A femtosecond plasma imaging modality based on a new development of ultrafast electron microscope is introduced. We investigated the laser-induced formation of high-temperature electron microplasmas and their subsequent non-equilibrium evolution. Based on a straightforward field imaging principle, we directly retrieve detailed information about the plasma dynamics, including plasma wave structures, particle densities, and temperatures. We discover that directly subjected to a strong magnetic field, the photo-generated microplasmas manifest in novel transient cyclotron echoes and form new wave states across a broad range of field strengths and different laser fluences. Intriguingly, the transient cyclotron waves morph into a higher frequency upper-hybrid wave mode with the dephasing of local cyclotron dynamics. The quantitative real-space characterizations of the non-equilibrium plasma systems demonstrate the feasibilities of a new microscope system in studying the plasma dynamics or transient electric fields with high spatiotemporal resolutions.
Fiber Bragg gratings are known being immune to electromagnetic interference and emerging as Lamb wave sensors for structural health monitoring of plate-like structures. However, their application for damage localization in large areas has been limited by their direction-dependent sensor factor. This article addresses such a challenge and presents a robust damage localization method for fiber Bragg grating Lamb wave sensing through the implementation of adaptive phased array algorithms. A compact linear fiber Bragg grating phased array is configured by uniformly distributing the fiber Bragg grating sensors along a straight line and axially in parallel to each other. The Lamb wave imaging is then performed by phased array algorithms without weighting factors (conventional delay-and-sum) and with adaptive weighting factors (minimum variance). The properties of both imaging algorithms, as well as the effects of fiber Bragg grating’s direction-dependent sensor factor, are characterized, analyzed, and compared in details. The results show that this compact fiber Bragg grating array can precisely locate damage in plates, while the comparisons show that the minimum variance method has a better imaging resolution than that of the delay-and-sum method and is barely affected by fiber Bragg grating’s direction-dependent sensor factor. Laboratory tests are also performed with a four–fiber Bragg grating array to detect simulated defects at different directions. Both delay-and-sum and minimum variance methods can successfully locate defects at different positions, and their results are consistent with analytical predictions.
This is an Accepted Manuscript for the Microscopy and Microanalysis 2020 Proceedings. This version may be subject to change during the production process.
Initial cracks in metallic structures incline to be closed at rest. Such incipient damage generally fails to be detected and located with traditional linear ultrasonic techniques because ultrasonic waves penetrate the contact area of the closed crack. In this paper, an imaging algorithm based on nonlinear ultrasonic time reversal method is proposed to detect closed cracks in aluminum plates. Two surface-bonded piezoelectric transducer arrays are used to generate, receive, and reemit ultrasonic wave signals. The closed crack is simulated by tightening a bolt on the aluminum plate. By applying large amplitude excitation voltage on the PZT transducers, the closed crack could be opened and closed. The transmitted waves recorded by PZT array contain nonlinear components, the signals are time reversed and emitted back, and the tone burst reconstructions are achieved. The linear reciprocity and the time reversibility break down due to the presence of the nonlinear components. The correlation coefficient between the original excitation signal and the reconstructed signal is calculated to define the damage index for individual sensing path and is used to develop an imaging algorithm to locate the closed crack on the plate. The experimental results demonstrate that incident wave signals and their reconstructed signals can be used to accurately detect and locate closed cracks.
Interim storage of spent nuclear fuel from reactor sites has gained additional importance and urgency for resolving waste-management-related technical issues. In total, there are over 1482 dry cask storage system (DCSS) in use at US plants, storing 57,807 fuel assemblies. Nondestructive material condition monitoring is in urgent need and must be integrated into the fuel cycle to quantify the "state of health", and more importantly, to guarantee the safe operation of radioactive waste storage systems (RWSS) during their extended usage period. A state-of-the-art nuclear structural health monitoring (N-SHM) system based on in-situ sensing technologies that monitor material degradation and aging for nuclear spent fuel DCSS and similar structures is being developed. The N-SHM technology uses permanently installed low-profile piezoelectric wafer sensors to perform long-term health monitoring by strategically using a combined impedance (EMIS), acoustic emission (AE), and guided ultrasonic wave (GUW) approach, called "multimode sensing", which is conducted by the same network of installed sensors activated in a variety of ways. The system will detect AE events resulting from crack (case for study in this project) and evaluate the damage evolution; when significant AE is detected, the sensor network will switch to the GUW mode to perform damage localization, and quantification as well as probe "hot spots" that are prone to damage for material degradation evaluation using EMIS approach. The N-SHM is expected to eventually provide a systematic methodology for assessing and monitoring nuclear waste storage systems without incurring human radiation exposure.
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