Retrieving parameters of the anisotropic refractive index fluctuations spectrum in the stratosphere from balloon-borne observations of stellar scintillation

Scintillation effects are not negligible in the stratosphere. We present a model based on a 3D model of anisotropic and isotropic refractive index fluctuations spectra that predicts scintillation rates within the so-called small perturbation approximation. Atmospheric observations of stellar scintillation made from the AMON-RA (AMON, Absorption par les Minoritaires Ozone et NO(x); RA, rapid) balloon-borne spectrometer allows us to remotely probe wave-turbulence characteristics in the stratosphere. Data reduction from these observations brings out values of the inner scale of the anisotropic spectrum. We find metric values of the inner scale that are compatible with space-based measurements. We find a major contribution of the anisotropic spectrum relative to the isotropic contribution. When the sight line plunges into the atmosphere, strong scintillation occurs as well as coupled chromatic refraction effects.     

Application of an exclusively binarized correlation-calculation method to wind velocity measurement by use of stellar scintillation patterns

An exclusively binarized method for the correlation calculation of image processing is presented with application to velocity measurements. The exclusively binarized correlation-calculation method is capable of determining the peak position of the correlation even with a small number of random-pattern images. Because the velocity is deduced from the movement of the correlation-peak position within a time interval, the method is suitable for the velocity measurement of random patterns. The method is applied to the measurement of the upper-atmospheric wind velocity by use of stellar scintillation patterns.     

Effects of different beacon wavelengths on atmospheric compensation in strong scintillation

During strong scintillation, the number and location of branch points in a distorted optical field induced by atmospheric turbulence are closely related to the characteristic parameters of the turbulence effect, propagation distance, and wavelength. It is necessary to consider the effect of the beacon's wavelength on the adaptive optics system that is used to compensate for atmospheric turbulence. Our analytical results show that the performance of adaptive optics can be improved by nearly a factor of 2 when the beacon's wavelength is chosen slightly longer than the wavelength of the main laser in the branch points considered.     

Analysis of photometric factors based on photometric linearization

We propose a method for analyzing photometric factors, such as diffuse reflection, specular reflection, attached shadow, and cast shadow. For analyzing real images, we utilize the photometric linearization method, which was originally proposed for image synthesis. First, we show that each pixel can be photometrically classified by a simple comparison of the pixel intensity. Our classification algorithm requires neither 3D shape information nor color information of the scene. Then, we show that the accuracy of the photometric linearization can be improved by introducing a new classification-based criterion to the linearization process. Experimental results show that photometric factors can be correctly classified without any special devices. A further experiment shows that the proposed method is effective for photometric stereo.     

Luminescence and scintillation properties of rare-earth-doped LuF3 scintillation crystals

The Nd-doped and Er-doped LuF₃ single crystals were grown by the micro-pulling-down method to study their scintillation properties in the vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) region. The doubly Nd–Er codoped single crystal was grown to study possibility of scintillation performance improvement by energy transfer from Er³⁺ to Nd³⁺ ions. The LiF flux was to avoid phase transition below melting temperature. The 1%Nd-doped sample showed the highest overall scintillation efficiency under X-ray excitation which was 7 times as high as that of the LaF₃:Nd 8% standard. The leading Nd³⁺ 5d–4f emission was situated at 176 nm, while the Er³⁺ 5d–4f emission for Er-doped samples was observed at 163 nm, which better matches the sensitivity of some VUV-sensitive photodetectors. The optimum Er concentration was determined to be around 1–3 mol%. No Er³⁺ 5d–4f emission was observed for the doubly Er,Nd-codoped sample due to energy transfer from the Er³⁺ to Nd³⁺ ions. Slight improvement of the light yield was observed in the doubly-doped sample with respect to the Nd-only doped one.     

Dispersion compensation in stellar interferometry

In long-baseline stellar interferometry, spectrometers are used to disperse starlight for measuring visibility at multiple wavelengths and for fringe tracking with channeled spectra. However, neither prisms nor gratings are well suited to the observation of fringes with wide spectral bandwidths because the mapping from wave number to detector coordinate is nonlinear. The visibility-measurement and fringe-tracking performance are affected by nonlinearity and in many cases it is important to compensate for this. Longitudinal-dispersion correctors may be used to compensate for differential air paths in an interferometer, and we show that these may also be used to correct the nonlinear mapping of a spectrometer.     

Numerical modelling of shear bands by element bands

It is presently a concern and challenge to numerically model shear band localization. Many numerical methods have been developed to take into account the strain and displacement discontinuities across a shear band. In this paper, a contact band element method is proposed to model the shear band with a finite thickness under large shear deformation. The shear band elements, alternatively called contact band elements, are continuously updated based on their current configurations to prevent the large distortions of conventional finite elements and maintain realistic shear band configurations. The contact band element method, with a technique for the special shear band element, consists of the schemes to keep the shear band elements in good shapes, handle the band overlapping, kinking and separation problems. A few examples have shown that the contact band element method is a very efficient way to model the shear bands under large shear deformation. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Metamaterial composed of different cells exhibiting a negative refraction property over multiple frequency bands

Experimental measurements are presented of the SSRR-MW (square split resonant ring and metal wire) and CSRR-MW (C split resonant ring and metal wire) samples at microwave frequencies. The geometrical shapes of the metamaterial samples are found to play an important role in determining the resonant frequency. Different cells are chosen to stack into a two-layer or a three-layer metamaterial unit to realize multiple negative passbands. The effective parameters of three one-layer models, a two-layer unit, and a three-layer unit are retrieved from the simulation data. The composed models exhibit two or more negative bands by overlapping the passbands of the original cells, and broaden the negative refraction. The recovered parameters show good agreement with theoretical analysis.     

Characterization of liquid scintillation detectors

Five scintillation detectors of different scintillator size and type were characterized. The pulse height scale was calibrated in terms of electron light output units using photon sources. The response functions for time-of-flight (TOF)-selected monoenergetic neutrons were experimentally determined and also simulated with the NRESP code over a wide energy range. A comparison of the measured and calculated response functions allows individual characteristics of the detectors to be determined and the response matrix to be reliably derived. Various applications are discussed.     

Differential path considerations in optical stellar interferometry

A formulation of the differential-air-path problem for a large-baseline optical interferometer is presented. Because air is a dispersive medium, each wavelength has a different optical path length. This can be corrected to a large extent if an extra piece of glass is placed in each arm of the interferometer. The problem then becomes analogous to the doublet-achromat design, in which, in this case, the air path takes the place of one piece of glass. Atmospheric refraction and field-of-view considerations also amount to a change in the differential paths within the interferometer. All three effects can therefore be considered to be aspects of the same problem. The focus of this work has been for a proposed array to be developed by the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARAArray), although the results are applicable to any optical array.     

Visibility retrieval in Michelson wide-field stellar interferometry

Wide-field interferometry has become a subject of increasing interest in recent years. New methods have been suggested in order to avoid the drawbacks of the standard wide-field method (homothetic mapping), which is not applicable when the aperture is highly diluted; for this reason, imaging with non-homothetic arrays is being extensively studied (E. Pedretti, et al., Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 147 285 (2000); S. Gillet, et al., Astron. Astrophys. 400 393 (2003)). The field of view of a pupil-plane interferometer or a densified array consists of only a few resolution elements; in order to improve these systems, we have developed a new method consisting of a Michelson pupil-plane combination scheme where a wide field of view can be achieved in one shot. This technique, called the ‘staircase mirror’ approach, has been described in a previous paper (I. Montilla, S.F. Pereira and J.J.M. Braat, Appl. Optics 44 328 (2005)) and uses a stair-shaped mirror in the intermediate image plane of each telescope in the array, allowing for simultaneous correction of the differential delay for both the on- and off-axis image positions. Experimental results have been obtained showing the simultaneous recovery of the fringes of off-axis stars with an appreciable angular separation, and with a contrast similar to that of the on-axis reference star. With this example we demonstrate an increase of the field of view by a factor of 5, with no need for extra observation time. In this article, we present a further analysis of the method. We investigate how to retrieve the visibility when a star is focused on the edge of a step of the stair-shaped mirror. Even though the optical pathlength difference correction is discontinuous, we show both numerically and analytically that the visibility can be completely recovered, so that no information is lost. Our experimental results demonstrate that the visibility can be retrieved to within a 1% error.     

光度测量系统中的光子计数采集卡

光度测量系统需要实时采集并存储光子计数值。针对其高频特点,提出了基于 FPGA 技术和 PCI总线实现高速实时光子计数采集的方法,在 FPGA 内部构造双计数器,很好地实现了无缝计数,从而降低了光子计数的误差。采用 S5933 PCI控制芯片设计的集成采集卡,通用性强,在实用中完全满足高速实时要求。     

Detection of incremental and decremental bars at different locations across Mach bands and related stimuli

Two-alternative forced-choice procedures were used to measure the detectability of bright and dark bars at various locations across luminance patterns that produced Mach bands. Detection performance was significantly affected by both dark and bright Mach bands: poor detection performance was observed at locations near, but not in, the Mach bands; relatively good detection performance at locations within the Mach bands was caused by reliable changes in the width, depth, or symmetry of the bands produced by the signal bars. The changes were apparent with signals of lower luminance than that needed for detection in the plateau regions far from the bands, but, because the cues were not sufficiently reliable to allow errorless performance, unusually shaped psychometric functions were obtained.     

Operating conditions of photometric transducers' vibrators

Conclusions In designing vibrators for photometric transducers it is unnecessary to aim at obtaining a strictly sinusoidal shape of scanning, it is only necessary to make the oscillations symmetrical.Moreover, it is necessary to obtain inphase oscillations of the vibrator, since the sensitivity of this method is reduced in direct proportion to the oscillatory phase-shift angle.     

Shear bands in metallic glasses

Shear-banding is a ubiquitous plastic-deformation mode in materials. In metallic glasses, shear bands are particularly important as they play the decisive role in controlling plasticity and failure at room temperature. While there have been several reviews on the general mechanical properties of metallic glasses, a pressing need remains for an overview focused exclusively on shear bands, which have received tremendous attention in the past several years. This article attempts to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date review on the rapid progress achieved very recently on this subject. We describe the shear bands from the inside out, and treat key materials-science issues of general interest, including the initiation of shear localization starting from shear transformations, the temperature and velocity reached in the propagating or sliding band, the structural evolution inside the shear-band material, and the parameters that strongly influence shear-banding. Several new discoveries and concepts, such as stick-slip cold shear-banding and strength/plasticity enhancement at sub-micrometer sample sizes, will also be highlighted. The understanding built-up from these accounts will be used to explain the successful control of shear bands achieved so far in the laboratory. The review also identifies a number of key remaining questions to be answered, and presents an outlook for the field.     

Half-cycle slip activity of persistent slip bands at different stages of fatigue life of polycrystalline nickel

The slip activity of persistent slip bands (PSBs) in polycrystalline nickel was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The half-cycle slip activity as well as the local shear strain amplitudes was investigated after half-cycle deformation at different numbers of cycles in the domain of stress saturation. Moreover, the fraction of grains containing cumulated PSBs and the accumulated volume fraction of PSBs was estimated depending on the number of cycles during fatigue life. The volume fraction of active PSBs during half-cycle deformation is significantly lower than the cumulated PSB volume and decreases with increasing number of cycles. Additionally, an increasing localization of cyclic plastic strain within the PSBs was observed. However, with increasing number of cycles the average local shear strain amplitude remains almost unchanged. Thus, PSBs in polycrystals are subjected to a life history which is characterized by active and inactive periods of their half-cycle slip activity during cyclic deformation at different stages of the saturation state.