Split-target neutronics and the MLNSC spallation target system

The Manuel Lujan, Jr., Neutron Scattering Center (MLNSC) at the Los Alamos National Laboratory is one of four operating Short-Pulse Spallation Sources worldwide. The MLNSC target system (composed of targets, moderators, and reflectors) was first installed in 1985. The target system employs a split tungsten spallation target with a void space in between (the flux-trap gap); this target system will be upgraded in 1998. The ability to efficiently split a spallation target allowed us to introduce the concept of flux-trap moderators and ultimately the notion of backscattering and upstream moderators. The upgraded MLNSC target system will employ both flux-trap and upstream/backscattering moderators to simultaneously service 16 neutron flight paths with high-intensity neutron beams for materials science research

Supporting technologies for a long-pulse spallation source

This is the final report of a two-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The project is directed toward the development of the technologies required for a long-pulse, spallation neutron source (LPSS). Traditionally, spallation neutron sources have used proton accelerators that provide intense, short ({le} 1{micro}s) pulses of high-energy protons to a spallation target. A LPSS uses a proton pulse with longer time duration ({approx} 1 ms) and offers the possibility of achieving very high spallation neutron fluxes at substantially lower cost. The performance of a LPSS is very dependent on the neutronic performance of the target-moderator system. A detailed study of this performance has been carried out using Monte Carlo simulations. It should be noted that a LPSS is optimally suited to a fully coupled moderator. Neutron production per proton from such a moderator is a factor of five to seven greater than that produce d by moderators used at short pulse sources. The results of these efforts have been published in a series of articles

Face learning via brief real-world social interactions includes changes in face-selective brain areas and hippocampus

Making new acquaintances requires learning to recognise previously unfamiliar faces. In the current study, we investigated this process by staging real-world social interactions between actors and the participants. Participants completed a face-matching behavioural task in which they matched photographs of the actors (whom they had yet to meet), or faces similar to the actors (henceforth called foils). Participants were then scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while viewing photographs of actors and foils. Immediately after exiting the scanner, participants met the actors for the first time and interacted with them for 10 min. On subsequent days, participants completed a second behavioural experiment and then a second fMRI scan. Prior to each session, actors again interacted with the participants for 10 min. Behavioural results showed that social interactions improved performance accuracy when matching actor photographs, but not foil photographs. The fMRI analysis revealed a difference in the neural response to actor photographs and foil photographs across all regions of interest (ROIs) only after social interactions had occurred. Our results demonstrate that short social interactions were sufficient to learn and discriminate previously unfamiliar individuals. Moreover, these learning effects were present in brain areas involved in face processing and memory

Accelerator-driven targets: understanding and analyzing the spallation process

Recent advances in accelerator technology have led to the practical realization of high-power beams. When coupled with high-power spallation target technology, these systems offer a more environmentally-friendly method of producing neutrons than reactors. We will focus our attention here on the application of spallation technology to the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT). 5 refs., 3 figs

Pair-Hopping Mechanism for Layered Superconductors

We propose a possible charge fluctuation effect expected in layered superconducting materials. In the multireference density functional theory, relevant fluctuation channels for the Josephson coupling between superconducting layers include the interlayer pair hopping derived from the Coulomb repulsion. When interlayer single-electron tunneling processes are irrelevant in the Kohn-Sham electronic band structure calculation, the two-body effective interactions stabilize a superconducting phase. This state is also regarded as a valence-bond solid in a bulk electronic state. The hidden order parameters coexist with the superconducting order parameter when the charging effect of a layer is comparable to the pair hopping. Relevant materials structures favorable for the pair-hopping mechanism are discussed.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figures, to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. (2009

Distorted magnetic orders and electronic structures of tetragonal FeSe from first-principles

We use the state-of-the-arts density-functional-theory method to study various magnetic orders and their effects on the electronic structures of the FeSe. Our calculated results show that, for the spins of the single Fe layer, the striped antiferromagnetic orders with distortion are more favorable in total energy than the checkerboard antiferromagnetic orders with tetragonal symmetry, which is consistent with known experimental data, and the inter-layer magnetic interaction is very weak. We investigate the electronic structures and magnetic property of the distorted phases. We also present our calculated spin coupling constants and discuss the reduction of the Fe magnetic moment by quantum many-body effects. These results are useful to understand the structural, magnetic, and electronic properties of FeSe, and may have some helpful implications to other FeAs-based materials