This dissertation is concerned with finding the values for the nuclear cross sections used in the Boltzmann equation for space radiation transport and dose estimates. An extraordinary number of cross sections are required because of the large number of ion types and their extensive energy range, The Lippmann-Schwinger equation is numerically solved in momentum space for a first order optical potential (free space case) and calculations are made for the total and absorption cross sections for nudeus-nucleus scattering. Absorption cross sections are also calculated using a medium modified firstorder optical potential in the Lippmann-Schwinger equation and are compared with experimental values. Results are presented for the absorption cross sections for 4He-Nucleus and 12C-Nucleus scattering systems and are compared with experimental values below 100 A MeV. The use of the in-medium nucleonnucleon cross sections is found to result in a significant reduction of the free space absorption cross sections, in agreement with experiment. We have also reformulated the Glaubermodel of heavy-ion fragmentation to treat the cluster abrasion of alpha particles from a-cluster nuclei such as 12C, 160 , 20Ne, 24Mg, 28Si, 36Ar, and 40Ca. Comparison of the calculated values is made with recent experimental data and good agreement is found. The energy dependence and the target mass dependence of cluster knockout cross sections for the 160 projectile are discussed. The inclusion of clusters knockouts is shown to significantly modify transport properties of space radiations.

The effects of electron radiation on a polyetherimide (PEI), Ultem*, were investigated. In particular, the changes in the glass transition temperature (Tg) with absorbed radiation dose were studied. The polymer was exposed to mono-energetic beams of 100-keV electrons and 1.0-MeV electrons for doses up to 100 megagray (MGy). Dosimetry for the exposures was based on Monte-Carlo simulations of the transfer of energy from an energetic electron to the polymer and on comparison to Nylon standards. Dynamic mechanical analysis was used to determine the (Tg) for non-exposed PEI and the changes in (Tg) resulting from irradiation. The (Tg) did not change significantly for doses up to and including 75 MGy, while a significant increase in (Tg) occurred for a dose of 100 MGy. The cross-link and chain scission densities in the irradiated PEI were determined using infrared spectroscopy. The cross-link density increased with dose for all doses investigated. The chain scission density increased with dose for doses up to 75 MGy, but was lower for a dose of 100 MGy than for a dose of 75 MGy. Radical population kinetics, based in part on data from an electron paramagnetic resonance study, were correlated with the cross-link density and chain scission density to investigate the mechanism for the observed density variations with dose. The radical population simulations suggest that chain scissioning occurs less readily when the average radical separation during the exposure is less than three molecular radii. Finally, a model for the combined effects of cross-linking and chain scissioning is proposed which combines a statistical-mechanical model for the change in (Tg) with cross-link density and a free-volume model for the change in (Tg) with chain scission density.

With recent renewed interest in the classical topics of both acoustic and electromagnetic aspects for nano-technology, transformation optics, fiber optics, metamaterials with negative refractive indices, cloaking and invisibility, the topic of time-independent scattering theory in quantum mechanics is becoming a useful field to re-examine in the above contexts. One of the key areas of electromagnetic theory scattering of plane electromagnetic waves — is based on the properties of the refractive indices in the various media. It transpires that the refractive index of a medium and the potential in quantum scattering theory are intimately related. In many cases, understanding such scattering in radially symmetric media is sufficient to gain insight into scattering in more complex media. Meeting the challenge of variable refractive indices and possibly complicated boundary conditions therefore requires accurate and efficient numerical methods, and where possible, analytic solutions to the radial equations from the governing scalar and vector wave equations (in acoustics and electromagnetic theory, respectively). Until relatively recently, researchers assumed a constant refractive index throughout the medium of interest. However, the most interesting and increasingly useful cases are those with non-constant refractive index profiles. In the majority of this dissertation the focus is on media with piecewise constant refractive indices in radially symmetric media. The method discussed is based on the solution of Maxwell's equations for scattering of plane electromagnetic waves from a dielectric (or "transparent") sphere in terms of the related Helmholtz equation. The main body of the dissertation (Chapters 2 and 3) is concerned with scattering from (i) a uniform spherical inhomogeneity embedded in an external medium with different properties, and (ii) a piecewise-uniform central inhomogeneity in the external medium. The latter results contain a natural generalization of the former (previously known) results. The link with time-independent quantum mechanical scattering, via morphology-dependent resonances (MDRs), is discussed in Chapter 2. This requires a generalization of the classical problem for scattering of a plane wave from a uniform spherically-symmetric inhomogeneity (in which the velocity of propagation is a function only of the radial coordinate r. i.e.. c = c(r)) to a piecewise-uniform inhomogeneity. In Chapter 3 the Jost-function formulation of potential scattering theory is used to solve the radial differential equation for scattering which can be converted into an integral equation corresponding via the Jost boundary conditions. The first two iterations for the zero angular momentum case l = 0 are provided for both two-layer and three-layer models. It is found that the iterative technique is most useful for long wavelengths and sufficiently small ratios of interior and exterior wavenumbers. Exact solutions are also provided for these cases. In Chapter 4 the time-independent quantum mechanical 'connection' is exploited further by generalizing previous work on a spherical well potential to the case where a delta 'function' potential is appended to the exterior of the well (for l ≠ 0). This corresponds to an idealization of the former approach to the case of a 'coated sphere'. The poles of the associated 'S-matrix' are important in this regard, since they correspond directly with the morphology-dependent resonances discussed in Chapter 2. These poles (for the l = 0 case, to compare with Nussenzveig's analysis) are tracked in the complex wavenumber plane as the strength of the delta function potential changes. Finally, a set of 4 Appendices is provided to clarify some of the connections between (i) the scattering of acoustic/electromagnetic waves from a penetrable/dielectric sphere and (ii) time-independent potential scattering theory in quantum mechanics. This, it is hoped, will be the subject of future work.

The continuous growth of electronic compute and memory nodes in terms of the number of I/O pins, bandwidth, and areal throughput poses major integration and packaging challenges associated with offloading multi-Tbit/s data rates within the few pJ/bit targets. While integrated photonics are already deployed in long and short distances such as inter and intra data centers communications, the promising characteristics of the silicon photonic platform set it as the future technology for optical interconnects in ultra short inter-chip distances. The high index contrast between the waveguide and the cladding together with strong thermo-optic and carrier effects in silicon allows developing a wide range of micro-scale and low power optical devices compatible with the CMOS fabrication processes. Furthermore, the availability of photonic foundries and new electrical and optical co-packaging techniques further pushes this platform for the next steps of commercial deployment.\n The work in this dissertation presents the current trends in high-performance memory and processor nodes and gives motivation for disaggregated and reconfigurable inter-chip network enabled with the silicon photonic layer. A dense WDM transceiver and broadband switch architectures are discussed to support a bi-directional network of ten hybrid-memory cubes (HMC) interconnected to ten processor nodes with an overall aggregated bandwidth of 9.6Tbit/s. Latency and energy consumption are key performance parameters in a processor to primary memory nodes connectivity. The transceiver design is based on energy-efficient micro-ring resonators, and the broadband switch is constructed with 2x2 Mach-Zehnder elements for nano-second reconfiguration. Each transceiver is based on hundreds of micro-rings to convert the native HMC electrical protocol to the optical domain and the switch is based on tens of hundreds of 2x2 elements to achieve non-blocking all-to-all connectivity. \n The next chapters focus on developing methods for controlling and monitoring such complex and highly integrated silicon photonic subsystems. The thermo-optic effect is characterized and we show experimentally that the phase of the optical carrier can be reliably controlled with pulse-width modulation (PWM) signal, ultimately relaxing the need for hundreds of digital to analog converters (DACs). We further show that doped waveguide heaters can be utilized as \\textit{in-line} optical power monitors by measuring photo-conductance current, which is an alternative for the conventional tapping and integration of photo-diodes. \n The next part concerned with a common cascaded micro-ring resonator in a WDM transceiver design. We develop on an FPGA control algorithm that abstracts the physical layer and takes user-defined inputs to set the resonances to the desired wavelength in a unicast and multicast transmission modes. The associated sensitivities of these silicon ring resonators are presented and addressed with three closed-loop solutions. We first show a closed-loop operation based on tapping the error signal from the drop port of the micro-ring. The second solution presents a resonance wavelength locking with a single digital I/O for control and feedback signals. Lastly, we leverage the photo-conductance effect and demonstrate the locking procedure using only the doped heater for both control and feedback purposes.\n To achieve the inter-chip reconfigurability we discuss recent advances of high-port-count SiP broadband switches for reconfigurable inter-chip networks. To ensure optimal operation in terms of low insertion loss, low cross-talk and high signal integrity per routing path, hundreds of 2x2 Mach-Zehnder elements need to be biased precisely for the cross and bar states. We address this challenge with a tapless and a design agnostic calibration approach based on the photo-conductance effect. The automated algorithm returns a look-up table for all for each 2x2 element and the associated calibrated biases. Each routing scenario is then tested for insertion loss, crosstalk and bit-error rate of 25Gbit/s 4-level pulse amplitude modulation signals. The last part utilizes the Mach-Zehnder interferometers in WDM transceiver applications. We demonstrate a polarization insensitive four-channel WDM receiver with 40Gbit/s per channel and a transmitter design generating 8-level pulse amplitude modulation signals at 30Gbit/s.

Introducing squeezed states of light into interferometers can increase the phase sensitivity of the device beyond the standard quantum limit (SQL). We discuss an SU(1,1) interferometer, where nonlinear optical elements replace the beam splitters in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. A two-mode squeezed state of light is generated inside of such an interferometer. We talk about the phase sensitivities of an SU(1,1) interferometer with different detection schemes and their improvement over the SQL. We also discuss the concept of an optimal detection scheme for phase measurement in an interferometer. We describe a modification of the SU(1,1) interferometer which reduces the experimental complexities while giving the same phase sensitivity. We call the design a truncated SU(1,1) interferometer. We show our experimental results of 4 dB improvement in phase sensitivity over the SQL using a truncated SU(1,1) interferometer. We also compare the theoretical sensitivities of vacuum-seeded configurations of a conventional and a truncated SU(1,1) interferometer, and show our experimental results for the phase sensitivity of the truncated version. We explain the dependence of phase sensitivity on the measurement of squeezing. We talk about the methods to improve the measurement of squeezing in a 4-wave mixing experiment, and our efforts in implementing them. Finally, we mention our progress in measuring a big phase shift using an adaptive algorithm in the truncated SU(1,1) interferometer, and discuss the technicalities involved in big phase measurements.

Ensemble data assimilation techniques, including the Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter (ETKF), have been successfully used to improve prediction skill in numerical models for weather forecasting. However, less research has been conducted on data assimilation techniques for systems with no numerical model. In this study, we begin by applying the technique of bred vectors to a reconstructed phase space model for simple, autonomous nonlinear systems and compare the predictive capabilities of data driven bred vectors to those computed using a numerical model. Next, we show that a combination of the phase space reconstruction with ETKF yields a new technique, which we call Nearest Neighbor ETKF, for forecasting using only time series data. This technique is applied to a simple nonlinear system, the Lorenz three variable model, to demonstrate its effectiveness in forecasting noisy time series data. Finally, we use this technique to forecast field variations in the magnetosphere, which exhibit low dimensional behavior on the substorm time scale. The time series data of the magnetic field variations monitored by the network of ground-based magnetometers in the auroral region are used for forecasting at two stages. In the first stage, the auroral electrojet indices, computed from the magnetometer data, are used to reconstruct the dynamics and Nearest Neighbor ETKF yields forecasts of the index that are more skillful than persistence. In the second stage, the multivariate time series from several auroral region magnetometers is used to reconstruct the phase space of the magnetosphere-solar wind system using Multi-channel Singular Spectrum Analysis. The Nearest Neighbor ETKF is applied to ensemble forecasts made using model data, constructed from long time series of the data from each magnetometer, in addition to observations in the reconstructed phase space, constructed from magnetometer measurements concurrent with the start of the forecast. Additionally, the spreads of the ensembles constructed to forecast these times series are used as precursors to understand and predict extreme space weather events.

An Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) has been proposed to be the next large facility to explore the dynamics of quarks and gluons inside nuclei. A conceptual design for a Jefferson Lab Electron-Ion Collider (JLEIC) is being developed. It is based on the CEBAF 12 GeV machine as a full energy electron beam injector. Two crucial requirements of JLEIC are high luminosity in the 1034 cm-2s-1 range, and full acceptance detection of particles. The full acceptance requirement relies on having the beams collide at a relatively large crossing angle of 50 mrad. Such a large crossing angle, however, can reduce the luminosity by as much as an order of magnitude. One way to compensate for geometric luminosity loss due to the beam crossing angle is using crab cavities. Crab cavities are superconducting radio-frequency structures optimized to produce a transverse force that ``tilts'' the beam bunches in such a way that a head-on collision is restored at the collision point, thus restoring the luminosity. A second set of crab cavities is placed downstream of the collision point and is used to cancel the initial bunch tilt, ideally suppressing any crab-induced effects anywhere else in the rings. In this dissertation, we study the dynamics of JLEIC beams with a bunch crabbing scheme using particle tracking simulations. We first evaluate the beam stability when crab cavities are included in the collider rings and then use this stable model to study effects of crab cavity multipoles and RF noise. We also study the role of crab cavity higher-order modes (HOM) in driving coupled-bunch instability and identify dangerous HOM which need to be damped. A specific crab cavity for JLEIC has not yet been selected. It is the purpose of this dissertation to provide general requirements and tolerances to make future crab cavity designs compatible with JLEIC.

A novel ultrasonic signal detection and characterization technique is presented in this dissertation. The basic tool is a simplified time-frequency (scale) projection called a dynamic wavelet fingerprint. Take advantage of the matched filter and adaptive time-frequency analysis properties of the wavelet transform, the dynamic wavelet fingerprint is a coupled approach of detection and recognition. Different from traditional value-based approaches, the dynamic wavelet fingerprint-based technique is patternor knowledge-based. It is intuitive and self-explanatory, which enables the direct observation of the variation of non-stationary ultrasonic signals, even in complex environments. Due to this transparent property, efficient detection and characterization algorithms can be customized to address specific application problems. Furthermore, artificial intelligence can be integrated and expert systems can be built on it. Several practical ultrasonic applications were used to evaluate the feasibility and performance of this new idea. The echoes from the surface of five different plates were characterized by the dynamic wavelet fingerprint. After learning, 100% correct identification ratio was achieved. The second application was ultrasonic periodontal probing. The dynamic wavelet fingerprint technique was used to expose the hidden trend of the complex waveforms. Based on the experiment results of a simplified phantom, the regular variation of the inclination of the dynamic wavelet fingerprints was related to reflection regions of interest. The depth of the periodontal pocket was then estimated by finding the third significant peak in the inclination curves. Taking the manual probing data as the “gold standard,” a 40% agreement ration is achieved with the tolerance of 1mm. Statistically however, a lack of agreement was found in terms of the “limits of agreement” of Bland and Altman. The third application was multi-mode Lamb wave tomography. The dynamic wavelet fingerprint technique was used to detect and characterize each suspect through transmitted code. The area of the dynamic wavelet fingerprint was then used as the feature to identify false modes caused by noise and other interference. The overall qualities of the arrival times are acceptable in terms of smooth distribution and variation pattern corresponding to specific defects. The tomographic images generated with the estimated arrival times were also fine enough to indicate different defects in four plates. The last application is ultrasonic thin multi-layers inspection. The dynamic wavelet fingerprint was generated at each sample point to achieve extreme time resolution. Based on observation of the simulated signals, a distinctive dynamic wavelet fingerprint was found to differentiate actual echoes from noise. High precision and robustness were proved by simulated signals. When applied to practical data obtained from a plastic encapsulated IC package, it was able to detect multiple interfaces in the package.