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Next-generation industrial fiber lasers enable challenging applications that cannot be addressed with legacy fiber lasers. Key features of next-generation fiber lasers include robust back-reflection protection, high power stability, wide power tunability, high-speed modulation and waveform generation, and facile field serviceability. These capabilities are enabled by high-performance components, particularly pump diodes and optical fibers, and by advanced fiber laser designs. We summarize the performance and reliability of nLIGHT diodes, fibers, and next-generation industrial fiber lasers at power levels of 500 W – 8 kW. We show back-reflection studies with up to 1 kW of back-reflected power, power-stability measurements in cw and modulated operation exhibiting sub-1% stability over a 5 – 100% power range, and high-speed modulation (100 kHz) and waveform generation with a bandwidth 20x higher than standard fiber lasers. We show results from representative applications, including cutting and welding of highly reflective metals (Cu and Al) for production of Li-ion battery modules and processing of carbon fiber reinforced polymers.

With the adoption of visual instrument grading, the calculated yield grade can be used for payment to cattle producers selling on grid pricing systems. The USDA beef carcass grading standards include a relationship between required LM area (LMA) and HCW that is an important component of the final yield grade. As noted on a USDA yield grade LMA grid, a 272-kg (600-lb) carcass requires a 71-cm 2 (11.0-in. 2 ) LMA and a 454-kg (1,000-lb) carcass requires a 102-cm 2 (15.8-in. 2 ) LMA. This is a linear relationship, where required LMA = 0.171(HCW) + 24.526. If a beef carcass has a larger LMA than required, the calculated yield grade is lowered, whereas a smaller LMA than required increases the calculated yield grade. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the LMA to HCW relationship against data on 434,381 beef carcasses in the West Texas A&M University (WTAMU) Beef Carcass Research Center database. In contrast to the USDA relationship, our data indicate a quadratic relationship [WTAMU LMA = 33.585 + 0.17729(HCW) -0.0000863(HCW 2 )] between LMA and HCW whereby, on average, a 272-kg carcass has a 75-cm 2 (11.6-in. 2 ) LMA and a 454-kg carcass has a 96-cm 2 (14.9-in. 2 ) LMA, indicating a different slope and different intercept than those in the USDA grading standards. These data indicate that the USDA calculated yield grade equation favors carcasses lighter than 363 kg (800 1b) for having above average muscling and penalizes carcasses heavier than 363 kg (800 1b) for having below average muscling. If carcass weights continue to increase, we are likely to observe greater proportions of yield grade 4 and 5 carcasses because of the measurement bias that currently exists in the USDA yield grade equation.

This document is a concise compendium of resource material covering assured thermal processing of wastes (ATPW), an area in which Sandia aims to develop a large program. The ATPW program at Sandia is examining a wide variety of waste streams and thermal processes. Waste streams under consideration include municipal, chemical, medical, and mixed wastes. Thermal processes under consideration range from various incineration technologies to non-incineration processes such as supercritical water oxidation or molten metal technologies. Each of the chapters describes the element covered, discusses issues associated with its further development and/or utilization, presents Sandia capabilities that address these issues, and indicates important connections to other ATPW elements. The division of the field into elements was driven by the team`s desire to emphasize areas where Sandia`s capabilities can lead to major advances and is therefore somewhat unconventional. The report will be valuable to Sandians involved in further ATPW program development.

We have observed line profiles in Raman Q‐branch transitions of H2 perturbed by Ar that are asymmetric about the line center using high resolution inverse Raman spectroscopy. These effects are observed at densities normally considered to be in the impact regime, i.e., well above the Dicke minimum for H2‐Ar(∼1 amagat) and below those densities for which finite collision‐duration or collision‐induced scattering become important. We have successfully modeled the observed line profiles by incorporating inhomogeneous broadening arising from a strong dependence of the collisional line shift on radiator speed. The model is more complex than the speed‐dependent Voigt line profile1,2 since the effects of speed‐changing collisions, which coherently narrow the inhomogeneous part of the line profile, must be included. In H2 the asymmetry is more pronounced for heavy perturbers and essentially disappears in H2/He mixtures and in pure H2.