Award Data

Many present and future particle accelerators are limited by the maximum electric gradient and peak surface fields that can be realized in RF cavities. Despite considerable effort, a comprehensive theory of RF breakdown has not been achieved and mitigation techniques to improve practical maximum accelerating gradients have had only limited success. Part of the problem is that RF breakdown in an ...

Neutrino Factories and Muon Colliders require the rapid acceleration of short-lived muons to multi-GeV and TeV energies. A Recirculating Linear Accelerator (RLA) that uses International Linear Collider (ILC) RF structures can provide the exceptionally fast acceleration needed to enable each muon to pass several times through each high-gradient cavity. However, the technical feasibility, ultimate ...

Muon beams used in high energy physics research must be cooled as quickly as the short muon lifetime requires. This cooling is accomplished by ionization cooling, which requires low-Z energy absorbers immersed in a strong magnetic field and high-gradient, large-aperture RF cavities. However, RF cavities that operate in vacuum are vulnerable to dark-current-generated breakdown, which is exacerbat ...

Liquid fuels derived from coal can be made from a synthesis gas by the Fischer Tropsch catalytic process, which uses metal catalysts supported on inert alumina or silica particles. These catalysts are subject to physical breakdown, which shortens their useful lives, fouls the chemical process, and necessitates frequent catalyst replacement. The time and capital required for replacing broken-down ...

The Exascale Computing Project is tasked to develop the next generation of high performance computing systems capable of computing at 50 to 100 times faster than current HPC systems. Computing at this extreme-scale will significantly enhance the value of materials modeling and simulation to basic materials research and engineering In particular, computing at the extreme scale will enable a higher ...

Recent advances in computing systems fundamentally changed the way we run our everyday lives; our healthcare, finances, scientific discoveries, and entertainment activities all heavily depend on computing infrastructures, and we are likely to increasingly depend on them in the future. However, typical high-performance-computing systems and datacenters already consume megawatts of power, and future ...

Computer-aided Engineering software that apply the Finite Element Method to perform a multi-physics analysis have received widespread acceptance for traditional macro-scale material systems. Challenges persist in the modeling of complex coupled processes in environmental/thermal barrier coatings (E/TBCs) used to protect substrate material against the corrosive environment in the hot section parts ...

Plasma facing components (PFCs) in future fusion power plants will be subjected to a concentrated flux of plasma particles resulting in very high surface erosion and heat loads. The material most suitable to withstand these extreme loading conditions is tungsten (W) due to its excellent thermal stability and having the highest melting point of the metals. The drawback of tungsten is its brittlenes ...

As installations of solar photovoltaics continue to soar, addressing the integration challenges that arise from high penetrations of solar will be paramount to achieving the SunShot Initiative 2030 goals of $0.03/kWh to $0.05/kWh levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). Specific challenges related to system ramping and over-generation tend to degrade the value of PV, and solutions are needed to addre ...