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A multi-channel heterodyne laser interferometer is proposed for the JPL Thermo-Opto-Mechanical Testbed, which requires the measurement of optical surface deformations at the sub-nanometer level.
Topics covered include: Active and Passive Hybrid Sensor; Quick-Response Thermal Actuator for Use as a Heat Switch; System for Hydrogen Sensing; Method for Detecting Perlite Compaction in Large Cryogenic Tanks; Using Thin-Film Thermometers as Heaters in Thermal Control Applications; Directional Spherical Cherenkov Detector; AlGaN Ultraviolet Detectors for Dual-Band UV Detection; K-Band Traveling-Wave Tube Amplifier; Simplified Load-Following Control for a Fuel Cell System; Modified Phase-meter for a Heterodyne Laser Interferometer; Loosely Coupled GPS-Aided Inertial Navigation System for Range Safety; Sideband-Separating, Millimeter-Wave Heterodyne Receiver; Coaxial Propellant Injectors With Faceplate Annulus Control; Adaptable Diffraction Gratings With Wavefront Transformation; Optimizing a Laser Process for Making Carbon Nanotubes; Thermogravimetric Analysis of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes; Robotic Arm Comprising Two Bending Segments; Magnetostrictive Brake; Low-Friction, Low-Profile, High-Moment Two-Axis Joint; Foil Gas Thrust Bearings for High-Speed Turbomachinery; Miniature Multi-Axis Mechanism for Hand Controllers; Digitally Enhanced Heterodyne Interferometry; Focusing Light Beams To Improve Atomic-Vapor Optical Buffers; Landmark Detection in Orbital Images Using Salience Histograms; Efficient Bit-to-Symbol Likelihood Mappings; Capacity Maximizing Constellations; Natural-Language Parser for PBEM; Policy Process Editor for P(sup 3)BM Software; A Quality System Database; Trajectory Optimization: OTIS 4; and Computer Software Configuration Item-Specific Flight Software Image Transfer Script Generator.
The interplanetary orbits of three pairs of spaceprobes carrying laser interferometer antennae are designed such that their miutual distances, i.e., the lengths of the interferometer arms remain nearly constant. The pairs move relative to each other in an equilateral triangle.
The 1 𝑆 0 − 3 𝑃 0 clock transition in strontium serves as the foundation for the world’s best atomic clocks and for gravitational wave detector concepts in clock atom interferometry. This transition is weakly allowed in the fermionic isotope 87 Sr but strongly forbidden in bosonic isotopes. Here, we demonstrate coherent excitation of the clock transition in bosonic 88 Sr using a novel collinear three-photon process in a weak magnetic field. We observe Rabi oscillations with frequencies of up to 50 kHz using W/cm 2 laser intensities and Gauss-level magnetic field amplitudes. The absence of nuclear spin in bosonic isotopes offers decreased sensitivity to magnetic fields and optical lattice light shifts, enabling atomic clocks with reduced systematic errors. The collinear propagation of the laser fields permits the interrogation of spatially separated atomic ensembles with common laser pulses, a key requirement for dark matter searches and gravitational wave detection with next-generation quantum sensors.
Spurious interference limits the performance of many interferometric measurements. Digitally enhanced interferometry (DEI) improves measurement sensitivity by augmenting conventional heterodyne interferometry with pseudo-random noise (PRN) code phase modulation. DEI effectively changes the measurement problem from one of hardware (optics, electronics), which may deteriorate over time, to one of software (modulation, digital signal processing), which does not. DEI isolates interferometric signals based on their delay. Interferometric signals are effectively time-tagged by phase-modulating the laser source with a PRN code. DEI improves measurement sensitivity by exploiting the autocorrelation properties of the PRN to isolate only the signal of interest and reject spurious interference. The properties of the PRN code determine the degree of isolation.
The Orbiting Stellar Interferometer (OSI) is a concept for a first-generation space interferometer with astrometric and imaging capabilities and is responsive to the recommendations of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee for an astrometric interferometry mission. OSI is a triple Michelson interferometer with articulating siderostats and optical delay lines. The design uses a 7m maximum baseline and aperture diameters of 33 cm; the targeted astrometric performance is a wide-field accuracy of 5µas for 20-mag objects. The instrument would also be capable of synthesis imaging with a resolution of 10mas. Laser metrology is used to relax structural requirements thereby reducing cost. The currently envisaged flight system fits into an Atlas II shroud, for insertion into a 900 km sun-synchronous orbit.
An improved system for measuring aerodynamic skin friction which uses a dual-laser-beam oil-film interferometer was developed. Improvements in the optical hardware provided equal signal characteristics for each beam and reduced the cost and complexity of the system by replacing polarization rotation by a mirrored prism for separation of the two signals. An automated, objective, data-reduction procedure was implemented to eliminate tedious manual manipulation of the interferometry data records. The present system was intended for use in two-dimensional, incompressible flows over a smooth, level surface without pressure gradient, but the improvements discussed are not limited to this application.
A geological and geophysical site survey was made of the area around the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) to determine whether there are at present local tectonic movements that could introduce significant errors to Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) geodetic measurements. The site survey consisted of a literature search, photogeologic mapping with Landsat and Skylab photographs, a field reconnaissance, and installation of a seismometer at the NRAO. It is concluded that local tectonic movement will not contribute significantly to VLBI errors. It is recommended that similar site surveys be made of all locations used for VLBI or laser ranging.
Research effort on behalf of the Crustal Dynamics Project focused on the development of methodologies suitable for the analysis of space-geodetic data sets for the estimation of crustal motions, in conjunction with results derived from land-based geodetic data, neo-tectonic studies, and other geophysical data. These methodologies were used to provide estimates of both global plate motions and intraplate deformation in the western U.S. Results from the satellite ranging experiment for the rate of change of the baseline length between San Diego and Quincy, California indicated that relative motion between the North American and Pacific plates over the course of the observing period during 1972 to 1982 were consistent with estimates calculated from geologic data averaged over the past few million years. This result, when combined with other kinematic constraints on western U.S. deformation derived from land-based geodesy, neo-tectonic studies, and other geophysical data, places limits on the possible extension of the Basin and Range province, and implies significant deformation is occurring west of the San Andreas fault. A new methodology was developed to analyze vector-position space-geodetic data to provide estimates of relative vector motions of the observing sites. The algorithm is suitable for the reduction of large, inhomogeneous data sets, and takes into account the full position covariances, errors due to poorly resolved Earth orientation parameters and vertical positions, and reduces baises due to inhomogeneous sampling of the data. This methodology was applied to the problem of estimating the rate-scaling parameter of a global plate tectonic model using satellite laser ranging observations over a five-year interval. The results indicate that the mean rate of global plate motions for that interval are consistent with those averaged over several million years, and are not consistent with quiescent or greatly accelerated plate motions. This methodology was also used to provide constraints on deformation in the western U.S. using very long baseline interferometry observations over a two-year period.
Time variable gravity measurements have been made over the past two decades using the space geodetic technique of satellite laser ranging, and more recently by the GRACE satellite mission with improved spatial resolutions. The degree-2 harmonic components of the time-variable gravity contain important information about the Earth s length-of-day and polar motion excitation functions, in a way independent to the traditional "direct" Earth rotation measurements made by, for example, the very-long-baseline interferometry and GPS. In particular, the (degree=2, order= 1) components give the mass term of the polar motion excitation; the (2,O) component, under certain mass conservation conditions, gives the mass term of the length-of-day excitation. Combining these with yet another independent source of angular momentum estimation calculated from global geophysical fluid models (for example the atmospheric angular momentum, in both mass and motion terms), in principle can lead to new insights into the dynamics, particularly the role or the lack thereof of the cores, in the excitation processes of the Earth rotation variations.
Satellite radar interferometry data from 1995 to 2004, and airborne ice thickness data from 2002, reveal that the glaciers flowing into former Wordie Ice Shelf, West Antarctic Peninsula, discharge 6.8 +/- 0.3 km(exp 3)/yr of ice, which is 84 +/- 30 percent larger than a snow accumulation of 3.7 +/- 0.8 km(exp 3)/yr over a 6,300 km(exp 2) drainage basin. Airborne and ICESat laser altimetry elevation data reveal glacier thinning at rates up to 2 m/yr. Fifty km from its ice front, Fleming Glacier flows 50 percent faster than it did in 1974 prior to the main collapse of Wordie Ice Shelf. We conclude that the glaciers accelerated following ice shelf removal, and have been thinning and losing mass to the ocean over the last decade. This and other observations suggest that the mass loss from the northern part of the Peninsula is not negligible at present.
Contents of this issue are: (1) Energy-Based Tetrahedron Sensor for High-Temperature, High-Pressure Environments (2) Handheld Universal Diagnostic Sensor (3) Large-Area Vacuum Ultraviolet Sensors (4) Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor System for Monitoring Smart Composite Aerospace Structures (5) Health-Enabled Smart Sensor Fusion Technology (6) Extended-Range Passive RFID and Sensor Tags (7) Hybrid Collaborative Learning for Classification and Clustering in Sensor Networks (8) Self-Healing, Inflatable, Rigidizable Shelter (9) Improvements in Cold-Plate Fabrication (10) Technique for Radiometer and Antenna Array Calibration - TRAAC (11) Real-Time Cognitive Computing Architecture for Data Fusion in a Dynamic Environment (12) Programmable Digital Controller (13) Use of CCSDS Packets Over SpaceWire to Control Hardware (14) Key Decision Record Creation and Approval Module (15) Enhanced Graphics for Extended Scale Range (16) Debris Examination Using Ballistic and Radar Integrated Software (17) Data Distribution System (DDS) and Solar Dynamic Observatory Ground Station (SDOGS) (18) Integration Manager (19) Eclipse-Free-Time Assessment Tool for IRIS (20) Automated and Manual Rocket Crater Measurement Software (21) MATLAB Stability and Control Toolbox Trim and Static Stability Module (22) Patched Conic Trajectory Code (23) Ring Image Analyzer (24) SureTrak Probability of Impact Display (25) Implementation of a Non-Metallic Barrier in an Electric Motor (26) Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator Heat Exchangers for the Mars Science Laboratory Rover (27) Uniform Dust Distributor for Testing Radiative Emittance of Dust-Coated Surfaces (28) MicroProbe Small Unmanned Aerial System (29) Highly Stable and Active Catalyst for Sabatier Reactions (30) Better Proton-Conducting Polymers for Fuel-Cell Membranes (31) CCD Camera Lens Interface for Real-Time Theodolite Alignment (32) Peregrine 100-km Sounding Rocket Project (33) SOFIA Closed- and Open-Door Aerodynamic Analyses (34) Sonic Thermometer for High-Altitude Balloons (35) Near-Infrared Photon-Counting Camera for High-Sensitivity Observations (36) Integrated Optics Achromatic Nuller for Stellar Interferometry (37) High-Speed Digital Interferometry (38) Ultra-Miniature Lidar Scanner for Launch Range Data Collection (39) Shape and Color Features for Object Recognition Search (40) Explanation Capabilities for Behavior-Based Robot Control (41) A DNA-Inspired Encryption Methodology for Secure, Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (42) Quality Control Method for a Micro-Nano-Channel Microfabricated Device (43) Corner-Cube Retroreflector Instrument for Advanced Lunar Laser Ranging (44) Electrospray Collection of Lunar Dust (45) Fabrication of a Kilopixel Array of Superconducting Microcalorimeters with Microstripline Wiring Spacecraft Attitude Tracking and Maneuver Using Combined Magnetic Actuators (46) Coherent Detector for Near-Angle Scattering and Polarization Characterization of Telescope Mirror Coatings
Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system and method for performing radio frequency interferometry using optical fiber sensing. Optical fiber sensing is performed as a reference signal is defined and compared, in the optical domain, to incoming signals to obtain interference fringe patterns that can be used to decode phase shift offsets with respect to the designated reference signal. The phase shift offsets can be determined by first optically modulating the reference and incoming signals using a laser source as the carrier. In the optical domain, the reference and incoming signals are combined using an optical coupler and then converted back to the electrical domain for processing.
Cosmic ray isotopic composition studies aboard satellites are normally based on energy detection measurements which require a precise knowledge of matter thickness particle penetration. A laser- interferometer system has been developed to precisely map the thick- ness variations of large-area silicon detectors. Design, operation, and the data processing to derive thickness maps is described.
The Laser Astrometric Test of Relativity (LATOR) is a Michelson-Morley-type experiment designed to test the Einstein's general theory of relativity in the most intense gravitational environment available in the solar system - the close proximity to the Sun.
Laser techniques are widely used for the diagnostics of aerodynamic flow and particle fields. The storage capability of holograms has made this technique an even more powerful. Over 60 researchers in the field of holography, particle sizing and image processing convened to discuss these topics. The research program of ten government laboratories, several universities, industry and foreign countries were presented. A number of papers on holographic interferometry with applications to fluid mechanics were given. Several papers on combustion and particle sizing, speckle velocimetry and speckle interferometry were given. A session on image processing and automated fringe data reduction techniques and the type of facilities for fringe reduction was held.
Interferometry in the mid-infrared atmospheric window (9-12 microns) is extremely challenging because of the high background due to emission from warm telescope optics and the atmosphere itself. During the past twelve years this challenge has been met by the U.C. Berkeley Infrared Spatial Interferometer (ISI), a heterodyne stellar interferometer comprised of two 1.65 m aperture telescopes mounted in custom semi-trailers. Carbon-dioxide laser local oscillators and LN2 cooled HgCdTe photodiodes are used to down-convert radiation at approx. 30 THz into an approximately 5 GHz (DSB) IF band. The maximum baseline at present is 65 m giving a nominal resolution of 16 milliarcsecs. A third telescope is being integrated with the other two and within the next year will operate as an imaging interferometer providing data with three simultaneous baselines and a closure phase, and baselines up to about 75 m.
The determination of pole-position variations from the analysis of 23 days of Global Positioning System (GPS) data continuously collected with a globally distributed, 21-station network is discussed. The comparison of the estimated pole positions from these data with results from 11 very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) experiments conducted during this same interval yields weighted root-mean-square differences about the mean differences of 0.5 mas for both X- and Y-pole position estimates from an analysis using single-day arcs, and 1.0 and 0.8 mas from an analysis using three weekly multiday arcs. These results are of sufficient quality that GPS could provide an alternative technique to VLBI and satellite laser ranging for regular monitoring of high-time-resolution variations in the position of the earth's rotation axis.