Cross-section data from the HARP experiment for pion production by protons from a tantalum target have been convoluted with the acceptance of the front-end channel for the proposed neutrino factory or muon collider and integrated over the full phase space measured by HARP, to determine the beam-energy dependence of the muon yield. This permits a determination of the optimal beam energy for the proton driver for these projects. The cross-section data are corrected for the beam-energy dependent 'amplification' due to the development of hadronic showers in a thick target. The conclusion is that, for constant beam power, the yield is maximum for a beam energy of about 7 GeV, but it is within 10% of this maximum for 4 < T{sub beam} < 11 GeV, and within 20% of the maximum for T{sub beam} as low as 2 GeV. This result is insensitive to which of the two HARP groups results are used, and to which pion generator is used to compute the thick target effects.

Test facilities for high-gradient superconducting RF cavities must be shielded for particle radiation, which is generated by field emitted electrons in the cavities. A major challenge for the shielding design is associated with uncertainty in modeling the field emission. In this work, a semi-empirical method that allows us to predict the intensity of the generated field emission is described. Spatial, angular and energy distributions of the generated radiation are calculated with the FISHPACT code. The Monte Carlo code MARS15 is used for modeling the radiation transport in matter. The detailed distributions of the generated field emission are used for studies with 9-cell 1.3 GHz superconducting RF cavities in the Fermilab Vertical Cavity Test Facility. This approach allows us to minimize the amount of shielding inside cryostat which is an essential operational feature.

A compact, versatile device for VUV beam characterization is presented. It combines the functionalities of a VUV spectrometer and a VUV beam profiler in one unit and is entirely supported by a standard DN200 CF flange. The spectrometer employs a silicon nitride transmission nanograting in combination with a micro-channel plate based imaging detector. This enables the simultaneous recording of wavelengths ranging from 10 nm to 80 nm with a resolution of 0.25 nm to 0.13 nm. Spatial beam profiles with diameters up to 10 mm are imaged with 0.1 mm resolution. The setup is equipped with an in-vacuum translation stage that allows for in situ switching between the spectrometer and beam profiler modes and for moving the setup out of the beam. The simple, robust design of the device is well suited for non-intrusive routine characterization of emerging laboratory- and accelerator-based VUV light sources. Operation of the device is demonstrated by characterizing the output of a femtosecond high-order harmonic generation light source.

This paper presents a summary of design and testing of material and composites for use in radioactive material packages. These materials provide thermal protection and provide structural integrity and energy absorption to the package during normal and hypothetical accident condition events as required by Title 10 Part 71 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Testing of packages comprising these materials is summarized.

Water (H{sub 2}O) and nitrogen (N{sub 2}) are major detonation products of high explosives and it has long been conjectured that they may phase segregate at high enough temperatures and pressures to influence detonation properties of common explosives. We analyze the phase diagram of H{sub 2}O-N{sub 2} mixtures using a thermodynamic theory for polar-nonpolar mixtures and find that phase segregation is unlikely to occur above approximately 1600K. Therefore, H{sub 2}O-N{sub 2} immiscibility is not likely to be relevant for detonation predictions. We propose instead that the high pressure ionic dissociation of water plays an important role in detonation, and model it using a new ionic thermodynamics. We employ this model in chemical equilibrium calculations of standard high explosives, e.g. PETN, HMX and RDX, and find that it performs very well under a wide range of conditions. Thus, although it may require further development, it is likely that explicitly ionic thermodynamics will become a standard tool for explosives modeling.

This paper presents a summary of the design and testing of the containment vessel closure for the Bulk Tritium Shipping Package (BTSP). This package is a replacement for a package that has been used to ship tritium in a variety of content configurations and forms since the early 1970s. The containment vessel closure incorporates features specifically designed for the containment of tritium when subjected to the normal and hypothetical conditions required of Type B radioactive material shipping Packages. The paper discusses functional performance of the containment vessel closure of the BTSP prototype packages and separate testing that evaluated the performance of the metallic C-Rings used in a mock BTSP closure.

Over 40 industrial facilities world-wide use standardized uranium hexafluoride (UF{sub 6}) cylinders for transport, storage and in-process receiving in support of uranium conversion, enrichment and fuel fabrication processes. UF{sub 6} is processed and stored in the cylinders, with over 50,000 tU of UF{sub 6} transported each year in these International Organization for Standardization (ISO) qualified containers. Although each cylinder is manufactured to an ISO standard that calls for a nameplate with the manufacturer's identification number (ID) and the owner's serial number engraved on it, these can be quite small and difficult to read. Recognizing that each facility seems to use a different ID, a cylinder can have several different numbers recorded on it by means of metal plates, sticky labels, paint or even marker pen as it travels among facilities around the world. The idea of monitoring movements of UF{sub 6} cylinders throughout the global uranium fuel cycle has become a significant issue among industrial and safeguarding stakeholders. Global monitoring would provide the locations, movements, and uses of cylinders in commercial nuclear transport around the world, improving the efficiency of industrial operations while increasing the assurance that growing nuclear commerce does not result in the loss or misuse of cylinders. …

The age and composition of special nuclear material (SNM) offers a great deal of forensic information; e.g., likely producer or country of origin. Nuclear materials (nuclides) decay at different rates, often in a chain fashion; therefore, the composition of the nuclides changes over time. Trace nuclides in special nuclear material often carry more information regarding age and original composition, but trace nuclides can be easily lost in 'approximations.' Current decay calculation technology is based on a matrix Taylor approximation that is imprecise in nature and time-consuming to compute. Better computational technology for decay calculation and age estimation is needed. This project offers better Nuclear Forensics technology solutions for these needs.

Ultra intense short pulse laser pulses incident on solid targets can generate energetic protons. In additions to their potentially important applications such as in cancer treatments and proton fast ignition, these protons are essential to understand the complex physics of intense laser plasma interaction. To better understand these laser-produced protons, we designed and constructed a novel, spatially imaging proton spectrometer that will not only provide at high-resolution the energy distribution, but also the protons angular characteristics. The information obtained from this spectrometer compliments those from other methods using radiochromic film packs, CR39 films and other protons spectrometers. The basic characterizations and example data from this diagnostics 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-AC52-07NA27344, as part of the Cimarron project funded by LDRD-09SI11.

We investigate the spin transport and interfacial magnetism of magnetic tunnel junctions with highly spin polarized LSMO and Fe3O4 electrodes and a ferrimagnetic NiFe2O4 (NFO) barrier layer. The spin dependent transport can be understood in terms of magnon-assisted spin dependent tunneling where the magnons are excited in the barrier layer itself. The NFO/Fe3O4 interface displays strong magnetic coupling, while the LSMO/NFO interface exhibits clear decoupling as determined by a combination of X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism. This decoupling allows for distinct parallel and antiparallel electrode states in this all-magnetic trilayer. The spin transport of these devices, dominated by the NFO barrier layer magnetism, leads to a symmetric bias dependence of the junction magnetoresistance at all temperatures.

The comprehensive realization of the exciting advantages of new third- and forth-generation synchrotron radiation light sources requires concomitant development of reflecting and diffractive x-ray optics capable of micro- and nano-focusing, brightness preservation, and super high resolution. The fabrication, tuning, and alignment of the optics are impossible without adequate metrology instrumentation, methods, and techniques. While the accuracy of ex situ optical metrology at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) has reached a state-of-the-art level, wavefront control on beamlines is often limited by environmental and systematic alignment factors, and inadequate in situ feedback. At ALS beamline 5.3.1, we are developing broadly applicable, high-accuracy, in situ, at-wavelength wavefront measurement techniques to surpass 100-nrad slope measurement accuracy for Kirkpatrick-Baez (KB) mirrors. The at-wavelength methodology we are developing relies on a series of tests with increasing accuracy and sensitivity. Geometric Hartmann tests, performed with a scanning illuminated sub-aperture determine the wavefront slope across the full mirror aperture. Shearing interferometry techniques use coherent illumination and provide higher sensitivity wavefront measurements. Combining these techniques with high precision optical metrology and experimental methods will enable us to provide in situ setting and alignment of bendable x-ray optics to realize diffraction-limited, sub 50 nm focusing at beamlines. We describe here …

Network connectivity has become nearly ubiquitous, and the energy use of the equipment required for this connectivity is growing. Network equipment consists of devices that primarily switch and route Internet Protocol (IP) packets from a source to a destination, and this category specifically excludes edge devices like PCs, servers and other sources and sinks of IP traffic. This paper presents the results of a study of network equipment energy use and includes case studies of networks in a campus, a medium commercial building, and a typical home. The total energy use of network equipment is the product of the stock of equipment in use, the power of each device, and their usage patterns. This information was gathered from market research reports, broadband market penetration studies, field metering, and interviews with network administrators and service providers. We estimate that network equipment in the USA used 18 TWh, or about 1percent of building electricity, in 2008 and that consumption is expected to grow at roughly 6percent per year to 23 TWh in 2012; world usage in 2008 was 51 TWh. This study shows that office building network switches and residential equipment are the two largest categories of energy use consuming 40percent and …

This study delineates the evolution of magnetic order in epitaxial films of the room-temperature multiferroic BiFeO3 system. Using angle- and temperature-dependent dichroic measurements and spectromicroscopy, we have observed that the antiferromagnetic order in the model multiferroic BiFeO3 evolves systematically as a function of thickness and strain. Lattice-mismatch-induced strain is found to break the easy-plane magnetic symmetry of the bulk and leads to an easy axis of magnetization which can be controlled through strain. Understanding the evolution of magnetic structure and how to manipulate the magnetism in this model multiferroic has significant implications for utilization of such magnetoelectric materials in future applications.

Synchrotron-based X-ray photoemission electron microscopy (X-PEEM) was used to study the adsorption of human serum albumin (HSA) to polystyrene-polylactide (40:60 PS-PLA, 0.7 wt percent) thin films, annealed under various conditions. The rugosity of the substrate varied from 35 to 90 nm, depending on the annealing conditions. However, the characteristics of the protein adsorption (amounts and phase preference) were not affected by the changes in topography. The adsorption was also not changed by the phase inversion which occured when the PS-PLA substrate was annealed above Tg of the PLA. The amount of protein adsorbed depended on whether adsorption took place from distilled water or phosphate buffered saline solution. These differences are interpreted as a result of ionic strength induced changes in the protein conformation in solution.

The two colliding beam experiments at the Tevatron proton-antiproton collider, CDF and D0, continue to publish world-leading measurements of CP Violation parameters in the B meson sector. I will present several recent results from both experiments, including measurements of direct CP violating parameters in decays of B{sup +}{sub u}, B{sup 0}{sub d} and B{sup 0}{sub s} mesons; a new D0 measurement of a{sup s}{sub sl} using time-dependent analysis of B{sub s} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{nu}D{sup -}{sub s}X decays; and the latest Tevatron combination of the CP violating phase {beta}{sub s}, measured in the 'golden mode' B{sub s} {yields} J/{psi}{phi}.

The dynamics of electronically excited helium nanodroplets are studied by femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron imaging. EUV excitation into a broad absorption band centered around 23.8 eV leads to an indirect photoemission process that generates ultraslow photoelectrons. A 1.58 eV probe pulse transiently depletes the indirect photoemission signal for pump-probe time delays <200 fs and enhances the signal beyond this delay. The depletion is due to suppression of the indirect ionization process by the probe photon, which generates a broad, isotropically emitted photoelectron band. Similar time scales in the decay of the high energy photoelectron signal and the enhancement of the indirect photoemission signal suggest an internal relaxation process that populates states in the range of a lower energy droplet absorption band located just below the droplet ionization potential (IP {approx} 23.0 eV). A nearly 70% enhancement of the ultraslow photoelectron signal indicates that interband relaxation plays a more dominant role for the droplet de-excitation mechanism than photoemission.

Nuclear research reactors are the least safeguarded type of reactor; in some cases this may be attributed to low risk and in most cases it is due to difficulty from dynamic operation. Research reactors vary greatly in size, fuel type, enrichment, power and burnup providing a significant challenge to any standardized safeguard system. If a whole fuel assembly was interdicted, based on geometry and other traditional forensics work, one could identify the material's origin fairly accurately. If the material has been dispersed or reprocessed, in-depth reactor physics models may be used to help with the identification. Should there be a need to attribute research reactor fuel material, the Savannah River National Laboratory would perform radiochemical analysis of samples of the material as well as other non-destructive measurements. In depth reactor physics modeling would then be performed to compare to these measured results in an attempt to associate the measured results with various reactor parameters. Several reactor physics codes are being used and considered for this purpose, including: MONTEBURNS/ORIGEN/MCNP5, CINDER/MCNPX and WIMS. In attempt to identify reactor characteristics, such as time since shutdown, burnup, or power, various isotopes are used. Complexities arise when the inherent assumptions embedded in different reactor physics …

We study the stability of various kinds of graphene samples under soft x-ray irradiation. Our results show that in single-layer exfoliated graphene (a closer analog to two-dimensional material), the in-plane carbon-carbon bonds are unstable under x-ray irradiation, resulting in nanocrystalline structures. As the interaction along the third dimension increases by increasing the number of graphene layers or through the interaction with the substrate (epitaxial graphene), the effect of x-ray irradiation decreases and eventually becomes negligible for graphite and epitaxial graphene. Our results demonstrate the importance of the interaction along the third dimension in stabilizing the long range in-plane carbon-carbon bonding, and suggest the possibility of using x-ray to pattern graphene nanostructures in exfoliated graphene.

Scintillator materials are used to detect, and in some cases identify, gamma rays. Higher performance scintillators are expensive, hard to manufacture, fragile, and sometimes require liquid nitrogen or cooling engines. But whereas lower-quality scintillators are cheap, easy to manufacture, and more rugged, their performance is lower. At issue: can the desirable qualities of high-and low-performance scintillators be combined to achieve better performance at lower cost? Preliminary experiments show that a LaF{sub 3}:Ce oleic acid-based nanocomposite exhibits a photopeak when exposed to {sup 137}Cs source gamma-radiation. The chemical synthesis of the cerium-doped lanthanum halide nanoparticles are scalable and large quantities of material can be produced at a time, unlike typical crystal growth processes such as the Bridgeman process. Using a polymer composite (Figure 1), produced by LANL, initial measurements of the unloaded and 8% LaF{sub 3}:Ce-loaded sample have been made using {sup 137}Cs sources. Figure 2 shows an energy spectrum acquired for CeF{sub 3}. The lighter plot is the measured polymer-only spectrum and the black plot is the spectrum from the nanocomposite scintillator. As the development of this material continues, the energy resolution is expected to improve and the photopeak-to-Compton ratio will become greater at higher loadings. These measurements show the …

This paper discusses how to optimize pre-cooling strategies for buildings in a hot California climate zone with the Demand Response Quick Assessment Tool (DRQAT), a building energy simulation tool. This paper outlines the procedure used to develop and calibrate DRQAT simulation models, and applies this procedure to eleven field test buildings. The results of a comparison between the measured demand savings during the peak period and the savings predicted by the simulation model indicate that the predicted demand shed match well with measured data for the corresponding auto-demand response (Auto-DR) days. The study shows that the accuracy of the simulation models is greatly improved after calibrating the initial models with measured data. These improved models can be used to predict load reductions for automated demand response events. The simulation results were compared with field test data to confirm the actual effect of demand response strategies. Results indicate that the optimal demand response strategies worked well for most of the buildings tested in this hot climate zone.

Current state-of-the-art and next generation laser systems - such as those used in the NIF and LIFE experiments at LLNL - depend on ever larger optical elements. The need for wide aperture optics that are tolerant of high power has placed many demands on material growers for such diverse materials as crystalline sapphire, quartz, and laser host materials. For such materials, it is either prohibitively expensive or even physically impossible to fabricate monolithic pieces with the required size. In these cases, it is preferable to optically bond two or more elements together with a technique such as Chemically Activated Direct Bonding (CADB{copyright}). CADB is an epoxy-free bonding method that produces bulk-strength bonded samples with negligible optical loss and excellent environmental robustness. The authors have demonstrated CADB for a variety of different laser glasses and crystals. For this project, they will bond quartz samples together to determine the suitability of the resulting assemblies for large aperture high power laser optics. The assemblies will be evaluated in terms of their transmitted wavefront error, and other optical properties.

Plutonium(VI) sorption on the surface of well-characterized synthetic manganese-substituted goethite minerals (Fe1-xMnxOOH) was studied using X-ray absorption spectroscopy. We chose to study the influence of manganese as a minor component in goethite, because goethite rarely exists as a pure phase in nature. Manganese X-ray absorption near-edge structure measurements indicated that essentially all the Mn in the goethite existed as Mn(III), even though Mn was added during mineral synthesis as Mn(II). Importantly, energy dispersive X-ray analysis demonstrated that Mn did not exist as discrete phases and that it was homogeneously mixed into the goethite to within the limit of detection of the method. Furthermore, Mössbauer spectra demonstrated that all Fe existed as Fe(III), with no Fe(II) present. Plutonium(VI) sorption experiments were conducted open to air and no attempt was made to exclude carbonate. The use of X-ray absorption spectroscopy allows us to directly and unambiguously measure the oxidation state of plutonium in situ at the mineral surface. Plutonium X-ray absorption near-edge structure measurements carried out on these samples showed that Pu(VI) was reduced to Pu(IV) upon contact with the mineral. This reduction appears to be strongly correlated with mineral solution pH, coinciding with pH transitions across the point of zero charge …

Marine microbes include representatives from all three kingdoms of life and collectively carry out virtually all forms of metabolisms found on the planet. Because of this metabolic and genetic diversity, these microbes mediate many of the reactions making up global biogeochemical cycles which govern the flow of energy and material in the biosphere. The goal of this conference is to bring together approaches and concepts from studies of microbial evolution, genomics, ecology, and oceanography in order to gain new insights into marine microbes and their biogeochemical functions. The integration of scales, from genes to global cycles, will result in a better understanding of marine microbes and of their contribution to the carbon cycle and other biogeochemical processes.

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