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Advanced magnet systems for fusion would greatly benefit from the use of high-temperature superconductors (HTS). Quench detection in HTS magnets is challenging due to the low quench propagation speed in these materials. Advanced quench detection methods need to be developed to allow safe operation of HTS magnets. This proposal seeks to develop smart terminations with integrated Hall probe arrays f ...

Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) offers to tap almost unlimited sources of inexpensive energy. This new energy source would free the U.S. from the dependence on hydrocarbon fuels, the use of which produces green-house gases (GHG). The proposed laser driver would greatly advance the ICF maturity and its transition to commercial IFE for generation of electricity by circumventing the engineering cha ...

Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) are attractive due to their lack of exhaust (they produce only heat and water), and the possibility of reducing our dependence on hydrocarbon fuels. One impediment to widespread adoption of hydrogen FCEV has been high production costs, driven in part by the need to over- engineer the carbon-fiber-overwrap-pressure vessels (COPV) which carry the compresse ...

The problem/situation that is being addressed concerns the development of ultrafast coatings that will meet the specifications of the DoE solicitation: “broad-bandwidth, laser damage threshold of 0.5 J/cm2 (1 ps), engineered using a process that is scalable to large areas.” Development of interference coatings (ICs) with superior laser damage is strongly motivated by the needs to scale near in ...

Ultra-high power, ultrashort pulse lasers systems are the central tool driving many of the recent advances in high energy density plasma science. They enable the generation of high energy density relativistic plasmas, bright x-ray and gamma–ray bursts, energetics particle beams and neutrons, and drive applications such as shadowgraphy of inertial confinement fusion targets and fast ignition. How ...

Plastics are indispensable materials for modern life and the global economy, but current practices in the generation, use, and disposal of commodity plastics are largely unsustainable, causing severe worldwide plastics pollution and enormous energy and materials value loss in the economy. In particular, plastics are a material of choice in packaging applications, but they are currently designed fo ...

This project seeks to develop a new disruptive power electronics technology for solar power inverters that is manufacturable in the USA, provides a path to significant reductions in specific cost, leverages recent technological advances in silicon carbide (SiC) power MOSFETs, and develops a new proprietary inverter approach that realizes these goals. The new technology will provide compact string ...

Modern particle accelerator facilities generate large amounts of data and face increasing demands on their operational performance. These datasets can be difficult to visualize and may contain complex relationships that are challenging to understand. Additionally, as the demand on accelerator operations increases so does the need for automated tuning algorithms and control to maximize uptime with ...

A lack of localized, current, and accurate information on temperature, water vapor, and liquid water from the lowest level of the atmosphere, i.e. the atmospheric boundary layer, is one of the most pressing problems of current meteorology and atmospheric science. This omission limits our understanding of the initiation of cloud droplets, ice crystals, and precipitation. More data on water vapor, t ...

There is a need for long duration energy storage at wind farms and solar photovoltaic facilities. Non- aqueous redox flow batteries would be superior to aqueous flow batteries because they can avoid the problems caused by the breakdown of water at high voltage. However, vanadium non-aqueous flow batteries require a selective membrane that allows BF4- (5.5 Angstroms) to cross back and forth, while ...