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The National Ignition Facility (NIF) has been completed and has made its first shots on-target. While upcoming experiments will be focused on achieving ignition, a variety of subsequent experiments are planned for the facility, including measurement of cross sections, astrophysical measurements, and investigation of hydrodynamic instability in the target capsule. In order to successfully execute several of these planned experiments, the ability to collect solid debris following a NIF capsule shot will be required. The ability to collect and analyze solid debris generated in a shot at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) will greatly expand the number of nuclear reactions studied for diagnostic purposes. Currently, reactions are limited to only those producing noble gases for cryogenic collection and counting with the Radchem Apparatus for Gas Sampling (RAGS). The radchem solid collection diagnostic has already been identified by NIF to be valuable for the determination and understanding of mix generated in the target capsule's ablation. LLNL is currently developing this solid debris collection capability at NIF, and is in the stage of testing credible designs. Some of these designs explore the use of x-ray generated aerosols to assist in collection of solid debris. However, the variety of harsh experimental conditions this …

Mathematical tools are needed to screen out sites where Joule-Thomson cooling is a prohibitive factor for CO{sub 2} geo-sequestration and to design approaches to mitigate the effect. In this paper, a simple analytical solution is developed by invoking steady-state flow and constant thermophysical properties. The analytical solution allows fast evaluation of spatiotemporal temperature fields, resulting from constant-rate CO{sub 2} injection. The applicability of the analytical solution is demonstrated by comparison with non-isothermal simulation results from the reservoir simulator TOUGH2. Analysis confirms that for an injection rate of 3 kg s{sup -1} (0.1 MT yr{sup -1}) into moderately warm (>40 C) and permeable formations (>10{sup -14} m{sup 2} (10 mD)), JTC is unlikely to be a problem for initial reservoir pressures as low as 2 MPa (290 psi).

Delineation of the mechanisms that establish and maintain the polarity of epithelial tissues is essential to understanding morphogenesis, tissue specificity and cancer. Three-dimensional culture assays provide a useful platform for dissecting these processes but, as discussed in a recent study in BMC Biology on the culture of mammary gland epithelial cells, multiple parameters that influence the model must be taken into account.

We compare force fields (FF's) that have been used in molecular dynamic (MD) simulations of silica in order to assess their applicability for use in simulating IR-laser damage mitigation. Although pairwise FF?s obtained by fitting quantum mechanical calculations such as the BKS and CHIK potentials have been shown to reproduce many of the properties of silica including the stability of silica polymorphs and the densification of the liquid, we show that melting temperatures and fictive temperatures are much too high. Softer empirical force fields give liquid and glass properties at experimental temperatures but may not predict all properties important to laser mitigation experiments.

The United States Forest Service-Savannah River (USFS) routinely performs prescribed fires at the Savannah River Site (SRS), a Department of Energy (DOE) facility located in southwest South Carolina. This facility covers {approx}800 square kilometers and is mainly wooded except for scattered industrial areas containing facilities used in managing nuclear materials for national defense and waste processing. Prescribed fires of forest undergrowth are necessary to reduce the risk of inadvertent wild fires which have the potential to destroy large areas and threaten nuclear facility operations. This paper discusses meteorological observations and numerical model simulations from a period in early 2002 of an incident involving an early-morning multicar accident caused by poor visibility along a major roadway on the northern border of the SRS. At the time of the accident, it was not clear if the limited visibility was due solely to fog or whether smoke from a prescribed burn conducted the previous day just to the northwest of the crash site had contributed to the visibility. Through use of available meteorological information and detailed modeling, it was determined that the primary reason for the low visibility on this night was fog induced by meteorological conditions.

Historically, the groundwater monitoring activities at the Department of Energy's Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State have been very "people intensive." Approximately 1500 wells are sampled each year by field personnel or "samplers." These individuals have been issued pre-printed forms showing information about the well(s) for a particular sampling evolution. This information is taken from 2 official electronic databases: the Hanford Well information System (HWIS) and the Hanford Environmental Information System (HEIS). The samplers used these hardcopy forms to document the groundwater samples and well water-levels. After recording the entries in the field, the samplers turned the forms in at the end of the day and other personnel posted the collected information onto a spreadsheet that was then printed and included in a log book. The log book was then used to make manual entries of the new information into the software application(s) for the HEIS and HWIS databases. A pilot project for automating this extremely tedious process was lauched in 2008. Initially, the automation was focused on water-level measurements. Now, the effort is being extended to automate the meta-data associated with collecting groundwater samples. The project allowed electronic forms produced in the field by samplers to be used in …

Designing a measurement system that might be used in a nuclear facility is a challenging, if not daunting, proposition. The situation is made more complicated when the system needs to be designed to satisfy the disparate requirements of a monitoring and a host party - a relationship that could prove to be adversarial. The cooperative design of the elements of the AVNG (Attribute Verification with Neutrons and Gamma Rays) system served as a crucible that exercised the possible pitfalls in the design and implementation of a measurement system that could be used in a host party nuclear facility that satisfied the constraints of operation for both the host and monitoring parties. Some of the issues that needed to be addressed in the joint design were certification requirements of the host party and the authentication requirements of the monitoring party. In this paper the nature of the problem of cooperative design will be introduced. The details of cooperative design revolve around the idiosyncratic nature of the adversarial relationship between the parties involved in a possible measurement regime, particularly if measurements on items that may contain sensitive information are being pursued. The possibility of an adversarial interaction is more likely if an …

Borohydrides such as LiBH{sub 4} have been studied as candidates for hydrogen storage because of their high hydrogen contents (18.4 wt% for LiBH{sub 4}). Limited success has been made in reducing the dehydrogenation temperature by adding reactants such as metals, metal oxides and metal halides. However, full rehydrogenation has not been realized because of multi-step decomposition processes and the stable intermediate species produced. It is suggested that adding second cation in LiBH{sub 4} may reduce the binding energy of B-H. The second cation may also provide the pathway for full rehydrogenation. In this work, several bimetallic borohydrides were synthesized using wet chemistry, high pressure reactive ball milling and sintering processes. The investigation found that the thermodynamic stability was reduced, but the full rehydrogenation is still a challenge. Although our experiments show the partial reversibility of the bimetallic borohydrides, it was not sustainable during dehydriding-rehydriding cycles because of the accumulation of hydrogen inert species.

The reaction of Cp'2CeH (Cp' = 1,2,4-(Me3C)3C5H2 ) with MeOSiMe3 gives Cp'2CeOMe and HSiMe3 and the reaction of the metallacycle, Cp'[(Me3C)2C5H2C(Me) 2CH2]Ce, with MeOSiMe3 yields Cp'2CeOCH2SiMe3, formed from hypothetical Cp'2CeCH2OSiMe3 by a [1, 2] shift also known as a silyl-Wittig rearrangement. Although both cerium products are alkoxides, they are formed by different pathways. DFT calculations on the reaction of the model metallocene, Cp2CeH, and MeOSiMe3 show that the lowest energy pathway is a H for OMe exchange at Ce that occurs by way of a sigma-bond metathesis transition state as SiMe3 exchanges partners. The formation of Cp2CeOCH2SiMe3 occurs by way of a low activation barrier [1, 2]shift of the SiMe3 group in Cp2CeCH2OSiMe3. Calculations on a model metallacycle, Cp[C5H4C(Me)2CH2]Ce, show that the metallacycle favors CH bond activation over sigma-bond metathesis involving the transfer of the SiMe3 group in good agreement with experiment. The sigma-bond metathesis involving the transfer of SiMe3 and the [1, 2]shift of SiMe3 reactions have in common a pentacoordinate silicon at the transition states. A molecular orbital analysis illustrates the connection between these two Si-O bond cleavage reactions and traces the reason why they occur for a silyl but not for an alkyl group to the difference …

High-level nuclear waste produced from fuel reprocessing operations at the Savannah River Site (SRS) requires pretreatment to remove {sup 134,137}Cs, {sup 90}Sr, and alpha-emitting radionuclides (i.e., actinides) prior to disposal onsite as low level waste. An inorganic sorbent, monosodium titanate (MST), is currently used to remove {sup 90}Sr and alpha-emitting radionuclides, while a caustic-side solvent extraction process is used for removing {sup 134,137}Cs. A new peroxotitanate material, modified MST, or mMST, has recently been developed and has shown increased removal kinetics and capacity for {sup 90}Sr and alpha-emitting radionuclides compared to the current baseline material, MST. This paper describes recent results focused on further characterization of this material.

Integrated performance simulation of buildings and heating, ventilation and airconditioning (HVAC) systems can help reducing energy consumption and increasing occupant comfort. However, no single building performance simulation (BPS) tool offers suffcient capabilities and flexibilities to analyze integrated building systems and to enable rapid prototyping of innovative building and system technologies. One way to alleviate this problem is to use co-simulation to integrate different BPS tools. Co-simulation approach represents a particular case of simulation scenario where at least two simulators solve coupled differential-algebraic systems of equations and exchange data that couples these equations during the time integration. This article analyzes how co-simulation influences consistency, stability and accuracy of the numerical approximation to the solution. Consistency and zero-stability are studied for a general class of the problem, while a detailed consistency and absolute stability analysis is given for a simple two-body problem. Since the accuracy of the numerical approximation to the solution is reduced in co-simulation, the article concludes by discussing ways for how to improve accuracy.

Integrated performance simulation of buildings HVAC systems can help in reducing energy consumption and increasing occupant comfort. However, no single building performance simulation (BPS) tool offers sufficient capabilities and flexibilities to analyze integrated building systems and to enable rapid prototyping of innovative building and system technologies. One way to alleviate this problem is to use co-simulation, as an integrated approach to simulation. This article elaborates on issues important for co-simulation realization and discusses multiple possibilities to justify the particular approach implemented in the here described co-simulation prototype. The prototype is validated with the results obtained from the traditional simulation approach. It is further used in a proof-of-concept case study to demonstrate the applicability of the method and to highlight its benefits. Stability and accuracy of different coupling strategies are analyzed to give a guideline for the required coupling time step.

The advantage of using mid-infrared (IR) 4.6 {micro}m lasers, versus far-infrared 10.6 {micro}m lasers, for mitigating damage growth on fused silica is investigated. In contrast to fused silica's high absorption at 10.6 {micro}m, silica absorption at 4.6 {micro}m is two orders of magnitude less. The much reduced absorption at 4.6 {micro}m enables deep heat penetration into fused silica when it is heated using the mid-IR laser, which in turn leads to more effective mitigation of damage sites with deep cracks. The advantage of using mid-IR versus far-IR laser for damage growth mitigation under non-evaporative condition is quantified by defining a figure of merit (FOM) that relates the crack healing depth to laser power required. Based on our FOM, we show that for damage cracks up to at least 500 {micro}m in depth, mitigation using a 4.6 {micro}m mid-IR laser is more efficient than mitigation using a 10.6 {micro}m far-IR laser.

Knowing the ultimate surface morphology resulting from CO{sub 2} laser mitigation of induced laser damage is important both for determining adequate treatment protocols, and for preventing deleterious intensification upon subsequent illumination of downstream optics. Physical effects such as evaporation, viscous flow and densification can strongly affect the final morphology of the treated site. Evaporation is a strong function of temperature and will play a leading role in determining pit shapes when the evaporation rate is large, both because of material loss and redeposition. Viscous motion of the hot molten material during heating and cooling can redistribute material due to surface tension gradients (Marangoni effect) and vapor recoil pressure effects. Less well known, perhaps, is that silica can densify as a result of structural relaxation, to a degree depending on the local thermal history. The specific volume shrinkage due to structural relaxation can be mistaken for material loss due to evaporation. Unlike evaporation, however, local density change can be reversed by post annealing. All of these effects must be taken into account to adequately describe the final morphology and optical properties of single and multiple-pass mitigation protocols. We have investigated, experimentally and theoretically, the significance of such densification on residual stress …

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A low-budget surface slope measuring instrument, the Developmental Long Trace Profiler (DLTP), was recently brought into operation at the Advanced Light Source Optical Metrology Laboratory [Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 616, 212-223 (2010)]. The instrument is based on a precisely calibrated autocollimator and a movable pentaprism. The capability of the DLTP to achieve sub-microradian surface slope metrology has been verified via cross-comparison measurements with other high-performance slope measuring instruments when measuring the same high-quality test optics. In the present work, a further improvement of the DLTP is achieved by replacing the existing bulk pentaprism with a specially designed mirror based pentaprism. A mirror based pentaprism offers the possibility to eliminate systematic errors introduced by inhomogeneity of the optical material and fabrication imperfections of a bulk pentaprism. We provide the details of the mirror based pentaprism design and describe an original experimental procedure for precision mutual alignment of the mirrors. The algorithm of the alignment procedure and its efficiency are verified with rigorous ray tracing simulations. Results of measurements of a spherically curved test mirror and a flat test mirror using the original bulk pentaprism are compared with measurements using the new mirror based pentaprism, demonstrating the improved performance.

In magnetic thin films, a magnetic vortex is a state in which the magnetization vector curls around the center of a confined structure. A vortex state in a thin film disk, for example, is a topological object characterized by the vortex polarity and the winding number. In ferromagnetic (FM) disks, these parameters govern many fundamental properties of the vortex such as its gyroscopic rotation, polarity reversal, core motion, and vortex pair excitation. However, in antiferromagnetic (AFM) disks, though there has been indirect evidence of the vortex state through observations of the induced FM-ordered spins in the AFM disk, they have never been observed directly in experiment. By fabricating single crystalline NiO/Fe/Ag(001) and CoO/Fe/Ag(001) disks and using X-ray Magnetic Linear Dichroism (XMLD), we show direct observation of the vortex state in an AFM disk of AFM/FM bilayer system. We observe that there are two types of AFM vortices, one of which has no analog in FM structures. Finally, we show that a frozen AFM vortex can bias a FM vortex at low temperature.

Free Electron Lasers (FELs) operating in the UV or x-ray radiation spectrum require peak beam currents that are generally higher than those obtainable by present electron sources, thus making bunch compression necessary. Compression, however, may heighten the effects of collective forces and degrade the beam quality. In this paper they provide a framework for investigating some of these effects in rf compressors by focusing on the longitudinal dynamics of small-amplitude density perturbations, which have the potential to cause the disruptive appearance of the so-called microbunching instability. They develop a linear theory valid for low-to-moderate compression factors under the assumption of a 1D impedance model of longitudinal space charge and provide validation against macroparticle simulations.

Laser driven plasma accelerators promise much shorter particle accelerators but their development requires detailed simulations that challenge or exceed current capabilities. We report the first direct simulations of stages up to 1 TeV from simulations using a Lorentz boosted calculation frame resulting in a million times speedup, thanks to a frame boost as high as gamma = 1300. Effects of the hyperbolic rotation in Minkowski space resulting from the frame boost on the laser propagation in the plasma is shown to be key in the mitigation of a numerical instability that was limiting previous attempts.

Unprecedented radiation hardness and environment robustness are required in the new generation of high energy density physics (HEDP) experiments and deep space exploration. National Ignition Facility (NIF) break-even shots will have a neutron yield of 1015 or higher. The Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM) mission instruments will be irradiated with a total fluence of 1012 protons/cm2 during the space journey. In addition, large temperature variations and mechanical shocks are expected in these applications under extreme conditions. Hefty radiation and thermal shields are required for Si and GaAs based electronics and optoelectronics devices. However, for direct illumination and imaging applications, shielding is not a viable option. It is an urgent task to search for new semiconductor technologies and to develop radiation hard and environmentally robust optoelectronic devices. We will report on our latest systematic experimental studies on radiation hardness and space qualifications of AlGaN optoelectronic devices: Deep UV Light Emitting Diodes (DUV LEDs) and solarblind UV Photodiodes (PDs). For custom designed AlGaN DUV LEDs with a central emission wavelength of 255 nm, we have demonstrated its extreme radiation hardness up to 2x1012 protons/cm2 with 63.9 MeV proton beams. We have demonstrated an operation lifetime of over 26,000 hours in a nitrogen …

In extreme ultraviolet lithography exposure systems, mask substrate roughness induced scatter contributes to LER at the image plane. In this paper, the impact of mask substrate roughness on image plane speckle is explicitly evaluated. A programmed roughness mask was used to study the correlation between mask roughness metrics and wafer plane aerial image inspection. We find that the roughness measurements by top surface topography profile do not provide complete information on the scatter related speckle that leads to LER at the image plane. We suggest at wavelength characterization by imaging and/or scatter measurements into different frequencies as an alternative for a more comprehensive metrology of the mask substrate/multilayer roughness effects.

Numerical simulation of some systems containing charged particles with highly relativistic directed motion can by speeded up by orders of magnitude by choice of the proper Lorentz-boosted frame. Orders of magnitude speedup has been demonstrated for simulations from first principles of laser-plasma accelerator, free electron laser, and particle beams interacting with electron clouds. Here we address the application of the Lorentz-boosted frame approach to coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR), which can be strongly present in bunch compressor chicanes. CSR is particularly relevant to the next generation of x-ray light sources and is simultaneously difficult to simulate in the lab frame because of the large ratio of scale lengths. It can increase both the incoherent and coherent longitudinal energy spread, effects that often lead to an increase in transverse emittance. We have adapted the WARP code to simulate CSR emission along a simple dipole bend. We present some scaling arguments for the possible computational speed up factor in the boosted frame and initial 3D simulation results.

A new method of mitigating (arresting) the growth of large (>200 m diameter and depth) laser induced surface damage on fused silica has been developed that successfully addresses several issues encountered with our previously-reported large site mitigation technique. As in the previous work, a tightly-focused 10.6 {micro}m CO{sub 2} laser spot is scanned over the damage site by galvanometer steering mirrors. In contrast to the previous work, the laser is pulsed instead of CW, with the pulse length and repetition frequency chosen to allow substantial cooling between pulses. This cooling has the important effect of reducing the heat-affected zone capable of supporting thermo-capillary flow from scale lengths on the order of the overall scan pattern to scale lengths on the order of the focused laser spot, thus preventing the formation of a raised rim around the final mitigation site and its consequent down-stream intensification. Other advantages of the new method include lower residual stresses, and improved damage threshold associated with reduced amounts of redeposited material. The raster patterns can be designed to produce specific shapes of the mitigation pit including cones and pyramids. Details of the new technique and its comparison with the previous technique will be presented.