A domain-specific analysis system for examining nuclear reactor simulation data for light-water and sodium-cooled fast reactors

Building a new generation of fission reactors in the United States presents many technical and regulatory challenges. One important challenge is the need to share and present results from new high-fidelity, high-performance simulations in an easily usable way. Since modern multiscale, multi-physics simulations can generate petabytes of data, they will require the development of new techniques and methods to reduce the data to familiar quantities of interest (e.g., pin powers, temperatures) with a more reasonable resolution and size. Furthermore, some of the results from these simulations may be new quantities for which visualization and analysis techniques are not immediately available in the community and need to be developed. This paper describes a new system for managing high-performance simulation results in a domain-specific way that naturally exposes quantities of interest for light water and sodium-cooled fast reactors. It describes requirements to build such a system and the technical challenges faced in its development at all levels (simulation, user interface, etc.). An example comparing results from two different simulation suites for a single assembly in a light-water reactor is presented, along with a detailed discussion of the system's requirements and design.Comment: Article on NiCE's Reactor Analyzer. 23 pages. Keywords: modeling, simulation, analysis, visualization, input-outpu

Optical spin pumping of modulation doped electrons probed by a two-color Kerr rotation technique

We report on optical spin pumping of modulation electrons in CdTe-based quantum wells with low intrinsic electron density (by 10^10 cm^{-2}). Under continuous wave excitation, we reach a steady state accumulated spin density of about 10^8 cm^{-2}. Using a two-color Hanle-MOKE technique, we find a spin relaxation time of 34 ns for the localized electrons in the nearly unperturbed electron gas. Independent variation of the pump and probe energies demonstrates the presence of additional non-localized electrons in the quantum well, whose spin relaxation time is substantially shorter

Isotropic, Nematic and Smectic A Phase Behaviour in a Fictitious Field

Phase behaviours of liquid crystals under external fields, conjugate to the nematic order and smectic order, are studied within the framework of mean field approximation developed by McMillan. It is found that phase diagrams, of temperature vs interaction parameter of smectic A order, show several topologically different types caused by the external fields. The influences of the field conjugate to the smectic A phase, which is fictitious field, are precisely discussed.Comment: To be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. vol.73 No.

Zero- and one-dimensional magnetic traps for quasi-particles

We investigate the possibility of trapping quasi-particles possessing spin degree of freedom in hybrid structures. The hybrid system we are considering here is composed of a semi-magnetic quantum well placed a few nanometers below a ferromagnetic micromagnet. We are interested in two different micromagnet shapes: cylindrical (micro-disk) and rectangular geometry. We show that in the case of a micro-disk, the spin object is localized in all three directions and therefore zero-dimensional states are created, and in the case of an elongated rectangular micromagnet, the quasi-particles can move freely in one direction, hence one-dimensional states are formed. After calculating profiles of the magnetic field produced by the micromagnets, we analyze in detail the possible light absorption spectrum for different micromagnet thicknesses, and different distances between the micromagnet and the semimagnetic quantum well. We find that the discrete spectrum of the localized states can be detected via spatially-resolved low temperature optical measurement.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure

Spin and orbital frustration in MnSc_2S_4 and FeSc_2S_4

Crystal structure, magnetic susceptibility, and specific heat were measured in the normal cubic spinel compounds MnSc_2S_4 and FeSc_2S_4. Down to the lowest temperatures, both compounds remain cubic and reveal strong magnetic frustration. Specifically the Fe compound is characterized by a Curie-Weiss temperature \Theta_{CW}= -45 K and does not show any indications of order down to 50 mK. In addition, the Jahn-Teller ion Fe^{2+} is orbitally frustrated. Hence, FeSc_2S_4 belongs to the rare class of spin-orbital liquids. MnSc_2S_4 is a spin liquid for temperatures T > T_N \approx 2 K.Comment: 4 pages, to be published in Physical Review Letter