Instrumental phase-based method for Fourier transform spectrometer measurements processing

Phase correction is a critical procedure for most space-borne Fourier transform spectrometers (FTSs) whose accuracy (owing to often poor signal-to-noise ratio, SNR) can be jeopardized from many uncontrollable environmental conditions. This work considers the phase correction in an FTS working under significant temperature change during the measurement and affected by mechanical disturbances. The implemented method is based on the identification of an instrumental phase that is dependent on the interferometer temperature and on the extraction of a linear phase component through a least-squares approach. The use of an instrumental phase parameterized with the interferometer temperature eases the determination of the linear phase that can be extracted using only a narrow spectral region selected to be immune from disturbances. The procedure, in this way, is made robust against phase errors arising from instrumental effects, a key feature to reduce the disturbances through spectra averaging. The method was specifically developed for the Mars IR Mapper spectrometer, that was designed for operation onboard a rover on the Mars surface; the validation was performed using ground and in-flight measurements of the Fourier transform IR spectrometer planetary Fourier spectrometer, onboard the MarsExpress mission. The symmetrization has been exploited also for the spectra calibration, highlighting the issues deriving from the cases of relevant beamsplitter emission. The applicability of this procedure to other instruments is conditional to the presence in the spectra of at least one spectral region with a large SNR along with a negligible (or known) beamsplitter emission. For the PFS instrument, the processing of data with relevant beamsplitter emission has been performed exploiting the absorption carbon dioxide bands present in Martian spectra.     

Single frame interferogram evaluation

We present a simple and novel algorithm for the phase extraction from a single interferogram based on the spatial processing of interference patterns. This new evaluation procedure is suitable for application in environments where the presence of vibrations impedes the use of a classical phase-shifting interferometry scheme with multiple exposures. The algorithm does not require the introduction of a linear carrier as required in Fourier transform techniques. The addition of a carrier can be a significant drawback, e.g. in the case of wavefronts with strong aberrations where the minimum required linear carrier is not even resolved by the detector. The basic idea relies on the spatial application of a temporal phase-shifting algorithm and an iterative correction process to obtain an accurate reconstruction of the wavefront. The validity and performance of the proposed method is shown with numerical and experimental results.     

Direct observation of dipolar chains in iron ferrofluids by cryogenic electron microscopy

A key issue in research on ferrofluids (dispersions of magnetic colloids) is the effect of dipolar interactions on their structure and phase behaviour, which is not only important for practical applications but gives fundamental insight in dipolar fluids in general. In 1970, de Gennes and Pincus predicted a Van der Waals-like phase diagram and the presence of linear chains of particles in ferrofluids in zero magnetic field. Despite many experimental studies, no direct evidence of the existence of linear chains of dipoles has been reported in the absence of magnetic field, although simulations clearly show the presence of chain-like structures. Here, we show in situ linear dipolar structures in ferrofluids in zero field, visualized on the particle level by electron cryo-microscopy on thin, vitrified films of organic dispersions of monodisperse metallic iron particles. On systematically increasing the particle size, we find an abrupt transition from separate particles to randomly oriented linear aggregates and branched chains or networks. When vitrified in a permanent magnetic field, these chains align and form thick elongated structures, indicating lateral attraction between parallel dipole chains. These findings show that the experimental model used is well suited to study the structural properties of dipolar particle systems.     

Rotational invariance approach for the evaluation of multiple phases in interferometry in the presence of nonsinusoidal waveforms and noise

Incorporation of two phase-shifting devices in a holographic moiré configuration not only renders the interferometer compatible with automated measurements but also allows for simultaneous measurement of multiple phase information in the interferometer. However, simultaneous handling of multiple phase steps and subsequent simultaneous determination of multiple phase distributions requires the introduction of novel tools in phase-shifting interferometry. In this context, the aim of this paper is to propose a subspace invariance approach to address these issues. This approach takes advantage of the rotational invariance of signal subspaces spanned by two temporally displaced data sets formed from the intensity fringes recorded temporally on pixels of the CCD camera. The method first identifies the arbitrary phase steps imparted to the piezoactuator devices. The estimated phase steps are subsequently applied in the linear Vandermonde system of equations to determine the phase distributions. The method also allows for handling nonsinusoidal wavefronts. Since the phase steps are extracted at every point on the interferogram, the method is applicable to configurations that use spherical beams. The robustness of the method is investigated by adding white Gaussian noise during the simulations.     

Fringing-field effect in liquid-crystal beam-steering devices: an approximate analytical model

An approximate analytical model was developed that links the fringing-field broadening of the phase profile of a liquid-crystal (LC) beam-steering device, and the resulting diffraction efficiency, to the physical parameters of the device including the cell thickness as well as the dielectric, optical, and geometrical constants of the device. The analysis includes a full solution of the Laplace equation for the LC device in which the broadening of the initial voltage profile into an effective voltage-drop profile, due to the fringing-field effect, is derived. It is shown that within the linear approximation used, the broadening of the phase profile is identical to the broadening of the effective voltage profile in the presence of the fringing field. On the basis of this model, the resulting broadening kernel of the phase profile is found to be proportional to the LC cell thickness. These results are found to be in an excellent agreement with high-precision computer simulations performed on the LC beam-steering structure, thereby validating this approximate linear model.     

Long-wave transverse instability of interfacial gravity–capillary solitary waves in a two-layer potential flow in deep water

Interfacial gravity–capillary plane solitary waves, driven by the gravitational force in the presence of interfacial tension in a two-layer deep-water potential flow, bifurcate in the form of wavepackets with a non-zero carrier wavenumber at which the phase speed is minimized. A stability property for the interfacial gravity–capillary plane solitary waves is presented within the framework of the full Euler equations: according to a linear stability analysis based on the perturbation method, such waves are unstable under weak and long-wave disturbances in the transverse direction to the dominant wave propagation. An instability criterion is verified that the total mechanical energy of the solitary waves is a decreasing function of the solitary wavespeed, owing to the fact that the speed of the bifurcating solitary wavepackets is less than the minimum of the phase speed. This result is consistent with an earlier study on the transverse instability of the longitudinally stable interfacial gravity–capillary solitary waves from the Benjamin model equation for weakly nonlinear long interfacial elevations (Kim and Akylas, J Fluid Mech 557:237–256, 2006). The analysis is also applicable to other interfacial gravity–capillary solitary waves that may bifurcate below the minimum of the phase speed, regardless of any restrictions on fluid depths in two-layer potential flows.     

Polarization holographic gratings in side-chain azobenzene polyesters with linear and circular photoanisotropy

We investigate thin phase polarization holographic gratings recorded with two waves with orthogonal linear polarizations in materials in which illumination with linearly/circularly polarized light gives rise to linear/circular birefringence. The theoretical analysis shows that the presence of circular photoanisot-ropy changes significantly the diffraction characteristics of the gratings. The intensities of the waves diffracted in the +1 and -1 orders of diffraction and their ratio depend substantially on the reconstructing-wave polarization. Experiments with films of side-chain liquid-crystalline azobenzene polyester that is a photoanisotropic material of the considered type confirm the unusual polarization properties. It is shown that polarization holography may be used for real-time simultaneous measurement of photoinduced linear and circular birefringence.     

Engineering model-based Bayesian monitoring of ramp-up phase of multistage manufacturing process

Process monitoring of full mass production phase of multistage manufacturing processes (MMPs) has been successfully implemented in many applications; however, monitoring of ramp-up phase of MMPs is often more difficult to conduct due to the limited information to establish valid process control parameters (such as mean and variance). This paper focuses on the estimation of the process control parameters used for monitoring scheme design of ramp-up phase of MMPs. An engineering model of variation propagation of an MMP is developed and reconstructed to a linear model, establishing a relationship between the error sources and the variation of product characteristics. Based on the developed linear model, a two-step Bayesian method is proposed to estimate the process control parameters. The performance of the proposed Bayesian method is validated with simulation data and real-world data, and the results demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively estimate process parameters during ramp-up phase of MMP.     

Phase reconstruction and unwrapping from holographic interferograms of partially absorbent phase objects

A method for automated phase reconstruction from holographic interferograms of nonideal phase objects based on a two-dimensional Fourier transform is described. In particular, the problem of phase unwrapping is solved because earlier techniques are inappropriate for the phase unwrapping from interferograms of partially absorbent objects. A noise-level-dependent criterion for the binary mask that defines the unwrapping path for the flood algorithm is derived. The method shows high noise immunity, and the result is reliable provided that the true phase is free of discontinuities. The phase distribution in the outmasked regions is estimated by a linear least-squares fit to the surrounding unwrapped pixels.     

相位均衡器技术在水声接收机的应用

滤波器相位的非线性引起的信号失真是超短基线接收机系统中必须要解决的问题之一。采用常规滤波器与全通网络级联的方法设计了一种相位均衡器,解决了仅使用常规滤波器带来的非线性相位问题,使超短基线接收机在带宽内保持线性相位。给出了全通网络的原理、电路结构推导,分析了该网络中各参量对相位的影响。在设计实例中,相位均衡技术应用到实际硬件电路中进行测试,并结合试验数据及仿真结果对系统的性能进行评估。测试结果证明了相位均衡器可以实现相位的均衡校正功能,在水声接收机领域中有良好的应用前景。     

Analysis of freely dissolved alcohol ethoxylate homologues in various seawater matrixes using solid-phase microextraction

Solid-phase microextraction fibers (SPME) were tested as tools to determine freely dissolved alcohol ethoxylate (AE) surfactants in seawater matrixes. Partitioning of a wide range of AE homologues into a 35-mum polyacrylate fiber coating was linearly related to aqueous concentrations as low as submicrograms per liter, with high reproducibility. The exposure time needed to reach equilibrium between aqueous phase and the SPME fiber depended on the fiber-water partitioning coefficient (Kfw) of the AE homologue. Specific attention was given to the influence of various matrixes on the analysis via SPME. The presence of sediment increases the uptake kinetics of AE homologues for which diffusion in the aqueous phase is rate limiting. The Kfw in equilibrated systems was not affected by the presence of other homologues, micelles, or varying amounts of sediment phase. SPME is therefore a suitable tool for analysis of AE in sorption studies and sediment toxicity tests. A strong linear relation was observed between Kfw and the hydrophobicity of the AE homologue, using estimated octanol-water partition coefficients. This relation can be used to predict the partitioning coefficient of any AE homologue to the SPME fiber, which facilitates the analysis of complex mixtures.     

Level set topology optimization of structural problems with interface cohesion

This paper presents a finite element topology optimization framework for the design of two‐phase structural systems considering contact and cohesion phenomena along the interface. The geometry of the material interface is described by an explicit level set method, and the structural response is predicted by the extended finite element method. In this work, the interface condition is described by a bilinear cohesive zone model on the basis of the traction‐separation constitutive relation. The non‐penetration condition in the presence of compressive interface forces is enforced by a stabilized Lagrange multiplier method. The mechanical model assumes a linear elastic isotropic material, infinitesimal strain theory, and a quasi‐static response. The optimization problem is solved by a nonlinear programming method, and the design sensitivities are computed by the adjoint method. The performance of the presented method is evaluated by 2D and 3D numerical examples. The results obtained from topology optimization reveal distinct design characteristics for the various interface phenomena considered. In addition, 3D examples demonstrate optimal geometries that cannot be fully captured by reduced dimensionality. The optimization framework presented is limited to two‐phase structural systems where the material interface is coincident in the undeformed configuration, and to structural responses that remain valid considering small strain kinematics. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implementation of the near-field signal redundancy phase-aberration correction algorithm on two-dimensional arrays

Near-field signal-redundancy (NFSR) algorithms for phase-aberration correction have been proposed and experimentally tested for linear and phased one-dimensional arrays. In this paper the performance of an all-row-plus-two-column, two-dimensional algorithm has been analyzed and tested with simulated data sets. This algorithm applies the NFSR algorithm for one-dimensional arrays to all the rows as well as the first and last columns of the array. The results from the two column measurements are used to derive a linear term for each row measurement result. These linear terms then are incorporated into the row results to obtain a two-dimensional phase aberration profile. The ambiguity phase aberration profile, which is the difference between the true and the derived phase aberration profiles, of this algorithm is not linear. Two methods, a trial-and-error method and a diagonal-measurement method, are proposed to linearize the ambiguity profile. The performance of these algorithms is analyzed and tested with simulated data sets.     

Stability of Equilibria in a Four-dimensional Nonlinear Model of a Hydraulic Servomechanism

Starting from plysical laws a four-dimensional nonlinear model for mecano-hydraulic servomechanisms is deduced. The stability of its equilibria is analysed using a theorem of Lyapunov and Malkin to handle the critical case due to the presence of zero in the spectrum of the matrix of the linear part around equilibria. Stability diagrams are drawn and simulation results are presented through phase diagrams.     

Analysis and comparison of impairments in differential phase-shift keying and on-off keying transmission systems based on the error probability

The effect of nonlinear phase noise in dispersion-managed optical transmission systems is studied. The variance of the nonlinear phase noise in systems based on differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) in the presence of dispersion is examined analytically, and a semianalytical expression to calculate the error probability including intrachannel four-wave mixing, linear phase noise, and nonlinear phase noise for systems based on DPSK is derived. In addition, for the on-off keying (OOK) format, the formula for the error probability including amplified spontaneous emission noise and intrachannel nonlinear effects has been given. On the basis of the semianalytical expressions, we have compared the error probability of systems based on DPSK and OOK, and the results show that, to reach a given bit error rate of 10(-9) for a specific long-haul system, the difference between the signal-to-noise ratio required by the DPSK format and that required by the OOK format is around 6 dB for the launch power of 0 dBm, and the difference becomes larger as the launch power increases.     

Modeling of soft impingement effect during solid-state partitioning phase transformations in binary alloys

The soft impingement effect at the later stage of partitioning phase transformations has been modeled both for the diffusion-controlled growth model and for the mixed-mode model. Instead of the linear and exponential approximations for the concentration gradient in front of the interface used in the past, a general polynomial method of dealing with the diffusion field is proposed. The linear and exponential diffusion field approximations are two specific cases of the polynomial diffusion field approximation. The effect of soft impingement on the overall partitioning phase transformation is only related to the degree of the super-saturation in case of the diffusion-controlled growth model, while it is determined by both the growth mode and the degree of super-saturation in case of the mixed-mode model.     

Application of phase-to-amplitude conversion technique to linear birefringence measurements

A novel technique that measures the linear birefringence of crystal quartz within the configuration of a Soliel-Babinet compensator (SBC) is proposed. A characteristic of this technique is that phase retardation introduced by quartz is amplitude modulation (AM) instead of phase modulation (PM). The linear birefringence is measured regardless of the azimuth angle of the SBC and the orientation of the linear polarization laser beam. Compared with the single-wedge method, the SBC is similar to a parallel plate that allows for a wider range of refracttive index of the test material to be measured. This proposed method uses a conventional amplitude demodulation method in conjunction with an optical heterodyne technique and a bandpass filter to produce a better signal-to-noise ratio. Although the SBC configuration is more complex than a single element, the independence of azimuth angle and the orientation of the linear polarized laser beam can enhance the sensitivity of the linear birefringence measurement.     

Determination of lead in human saliva by combined cloud point extraction-capillary zone electrophoresis with indirect UV detection

A micelle-mediated phase separation without added chelating agents to preconcentrate trace levels of lead in human saliva as a prior step to its determination by capillary electrophoresis has been developed. The enrichment step is based on the cloud point extraction of lead with the non-ionic surfactant PONPE 7.5 in the absence of chelating agent. The surfactant-rich phase was diluted with acetonitrile and the resultant solution was injected directly into the CE instrument. Factors affecting the combined methodology such as surfactant-rich phase diluting agent, buffer pH and concentration, applied voltage, sample preparation and presence of additives were studied in detail. A BGE of 20 mM imidazole containing 30% acetonitrile, pH 6.20 was found to be optimal for the separation of lead from other saliva constituents. Indirect detection was performed at 205 nm. The detection limit value of lead for the preconcentration of 8 ml of saliva was 11.4 microg l(-1). The calibration graph using the preconcentration system was linear with a correlation coefficient of 0.997 at levels near the detection limits up to at least 400 microg l(-1). The reproducibility (R.S.D.) on the basis of migration time and peak area were better than 0.68 and 3.6%, respectively. The method was successfully applied to the determination of lead in human saliva.     

Direct Static Strain Measurement Utilizing Signal Fading and Spectrum Analysis in a Fibre Optic Interferometric Sensor

Abstract

An accurate linear method of static phase shift measurement in a fibre optic interferometric strain sensor, based on the concurrent utilization of signal fading, photovoltage spectrum analysis and the arctangent function, is presented. The static phase shift is superimposed on a controlled dynamic phase modulation derived from an optical phase modulator in one arm of the interferometer. Good agreement is demonstrated between the phase shift obtained through experiment and that from the theoretical expression. This detection scheme has wide applications to static and dynamic phase shift measurements in fibre optic interferometric sensors, and to optical interferometry in general.