We have fabricated 15.4%- and 12.4%-efficient CuIn1-XGaXSe2 (CIGS)-based photovoltaic devices from solution-based electrodeposition (ED) and electroless-deposition (EL) precursors. As-deposited precursors are Cu-rich CIGS. Additional In, Ga, and Se are added to the ED and EL precursor films by physical vapor deposition (PVD) to adjust the final film composition to CuIn1-XGaXSe2. The ED and EL device parameters are compared with those of a recent world record, an 18.8%-efficient PVD device. The tools used for comparison are current voltage, capacitance voltage, and spectral response characteristics.

This final progress report includes brief comments on the organization of the conference, the conference program, and a list of attendees.

It is likely that aging is affecting the radiation hardness of stockpile electronics, and we have seen apparent examples of aging that affects the electronic radiation hardness. It is also possible that low-level intrinsic radiation that is inherent during stockpile life will damage or in a sense age electronic components. Both aging and low level radiation effects on radiation hardness and stockpile reliability need to be further investigated by using both test and modeling strategies that include appropriate testing of electronic components withdrawn from the stockpile.

Partitioning and transmutation strategies are under study in several countries as a means of reducing the long-term hazards of spent fuel and other high-level nuclear waste. Various reactor and accelerator-driven system concepts have been proposed to transmute the long-lived radioactive nuclei of waste into stable or short-lived species. Among these concepts, the accelerator-driven transmutation of waste (ATW) system has been proposed by LANL for rapid destruction of transuranic actinides and long-lived fission products ({sup 99}Tc and {sup 129}I).The current reference ATW concept employs a subcritical, liquid metal cooled, fast-spectrum nuclear subsystem. Because the discharged fuel is recycled, analysis of ATW nuclear performance requires modeling of the external cycle as well as the in-core fuel management. The fuel cycle analysis of ATW can be performed rigorously using Monte Carlo calculations coupled with detailed depletion calculations. However, the inefficiency of this approach makes it impractical, particularly in view of (a) the large number of fuel cycle calculations needed for design optimization and (b) the need to represent complex in-core and out-of-core fuel cycle operations. To meet the need for design-oriented capabilities, tools previously developed for fast reactor calculations are being adapted for application to ATW. Here we describe the extension and application …

Scattered light at three-halves of the incident laser frequency from solid targets is observed at five different angles. When the incident laser intensity is low enough, rescattering of two plasmon decay (TPD) instability electron plasma waves by ion acoustic waves is not significant. In this regime, Thomson scattering measurements of the electron temperature and the plasma flow velocity allow quantitative comparison of the angular dependence of the spectrum to theory.

A method for analyzing strong shock waves in arbitrary one-dimensional geometry is presented. An approximation to classical Taylor-Sedov theory is extended to the near-field case where source mass is not negligible, accounting for differences in the chemical properties of the source mass and ambient medium. Results from example calculations are compared with previously published analytical formulae.

Atom-by-atom and concerted hopping of ad-dimers on the open (100) surface of fcc metals are studied by means of density-functional calculations. The adatom interaction is relatively short-ranged, and beyond next-nearest neighbors ad-dimers are effectively dissociated. Diffusion takes place by a simple shearing process, favored because it maximizes adatom coordination at the transition state This holds for Al, Au, and Rh, and is likely a general result because geometrical arguments dominate over details of the electronic structure.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is developing a core DNA sequencing facility to support biological research endeavors at ORNL and to conduct basic sequencing automation research. This facility is novel because its development is based on existing standard biology laboratory equipment; thus, the development process is of interest to the many small laboratories trying to use automation to control costs and increase throughput. Before automation, biology Laboratory personnel purified DNA, completed cycle sequencing, and prepared 96-well sample plates with commercially available hardware designed specifically for each step in the process. Following purification and thermal cycling, an automated sequencing machine was used for the sequencing. A technician handled all movement of the 96-well sample plates between machines. To automate the process, ORNL is adding a CRS Robotics A- 465 arm, ABI 377 sequencing machine, automated centrifuge, automated refrigerator, and possibly an automated SpeedVac. The entire system will be integrated with one central controller that will direct each machine and the robot. The goal of this system is to completely automate the sequencing procedure from bacterial cell samples through ready-to-be-sequenced DNA and ultimately to completed sequence. The system will be flexible and will accommodate different chemistries than existing automated sequencing lines. The …

A high-brightness photo-injector has been developed at Fermilab in collaboration with the TTF project at DESY. Two systems have been commissioned, one at DESY and one at Fermilab. The injector [1] consists of a 1.625-cell cavity RF gun, a superconducting niobium cavity (both 1.3 GHz), and a magnetic chicane. The gun is designed for an electric field of up to 50 MV/m on the cathode. Emittance compensation solenoids surround the gun to correct the linear space charge emittance growth. A high quantum efficiency Cs{sub 2}Te photocathode located in the first half-cell produces electrons when illuminated by 263 nm wavelength light (fourth harmonic of the Nd:YLF laser). The laser [2] was designed to produce a train of up to 800 equal amplitude, 10 {micro}J UV pulses spaced by 1 {micro}s at 1 Hz repetition rate. The laser pulse length is adjustable between 1 and 20 ps FWHM. The superconducting cavity is a 9-cell Nb structure fabricated by industry for TTF. It was tested with RF at DESY before being sent to Fermilab. At present, the cavity is operated at {approx}11 MeV/m. Beam measurements with the injector at Fermilab are in progress. Preliminary results for emittance and bunch length will be discussed …

Agreements between the governments of the US and the Russian Federation for the US purchase of low enriched uranium (LEU) derived from highly enriched uranium (HEU) from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons calls for the establishment of transparency measures to provide confidence that nuclear nonproliferation goals are being met. To meet these transparency goals, the agreements call for the installation of nonintrusive US instruments to monitor the down blending of HEU to LEU. The Blend Down Monitoring System (BDMS) has been jointly developed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to continuously monitor {sup 235}U enrichments and mass flow rates at Russian blending facilities. Prior to its installation in Russian facilities, the BDMS was installed and operated in a UF{sub 6} flow loop in the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant simulating flow and enrichment conditions expected in a typical down-blending facility. A Russian delegation to the US witnessed the equipment demonstration in June, 1998. To conduct the demonstration in the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP), the BDMS was required to meet stringent Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing, safety and operational requirements. The Paducah demonstration was an important milestone in achieving the operational certification for the BDMS …

This paper documents the development of a dedicated information barrier system for warhead and sensitive item verification. The system the authors describe includes software and hardware information barriers used in conjunction with suitable procedures (or protocols) to achieve a high quality verification while minimizing intrusiveness and preventing transfer of sensitive data to inspectors. The system they describe has been referred to as CIVET--Controlled Intrusiveness Verification Technology and has been implemented to verify warheads and warhead components during various exercises and demonstrations under the auspices of the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Defense (DOD).

The major problem with cavitation in pumps and hydraulic systems is that there is no effective (conventional) method for detecting or predicting its inception. The traditional method of recognizing cavitation in a pump is to declare the event occurring when the total head drops by some arbitrary value (typically 3%) in response to a pressure reduction at the pump inlet. However, the device is already seriously cavitating when this happens. What is actually needed is a practical method to detect impending rather than incipient cavitation. Whereas the detection of incipient cavitation requires the detection of features just after cavitation starts, the anticipation of cavitation requires the detection and identification of precursor features just before it begins. Two recent advances that make this detection possible. The first is acoustic sensors with a bandwidth of 1 MHz and a dynamic range of 80 dB that preserve the fine details of the features when subjected to coarse vibrations. The second is the application of Bayesian parameter estimation which makes it possible to separate weak signals, such as those present in cavitation precursors, from strong signals, such as pump vibration. Bayesian parameter estimation derives a model based on cavitation hydrodynamics and produces a figure …

The conventional approach to treating charged defects in extended systems in first principles calculations is via the supercell approximation using a neutralizing jellium background charge. I explicitly demonstrate shortcomings of this standard approach and discuss the consequences. Errors in the electrostatic potential surface over the volume of a supercell are shown to be comparable to a band gap energy in semiconductor materials, for cell sizes typically used in first principles simulations. I present an alternate method for eliminating the divergence of the Coulomb potential in supercell calculations of charged defects in extended systems that embodies a correct treatment of the electrostatic potential in the local viciniq of the a charged defect, via a mixed boundary condition approach. I present results of first principles calculations of charged vacancies in NaCl that illustrate the importance of polarization effects once an accurate representation of the local potential is obtained. These polarization effects, poorly captured in small supercells, also impact the energetic on the scale of typical band gap energies.

The authors compute the low lying spectrum of the overlap Dirac operator in the deconfined phase of finite-temperature quenched gauge theory. It suggests the existence of a chiral condensate which they confirm with a direct stochastic estimate. They show that the part of the spectrum responsible for the chiral condensate can be understood as arising from a dilute gas of instantons and anti-instantons.

The Blend Down Monitoring System (BDMS) equipment sent earlier to the Ural Electrochemical Integrated Plant (UEIP) at Novouralsk, Russia, was installed and implemented successfully on February 2, 1999. The BDMS installation supports the highly enriched uranium (HEU) Transparency Implementation Program for material subject to monitoring under the HEU purchase agreement between the United States of America (USA) and the Russian Federation (RF). The BDMS consists of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Fissile (uranium-235) Mass Flow Monitor (FMFM) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Enrichment Monitor (EM). Two BDMS�s for monitoring the Main and Reserve HEU blending process lines were installed at UEIP. Independent operation of the FMFM Main and FMFM Reserve was successfully demonstrated for monitoring the fissile mass flow as well as the traceability of HEU to the product low enriched uranium. The FMFM systems failed when both systems were activated during the calibration phase due to a synchronization problem between the systems. This operational failure was caused by the presence of strong electromagnetic interference (EMI) in the blend point. The source-modulator shutter motion of the two FMFM systems was not being properly synchronized because of EMI producing a spurious signal on the synchronization cable connecting the …

Composites that consist of a dielectric host containing a particulate conductor as a second phase are of interest for electrical switching applications. Such composites are "smart" materials that can function as either voltage or current limiters, and the difference in fimction depends largely upon whether the dielectric is filled to below or above the percolation threshold. It also is possible to combine current and voltage limiting in a single composite to make a "super-smart" material.

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Coulomb driven, magneto-optically induced electron and hole bound states from a series of heavily doped GaAs/Al_0.3Ga_0.7As single heterojunctions (SHJ) are revealed in high magnetic fields. At low magnetic fields ({nu} >2), the photohuninescence spectra display Shubnikov de-Haas type oscillations associated with the empty second subband transition. In the regime of the Landau filling factor {nu} <1 and 1< {nu} <2, we found strong bound states due to Mott type Vocalizations. Since a SHJ has an open valence band structure, these bound states area unique property of the dynamic movement of the valence holes in strong magnetic fields.

This paper presents a summary of results from the Single-Heater Test (SHT) at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. In the SHT, a horizontal, 5-m-long, line-heat source was used to heat a rock pillar for nine months. Moisture movement was monitored during and after heating using electrical-resistance tomography (ERT) and neutron-logging techniques. Results indicate drying in regions of the rock where temperature reached 60°C and above. The drying zone is asymmetric and is not centered on the heater, but has lobes extending above and to the sides of the heater. Predicted temperatures agreed well with observations. A cold- trap effect was predicted, in the heater borehole, that efficiently transfers heat along the heater borehole to the excavation wall. A simple thermomechanical analysis of the SHT shows that shear zones predicted for vertical fractures coincide with regions of increased moisture content derived from ERT measurements.

Magnesium-aluminate spinel (MAS) and yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) are being considered for use as ceramic matrices in proliferation resistant fuels and radioactive storage systems, and may be used either as individual entities or as constituents in multicomponent ceramic systems. It is worthwhile, therefore, to compare radiation damage in these two potentially important materials when subjected to similar irradiation conditions, e.g., ion beam irradiation. To compare radiation damage properties of these two materials, single crystals of spinel and zirconia were irradiated with 340 keV Xe{sup ++} ions at 120 K, and subsequently investigated by Rutherford backscattering and ion channeling (RBS/C), and optical absorption spectroscopy. Results indicate that damage accumulation in both spinel and zirconia follow a three stage process: (1) very slow damage accumulation over a wide range of dose; (2) rapid changes in damage over a range of doses from about 0.25 to 25 displacements per atom (DPA); (3) slower damage accumulation at very high doses and possibly saturation. Optical absorption results indicate that F-centers form in Xe ion-irradiated spinel and that the concentration of these centers saturates at high dose. Absorption bands are also formed in both spinel and zirconia that are due to point defect complexes formed upon irradiation. …

In this paper, we examine the post-yield true stress vs true strain behavior of irradiated pressure vessel steels and iron-based alloys to reveal differences in strain-hardening behavior associated with different irradiating particles (neutrons and electrons) and different alloy chernky. It is important to understand the effects on mechanical properties caused by displacement producing radiation of nuclear reactor pressure steels. Critical embrittling effects, e.g. increases in the ductile-to-brittle-transition-temperature, are associated with irradiation-induced increases in yield strength. In addition, fatigue-life and loading-rate effects on fracture can be related to the post-irradiation strain-hardening behavior of the steels. All of these properties affect the expected service life of nuclear reactor pressure vessels. We address the characteristics of two general strengthening effects that we believe are relevant to the differing defect cluster characters produced by neutrons and electrons in four different alloys: two pressure vessel steels, A212B and A350, and two binary alloys, Fe-0.28 wt%Cu and Fe-0.74 wt%Ni. Our results show that there are differences in the post-irradiation mechanical behavior for the two kinds of irradiation and that the differences are related both to differences in damage produced and alloy chemistry. We find that while electron and neutron irradiations (at T {le} 60 C) of …

The mechanical design for both the insulating vacuum system and the cavity vacuum system of the APT ED and D Cryomodule is summarized. The pre-cooldown pressure limits for the insulating vacuum and the cavity vacuum are 10{sup {minus}5} Torr and 10{sup {minus}6} Torr, respectively. In addition, the cold cavity operating pressure limits are 10{sup {minus}6} Torr for the insulating system and 10{sup {minus}8} Torr for the cavity system. The designs of these systems utilize both turbomolecular pumps and the cold surfaces of the superconducting Nb cavities to arrive at and maintain their operating vacuum pressures. A synopsis of the analysis undertaken to predict the vacuum system performance is also presented.

A Nanoindenter^TM equipped with a Vickers indenter was used to measure fracture toughness of Multilayer Capacitors (MLCs) and BaTiO₃ blanks. Strength of blanks of 6.3 x 4.7 x 1.1 mm³ was measured by performing three-point flexure using a 4 mm support span. The size of the strength limiting pores in the flexure tests was compared to pore sizes measured on polished MLC cross sections, and it was found that much larger pores were present in the 3-point flexure specimens. Strength distributions for the MLCs were generated using the measured fracture toughness values, assuming the measured pores or second phase inclusions were strength limiting.

The NIF Power Conditioning System (PCS) is required to deliver -68 kJ to each of the 3840 flashlamp pairs in the NIF laser in a current pulse with a peak of -500 kA and rise time of- 150 &micro;s. The PCS will consist of 192 modules each of which drive 20 lamp-pairs. Each module will basically be a 6 rnF capacitor bank with a nominal charge voltage of 23.5 kV which is switched by a single pressurized air gas switch to 20 RG-220 cables that are connected to individual lamp loads. In addition each module will have a number of subsystems including; a lamp pre-ionization system, power supplies, isolation circuits, trigger systems, safety dump systems, gas system, and an embedded control system. A module will also include components whose primary function is to limit fault currents and thus minimize collateral damage in faults. In the Prototype Development and Testing effort at Sandia National Laboratories all of these were integrated into a single system and proper fimctionality was demonstrated. Extensive testing was done at nominal operating levels into resistive dummy loads and some testing in fault modes was also done. A description of the system and a summary of testing is …