Motivated by the dynamics within terrestrial bodies, we consider a rotating, strongly thermally stratified fluid within a spherical shell subject to a prescribed laterally inhomogeneous heat-flux condition at the outer boundary. Using a numerical model, we explore a broad range of three key dimensionless numbers: a thermal stratification parameter (the relative size of boundary temperature gradients to imposed vertical temperature gradients), $10^{-3}\leqslant S\leqslant 10^{4}$ , a buoyancy parameter (the strength of applied boundary heat-flux anomalies), $10^{-2}\leqslant B\leqslant 10^{6}$ , and the Ekman number (ratio of viscous to Coriolis forces), $10^{-6}\leqslant E\leqslant 10^{-4}$ . We find both steady and time-dependent solutions and delineate the regime boundaries. We focus on steady-state solutions, for which a clear transition is found between a low $S$ regime, in which buoyancy dominates the dynamics, and a high $S$ regime, in which stratification dominates. For the low- $S$ regime, we find that the characteristic flow speed scales as $B^{2/3}$ , whereas for high- $S$ , the radial and horizontal velocities scale respectively as $u_{r}\sim S^{-1}$ , $u_{h}\sim S^{-3/4}B^{1/4}$ and are confined within a thin layer of depth $(SB)^{-1/4}$ at the outer edge of the domain. For the Earth, if lower mantle heterogeneous structure is due principally to chemical anomalies, we estimate that the core is in the high- $S$ regime and steady flows arising from strong outer boundary thermal anomalies cannot penetrate the stable layer. However, if the mantle heterogeneities are due to thermal anomalies and the heat-flux variation is large, the core will be in a low- $S$ regime in which the stable layer is likely penetrated by boundary-driven flows.

We are developing Colossal Magnetoresistive (CMR) manganite thin film bolometric sensors to be employed as total energy detectors for beam diagnostics of the Linear Coherent Light Source (LCLS) Free Electron Laser (FEL) (at the Stanford Linear Accelerator). LCLS is an ultra bright, ultra short coherent x-ray source whose peak brightness will exceed that of third generation x-ray sources by about ten orders of magnitude and average brightness by three orders of magnitudes. It is expected to produce 1012 x-rays per 200 fs pulse with a repeat frequency of 120 Hz through self-amplified stimulated emission. In characterizing the beam, it will be necessary to measure the total energy of the FEL pulse. The Advanced Detector Group at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory has developed a scheme for FEL total energy measurements based on bolometric detection and are collaborating with Towson University to implement such a detector using CMR manganite thin films. Here we discuss the basic scheme, results of simulations of the thermal response and the materials development efforts towards fabricating the thin film detectors.