Condensed Matter Physics Commons^™

Methods For High Resistivity Measurements Related To Spacecraft Charging, Jr Dennison, Jerilyn Brunson, Prasanna Swaminathan, Nelson Green, A Robb Frederickson

Journal Articles

A key parameter in modeling differential spacecraft charging is the resistivity of insulating materials. This parameter determines how charge will accumulate and redistribute across the spacecraft, as well as the time scale for charge transport and dissipation. ASTM constant voltage methods are shown to provide inaccurate resistivity measurements for materials with resistivities greater than ~10¹⁷ Ω-cm or with long polarization decay times such as are found in many polymers. These data have been shown to often be inappropriate for spacecraft charging applications, and have been found to underestimate charging effects by one to four orders of magnitude for many …

Pulsed System For Optical Discharge Of Thin-Film Insulators, Jared Otterstrom, Ryan C. Hoffman, Jr Dennison

Senior Theses and Projects

Much research is being performed in order to characterize the charging of spacecraft materials. The importance and applications of this research is numerous and especially useful to the development of satellites¹. The USU Materials Physics group is currently performing research in this field related to electron emission for spacecraft materials¹. This includes testing sample material in an ultra high vacuum chamber. A problem encountered in this testing is that negative charge can build up on the sample material and modify the electron emission measurements². To remedy this problem, my senior project was to develop, …

Extended Beg Model Of Halogenated Methanes Physisorbed On Ionic Crystals, T. E. Burns, Jr Dennison, Jason Kite

Journal Articles

The 2D dielectric phases and phase transitions of adsorbed dipolar molecules are modeled using a dilute spin-one Ising model. This model is studied in the Blume-Emery-Griffiths formalism, using a mean-field approximation, where the interaction parameters are related to system interaction energies using a unique averaging procedure. The model is applied to four halogenated methane species physisorbed on MgO(100) and NaCl(100) surfaces using previous experimental and theoretical studies to estimate the interaction energy parameters. We find that temperature- and coverage-dependent antiferroelectric to ferroelectric, coverage-dependant ferroelectric up to ferroelectric down, reentrant ferroelectric to ferroelectric, and order-disorder dipole phase transitions can occur. Phase …

Measurement Of Conductivity And Charge Storage In Insulators Related To Spacecraft Charging, A Robb Frederickson, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

Improved experimental methods are discussed for laboratory measurement of conductivity and electric field in insulating spacecraft material intended for space radiation and plasma environments. These measurement techniques investigate the following features: 1) Measurements of conductivity are up to four orders of magnitude smaller than those determined by existing standard methods. 2) Conductivity is altered as radiation accumulates and trapping states fill with electrons. 3) With intense keV electron irradiation, electrons are continually emitted for hours from the irradiated surface after the irradiation ceases. 4) Charging induced by electron irradiation is strongly modified by the electron-hole pairs that the irradiation generates …

Measurement Of Conductivity And Charge Storage In Insulators Related To Spacecraft Charging, A. R. Frederickson, Jr Dennison

Conference Proceedings

Several methods have been combined to measure conductivity and charge storage in insulating spacecraft materials. In order to avoid insulator problems, the motions of conducting electrons and holes must prevent the development of large electric fields exceeding 1E5 V/cm, where problems occur in spacecraft insulators. Approximate knowledge of the electric fields is important. One must consider generation of mobile electrons and holes, their trapping, thermal de-trapping, mobility and recombination.

Classical methods to measure thin film insulator conductivity apply a constant voltage to two electrodes on the sample and measure the resulting current for tens of minutes. Under constant voltage, a …

Measurements Of Electronic Properties Of Conducting Spacecraft Materials With Application To The Modeling Of Spacecraft Charging, W. Y. Chang, Jr Dennison, Parker Judd

Conference Proceedings

Many spacecraft system anomalies and component failures are known to result from spacecraft charging which is due to the bombardments of spacecraft by energetic electrons, ions, and photons in natural space surrounding [Hastings and Garrett, 1996; Bedingfield et al., 1996; Leach et al., 1995]. To assist spacecraft designers in accommodating and mitigating the harmful charging effects on spacecraft, NASA has developed an extensive set of engineering tools to predict the extent of charging in various spacecraft environments (for example, NASCAP/LEO, NASCAP/GEO, and POLAR) [Mandell et al., 1993]. However, current NASCAP databases lack electronic properties …

Inception Of Snapover And Gas Induced Glow Discharges, J. T. Galofaro, B V. Vayner, D C. Ferguson, C D. Thomson, Jr Dennison, R E. Davies

Conference Proceedings

Ground based experiments of the snapover phenomenon were conducted in the large vertical simulation chamber at the Glenn Research Center (GRC) Plasma Interaction Facility (PIF). Two Penning sources provided both argon and xenon plasmas for the experiments. The sources were used to simulate a variety of ionospheric densities pertaining to a spacecraft in a Low Earth Orbital (LEO) environment^1–4. Secondary electron emission is believed responsible for dielectric surface charging, and all subsequent snapover phenomena observed^2,5. Voltage sweeps of conductor potentials versus collected current were recorded in order to examine the specific charging history of each sample. …

Inception Of Snapover And Gas Induced Glow Discharges, J. T. Galofaro, B V. Vayner, W A. Degroot, D C. Ferguson, C D. Thomson, Jr Dennison, R E. Davies

Conference Proceedings

Ground based experiments of the snapover phenomenon were conducted in the large vertical simulation chamber at the Glenn Research Center (GRC) Plasma Interaction Facility (PIF). Two Penning sources provided both argon and xenon plasmas for the experiments. The sources were used to simulate a variety of ionospheric densities pertaining to a spacecraft in a Low Earth Orbital (LEO) environment^1-4. Secondary electron emission is believed responsible for dielectric surface charging, and all subsequent snapover phenomena observed^2,5. Voltage sweeps of conductor potentials versus collected current were recorded in order to examine the specific charging history of each sample. …

Evolution Of Secondary Electron Emission Characteristics Of Spacecraft Surfaces: Importance To Spacecraft Charging, R. E. Davies, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

Secondary electron emission (SEE) plays a key role in spacecraft charging [Garrett, 1981; Frooninckx and Sojka, 1992] . As a result, spacecraft charging codes require knowledge of the SEE characteristics of various materials in order to predict vehicle potentials in various orbital environments [Katz, et. al., 1986]. Because SEE is a surface phenomenon, occurring in the first few atomic layers of a material, the SEE characteristics of a given surface are extremely sensitive to changes in surface condition—e.g., the addition or removal of surface contaminants, or changes in surface morphology. That spacecraft surfaces …

Low Energy Electron Gun Power Control Unit, Chad Fish, Jr Dennison

Senior Theses and Projects

Near-Earth orbiting spacecraft are subject to a variety of physical environmental elements. Of these, natural space plasma and solar radiation produce spacecraft charging. Spacecraft charging consists of surface (external) and deep (internal) dielectric charging.

Natural space plasma is composed of electrons and positively charged atoms called ions. The plasma is generated by energy from solar radiation and high energy particles emitted by geomagnetic storms. The electrons produce a negative current and the ions produce a positive current. Positive photoelectron currents produced by solar radiation of spacecraft surfaces also add to the electrical fluxesⁱ.

As spacecraft move through the …

Physisorbed Co On Ionic Crystals: An Extended Beg Spin-Lattice Model Of Adsorbed Dipolar Molecules, T. E. Burns, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

The 2D dielectric phases and phase transitions of adsorbed dipolar molecules are studied using a dilute spin-one Ising model. The spin-one formulation assigns a spin S_i = ±1 to a (up/down) dipole occupying a lattice site i adsorbed perpendicular to the substrate surface and Si = 0 to unoccupied sites. We relate the mean field expression for the spin-model interaction energy to a more detailed microscopic model involving dipolar, quadrupolar and dispersive interactions beyond nearest neighbor. Analytic solutions in the mean field approximation are discussed for dipole-orientation order-disorder transitions and ferroelectric-to-antiferroelectric transitions as a function of temperature and …

Raman Spectroscopy Of Carbon Materials, Jr Dennison, Mark Holtz, Greg Swain

Journal Articles

Use of carbon materials is no longer limited to diamond jewelry or graphite pencils and lubricants. The last decade has witnessed an explosion of technological applications driven by the development of fabrication methods and the discovery of several new classes of pure carbon. Structural diversity exhibited by the carbon atoms, from local chemical order to long-range crystalline order, is key to understanding their physical and chemical properties and in future materials development. This article summarizes the use of Raman spectroscopy as a principal tool to investigate the vibrational dynamics of carbon materials and to provide indirect structural characterization of their …

Application Of (E,2e) Spectroscopy To The Electronic Structure Of Valence Electrons In Crystalline And Amorphous Solids, Jr Dennison, A. L. Ritter

Journal Articles

This review presents theoretical and experimental aspects of (e,2e) spectroscopy specific to the study of crystalline and amorphous solids. The cross section for (e,2e) scattering is proportional to the spectral momentum density of the ejected electron under certain approximations. The theoretical framework for interpreting (e,2e) measurements is summarized here and general properties of the spectral momentum density of solids are discussed. Different designs of the (e,2e) spectrometer are described and sample preparation techniques are briefly reviewed. A summary of recent (e,2e) experiments on the electronic structure of valence electrons in graphite, ion sputtered and evaporated amorphous carbon, and aluminum-aluminum oxide …

Ultrahigh Vacuum Chamber For Synchrotron X-Ray Diffraction From Films Adsorbed On Single-Crystal Surfaces, Jr Dennison, S. K. Wang, S. N. Ehrlich

Journal Articles

An ultrahigh vacuum chamber has been developed for structural analysis of adsorbed films and single-crystal surfaces using synchrotron x-ray diffraction. It is particularly well suited for investigations of physisorbed and other weakly bound films. The chamber is small enough to transport and mount directly on a standard four-axis diffractometer and can also be used independently of the x-ray diffractometer. A low-current, pulse-counting, low-energy electron diffraction/Auger spectroscopy system with a position-sensitive detector enables in situ characterization of the film and substrate while the sample is located at the x-ray scattering position. A closed-cycle He refrigerator and electron bombardment heater provide controlled …

Fresnel And Fraunhofer Diffraction: Development Of An Advanced Laboratory Experiment, Jeff Adams

Senior Theses and Projects

The purpose of this lab is to help the student become more familiar with, or get a better feel for what is actually occurring, when observing the effects of double slit diffraction patterns. In most sophomore labs dealing with double slit diffraction, the student simply determines the diffraction angle, and slit spacing, from marking the positions of the maxima on the screen. No attempt is made to measure the relative intensity of the interference pattern, and see how the experimental data compare with the theory of interference and diffraction. In an attempt to further clarify this phenomena, we will attempt …

Spectral Momentum Density From Graphite From (E,2e) Spectroscopy: Comparison With First Principles Calculations, Chao Gao, A. L. Ritter, Jr Dennison, N. A. W. Holzwarth

Journal Articles

We have measured the spectral momentum density p(E,q) of graphite by (e,2e) spectroscopy for momentum parallel and perpendicular to the crystal c axis. In the independent-electron approximation, p(E,q) = Σ_G |U_k(G)|² δ(q-k-G)δ(E-E(k)) where the one-electron wave function is Ψ_k(r) = e^ik•rΣ_GU_k(G)e^iG•r and G is a reciprocal-lattice vector. The measurements covered a range of momentum parallel to the c axis equal to 0 ≤ |q| ≤ 1.84Å^-1 and a …