Michael Short

Profile Information

Name: Professor Michael Short
Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Position: Associate Professor with Tenure
Affiliation: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
h-Index: -1
ORCID: 0000-0002-9216-2482
Biography: Michael Short joined the faculty in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering in July, 2013. He brings 15 years of research experience in the field of nuclear materials, microstructural characterization, and alloy development. His group’s research is a mixture of large-scale experiments, micro/nanoscale characterization, and multiphysics modeling &simulation. The main areas of Short’s research focus on 1) Non-contact, non-destructive measurement of irradiated material properties using in situ ion irradiation transient grating spectroscopy (TGS), 2) Preventing the deposition of deleterious phases, such as CRUD in nuclear reactors, as fouling deposits in energy systems, and 3) Quantification of radiation damage by stored energy fingerprints.
Expertise: Advanced Microstructural Characterization, Corrosion, Fouling, Metallurgy, Non-Destructive Testing, Radiation Damage

Publications:

		"A dual dynamic shutter system for accelerating ion irradiation sample throughput via lateral gas implantation gradients" Charles Hirst, Aaron G. Penders, Zhexian Zhang, Logan Clowers, Valentin Pauly, Fabian Naab, Lauren Garrison, Cody Dennett, Michael Short, Gary Was, Nuclear Instruments and Methods B Vol. 571 2025 165969 Link experiment to a single set of irradiation parameters (e.g., dose, fluence, injection rate, temperature etc.). Despite being capable of achieving damage rates up to three orders of magnitude higher than neutron irradiation, its overall sample throughput remains low due to the need to conduct separate irradiations for each unique parameter set. To address these limitations, a novel capability has been developed at the Michigan Ion Beam Laboratory (MIBL), enabling for the creation of two-dimensional lateral ion implantation gradients using recently installed motorized-controlled ion beam shutters. This advancement can generate a wide scope of the two dimensional (H+, He2+) implantation parameter space within a single sample. Integration of this new capability enables dual- and triple-ion beam experiments to be performed with full user control over not only the ion implantation depth profile, but also over the lateral imposed concentration gradients, thus providing researchers with a high-throughput means for material testing under various irradiation conditions. Furthermore, the recent installation of a microbeam in the ion-beam analysis (IBA) target station now allows for probing these concentration gradients in irradiated alloys with unprecedently high spatial resolutions. These developments promise to significantly improve ion irradiation capabilities, offering researchers a robust and high-throughput method to efficiently investigate candidate alloys for both advanced fission and fusion reactor applications, in both a time- and cost-effective manner. This paper demonstrates all the above through showcasing detailed implantation profiling and swelling characterization conducted over the lateral gradients imposed on single crystal Si and the fusion candidate alloy F82H-IEA.
		"In situ TEM annealing of neutron-irradiated Ti reveals a two-stage mechanism for elevated temperature radiation damage recovery" Charles Hirst, Boopathy Kombaiah, Kevin Field, Michael Short, Journal of Nuclear Materials Vol. 271 2025 117001 Link Understanding how irradiation-induced defects evolve at elevated temperatures is of critical importance to predicting materials’ behavior under steady-state and accident scenarios. However, such mechanistic insight into microstructural evolution is limited by the nature of ex situ annealing and subsequent imaging. Here we show direct observation and quantification of defect recovery in neutron-irradiated Ti using in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) annealing experiments. In agreement with our prior work, and at temperatures below the irradiation temperature (T𝑖𝑟𝑟 = 300 ◦C), dislocation loops are observed to glide. At elevated temperatures (>500 ◦C), dislocation lines become mobile and promote significant recovery of the microstructure. These mechanisms challenge the established electron irradiation-based model for radiation damage recovery, which originally suggests dissolution of static defect clusters, and demonstrates the importance of iin situ characterization in understanding defect evolution in irradiated materials.
		"Revealing hidden defects through stored energy measurements of radiation damage" Charles Hirst, Boopathy Kombaiah, Scott Middlemas, Ju Li, Michael Short, Science Advances Vol. 8 2022 eabn2733 Link With full knowledge of a material’s atomistic structure, it is possible to predict any macroscopic property of interest. In practice, this is hindered by limitations of the chosen characterization techniques. For example, electron microscopy is unable to detect the smallest and most numerous defects in irradiated materials. Instead of spatial characterization, we propose to detect and quantify defects through their excess energy. Differential scanning calorimetry of irradiated Ti measures defect densities five times greater than those determined using transmission electron microscopy. Our experiments also reveal two energetically distinct processes where the established annealing model predicts one. Molecular dynamics simulations discover the defects responsible and inform a new mechanism for the recovery of irradiation-induced defects. The combination of annealing experiments and simulations can reveal defects hidden to other characterization techniques and has the potential to uncover new mechanisms behind the evolution of defects in materials.

NSUF Articles:

DOE Awards 33 Rapid Turnaround Experiment Research Proposals - Projects total approximately $1.2 million These projects will continue to advance the understanding of irradiation effects in nuclear fuels and materials in support of the mission of the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy. Monday, June 18, 2018 - Calls and Awards
DOE awards 39 RTE Projects - Projects total approximately $1.3 million Thursday, February 1, 2018 - Calls and Awards
RTE 2nd Call Awards Announced - Projects total approximately $1.6 million These project awards went to principal investigators from 26 U.S. universities, eight national laboratories, two British universities, and one Canadian laboratory. Tuesday, May 14, 2019 - Calls and Awards

Additional Publications:

Accomplishments

NSUF Profile

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NSUF Author

Authored an NSUF-supported publication

Accomplished Submitter

Submitted 3+ RTE Proposals to NSUF

Accomplished Researcher

Awarded 3+ RTE Proposals

Accomplished Collaborator

Collaborated on 3+ RTE Proposals

Accomplished Reviewer

Reviewed 10+ RTE Proposals

NSUF Supported Research

In situ observation of helium out-gassing mechanism in percolating 1D/2D nanodispersoids for advanced reactor structural material and fuel cladding - FY 2019 RTE 2nd Call, #19-1722

In situ investigation of the thermomechanical performance of HCP metals and Zircaloy-4 under ion beam irradiation - FY 2018 RTE 3rd Call, #18-1144

Investigation of radiation-generated phases in FeCrSi alloys for multimetallic layered composite (MMLC) for LWR fuel cladding - FY 2018 RTE 1st Call, #18-1211

NSUF Research Collaborations

Increasing the Sensitivity of Passive SiC Thermometry Through Nanocalorimetry Experiments - FY 2023 RTE 2nd Call, #23-4676

Investigating the effect of solute segregation on defect recovery kinetics in reactor-irradiated Ti - FY 2023 RTE 2nd Call, #23-4571

Microstructural Evolution in Model & Real RPV steel due to Thermal Aging and Low-Dose Irradiation using Atom Probe Tomography - FY 2021 RTE 1st Call, #21-4248

Verifying Wigner energy measurements by in-situ TEM annealing of neutron-irradiated Ti - FY 2021 RTE 1st Call, #21-4238

Investigation of the mechanism behind irradiation-decelerated corrosion of Ni-20Cr in molten fluoride salt - FY 2019 RTE 2nd Call, #19-1742