Possible options for efficient wide-band polychromatic measurements using chopper spectrometers at pulsed sources

Nakajima, Kenji; Kikuchi, Tatsuya*; Kawamura, Seiko; Kambara, Wataru*

EPJ Web of Conferences, 272, p.02012_1 - 02012_8, 2022/11

https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202227202012

We will present some of attempts on AMATEAS, a cold-neutron chopper spectrometer at a pulsed source, to increase time-windows at a single-measurement condition. One of ways is that, by allowing interveined trajectories on the time-of-flight diagram, the usable width selectable for is can be increased. Based on our experiences, the conditions of pulse repetition rate multiplication based polychromatic measurements on chopper spectrometers at pulsed sources will be discussed. Optimization of wide-band polychromatic measurements and a generalized formulated condition will be proposed. Application of our idea to existing spectrometers and to the criteria design of an optimized chopper spectrometer will be also discussed with suggesting further possibility to improve efficiency by modifying the pulse shaping chopper.

Experimental analysis on dynamics of liquid molecules adjacent to particles in nanofluids

Hashimoto, Shunsuke*; Nakajima, Kenji; Kikuchi, Tatsuya*; Kamazawa, Kazuya*; Shibata, Kaoru; Yamada, Takeshi*

Journal of Molecular Liquids, 342, p.117580_1 - 117580_8, 2021/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2021.117580

Quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) and pulsed-field-gradient nuclear magnetic resonance (PFGNMR) analyses of a nanofluid composed of silicon dioxide (SiO) nanoparticles and a base fluid of ethylene glycol aqueous solution were performed. The aim was to elucidate the mechanism increase in the thermal conductivity of the nanofluid above its theoretical value. The obtained experimental results indicate that SiO particles may decrease the self-diffusion coefficient of the liquid molecules in the ethylene glycol aqueous solution because of their highly restricted motion around these nanoparticles. At a constant temperature, the thermal conductivity increases as the self-diffusion coefficient of the liquid molecules decreases in the SiO nanofluids.

Mode distribution analysis for superionic melt of CuI by coherent quasielastic neutron scattering

Kawakita, Yukinobu; Kikuchi, Tatsuya*; Tahara, Shuta*; Nakamura, Mitsutaka; Inamura, Yasuhiro; Maruyama, Kenji*; Yamauchi, Yasuhiro*; Kawamura, Seiko; Nakajima, Kenji

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 33, p.011071_1 - 011071_6, 2021/03

BB2019-1144.pdf:0.7MB

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.33.011071

CuI is a well-known superionic conductor in a high temperature solid phase where the mobile cations migrate between interstitial sites in the f.c.c. sublattice formed by iodine ions. Even in the molten state, it shows several features suggesting collective or cooperative ionic motion. MD results show that Cu diffuses much faster than I. The Cu-Cu partial structure factor have a FSDP which indicates a medium-range ordering of Cu ions. Moreover the Cu-Cu partial pair distribution deeply penetrates into the nearest neighboring Cu-I shell. To reveal origin such anomalous behaviors of molten CuI, we performed quaiselastic neutron scattering (QENS) by the disk-chopper spectrometer AMATERAS at MLF, J-PARC. To interpret the total dynamic structure factor obtained from coherent QENS, the mode distribution analysis was applied. It is found that the motion of iodine is a kind of fluctuating within an almost local area while Cu ions diffuse much faster than iodine ions.

Sequence-dependent hydration water dynamics of dodecameric DNA

Nakagawa, Hiroshi; Yonetani, Yoshiteru*; Nakajima, Kenji; Kawamura, Seiko; Kikuchi, Tatsuya*; Inamura, Yasuhiro; Kataoka, Mikio*; Kono, Hidetoshi*

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 33, p.011101_1 - 011101_6, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.33.011101

Hydration water dynamics were measured by quasi-elastic neutron scattering with HnO/DO contrast for two DNA dodecamers, 5'CGCGCGCG'3 and 5'CGCGCGCG'3, which have been computationally shown to be structurally rigid and flexible, respectively. The dynamical transitions of the hydration water as well as DNA were observed for both sequences at approximately 240 K. Above the transition temperature, the mean square displacements of the hydration water for the rigid sequence were smaller than those for the flexible one. Furthermore, the relaxation time of the hydration water was longer in the rigid DNA than in the flexible DNA. We suggest that hydration water dynamics on the picosecond timescale are associated with sequence-dependent deformability of DNA.

Study on eutectic melting behavior of control rod materials in core disruptive accidents of sodium-cooled fast reactors, 1; Project overview and progress until 2018

Yamano, Hidemasa; Takai, Toshihide; Furukawa, Tomohiro; Kikuchi, Shin; Emura, Yuki; Kamiyama, Kenji; Fukuyama, Hiroyuki*; Higashi, Hideo*; Nishi, Tsuyoshi*; Ota, Hiromichi*; et al.

Proceedings of 2020 International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 2020) (Internet), 10 Pages, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.1115/ICONE2020-16102

One of the key issues in a core disruptive accident (CDA) evaluation in sodium-cooled fast reactors is eutectic reactions between boron carbide (BC) and stainless steel (SS) as well as its relocation. Such behaviors have never been simulated in CDA numerical analyses in the past, therefore it is necessary to develop a physical model and incorporate the model into the CDA analysis code. This study focuses on BC-SS eutectic melting experiments, thermophysical property measurement of the eutectic melt, and physical model development for the eutectic melting reaction. The eutectic experiments involve the visualization experiments, eutectic reaction rate experiments and material analyses. The thermophysical properties are measured in a range from solid to liquid state. The physical model is developed for a severe accident computer code based on the measured data of the eutectic reaction rate and the physical properties. This paper describes the project overview and progress of experimental and analytical studies conducted until 2018. Specific results in this paper are boron concentration distributions of solidified BC-SS eutectic sample in the eutectic melting experiments, which would be used for the validation of the eutectic physical model implemented into the computer code.

Background issues encountered by cold-neutron chopper spectrometer AMATERAS

Kikuchi, Tatsuya*; Nakajima, Kenji; Kawamura, Seiko; Inamura, Yasuhiro; Nakamura, Mitsutaka; Wakai, Daisuke*; Aoyama, Kazuhiro*; Iwahashi, Takaaki*; Kambara, Wataru*

Physica B; Condensed Matter, 564, p.45 - 53, 2019/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physb.2019.02.015

Details of the background, that is, unwanted signals accumulated by the data acquisition system of neutron instruments, observed by the cold-neutron chopper spectrometer AMATERAS installed at the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility at J-PARC are reported. In the design phase of AMATERAS, we carefully considered the achievement of high signal-to-noise ratio, and possible countermeasures were implemented. Actually, recent scientific outputs from AMATERAS indicates that the spectrometer is one of excellent neutron instruments with low background. In spite of that, in nine years of AMATERAS operation, we have encountered unwanted signals due to various reasons, including gamma-rays emitted at materials on or near the beam line including the sample itself, scattered neutrons from the beam line devices, air scattering, electronic noise in data acquisition system, cosmic rays, T0 burst, and other unknown sources. In this report, we discuss the background observed by AMATERAS, especially in the conditions of without samples, comprehensively. The possible sources of these signals and the countermeasures considered against the above sources are discussed, which may be helpful to those who are engaged in other existing or planned neutron-scattering instruments.

Anomaly of structural relaxation in complex liquid metal of bismuth; Dynamic correlation function of coherent quasi-elastic neutron scattering

Kawakita, Yukinobu; Kikuchi, Tatsuya*; Inamura, Yasuhiro; Tahara, Shuta*; Maruyama, Kenji*; Hanashima, Takayasu*; Nakamura, Mitsutaka; Kiyanagi, Ryoji; Yamauchi, Yasuhiro*; Chiba, Kaori*; et al.

Physica B; Condensed Matter, 551, p.291 - 296, 2018/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physb.2017.12.037

There are elemental liquid metals with complex structures far from the hard sphere (HS) packing model. Liquid Bi has an asymmetric first peak in the structure factors S(Q). The pair distribution function g(r) exhibits strange distance ratio of 1:2 between the first and the second peaks. Since a HS model with two kinds of radius produces asymmetry of the main peak in S(Q), existence of short-lived covalent bonds was discussed. Contrarily, modulation of the atomic distribution by the Friedel oscillations of shielding electrons around metallic ions was discussed. To examine its bonding nature from viewpoints of dynamic correlation functions, we have measured neutron quasielastic scattering of liquid Bi by using cold disk chopper spectrometer installed at MLF of J-PARC. The van Hove function revealed that the shoulder structure located at a longer side of the first peak in g(r) exhibits a longer relaxation time than the main structures such as the first and second peaks.

Detailed study of the structure of the low-energy magnetic excitations in overdoped LaSrCuO

Ikeuchi, Kazuhiko*; Kikuchi, Tatsuya*; Nakajima, Kenji; Kajimoto, Ryoichi; Wakimoto, Shuichi; Fujita, Masaki*

Physica B; Condensed Matter, 536, p.717 - 719, 2018/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physb.2017.11.022

To examine the detailed structure of low-energy magnetic excitations in a high-transition-temperature superconducting cuprate with heavily hole-doping, we performed inelastic neutron scattering experiments on LaSrCuO. We observed clear dispersion relations of the previously reported incommensurate (IC) magnetic correlations at = (0.5 , 0.5)/(0.5, 0.5 ). In addition, we show the emergence of continuum magnetic excitations with a ring shape centered at point in a constant energy spectrum at = 50 K. The radius of the ring ( = 0.109) is smaller than the incommensurability ( = 0.118). This suggests that the origin of the ring-like excitations is different from that of the IC magnetic correlations, and the low-energy magnetic excitations of the LaSrCuO system are inherently composed of these two kinds of excitations.

Liquid-like thermal conduction in intercalated layered crystalline solids

Li, B.; Wang, H.*; Kawakita, Yukinobu; Zhang, Q.*; Feygenson, M.*; Yu, H. L.*; Wu, D.*; Ohara, Koji*; Kikuchi, Tatsuya*; Shibata, Kaoru; et al.

Nature Materials, 17(3), p.226 - 230, 2018/03

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-017-0004-2

Fabrication and test results of testing equipment for remote-handling of MA fuel, 3; Testing equipment for fuel loading

Tazawa, Yujiro; Nishihara, Kenji; Sugawara, Takanori; Tsujimoto, Kazufumi; Sasa, Toshinobu; Eguchi, Yuta; Kikuchi, Masashi*; Inoue, Akira*

JAEA-Technology 2016-029, 52 Pages, 2016/12

JAEA-Technology-2016-029.pdf:5.34MB

Transmutation Physics Experimental Facility (TEF-P) planned in the J-PARC project uses minor actinide (MA) fuels in the experiments. These MA fuels are highly-radioactive, so the fuel handling equipment in TEF-P is necessary to be designed as remote-handling system. This report summarizes fabrication and test results of the testing equipment for fuel loading that is one of components of the testing equipment for remote-handling of MA fuels. The testing equipment which had a remote-handling system for fuel loading was fabricated. And the test in combination with the mock-up core was performed. Through the test, it was confirmed to load/take the dummy fuel pin to/from the mock-up core without failure. It was shown that the concept design of the fuel loading equipment of TEF-P was reasonable.