions. Supported by DOE Grants DE-SC0010280, DE-FG02-96ER40956, DE-AC52-07NA27344, DE-AC03-76SF00098, the Heising-Simons Foundation and the LLNL, FNAL and PNNL LDRD program.

Laser Beat-Wave Magnetization of a Dense Plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yates, Kevin; Hsu, Scott; Montgomery, David; Dunn, John; Langendorf, Samuel; Pollock, Bradley; Johnson, Timothy; Welch, Dale; Thoma, Carsten

2017-10-01

We present results from the first of a series of experiments to demonstrate and characterize laser beat-wave magnetization of a dense plasma, motivated by the desire to create high-beta targets with standoff for magneto-inertial fusion. The experiments are being conducted at the Jupiter Laser Facility (JLF) at LLNL. The experiment uses the JLF Janus 1 ω (1053 nm) beam and a standalone Nd:YAG (1064 nm) to drive the beat wave, and the Janus 2 ω (526.5 nm) beam to ionize/heat a gas-jet target as well as to provide Thomson-scattering (TS) measurements of the target density/temperature and scattered light from the beat wave. Streaked TS data captured electron-plasma-wave and ion-acoustic-wave features utilizing either nitrogen or helium gas jets. Effects of initial gas density as well as laser intensity on target have been measured, with electron densities ranging from 1E18 to 1E19 cm-3 with temperatures of tens to hundreds of eV, near the desired range for optimal field generation. LSP simulations were run to aid experimental design and data interpretation. LANL LDRD Program.

Proton and Ion Acceleration using Multi-kJ Lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilks, S. C.; Ma, T.; Kemp, A. J.; Tabak, M.; Link, A. J.; Haefner, C.; Hermann, M. R.; Mariscal, D. A.; Rubenchik, S.; Sterne, P.; Kim, J.; McGuffey, C.; Bhutwala, K.; Beg, F.; Wei, M.; Kerr, S. M.; Sentoku, Y.; Iwata, N.; Norreys, P.; Sevin, A.

2017-10-01

Short (<50 ps) laser pulses are capable of accelerating protons and ions from solid (or dense gas jet) targets as demonstrated by a number of laser facilities around the world in the past 20 years accelerating protons to between 1 and 100 MeV, depending on specific laser parameters. Over this time, a distinct scaling with energy has emerged that shows a trend towards increasing maximum accelerated proton (ion) energy with increasing laser energy. We consider the physical basis underlying this scaling, and use this to estimate future results when multi-kJ laser systems begin operating in this new high energy regime. In particular, we consider the effects of laser prepulse, intensity, energy, and pulse length on the number and energy of the ions, as well as target size and composition. We also discuss potential uses of these ion beams in High Energy Density Physics Experiments. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 and funded by the LLNL LDRD program under tracking code 17-ERD-039.

Lattice Stability and Interatomic Potential of Non-equilibrium Warm Dense Gold

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Z.; Mo, M.; Soulard, L.; Recoules, V.; Hering, P.; Tsui, Y. Y.; Ng, A.; Glenzer, S. H.

2017-10-01

Interatomic potential is central to the calculation and understanding of the properties of matter. A manifestation of interatomic potential is lattice stability in the solid-liquid transition. Recently, we have used frequency domain interferometry (FDI) to study the disassembly of ultrafast laser heated warm dense gold nanofoils. The FDI measurement is implemented by a spatial chirped single-shot technique. The disassembly of the sample is characterized by the change in phase shift of the reflected probe resulted from hydrodynamic expansion. The experimental data is compared with the results of two-temperature molecular dynamic simulations based on a highly optimized embedded-atom-method (EAM) interatomic potential. Good agreement is found for absorbed energy densities of 0.9 to 4.3MJ/kg. This provides the first demonstration of the applicability of an EAM interatomic potential in the non-equilibrium warm dense matter regime. The MD simulations also reveal the critical role of pressure waves in solid-liquid transition in ultrafast laser heated nanofoils. This work is supported by DOE Office of Science, Fusion Energy Science under FWP 100182, and SLAC LDRD program.

Homogeneous Hydrogenation of CO₂ to Methyl Formate Utilizing Switchable Ionic Liquids

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yadav, Mahendra; Linehan, John C.; Karkamkar, Abhijeet J.

2014-09-15

Capture of CO₂ and subsequent hydrogenation allows for base/alcohol-catalyzed conversion of CO₂ to methylformate in one pot. The conversion of CO₂ proceeds via alkylcarbonates, to formate salts and then formate esters, which can be catalyzed by base and alcohol with the only byproduct being water. The system operates at mild conditions (300 psi H₂, 140 °C). Reactivity is strongly influenced by temperature and choice of solvent. In the presence of excess of base (DBU) formate is predominant product while in excess of methanol methyl formate is major product. 110 °C yields formate salts, 140 °C promotes methylformate. The authors acknowledgemore » internal Laboratory Directed Re-search and Development (LDRD) funding from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). PNNL is operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy.« less

Experimental Investigation of Ternary Alloys for Fusion Breeding Blankets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Choi, B. William; Chiu, Ing L.

Future fusion power plants based on the deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel cycle will be required to breed the T fuel via neutron reactions with lithium, which will be incorporated in a breeding blanket that surrounds the fusion source. Recent work by LLNL proposed the used of liquid Li as the breeder in an inertial fusion energy (IFE) power plant. Subsequently, an LDRD was initiated to develop alternatives ternary alloy liquid metal breeders that have reduced chemical reactivity with water and air compared to pure Li. Part of the work plan was to experimentally investigate the phase diagrams of ternary alloys. Ofmore » particular interest was measurement of the melt temperature, which must be low enough to be compatible with the temperature limits of the steel used in the construction of the chamber and heat transfer system.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zimmerman, Jonathan A.; Jones, Reese E.; Templeton, Jeremy Alan

Materials with characteristic structures at nanoscale sizes exhibit significantly different mechani-cal responses from those predicted by conventional, macroscopic continuum theory. For example,nanocrystalline metals display an inverse Hall-Petch effect whereby the strength of the materialdecreases with decreasing grain size. The origin of this effect is believed to be a change in defor-mation mechanisms from dislocation motion across grains and pileup at grain boundaries at mi-croscopic grain sizes to rotation of grains and deformation within grain boundary interface regionsfor nanostructured materials. These rotational defects are represented by the mathematical conceptof disclinations. The ability to capture these effects within continuum theory, thereby connectingnanoscalemore » materials phenomena and macroscale behavior, has eluded the research community.The goal of our project was to develop a consistent theory to model both the evolution ofdisclinations and their kinetics. Additionally, we sought to develop approaches to extract contin-uum mechanical information from nanoscale structure to verify any developed continuum theorythat includes dislocation and disclination behavior. These approaches yield engineering-scale ex-pressions to quantify elastic and inelastic deformation in all varieties of materials, even those thatpossess highly directional bonding within their molecular structures such as liquid crystals, cova-lent ceramics, polymers and biological materials. This level of accuracy is critical for engineeringdesign and thermo-mechanical analysis is performed in micro- and nanosystems. The researchproposed here innovates on how these nanoscale deformation mechanisms should be incorporatedinto a continuum mechanical formulation, and provides the foundation upon which to develop ameans for predicting the performance of advanced engineering materials.4 AcknowledgmentThe authors acknowledge helpful discussions with Farid F. Abraham, Youping Chen, Terry J.Delph, Remi Dingreville, James W. Foulk III, Robert J. Hardy, Richard Lehoucq, Alejandro Mota,Gregory J. Wagner, Edmund B. Webb III and Xiaowang Zhou. Support for this project was pro-vided by the Enabling Predictive Simulation Investment Area of Sandia's Laboratory DirectedResearch and Development (LDRD) program.5« less

Real-time individualized training vectors for experiential learning.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Willis, Matt; Tucker, Eilish Marie; Raybourn, Elaine Marie

2011-01-01

Military training utilizing serious games or virtual worlds potentially generate data that can be mined to better understand how trainees learn in experiential exercises. Few data mining approaches for deployed military training games exist. Opportunities exist to collect and analyze these data, as well as to construct a full-history learner model. Outcomes discussed in the present document include results from a quasi-experimental research study on military game-based experiential learning, the deployment of an online game for training evidence collection, and results from a proof-of-concept pilot study on the development of individualized training vectors. This Lab Directed Research & Development (LDRD)more » project leveraged products within projects, such as Titan (Network Grand Challenge), Real-Time Feedback and Evaluation System, (America's Army Adaptive Thinking and Leadership, DARWARS Ambush! NK), and Dynamic Bayesian Networks to investigate whether machine learning capabilities could perform real-time, in-game similarity vectors of learner performance, toward adaptation of content delivery, and quantitative measurement of experiential learning.« less

LDRD final report : leveraging multi-way linkages on heterogeneous data.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dunlavy, Daniel M.; Kolda, Tamara Gibson

2010-09-01

This report is a summary of the accomplishments of the 'Leveraging Multi-way Linkages on Heterogeneous Data' which ran from FY08 through FY10. The goal was to investigate scalable and robust methods for multi-way data analysis. We developed a new optimization-based method called CPOPT for fitting a particular type of tensor factorization to data; CPOPT was compared against existing methods and found to be more accurate than any faster method and faster than any equally accurate method. We extended this method to computing tensor factorizations for problems with incomplete data; our results show that you can recover scientifically meaningfully factorizations withmore » large amounts of missing data (50% or more). The project has involved 5 members of the technical staff, 2 postdocs, and 1 summer intern. It has resulted in a total of 13 publications, 2 software releases, and over 30 presentations. Several follow-on projects have already begun, with more potential projects in development.« less

Quantum Cryptography for Secure Communications to Low-Earth Orbit Satellites

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hughes, R.J.; Buttler, W.T.; Kwiat, P.G.

1999-06-03

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Quantum cryptography is an emerging technology in which two parties may simultaneously generate shared, secret cryptographic key material using the transmission of quantum states of light. The security of these transmissions is based on the inviolability of the laws of quantum mechanics. An adversary can neither successfully tap the quantum transmissions, nor evade detection. Key material is built up using the transmission of a single-photon per bit. We have developed an experimental quantum cryptography system based on the transmissionmore » of non-orthogonal single-photon polarization states to generate shared key material over line-of-sight optical links. Our results provide strong evidence that cryptographic key material could be generated on demand between a ground station and a satellite (or between two satellites), allowing a satellite to be securely re-keyed on in orbit.« less

Determination and study of the cosmic-ray composition above 100 TeV

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sinnis, G.; Haines, T.J.; Hoffman, C.M.

1998-11-01

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The goal of this project was to develop a new technique using ground-based measurements to determine the cosmic-ray composition at energies around 10{sup 15} eV (the knee in the cosmic-ray spectrum). Cosmic rays are high-energy nuclei that continuously bombard the earth. Though cosmic rays were first detected in the 1870s it wasn`t until 1915 that their cosmic origin was established. At present, the authors still do not know the source of cosmic rays. At energies above 50 TeVmore » (1 TeV = 1 trillion electron-volts) they do not know the composition of the cosmic rays. At about 5 PeV (1PeV = 10{sup 15} eV) the cosmic ray spectrum steepens. Knowledge of the composition above and below this point can help determine the origin of cosmic rays.« less

Biomimetic air sampling for detection of low concentrations of molecules and bioagents : LDRD 52744 final report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hughes, Robert Clark

2003-12-01

Present methods of air sampling for low concentrations of chemicals like explosives and bioagents involve noisy and power hungry collectors with mechanical parts for moving large volumes of air. However there are biological systems that are capable of detecting very low concentrations of molecules with no mechanical moving parts. An example is the silkworm moth antenna which is a highly branched structure where each of 100 branches contains about 200 sensory 'hairs' which have dimensions of 2 microns wide by 100 microns long. The hairs contain about 3000 pores which is where the gas phase molecules enter the aqueous (lymph)more » phase for detection. Simulations of diffusion of molecules indicate that this 'forest' of hairs is 'designed' to maximize the extraction of the vapor phase molecules. Since typical molecules lose about 4 decades in diffusion constant upon entering the liquid phase, it is important to allow air diffusion to bring the molecule as close to the 'sensor' as possible. The moth acts on concentrations as low as 1000 molecules per cubic cm. (one part in 1e16). A 3-D collection system of these dimensions could be fabricated by micromachining techniques available at Sandia. This LDRD addresses the issues involved with extracting molecules from air onto micromachined structures and then delivering those molecules to microsensors for detection.« less

Simulation studies of muon-produced background events deep underground and consequences for double beta decay experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Massarczyk, Ralph; Majorana Collaboration

2015-10-01

Cosmic radiation creates a significant background for low count rate experiments. The Majorana demonstrator experiment is located at the Sanford Underground Research Facility at a depth of 4850ft below the surface but it can still be penetrated by cosmic muons with initial energies above the TeV range. The interaction of muons with the rock, the shielding material in the lab and the detector itself can produce showers of secondary particles, like fast neutrons, which are able to travel through shielding material and can produce high-energy γ-rays via capture or inelastic scattering. The energy deposition of these γ rays in the detector can overlap with energy region of interest for the neutrino-less double beta decay. Recent studies for cosmic muons penetrating the Majorana demonstrator are made with the Geant4 code. The results of these simulations will be presented in this talk and an overview of the interaction of the shower particles with the detector, shielding and veto system will be given. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, the Particle Astrophysics Program of the National Science Foundation, and the Sanford Underground Research Facility. Supported by U.S. Department of Energy through the LANL/LDRD Program.

Performance of VPIC on Trinity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nystrom, W. D.; Bergen, B.; Bird, R. F.; Bowers, K. J.; Daughton, W. S.; Guo, F.; Li, H.; Nam, H. A.; Pang, X.; Rust, W. N., III; Wohlbier, J.; Yin, L.; Albright, B. J.

2016-10-01

Trinity is a new major DOE computing resource which is going through final acceptance testing at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Trinity has several new and unique architectural features including two compute partitions, one with dual socket Intel Haswell Xeon compute nodes and one with Intel Knights Landing (KNL) Xeon Phi compute nodes. Additional unique features include use of on package high bandwidth memory (HBM) for the KNL nodes, the ability to configure the KNL nodes with respect to HBM model and on die network topology in a variety of operational modes at run time, and use of solid state storage via burst buffer technology to reduce time required to perform I/O. An effort is in progress to port and optimize VPIC to Trinity and evaluate its performance. Because VPIC was recently released as Open Source, it is being used as part of acceptance testing for Trinity and is participating in the Trinity Open Science Program which has resulted in excellent collaboration activities with both Cray and Intel. Results of this work will be presented on performance of VPIC on both Haswell and KNL partitions for both single node runs and runs at scale. Work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Dept. of Energy by the Los Alamos National Security, LLC Los Alamos National Laboratory under contract DE-AC52-06NA25396 and supported by the LANL LDRD program.

Study of self-generated electric field at shock front by broadband proton probing and soft X-ray emission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hua, Rui; Sio, Hong; Wilks, Scott; McGuffey, Christopher; Bailly-Grandvaux, Mathieu; Heeter, Bob; Beg, Farhat; Collins, Gilbert; Ping, Yuan; MIT Collaboration; LLNL Collaboration; UCSD Collaboration

2017-10-01

Self-generated electric fields arise from gradients in the electron pressure at shock fronts. We report observations of such E-fields from experiments conducted on OMEGA EP. In the experiments, strong shock waves were generated in low density gas under a quasi-planar geometry and diagnosed by broadband proton radiography. The broad proton spectrum allows energy-dependent measurements of deflection from which one can quantitatively constrain the electrical potential and field thickness. Three UV beams delivering up to 6.4 kJ energy in 2ns were used for shock generation and a short laser pulse of energy up to 850 J, 10 ps duration, was used to accelerate the broadband proton beam for point-projection radiography. Observations show the existence of electric fields with potential 300 V at the front of a Mach 9 shock in helium gas. A Mach 16 shock is also studied, from which both the field thickness and electric potential are reproduced. Simultaneous spatially resolved soft-x-ray spectroscopy provided additional measurements of shock velocity, particle velocity and thermal emission. This work was performed under DOE contract DE-AC52-07NA27 344 with support from OFES Early Career program and LLNL LDRD program. This work has been partially supported by the University of California Office of the President Lab Fee Grant Number LFR-17-449059.

The advanced hohlraum research project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, Ogden; Tabak, M.; Amendt, P. A.; Hammer, J. H.; Baker, K. L.; Baumann, T. F.; Berger, R. L.; Biener, M. M.; Ho, D. D.; Kim, S. H.; Logan, B. G.; Mariscal, D. A.; Patankar, S.; Wallace, R. L.

2017-10-01

We present results of a three-year study on alternate hohlraum designs. Several alternatives to cylindrical gas-filled hohlraums have been investigated. Proposed new hohlraum concepts utilize different hohlraum shapes, multiple laser entrance holes, and alternate materials such as metal foam walls. For each design we assess the radiation drive efficiency, the time-dependent drive symmetry, and laser-plasma interaction issues such as backscatter and crossed beam energy transfer. Results from supporting experiments on laser-heated foams are also summarized. Prepared by LLNL under LDRD 15-ERD-058.

Dynamic compression of synthetic diamond windows (final report for LDRD project 93531).

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dolan, Daniel H.,

2008-09-01

Diamond is an attractive dynamic compression window for many reasons: high elastic limit,large mechanical impedance, and broad transparency range. Natural diamonds, however, aretoo expensive to be used in destructive experiments. Chemical vapor deposition techniquesare now able to produce large single-crystal windows, opening up many potential dynamiccompression applications. This project studied the behavior of synthetic diamond undershock wave compression. The results suggest that synthetic diamond could be a usefulwindow in this field, though complete characterization proved elusive.3

Displacement energy of the surface layers of tungsten

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Longtao; Krstic, Predrag

2015-11-01

A molecular dynamics study with BOP potential is used to calculate the threshold displacement energy (ED) of primary knock-on atoms in the surface layers of the tungsten bcc crystal lattice at 300 K and at various crystallographic directions. Depending on the direction, ED is 10% to 75% smaller from the bulk value at the first layer, interfacing vacuum, while it reaches close to the bulk value already at the third tungsten layer. Supported by IACS of SBU and LDRD of PPPL.

Neutron scattering as a probe of liquid crystal polymer-reinforced composite materials

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hjelm, R.P.; Douglas, E.P.; Benicewicz, B.C.

1995-12-31

This is the final report of a three-year Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). This research project sought to obtain nanoscale and molecular level information on the mechanism of reinforcement in liquid crystal polymer (LCP)-reinforced composites, to realize molecular-reinforced LCP composites, and to test the validity of the concept of molecular reinforcement. Small-angle neutron scattering was used to study the structures in the ternary phase diagram of LCP with liquid crystal thermosets and solvent on length scales ranging from 1-100 nm. The goal of the scattering measurements is to understand the phase morphologymore » and degree of segregation of the reinforcing and matrix components. This information helps elucidate the physics of self assembly in these systems. This work provides an experimental basis for a microengineering approach to composites of vastly improved properties.« less

Wavelet transforms as solutions of partial differential equations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zweig, G.

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Wavelet transforms are useful in representing transients whose time and frequency structure reflect the dynamics of an underlying physical system. Speech sound, pressure in turbulent fluid flow, or engine sound in automobiles are excellent candidates for wavelet analysis. This project focused on (1) methods for choosing the parent wavelet for a continuous wavelet transform in pattern recognition applications and (2) the more efficient computation of continuous wavelet transforms by understanding the relationship between discrete wavelet transforms and discretized continuousmore » wavelet transforms. The most interesting result of this research is the finding that the generalized wave equation, on which the continuous wavelet transform is based, can be used to understand phenomena that relate to the process of hearing.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wu, Meiye; Davis, Ryan Wesley; Hatch, Anson

In the early stages of infection, patients develop non-specific or no symptoms at all. While waiting for identification of the infectious agent, precious window of opportunity for early intervention is lost. The standard diagnostics require affinity reagents and sufficient pathogen titers to reach the limit of detection. In the event of a disease outbreak, triaging the at-risk population rapidly and reliably for quarantine and countermeasure is more important than the identification of the pathogen by name. To expand Sandia's portfolio of Biological threat management capabilities, we will utilize Raman spectrometry to analyze immune subsets in whole blood to rapidly distinguishmore » infected from non-infected, and bacterial from viral infection, for the purpose of triage during an emergency outbreak. The goal of this one year LDRD is to determine whether Raman spectroscopy can provide label-free detection of early disease signatures, and define a miniaturized Raman detection system meeting requirements for low- resource settings.« less

Eyeglass Large Aperture, Lightweight Space Optics FY2000 - FY2002 LDRD Strategic Initiative

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hyde, R

2003-02-10

A series of studies by the Air Force, the National Reconnaissance Office and NASA have identified the critical role played by large optics in fulfilling many of the space related missions of these agencies. Whether it is the Next Generation Space Telescope for NASA, high resolution imaging systems for NRO, or beam weaponry for the Air Force, the diameter of the primary optic is central to achieving high resolution (imaging) or a small spot size on target (lethality). While the detailed requirements differ for each application (high resolution imaging over the visible and near-infrared for earth observation, high damage thresholdmore » but single-wavelength operation for directed energy), the challenges of a large, lightweight primary optic which is space compatible and operates with high efficiency are the same. The advantage of such large optics to national surveillance applications is that it permits these observations to be carried-out with much greater effectiveness than with smaller optics. For laser weapons, the advantage is that it permits more tightly focused beams which can be leveraged into either greater effective range, reduced laser power, and/or smaller on-target spot-sizes; weapon systems can be made either much more effective or much less expensive. This application requires only single-wavelength capability, but places an emphasis upon robust, rapidly targetable optics. The advantages of large aperture optics to astronomy are that it increases the sensitivity and resolution with which we can view the universe. This can be utilized either for general purpose astronomy, allowing us to examine greater numbers of objects in more detail and at greater range, or it can enable the direct detection and detailed examination of extra-solar planets. This application requires large apertures (for both light-gathering and resolution reasons), with broad-band spectral capability, but does not emphasize either large fields-of-view or pointing agility. Despite differences in their requirements and implementations, the fundamental difficulty in utilizing large aperture optics is the same for all of these applications: It is extremely difficult to design large aperture space optics which are both optically precise and can meet the practical requirements for launch and deployment in space. At LLNL we have developed a new concept (Eyeglass) which uses large diffractive optics to solve both of these difficulties; greatly reducing both the mass and the tolerance requirements for large aperture optics. During previous LDRD-supported research, we developed this concept, built and tested broadband diffractive telescopes, and built 50 cm aperture diffraction-limited diffractive lenses (the largest in the world). This work is fully described in UCRL-ID-136262, Eyeglass: A Large Aperture Space Telescope. However, there is a large gap between optical proof-of-principle with sub-meter apertures, and actual 50 meter space telescopes. This gap is far too large (both in financial resources and in spacecraft expertise) to be filled internally at LLNL; implementation of large aperture diffractive space telescopes must be done externally using non-LLNL resources and expertise. While LLNL will never become the primary contractor and integrator for large space optical systems, our natural role is to enable these devices by developing the capability of producing very large diffractive optics. Accordingly, the purpose of the Large Aperture, Lightweight Space Optics Strategic Initiative was to develop the technology to fabricate large, lightweight diffractive lenses. The additional purpose of this Strategic Initiative was, of course, to demonstrate this lens-fabrication capability in a fashion compellingly enough to attract the external support necessary to continue along the path to full-scale space-based telescopes. During this 3 year effort (FY2000-FY2002) we have developed the capability of optically smoothing and diffractively-patterning thin meter-sized sheets of glass into lens panels. We have also developed alignment and seaming techniques which allow individual lens panels to be assembled together, forming a much larger, segmented, diffractive lens. The capabilities provided by this LDRD-supported developmental effort were then demonstrated by the fabrication and testing of a lightweight, 5 meter aperture, diffractive lens.« less

Katherine E. Weimer Award: X-ray light sources from laser-plasma and laser-electron interaction: development and applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Albert, Felicie

2017-10-01

Bright sources of x-rays, such as synchrotrons and x-ray free electron lasers (XFEL) are transformational tools for many fields of science. They are used for biology, material science, medicine, or industry. Such sources rely on conventional particle accelerators, where electrons are accelerated to gigaelectronvolts (GeV) energies. The accelerated particles are wiggled in magnetic structures to emit x-ray radiation that is commonly used for molecular crystallography, fluorescence studies, chemical analysis, medical imaging, and many other applications. One of the drawbacks of these machines is their size and cost, because electric field gradients are limited to about 100 V/M in conventional accelerators. Particle acceleration in laser-driven plasmas is an alternative to generate x-rays via betatron emission, Compton scattering, or bremsstrahlung. A plasma can sustain electrical fields many orders of magnitude higher than that in conventional radiofrequency accelerator structures. When short, intense laser pulses are focused into a gas, it produces electron plasma waves in which electrons can be trapped and accelerated to GeV energies. X-ray sources, driven by electrons from laser-wakefield acceleration, have unique properties that are analogous to synchrotron radiation, with a 1000-fold shorter pulse. An important use of x-rays from laser plasma accelerators is in High Energy Density (HED) science, which requires laser and XFEL facilities to create in the laboratory extreme conditions of temperatures and pressures that are usually found in the interiors of stars and planets. To diagnose such extreme states of matter, the development of efficient, versatile and fast (sub-picosecond scale) x-ray probes has become essential. In these experiments, x-ray photons can pass through dense material, and absorption of the x-rays can be directly measured, via spectroscopy or imaging, to inform scientists about the temperature and density of the targets being studied. Performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract DE-AC52-07NA27344, supported by the LLNL LDRD program (16ERD024), and by the DOE Office Science Early Career Research Program (SCW1575).

R&D for computational cognitive and social models : foundations for model evaluation through verification and validation (final LDRD report).

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Slepoy, Alexander; Mitchell, Scott A.; Backus, George A.

2008-09-01

Sandia National Laboratories is investing in projects that aim to develop computational modeling and simulation applications that explore human cognitive and social phenomena. While some of these modeling and simulation projects are explicitly research oriented, others are intended to support or provide insight for people involved in high consequence decision-making. This raises the issue of how to evaluate computational modeling and simulation applications in both research and applied settings where human behavior is the focus of the model: when is a simulation 'good enough' for the goals its designers want to achieve? In this report, we discuss two years' worthmore » of review and assessment of the ASC program's approach to computational model verification and validation, uncertainty quantification, and decision making. We present a framework that extends the principles of the ASC approach into the area of computational social and cognitive modeling and simulation. In doing so, we argue that the potential for evaluation is a function of how the modeling and simulation software will be used in a particular setting. In making this argument, we move from strict, engineering and physics oriented approaches to V&V to a broader project of model evaluation, which asserts that the systematic, rigorous, and transparent accumulation of evidence about a model's performance under conditions of uncertainty is a reasonable and necessary goal for model evaluation, regardless of discipline. How to achieve the accumulation of evidence in areas outside physics and engineering is a significant research challenge, but one that requires addressing as modeling and simulation tools move out of research laboratories and into the hands of decision makers. This report provides an assessment of our thinking on ASC Verification and Validation, and argues for further extending V&V research in the physical and engineering sciences toward a broader program of model evaluation in situations of high consequence decision-making.« less

Diffusive tunneling for alleviating Knudsen-layer reactivity reduction under hydrodynamic mix

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Xianzhu; McDevitt, Chris; Guo, Zehua

2017-10-01

Hydrodynamic mix will produce small features for intermixed deuterium-tritium fuel and inert pusher materials. The geometrical characteristics of the mix feature have a large impact on Knudsen layer yield reduction. We considered two features. One is planar structure, and the other is fuel cells segmented by inert pusher material which can be represented by a spherical DT bubble enclosed by a pusher shell. The truly 3D fuel feature, the spherical bubble, has the largest degree of yield reduction, due to fast ions being lost in all directions. The planar fuel structure, which can be regarded as 1D features, has modest amount of potential for yield degradation. While the increasing yield reduction with increasing Knudsen number of the fuel region is straightforwardly anticipated, we also show, by a combination of direct simulation and simple model, that once the pusher materials is stretched sufficiently thin by hydrodynamic mix, the fast fuel ions diffusively tunnel through them with minimal energy loss, so the Knudsen layer yield reduction becomes alleviated. This yield recovery can occur in a chunk-mixed plasma, way before the far more stringent, asymptotic limit of an atomically homogenized fuel and pusher assembly. Work supported by LANL LDRD program.

Refined Calculations of Secondary Nuclear Reactions in Magneto-Inertial Fusion Plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmit, Paul; Knapp, Patrick; Hansen, Stephanie; Gomez, Matthew; Hahn, Kelly; Sinars, Daniel; Peterson, Kyle; Slutz, Stephen; Sefkow, Adam; Awe, Thomas; Harding, Eric; Jennings, Christopher

2014-10-01

Diagnosing the degree of magnetic flux compression at stagnation in magneto-inertial fusion (MIF) is critical for charting the performance of any MIF concept. In pure deuterium plasma, the transport of high-energy tritons produced by the aneutronic DD fusion reaction depends strongly on the magnetic field. The tritons probe and occasionally react with the fuel, emitting secondary DT neutrons. We show that the DT/DD neutron yield ratio and the secondary DT neutron spectra can be used to infer the magnetic field-radius product (BR), the critical confinement parameter for MIF. The amount of fuel-pusher mix also can be constrained by secondary reactions. We discuss the sensitivity to plasma inhomogeneities of the calculations and outline methods to relate secondary yields to alpha particle energy deposition in ignition-relevant experiments employing DT fuel. We compare our calculations to recent tests of the Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion (MagLIF) concept on the Z Pulsed Power Facility. Supported in part by the SNL Truman Fellowship, which is part of the LDRD Program, and sponsored by Sandia Corporation (a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation) as Operator of SNL under its U.S. DoE Contract No. DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Friction on a granular-continuum interface: Effects of granular media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ecke, Robert; Geller, Drew

We consider the frictional interactions of two soft plates with interposed granular material subject to normal and shear forces. The plates are soft photo-elastic material, have length 50 cm, and are separated by a gap of variable width from 0 to 20 granular particle diameters. The granular materials are two-dimensional rods that are bi-dispersed in size to prevent crystallization. Different rod materials with frictional coefficients between 0 . 04 < μ < 0 . 5 are used to explore the effects of inter-granular friction on the effective friction of a granular medium. The gap is varied to test the dependence of the friction coefficient on the thickness of the granular layer. Because the soft plates absorb most of the displacement associated with the compressional normal force, the granular packing fractions are close to a jamming threshold, probably a shear jamming criterion. The overall shear and normal forces are measured using force sensors and the local strain tensor over a central portion of the gap is obtained using relative displacements of fiducial markers on the soft elastic material. These measurements provide a good characterization of the global and local forces giving rise to an effective friction coefficient. Funded by US DOE LDRD Program.

Compressibility Effects on Particle-Fluid Interaction Force for Eulerian-Eulerian Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akiki, Georges; Francois, Marianne; Zhang, Duan

2017-11-01

Particle-fluid interaction forces are essential in modeling multiphase flows. Several models can be found in the literature based on empirical, numerical, and experimental results from various simplified flow conditions. Some of these models also account for finite Mach number effects. Using these models is relatively straightforward with Eulerian-Lagrangian calculations if the model for the total force on particles is used. In Eulerian-Eulerian simulations, however, there is the pressure gradient terms in the momentum equation for particles. For low Mach number flows, the pressure gradient force is negligible if the particle density is much greater than that of the fluid. For supersonic flows where a standing shock is present, even for a steady and uniform flow, it is unclear whether the significant pressure-gradient force should to be separated out from the particle force model. To answer this conceptual question, we perform single-sphere fully-resolved DNS simulations for a wide range of Mach numbers. We then examine whether the total force obtained from the DNS can be categorized into well-established models, such as the quasi-steady, added-mass, pressure-gradient, and history forces. Work sponsored by Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program of NNSA and LDRD-CNLS of LANL.

Density Gradient Separation of Detonation Soot for Nanocarbon Characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ringstrand, Bryan; Jungjohann, Katie; Seifert, Sonke; Firestone, Millicent; Podlesak, David

2017-06-01

Detonation of high explosives (HE) can expand our understanding of chemical bonding at extreme conditions as well as the opportunity to prepare carbon nanomaterials. In order to understand detonation mechanisms, nanocarbon characterization contained within the soot is paramount. Thus, benign purification methods for detonation soot are important for its characterization. Progress towards a non-traditional approach to detonation soot processing is presented. Purification of soot using heavy liquid media such as sodium polytungstate to separate soot components based on their density was tested based on the premise that different nanocarbons possess different densities [ ρ = 1.79 g/cm3 (graphene) and ρ = 3.05 g/cm3 (nanodiamond)]. Analysis using XRD, SAXS, WAXS, Raman, XPS, TEM, and NMR provided information about particle morphology and carbon hybridization. Detonation synthesis offers an avenue for the discovery of new carbon frameworks. In addition, understanding reactions at extreme conditions provides for more accurate predictions of HE performance, explosion intent, and simulation refinement. These results are of interest to both the nanoscience and shock physics communities. We acknowledge the support of the U.S. Department of Energy LANL/LDRD Program (LANL #20150050DR). LA-UR-17-21502.

A Multi-Objective Optimization Technique to Model the Pareto Front of Organic Dielectric Polymers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gubernatis, J. E.; Mannodi-Kanakkithodi, A.; Ramprasad, R.; Pilania, G.; Lookman, T.

Multi-objective optimization is an area of decision making that is concerned with mathematical optimization problems involving more than one objective simultaneously. Here we describe two new Monte Carlo methods for this type of optimization in the context of their application to the problem of designing polymers with more desirable dielectric and optical properties. We present results of applying these Monte Carlo methods to a two-objective problem (maximizing the total static band dielectric constant and energy gap) and a three objective problem (maximizing the ionic and electronic contributions to the static band dielectric constant and energy gap) of a 6-block organic polymer. Our objective functions were constructed from high throughput DFT calculations of 4-block polymers, following the method of Sharma et al., Nature Communications 5, 4845 (2014) and Mannodi-Kanakkithodi et al., Scientific Reports, submitted. Our high throughput and Monte Carlo methods of analysis extend to general N-block organic polymers. This work was supported in part by the LDRD DR program of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and in part by a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) Grant from the Office of Naval Research.

Recent Performance Results of VPIC on Trinity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nystrom, W. D.; Bergen, B.; Bird, R. F.; Bowers, K. J.; Daughton, W. S.; Guo, F.; Le, A.; Li, H.; Nam, H.; Pang, X.; Stark, D. J.; Rust, W. N., III; Yin, L.; Albright, B. J.

2017-10-01

Trinity is a new DOE compute resource now in production at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Trinity has several new and unique features including two compute partitions, one with dual socket Intel Haswell Xeon compute nodes and one with Intel Knights Landing (KNL) Xeon Phi compute nodes, use of on package high bandwidth memory (HBM) for KNL nodes, ability to configure KNL nodes with respect to HBM model and on die network topology in a variety of operational modes at run time, and use of solid state storage via burst buffer technology to reduce time required to perform I/O. An effort is in progress to optimize VPIC on Trinity by taking advantage of these new architectural features. Results of work will be presented on performance of VPIC on Haswell and KNL partitions for single node runs and runs at scale. Results include use of burst buffers at scale to optimize I/O, comparison of strategies for using MPI and threads, performance benefits using HBM and effectiveness of using intrinsics for vectorization. Work performed under auspices of U.S. Dept. of Energy by Los Alamos National Security, LLC Los Alamos National Laboratory under contract DE-AC52-06NA25396 and supported by LANL LDRD program.

Efficient simulation of pitch angle collisions in a 2+2-D Eulerian Vlasov code

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banks, Jeff; Berger, R.; Brunner, S.; Tran, T.

2014-10-01

Here we discuss pitch angle scattering collisions in the context of the Eulerian-based kinetic code LOKI that evolves the Vlasov-Poisson system in 2+2-dimensional phase space. The collision operator is discretized using 4th order accurate conservative finite-differencing. The treatment of the Vlasov operator in phase-space uses an approach based on a minimally diffuse, fourth-order-accurate discretization (Banks and Hittinger, IEEE T. Plasma Sci. 39, 2198). The overall scheme is therefore discretely conservative and controls unphysical oscillations. Some details of the numerical scheme will be presented, and the implementation on modern highly concurrent parallel computers will be discussed. We will present results of collisional effects on linear and non-linear Landau damping of electron plasma waves (EPWs). In addition we will present initial results showing the effect of collisions on the evolution of EPWs in two space dimensions. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 and funded by the LDRD program at LLNL under project tracking code 12-ERD-061.

Nonlinear Excitation of the Ablative Rayleigh-Taylor Instability for All Wave Numbers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, H.; Betti, R.; Gopalaswamy, V.; Aluie, H.; Yan, R.

2017-10-01

Small-scale modes of the ablative Rayleigh-Taylor instability (ARTI) are often neglected because they are linearly stable when their wavelength is shorter than a linear cutoff. Using 2-D and 3-D numerical simulations, it is shown that linearly stable modes of any wavelength can be destabilized. This instability regime requires finite amplitude initial perturbations. Compared to 2-D, linearly stable ARTI modes are more easily destabilized in 3-D and the penetrating bubbles have a higher density because of enhanced vorticity. It is shown that for conditions found in laser fusion targets, short-wavelength ARTI modes are more efficient at driving mixing of ablated material throughout the target since the nonlinear bubble density increases with the wave number and small-scale bubbles carry a larger mass flux of mixed material. This work was supported by the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences Nos. DE-FG02-04ER54789, DE-SC0014318, the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration under Award No. DE-NA0001944, the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion of Spain (Grant No. ENE2011-28489), and the NANL LDRD program through Project Number 20150568ER.

Weibel instability mediated collisionless shocks using intense laser-driven plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palaniyappan, Sasikumar; Fiuza, Federico; Huang, Chengkun; Gautier, Donald; Ma, Wenjun; Schreiber, Jorg; Raymer, Abel; Fernandez, Juan; Shimada, Tom; Johnson, Randall

2017-10-01

The origin of cosmic rays remains a long-standing challenge in astrophysics and continues to fascinate physicists. It is believed that ``collisionless shocks'' - where the particle Coulomb mean free path is much larger that the shock transition - are a dominant source of energetic cosmic rays. These shocks are ubiquitous in astrophysical environments such as gamma-ray bursts, supernova remnants, pulsar wind nebula and coronal mass ejections from the sun. A particular type of electromagnetic plasma instability known as Weibel instability is believed to be the dominant mechanism behind the formation of these collisionless shocks in the cosmos. The understanding of the microphysics behind collisionless shocks and their particle acceleration is tightly related with nonlinear basic plasma processes and remains a grand challenge. In this poster, we will present results from recent experiments at the LANL Trident laser facility studying collisionless shocks using intense ps laser (80J, 650 fs - peak intensity of 1020 W/cm2) driven near-critical plasmas using carbon nanotube foam targets. A second short pulse laser driven protons from few microns thick gold foil is used to radiograph the main laser-driven plasma. Work supported by the LDRD program at LANL.

Reconstruction of a high-resolution late holocene arctic paleoclimate record from Colville River delta sediments.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schreiner, Kathryn Melissa; Lowry, Thomas Stephen

2013-10-01

This work was partially supported by the Sandia National Laboratories, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) fellowship program in conjunction with Texas A&M University (TAMU). The research described herein is the work of Kathryn M. Schreiner (Katie) and her advisor, Thomas S. Bianchi and represents a concise description of Katies dissertation that was submitted to the TAMU Office of Graduate Studies in May 2013 in partial fulfillment of her doctorate of philosophy degree. High Arctic permafrost soils contain a massive amount of organic carbon, accounting for twice as much carbon as what is currently stored as carbon dioxide in themore » atmosphere. However, with current warming trends this sink is in danger of thawing and potentially releasing large amounts of carbon as both carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. It is difficult to make predictions about the future of this sink without knowing how it has reacted to past temperature and climate changes. This project investigated long term, fine scale particulate organic carbon (POC) delivery by the high-Arctic Colville River into Simpsons Lagoon in the near-shore Beaufort Sea. Modern POC was determined to be a mixture of three sources (riverine soils, coastal erosion, and marine). Downcore POC measurements were performed in a core close to the Colville River output and a core close to intense coastal erosion. Inputs of the three major sources were found to vary throughout the last two millennia, and in the Colville River core covary significantly with Alaskan temperature reconstructions.« less

Creation of deuterium protective layer below the tungsten surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krstic, Predrag; Kaganovich, Igor; Startsev, Edward

2014-10-01

By cumulative irradiation of both pre-damaged and virgin surfaces of monocrystal tungsten by deuterium atoms of impact energy of few tens of eV, we simulate by classical molecular dynamics the creation of a deuterium protective layer. The depth and width of the layer depend on the deuterium impact energy and the diffusion rate of deuterium in tungsten, the latter being influenced by the tungsten temperature and damage. Found simulation results are in concert with the experimental results, found recently in DIFFER. Support of the PPPL LDRD project acknowledged.

Diffusion of hydrogen in a hydrogen-saturated tungsten

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krstic, Predrag; Kaganovich, Igor

2015-11-01

Hydrogen diffusion in monoscrystalline tungsten is studied by molecular dynamics with BOP potential in function of hydrogen concentration and temperature. Tungsten surface is prepared by cumulative irradiation of the 25 eV deuterium atoms at various fluences. The diffusion coefficients for T>500K and various D concentrations were calculated from the average slope of the mean square displacements of deuterium as functions of time. The accumulation of deuterium suppresses its diffusion at all temperatures. The results are in a reasonable agreement with the existing experiments. Supported by the LDRD of PPPL.

Modification of heterogeneous chemistry by complex substrate morphology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Henson, B.F.; Buelow, S.J.; Robinson, J.M.

1998-12-31

This is the final report of a one-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Chemistry in many environmental systems is determined at some stage by heterogeneous reaction with a surface. Typically the surface exists as a dispersion or matrix of particulate matter or pores, and a determination of the heterogeneous chemistry of the system must address the extent to which the complexity of the environmental surface affects the reaction rates. Reactions that are of current interest are the series of chlorine nitrate reactions important in polar ozone depletion. The authors have applied surfacemore » spectroscopic techniques developed at LANL to address the chemistry of chlorine nitrate reactions on porous nitric and sulfuric acid ice surfaces as a model study of the measurement of complex, heterogeneous reaction rates. The result of the study is an experimental determination of the surface coverage of one adsorbed reagent and a mechanism of reactivity based on the dependence of this coverage on temperature and vapor pressure. The resulting mechanism allows the first comprehensive modeling of chlorine nitrate reaction probability data from several laboratories.« less

Anticipating the unintended consequences of security dynamics.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Backus, George A.; Overfelt, James Robert; Malczynski, Leonard A.

2010-01-01

In a globalized world, dramatic changes within any one nation causes ripple or even tsunamic effects within neighbor nations and nations geographically far removed. Multinational interventions to prevent or mitigate detrimental changes can easily cause secondary unintended consequences more detrimental and enduring than the feared change instigating the intervention. This LDRD research developed the foundations for a flexible geopolitical and socioeconomic simulation capability that focuses on the dynamic national security implications of natural and man-made trauma for a nation-state and the states linked to it through trade or treaty. The model developed contains a database for simulating all 229 recognizedmore » nation-states and sovereignties with the detail of 30 economic sectors including consumers and natural resources. The model explicitly simulates the interactions among the countries and their governments. Decisions among governments and populations is based on expectation formation. In the simulation model, failed expectations are used as a key metric for tension across states, among ethnic groups, and between population factions. This document provides the foundational documentation for the model.« less

Multiscale Models for the Two-Stream Instability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joseph, Ilon; Dimits, Andris; Banks, Jeffrey; Berger, Richard; Brunner, Stephan; Chapman, Thomas

2017-10-01

Interpenetrating streams of plasma found in many important scenarios in nature and in the laboratory can develop kinetic two-stream instabilities that exchange momentum and energy between the streams. A quasilinear model for the electrostatic two-stream instability is under development as a component of a multiscale model that couples fluid simulations to kinetic theory. Parameters of the model will be validated with comparison to full kinetic simulations using LOKI and efficient strategies for numerical solution of the quasilinear model and for coupling to the fluid model will be discussed. Extending the kinetic models into the collisional regime requires an efficient treatment of the collision operator. Useful reductions of the collision operator relative to the full multi-species Landau-Fokker-Plank operator are being explored. These are further motivated both by careful consideration of the parameter orderings relevant to two-stream scenarios and by the particular 2D+2V phase space used in the LOKI code. Prepared for US DOE by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 and LDRD project 17- ERD-081.

FY00 LDRD Final Report High Power IFE Driver Component Development 00-SI-009

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bibeau, C; Schaffers, K; Tassano, J

We have begun building the ''Mercury'' laser system as the first in a series of new generation diode-pumped solid-state lasers for target physics research. Mercury will integrate three key technologies: diodes, crystals, and gas cooling, within a unique laser architecture that is scalable to kilojoule and megajoule energy levels for fusion energy applications. The primary near-term performance goals include 10% electrical efficiencies at 10 Hz and 100 J with a 2-10 ns pulse length at 1.047 {micro}m wavelength. Currently, this review concentrates on the critical development and production of Yb:S-FAP crystals. After solving many defect issues that can be presentmore » in the crystals, reproducibility is the final issue that needs to be resolved. We have enlisted the help of national experts and have strongly integrated two capable commercial crystal growth companies (Litton-Airton/Synoptics and Scientific Materials) into the effort, and have solicited the advice of Robert Morris (retired from Allied Signal), a recognized international expert in high temperature oxide growth.« less

STATS SRS v11.0

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Piscotty, M A; Nazario, O L

2007-06-20

The objective of this project is the delivery of an application that will provide a unified, web-based system for collecting, verifying and analyzing the achievements for Laboratory employees. The application will enable individual Directorates to manage and report achievement record data for their employees using an LLNL standard web browser. In addition, cross directorate data reporting and analysis will be available for such organizations as LSTO and programmatic directorates. This system is intended to store reference data and metadata for employee achievements. Abstracts and entire publications will not be stored in this system.Directorates are expected to use this system atmore » all levels of management in preparing for Annual Self-Assessments, peer reviews, LDRD reviews, work force reviews, performance appraisals, and requests from sponsors. This document represents the primary deliverable for the Requirements Definition stage of system development. As part of a successful Requirements Definition, this document provides the development staff, the project sponsor, and the user community with a clear understanding of the product's operational, data, and other requirements. With this understanding, the development staff will take the opportunity to refine estimates regarding the cost, schedule, and deliverables reflected in it.« less

Agent Model Development for Assessing Climate-Induced Geopolitical Instability.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Boslough, Mark B.; Backus, George A.

2005-12-01

We present the initial stages of development of new agent-based computational methods to generate and test hypotheses about linkages between environmental change and international instability. This report summarizes the first year's effort of an originally proposed three-year Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project. The preliminary work focused on a set of simple agent-based models and benefited from lessons learned in previous related projects and case studies of human response to climate change and environmental scarcity. Our approach was to define a qualitative model using extremely simple cellular agent models akin to Lovelock's Daisyworld and Schelling's segregation model. Such modelsmore » do not require significant computing resources, and users can modify behavior rules to gain insights. One of the difficulties in agent-based modeling is finding the right balance between model simplicity and real-world representation. Our approach was to keep agent behaviors as simple as possible during the development stage (described herein) and to ground them with a realistic geospatial Earth system model in subsequent years. This work is directed toward incorporating projected climate data--including various C02 scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Assessment Report--and ultimately toward coupling a useful agent-based model to a general circulation model.3« less

Formation of algae growth constitutive relations for improved algae modeling.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gharagozloo, Patricia E.; Drewry, Jessica Louise.

This SAND report summarizes research conducted as a part of a two year Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project to improve our abilities to model algal cultivation. Algae-based biofuels have generated much excitement due to their potentially large oil yield from relatively small land use and without interfering with the food or water supply. Algae mitigate atmospheric CO2 through metabolism. Efficient production of algal biofuels could reduce dependence on foreign oil by providing a domestic renewable energy source. Important factors controlling algal productivity include temperature, nutrient concentrations, salinity, pH, and the light-to-biomass conversion rate. Computational models allow for inexpensivemore » predictions of algae growth kinetics in these non-ideal conditions for various bioreactor sizes and geometries without the need for multiple expensive measurement setups. However, these models need to be calibrated for each algal strain. In this work, we conduct a parametric study of key marine algae strains and apply the findings to a computational model.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rey, D.; Ryan, W.; Ross, M.

A method for more efficiently utilizing the frequency bandwidth allocated for data transmission is presented. Current space and range communication systems use modulation and coding schemes that transmit 0.5 to 1.0 bits per second per Hertz of radio frequency bandwidth. The goal in this LDRD project is to increase the bandwidth utilization by employing advanced digital communications techniques. This is done with little or no increase in the transmit power which is usually very limited on airborne systems. Teaming with New Mexico State University, an implementation of trellis coded modulation (TCM), a coding and modulation scheme pioneered by Ungerboeck, wasmore » developed for this application and simulated on a computer. TCM provides a means for reliably transmitting data while simultaneously increasing bandwidth efficiency. The penalty is increased receiver complexity. In particular, the trellis decoder requires high-speed, application-specific digital signal processing (DSP) chips. A system solution based on the QualComm Viterbi decoder and the Graychip DSP receiver chips is presented.« less

Use of limited data to construct Bayesian networks for probabilistic risk assessment.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Groth, Katrina M.; Swiler, Laura Painton

2013-03-01

Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) is a fundamental part of safety/quality assurance for nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Traditional PRA very effectively models complex hardware system risks using binary probabilistic models. However, traditional PRA models are not flexible enough to accommodate non-binary soft-causal factors, such as digital instrumentation&control, passive components, aging, common cause failure, and human errors. Bayesian Networks offer the opportunity to incorporate these risks into the PRA framework. This report describes the results of an early career LDRD project titled %E2%80%9CUse of Limited Data to Construct Bayesian Networks for Probabilistic Risk Assessment%E2%80%9D. The goal of the work was tomore » establish the capability to develop Bayesian Networks from sparse data, and to demonstrate this capability by producing a data-informed Bayesian Network for use in Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) as part of nuclear power plant Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA). This report summarizes the research goal and major products of the research.« less

Minerals of the earth's deep interior

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schiferl, D.; Zhao, Y.; Shankland, T.J.

1998-11-01

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The project addresses the major geophysical issue of the nature of the seismic velocity and density discontinuity at 670 km depth (the boundary between upper and lower mantle with temperature about 1,900 K and pressure about 23 GPa). A phase change at this depth would represent a relatively small barrier to mantle convection through the discontinuity, but compositional change would inhibit thermal convection throughout the mantle. To address this problem the authors measured equation of state parameters in mantlemore » minerals as functions of high P-T using single crystal x-ray diffraction with a unique, new diamond-anvil cell (DAC) at simultaneous high temperature and pressure. Single-crystal diffraction improves absolute accuracy in lattice constants over those from powder diffraction by a factor of 5 to 10. The authors have measured equations of state of orthoenstatite MgSiO{sub 3} and hexagonal boron nitride hBN.« less

A Hybrid Ion/Electron Beam Fast Ignition Concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Albright, B. J.

2009-11-01

Fast ignition (FI) inertial confinement fusion is an approach to high-gain inertial fusion, whereby a dense core of deuterium/tritium fuel is assembled via direct or indirect drive and then a hot spot within the core is heated rapidly (over a time scale of order 10 ps) to ignition conditions by beams of fast charged particles. These particle beams are generated outside the capsule by the interaction of ultra-intense laser pulses with solid density targets. Most study of FI to date has focused on the use of electron [Tabak et al., Phys. Plasmas 1, 1696 (1994)] or ion [Fern'andez et al., Nuclear Fusion 49, 065004 (2009)] beams, however a hybrid approach involving both may have advantages. This paper will describe recent work in this arena. Work performed under the auspices of the U. S. Dept. of Energy by the Los Alamos National Security, Los Alamos National Laboratory. This work was supported by LANL Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD).

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Raymond, David W.; Blankenship, Douglas A.; Buerger, Stephen

The dynamic stability of deep drillstrings is challenged by an inability to impart controllability with ever-changing conditions introduced by geology, depth, structural dynamic properties and operating conditions. A multi-organizational LDRD project team at Sandia National Laboratories successfully demonstrated advanced technologies for mitigating drillstring vibrations to improve the reliability of drilling systems used for construction of deep, high-value wells. Using computational modeling and dynamic substructuring techniques, the benefit of controllable actuators at discrete locations in the drillstring is determined. Prototype downhole tools were developed and evaluated in laboratory test fixtures simulating the structural dynamic response of a deep drillstring. A laboratory-basedmore » drilling applicability demonstration was conducted to demonstrate the benefit available from deployment of an autonomous, downhole tool with self-actuation capabilities in response to the dynamic response of the host drillstring. A concept is presented for a prototype drilling tool based upon the technical advances. The technology described herein is the subject of U.S. Patent Application No. 62219481, entitled "DRILLING SYSTEM VIBRATION SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS AND METHODS", filed September 16, 2015.« less

A Complex Systems Approach to More Resilient Multi-Layered Security Systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brown, Nathanael J. K.; Jones, Katherine A.; Bandlow, Alisa

In July 2012, protestors cut through security fences and gained access to the Y-12 National Security Complex. This was believed to be a highly reliable, multi-layered security system. This report documents the results of a Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project that created a consistent, robust mathematical framework using complex systems analysis algorithms and techniques to better understand the emergent behavior, vulnerabilities and resiliency of multi-layered security systems subject to budget constraints and competing security priorities. Because there are several dimensions to security system performance and a range of attacks that might occur, the framework is multi-objective for amore » performance frontier to be estimated. This research explicitly uses probability of intruder interruption given detection (P I) as the primary resilience metric. We demonstrate the utility of this framework with both notional as well as real-world examples of Physical Protection Systems (PPSs) and validate using a well-established force-on-force simulation tool, Umbra.« less

Engineering innovation to reduce wind power COE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ammerman, Curtt Nelson

There are enough wind resources in the US to provide 10 times the electric power we currently use, however wind power only accounts for 2% of our total electricity production. One of the main limitations to wind use is cost. Wind power currently costs 5-to-8 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is more than twice the cost of electricity generated by burning coal. Our Intelligent Wind Turbine LDRD Project is applying LANL's leading-edge engineering expertise in modeling and simulation, experimental validation, and advanced sensing technologies to challenges faced in the design and operation of modern wind turbines.

Temperature effects in accumulation of deuterium and helium at the grain boundaries of a nano-grained tungsten

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaganovich, Igor; Krstic, Predrag; Startsev, Edward

2014-10-01

It has been known that defects in tungsten, in particular at the grain boundaries, are preferable sites for deuterium and helium retention. For the case of the nano-grained boundaries, we study by classical molecular dynamics the cumulative retention of deuterium and helium at impact energies below 100 eV as functions of tungsten temperature at models of the dislocation boundaries. We obtain a strong preference of the retention of the impact particles at the boundaries at high temperature of 1000 K. Support of PPPL LDRD grant acknowledged.

Kinetic Effects in Inertial Confinement Fusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kagan, Grigory

2014-10-01

Sharp background gradients, inevitably introduced during ICF implosion, are likely responsible for the discrepancy between the predictions of the standard single-fluid rad-hydro codes and the experimental observations. On the one hand, these gradients drive the inter-ion-species transport, so the fuel composition no longer remains constant, unlike what the single-fluid codes assume. On the other hand, once the background scale is comparable to the mean free path, a fluid description becomes invalid. This point takes on special significance in plasmas, where the particle's mean free path scales with the square of this particle's energy. The distribution function of energetic ions may therefore be far from Maxwellian, even if thermal ions are nearly equilibrated. Ironically, it is these energetic, or tail, ions that are supposed to fuse at the onset of ignition. A combination of studies has been conducted to clarify the role of such kinetic effects on ICF performance. First, transport formalism applicable to multi-component plasmas has been developed. In particular, a novel ``electro-diffusion'' mechanism of the ion species separation has been shown to exist. Equally important, in drastic contrast to the classical case of the neutral gas mixture, thermo-diffusion is predicted to be comparable to, or even much larger than, baro-diffusion. By employing the effective potential theory this formalism has then been generalized to the case of a moderately coupled plasma with multiple ion species, making it applicable to the problem of mix at the shell/fuel interface in ICF implosion. Second, distribution function for the energetic ions has been found from first principles and the fusion reactivity reduction has been calculated for hot-spot relevant conditions. A technique for approximate evaluation of the distribution function has been identified. This finding suggests a path to effectively introducing the tail modification effects into mainline rad-hydro codes, while being in good agreement with the first principle based solution. This work was partially supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program of LANL.

On a difficulty in eigenfunction expansion solutions for the start-up of fluid flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christov, Ivan C.

2015-11-01

Most mathematics and engineering textbooks describe the process of ``subtracting off'' the steady state of a linear parabolic partial differential equation as a technique for obtaining a boundary-value problem with homogeneous boundary conditions that can be solved by separation of variables (i.e., eigenfunction expansions). While this method produces the correct solution for the start-up of the flow of, e.g., a Newtonian fluid between parallel plates, it can lead to erroneous solutions to the corresponding problem for a class of non-Newtonian fluids. We show that the reason for this is the non-rigorous enforcement of the start-up condition in the textbook approach, which leads to a violation of the principle of causality. Nevertheless, these boundary-value problems can be solved correctly using eigenfunction expansions, and we present the formulation that makes this possible (in essence, an application of Duhamel's principle). The solutions obtained by this new approach are shown to agree identically with those obtained by using the Laplace transform in time only, a technique that enforces the proper start-up condition implicitly (hence, the same error cannot be committed). Supported, in part, by NSF Grant DMS-1104047 and the U.S. DOE (Contract No. DE-AC52-06NA25396) through the LANL/LDRD Program.

Localization Protection and Symmetry Breaking in One-dimensional Potts Chains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Friedman, Aaron; Vasseur, Romain; Potter, Andrew; Parameswaran, Siddharth

Recent work on the 3-state Potts and Z3 clock models has demonstrated that their ordered phases are connected by duality to a phase that hosts topologically protected parafermionic zero modes at the system's boundary. The analogy with Kitaev's example of the one-dimensional Majorana chain (similarly related by duality to the Ising model) suggests that such zero modes may also be stabilized in highly excited states by many-body localization (MBL). However, the Potts model has a non-Abelian S3 symmetry believed to be incompatible with MBL; hence any MBL state must spontaneously break this symmetry, either completely or into one of its abelian subgroups (Z2 or Z3), with the topological phase corresponding to broken Z3 symmetry. We therefore study the excited state phase structure of random three-state Potts and clock models in one dimension using exact diagonalization and real-space renormalization group techniques. We also investigate the interesting possibility of a direct excited-state transition between MBL phases that break either Z3 or Z2 symmetry, forbidden within Landau theory. NSF DGE-1321846 (AJF), NSF DMR-1455366 and President's Research Catalyst Award No. CA-15-327861 from the University of California Office of the President (SAP), LDRD Program of LBNL (RV), NSF PHY11-25915 at the KITP (AJF, RV, SAP).

Phase transitions in shocked porous quartz

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akin, M. C.; Crum, R. S.; Lind, J.; Pagan, D. C.; Homel, M. A.; Hurley, R. C.; Herbold, E. B.

2017-06-01

The presence of porosity in granular media provides the means to probe regions of the phase diagram that do not coincide with the principal Hugoniot. In particular, the potential for increased heating is likely to lead to observable changes in phase boundaries. 55% dense quartz and forsterite were prepared by tap filling. These samples were shock compressed using the two stage light gas gun at DCS-APS to examine the impact of the increased porosity on the phase boundary. Here we discuss the observed changes to phase in quartz and forsterite compared to the fully dense materials, the effects of porosity upon compaction and phase transitions, and the implications for constructing the phase diagram. This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. Work was supported by LLNL's LDRD program under Grant 16-ERD-010. The Dynamic Compression Sector (35) is supported by Department of Energy / National Nuclear Security Administration under Award Number DE-NA0002442. This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.

GPU-Accelerated Large-Scale Electronic Structure Theory on Titan with a First-Principles All-Electron Code

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huhn, William Paul; Lange, Björn; Yu, Victor; Blum, Volker; Lee, Seyong; Yoon, Mina

Density-functional theory has been well established as the dominant quantum-mechanical computational method in the materials community. Large accurate simulations become very challenging on small to mid-scale computers and require high-performance compute platforms to succeed. GPU acceleration is one promising approach. In this talk, we present a first implementation of all-electron density-functional theory in the FHI-aims code for massively parallel GPU-based platforms. Special attention is paid to the update of the density and to the integration of the Hamiltonian and overlap matrices, realized in a domain decomposition scheme on non-uniform grids. The initial implementation scales well across nodes on ORNL's Titan Cray XK7 supercomputer (8 to 64 nodes, 16 MPI ranks/node) and shows an overall speed up in runtime due to utilization of the K20X Tesla GPUs on each Titan node of 1.4x, with the charge density update showing a speed up of 2x. Further acceleration opportunities will be discussed. Work supported by the LDRD Program of ORNL managed by UT-Battle, LLC, for the U.S. DOE and by the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility supported under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725.

Direct measurement of magnetic flux compression on the Z pulsed-power accelerator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McBride, R. D.; Bliss, D. E.; Martin, M. R.; Jennings, C. A.; Lamppa, D. C.; Dolan, D. H.; Lemke, R. W.; Rovang, D. C.; Rochau, G. A.; Cuneo, M. E.; Sinars, D. B.; Intrator, T. P.; Weber, T. E.

2016-10-01

We report on the progress made to date for directly measuring magnetic flux compression on Z. Each experiment consisted of an initially solid aluminum liner (a cylindrical tube), which was imploded using Z's drive current (0-20 MA in 100 ns). The imploding liner compresses a 10-20-T axial seed field, Bz(0), supplied by an independently driven Helmholtz coil pair. Assuming perfect flux conservation, the axial field amplification should be well described by Bz(t) =Bz (0)×[R(0)/R(t)]2, where R is the liner's inner surface radius. With perfect flux conservation, Bz and dBz/dt values exceeding 104 T and 1012 T/s, respectively, are expected. These large values, the diminishing liner volume, and the harsh environment on Z, make it particularly challenging to measure these fields directly. We report on our latest efforts to do so using a fiber-optic-based Faraday rotation diagnostic, where the magneto-active portion of the sensor is made from terbium-doped optical fiber. We have now used this diagnostic to measure a flux-compressed magnetic field to over 600 T prior to the imploding liner hitting the on-axis fiber housing. This project was funded in part by Sandia's LDRD program and US DOE-NNSA contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Impurity bubbles in a BEC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Timmermans, Eddy; Blinova, Alina; Boshier, Malcolm

2013-05-01

Polarons (particles that interact with the self-consistent deformation of the host medium that contains them) self-localize when strongly coupled. Dilute Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) doped with neutral distinguishable atoms (impurities) and armed with a Feshbach-tuned impurity-boson interaction provide a unique laboratory to study self-localized polarons. In nature, self-localized polarons come in two flavors that exhibit qualitatively different behavior: In lattice systems, the deformation is slight and the particle is accompanied by a cloud of collective excitations as in the case of the Landau-Pekar polarons of electrons in a dielectric lattice. In natural fluids and gases, the strongly coupled particle radically alters the medium, e.g. by expelling the host medium as in the case of the electron bubbles in superfluid helium. We show that BEC-impurities can self-localize in a bubble, as well as in a Landau-Pekar polaron state. The BEC-impurity system is fully characterized by only two dimensionless coupling constants. In the corresponding phase diagram the bubble and Landau-Pekar polaron limits correspond to large islands separated by a cross-over region. The same BEC-impurity species can be adiabatically Feshbach steered from the Landau-Pekar to the bubble regime. This work was funded by the Los Alamos LDRD program.

Nuclear structure and dynamics with density functional theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stetcu, Ionel

2015-10-01

Even in the absence of ab initio methods capable of tackling heavy nuclei without restrictions, one can obtain an ab initio description of ground-state properties by means of the density functional theory (DFT), and its extension to superfluid systems in its local variant, the superfluid local density approximation (SLDA). Information about the properties of excited states can be obtained in the same framework by using an extension to the time-dependent (TD) phenomena. Unlike other approaches in which the nuclear structure information is used as a separate input into reaction models, the TD approach treats on the same footing the nuclear structure and dynamics, and is well suited to provide more reliable description for a large number of processes involving heavy nuclei, from the nuclear response to electroweak probes, to nuclear reactions, such as neutron-induced reactions, or nuclear fusion and fission. Such processes, sometimes part of integrated nuclear systems, have important applications in astrophysics, energy production, global security, etc. In this talk, I will present the simulation of a simple reaction, that is the Coulomb excitation of a 238U nucleus, and discuss the application of the TD-DFT formalism to the description of induced fission. I gratefully acknowledge partial support of the U.S. Department of Energy through an Early Career Award of the LANL/LDRD Program.

Prediction of scaling physics laws for proton acceleration with extended parameter space of the NIF ARC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhutwala, Krish; Beg, Farhat; Mariscal, Derek; Wilks, Scott; Ma, Tammy

2017-10-01

The Advanced Radiographic Capability (ARC) laser at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is the world's most energetic short-pulse laser. It comprises four beamlets, each of substantial energy ( 1.5 kJ), extended short-pulse duration (10-30 ps), and large focal spot (>=50% of energy in 150 µm spot). This allows ARC to achieve proton and light ion acceleration via the Target Normal Sheath Acceleration (TNSA) mechanism, but it is yet unknown how proton beam characteristics scale with ARC-regime laser parameters. As theory has also not yet been validated for laser-generated protons at ARC-regime laser parameters, we attempt to formulate the scaling physics of proton beam characteristics as a function of laser energy, intensity, focal spot size, pulse length, target geometry, etc. through a review of relevant proton acceleration experiments from laser facilities across the world. These predicted scaling laws should then guide target design and future diagnostics for desired proton beam experiments on the NIF ARC. This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 and funded by the LLNL LDRD program under tracking code 17-ERD-039.

Deformable human body model development

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wray, W.O.; Aida, T.

1998-11-01

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). A Deformable Human Body Model (DHBM) capable of simulating a wide variety of deformation interactions between man and his environment has been developed. The model was intended to have applications in automobile safety analysis, soldier survivability studies and assistive technology development for the disabled. To date, we have demonstrated the utility of the DHBM in automobile safety analysis and are currently engaged in discussions with the U.S. military involving two additional applications. More specifically, the DHBM has beenmore » incorporated into a Virtual Safety Lab (VSL) for automobile design under contract to General Motors Corporation. Furthermore, we have won $1.8M in funding from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command for development of a noninvasive intracranial pressure measurement system. The proposed research makes use of the detailed head model that is a component of the DHBM; the project duration is three years. In addition, we have been contacted by the Air Force Armstrong Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory concerning possible use of the DHBM in analyzing the loads and injury potential to pilots upon ejection from military aircraft. Current discussions with Armstrong involve possible LANL participation in a comparison between DHBM and the Air Force Articulated Total Body (ATB) model that is the current military standard.« less

FINAL REPORT "Extreme non-linear optics of plasmas" Pierre Michel (16-LW-022)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Michel, Pierre

2017-11-03

Large laser facilities such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF) are typically limited in performance and physical scale (and thus cost) by optics damage. In this LDRD, we investigated a radically new way to manipulate light at extreme powers and energies, where “traditional” (crystal-based) optical elements are replaced by a medium that is already “broken” and thus does not suffer from optics damage: a plasma. Our method consisted in applying multiple lasers into plasmas to imprint refractive micro-structures with optical properties designed to be similar to those of crystals or dielectric structures used in optics. In particular, we focused ourmore » efforts on two elements used to manipulate the polarization of lasers (i.e. the orientation of the light’s electric field vector): i) a polarizer, which only lets a given polarization direction pass and blocks the others, and ii) a “Pockels cell”, which can “rotate” the polarization direction or convert it from linear to elliptical or circular. These two elements are essential building blocks in almost all laser systems – for example, they can be combined to design optical gates. Here, we introduced the new concepts of a “plasma polarizer” and a “plasma Pockels cell”. Both concepts were demonstrated in proof-of-principle laboratory experiments in this LDRD. We also demonstrated that such laser-plasma systems could be used to provide full control of the refractive index of plasmas as well as their dispersion (variation of the index vs. the light wavelength), which constituted the basis for a final experiment aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of “slow light” in plasmas, i.e. the capability to slow down a light pulse almost to a full stop.« less

Modern Chemistry Techniques Applied to Metal Behavior and Chelation in Medical and Environmental Systems ? Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sutton, M; Andresen, B; Burastero, S R

2005-02-03

This report details the research and findings generated over the course of a 3-year research project funded by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD). Originally tasked with studying beryllium chemistry and chelation for the treatment of Chronic Beryllium Disease and environmental remediation of beryllium-contaminated environments, this work has yielded results in beryllium and uranium solubility and speciation associated with toxicology; specific and effective chelation agents for beryllium, capable of lowering beryllium tissue burden and increasing urinary excretion in mice, and dissolution of beryllium contamination at LLNL Site 300; {sup 9}Be NMR studies previously unstudied atmore » LLNL; secondary ionization mass spec (SIMS) imaging of beryllium in spleen and lung tissue; beryllium interactions with aerogel/GAC material for environmental cleanup. The results show that chelator development using modern chemical techniques such as chemical thermodynamic modeling, was successful in identifying and utilizing tried and tested beryllium chelators for use in medical and environmental scenarios. Additionally, a study of uranium speciation in simulated biological fluids identified uranium species present in urine, gastric juice, pancreatic fluid, airway surface fluid, simulated lung fluid, bile, saliva, plasma, interstitial fluid and intracellular fluid.« less

Seismic wave propagation modeling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jones, E.M.; Olsen, K.B.

1998-12-31

This is the final report of a one-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). A hybrid, finite-difference technique was developed for modeling nonlinear soil amplification from three-dimensional, finite-fault radiation patters for earthquakes in arbitrary earth models. The method was applied to the 17 January 1994 Northridge earthquake. Particle velocities were computed on a plane at 5-km depth, immediately above the causative fault. Time-series of the strike-perpendicular, lateral velocities then were propagated vertically in a soil column typical of the San Fernando Valley. Suitable material models were adapted from a suite used tomore » model ground motions at the US Nevada Test Site. The effects of nonlinearity reduced relative spectral amplitudes by about 40% at frequencies above 1.5 Hz but only by 10% at lower frequencies. Runs made with source-depth amplitudes increased by a factor of two showed relative amplitudes above 1.5 Hz reduced by a total of 70% above 1.5 Hz and 20% at lower frequencies. Runs made with elastic-plastic material models showed similar behavior to runs made with Masing-Rule models.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Reilly, S.D.; Click, D.R.; Grumbine, S.K.

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The goal of the project was to prepare new catalyst systems, which would perform chemical reactions in an enantioselective manner so as to produce only one of the possible optical isomers of the product molecule. The authors have investigated the use of lanthanide metals bearing both diolate and Schiff-base ligands as catalysts for the enantioselective reduction of prochiral ketones to secondary alcohols. The ligands were prepared from cheap, readily available starting materials, and their synthesis was performed inmore » a ''modular'' manner such that tailoring of specific groups within the ligand could be carried out without repeating the entire synthetic procedure. In addition, they have developed a new ligand system for Group IV and lanthanide-based olefin polymerization catalysts. The ligand system is easily prepared from readily available starting materials and offers the opportunity to rapidly prepare a wide range of closely related ligands that differ only in their substitution patterns at an aromatic ring. When attached to a metal center, the ligand system has the potential to carry out polymerization reactions in a stereocontrolled manner.« less

New mechanism for lightning initiation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Roussel-Dupre, R.; Buchwald, M.; Gurevich, A.

1996-10-01

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). To distinguish radio-frequency (rf) signals generated by lightning from the electromagnetic pulse produced by a nuclear explosion, it is necessary to understand the fundamental nature of thunderstorm discharges. The recent debate surrounding the origin of transionospheric pulse pairs (TIPPs) detected by the BLACKBEARD experiment aboard the ALEXIS satellite illustrates this point. We have argued that TIPP events could originate from the upward propagating discharges recently identified by optical images taken from the ground, from airplanes, and from the spacemore » shuttle. In addition, the Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) measurements of x-ray bursts originating from thunderstorms are almost certainly associated with these upward propagating discharges. When taken together, these three measurements point directly to the runaway electron mechanism as the source of the upward discharges. The primary goal of this research effort was to identify the specific role played by the runaway-air-breakdown mechanism in the general area of thunderstorm electricity and in so doing develop lightning models that predict the optical, rf, and x-ray emissions that are observable from space.« less

Integrating software architectures for distributed simulations and simulation analysis communities.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Goldsby, Michael E.; Fellig, Daniel; Linebarger, John Michael

2005-10-01

The one-year Software Architecture LDRD (No.79819) was a cross-site effort between Sandia California and Sandia New Mexico. The purpose of this research was to further develop and demonstrate integrating software architecture frameworks for distributed simulation and distributed collaboration in the homeland security domain. The integrated frameworks were initially developed through the Weapons of Mass Destruction Decision Analysis Center (WMD-DAC), sited at SNL/CA, and the National Infrastructure Simulation & Analysis Center (NISAC), sited at SNL/NM. The primary deliverable was a demonstration of both a federation of distributed simulations and a federation of distributed collaborative simulation analysis communities in the context ofmore » the same integrated scenario, which was the release of smallpox in San Diego, California. To our knowledge this was the first time such a combination of federations under a single scenario has ever been demonstrated. A secondary deliverable was the creation of the standalone GroupMeld{trademark} collaboration client, which uses the GroupMeld{trademark} synchronous collaboration framework. In addition, a small pilot experiment that used both integrating frameworks allowed a greater range of crisis management options to be performed and evaluated than would have been possible without the use of the frameworks.« less

Transport Regimes Spanning Magnetization-Coupling Phase Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baalrud, Scott D.; Tiwari, Sanat; Daligault, Jerome

2017-10-01

The manner in which transport properties vary over the entire parameter-space of coupling and magnetization strength is explored. Four regimes are identified based on the relative size of the gyroradius compared to other fundamental length scales: the collision mean free path, Debye length, distance of closest approach and interparticle spacing. Molecular dynamics simulations of self-diffusion and temperature anisotropy relaxation spanning the parameter space are found to agree well with the predicted boundaries. Comparison with existing theories reveals regimes where they succeed, where they fail, and where no theory has yet been developed. The results suggest that magnetic fields may be used to assist ultracold neutral plasma experiments to reach regimes of stronger electron coupling by reducing heating of electrons in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field.. By constraining electron motion along the direction of the magnetic field, the overall electron temperature is reduced nearly by a factor of three. A large temperature anisotropy develops as a result, which can be maintained for a long time in the regime of high electron magnetization. Work supported by LDRD project 20150520ER at LANL, AFOSR FA9550-16-1-0221 and US DOE Award DE-SC00161.

A Next Generation Digital Counting System For Low-Level Tritium Studies (Project Report)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bowman, P.

2016-10-03

Since the early seventies, SRNL has pioneered low-level tritium analysis using various nuclear counting technologies and techniques. Since 1999, SRNL has successfully performed routine low-level tritium analyses with counting systems based on digital signal processor (DSP) modules developed in the late 1990s. Each of these counting systems are complex, unique to SRNL, and fully dedicated to performing routine tritium analyses of low-level environmental samples. It is time to modernize these systems due to a variety of issues including (1) age, (2) lack of direct replacement electronics modules and (3) advances in digital signal processing and computer technology. There has beenmore » considerable development in many areas associated with the enterprise of performing low-level tritium analyses. The objective of this LDRD project was to design, build, and demonstrate a Next Generation Tritium Counting System (NGTCS), while not disrupting the routine low-level tritium analyses underway in the facility on the legacy counting systems. The work involved (1) developing a test bed for building and testing new counting system hardware that does not interfere with our routine analyses, (2) testing a new counting system based on a modern state of the art DSP module, and (3) evolving the low-level tritium counter design to reflect the state of the science.« less

Classifier-Guided Sampling for Complex Energy System Optimization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Backlund, Peter B.; Eddy, John P.

2015-09-01

This report documents the results of a Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) effort enti tled "Classifier - Guided Sampling for Complex Energy System Optimization" that was conducted during FY 2014 and FY 2015. The goal of this proj ect was to develop, implement, and test major improvements to the classifier - guided sampling (CGS) algorithm. CGS is type of evolutionary algorithm for perform ing search and optimization over a set of discrete design variables in the face of one or more objective functions. E xisting evolutionary algorithms, such as genetic algorithms , may require a large number of omore » bjecti ve function evaluations to identify optimal or near - optimal solutions . Reducing the number of evaluations can result in significant time savings, especially if the objective function is computationally expensive. CGS reduce s the evaluation count by us ing a Bayesian network classifier to filter out non - promising candidate designs , prior to evaluation, based on their posterior probabilit ies . In this project, b oth the single - objective and multi - objective version s of the CGS are developed and tested on a set of benchm ark problems. As a domain - specific case study, CGS is used to design a microgrid for use in islanded mode during an extended bulk power grid outage.« less

Efficient Coupling of Fluid-Plasma and Monte-Carlo-Neutrals Models for Edge Plasma Transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dimits, A. M.; Cohen, B. I.; Friedman, A.; Joseph, I.; Lodestro, L. L.; Rensink, M. E.; Rognlien, T. D.; Sjogreen, B.; Stotler, D. P.; Umansky, M. V.

2017-10-01

UEDGE has been valuable for modeling transport in the tokamak edge and scrape-off layer due in part to its efficient fully implicit solution of coupled fluid neutrals and plasma models. We are developing an implicit coupling of the kinetic Monte-Carlo (MC) code DEGAS-2, as the neutrals model component, to the UEDGE plasma component, based on an extension of the Jacobian-free Newton-Krylov (JFNK) method to MC residuals. The coupling components build on the methods and coding already present in UEDGE. For the linear Krylov iterations, a procedure has been developed to ``extract'' a good preconditioner from that of UEDGE. This preconditioner may also be used to greatly accelerate the convergence rate of a relaxed fixed-point iteration, which may provide a useful ``intermediate'' algorithm. The JFNK method also requires calculation of Jacobian-vector products, for which any finite-difference procedure is inaccurate when a MC component is present. A semi-analytical procedure that retains the standard MC accuracy and fully kinetic neutrals physics is therefore being developed. Prepared for US DOE by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 and LDRD project 15-ERD-059, by PPPL under Contract DE-AC02-09CH11466, and supported in part by the U.S. DOE, OFES.

Measuring water adsorption on mineral surfaces in air, CO2, and supercritical CO2 with a quartz-crystal microbalance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bryan, C. R.; Wells, R. K.; Burton, P. D.; Heath, J. E.; Dewers, T. A.; Wang, Y.

2011-12-01

Carbon sequestration via underground storage in geologic formations is a proposed approach for reducing industrial CO2 emissions. However, current models for carbon injection and long-term storage of supercritical CO2 (scCO2) do not consider the development and stability of adsorbed water films at the scCO2-hydrophilic mineral interface. The thickness and properties of the water films control the surface tension and wettability of the mineral surface, and on the core scale, affect rock permeability, saturation, and capillary properties. The film thickness is strongly dependent upon the activity of water in the supercritical fluid, which will change as initially anhydrous scCO2 absorbs water from formation brine. As described in a companion paper by the coauthors, the thickness of the adsorbed water layer is controlled by the disjoining pressure; structural and van der Waals components dominate at low water activity, while electrostatic forces become more important with increasing film thickness (higher water activities). As scCO2 water activity and water layer thickness increase, concomitant changes in mineral surface properties and reservoir/caprock hydrologic properties will affect the mobility of the aqueous phase and of scCO2. Moreover, the development of a water layer may be critical to mineral dissolution reactions in scCO2. Here, we describe the use of a quartz-crystal microbalance (QCM) to monitor adsorption of water by mineral surfaces. QCMs utilize a piezoelectrically-stimulated quartz wafer to measure adsorbed or deposited mass via changes in vibrational frequency. When used to measure the mass of adsorbed liquid films, the frequency response of the crystal must be corrected for the viscoelastic, rather than elastic, response of the adsorbed layer. Results are presented for adsorption to silica in N2 and CO2 at one bar, and in scCO2. Additional data are presented for water uptake by clays deposited on a QCM wafer. In this case, water uptake occurs by the combined processes of interlayer cation hydration, surface adsorption, and capillary condensation. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000. This work is supported by the DOE Sandia LDRD Program.

Phonon-Induced Topological Transition to a Type-II Weyl Semimetal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Lin-Lin; Jo, Na Hyun; Wu, Yun; Kaminski, Adam; Canfield, Paul C.; Johnson, Duane D.

The emergence of topological quantum states requires certain combinations of crystalline symmetry with or without time reversal symmetry. Without restricting to searches for crystal structures with non-symmorphic symmetry operations in the space groups, we have studied the interplay between crystal symmetry, atomic displacements (lattice vibration), band degeneracy and topology. For a system with a full gap opening between the two band manifolds near the Fermi energy, we show that small atomic displacements (accessible via optical phonons near room temperature) can lower the symmetry to induce type-II Weyl points at the boundary between a pair of closely-lying electron and hole pockets. DOE Ames Laboratory LDRD.

Uncertainty Quantification given Discontinuous Climate Model Response and a Limited Number of Model Runs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sargsyan, K.; Safta, C.; Debusschere, B.; Najm, H.

2010-12-01

Uncertainty quantification in complex climate models is challenged by the sparsity of available climate model predictions due to the high computational cost of model runs. Another feature that prevents classical uncertainty analysis from being readily applicable is bifurcative behavior in climate model response with respect to certain input parameters. A typical example is the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. The predicted maximum overturning stream function exhibits discontinuity across a curve in the space of two uncertain parameters, namely climate sensitivity and CO2 forcing. We outline a methodology for uncertainty quantification given discontinuous model response and a limited number of model runs. Our approach is two-fold. First we detect the discontinuity with Bayesian inference, thus obtaining a probabilistic representation of the discontinuity curve shape and location for arbitrarily distributed input parameter values. Then, we construct spectral representations of uncertainty, using Polynomial Chaos (PC) expansions on either side of the discontinuity curve, leading to an averaged-PC representation of the forward model that allows efficient uncertainty quantification. The approach is enabled by a Rosenblatt transformation that maps each side of the discontinuity to regular domains where desirable orthogonality properties for the spectral bases hold. We obtain PC modes by either orthogonal projection or Bayesian inference, and argue for a hybrid approach that targets a balance between the accuracy provided by the orthogonal projection and the flexibility provided by the Bayesian inference - where the latter allows obtaining reasonable expansions without extra forward model runs. The model output, and its associated uncertainty at specific design points, are then computed by taking an ensemble average over PC expansions corresponding to possible realizations of the discontinuity curve. The methodology is tested on synthetic examples of discontinuous model data with adjustable sharpness and structure. This work was supported by the Sandia National Laboratories Seniors’ Council LDRD (Laboratory Directed Research and Development) program. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Company, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Final report on LDRD project : narrow-linewidth VCSELs for atomic microsystems.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chow, Weng Wah; Geib, Kent Martin; Peake, Gregory Merwin

2011-09-01

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are well suited for emerging photonic microsystems due to their low power consumption, ease of integration with other optical components, and single frequency operation. However, the typical VCSEL linewidth of 100 MHz is approximately ten times wider than the natural linewidth of atoms used in atomic beam clocks and trapped atom research, which degrades or completely destroys performance in those systems. This report documents our efforts to reduce VCSEL linewidths below 10 MHz to meet the needs of advanced sub-Doppler atomic microsystems, such as cold-atom traps. We have investigated two complementary approaches to reduce VCSEL linewidth:more » (A) increasing the laser-cavity quality factor, and (B) decreasing the linewidth enhancement factor (alpha) of the optical gain medium. We have developed two new VCSEL devices that achieved increased cavity quality factors: (1) all-semiconductor extended-cavity VCSELs, and (2) micro-external-cavity surface-emitting lasers (MECSELs). These new VCSEL devices have demonstrated linewidths below 10 MHz, and linewidths below 1 MHz seem feasible with further optimization.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Crossno, Patricia Joyce; Dunlavy, Daniel M.; Stanton, Eric T.

This report is a summary of the accomplishments of the 'Scalable Solutions for Processing and Searching Very Large Document Collections' LDRD, which ran from FY08 through FY10. Our goal was to investigate scalable text analysis; specifically, methods for information retrieval and visualization that could scale to extremely large document collections. Towards that end, we designed, implemented, and demonstrated a scalable framework for text analysis - ParaText - as a major project deliverable. Further, we demonstrated the benefits of using visual analysis in text analysis algorithm development, improved performance of heterogeneous ensemble models in data classification problems, and the advantages ofmore » information theoretic methods in user analysis and interpretation in cross language information retrieval. The project involved 5 members of the technical staff and 3 summer interns (including one who worked two summers). It resulted in a total of 14 publications, 3 new software libraries (2 open source and 1 internal to Sandia), several new end-user software applications, and over 20 presentations. Several follow-on projects have already begun or will start in FY11, with additional projects currently in proposal.« less

Wireless sensor systems for sense/decide/act/communicate.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Berry, Nina M.; Cushner, Adam; Baker, James A.

2003-12-01

After 9/11, the United States (U.S.) was suddenly pushed into challenging situations they could no longer ignore as simple spectators. The War on Terrorism (WoT) was suddenly ignited and no one knows when this war will end. While the government is exploring many existing and potential technologies, the area of wireless Sensor networks (WSN) has emerged as a foundation for establish future national security. Unlike other technologies, WSN could provide virtual presence capabilities needed for precision awareness and response in military, intelligence, and homeland security applications. The Advance Concept Group (ACG) vision of Sense/Decide/Act/Communicate (SDAC) sensor system is an instantiationmore » of the WSN concept that takes a 'systems of systems' view. Each sensing nodes will exhibit the ability to: Sense the environment around them, Decide as a collective what the situation of their environment is, Act in an intelligent and coordinated manner in response to this situational determination, and Communicate their actions amongst each other and to a human command. This LDRD report provides a review of the research and development done to bring the SDAC vision closer to reality.« less

Adaptive and mobile ground sensor array.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Holzrichter, Michael Warren; O'Rourke, William T.; Zenner, Jennifer

The goal of this LDRD was to demonstrate the use of robotic vehicles for deploying and autonomously reconfiguring seismic and acoustic sensor arrays with high (centimeter) accuracy to obtain enhancement of our capability to locate and characterize remote targets. The capability to accurately place sensors and then retrieve and reconfigure them allows sensors to be placed in phased arrays in an initial monitoring configuration and then to be reconfigured in an array tuned to the specific frequencies and directions of the selected target. This report reviews the findings and accomplishments achieved during this three-year project. This project successfully demonstrated autonomousmore » deployment and retrieval of a payload package with an accuracy of a few centimeters using differential global positioning system (GPS) signals. It developed an autonomous, multisensor, temporally aligned, radio-frequency communication and signal processing capability, and an array optimization algorithm, which was implemented on a digital signal processor (DSP). Additionally, the project converted the existing single-threaded, monolithic robotic vehicle control code into a multi-threaded, modular control architecture that enhances the reuse of control code in future projects.« less

Additive Manufactured Superconducting Cavities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holland, Eric; Rosen, Yaniv; Woolleet, Nathan; Materise, Nicholas; Voisin, Thomas; Wang, Morris; Mireles, Jorge; Carosi, Gianpaolo; Dubois, Jonathan

Superconducting radio frequency cavities provide an ultra-low dissipative environment, which has enabled fundamental investigations in quantum mechanics, materials properties, and the search for new particles in and beyond the standard model. However, resonator designs are constrained by limitations in conventional machining techniques. For example, current through a seam is a limiting factor in performance for many waveguide cavities. Development of highly reproducible methods for metallic parts through additive manufacturing, referred to colloquially as 3D printing\\x9D, opens the possibility for novel cavity designs which cannot be implemented through conventional methods. We present preliminary investigations of superconducting cavities made through a selective laser melting process, which compacts a granular powder via a high-power laser according to a digitally defined geometry. Initial work suggests that assuming a loss model and numerically optimizing a geometry to minimize dissipation results in modest improvements in device performance. Furthermore, a subset of titanium alloys, particularly, a titanium, aluminum, vanadium alloy (Ti - 6Al - 4V) exhibits properties indicative of a high kinetic inductance material. This work is supported by LDRD 16-SI-004.

Implementation of EAM and FS potentials in HOOMD-blue

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Lin; Zhang, Feng; Travesset, Alex; Wang, Caizhuang; Ho, Kaiming

HOOMD-blue is a general-purpose software to perform classical molecular dynamics simulations entirely on GPUs. We provide full support for EAM and FS type potentials in HOOMD-blue, and report accuracy and efficiency benchmarks, including comparisons with the LAMMPS GPU package. Two problems were selected to test the accuracy: the determination of the glass transition temperature of Cu64.5Zr35.5 alloy using an FS potential and the calculation of pair distribution functions of Ni3Al using an EAM potential. In both cases, the results using HOOMD-blue are indistinguishable from those obtained by the GPU package in LAMMPS within statistical uncertainties. As tests for time efficiency, we benchmark time-steps per second using LAMMPS GPU and HOOMD-blue on one NVIDIA Tesla GPU. Compared to our typical LAMMPS simulations on one CPU cluster node which has 16 CPUs, LAMMPS GPU can be 3-3.5 times faster, and HOOMD-blue can be 4-5.5 times faster. We acknowledge the support from Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) of Ames Laboratory.

Laboratory Directed Research and Development Annual Report for 2009

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hughes, Pamela J.

This report documents progress made on all LDRD-funded projects during fiscal year 2009. As a US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science (SC) national laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has an enduring mission to bring molecular and environmental sciences and engineering strengths to bear on DOE missions and national needs. Their vision is to be recognized worldwide and valued nationally for leadership in accelerating the discovery and deployment of solutions to challenges in energy, national security, and the environment. To achieve this mission and vision, they provide distinctive, world-leading science and technology in: (1) the design and scalablemore » synthesis of materials and chemicals; (2) climate change science and emissions management; (3) efficient and secure electricity management from generation to end use; and (4) signature discovery and exploitation for threat detection and reduction. PNNL leadership also extends to operating EMSL: the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a national scientific user facility dedicated to providing itnegrated experimental and computational resources for discovery and technological innovation in the environmental molecular sciences.« less

A Hydrogen and He Isotope Nanoprobe

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Doyle, Barney L.; Van Deusen, Stuart B.

Materials that incorporate hydrogen and helium isotopes are of great interest at Sandia and throughout the NNSA and DOE. The Ion Beam Lab at SNL-NM has invented techniques using micron to mm-size MeV ion beams to recoil these light isotopes (Elastic Recoil Detection or ERD) that can very accurately make such measurements. However, there are many measurements that would benefit NW and DOE that require much better resolution, such as the distribution of H isotopes (and 3He) in individual grains of materials relevant to TPBARs, H and He-embrittlement of weapon components important to Tritium Sustainment Programs, issues with GTSs, batteries…more » Higher resolution would also benefit the field of materials science in general. To address these and many other issues, nm-scale lateral resolution is required. This LDRD demonstrated that neutral H atoms could be recoiled through a thin film by 70 keV electrons and detected with a Channeltron electron multiplier (CEM). The electrons were steered away from the CEM by strong permanent magnets. This proved the feasibility that the high energy electrons from a transmissionelectron- microscope-TEM can potentially be used to recoil and subsequently detect (e-ERD), quantify and map the concentration of H and He isotopes with nm resolution. This discovery could lead to a TEM-based H/He-isotope nanoprobe with 1000x higher resolution than currently available.« less

Phase transitions and melting on the Hugoniot of Mg2SiO4 forsterite: new diffraction and temperature results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asimow, P. D.; Akin, M. C.; Homel, M.; Crum, R. S.; Pagan, D.; Lind, J.; Bernier, J.; Mosenfelder, J. L.; Dillman, A. M.; Lavina, B.; Lee, S.; Fat'yanov, O. V.; Newman, M. G.

2017-06-01

The phase transitions of forsterite under shock were studied by x-ray diffraction and pyrometry. Samples of 2 mm thick, near-full density (>98% TMD) polycrystalline forsterite were characterized by EBSD and computed tomography and shock compressed to 50 and 75 GPa by two-stage gas gun at the Dynamic Compression Sector, Advanced Photon Source, with diffraction imaged during compression and release. Changes in diffraction confirm a phase transition by 75 GPa. In parallel, single-crystal forsterite shock temperatures were taken from 120 to 210 GPa with improved absolute calibration procedures on the Caltech 6-channel pyrometer and two-stage gun and used to examine the interpretation of superheating and P-T slope of the liquid Hugoniot. This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344, supported in part by LLNL's LDRD program under Grants 15-ERD-012 and 16-ERD-010. The Dynamic Compression Sector (35) is supported by DOE / National Nuclear Security Administration under Award Number DE-NA0002442. This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. Caltech lab supported by NSF EAR-1426526.

Constraint of the 13C(α,n) Cross Section Toward Astrophysical Energies for the Main s-Process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toomey, Rebecca; Febbraro, Michael T.; Pain, Steven D.; Peters, William A.; Cizewski, Jolie A.; Havener, Charles C.; Bannister, Mark E.; Chipps, Kelly A.; Walter, David G.; Ummel, Chad C.; Sims, Harrison

2017-09-01

The slow neutron capture process (s-process) typically occurs in relatively low neutron flux environments, such as AGB stars, and is a key mechanism in heavy-element synthesis. The dominant source of neutrons for the main s-process is the 13C(α,n) reaction, which proceeds at stellar temperatures ( 0.1 GK, 200 keV), via reactions well below the Coulomb barrier. Direct measurements of the reaction rate in the Gamow window ( 140- 230 keV) is difficult, complicated by the low yields and high beam currents required. Current measurements have constrained the cross section down to approximately 320 keV - still well above stellar conditions- with significant statistical uncertainties. These uncertainties, and the influence of a near-threshold 1 /2+ state at 6.4 MeV, means that extrapolation of the data into the Gamow window is unreliable. These measurements typically use high-efficiency moderated neutron counter detectors, meaning energy information of the incident neutrons is lost. A quasi-spectroscopic approach has been used to measure the 13C(α,n) reaction rate at energies between 300-350 keV with the aim of reducing uncertainties in current measurements. Work supported in part by U.S. D.O.E., the National Science Foundation and the LDRD Program of ORNL, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC.

Search for gluon saturation at Bjorken-x of 10-6-10-5 with the LHCb detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

da Silva, Cesar; LHCb Collaboration

2017-09-01

Gluon saturation at small Byorken- x has been in the minds of particle and nuclear physicists for decades. This state can explain several recent observations such as 1) particle collectivity observed in p+p, p+A and A+A collisions at RHIC and LHC; and 2) depleted yield of particles coming from soft gluons. Previous results from DIS experiments at HERA show a fast increase of gluons as their fractional momentum x decreases. The LHCb experiment is a forward spectrometer with vertexing, tracking, p, K, pi , e, μ identification and calorimetry in the rapidity region 1.6 < η < 4.9. LHCb is the only experiment in the world which can probe x 10-6 -10-5 , up to two orders of magnitude smaller than HERA. A direct probe of gluons at small-x and small Q2 can be performed with γ+jet correlation measurements. The current detector acceptance is not optimized for soft particles coming from Q2 < 10 [GeV/c]2 processes, where gluon saturation is expected. R&D is underway for a new tracking detector to be placed inside the LHCb magnet, the Magnet Station (MS), which will enable measurements of these soft particles. This talk is going to report the status of the analysis efforts aimed at finding the gluon saturation scale at LHCb, and details of the MS. Los Alamos National Lab LDRD program.

A Multifluid Numerical Algorithm for Interpenetrating Plasma Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghosh, Debojyoti; Kavouklis, Christos; Berger, Richard; Chapman, Thomas; Hittinger, Jeffrey

2017-10-01

Interpenetrating plasmas occur in situations including inertial confinement fusion experiments, where plasmas ablate off the hohlraum and capsule surfaces and interact with each other, and in high-energy density physics experiments that involve the collision of plasma streams ablating off discs irradiated by laser beams. Single-fluid, multi-species hydrodynamic models are not well-suited to study this interaction because they cannot support more than a single fluid velocity; this results in unphysical solutions. Though kinetic models yield accurate solutions for multi-fluid interactions, they are prohibitively expensive for at-scale three-dimensional (3D) simulations. In this study, we propose a multifluid approach where the compressible fluid equations are solved for each ion species and the electrons. Electrostatic forces and inter-species friction and thermal equilibration couple the species. A high-order finite-volume algorithm with explicit time integration is used to solve on a 3D Cartesian domain, and a high-order Poisson solver is used to compute the electrostatic potential. We present preliminary results for the interpenetration of two plasma streams in vacuum and in the presence of a gas fill. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. DOE by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC52- 07NA27344 and funded by the LDRD Program at LLNL under project tracking code 17-ERD-081.

First-principles simulation and low-energy effective modeling of three-dimensional skyrmion in MnGe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Hongchul; Tai, Yuan-Yen; Zhu, Jian-Xin; T-4 Team

The skyrmion spin textures are mostly observed in two-dimensional (2D) space, which can be topologically mapped onto the surface of the sphere with an integer multiple of topological winding number. Recently, MnGe has been reported as a candidate of 3D skyrmion crystal, showing the variation of the skyrmion size along the z-direction. We have performed the first-principles simulation and constructed a tight-binding model with calculated electronic-structure information to investigate the 3D skyrmion phase in MnGe. Our first-principles study within density functional theory shows that the calculated magnetic moment is larger than that for MnSi (with different lattice constant), implying the possibility of a multiple magnetic transition under pressure. We have also found that the small-sized skyrmion could be stabilized in a 2D structure. Such a high density of the skyrmion is in good agreement with the experimental finding of large topological Hall effect. Finally, we will extend our study to consider the 3D skyrmion structure based on the constructed tight-binding model. This work was carried out under the auspices of the National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) under Contract No. DE-AC52-06NA25396, and was supported by the LANL LDRD Program.

Vlasov Simulation of the Effects of Collisions on the Damping of Electron Plasma Waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banks, Jeff; Berger, Richard; Chapman, Thomas; Brunner, Stephan; Tran, T.

2015-11-01

Kinetic simulation of two dimensional plasma waves through direct discretization of the Vlasov equation may be particularly attractive for situations where minimal numerical fluctuation levels are desired, such as when measuring growth rates of plasma wave instabilities. In many cases collisional effects can be important to the evolution of plasma waves because they both set a minimum damping rate for plasma waves and can scatter particles out of resonance through pitch angle scattering. Here we present Vlasov simulations of evolving electron plasma waves (EPWs) in plasmas of varying collisionality. We consider first the effects of electron-ion pitch angle collisions on the frequency and damping, Landau and collisional, of small-amplitude EPWs for a range of collision rates. In addition, the wave phase velocities are extracted from the simulation results and compared with theory. For this study we use the Eulerian-based kinetic code LOKI that evolves the Vlasov-Poisson system in 2+2-dimensional phase space. We then discuss extensions of the collision operator to include thermalization. Discretization of these collision operators using 4th order accurate conservative finite-differencing will be discussed. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 and funded by the LDRD program at LLNL under project tracking code 15-ERD-038.

Biological research survey for the efficient conversion of biomass to biofuels.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kent, Michael Stuart; Andrews, Katherine M.

2007-01-01

The purpose of this four-week late start LDRD was to assess the current status of science and technology with regard to the production of biofuels. The main focus was on production of biodiesel from nonpetroleum sources, mainly vegetable oils and algae, and production of bioethanol from lignocellulosic biomass. One goal was to assess the major technological hurdles for economic production of biofuels for these two approaches. Another goal was to compare the challenges and potential benefits of the two approaches. A third goal was to determine areas of research where Sandia's unique technical capabilities can have a particularly strong impactmore » in these technologies.« less

Performance of the New Los Alamos UCN Source and Implications for Future Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Makela, Mark; LANL UCN Team

2017-01-01

The Los Alamos Ultracold Neutron (UCN) source was replaced during this past summer and has been commissioned during the last few months. The new source is the result of lessons learned during the 10 year operation of the first UCN source and extensive Monte Carlo analysis. The new source is a spallation driven source based on a solid deuterium UCN moderator similar the previous one. This talk will present an overview of the new source design and the results of commissioning tests. The talk will conclude with a brief overview of the implications of source performance on the neutron lifetime and LANL nEDM experiments. This work was funded by LANL LDRD.

Implementing and diagnosing magnetic flux compression on the Z pulsed power accelerator

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McBride, Ryan D.; Bliss, David E.; Gomez, Matthew R.

2015-11-01

We report on the progress made to date for a Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project aimed at diagnosing magnetic flux compression on the Z pulsed-power accelerator (0-20 MA in 100 ns). Each experiment consisted of an initially solid Be or Al liner (cylindrical tube), which was imploded using the Z accelerator's drive current (0-20 MA in 100 ns). The imploding liner compresses a 10-T axial seed field, B z ( 0 ) , supplied by an independently driven Helmholtz coil pair. Assuming perfect flux conservation, the axial field amplification should be well described by B z ( tmore » ) = B z ( 0 ) x [ R ( 0 ) / R ( t )] 2 , where R is the liner's inner surface radius. With perfect flux conservation, B z ( t ) and dB z / dt values exceeding 10 4 T and 10 12 T/s, respectively, are expected. These large values, the diminishing liner volume, and the harsh environment on Z, make it particularly challenging to measure these fields. We report on our latest efforts to do so using three primary techniques: (1) micro B-dot probes to measure the fringe fields associated with flux compression, (2) streaked visible Zeeman absorption spectroscopy, and (3) fiber-based Faraday rotation. We also mention two new techniques that make use of the neutron diagnostics suite on Z. These techniques were not developed under this LDRD, but they could influence how we prioritize our efforts to diagnose magnetic flux compression on Z in the future. The first technique is based on the yield ratio of secondary DT to primary DD reactions. The second technique makes use of the secondary DT neutron time-of-flight energy spectra. Both of these techniques have been used successfully to infer the degree of magnetization at stagnation in fully integrated Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion (MagLIF) experiments on Z [P. F. Schmit et al. , Phys. Rev. Lett. 113 , 155004 (2014); P. F. Knapp et al. , Phys. Plasmas, 22 , 056312 (2015)]. Finally, we present some recent developments for designing and fabricating novel micro B-dot probes to measure B z ( t ) inside of an imploding liner. In one approach, the micro B-dot loops were fabricated on a printed circuit board (PCB). The PCB was then soldered to off-the-shelf 0.020- inch-diameter semi-rigid coaxial cables, which were terminated with standard SMA connectors. These probes were recently tested using the COBRA pulsed power generator (0-1 MA in 100 ns) at Cornell University. In another approach, we are planning to use new multi-material 3D printing capabilities to fabricate novel micro B-dot packages. In the near future, we plan to 3D print these probes and then test them on the COBRA generator. With successful operation demonstrated at 1-MA, we will then make plans to use these probes on a 20-MA Z experiment.« less

Metrics for building performance assurance

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Koles, G.; Hitchcock, R.; Sherman, M.

This report documents part of the work performed in phase I of a Laboratory Directors Research and Development (LDRD) funded project entitled Building Performance Assurances (BPA). The focus of the BPA effort is to transform the way buildings are built and operated in order to improve building performance by facilitating or providing tools, infrastructure, and information. The efforts described herein focus on the development of metrics with which to evaluate building performance and for which information and optimization tools need to be developed. The classes of building performance metrics reviewed are (1) Building Services (2) First Costs, (3) Operating Costs,more » (4) Maintenance Costs, and (5) Energy and Environmental Factors. The first category defines the direct benefits associated with buildings; the next three are different kinds of costs associated with providing those benefits; the last category includes concerns that are broader than direct costs and benefits to the building owner and building occupants. The level of detail of the various issues reflect the current state of knowledge in those scientific areas and the ability of the to determine that state of knowledge, rather than directly reflecting the importance of these issues; it intentionally does not specifically focus on energy issues. The report describes work in progress and is intended as a resource and can be used to indicate the areas needing more investigation. Other reports on BPA activities are also available.« less

Coordinating robot motion, sensing, and control in plans. LDRD project final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xavier, P.G.; Brown, R.G.; Watterberg, P.A.

1997-08-01

The goal of this project was to develop a framework for robotic planning and execution that provides a continuum of adaptability with respect to model incompleteness, model error, and sensing error. For example, dividing robot motion into gross-motion planning, fine-motion planning, and sensor-augmented control had yielded productive research and solutions to individual problems. Unfortunately, these techniques could only be combined by hand with ad hoc methods and were restricted to systems where all kinematics are completely modeled in planning. The original intent was to develop methods for understanding and autonomously synthesizing plans that coordinate motion, sensing, and control. The projectmore » considered this problem from several perspectives. Results included (1) theoretical methods to combine and extend gross-motion and fine-motion planning; (2) preliminary work in flexible-object manipulation and an implementable algorithm for planning shortest paths through obstacles for the free-end of an anchored cable; (3) development and implementation of a fast swept-body distance algorithm; and (4) integration of Sandia`s C-Space Toolkit geometry engine and SANDROS motion planer and improvements, which yielded a system practical for everyday motion planning, with path-segment planning at interactive speeds. Results (3) and (4) have either led to follow-on work or are being used in current projects, and they believe that (2) will eventually be also.« less

Climate change effects on international stability : a white paper.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Murphy, Kathryn; Taylor, Mark A.; Fujii, Joy

2004-12-01

This white paper represents a summary of work intended to lay the foundation for development of a climatological/agent model of climate-induced conflict. The paper combines several loosely-coupled efforts and is the final report for a four-month late-start Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project funded by the Advanced Concepts Group (ACG). The project involved contributions by many participants having diverse areas of expertise, with the common goal of learning how to tie together the physical and human causes and consequences of climate change. We performed a review of relevant literature on conflict arising from environmental scarcity. Rather than simply reviewingmore » the previous work, we actively collected data from the referenced sources, reproduced some of the work, and explored alternative models. We used the unfolding crisis in Darfur (western Sudan) as a case study of conflict related to or triggered by climate change, and as an exercise for developing a preliminary concept map. We also outlined a plan for implementing agents in a climate model and defined a logical progression toward the ultimate goal of running both types of models simultaneously in a two-way feedback mode, where the behavior of agents influences the climate and climate change affects the agents. Finally, we offer some ''lessons learned'' in attempting to keep a diverse and geographically dispersed group working together by using Web-based collaborative tools.« less

Fully-Implicit Reconstructed Discontinuous Galerkin Method for Stiff Multiphysics Problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nourgaliev, Robert

2015-11-01

A new reconstructed Discontinuous Galerkin (rDG) method, based on orthogonal basis/test functions, is developed for fluid flows on unstructured meshes. Orthogonality of basis functions is essential for enabling robust and efficient fully-implicit Newton-Krylov based time integration. The method is designed for generic partial differential equations, including transient, hyperbolic, parabolic or elliptic operators, which are attributed to many multiphysics problems. We demonstrate the method's capabilities for solving compressible fluid-solid systems (in the low Mach number limit), with phase change (melting/solidification), as motivated by applications in Additive Manufacturing. We focus on the method's accuracy (in both space and time), as well as robustness and solvability of the system of linear equations involved in the linearization steps of Newton-based methods. The performance of the developed method is investigated for highly-stiff problems with melting/solidification, emphasizing the advantages from tight coupling of mass, momentum and energy conservation equations, as well as orthogonality of basis functions, which leads to better conditioning of the underlying (approximate) Jacobian matrices, and rapid convergence of the Krylov-based linear solver. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344, and funded by the LDRD at LLNL under project tracking code 13-SI-002.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kapil, Sanjay; Oberst, R. D.; Bieker, Jill Marie

Chemical disinfection and inactivation of viruses is largely understudied, but is very important especially in the case of highly infectious viruses. The purpose of this LDRD was to determine the efficacy of the Sandia National Laboratories developed decontamination formulations against Bovine Coronavirus (BCV) as a surrogate for the coronavirus that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in humans. The outbreak of SARS in late 2002 resulted from a highly infectious virus that was able to survive and remain infectious for extended periods. For this study, preliminary testing with Escherichia coli MS-2 (MS-2) and Escherichia coli T4 (T4) bacteriophages was conductedmore » to develop virucidal methodology for verifying the inactivation after treatment with the test formulations following AOAC germicidal methodologies. After the determination of various experimental parameters (i.e. exposure, concentration) of the formulations, final testing was conducted on BCV. All experiments were conducted with various organic challenges (horse serum, bovine feces, compost) for results that more accurately represent field use condition. The MS-2 and T4 were slightly more resistant than BCV and required a 2 minute exposure while BCV was completely inactivated after a 1 minute exposure. These results were also consistent for the testing conducted in the presence of the various organic challenges indicating that the test formulations are highly effective for real world application.« less

Small acid soluble proteins for rapid spore identification.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Branda, Steven S.; Lane, Todd W.; VanderNoot, Victoria A.

2006-12-01

This one year LDRD addressed the problem of rapid characterization of bacterial spores such as those from the genus Bacillus, the group that contains pathogenic spores such as B. anthracis. In this effort we addressed the feasibility of using a proteomics based approach to spore characterization using a subset of conserved spore proteins known as the small acid soluble proteins or SASPs. We proposed developing techniques that built on our previous expertise in microseparations to rapidly characterize or identify spores. An alternative SASP extraction method was developed that was amenable to both the subsequent fluorescent labeling required for laser-induced fluorescencemore » detection and the low ionic strength requirements for isoelectric focusing. For the microseparations, both capillary isoelectric focusing and chip gel electrophoresis were employed. A variety of methods were evaluated to improve the molecular weight resolution for the SASPs, which are in a molecular weight range that is not well resolved by the current methods. Isoelectric focusing was optimized and employed to resolve the SASPs using UV absorbance detection. Proteomic signatures of native wild type Bacillus spores and clones genetically engineered to produce altered SASP patterns were assessed by slab gel electrophoresis, capillary isoelectric focusing with absorbance detection as well as microchip based gel electrophoresis employing sensitive laser-induced fluorescence detection.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Copeland, Robert Guild; Mitchell, Christine Charlotte; Follstaedt, David Martin

This SAND report is the final report on Sandia's Grand Challenge LDRD Project 27328, 'A Revolution in Lighting -- Building the Science and Technology Base for Ultra-Efficient Solid-state Lighting.' This project, which for brevity we refer to as the SSL GCLDRD, is considered one of Sandia's most successful GCLDRDs. As a result, this report reviews not only technical highlights, but also the genesis of the idea for Solid-state Lighting (SSL), the initiation of the SSL GCLDRD, and the goals, scope, success metrics, and evolution of the SSL GCLDRD over the course of its life. One way in which the SSLmore » GCLDRD was different from other GCLDRDs was that it coincided with a larger effort by the SSL community - primarily industrial companies investing in SSL, but also universities, trade organizations, and other Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories - to support a national initiative in SSL R&D. Sandia was a major player in publicizing the tremendous energy savings potential of SSL, and in helping to develop, unify and support community consensus for such an initiative. Hence, our activities in this area, discussed in Chapter 6, were substantial: white papers; SSL technology workshops and roadmaps; support for the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA), DOE and Senator Bingaman's office; extensive public relations and media activities; and a worldwide SSL community website. Many science and technology advances and breakthroughs were also enabled under this GCLDRD, resulting in: 55 publications; 124 presentations; 10 book chapters and reports; 5 U.S. patent applications including 1 already issued; and 14 patent disclosures not yet applied for. Twenty-six invited talks were given, at prestigious venues such as the American Physical Society Meeting, the Materials Research Society Meeting, the AVS International Symposium, and the Electrochemical Society Meeting. This report contains a summary of these science and technology advances and breakthroughs, with Chapters 1-5 devoted to the five technical task areas: 1 Fundamental Materials Physics; 2 111-Nitride Growth Chemistry and Substrate Physics; 3 111-Nitride MOCVD Reactor Design and In-Situ Monitoring; 4 Advanced Light-Emitting Devices; and 5 Phosphors and Encapsulants. Chapter 7 (Appendix A) contains a listing of publications, presentations, and patents. Finally, the SSL GCLDRD resulted in numerous actual and pending follow-on programs for Sandia, including multiple grants from DOE and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) with SSL companies. Many of these follow-on programs arose out of contacts developed through our External Advisory Committee (EAC). In h s and other ways, the EAC played a very important role. Chapter 8 (Appendix B) contains the full (unedited) text of the EAC reviews that were held periodically during the course of the project.« less

Computer simulation of solder joint failure

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Burchett, S.N.; Frear, D.R.; Rashid, M.M.

The thermomechanical fatigue failure of solder joints is increasingly becoming an important reliability issue for electronic packages. The purpose of this Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project was to develop computational tools for simulating the behavior of solder joints under strain and temperature cycling, taking into account the microstructural heterogeneities that exist in as-solidified near eutectic Sn-Pb joints, as well as subsequent microstructural evolution. The authors present two computational constitutive models, a two-phase model and a single-phase model, that were developed to predict the behavior of near eutectic Sn-Pb solder joints under fatigue conditions. Unique metallurgical tests provide themore » fundamental input for the constitutive relations. The two-phase model mathematically predicts the heterogeneous coarsening behavior of near eutectic Sn-Pb solder. The finite element simulations with this model agree qualitatively with experimental thermomechanical fatigue tests. The simulations show that the presence of an initial heterogeneity in the solder microstructure could significantly degrade the fatigue lifetime. The single-phase model was developed to predict solder joint behavior using materials data for constitutive relation constants that could be determined through straightforward metallurgical experiments. Special thermomechanical fatigue tests were developed to give fundamental materials input to the models, and an in situ SEM thermomechanical fatigue test system was developed to characterize microstructural evolution and the mechanical behavior of solder joints during the test. A shear/torsion test sample was developed to impose strain in two different orientations. Materials constants were derived from these tests. The simulation results from the two-phase model showed good fit to the experimental test results.« less

Superhydrophobic Surface Coatings for Microfluidics and MEMs.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Branson, Eric D.; Singh, Seema; Houston, Jack E.

2006-11-01

Low solid interfacial energy and fractally rough surface topography confer to Lotus plants superhydrophobic (SH) properties like high contact angles, rolling and bouncing of liquid droplets, and self-cleaning of particle contaminants. This project exploits the porous fractal structure of a novel, synthetic SH surface for aerosol collection, its self-cleaning properties for particle concentration, and its slippery nature 3 to enhance the performance of fluidic and MEMS devices. We propose to understand fundamentally the conditions needed to cause liquid droplets to roll rather than flow/slide on a surface and how this %22rolling transition%22 influences the boundary condition describing fluid flow inmore » a pipe or micro-channel. Rolling of droplets is important for aerosol collection strategies because it allows trapped particles to be concentrated and transported in liquid droplets with no need for a pre-defined/micromachined fluidic architecture. The fluid/solid boundary condition is important because it governs flow resistance and rheology and establishes the fluid velocity profile. Although many research groups are exploring SH surfaces, our team is the first to unambiguously determine their effects on fluid flow and rheology. SH surfaces could impact all future SNL designs of collectors, fluidic devices, MEMS, and NEMS. Interfaced with inertial focusing aerosol collectors, SH surfaces would allow size-specific particle populations to be collected, concentrated, and transported to a fluidic interface without loss. In microfluidic systems, we expect to reduce the energy/power required to pump fluids and actuate MEMS. Plug-like (rather than parabolic) velocity profiles can greatly improve resolution of chip-based separations and enable unprecedented control of concentration profiles and residence times in fluidic-based micro-reactors. Patterned SH/hydrophilic channels could induce mixing in microchannels and enable development of microflow control elements. Acknowledgements This work was funded by Sandia National Laboratory's Laboratory Directed Research & Development program (LDRD). Some coating processes were conducted in the cleanroom facility located at the University of New Mexico's Center for High Technology Materials (CHTM). SEM images were performed at UNM's Center for Micro-Engineering on equipment funded by a NSF New Mexico EPSCoR grant. 4« less

LDRD final report :

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brost, Randolph C.; McLendon, William Clarence,

2013-01-01

Modeling geospatial information with semantic graphs enables search for sites of interest based on relationships between features, without requiring strong a priori models of feature shape or other intrinsic properties. Geospatial semantic graphs can be constructed from raw sensor data with suitable preprocessing to obtain a discretized representation. This report describes initial work toward extending geospatial semantic graphs to include temporal information, and initial results applying semantic graph techniques to SAR image data. We describe an efficient graph structure that includes geospatial and temporal information, which is designed to support simultaneous spatial and temporal search queries. We also report amore » preliminary implementation of feature recognition, semantic graph modeling, and graph search based on input SAR data. The report concludes with lessons learned and suggestions for future improvements.« less

Predicting the occurrence of mixed mode failure associated with hydraulic fracturing, part 2 water saturated tests

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bauer, Stephen J.; Broome, Scott Thomas; Choens, Charles

2015-09-14

Seven water-saturated triaxial extension experiments were conducted on four sedimentary rocks. This experimental condition was hypothesized more representative of that existing for downhole hydrofracture and thus it may improve our understanding of the phenomena. In all tests the pore pressure was 10 MPa and confirming pressure was adjusted to achieve tensile and transitional failure mode conditions. Using previous work in this LDRD for comparison, the law of effective stress is demonstrated in extension using this sample geometry. In three of the four lithologies, no apparent chemo-mechanical effect of water is apparent, and in the fourth lithology test results indicate somemore » chemo-mechanical effect of water.« less

On the Crossover from Classical to Fermi Liquid Behavior in Dense Plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daligault, Jerome

2017-10-01

We explore the crossover from classical plasma to quantum Fermi liquid behavior of electrons in dense plasmas. To this end, we analyze the evolution with density and temperature of the momentum lifetime of a test electron introduced in a dense electron gas. This allows us 1) to determine the boundaries of the crossover region in the temperature-density plane and to shed light on the evolution of scattering properties across it, 2) to quantify the role of the fermionic nature of electrons on electronic collisions across the crossover region, and 3) to explain how the concept of Coulomb logarithm emerges at high enough temperature but disappears at low enough temperature. Work supported by LDRD Grant No. 20170490ER.

Measurement of absolute laser energy absorption by nano-structured targets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Jaebum; Tommasini, R.; London, R.; Bargsten, C.; Hollinger, R.; Capeluto, M. G.; Shlyaptsev, V. N.; Rocca, J. J.

2017-10-01

Nano-structured targets have been reported to allow the realization of extreme plasma conditions using table top lasers, and have gained much interest as a platform to investigate the ultra-high energy density plasmas (>100 MJ/cm3) . One reason for these targets to achieve extreme conditions is increased laser energy absorption (LEA). The absolute LEA by nano-structured targets has been measured for the first time and compared to that by foil targets. The experimental results, including the effects of target parameters on the LEA, will be presented. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52097NA27344, and funded by LDRD (#15-ERD-054).

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Springmeyer, R R; Brugger, E; Cook, R

The Data group provides data analysis and visualization support to its customers. This consists primarily of the development and support of VisIt, a data analysis and visualization tool. Support ranges from answering questions about the tool, providing classes on how to use the tool, and performing data analysis and visualization for customers. The Information Management and Graphics Group supports and develops tools that enhance our ability to access, display, and understand large, complex data sets. Activities include applying visualization software for large scale data exploration; running video production labs on two networks; supporting graphics libraries and tools for end users;more » maintaining PowerWalls and assorted other displays; and developing software for searching and managing scientific data. Researchers in the Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC) work on various projects including the development of visualization techniques for large scale data exploration that are funded by the ASC program, among others. The researchers also have LDRD projects and collaborations with other lab researchers, academia, and industry. The IMG group is located in the Terascale Simulation Facility, home to Dawn, Atlas, BGL, and others, which includes both classified and unclassified visualization theaters, a visualization computer floor and deployment workshop, and video production labs. We continued to provide the traditional graphics group consulting and video production support. We maintained five PowerWalls and many other displays. We deployed a 576-node Opteron/IB cluster with 72 TB of memory providing a visualization production server on our classified network. We continue to support a 128-node Opteron/IB cluster providing a visualization production server for our unclassified systems and an older 256-node Opteron/IB cluster for the classified systems, as well as several smaller clusters to drive the PowerWalls. The visualization production systems includes NFS servers to provide dedicated storage for data analysis and visualization. The ASC projects have delivered new versions of visualization and scientific data management tools to end users and continue to refine them. VisIt had 4 releases during the past year, ending with VisIt 2.0. We released version 2.4 of Hopper, a Java application for managing and transferring files. This release included a graphical disk usage view which works on all types of connections and an aggregated copy feature for quickly transferring massive datasets quickly and efficiently to HPSS. We continue to use and develop Blockbuster and Telepath. Both the VisIt and IMG teams were engaged in a variety of movie production efforts during the past year in addition to the development tasks.« less

Microscale investigation of dynamic impact of dry and saturated glass powder

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herbold, Eric; Crum, Ryan; Hurley, Ryan; Lind, Jonathan; Homel, Michael; Akin, Minta

2017-06-01

The response of particulate materials to shock loading involves complex interactions between grains involving fracture/comminution and possible interstitial material. The strength of saturated powders is attributed to ``effective stress'' where the fluid stiffens the material response and reduces the shear strength. However, detailed information regarding the effects of saturation under dynamic loading is lacking since static equilibrium between phases cannot be assumed and the interaction becomes more complex. Recent experiments at the dynamic compression sector (DCS) have captured in-situ images of shock loaded soda lime glass spheres in dry and saturated conditions. The differences between the modes of deformation and compaction are compared with mesoscale simulations to help develop our ideas about the observed response. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. LDRD tracking code 16-ERD-010. The Dynamic Compression Sector (DCS, sector 35) is supported by DOE/NNSA Award Number DE-NA0002442. The use of Advanced Photon Source is operated by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.

Final Report for High Precision Short-Pulse Laser Ablation System for Medical Applications

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, B.M.; Feit, M.; Rubenchik, A.

2000-03-04

During the three year LDRD funding period, we studied the ablation characteristics of biological tissues using ultrashort pulse lasers (USPL) with pulse widths varying from 100 femtoseconds to tens of picoseconds. During the first year, we performed extensive theoretical studies to develop an improved understanding of the USPL ablation process. Two optical signals were tested for feasibility of use in real-time feedback systems during high repetition rate ablation. In the second year, we devised a real-time, feedback-controlled USPL ablation system, based on luminescence, which may be useful for sensitive micro-spinal surgeries. Effective laser parameters were identified to reduce collateral damage.more » The final year of the project focused on quantification of the pressure pulse induced by USPL ablation of water surfaces representing biological tissues. Results of these studies were presented in invited talks at domestic and international conferences and numerous journal articles were published (see bibliography). This effort has increased our scientific understanding of physical processes important for the therapeutic biomedical application of ultrashort pulse lasers, and has taken the first steps toward practical realization of such applications.« less

Approaches for scalable modeling and emulation of cyber systems : LDRD final report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mayo, Jackson R.; Minnich, Ronald G.; Armstrong, Robert C.

2009-09-01

The goal of this research was to combine theoretical and computational approaches to better understand the potential emergent behaviors of large-scale cyber systems, such as networks of {approx} 10{sup 6} computers. The scale and sophistication of modern computer software, hardware, and deployed networked systems have significantly exceeded the computational research community's ability to understand, model, and predict current and future behaviors. This predictive understanding, however, is critical to the development of new approaches for proactively designing new systems or enhancing existing systems with robustness to current and future cyber threats, including distributed malware such as botnets. We have developed preliminarymore » theoretical and modeling capabilities that can ultimately answer questions such as: How would we reboot the Internet if it were taken down? Can we change network protocols to make them more secure without disrupting existing Internet connectivity and traffic flow? We have begun to address these issues by developing new capabilities for understanding and modeling Internet systems at scale. Specifically, we have addressed the need for scalable network simulation by carrying out emulations of a network with {approx} 10{sup 6} virtualized operating system instances on a high-performance computing cluster - a 'virtual Internet'. We have also explored mappings between previously studied emergent behaviors of complex systems and their potential cyber counterparts. Our results provide foundational capabilities for further research toward understanding the effects of complexity in cyber systems, to allow anticipating and thwarting hackers.« less

Directed-Assembly of Block Copolymers for Large-Scale, Three-Dimensional, Optical Metamaterials at Visible Wavelengths. Final LDRD Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hiszpanski, Anna M.

Metamaterials are composites with patterned subwavelength features where the choice of materials and subwavelength structuring bestows upon the metamaterials unique optical properties not found in nature, thereby enabling optical applications previously considered impossible. However, because the structure of optical metamaterials must be subwavelength, metamaterials operating at visible wavelengths require features on the order of 100 nm or smaller, and such resolution typically requires top-down lithographic fabrication techniques that are not easily scaled to device-relevant areas that are square centimeters in size. In this project, we developed a new fabrication route using block copolymers to make over large device-relevant areas opticalmore » metamaterials that operate at visible wavelengths. Our structures are smaller in size (sub-100 nm) and cover a larger area (cm 2) than what has been achieved with traditional nanofabrication routes. To guide our experimental efforts, we developed an algorithm to calculate the expected optical properties (specifically the index of refraction) of such metamaterials that predicts that we can achieve surprisingly large changes in optical properties with small changes in metamaterials’ structure. In the course of our work, we also found that the ordered metal nanowires meshes produced by our scalable fabrication route for making optical metamaterials may also possibly act as transparent electrodes, which are needed in electrical displays and solar cells. We explored the ordered metal nanowires meshes’ utility for this application and developed design guidelines to aide our experimental efforts.« less

A tunable microstrip SQUID amplifier for the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Kelley, Sean; Hansen, Jorn; Weingarten, Elan; Mueck, Michael; Hilton, Gene; Clarke, John

2014-03-01

We describe a microstrip SQUID (Superconducting QUantum Interference Device) amplifier (MSA) used as the photon detector in the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX). Cooled to 100 mK or lower, an optimized MSA approaches the quantum limit of detection. The axion dark matter is detected via Primakoff conversion to a microwave photon in a high-Q (~ 105) tunable microwave cavity, currently cooled to about 1.6 K, in the presence of a 7-tesla magnetic field. The MSA consists of a square loop of thin Nb film, incorporating two Josephson tunnel junctions with resistive shunts to prevent hysteresis in the current-voltage characteristic. The microstrip is a square Nb coil deposited over an intervening insulating layer. Since the photon frequency is determined by the unknown axion mass, the cavity and amplifier must be tunable over a broad frequency range. Tunability is achieved by terminating the microstrip with a GaAs varactor diode with a voltage-controlled capacitance that enables us to vary the resonance from nearly 1/2 to 1/4 of a wavelength. With the SQUID current-biased in the voltage state, we demonstrate a gain of typically 20 dB over nearly one octave, 415 MHz to 800 MHz. Supported by DOE Grants DE-FG02-97ER41029, DE-FG02-96ER40956, DE-AC52-07NA27344, DE-AC03-76SF00098, NSF grants PHY-1067242 and PHY-1306729, and the Livermore LDRD program.

Non-resonant Nanoscale Extreme Light Confinement

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Subramania, Ganapathi Subramanian; Huber, Dale L.

2014-09-01

A wide spectrum of photonics activities Sandia is engaged in such as solid state lighting, photovoltaics, infrared imaging and sensing, quantum sources, rely on nanoscale or ultrasubwavelength light-matter interactions (LMI). The fundamental understanding in confining electromagnetic power and enhancing electric fields into ever smaller volumes is key to creating next generation devices for these programs. The prevailing view is that a resonant interaction (e.g. in microcavities or surface-plasmon polaritions) is necessary to achieve the necessary light confinement for absorption or emission enhancement. Here we propose new paradigm that is non-resonant and therefore broadband and can achieve light confinement and fieldmore » enhancement in extremely small areas [~(λ/500)^2 ]. The proposal is based on a theoretical work[1] performed at Sandia. The paradigm structure consists of a periodic arrangement of connected small and large rectangular slits etched into a metal film named double-groove (DG) structure. The degree of electric field enhancement and power confinement can be controlled by the geometry of the structure. The key operational principle is attributed to quasistatic response of the metal electrons to the incoming electromagnetic field that enables non-resonant broadband behavior. For this exploratory LDRD we have fabricated some test double groove structures to enable verification of quasistatic electronic response in the mid IR through IR optical spectroscopy. We have addressed some processing challenges in DG structure fabrication to enable future design of complex sensor and detector geometries that can utilize its non-resonant field enhancement capabilities.].« less

Measurements of plasma mirror reflectivity and focal spot quality for tens of picosecond laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forestier-Colleoni, Pierre; Williams, Jackson; Scott, Graeme; Mariscal, Dereck. A.; McGuffey, Christopher; Beg, Farhat N.; Chen, Hui; Neely, David; Ma, Tammy

2017-10-01

The Advanced Radiographic Capability (ARC) laser at the NIF (LLNL) is high-energy ( 4 kJ) with a pulse length of 30ps, and is capable of focusing to an intensity of 1018W/cm2 with a 100 μm focal spot. The ARC laser is at an intensity which can be used to produce proton beams. However, for applications such as radiography and warm dense matter creation, a higher laser intensity may be desired to generate more energetic proton beams. One possibility to increase the intensity is to decrease the focused spot size by employing a smaller f-number optic. But it is difficult to implement such an optic or to bring the final focusing parabola closer to the target within the complicated NIF chamber geometry. A proposal is to use ellipsoidal plasma mirrors (PM) for fast focusing of the ARC laser light, thereby increasing the peak intensity. There is uncertainty, however, in the survivability and reflectivity of PM at such long pulse durations. Here, we show experimental results from the Titan laser to study the reflectivity of flat PM as a function of laser pulse length. A calorimeter was used to measure the PM reflectivity. We also observed degradation of the far and near field energy distribution of the laser after the reflection by the PM for pulse-lengths beyond 10ps. Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. Funded by the LLNL LDRD program: tracking code 17-ERD-039.

A New Simulation Framework for the Electron-Ion Collider

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arrington, John

2017-09-01

Last year, a collaboration between Physics Division and High-Energy Physics at Argonne was formed to enable significantly broader contributions to the development of the Electron-Ion Collider. This includes efforts in accelerator R&D, theory, simulations, and detector R&D. I will give a brief overview of the status of these efforts, with emphasis on the aspects aimed at enabling the community to more easily become involved in evaluation of physics, detectors, and details of spectrometer designs. We have put together a new, easy-to-use simulation framework using flexible software tools. The goal is to enable detailed simulations to evaluate detector performance and compare detector designs. In addition, a common framework capable of providing detailed simulations of different spectrometer designs will allow for fully consistent evaluations of the physics reach of different spectrometer designs or detector systems for a variety of physics channels. In addition, new theory efforts will provide self-consistent models of GPDs (including QCD evolution) and TMDs in nucleons and light nuclei, as well as providing more detailed physics input for the evaluation of some new observables. This material is based upon work supported by Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) funding from Argonne National Laboratory, provided by the Director, Office of Science, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC02-06CH11357.

Minimizing the formation of coke and methane on Co nanoparticles in steam reforming of biomass-derived oxygenates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sun, Junming; Mei, Donghai; Karim, Ayman M.

2013-06-01

Fundamental understanding and control of chemical transformations are essential to the development of technically feasible and economically viable catalytic processes for efficient conversion of biomass to fuels and chemicals. Using an integrated experimental and theoretical approach, we report high hydrogen selectivity and catalyst durability of acetone steam reforming (ASR) on inert carbon supported Co nanoparticles. The observed catalytic performance is further elucidated on the basis of comprehensive first-principles calculations. Instead of being considered as an undesired intermediate prone for catalyst deactivation during bioethanol steam reforming (ESR), acetone is suggested as a key and desired intermediate in proposed two-stage ESR processmore » that leads to high hydrogen selectivity and low methane formation on Co-based catalysts. The significance of the present work also sheds a light on controlling the chemical transformations of key intermediates in biomass conversion such as ketones. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support from U. S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences, and the Laboratory directed research and development (LDRD) project of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Computing time was granted by the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL). The EMSL is a U.S. DOE national scientific user facility located at PNNL, and sponsored by the U.S. DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research.« less

Fusion Blanket Coolant Section Criteria, Methodology, and Results

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

DeMuth, J. A.; Meier, W. R.; Jolodosky, A.

2015-10-02

The focus of this LDRD was to explore potential Li alloys that would meet the tritium breeding and blanket cooling requirements but with reduced chemical reactivity, while maintaining the other attractive features of pure Li breeder/coolant. In other fusion approaches (magnetic fusion energy or MFE), 17Li- 83Pb alloy is used leveraging Pb’s ability to maintain high TBR while lowering the levels of lithium in the system. Unfortunately this alloy has a number of potential draw-backs. Due to the high Pb content, this alloy suffers from very high average density, low tritium solubility, low system energy, and produces undesirable activation productsmore » in particular polonium. The criteria considered in the selection of a tritium breeding alloy are described in the following section.« less

FY07 LDRD Final Report Neutron Capture Cross-Section Measurements at DANCE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Parker, W; Agvaanluvsan, U; Wilk, P

2008-02-08

We have measured neutron capture cross sections intended to address defense science problems including mix and the Quantification of Margins and Uncertainties (QMU), and provide details about statistical decay of excited nuclei. A major part of this project included developing the ability to produce radioactive targets. The cross-section measurements were made using the white neutron source at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, the detector array called DANCE (The Detector for Advanced Neutron Capture Experiments) and targets important for astrophysics and stockpile stewardship. DANCE is at the leading edge of neutron capture physics and represents a major leap forward inmore » capability. The detector array was recently built with LDRD money. Our measurements are a significant part of the early results from the new experimental DANCE facility. Neutron capture reactions are important for basic nuclear science, including astrophysics and the statistics of the {gamma}-ray cascades, and for applied science, including stockpile science and technology. We were most interested in neutron capture with neutron energies in the range between 1 eV and a few hundred keV, with targets important to basic science, and the s-process in particular. Of particular interest were neutron capture cross-section measurements of rare isotopes, especially radioactive isotopes. A strong collaboration between universities and Los Alamos due to the Academic Alliance was in place at the start of our project. Our project gave Livermore leverage in focusing on Livermore interests. The Lawrence Livermore Laboratory did not have a resident expert in cross-section measurements; this project allowed us to develop this expertise. For many radionuclides, the cross sections for destruction, especially (n,{gamma}), are not well known, and there is no adequate model that describes neutron capture. The modeling problem is significant because, at low energies where capture reactions are important, the neutron reaction cross sections show resonance behavior or follow 1/v of the incident neutrons. In the case of odd-odd nuclei, the modeling problem is particularly difficult because degenerate states (rotational bands) present in even-even nuclei have separated in energy. Our work included interpretation of the {gamma}-ray spectra to compare with the Statistical Model and provides information on level density and statistical decay. Neutron capture cross sections are of programmatic interest to defense sciences because many elements were added to nuclear devices in order to determine various details of the nuclear detonation, including fission yields, fusion yields, and mix. Both product nuclei created by (n,2n) reactions and reactant nuclei are transmuted by neutron capture during the explosion. Very few of the (n,{gamma}) cross sections for reactions that create products measured by radiochemists have ever been experimentally determined; most are calculated by radiochemical equivalences. Our new experimentally measured capture cross sections directly impact our knowledge about the uncertainties in device performances, which enhances our capability of carrying out our stockpile stewardship program. Europium and gadolinium cross sections are important for both astrophysics and defense programs. Measurements made prior to this project on stable europium targets differ by 30-40%, which was considered to be significantly disparate. Of the gadolinium isotopes, {sup 151}Gd is important for stockpile stewardship, and {sup 153}Gd is of high interest to astrophysics, and nether of these (radioactive) gadolinium (n,{gamma}) cross sections have been measured. Additional stable gadolinium isotopes, including {sup 157,160}Gd are of interest to astrophysics. Historical measurements of gadolinium isotopes, including {sup 152,154}Gd, had disagreements similar to the 30-40% disagreements found in the historical europium data. Actinide capture cross section measurements are important for both Stockpile Stewardship and for nuclear forensics. We focused on the {sup 242m}Am(n,{gamma}) measurement, as there was no existing capture measurement for this isotope. The cross-section measurements (cross section vs. E{sub n}) were made at the Detector for Advanced Neutron Capture Experiments. DANCE is comprised of a highly segmented array of barium fluoride (BaF{sub 2}) crystals specifically designed for neutron capture-gamma measurements, using small radioactive targets (less than one milligram). A picture of half the array, along with a photo of one crystal, is shown in Fig. 1. DANCE provides the world's leading capability for measurements of neutron capture cross sections with radioactive targets. The DANCE is a 4{pi} calorimeter and uses the intense spallation neutron source the Lujan Center at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The detector array consists of 159 barium fluoride crystals arranged in a sphere around the target.« less

Binary electrokinetic separation of target DNA from background DNA primers.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

James, Conrad D.; Derzon, Mark Steven

2005-10-01

This report contains the summary of LDRD project 91312, titled ''Binary Electrokinetic Separation of Target DNA from Background DNA Primers''. This work is the first product of a collaboration with Columbia University and the Northeast BioDefense Center of Excellence. In conjunction with Ian Lipkin's lab, we are developing a technique to reduce false positive events, due to the detection of unhybridized reporter molecules, in a sensitive and multiplexed detection scheme for nucleic acids developed by the Lipkin lab. This is the most significant problem in the operation of their capability. As they are developing the tools for rapidly detecting themore » entire panel of hemorrhagic fevers this technology will immediately serve an important national need. The goal of this work was to attempt to separate nucleic acid from a preprocessed sample. We demonstrated the preconcentration of kilobase-pair length double-stranded DNA targets, and observed little preconcentration of 60 base-pair length single-stranded DNA probes. These objectives were accomplished in microdevice formats that are compatible with larger detection systems for sample pre-processing. Combined with Columbia's expertise, this technology would enable a unique, fast, and potentially compact method for detecting/identifying genetically-modified organisms and multiplexed rapid nucleic acid identification. Another competing approach is the DARPA funded IRIS Pharmaceutical TIGER platform which requires many hours for operation, and an 800k$ piece of equipment that fills a room. The Columbia/SNL system could provide a result in 30 minutes, at the cost of a few thousand dollars for the platform, and would be the size of a shoebox or smaller.« less

Electromagnetic Extended Finite Elements for High-Fidelity Multimaterial Problems LDRD Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Siefert, Christopher; Bochev, Pavel Blagoveston; Kramer, Richard Michael Jack

Surface effects are critical to the accurate simulation of electromagnetics (EM) as current tends to concentrate near material surfaces. Sandia EM applications, which include exploding bridge wires for detonator design, electromagnetic launch of flyer plates for material testing and gun design, lightning blast-through for weapon safety, electromagnetic armor, and magnetic flux compression generators, all require accurate resolution of surface effects. These applications operate in a large deformation regime, where body-fitted meshes are impractical and multimaterial elements are the only feasible option. State-of-the-art methods use various mixture models to approximate the multi-physics of these elements. The empirical nature of these modelsmore » can significantly compromise the accuracy of the simulation in this very important surface region. We propose to substantially improve the predictive capability of electromagnetic simulations by removing the need for empirical mixture models at material surfaces. We do this by developing an eXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM) and an associated Conformal Decomposition Finite Element Method (CDFEM) which satisfy the physically required compatibility conditions at material interfaces. We demonstrate the effectiveness of these methods for diffusion and diffusion-like problems on node, edge and face elements in 2D and 3D. We also present preliminary work on h -hierarchical elements and remap algorithms.« less

Isochoric heating of solid gold targets with the PW-laser-driven ion beams (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steinke, Sven; Ji, Qing; Bulanov, Stepan S.; Barnard, John; Vincenti, Henri; Schenkel, Thomas; Esarey, Eric H.; Leemans, Wim P.

2017-05-01

We present first results on ion acceleration with the BELLA PW laser as well as end-to-end simulation for isochoric heating of solid gold targets using PW-laser generated ion beams: (i) 2D Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations are applied to study the ion source characteristics of the PW laser-target interaction at the long focal length (f/65) beamline at laser intensities of ˜[5×10]^19 Wcm-2 at spot size of 0=53 μm on a CH target. (ii) In order to transport the ion beams to an EMP-free environment, an active plasma lens will be used. This was modeled [1] by calculating the Twiss parameters of the ion beam from the appropriate transport matrixes taking the source parameters obtained from the PIC simulation. (iii) Hydrodynamic simulations indicate that these ion beams can isochorically heat a 1 mm3 gold target to the Warm Dense Matter state. Reference: J. van Tilborg et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 184802 (2015). This work was supported by Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) funding from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, provided by the Director, Office of Science, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

Weak turbulence simulations with the Hermite-Fourier spectral method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vencels, Juris; Delzanno, Gian Luca; Manzini, Gianmarco; Roytershteyn, Vadim; Markidis, Stefano

2015-11-01

Recently, a new (transform) method based on a Fourier-Hermite (FH) discretization of the Vlasov-Maxwell equations has been developed. The resulting set of moment equations is discretized implicitly in time with a Crank-Nicolson scheme and solved with a nonlinear Newton-Krylov technique. For periodic boundary conditions, this discretization delivers a scheme that conserves the total mass, momentum and energy of the system exactly. In this work, we apply the FH method to study a problem of Langmuir turbulence, where a low signal-to-noise ratio is important to follow the turbulent cascade and might require a lot of computational resources if studied with PIC. We simulate a weak (low density) electron beam moving in a Maxwellian plasma and subject to an instability that generates Langmuir waves and a weak turbulence field. We also discuss some optimization techniques to optimally select the Hermite basis in terms of its shift and scaling argument, and show that this technique improve the overall accuracy of the method. Finally, we discuss the applicability of the HF method for studying kinetic plasma turbulence. This work was funded by LDRD under the auspices of the NNSA of the U.S. by LANL under contract DE-AC52-06NA25396 and by EC through the EPiGRAM project (grant agreement no. 610598. epigram-project.eu).

A bio-synthetic interface for discovery of viral entry mechanisms.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gutzler, Mike; Maar, Dianna; Negrete, Oscar

2010-09-01

Understanding and defending against pathogenic viruses is an important public health and biodefense challenge. The focus of our LDRD project has been to uncover the mechanisms enveloped viruses use to identify and invade host cells. We have constructed interfaces between viral particles and synthetic lipid bilayers. This approach provides a minimal setting for investigating the initial events of host-virus interaction - (i) recognition of, and (ii) entry into the host via membrane fusion. This understanding could enable rational design of therapeutics that block viral entry as well as future construction of synthetic, non-proliferating sensors that detect live virus in themore » environment. We have observed fusion between synthetic lipid vesicles and Vesicular Stomatitis virus particles, and we have observed interactions between Nipah virus-like particles and supported lipid bilayers and giant unilamellar vesicles.« less

Integration of Mesh Optimization with 3D All-Hex Mesh Generation, LDRD Subcase 3504340000, Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

KNUPP,PATRICK; MITCHELL,SCOTT A.

1999-11-01

In an attempt to automatically produce high-quality all-hex meshes, we investigated a mesh improvement strategy: given an initial poor-quality all-hex mesh, we iteratively changed the element connectivity, adding and deleting elements and nodes, and optimized the node positions. We found a set of hex reconnection primitives. We improved the optimization algorithms so they can untangle a negative-Jacobian mesh, even considering Jacobians on the boundary, and subsequently optimize the condition number of elements in an untangled mesh. However, even after applying both the primitives and optimization we were unable to produce high-quality meshes in certain regions. Our experiences suggest that manymore » boundary configurations of quadrilaterals admit no hexahedral mesh with positive Jacobians, although we have no proof of this.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wendt, Joel Robert; Hadley, G. Ronald; Samora, Sally

Plasmonic structures open up new opportunities in photonic devices, sometimes offering an alternate method to perform a function and sometimes offering capabilities not possible with standard optics. In this LDRD we successfully demonstrated metal coatings on optical surfaces that do not adversely affect the transmission of those surfaces at the design frequency. This technology could be applied as an RF noise blocking layer across an optical aperture or as a method to apply an electric field to an active electro-optic device without affecting optical performance. We also demonstrated thin optical absorbers using similar patterned surfaces. These infrared optical antennas showmore » promise as a method to improve performance in mercury cadmium telluride detectors. Furthermore, these structures could be coupled with other components to lead to direct rectification of infrared radiation. This possibility leads to a new method for infrared detection and energy harvesting of infrared radiation.« less

Phonon Mode Transformation across the Orthohombic-Tetragonal Phase Transition in a Lead-Iodide Perovskite CH3NH3PbI3: a Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chia, Elbert E. M.; La-O-Vorakiat, Chan; Kadro, Jeannette; Salim, Teddy; Zhao, Daming; Ahmed, Towfiq; Lam, Yeng Ming; Zhu, Jian-Xin; Marcus, Rudolph; Michel-Beyerle, Maria-Elisabeth

Using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS), we study the temperature-dependent phonon modes of the organometallic lead iodide perovskite CH3NH3PbI3 thin film across the terahertz (0.5-3 THz) and temperature (20-300 K) ranges. These modes are related to the vibration of the Pb-I bonds. We found that two phonon modes in the tetragonal phase at room temperature split into four modes in the low-temperature orthorhombic phase. By use of the Lorentz model fitting, we analyze the critical behavior of this phase transition. King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (Grant No. SCI58-003), Singapore MOE Tier 1 (RG13/12, RG123/14), ONR, ARO, NTU Biophysics Center, LANL LDRD, LANL CINT.

Flux threshold determination for tungsten nano-fuzz formation using an 80 eV He-ion beam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, Fred W.; Bannister, Mark E.; Parish, Chad M.

2017-10-01

At the ORNL Multicharged Ion Research Facility (MIRF), we have extended our investigation of flux thresholds for He-ion induced nano-fuzz formation on hot tungsten surfaces down to plasma-edge-relevant energies of 80 eV. We measured the size of the incident ion beam by accurate flux-profile measurements, and the size of the region where tungsten nano-fuzz was formed by post-exposure SEM surface analysis and real-time monitoring of the hot W surface-emissivity change throughout the beam exposure. If tungsten nano-fuzz formation had a fluence threshold, the size of the observed nano-fuzz region would be expected to increase with exposure time, eventually filling the entire ion beam spot. Instead, we found that the region of nano-fuzz formation (1) was always smaller than the beam spot itself and (2) did not increase in size with time, i.e. with accumulated He ion fluence. By comparison of the flux profile and the spatial extent of the fuzz region we determined a flux threshold of 9.5 +-3×1019/m2s at 80 eV He ion impact energy. We show that the observed flux-threshold energy dependence for nano-fuzz formation, which we have now mapped out from 80 eV to 8.5 keV, is well reproduced by the combined energy dependences of He-ion reflection, He-ion range and target-damage creation, determined using SRIM. Research sponsored by the LDRD program at ORNL, managed by UT-Battelle for the USDOE, and by the DOE OFES.

Tunable microstrip SQUID amplifiers for the Gen 2 Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Kelley, Sean; Hilton, Gene; Clarke, John; ADMX Collaboration

2016-03-01

We present a series of tunable microstrip SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device) amplifiers (MSAs) for installation in ADMX. The axion dark matter candidate is detected via Primakoff conversion to a microwave photon in a high-Q (~100,000) tunable microwave cavity cooled with a dilution refrigerator in a 7-tesla magnetic field. The microwave photon frequency ν is a function of the unknown axion mass, so both the cavity and amplifier must be scanned over a wide frequency range. An MSA is a linear, phase-preserving amplifier consisting of a square washer loop, fabricated from a thin Nb film, incorporating two Josephson tunnel junctions with resistive shunts to prevent hysteresis. The input is coupled via a microstrip made from a square Nb coil deposited over the washer with an intervening insulating layer. Tunability is achieved by terminating the microstrip with GaAs varactors that operate below 100 mK. By varying the varactor capacitance with a bias voltage, the resonant frequency is varied by up to a factor of 2. We demonstrate several devices operating below 100 mK, matched to the discrete operating bands of ADMX at frequencies ranging from 560 MHz to 1 GHz. The MSAs exhibit gains exceeding 20 dB and the associated noise temperatures, measured with a hot/cold load, approach the standard quantum limit (hν/kB) . Supported by DOE Grants DE - FG02 - 97ER41029, DE - FG02 - 96ER40956, DE - AC52 - 07NA27344, DE - AC03 - 76SF00098, and the Livermore LDRD program.

Pulsed Magnetic Field System for Magnetized Target Experiments at the National Ignition Facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rhodes, M. A.; Solberg, J. M.; Logan, B. G.; Perkins, L. J.

2014-10-01

High-magnitude magnetic fields applied to inertially confined targets may improve fusion yield and enable basic science applications. We discuss the development of a pulsed magnetic field system for NIF with the goal of applying 10--70 T to various NIF targets. While the driver may be little more than a spark-gap switched capacitor, numerous complex challenges exist in fielding such a system on NIF. The coil surrounding the metallic hohlraum drives induced current in the hohlraum wall. Both the coil and hohlraum wall must survive ohmic heating and J × B forces for several microseconds. Pulsed power must couple to the coil in the NIF environment. The system must not cause late-time optics damage due to debris. There is very limited volume for the driver in a NIF Diagnostic Instrument Manipulator (DIM). We are modeling the coil and hohlraum MHD effects with the LLNL code, ALE3D. However, the simulations lack complete and accurate data for all the required thermo-physical material properties over the expected range of temperatures (below vaporization) and pressures. Therefore, substantial experimental development is planned in the coming year. We present coil and hohlraum simulations results, overall system design, and progress towards an operational prototype test-stand. LLNL is operated by LLNS, LLC, for the U.S. D.O.E., NNSA under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. This work was supported by LLNL LDRD 14-ER-028.

Using Machine Learning in Adversarial Environments.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Warren Leon Davis

Intrusion/anomaly detection systems are among the first lines of cyber defense. Commonly, they either use signatures or machine learning (ML) to identify threats, but fail to account for sophisticated attackers trying to circumvent them. We propose to embed machine learning within a game theoretic framework that performs adversarial modeling, develops methods for optimizing operational response based on ML, and integrates the resulting optimization codebase into the existing ML infrastructure developed by the Hybrid LDRD. Our approach addresses three key shortcomings of ML in adversarial settings: 1) resulting classifiers are typically deterministic and, therefore, easy to reverse engineer; 2) ML approachesmore » only address the prediction problem, but do not prescribe how one should operationalize predictions, nor account for operational costs and constraints; and 3) ML approaches do not model attackers’ response and can be circumvented by sophisticated adversaries. The principal novelty of our approach is to construct an optimization framework that blends ML, operational considerations, and a model predicting attackers reaction, with the goal of computing optimal moving target defense. One important challenge is to construct a realistic model of an adversary that is tractable, yet realistic. We aim to advance the science of attacker modeling by considering game-theoretic methods, and by engaging experimental subjects with red teaming experience in trying to actively circumvent an intrusion detection system, and learning a predictive model of such circumvention activities. In addition, we will generate metrics to test that a particular model of an adversary is consistent with available data.« less

Nuclear Power Plant Cyber Security Discrete Dynamic Event Tree Analysis (LDRD 17-0958) FY17 Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wheeler, Timothy A.; Denman, Matthew R.; Williams, R. A.

Instrumentation and control of nuclear power is transforming from analog to modern digital assets. These control systems perform key safety and security functions. This transformation is occurring in new plant designs as well as in the existing fleet of plants as the operation of those plants is extended to 60 years. This transformation introduces new and unknown issues involving both digital asset induced safety issues and security issues. Traditional nuclear power risk assessment tools and cyber security assessment methods have not been modified or developed to address the unique nature of cyber failure modes and of cyber security threat vulnerabilities.more » iii This Lab-Directed Research and Development project has developed a dynamic cyber-risk in- formed tool to facilitate the analysis of unique cyber failure modes and the time sequencing of cyber faults, both malicious and non-malicious, and impose those cyber exploits and cyber faults onto a nuclear power plant accident sequence simulator code to assess how cyber exploits and cyber faults could interact with a plants digital instrumentation and control (DI&C) system and defeat or circumvent a plants cyber security controls. This was achieved by coupling an existing Sandia National Laboratories nuclear accident dynamic simulator code with a cyber emulytics code to demonstrate real-time simulation of cyber exploits and their impact on automatic DI&C responses. Studying such potential time-sequenced cyber-attacks and their risks (i.e., the associated impact and the associated degree of difficulty to achieve the attack vector) on accident management establishes a technical risk informed framework for developing effective cyber security controls for nuclear power.« less

Resonant optical spectroscopy and coherent control of Cr4+ spin ensembles in SiC and GaN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koehl, William

Spins bound to point defects have emerged as an important resource in quantum information and spintronic technologies, especially as new materials systems have been developed that enable robust and precise quantum state control via optical, electronic, or mechanical degrees of freedom. In an effort to broaden the range of materials platforms available to such defect-based quantum technologies, we have recently begun exploring optically active transition metal ion spins doped into common wide-bandgap semiconductors. The spins of such ions are derived in part from unpaired d orbital electron states, suggesting in some cases that they may be portable across multiple materials systems. This in contrast to many vacancy-related defect spins such as the diamond nitrogen vacancy center or silicon carbide divacancy, which are formed primarily from the dangling bond states of the host. Here we demonstrate ensemble optical spin polarization and time-resolved optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) of the S = 1 electronic ground state of chromium (Cr4+) impurities in silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN). We find that these impurities possess narrow optical linewidths (<8.5 GHz at cryogenic temperatures) that allow us to optically resolve the magnetic sublevels of the spins even when probing a large ensemble of many ions simultaneously. This enables us to directly polarize and probe the Cr4+ spins using straightforward optical techniques, which we then combine with coherent microwave excitation in order to characterize the dynamical properties of the ensemble. Significantly, these near-infrared emitters also possess exceptionally weak phonon sidebands, ensuring that >73% of the overall optical emission is contained within the defects' zero-phonon lines. These characteristics make the Cr4+ ion system a promising target for further study in the ongoing effort to integrate optically active quantum states within common optoelectronic materials. In collaboration with B. Diler, S. J. Whiteley, A. Bourassa, N. T. Son, E. Janzén, and D. D. Awschalom. This work supported by AFOSR, ARO, NSF MRSEC, the Argonne LDRD Program, LiLi-NFM, and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

Experimental Determination of P-V-T-X Properties and Adsorption Kinetics in the CO2-CH4 System under Shale Gas Reservoir Conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiong, Y.; Wang, Y.

2014-12-01

Shale gas production via hydrofracturing has profoundly changed the energy portfolio in the USA and other parts of the world. Under the shale gas reservior conditions, CO2 and H2O, either in residence or being injected during hydrofracturing or both, co-exist with CH4. One important feature characteristic of shale is the presence of nanometer-scale (1-100 nm) pores in shale or mudstone. The interactions among CH4, CO2 and H2O in those nano-sized pores directly impact shale gas storage and gas release from the shale matrix. Therefore, a fundamental understanding of interactions among CH4, CO2 and H2O in nanopore confinement would provide guidance in addressing a number of problems such as rapid decline in production after a few years and low recovery rates. We are systematically investigating the P-V-T-X properties and adsorption kinetics in the CH4-CO2-H2O system under the reservior conditions. We have designed and constructed a unique high temperature and pressure experimental system that can measure both of the P-V-T-X properties and adsorption kinetics sequentially. We measure the P-V-T-X properties of CH4-CO2 mixtures with CH4 up to 95 vol. %, and adsorption kinetics of various materials, under the conditions relevant to shale gas reservoir. We use three types of materials: (I) model materials, (II) single solid phases separated from shale samples, and (III) crushed shale samples from both the known shale gas producing formations and the shale gas barren formations. The model materials are well characterized in terms of pore sizes. Therefore, the results associated with the model material serve as benchmarks for our model development. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000. This research is supported by a Geoscience Foundation LDRD.

Self-Cleaning Synthetic Adhesive Surfaces Mimicking Tokay Geckos.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Branson, Eric D.; Singh, Seema; Burckel, David Bruce

2006-11-01

A gecko's extraordinary ability to suspend itself from walls and ceilings of varied surface roughness has interested humans for hundreds of years. Many theories and possible explanations describing this phenomenon have been proposed including sticky secretions, microsuckers, and electrostatic forces; however, today it is widely accepted that van der Waals forces play the most important role in this type of dry adhesion. Inarguably, the vital feature that allows a gecko's suspension is the presence of billions 3 of tiny hairs on the pad of its foot called spatula. These features are small enough to reach within van der Waals distancesmore » of any surface (spatula radius %7E100 nm); thus, the combined effect of billions of van der Waals interactions is more than sufficient to hold a gecko's weight to surfaces such as smooth ceilings or wet glass. Two lithographic approaches were used to make hierarchal structures with dimensions similar to the gecko foot dimensions noted above. One approach combined photo-lithography with soft lithography (micro-molding). In this fabrication scheme the fiber feature size, defined by the alumina micromold was 0.2 um in diameter and 60 um in height. The second approach followed more conventional photolithography-based patterning. Patterned features with dimensions %7E0.3 mm in diameter by 0.5 mm tall were produced. We used interfacial force microscopy employing a parabolic diamond tip with a diameter of 200 nm to measure the surface adhesion of these structures. The measured adhesive forces ranged from 0.3 uN - 0.6 uN, yielding an average bonding stress between 50 N/cm2 to 100 N/cm2. By comparison the reported literature value for the average stress of a Tokay gecko foot is 10 N/cm2. Acknowledgements This work was funded by Sandia National Laboratory's Laboratory Directed Research & Development program (LDRD). All coating processes were conducted in the cleanroom facility located at the University of New Mexico's Center for High Technology Materials (CHTM). SEM images were performed at UNM's Center for Micro-Engineering on equipment funded by a NSF New Mexico EPSCoR grant. 4« less

Final Report: Ionization chemistry of high temperature molecular fluids

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fried, L E

2007-02-26

With the advent of coupled chemical/hydrodynamic reactive flow models for high explosives, understanding detonation chemistry is of increasing importance to DNT. The accuracy of first principles detonation codes, such as CHEETAH, are dependent on an accurate representation of the species present under detonation conditions. Ionic species and non-molecular phases are not currently included coupled chemistry/hydrodynamic simulations. This LDRD will determine the prevalence of such species during high explosive detonations, by carrying out experimental and computational investigation of common detonation products under extreme conditions. We are studying the phase diagram of detonation products such as H{sub 2}O, or NH{sub 3} andmore » mixtures under conditions of extreme pressure (P > 1 GPa) and temperature (T > 1000K). Under these conditions, the neutral molecular form of matter transforms to a phase dominated by ions. The phase boundaries of such a region are unknown.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kaehr, Bryan James

This is the final report for the President Harry S. Truman Fellowship in National Security Science and Engineering (LDRD project 130813) awarded to Dr. Bryan Kaehr from 2008-2011. Biological chemistries, cells, and integrated systems (e.g., organisms, ecologies, etc.) offer important lessons for the design of synthetic strategies and materials. The desire to both understand and ultimately improve upon biological processes has been a driving force for considerable scientific efforts worldwide. However, to impart the useful properties of biological systems into modern devices and materials requires new ideas and technologies. The research herein addresses aspects of these issues through the developmentmore » of (1) a rapid-prototyping methodology to build 3D bio-interfaces and catalytic architectures, (2) a quantitative method to measure cell/material mechanical interactions in situ and at the microscale, and (3) a breakthrough approach to generate functional biocomposites from bacteria and cultured cells.« less

Controlled Detonation Dynamics in Additively Manufactured High Explosives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmalzer, Andrew; Tappan, Bryce; Bowden, Patrick; Manner, Virginia; Clements, Brad; Menikoff, Ralph; Ionita, Axinte; Branch, Brittany; Dattelbaum, Dana; Espy, Michelle; Patterson, Brian; Wu, Ruilian; Mueller, Alexander

2017-06-01

The effect of structure in explosives has long been a subject of interest to explosives engineers and scientists. Through structure, detonation dynamics in explosives can be manipulated, introducing a new level of safety and directed performance into these previously difficult to control materials. New advances in additive manufacturing (AM) allow the deliberate introduction of exact internal structures at dimensions approaching the mesoscale of these energetic materials. We show through simulation and experiment that this structure can be used to control detonation behavior by manipulating complex shockwave interactions. We use high-speed video and shorting mag-wires to determine the detonation velocity in AM generated explosive structures, demonstrating, for the first time, a method of controlling the directional propagation of reactive flow through the controlled introduction of structure within a high explosive. With ongoing improvement in the AM methods available coupled with guidance through modeling and simulations, more complex interactions are being explored. LANL LDRD Office.

All-metal superconducting planar microwave resonator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horsley, Matt; Pereverzev, Sergey; Dubois, Jonathon; Friedrich, Stephan; Qu, Dongxia; Libby, Steve; Lordi, Vincenzo; Carosi, Gianpaolo; Stoeffl, Wolfgang; Chapline, George; Drury, Owen; Quantum Noise in Superconducting Devices Team

There is common agreement that noise and resonance frequency jitter in superconducting microwave planar resonators are caused by presence of two-level systems, or fluctuators, in resonator materials- in dielectric substrate, in superconducting and dielectric layers and on the boundaries and interfaces. Scaling of noise with device dimensions indicate that fluctuators are likely concentrated around boundaries; physical nature of those fluctuators remains unclear. The presence of dielectrics is not necessary for the superconducting device functionality, and one can ask question about properties of all-metal device, where dielectric substrate and oxide films on metal are absent. Resonator made from of thin conducting layer with cuts in it is usually called slot line resonator. We report on the design, fabrication and initial testing of multiple split rings slot line resonator made out of thin molybdenum plate. This work is being funded as part of a three year strategic initiative (LDRD 16-SI-004) to better understand noise in superconducting devices.

Proton deflectometry characterization of Biermann-Battery field advection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pollock, Bradley; Moore, Alastair; Meezan, Nathan; Eder, Dave; Kane, Jave; Strozzi, David; Wilks, Scott; Rinderknecht, Hans; Zylstra, Alex; Fujioka, Shinsuke; Kemp, Gregory; Moody, John

2017-10-01

Laser-foil interactions are well known to produce azimuthal magnetic fields around the laser spot due to the orthogonal density and temperature gradients that develop near the foil surface (the Biermann-Battery effect). Simulations show that these fields produced inside hohlraums used for indirect drive experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF); however, modeling these fields and their advection is very computationally expensive on the temporal and spatial scales relevant for typical NIF hohlraum experiments ( 10 ns, few mm). The hohlraum geometry also makes directly probing the fields somewhat challenging, limiting the available experimental data on these fields under NIF conditions. In particular, the relative contributions of frozen-in and Nernst advection of the field away from the hohlraum wall is not currently well understood. We have developed a new target platform for direct measurements of the field topology in a NIF-relevant configuration. Using a single cone of NIF, a 2.5 mm long, 5.4 mm diameter Au ring is illuminated with a similar beam geometry to that of one ring of beams in a full-scale hohlraum experiment. The ring target has no end caps, providing a clear line of sight for probing through the ring. A D3He filled exploding pusher placed 5 cm below the ring is illuminated by an additional 60 beams of NIF to produce protons, some of which propagate through the ring. Work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 and under LDRD support from LLNL.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Prentice, John K.; Gardner, David Randall

A methodology was developed for computing the probability that the sensor dart for the 'Near Real-Time Site Characterization for Assured HDBT Defeat' Grand-Challenge LDRD project will survive deployment over a forested region. The probability can be decomposed into three approximately independent probabilities that account for forest coverage, branch density and the physics of an impact between the dart and a tree branch. The probability that a dart survives an impact with a tree branch was determined from the deflection induced by the impact. If a dart that was deflected so that it impacted the ground at an angle of attackmore » exceeding a user-specified, threshold value, the dart was assumed to not survive the impact with the branch; otherwise it was assumed to have survived. A computer code was developed for calculating dart angle of attack at impact with the ground and a Monte Carlo scheme was used to calculate the probability distribution of a sensor dart surviving an impact with a branch as a function of branch radius, length, and height from the ground. Both an early prototype design and the current dart design were used in these studies. As a general rule of thumb, it we observed that for reasonably generic trees and for a threshold angle of attack of 5{sup o} (which is conservative for dart survival), the probability of reaching the ground with an angle of attack less than the threshold is on the order of 30% for the prototype dart design and 60% for the current dart design, though these numbers should be treated with some caution.« less

Macroscopic time and altitude distribution of plasma turbulence induced in ionospheric modification experiments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rose, H.; Dubois, D.; Russell, D.

1996-03-01

This is the final report of a three-year Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). This research concentrated on the time dependence of the heater, induced-turbulence, and electron-density profiles excited in the ionosphere by a powerful radio-frequency heater wave. The macroscopic density is driven by the ponderomotive pressure and the density self-consistently determines the heater propagation. For typical parameters of the current Arecibo heater, a dramatic quasi-periodic behavior was found. For about 50 ms after turn-on of the heater wave, the turbulence is concentrated at the first standing-wave maximum of the heater near reflectionmore » altitude. From 50--100 ms the standing-wave pattern drops by about 1--2 km in altitude and the quasi-periodicity reappears at the higher altitudes with a period of roughly 50 ms. This behavior is due to the half-wavelength density depletion grating that is set up by the ponderomotive pressure at the maxima of the heater standing-wave pattern. Once the grating is established the heater can no longer propagate to higher altitudes. The grating is then unsupported by the heater at these altitudes and decays, allowing the heater to propagate again and initiate another cycle. For stronger heater powers, corresponding to the Arecibo upgrade and the HAARP heater now under construction, the effects are much more dramatic.« less

Macro-meso-microsystems integration in LTCC : LDRD report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

De Smet, Dennis J.; Nordquist, Christopher Daniel; Turner, Timothy Shawn

2007-03-01

Low Temperature Cofired Ceramic (LTCC) has proven to be an enabling medium for microsystem technologies, because of its desirable electrical, physical, and chemical properties coupled with its capability for rapid prototyping and scalable manufacturing of components. LTCC is viewed as an extension of hybrid microcircuits, and in that function it enables development, testing, and deployment of silicon microsystems. However, its versatility has allowed it to succeed as a microsystem medium in its own right, with applications in non-microelectronic meso-scale devices and in a range of sensor devices. Applications include silicon microfluidic ''chip-and-wire'' systems and fluid grid array (FGA)/microfluidic multichip modulesmore » using embedded channels in LTCC, and cofired electro-mechanical systems with moving parts. Both the microfluidic and mechanical system applications are enabled by sacrificial volume materials (SVM), which serve to create and maintain cavities and separation gaps during the lamination and cofiring process. SVMs consisting of thermally fugitive or partially inert materials are easily incorporated. Recognizing the premium on devices that are cofired rather than assembled, we report on functional-as-released and functional-as-fired moving parts. Additional applications for cofired transparent windows, some as small as an optical fiber, are also described. The applications described help pave the way for widespread application of LTCC to biomedical, control, analysis, characterization, and radio frequency (RF) functions for macro-meso-microsystems.« less

In Situ Imaging during Compression of Plastic Bonded Explosives for Damage Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeager, John; Manner, Virginia; Patterson, Brian; Walters, David; Cordes, Nikolaus; Henderson, Kevin; Tappan, Bryce; Luscher, Darby

2017-06-01

The microstructure of plastic bonded explosives (PBXs) is known to influence behavior during insults such as deformation, heating or initiation to detonation. Obtaining three-dimensional microstructural data can be difficult due in part to fragility of the material and small feature size. X-ray computed tomography (CT) is an ideal characterization technique but the explosive crystals and binder in formulations such as PBX 9501 do not have sufficient x-ray contrast to differentiate between the components. Here, we have formulated several PBXs using octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7- tetrazocine (HMX) crystals and low-density binder systems. The full three-dimensional microstructure of these samples has been characterized using microscale CT during uniaxial mechanical compression in an interrupted in situ modality. The rigidity of the binder was observed to significantly influence fracture, crystal-binder delamination, and material flow. Additionally, the segmented, 3D images were meshed for finite element simulation. Initial results of the mesoscale modeling exhibit qualitatively similar delamination. Los Alamos National Laboratory - LDRD.

Discovering local order parameters in liquid water using machine learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soto, Adrian; Lu, Deyu; Yoo, Shinjae; Fernandez-Serra, Marivi

The local arrangement of water molecules in liquid phase is still being discussed and questioned. The prevailing view is that water is composed of a mixture of two structurally different liquids. One of the main challenges has been to find order parameters that are able to discriminate the complex structures of these distinct molecular environments. Several local order parameters have been proposed and studied in all sorts of atomistic simulations of liquid water but, to date, none has been able to capture the predicted dual character. This presents an ideal problem to treat with methods capable of unveiling information from complex data. In this talk we will discuss how local order parameters can be constructed from molecular dynamics trajectories by using machine learning and other related techniques. Work was partially supported by DOE Award No. DE-FG02-09ER16052, by DOE Early Career Award No. DE-SC0003871, by BNL LDRD 16-039 project and BNL Contract No. DE-SC0012704.

Protection characteristics of a Faraday cage compromised by lightning burnthrough.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Warne, Larry Kevin; Bystrom, Edward; Jorgenson, Roy Eberhardt

2012-01-01

A lightning flash consists of multiple, high-amplitude but short duration return strokes. Between the return strokes is a lower amplitude, continuing current which flows for longer duration. If the walls of a Faraday cage are made of thin enough metal, the continuing current can melt a hole through the metal in a process called burnthrough. A subsequent return stroke can couple energy through this newly-formed hole. This LDRD is a study of the protection provided by a Faraday cage when it has been compromised by burnthrough. We initially repeated some previous experiments and expanded on them in terms of scopemore » and diagnostics to form a knowledge baseline of the coupling phenomena. We then used a combination of experiment, analysis and numerical modeling to study four coupling mechanisms: indirect electric field coupling, indirect magnetic field coupling, conduction through plasma and breakdown through the hole. We discovered voltages higher than those encountered in the previous set of experiments (on the order of several hundreds of volts).« less

Geometric phase effects in ultracold hydrogen exchange reactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naduvalath, Balakrishnan; Croft, James F. E.; Hazra, Jisha; Kendrick, Brian K.

2017-04-01

Electronically non-adiabatic effects play an important role in many chemical reactions. The geometric phase, also known as the Berry's phase, arises from the adiabatic transport of the electronic wave function around a conical intersection between two electronic potential energy surfaces. It is shown that in ultracold collisions of H and D atoms with vibrationally excited HD, inclusion of the geometric phase leads to constructive and destructive interferences between non-reactive and exchange components of the wave function. This results in strong enhancement or suppression of reactivity depending on the final rovibrational levels of the scattered HD molecules. The effect is illustrated for non-rotating and rotationally excited HD molecules in the v = 4 vibrational level for which the H+HD and D+HD reactions occur through a barrierless path. This work was supported in part by NSF Grant PHY-1505557 (N.B.), ARO MURI Grant No. W911NF-12-1-0476 (N.B.), and DOE LDRD Grant No. 20170221ER (B.K.).

Rechargeable aluminum batteries with conducting polymers as positive electrodes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hudak, Nicholas S.

2013-12-01

This report is a summary of research results from an Early Career LDRD project con-ducted from January 2012 to December 2013 at Sandia National Laboratories. Demonstrated here is the use of conducting polymers as active materials in the posi-tive electrodes of rechargeable aluminum-based batteries operating at room tempera-ture. The battery chemistry is based on chloroaluminate ionic liquid electrolytes, which allow reversible stripping and plating of aluminum metal at the negative elec-trode. Characterization of electrochemically synthesized polypyrrole films revealed doping of the polymers with chloroaluminate anions, which is a quasi-reversible reac-tion that facilitates battery cycling. Stable galvanostatic cycling of polypyrrole andmore » polythiophene cells was demonstrated, with capacities at near-theoretical levels (30-100 mAh g -1) and coulombic efficiencies approaching 100%. The energy density of a sealed sandwich-type cell with polythiophene at the positive electrode was estimated as 44 Wh kg -1, which is competitive with state-of-the-art battery chemistries for grid-scale energy storage.« less

An overview of Laser-Produced Relativistic Positrons in the Laboratory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Edghill, Brandon; Williams, Gerald; Chen, Hui; Beg, Farhat

2017-10-01

The production of relativistic positrons using ultraintense lasers can facilitate studies of fundamental pair plasma science in the relativistic regime and laboratory studies of scaled energetic astrophysical mechanisms such as gamma ray bursts. The positron densities and spatial scales required for these applications, however, are larger than current capabilities. Here, we present an overview of the experimental laser-produced positron results and their respective modeling for both the direct laser-irradiated process and the indirect process (laser wakefield accelerated electrons irradiating a high-Z converter). Conversion efficiency into positrons and positron beam characteristics are compared, including total pair yield, mean energy, angular divergence, and inferred pair density for various laser and target conditions. Prospects towards increasing positron densities and beam repetition rates will also be discussed. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344, and funded by LDRD (#17-ERD-010).

Development of nanostructured and surface modified semiconductors for hybrid organic-inorganic solar cells.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hsu, Julia, W. P.

2008-09-01

Solar energy conversion is increasingly being recognized as one of the principal ways to meet future energy needs without causing detrimental environmental impact. Hybrid organic-inorganic solar cells (SCs) are attracting particular interest due to the potential for low cost manufacturing and for use in new applications, such as consumer electronics, architectural integration and light-weight sensors. Key materials advantages of these next generation SCs over conventional semiconductor SCs are in design opportunities--since the different functions of the SCs are carried out by different materials, there are greater materials choices for producing optimized structures. In this project, we explore the hybrid organic-inorganicmore » solar cell system that consists of oxide, primarily ZnO, nanostructures as the electron transporter and poly-(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as the light-absorber and hole transporter. It builds on our capabilities in the solution synthesis of nanostructured semiconducting oxide arrays to this photovoltaic (PV) technology. The three challenges in this hybrid material system for solar applications are (1) achieving inorganic nanostructures with critical spacing that matches the exciton diffusion in the polymer, {approx} 10 nm, (2) infiltrating the polymer completely into the dense nanostructure arrays, and (3) optimizing the interfacial properties to facilitate efficient charge transfer. We have gained an understanding and control over growing oriented ZnO nanorods with sub-50 nm diameters and the required rod-to-rod spacing on various substrates. We have developed novel approaches to infiltrate commercially available P3HT in the narrow spacing between ZnO nanorods. Also, we have begun to explore ways to modify the interfacial properties. In addition, we have established device fabrication and testing capabilities at Sandia for prototype devices. Moreover, the control synthesis of ZnO nanorod arrays lead to the development of an efficient anti-reflection coating for multicrystalline Si solar cells. An important component of this project is the collaboration with Dr. Dave Ginley's group at NREL. The NREL efforts, which are funded by NREL's LDRD program, focus on measuring device performance, external quantum efficiency, photoconductance through highly specialized non-contact time-resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC) measurements, and vapor phase deposition of oxide materials. The close collaboration with NREL enables us to enter this competitive field in such short time. Joint publications and presentations have resulted from this fruitful collaboration. To this date, 5 referred journal papers have resulted from this project, with 2 more in preparation. Several invited talks and numerous contributed presentations in international conferences are also noted. Sandia has gained the reputation of being one of forefront research groups on nanostructured hybrid solar cells.« less

An interface tracking model for droplet electrocoalescence.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Erickson, Lindsay Crowl

This report describes an Early Career Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project to develop an interface tracking model for droplet electrocoalescence. Many fluid-based technologies rely on electrical fields to control the motion of droplets, e.g. microfluidic devices for high-speed droplet sorting, solution separation for chemical detectors, and purification of biodiesel fuel. Precise control over droplets is crucial to these applications. However, electric fields can induce complex and unpredictable fluid dynamics. Recent experiments (Ristenpart et al. 2009) have demonstrated that oppositely charged droplets bounce rather than coalesce in the presence of strong electric fields. A transient aqueous bridge forms betweenmore » approaching drops prior to pinch-off. This observation applies to many types of fluids, but neither theory nor experiments have been able to offer a satisfactory explanation. Analytic hydrodynamic approximations for interfaces become invalid near coalescence, and therefore detailed numerical simulations are necessary. This is a computationally challenging problem that involves tracking a moving interface and solving complex multi-physics and multi-scale dynamics, which are beyond the capabilities of most state-of-the-art simulations. An interface-tracking model for electro-coalescence can provide a new perspective to a variety of applications in which interfacial physics are coupled with electrodynamics, including electro-osmosis, fabrication of microelectronics, fuel atomization, oil dehydration, nuclear waste reprocessing and solution separation for chemical detectors. We present a conformal decomposition finite element (CDFEM) interface-tracking method for the electrohydrodynamics of two-phase flow to demonstrate electro-coalescence. CDFEM is a sharp interface method that decomposes elements along fluid-fluid boundaries and uses a level set function to represent the interface.« less

First-principles characterization of formate and carboxyl adsorption on the stoichiometric CeO2(111) and CeO2(110) surfaces

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mei, Donghai

2013-05-20

Molecular adsorption of formate and carboxyl on the stoichiometric CeO2(111) and CeO2(110) surfaces was studied using periodic density functional theory (DFT+U) calculations. Two distinguishable adsorption modes (strong and weak) of formate are identified. The bidentate configuration is more stable than the monodentate adsorption configuration. Both formate and carboxyl bind at the more open CeO2(110) surface are stronger. The calculated vibrational frequencies of two adsorbed species are consistent with experimental measurements. Finally, the effects of U parameters on the adsorption of formate and carboxyl over both CeO2 surfaces were investigated. We found that the geometrical configurations of two adsorbed species aremore » not affected by using different U parameters (U=0, 5, and 7). However, the calculated adsorption energy of carboxyl pronouncedly increases with the U value while the adsorption energy of formate only slightly changes (<0.2 eV). The Bader charge analysis shows the opposite charge transfer occurs for formate and carboxyl adsorption where the adsorbed formate is negatively charge whiled the adsorbed carboxyl is positively charged. Interestingly, with the increasing U parameter, the amount of charge is also increased. This work was supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and by a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with General Motors. The computations were performed using the Molecular Science Computing Facility in the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), which is a U.S. Department of Energy national scientific user facility located at PNNL in Richland, Washington. Part of the computing time was also granted by the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)« less

LDRD final report on imaging self-organization of proteins in membranes by photocatalytic nano-tagging.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zavadil, Kevin Robert; Shelnutt, John Allen; Sasaki, Darryl Yoshio

We have developed a new nanotagging technology for detecting and imaging the self-organization of proteins and other components of membranes at nanometer resolution for the purpose of investigating cell signaling and other membrane-mediated biological processes. We used protein-, lipid-, or drug-bound porphyrin photocatalysts to grow in-situ nanometer-sized metal particles, which reveal the location of the porphyrin-labeled molecules by electron microscopy. We initially used photocatalytic nanotagging to image assembled multi-component proteins and to monitor the distribution of lipids and porphyrin labels in liposomes. For example, by exchanging the heme molecules in hemoproteins with a photocatalytic tin porphyrin, a nanoparticle was grownmore » at each heme site of the protein. The result obtained from electron microscopy for a tagged multi-subunit protein such as hemoglobin is a symmetric constellation of a specific number of nanoparticle tags, four in the case of the hemoglobin tetramer. Methods for covalently linking photocatalytic porphyrin labels to lipids and proteins were also developed to detect and image the self-organization of lipids, protein-protein supercomplexes, and membrane-protein complexes. Procedures for making photocatalytic porphyrin-drug, porphyrin-lipid, and porphyrin-protein hybrids for non-porphyrin-binding proteins and membrane components were pursued and the first porphyrin-labeled lipids was investigated in liposomal membrane models. Our photocatalytic nanotagging technique may ultimately allow membrane self-organization and cell signaling processes to be imaged in living cells. Fluorescence and plasmonic spectra of the tagged proteins might also provide additional information about protein association and membrane organization. In addition, a porphyrin-aspirin or other NSAID hybrid may be used to grow metal nanotags for the pharmacologically important COX enzymes in membranes so that the distribution of the protein can be imaged at the nanometer scale.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thrall, K.D.

The purpose of this project was to demonstrate the ``Exposure-to- Risk`` monitoring system in an actual occupational environment. The system is a unique combination of existing hardware with proprietary software to create an integrated means of assessing occupational exposures to volatile organic compounds. One component of this system utilizes a portable mass spectrometer developed by Teledyne Electronic Technologies. Integration of the system was accomplished under Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) funding. Commercialization of the system will take place following demonstration in an actual occupational environment, and will include, in part, Teledyne Electronic Technologies. The Exposure-to-Risk monitoring system will benefitmore » DOE by overcoming present-day limitations in worker health protection monitoring. There are numerous sites within the` DOE complex where many different hazardous chemicals are used on a routine basis. These chemicals range from paint stripers and cleaning solvents to chemical warfare agents, each having its own degree of potential adverse health risk to a worker. Thus, a real concern for DOE is to ensure that a worker is properly monitored to assess any adverse health risk from exposure to potentially hazardous chemicals. With current industrial hygiene technologies, this is an arduous task. The Exposure-to-Risk monitoring system integrates a patented breath-inlet device connecting a subject`s exhaled breath directly with a field-portable mass spectrometer with physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling to estimate the target tissue dose following a chemical exposure. Estimation of the adverse health risk prediction follows from the exposure/dose calculation based on currently accepted methodologies. This new system can determine, in the field, the possible adverse health risks on a daily basis to an individual worker.« less

Final Report (OO-ERD-056) MEDIOS: Modeling Earth Deformation Using Interferometric Observations from Space

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vincent, P; Walter, B; Zucca, J

2002-01-29

This final report summarizes the accomplishments of the 2-year LDRD-ER project ''MEDIOS: Modeling Earth Deformation using Interferometric Observations from Space'' (00-ERD-056) which began in FY00 and ended in FY01. The structure of this report consists of this summary part plus two separate journal papers, each having their own UCRL number, which document in more detail the major results in two (of three) major categories of this study. The two categories and their corresponding paper titles are (1) Seismic Hazard Mitigation (''Aseismic Creep Events along the Southern San Andreas Fault System''), and (2) Ground-based Nuclear Explosion Monitoring, or GNEM (''New Signaturesmore » of Underground Nuclear Tests Revealed by Satellite Radar Interferometry''). The third category is Energy Exploitation Applications and does not have a separate journal article associated with it but is described briefly. The purpose of this project was to develop a capability within the Geophysics and Global Security Division to process and analyze InSAR data for the purposes of constructing more accurate ground deformation source models relevant to Hazards, Energy, and NAI applications. Once this was accomplished, an inversion tool was to be created that could be applied to many different types (sources) of surface deformation so that accurate source parameters could be determined for a variety of subsurface processes of interest to customers of the GGS Division. This new capability was desired to help attract new project funding for the division.« less

First-Principles Thermodynamics Study of Spinel MgAl 2 O 4 Surface Stability

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cai, Qiuxia; Wang, Jian-guo; Wang, Yong

The surface stability of all possible terminations for three low-index (111, 110, 100) structures of the spinel MgAl2O4 has been studied using first-principles based thermodynamic approach. The surface Gibbs free energy results indicate that the 100_AlO2 termination is the most stable surface structure under ultra-high vacuum at T=1100 K regardless of Al-poor or Al-rich environment. With increasing oxygen pressure, the 111_O2(Al) termination becomes the most stable surface in the Al-rich environment. The oxygen vacancy formation is thermodynamically favorable over the 100_AlO2, 111_O2(Al) and the (111) structure with Mg/O connected terminations. On the basis of surface Gibbs free energies for bothmore » perfect and defective surface terminations, the 100_AlO2 and 111_O2(Al) are the most dominant surfaces in Al-rich environment under atmospheric condition. This is also consistent with our previously reported experimental observation. This work was supported by a Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The computing time was granted by the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC). Part of computing time was also granted by a scientific theme user proposal in the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), which is a U.S. Department of Energy national scientific user facility located at PNNL in Richland, Washington.« less

Can Structural Optimization Explain Slow Dynamics of Rocks?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, H.; Vistisen, O.; Tencate, J. A.

2009-12-01

Slow dynamics is a recovery process that describes the return to an equilibrium state after some external energy input is applied and then removed. Experimental studies on many rocks have shown that a modest acoustic energy input results in slow dynamics. The recovery process of the stiffness has consistently been found to be linear to log(time) for a wide range of geomaterials and the time constants appear to be unique to the material [TenCate JA, Shankland TJ (1996), Geophys Res Lett 23, 3019-3022]. Measurements of this nonequilibrium effect in rocks (e.g. sandstones and limestones) have been linked directly to the cement holding the individual grains together [Darling TW, TenCate JA, Brown DW, Clausen B, Vogel SC (2004), Geophys Res Lett 31, L16604], also suggesting a potential link to porosity and permeability. Noting that slow dynamics consistently returns the overall stiffness of rocks to its maximum (original) state, it is hypothesized that the original state represents the global minimum strain energy state. Consequently the slow dynamics process represents the global minimization or optimization process. Structural optimization, which has been developed for engineering design, minimises the total strain energy by rearranging the material distribution [Kim H, Querin OM, Steven GP, Xie YM (2002), Struct Multidiscip Optim 24, 441-448]. The optimization process effectively rearranges the way the material is cemented. One of the established global optimization methods is simulated annealing (SA). Derived from cooling of metal to a thermal equilibrium, SA finds an optimum solution by iteratively moving the system towards the minimum energy state with a probability of 'uphill' moves. It has been established that the global optimum can be guaranteed by applying a log(time) linear cooling schedule [Hajek B (1988, Math Ops Res, 15, 311-329]. This work presents the original study of applying SA to the maximum stiffness optimization problem. Preliminary results indicate that the maximum stiffness solutions are achieved when using log(time) linear cooling schedule. The optimization history reveals that the overall stiffness of the structure is increased linearly to log(time). The results closely resemble the slow dynamics stiffness recovery of geomaterials and support the hypothesis that the slow dynamics is an optimization process for strain energy. [Work supported by the Department of Energy through the LANL/LDRD Program].

Revolutionary systems for catalytic combustion and diesel catalytic particulate traps.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stuecker, John Nicholas; Witze, Peter O.; Ferrizz, Robert Matthew

2004-12-01

This report is a summary of an LDRD project completed for the development of materials and structures conducive to advancing the state of the art for catalyst supports and diesel particulate traps. An ancillary development for bio-medical bone scaffolding was also realized. Traditionally, a low-pressure drop catalyst support, such as a ceramic honeycomb monolith, is used for catalytic reactions that require high flow rates of gases at high-temperatures. A drawback to the traditional honeycomb monoliths under these operating conditions is poor mass transfer to the catalyst surface in the straight-through channels. ''Robocasting'' is a unique process developed at Sandia Nationalmore » Laboratories that can be used to manufacture ceramic monoliths with alternative 3-dimensional geometries, providing tortuous pathways to increase mass transfer while maintaining low-pressure drops. These alternative 3-dimensional geometries may also provide a foundation for the development of self-regenerating supports capable of trapping and combusting soot particles from a diesel engine exhaust stream. This report describes the structures developed and characterizes the improved catalytic performance that can result. The results show that, relative to honeycomb monolith supports, considerable improvement in mass transfer efficiency is observed for robocast samples synthesized using an FCC-like geometry of alternating rods. Also, there is clearly a trade-off between enhanced mass transfer and increased pressure drop, which can be optimized depending on the particular demands of a given application. Practical applications include the combustion of natural gas for power generation, production of syngas, and hydrogen reforming reactions. The robocast lattice structures also show practicality for diesel particulate trapping. Preliminary results for trapping efficiency are reported as well as the development of electrically resistive lattices that can regenerate the structure by combusting the trapped soot. During this project an ancillary bio-medical application was discovered for lattices of hydroxyapatite. These structures show promise as bone scaffolds for the reparation of damaged bone. A case study depicting the manufacture of a customized device that fits into a damaged mandible is described.« less

Metal fires and their implications for advanced reactors.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nowlen, Steven Patrick; Figueroa, Victor G.; Olivier, Tara Jean

This report details the primary results of the Laboratory Directed Research and Development project (LDRD 08-0857) Metal Fires and Their Implications for Advance Reactors. Advanced reactors may employ liquid metal coolants, typically sodium, because of their many desirable qualities. This project addressed some of the significant challenges associated with the use of liquid metal coolants, primary among these being the extremely rapid oxidation (combustion) that occurs at the high operating temperatures in reactors. The project has identified a number of areas for which gaps existed in knowledge pertinent to reactor safety analyses. Experimental and analysis capabilities were developed in thesemore » areas to varying degrees. In conjunction with team participation in a DOE gap analysis panel, focus was on the oxidation of spilled sodium on thermally massive surfaces. These are spills onto surfaces that substantially cool the sodium during the oxidation process, and they are relevant because standard risk mitigation procedures seek to move spill environments into this regime through rapid draining of spilled sodium. While the spilled sodium is not quenched, the burning mode is different in that there is a transition to a smoldering mode that has not been comprehensively described previously. Prior work has described spilled sodium as a pool fire, but there is a crucial, experimentally-observed transition to a smoldering mode of oxidation. A series of experimental measurements have comprehensively described the thermal evolution of this type of sodium fire for the first time. A new physics-based model has been developed that also predicts the thermal evolution of this type of sodium fire for the first time. The model introduces smoldering oxidation through porous oxide layers to go beyond traditional pool fire analyses that have been carried out previously in order to predict experimentally observed trends. Combined, these developments add significantly to the safety analysis capabilities of the advanced-reactor community for directly relevant scenarios. Beyond the focus on the thermally-interacting and smoldering sodium pool fires, experimental and analysis capabilities for sodium spray fires have also been developed in this project.« less

Determination of the Flux-distance Relationship for Pulsars in the Parkes Multibeam Survey: Violation of the Inverse Square Law Gives Support for a New Model of Pulsar Emission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singleton, John; Sengupta, P.; Middleditch, J.; Graves, T.; Schmidt, A.; Perez, M.; Ardavan, H.; Ardavan, A.; Fasel, J.

2010-01-01

Soon after the discovery of pulsars, it was realized that their unique periodic emissions must be associated with a source that rotates. Despite this insight and forty one years of subsequent effort, a detailed understanding of the pulsar emission mechanism has proved elusive. Here, using data for 983 pulsars taken from the Parkes Multibeam Survey, we show that their fluxes at 1400 MHz (S(1400)) decay with distance d according to a non-standard power-law; we suggest that S(1400) is proportional to 1/d. This distance dependence is revealed by two independent statistical techniques, (i) the Maximum Likelihood Method and (ii) analysis of the distance evolution of the cumulative distribution functions of pulsar flux. Moreover, the derived power law is valid for both millisecond and longer-period pulsars, and is robust against possible errors in the NE2001 method for obtaining pulsar distances from dispersion measure. This observation provides strong support for a mechanism of pulsar emission due to superluminal (faster than light in vacuo) polarization currents. Such superluminal polarization currents have been extensively studied by Bolotovskii, Ginzburg and others, who showed both that they do not violate Special Relativity (since the oppositely-charged particles that make them move relatively slowly) and that they form a bona-fide source term in Maxwell's equations. Subsequently, emission of radiation by superluminal polarization currents was demonstrated in laboratory experiments. By extending these ideas to a superluminal polarization current whose distribution pattern follows a circular orbit, we can explain the 1/d dependence of the flux suggested by our analyses of the observational data. In addition, we show that a model of pulsar emission due to such a rotating superluminal polarization current can predict the the frequency spectrum of nine pulsars over 16 orders of magnitude of frequency quantitatively. This work is supported by the DoE LDRD program at Los Alamos.

Intense laser-driven ion beams in the relativistic-transparency regime: acceleration, control and applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernandez, Juan C.

2016-10-01

Laser-plasma interactions in the novel regime of relativistically-induced transparency have been harnessed to generate efficiently intense ion beams with average energies exceeding 10 MeV/nucleon (>100 MeV for protons) at ``table-top'' scales. We have discovered and utilized a self-organizing scheme that exploits persisting self-generated plasma electric ( 0.1 TV/m) and magnetic ( 104 Tesla) fields to reduce the ion-energy (Ei) spread after the laser exits the plasma, thus separating acceleration from spread reduction. In this way we routinely generate aluminum and carbon beams with narrow spectral peaks at Ei up to 310 MeV and 220 MeV, respectively, with high efficiency ( 5%). The experimental demonstration has been done at the LANL Trident laser with 0.12 PW, high-contrast, 0.65 ps Gaussian laser pulses irradiating planar foils up to 250 nm thick. In this regime, Ei scales empirically with laser intensity (I) as I 1 / 2. Our progress is enabled by high-fidelity, massive computer simulations of the experiments. This work advances next-generation compact accelerators suitable for new applications. E . g ., a carbon beam with Ei 400 MeV and 10% energy spread is suitable for fast ignition (FI) of compressed DT. The observed scaling suggests that is feasible with existing target fabrication and PW-laser technologies, using a sub-ps laser pulse with I 2.5 ×1021 W/cm2. These beams have been used on Trident to generate warm-dense matter at solid-densities, enabling us to investigate its equation of state and mixing of heterogeneous interfaces purely by plasma effects distinct from hydrodynamics. They also drive an intense neutron-beam source with great promise for important applications such as active interrogation of shielded nuclear materials. Considerations on controlling ion-beam divergence for their increased utility are discussed. Funded by the LANL LDRD program.

Studying astrophysical particle acceleration with laser-driven plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiuza, Frederico

2016-10-01

The acceleration of non-thermal particles in plasmas is critical for our understanding of explosive astrophysical phenomena, from solar flares to gamma ray bursts. Particle acceleration is thought to be mediated by collisionless shocks and magnetic reconnection. The microphysics underlying these processes and their ability to efficiently convert flow and magnetic energy into non-thermal particles, however, is not yet fully understood. By performing for the first time ab initio 3D particle-in-cell simulations of the interaction of both magnetized and unmagnetized laser-driven plasmas, it is now possible to identify the optimal parameters for the study of particle acceleration in the laboratory relevant to astrophysical scenarios. It is predicted for the Omega and NIF laser conditions that significant non-thermal acceleration can occur during magnetic reconnection of laser-driven magnetized plasmas. Electrons are accelerated by the electric field near the X-points and trapped in contracting magnetic islands. This leads to a power-law tail extending to nearly a hundred times the thermal energy of the plasma and that contains a large fraction of the magnetic energy. The study of unmagnetized interpenetrating plasmas also reveals the possibility of forming collisionless shocks mediated by the Weibel instability on NIF. Under such conditions, both electrons and ions can be energized by scattering out of the Weibel-mediated turbulence. This also leads to power-law spectra that can be detected experimentally. The resulting experimental requirements to probe the microphysics of plasma particle acceleration will be discussed, paving the way for the first experiments of these important processes in the laboratory. As a result of these simulations and theoretical analysis, there are new experiments being planned on the Omega, NIF, and LCLS laser facilities to test these theoretical predictions. This work was supported by the SLAC LDRD program and DOE Office of Science, Fusion Energy Science (FWP 100182).

Spin-orbital fluctuations in the paramagnetic Mott insulator (V1-xCrx)2O3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leiner, Jonathan; Stone, Matthew; Lumsden, Mark; Bao, Wei; Broholm, Collin

2015-03-01

The phase diagram of rhombohedral V2O3 features several distinct strongly correlated phases as a function of doping, pressure and temperature. When doped with chromium for 180 K

Probing Hotspot Conditions in Spherically Shock Compressed Matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bachmann, Benjamin; Nilsen, J.; Kritcher, A. L.; Swift, D.; Rygg, J. R.; Collins, G. W.; Divol, L.; Falcone, R. W.; Gaffney, J.; Glenzer, S. H.; Hatarik, R.; Hawreliak, J.; Khan, S.; Kraus, D.; Landen, O. L.; Masters, N.; Nagel, S. R.; Pardini, T.; Zimmerman, G.; Doeppner, T.

2015-11-01

We present results of an approach to experimentally determine the conditions in the center of a CD2 sphere that has been compressed to petapascal pressures by spherically converging shocks. By measuring the hotspot size using penumbral imaging, hotspot temperature using two-color spectroscopy, the neutron yield from DD nuclear reactions and the x-ray burn width, we infer average hotspot densities of 43 g/cm3 at 1.6 keV temperature. These conditions correspond to pressures of 4.4 petapascal (44 Gbar) in an ideal gas and 3.5 petapascal from independently performed rad.-hydro. simulations. The experimentally determined neutron yield, temperature and density constrain the EOS in a regime that exceeds previously reported pressures obtained in carbon EOS measurements by three orders of magnitude. The results show a path for constraining the EOS of matter at conditions that have been inaccessible with state-of-the-art experimental EOS techniques. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. DOE by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 and LDRD Grant 13-ERD-073

Quantum critical scaling near the antiferromagnetic quantum critical point in CeCu6-xPdx

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Liusuo; Poudel, L.; May, A. F.; Nelson, W. L.; Gallagher, A.; Lai, Y.; Graf, D. E.; Besara, T.; Siegrist, T. M.; Baumbach, R.; Ehlers, G.; Podlesnyak, A. A.; Lumsden, M. D.; Mandrus, D.; Christianson, A. D.

A remarkable behavior of many quantum critical systems is the scaling of physical properties such as the dynamic susceptibility near a quantum critical point (QCP), where Fermi liquid physics usually break down. The quantum critical behavior in the vicinity of a QCP in metallic systems remains an important open question. In particular, a self-consistent universal scaling of both magnetic susceptibility and the specific heat remains missing for most cases. Recently, we have studied CeCu6-xTx (T =Au, Ag, Pd), which is a prototypical heavy fermion material that hosts an antiferromagnetic (AF) QCP. We have investigated the low temperature thermal properties including the specific heat and magnetic susceptibility. We also investigated the spin fluctuation spectrum at both critical doping and within the magnetically ordered phase. A key finding is the spin excitations exhibit a strong Ising character, resulting in the strong suppression of transverse fluctuations. A detailed scaling analysis of the quantum critical behaviors relating the thermodynamic properties to the dynamic susceptibility will be presented. DOE, ORNL LDRD.

The performance of the upgraded Los Alamos Neutron Source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ito, Takeyasu; LANL UCN Source Collaboration

2017-09-01

Los Alamos National Laboratory has been operating an ultracold (UCN) source based on a solid deuterium (SD2) UCN converter driven by spallation neutrons for over 10 years. It has recently been successfully upgraded, by replacing the cryostat that contains the cold neutron moderator, SD2 volume, and vertical UCN guide. The horizontal UCN guide that transports UCN out of the radiation shield was also replaced. The new design reflects lessons learned from the 10+ year long operation of the previous version of the UCN source and is optimized to maximize the cold neutron flux at the SD2 volume, featuring a close coupled cold neutron moderator, and maximize the transport of the UCN to experiments. During the commissioning of the upgraded UCN source, data were collected to measure its performance, including cold neutron spectra as a function of the cold moderator temperature, and the UCN density in a vessel outside the source. In this talk, after a brief overview of the design of the upgraded source, the results of the performance tests and comparison to prediction will be presented. This work was funded by LANL LDRD.

LDRD Final Report - In Operando Liquid Cell TEM Characterization of Nickel-Based Electrocatalyst

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nielsen, M. H.

2016-11-07

A commercial electrochemistry stage for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was tested to determine whether to purchase one for the microscopes at Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL). Deposition of a nickel-based electrocatalyst was pursued as a material system for the purpose of testing the stage. The stage was found to be problematic with recurring issues in the electrical connections and vacuum sealing, which has thus far precluded a systematic investigation of the original material system. However, the electrochemical cells purchased through this FS will allow the Lawrence Fellow (Nielsen) to continue testing the stage. Furthermore, discussions with a second vendor, whichmore » released a similar electrochemical TEM stage during the course of this FS, have resulted in an upcoming longterm loan of their stage at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) for testing. In addition, low-loss electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) measurements on nickel-bearing electrolyte solutions led to a broader EELS investigation of solvents and salt solutions. These measurements form the basis of a manuscript in preparation on EELS measurements of the liquid phase.« less

A Novel Application of Synthetic Biology and Directed Evolution to Engineer Phage-based Antibiotics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wu, Meiye

The emergence of multiple drug resistant bacteria poses threats to human health, agriculture and food safety. Annually over 100,000 deaths and up to $20 billion loss to the U.S. economy are attributed to multiple drug resistant bacteria. With only four new chemical antibiotics in the drug development pipeline, we are in dire need of new solutions to address the emerging threat of multiple drug resistance. We propose a paradigm-changing approach to address the multi-drug resistant bacteria problem by utilizing Synthetic Biology (SynBio) methodologies to create and evolve “designer” bacteriophages or phages – viruses that specifically infect bacteria – to infectmore » and kill newly emerging pathogenic bacterial strains WITHOUT the need for chemical antibiotics. A major advantage of using phage to combat pathogenic bacteria is that phages can co-evolve with their bacterial host, and Sandia can be the first in the world to establish an industrial scale Synthetic Biology pipeline for phage directed evolution for safe, targeted, customizable solution to bacterial drug resistance. Since there is no existing phage directed evolution effort within or outside of Sandia, this proposal is suitable as a high-risk LDRD effort to create the first pipeline for such an endeavor. The high potential reward nature of this proposal will be the immediate impact in decontamination and restoration of surfaces and infrastructure, with longer term impact in human or animal therapeutics. The synthetic biology and screening approaches will lead to fundamental knowledge of phage/bacteria co-evolution, making Sandia a world leader in directed evolution of bacteriophages.« less

Toward the Computational Representation of Individual Cultural, Cognitive, and Physiological State: The Sensor Shooter Simulation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

RAYBOURN,ELAINE M.; FORSYTHE,JAMES C.

2001-08-01

This report documents an exploratory FY 00 LDRD project that sought to demonstrate the first steps toward a realistic computational representation of the variability encountered in individual human behavior. Realism, as conceptualized in this project, required that the human representation address the underlying psychological, cultural, physiological, and environmental stressors. The present report outlines the researchers' approach to representing cognitive, cultural, and physiological variability of an individual in an ambiguous situation while faced with a high-consequence decision that would greatly impact subsequent events. The present project was framed around a sensor-shooter scenario as a soldier interacts with an unexpected target (twomore » young Iraqi girls). A software model of the ''Sensor Shooter'' scenario from Desert Storm was developed in which the framework consisted of a computational instantiation of Recognition Primed Decision Making in the context of a Naturalistic Decision Making model [1]. Recognition Primed Decision Making was augmented with an underlying foundation based on our current understanding of human neurophysiology and its relationship to human cognitive processes. While the Gulf War scenario that constitutes the framework for the Sensor Shooter prototype is highly specific, the human decision architecture and the subsequent simulation are applicable to other problems similar in concept, intensity, and degree of uncertainty. The goal was to provide initial steps toward a computational representation of human variability in cultural, cognitive, and physiological state in order to attain a better understanding of the full depth of human decision-making processes in the context of ambiguity, novelty, and heightened arousal.« less

Magnetized HDC ignition capsules for yield enhancement and implosion magnetohydrodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zimmerman, G.; Ho, D.; Perkins, J.; Logan, G.; Hawkins, S.; Rhodes, M.

2014-10-01

Imposing a magnetic field on capsules can turn capsules that fail, because of low 1-D margin, into igniting capsules that give yield in the MegaJoule range. The imposed magnetic field can be amplified by up to O(103) as it is being compressed by the imploding shell, e.g. if the initial field is 50 T, then the field in the hot spot of the assembled configuration can reach >104 T. (We are currently designing hardware that can provide a field in the 50 T range inside NIF hohlraums.) With this highly compressed field strength, the gyro radius of alpha particles becomes smaller than the hot spot size. Consequently, the heating of the hot spot becomes more efficient. The imposed field can also prevent hot electrons in the holhraum from reaching the capsule. We choose capsules with high-density carbon (HDC) ablators for this study. HDC capsules have good 1-D performance and also have short pulses (10 ns or less), allowing the use of low gas-filled or near-vacuum hohlraums which provide high coupling efficiency. We describe a 2-D simulation of a 3-shock HDC capsule. We will show detailed magnetohydrodynamic evolution of the implosion. HDC capsules with 2-shock pulses have low margin because of their high adiabat, and it is difficult to achieve ignition in realistic 2-D simulations. The improvement in performance for 2-shock magnetized capsules will be presented. This work was supported by LLNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development LDRD 14-ER-028 under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

Spacetime geodesy and the LAGEOS-3 satellite experiment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miller, W.A.; Chen, Kaiyou; Habib, S.

1996-04-01

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). LAGEOS-1 is a dense spherical satellite whose tracking accuracy is such as to yield a medium-term inertial reference frame and that is used as an adjunct to more difficult and more data-intensive absolute frame measurements. LAGEOS-3, an identical satellite to be launched into an orbit complementary to that of LAGEOS-1, would experience an equal and opposite classical precession to that of LAGEOS- 1. Besides providing a more accurate real-time measurement of the earth`s length of day and polar wobble,more » this paired-satellite system would provide the first direct measurement of the general relativistic frame-dragging effect. Of the five dominant error sources in this experiment, the largest one involves surface forces on the satellite and their consequent impact on the orbital nodal precession. The surface forces are a function of the spin dynamics of the satellite. We have modeled the spin dynamics of a LAGEOS-type satellite and used this spin model to estimate the impact of the thermal rocketing effect on the LAGEOS-3 experiment. We have also performed an analytic tensor expansion of Synge`s world function to better reveal the nature of the predicted frame-dragging effect. We showed that this effect is not due to the Riemann curvature tensor, but rather is a ``potential effect`` arising from the acceleration of the world lines in the Kerr spacetime geometry.« less

Transportation Energy Pathways LDRD.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barter, Garrett.; Reichmuth, David.; Westbrook, Jessica

2012-09-01

This report presents a system dynamics based model of the supply-demand interactions between the US light-duty vehicle (LDV) fleet, its fuels, and the corresponding primary energy sources through the year 2050. An important capability of our model is the ability to conduct parametric analyses. Others have relied upon scenario-based analysis, where one discrete set of values is assigned to the input variables and used to generate one possible realization of the future. While these scenarios can be illustrative of dominant trends and tradeoffs under certain circumstances, changes in input values or assumptions can have a significant impact on results, especiallymore » when output metrics are associated with projections far into the future. This type of uncertainty can be addressed by using a parametric study to examine a range of values for the input variables, offering a richer source of data to an analyst.The parametric analysis featured here focuses on a trade space exploration, with emphasis on factors that influence the adoption rates of electric vehicles (EVs), the reduction of GHG emissions, and the reduction of petroleum consumption within the US LDV fleet. The underlying model emphasizes competition between 13 different types of powertrains, including conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs), conventional hybrids(HEVs), plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), and battery electric vehicles(BEVs).We find that many factors contribute to the adoption rates of EVs. These include the pace of technological development for the electric powertrain, battery performance, as well as the efficiency improvements in conventional vehicles. Policy initiatives can also have a dramatic impact on the degree of EV adoption. The consumer effective payback period, in particular, can significantly increase the market penetration rates if extended towards the vehicle lifetime.Widespread EV adoption can have noticeable impact on petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas(GHG) emission by the LDV fleet. However, EVs alone cannot drive compliance with the most aggressive GHG emission reduction targets, even as the current electricity source mix shifts away from coal and towards natural gas. Since ICEs will comprise the majority of the LDV fleet for up to forty years, conventional vehicle efficiency improvements have the greatest potential for reductions in LDV GHG emissions over this time.These findings seem robust even if global oil prices rise to two to three times current projections. Thus,investment in improving the internal combustion engine might be the cheapest, lowest risk avenue towards meeting ambitious GHG emission and petroleum consumption reduction targets out to 2050.3 Acknowledgment The authors would like to thank Dr. Andrew Lutz, Dr. Benjamin Wu, Prof. Joan Ogden and Dr. Christopher Yang for their suggestions over the course of this project. This work was funded by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program at Sandia National Laboratories.« less

Enabling technology for human collaboration.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Murphy, Tim Andrew; Jones, Wendell Bruce; Warner, David Jay

2003-11-01

This report summarizes the results of a five-month LDRD late start project which explored the potential of enabling technology to improve the performance of small groups. The purpose was to investigate and develop new methods to assist groups working in high consequence, high stress, ambiguous and time critical situations, especially those for which it is impractical to adequately train or prepare. A testbed was constructed for exploratory analysis of a small group engaged in tasks with high cognitive and communication performance requirements. The system consisted of five computer stations, four with special devices equipped to collect physiologic, somatic, audio andmore » video data. Test subjects were recruited and engaged in a cooperative video game. Each team member was provided with a sensor array for physiologic and somatic data collection while playing the video game. We explored the potential for real-time signal analysis to provide information that enables emergent and desirable group behavior and improved task performance. The data collected in this study included audio, video, game scores, physiological, somatic, keystroke, and mouse movement data. The use of self-organizing maps (SOMs) was explored to search for emergent trends in the physiological data as it correlated with the video, audio and game scores. This exploration resulted in the development of two approaches for analysis, to be used concurrently, an individual SOM and a group SOM. The individual SOM was trained using the unique data of each person, and was used to monitor the effectiveness and stress level of each member of the group. The group SOM was trained using the data of the entire group, and was used to monitor the group effectiveness and dynamics. Results suggested that both types of SOMs were required to adequately track evolutions and shifts in group effectiveness. Four subjects were used in the data collection and development of these tools. This report documents a proof of concept study, and its observations are preliminary. Its main purpose is to demonstrate the potential for the tools developed here to improve the effectiveness of groups, and to suggest possible hypotheses for future exploration.« less

Understanding Yield Anomalies in ICF Implosions via Fully Kinetic Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taitano, William

2017-10-01

In the quest towards ICF ignition, plasma kinetic effects are among prime candidates for explaining some significant discrepancies between experimental observations and rad-hydro simulations. To assess their importance, high-fidelity fully kinetic simulations of ICF capsule implosions are needed. Owing to the extremely multi-scale nature of the problem, kinetic codes have to overcome nontrivial numerical and algorithmic challenges, and very few options are currently available. Here, we present resolutions of some long-standing yield discrepancy conundrums using a novel, LANL-developed, 1D-2V Vlasov-Fokker-Planck code iFP. iFP possesses an unprecedented fidelity and features fully implicit time-stepping, exact mass, momentum, and energy conservation, and optimal grid adaptation in phase space, all of which are critically important for ensuring long-time numerical accuracy of the implosion simulations. Specifically, we concentrate on several anomalous yield degradation instances observed in Omega campaigns, with the so-called ``Rygg effect'', or an anomalous yield scaling with the fuel composition, being a prime example. Understanding the physical mechanisms responsible for such degradations in non-ignition-grade Omega experiments is of great interest, as such experiments are often used for platform and diagnostic development, which are then used in ignition-grade experiments on NIF. In the case of Rygg's experiments, effects of a kinetic stratification of fuel ions on the yield have been previously proposed as the anomaly explanation, studied with a kinetic code FPION, and found unimportant. We have revisited this issue with iFP and obtained excellent yield-over-clean agreement with the original Rygg results, and several subsequent experiments. This validates iFP and confirms that the kinetic fuel stratification is indeed at the root of the observed yield degradation. This work was sponsored by the Metropolis Postdoctoral Fellowship, LDRD office, Thermonuclear Burn Initiative of ASC, and the LANL Institutional Computing. This work was performed under the NNSA of the USDOE at LANL under contract DE-AC52-06NA25396.

LDRD Final Report: Advanced Hohlraum Concepts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jones, Ogden S.

Indirect drive inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments to date have mostly used cylindrical, laser-heated, gas-filled hohlraums to produce the radiation drive needed to symmetrically implode DT-filled fusion capsules. These hohlraums have generally been unable to produce a symmetric radiation drive through the end of the desired drive pulse, and are plagued with complications due to laser-plasma interactions (LPI) that have made it difficult to predict their performance. In this project we developed several alternate hohlraum concepts. These new hohlraums utilize different hohlraum geometries, radiation shields, and foam materials in an attempt to improve performance relative to cylindrical hohlraums. Each alternatemore » design was optimized using radiation hydrodynamic (RH) design codes to implode a reference DT capsule with a high-density carbon (HDC) ablator. The laser power and energy required to produce the desired time-dependent radiation drive, and the resulting time-dependent radiation symmetry for each new concept were compared to the results for a reference cylindrical hohlraum. Since several of the new designs needed extra laser entrance holes (LEHs), techniques to keep small LEHs open longer, including high-Z foam liners and low-Z wires at the LEH axis, were investigated numerically. Supporting experiments and target fabrication efforts were also done as part of this project. On the Janus laser facility plastic tubes open at one end (halfraums) and filled with SiO 2 or Ta 2O 5 foam were heated with a single 2w laser. Laser propagation and backscatter were measured. Generally the measured propagation was slower than calculated, and the measured laser backscatter was less than calculated. A comparable, scaled up experiment was designed for the NIF facility and four targets were built. Since low density gold foam was identified as a desirable material for lining the LEH and the hohlraum wall, a technique was developed to produce 550 mg/cc gold foam, and a sample of this material was successfully manufactured.« less

Final report for the Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) control plane security LDRD project.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Torgerson, Mark Dolan; Michalski, John T.; Tarman, Thomas David

2003-09-01

As rapid Internet growth continues, global communications becomes more dependent on Internet availability for information transfer. Recently, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) introduced a new protocol, Multiple Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), to provide high-performance data flows within the Internet. MPLS emulates two major aspects of the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology. First, each initial IP packet is 'routed' to its destination based on previously known delay and congestion avoidance mechanisms. This allows for effective distribution of network resources and reduces the probability of congestion. Second, after route selection each subsequent packet is assigned a label at each hop, whichmore » determines the output port for the packet to reach its final destination. These labels guide the forwarding of each packet at routing nodes more efficiently and with more control than traditional IP forwarding (based on complete address information in each packet) for high-performance data flows. Label assignment is critical in the prompt and accurate delivery of user data. However, the protocols for label distribution were not adequately secured. Thus, if an adversary compromises a node by intercepting and modifying, or more simply injecting false labels into the packet-forwarding engine, the propagation of improperly labeled data flows could create instability in the entire network. In addition, some Virtual Private Network (VPN) solutions take advantage of this 'virtual channel' configuration to eliminate the need for user data encryption to provide privacy. VPN's relying on MPLS require accurate label assignment to maintain user data protection. This research developed a working distributive trust model that demonstrated how to deploy confidentiality, authentication, and non-repudiation in the global network label switching control plane. Simulation models and laboratory testbed implementations that demonstrated this concept were developed, and results from this research were transferred to industry via standards in the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF).« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnson, Terry Alan; Hogan, Roy E., Jr.; McDaniel, Anthony H.

Two of the most daunting problems facing humankind in the twenty-first century are energy security and climate change. This report summarizes work accomplished towards addressing these problems through the execution of a Grand Challenge LDRD project (FY09-11). The vision of Sunshine to Petrol is captured in one deceptively simple chemical equation: Solar Energy + xCO{sub 2} + (x+1)H{sub 2}O {yields} C{sub x}H{sub 2x+2}(liquid fuel) + (1.5x+.5)O{sub 2} Practical implementation of this equation may seem far-fetched, since it effectively describes the use of solar energy to reverse combustion. However, it is also representative of the photosynthetic processes responsible for much ofmore » life on earth and, as such, summarizes the biomass approach to fuels production. It is our contention that an alternative approach, one that is not limited by efficiency of photosynthesis and more directly leads to a liquid fuel, is desirable. The development of a process that efficiently, cost effectively, and sustainably reenergizes thermodynamically spent feedstocks to create reactive fuel intermediates would be an unparalleled achievement and is the key challenge that must be surmounted to solve the intertwined problems of accelerating energy demand and climate change. We proposed that the direct thermochemical conversion of CO{sub 2} and H{sub 2}O to CO and H{sub 2}, which are the universal building blocks for synthetic fuels, serve as the basis for this revolutionary process. To realize this concept, we addressed complex chemical, materials science, and engineering problems associated with thermochemical heat engines and the crucial metal-oxide working-materials deployed therein. By project's end, we had demonstrated solar-driven conversion of CO{sub 2} to CO, a key energetic synthetic fuel intermediate, at 1.7% efficiency.« less

Impact of defects on the electrical transport, optical properties and failure mechanisms of GaN nanowires.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Armstrong, Andrew M.; Aubry, Sylvie; Shaner, Eric Arthur

2010-09-01

We present the results of a three year LDRD project that focused on understanding the impact of defects on the electrical, optical and thermal properties of GaN-based nanowires (NWs). We describe the development and application of a host of experimental techniques to quantify and understand the physics of defects and thermal transport in GaN NWs. We also present the development of analytical models and computational studies of thermal conductivity in GaN NWs. Finally, we present an atomistic model for GaN NW electrical breakdown supported with experimental evidence. GaN-based nanowires are attractive for applications requiring compact, high-current density devices such asmore » ultraviolet laser arrays. Understanding GaN nanowire failure at high-current density is crucial to developing nanowire (NW) devices. Nanowire device failure is likely more complex than thin film due to the prominence of surface effects and enhanced interaction among point defects. Understanding the impact of surfaces and point defects on nanowire thermal and electrical transport is the first step toward rational control and mitigation of device failure mechanisms. However, investigating defects in GaN NWs is extremely challenging because conventional defect spectroscopy techniques are unsuitable for wide-bandgap nanostructures. To understand NW breakdown, the influence of pre-existing and emergent defects during high current stress on NW properties will be investigated. Acute sensitivity of NW thermal conductivity to point-defect density is expected due to the lack of threading dislocation (TD) gettering sites, and enhanced phonon-surface scattering further inhibits thermal transport. Excess defect creation during Joule heating could further degrade thermal conductivity, producing a viscous cycle culminating in catastrophic breakdown. To investigate these issues, a unique combination of electron microscopy, scanning luminescence and photoconductivity implemented at the nanoscale will be used in concert with sophisticated molecular-dynamics calculations of surface and defect-mediated NW thermal transport. This proposal seeks to elucidate long standing material science questions for GaN while addressing issues critical to realizing reliable GaN NW devices.« less

Covalently crosslinked diels-alder polymer networks.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bowman, Christopher; Adzima, Brian J.; Anderson, Benjamin John

2011-09-01

This project examines the utility of cycloaddition reactions for the synthesis of polymer networks. Cycloaddition reactions are desirable because they produce no unwanted side reactions or small molecules, allowing for the formation of high molecular weight species and glassy crosslinked networks. Both the Diels-Alder reaction and the copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) were studied. Accomplishments include externally triggered healing of a thermoreversible covalent network via self-limited hysteresis heating, the creation of Diels-Alder based photoresists, and the successful photochemical catalysis of CuAAC as an alternative to the use of ascorbic acid for the generation of Cu(I) in click reactions. An analysis ofmore » the results reveals that these new methods offer the promise of efficiently creating robust, high molecular weight species and delicate three dimensional structures that incorporate chemical functionality in the patterned material. This work was performed under a Strategic Partnerships LDRD during FY10 and FY11 as part of a Sandia National Laboratories/University of Colorado-Boulder Excellence in Science and Engineering Fellowship awarded to Brian J. Adzima, a graduate student at UC-Boulder. Benjamin J. Anderson (Org. 1833) was the Sandia National Laboratories point-of-contact for this fellowship.« less

Experimental studies of collisional plasma shocks and plasma interpenetration via merging supersonic plasma jets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsu, S. C.; Moser, A. L.; Merritt, E. C.; Adams, C. S.

2015-11-01

Over the past 4 years on the Plasma Liner Experiment (PLX) at LANL, we have studied obliquely and head-on-merging supersonic plasma jets of an argon/impurity or hydrogen/impurity mixture. The jets are formed/launched by pulsed-power-driven railguns. In successive experimental campaigns, we characterized the (a) evolution of plasma parameters of a single plasma jet as it propagated up to ~ 1 m away from the railgun nozzle, (b) density profiles and 2D morphology of the stagnation layer and oblique shocks that formed between obliquely merging jets, and (c) collisionless interpenetration transitioning to collisional stagnation between head-on-merging jets. Key plasma diagnostics included a fast-framing CCD camera, an 8-chord visible interferometer, a survey spectrometer, and a photodiode array. This talk summarizes the primary results mentioned above, and highlights analyses of inferred post-shock temperatures based on observations of density gradients that we attribute to shock-layer thickness. We also briefly describe more recent PLX experiments on Rayleigh-Taylor-instability evolution with magnetic and viscous effects, and potential future collisionless shock experiments enabled by low-impurity, higher-velocity plasma jets formed by contoured-gap coaxial guns. Supported by DOE Fusion Energy Sciences and LANL LDRD.

Study of correlations from Ab-Initio Simulations of Liquid Water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soto, Adrian; Fernandez-Serra, Marivi; Lu, Deyu; Yoo, Shinjae

An accurate understanding of the dynamics and the structure of H2O molecules in the liquid phase is of extreme importance both from a fundamental and from a practical standpoint. Despite the successes of Molecular Dynamics (MD) with Density Functional Theory (DFT), liquid water remains an extremely difficult material to simulate accurately and efficiently because of fine balance between the covalent O-H bond, the hydrogen bond and the attractive the van der Waals forces. Small errors in those produce dramatic changes in the macroscopic properties of the liquid or in its structural properties. Different density functionals produce answers that differ by as much as 35% in ambient conditions, with none producing quantitative results in agreement with experiment at different mass densities. In order to understand these differences we perform an exhaustive scanning of the geometrical coordinates of MD simulations and study their statistical correlations with the simulation output quantities using advanced correlation analyses and machine learning techniques. This work was partially supported by DOE Award No. DE-FG02-09ER16052, by DOE Early Career Award No. DE-SC0003871, by BNL LDRD 16-039 project and BNL Contract No. DE-SC0012704.

Study of correlations from Ab-Initio Simulations of Liquid Water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soto, Adrian; Fernandez-Serra, Marivi; Lu, Deyu; Yoo, Shinjae

An accurate understanding of the dynamics and the structure of H2O molecules in the liquid phase is of extreme importance both from a fundamental and from a practical standpoint. Despite the successes of Molecular Dynamics (MD) with Density Functional Theory (DFT), liquid water remains an extremely difficult material to simulate accurately and efficiently because of fine balance between the covalent O-H bond, the hydrogen bond and the attractive the van der Waals forces. Small errors in those produce dramatic changes in the macroscopic properties of the liquid or in its structural properties. Different density functionals produce answers that differ by as much as 35% in ambient conditions, with none producing quantitative results in agreement with experiment at different mass densities [J. Chem Phys. 139, 194502(2013)]. In order to understand these differences we perform an exhaustive scanning of the geometrical coordinates of MD simulations and study their statistical correlations with the simulation output quantities using advanced correlation analyses and machine learning techniques. This work was partially supported by DOE Award No. DE-FG02-09ER16052, by DOE Early Career Award No. DE-SC0003871, by BNL LDRD 16-039 project and BNL Contract No. DE-SC0012704.

Theoretical Investigation of oxides for batteries and fuel cell applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ganesh, Panchapakesan; Lubimtsev, Andrew A.; Balachandran, Janakiraman

I will present theoretical studies of Li-ion and proton-conducting oxides using a combination of theory and computations that involve Density Functional Theory based atomistic modeling, cluster-expansion based studies, global optimization, high-throughput computations and machine learning based investigation of ionic transport in oxide materials. In Li-ion intercalated oxides, we explain the experimentally observed (Nature Materials 12, 518-522 (2013)) 'intercalation pseudocapacitance' phenomenon, and explain why Nb2O5 is special to show this behavior when Li-ions are intercalated (J. Mater. Chem. A, 2013,1, 14951-14956), but not when Na-ions are used. In addition, we explore Li-ion intercalation theoretically in VO2 (B) phase, which is somewhat structurally similar to Nb2O5 and predict an interesting role of site-trapping on the voltage and capacity of the material, validated by ongoing experiments. Computations of proton conducting oxides explain why Y-doped BaZrO3 , one of the fastest proton conducting oxide, shows a decrease in conductivity above 20% Y-doping. Further, using high throughput computations and machine learning tools we discover general principles to improve proton conductivity. Acknowledgements: LDRD at ORNL and CNMS at ORNL

Experiments with BECs in a Painted Potential: Atom SQUID, Matter Wave Bessel Beams, and Matter Wave Circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boshier, Malcolm; Ryu, Changhyun; Blackburn, Paul; Blinova, Alina; Henderson, Kevin

2014-05-01

The painted potential is a time-averaged optical dipole potential which is able to create arbitrary and dynamic two dimensional potentials for Bose Einstein condensates (BECs). This poster reports three recent experiments using this technique. First, we have realized the dc atom SQUID geometry of a BEC in a toroidal trap with two Josephson junctions. We observe Josephson effects, measure the critical current of the junctions, and find dynamic behavior that is in good agreement with the simple Josephson equations for a tunnel junction with the ideal sinusoidal current-phase relation expected for the parameters of the experiment. Second, we have used free expansion of a rotating toroidal BEC to create matter wave Bessel beams, which are of interest because perfect Bessel beams (plane waves with amplitude profiles described by Bessel functions) propagate without diffraction. Third, we have realized the basic circuit elements necessary to create complex matter wave circuits. We launch BECs at arbitrary velocity along straight waveguides, propagate them around curved waveguides and stadium-shaped waveguide traps, and split them coherently at y-junctions that can also act as switches. Supported by LANL/LDRD.

Ultrafast electron diffraction study of ab-plane dynamics in superconducting Bi2Sr<2CaCu2O8+d

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Konstantinova, Tatiana; Reid, Alexander; Wu, Lijun; Durr, Hermann; Wang, Xijie; Zhu, Yimei

The role of phonons and other collective modes in cooperative electron phenomena in high-TC cuprate superconductors is an extensively interesting topic. Time-resolved experiments provide temporal hierarchy of the bosonic modes interacting with electrons. However, majority of research in this field explore dynamics of electronic states and can only make indirect conclusion about involvement of the lattice. We report time-resolved study of optimally doped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d lattice response to photo-excitation by means of ultrafast electron diffraction that is directly sensitive to atomic motion. Data analysis utilizing Bloch-wave calculation of diffraction peak intensity allows separation of Cu-O in-plane vibration building up on the sub picosecond time scale from the low energy phonon population growth with a much slower rate. This study confirms the assumption of strong electron coupling to the Cu-O plane phonons. This work was supported by the US DOE, Office of Science, Basic Energy Science, Materials Science and Engineering Division under Contract No: DE-AC02-98CH10886; DOE LDRD funding under contract DE-AC02-76SF00515 and BNL.

Isochoric heating of solid gold targets with the PW-laser-driven ion beams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steinke, Sven; Ji, Qing; Bulanov, Stepan; Barnard, John; Schenkel, Thomas; Esarey, Eric; Leemans, Wim

2016-10-01

We present an end-to-end simulation for isochoric heating of solid gold targets using ion beams produced with the BELLA PW laser at LBNL: (i) 2D Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations are applied to study the ion source characteristics of the PW laser-target interaction at the long focal length (f/#65) beamline at laser intensities of 5x1019W/cm2 at spot size of ω0 = 52 μm on a CH target. (ii) In order to transport the ion beams to an EMP-free environment, an active plasma lens will be used. This was modeled by calculating the Twiss parameters of the ion beam from the appropriate transport matrixes using the source parameters obtained from the PIC simulation. Space charge effects were considered as well. (iii) Hydrodynamic simulations indicate that these ion beams can isochorically heat a 1 mm3 gold target to the Warm Dense Matter state. This work was supported by Fusion Energy Science, and LDRD funding from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, provided by the Director, Office of Science, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

Simulations and Experiments of Dynamic Granular Compaction in Non-ideal Geometries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Homel, Michael; Herbold, Eric; Lind, John; Crum, Ryan; Hurley, Ryan; Akin, Minta; Pagan, Darren; LLNL Team

2017-06-01

Accurately describing the dynamic compaction of granular materials is a persistent challenge in computational mechanics. Using a synchrotron x-ray source we have obtained detailed imaging of the evolving compaction front in synthetic olivine powder impacted at 300 - 600 m / s . To facilitate imaging, a non-traditional sample geometry is used, producing multiple load paths within the sample. We demonstrate that (i) commonly used models for porous compaction may produce inaccurate results for complex loading, even if the 1 - D , uniaxial-strain compaction response is reasonable, and (ii) the experimental results can be used along with simulations to determine parameters for sophisticated constitutive models that more accurately describe the strength, softening, bulking, and poroelastic response. Effects of experimental geometry and alternative configurations are discussed. Our understanding of the material response is further enhanced using mesoscale simulations that allow us to relate the mechanisms of grain fracture, contact, and comminution to the macroscale continuum response. Numerical considerations in both continuum and mesoscale simulations are described. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. LDRD#16-ERD-010. LLNL-ABS-725113.

Quantum Reactive Scattering of Ultracold K+KRb Reaction: Universality and Chaotic Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Croft, J. F. E.; Makrides, C.; Li, M.; Petrov, A.; Kendrick, B. K.; Balakrishnan, N.; Kotochigova, S.

2017-04-01

A fundamental question in the study of chemical reactions is how reactions proceed at a collision energy close to absolute zero. This question is no longer hypothetical: quantum degenerate gases of atoms and molecules can now be created at temperatures lower than a few tens of nanoKelvin. In this talk, we discuss the benchmark ultracold reaction between, the most-celebrated ultracold molecule, KRb and K. We report numerically exact quantum-mechanical calculations of the K+KRb reaction on an accurate ab initio ground state potential energy surface of the K2Rb system and compare our results with available experimental data and predictions of universal models. The role of non-additive three-body contributions to the interaction potential is examined and is found to be small for the total reaction rates. However, the rotationally resolved rate coefficients are shown to be sensitive to the short-range interaction potential and follow a Poissonian distribution. This work was supported in part by NSF Grants PHY-1505557 (N.B.), PHY-1619788 (S.K.), ARO MURI Grant No. W911NF-12-1-0476 (N.B. & S.K.), and DOE LDRD Grant No. 20170221ER (B.K.).

Effects of Coulomb Coupling on the Stopping Power of Plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernstein, David; Daligault, Jerome; Baalrud, Scott

2017-10-01

Stopping power of charged particles in plasma is important for a detailed understanding of particle and energy transport in plasmas, such as those found in fusion applications. Although stopping power is rather well understood for weakly coupled plasmas, this is less the case for strongly coupled plasmas. In order to shed light on the effects of strong Coulomb coupling, we have conducted detailed molecular dynamics simulations of the stopping power of a One-Component Plasma (OCP) across a wide range of conditions. The OCP allows first-principle computations that are not possible with more complex models, enabling rigorous tests of analytical theories. The molecular dynamics simulations were compared to two analytical theories that attempt to extend traditional weakly-coupled theories into the strong coupling regime. The first is based on the binary approximation, which accounts for strong coupling via an effective scattering cross section derived from the effective potential theory. The second is based on the dielectric function formulation with the inclusion of a local field corrections. Work supported by LANL LDRD project 20150520ER and ir Force Office of Scientific Research under Award Number FA9550-16-1-0221.

Study of transport phenomena in laser-driven, non- equilibrium plasmas in the presence of external magnetic fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kemp, G. Elijah; Mariscal, D. A.; Williams, G. J.; Blue, B. E.; Colvin, J. D.; Fears, T. M.; Kerr, S. M.; May, M. J.; Moody, J. D.; Strozzi, D. J.; Lefevre, H. J.; Klein, S. R.; Kuranz, C. C.; Manuel, M. J.-E.; Gautier, D. C.; Montgomery, D. S.

2017-10-01

We present experimental and simulation results from a study of thermal transport inhibition in laser-driven, mid-Z, non-equilibrium plasmas in the presence external magnetic fields. The experiments were performed at the Jupiter Laser Facility at LLNL, where x-ray spectroscopy, proton radiography, and Brillouin backscatter data were simultaneously acquired from sub-critical-density, Ti-doped silica aerogel foams driven by a 2 ω laser at 5 ×1014 W /cm2 . External B-field strengths up to 20 T (aligned antiparallel to the laser propagation axis) were provided by a capacitor-bank-driven Helmholtz coil. Pre-shot simulations with Hydra, a radiation-magnetohydrodyanmics code, showed increasing electron plasma temperature with increasing B-field strength - the result of thermal transport inhibition perpendicular to the B-field. The influence of this thermal transport inhibition on the experimental observables as a function of external field strength and target density will be shown and compared with simulations. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344 and funded by LDRD project 17-ERD-027.

Magnetophoretic bead trapping in a high-flowrate biological detection system.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Galambos, Paul C.; Hopkins, Matthew Morgan; Rahimian, Kamayar

2005-03-01

This report contains the summary of the 'Magnetophoretic Bead Trapping in a High-Flowrate Biological Detection System' LDRD project 74795. The objective of this project is to develop a novel biodetection system for high-throughput sample analysis. The chief application of this system is in detection of very low concentrations of target molecules from a complex liquid solution containing many different constituents--some of which may interfere with identification of the target molecule. The system is also designed to handle air sampling by using an aerosol system (for instance a WESP - Wet Electro-Static Precipitator, or an impact spray system) to get airmore » sample constituents into the liquid volume. The system described herein automatically takes the raw liquid sample, whether air converted or initially liquid matrix, and mixes in magnetic detector beads that capture the targets of interest and then performs the sample cleanup function, allowing increased sensitivity and eliminating most false positives and false negatives at a downstream detector. The surfaces of the beads can be functionalized in a variety of ways in order to maximize the number of targets to be captured and concentrated. Bacteria and viruses are captured using antibodies to surface proteins on bacterial cell walls or viral particle coats. In combination with a cell lysis or PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), the beads can be used as a DNA or RNA probe to capture nucleic acid patterns of interest. The sample cleanup capability of this system would allow different raw biological samples, such as blood or saliva to be analyzed for the presence of different infectious agents (e.g. smallpox or SARS). For future studies, we envision functionalizing bead surfaces to bind to chemical weapons agents, radio-isotopes, and explosives. The two main objectives of this project were to explore methods for enhancing the mixing of the capture microspheres in the sample, and to develop a novel high-throughput magnetic microsphere trap. We have developed a novel technique using the magnetic capture microspheres as 'stirrer bars' in a fluid sample to enhance target binding to the microsphere surfaces. We have also made progress in developing a polymer-MEMS electromagnet for trapping magnetic spheres in a high-flowrate fluid format.« less

Observation of ionization shifts in K-shell emission from short-pulse laser irradiated micro-dot targets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neumayer, Paul; Kritcher, Andrea; Landen, Otto; Lee, Haeja; Offerman, Dustin; Shipton, Eric; Glenzer, Siegfried

2006-10-01

X-ray Thomson scattering using short pulse laser generated intense line radiation has a great potential as a time-resolved temperature and density diagnostic for high-energy density states of matter. We present recent results characterizing Chlorine K-alpha and K-beta line emission obtained by irradiating Saran foil with 50 Terawatt laser pulses from the Callisto laser (Jupiter Laser Facility, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory). Spectra from front and rear side emission are recorded simultaneously with high resolution HOPG spectrometers employing imaging plate detectors. Conversion efficiencies of laser pulse energy into x-ray line emission of several 10-5 are achieved and are maintained throughout up to 7 J of laser energy, thus constituting a short pulsed narrow band x-ray source of more than 10^11 photons. When the target size is reduced to 50 micrometer (``micro-dot'') a significant blue-shift of up to 5 eV is clearly observed. This can be attributed to higher ionization states of the target atoms indicating achievement of a high-temperature solid density state. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. W-7405-ENG-48 and LDRD 05-ERI-003.

Using architecture information and real-time resource state to reduce power consumption and communication costs in parallel applications.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brandt, James M.; Devine, Karen Dragon; Gentile, Ann C.

2014-09-01

As computer systems grow in both size and complexity, the need for applications and run-time systems to adjust to their dynamic environment also grows. The goal of the RAAMP LDRD was to combine static architecture information and real-time system state with algorithms to conserve power, reduce communication costs, and avoid network contention. We devel- oped new data collection and aggregation tools to extract static hardware information (e.g., node/core hierarchy, network routing) as well as real-time performance data (e.g., CPU uti- lization, power consumption, memory bandwidth saturation, percentage of used bandwidth, number of network stalls). We created application interfaces that allowedmore » this data to be used easily by algorithms. Finally, we demonstrated the benefit of integrating system and application information for two use cases. The first used real-time power consumption and memory bandwidth saturation data to throttle concurrency to save power without increasing application execution time. The second used static or real-time network traffic information to reduce or avoid network congestion by remapping MPI tasks to allocated processors. Results from our work are summarized in this report; more details are available in our publications [2, 6, 14, 16, 22, 29, 38, 44, 51, 54].« less