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Laser-cooled atoms are used as freefall test masses. The gravitational acceleration on atoms is measured by atom-wave interferometry. The fundamental concept behind atom interferometry is the quantum mechanical particle-wave duality. One can exploit the wave-like nature of atoms to construct an atom interferometer based on matter waves analogous to laser interferometers.
Catalytic surface recombination for measuring diffusion coefficients of atomic oxygen
Residual gas analyzer and leak detector by time of flight measurements on neutral metastable atoms and molecules between pulsed electron gun and auger surface detector
This viewgraph document reviews the atomic calculations and the measurements from the laboratory that are relevant to our understanding of X-Ray Warm Absorbers. Included is a brief discussion of the theoretical and the experimental tools. Also included is a discussion of the challenges, and calculations relevant to dielectronic recombination, photoionization cross sections, and collisional ionization. A review of the models is included, and the sequence that the models were applied.
Excited atomic H state radiative mean life measurements using beam-foil excitation method
Polymers such as polyimide Kapton and Teflon FEP (fluorinated ethylene propylene) are commonly used spacecraft materials due to their desirable properties such as flexibility, low density, and in the case of FEP, a low solar absorptance and high thermal emittance. Polymers on the exterior of spacecraft in the low Earth orbit (LEO) environment are exposed to energetic atomic oxygen. Atomic oxygen reaction with polymers causes erosion, which is a threat to spacecraft durability. It is therefore important to understand the atomic oxygen erosion yield (E, the volume loss per incident oxygen atom) of polymers being considered in spacecraft design. The most common technique for determining E is through mass loss measurements. For limited duration exposure experiments, such as shuttle experiments, where the atomic oxygen fluence is often so low that mass loss measurements can not produce acceptable uncertainties, recession measurements based on atomic force microscopy analyses can be used. Equally necessary to knowing the mass loss or recession depth for determining the erosion yield of polymers is the knowledge of the atomic oxygen fluence that the polymers were exposed to in space. This paper discusses the procedures and relevant issues for mass loss and recession depth measurements for passive atomic oxygen erosion yield characterization of polymers, along with techniques for active atomic oxygen fluence and erosion characterization. One active atomic oxygen erosion technique discussed is a new technique based on optical measurements. Details including the use of both semi-transparent and opaque polymers for active erosion measurement are reviewed.
Laser and optical emission-based measurements have been developed and implemented for use on low-power hydrogen arcjet thrusters and xenon-propelled electric thrusters. In the case of low power hydrogen arcjets, these laser induce fluorescence measurements constitute the first complete set of data that characterize the velocity and temperature field of such a device. The research performed under the auspices of this NASA grant includes laser-based measurements of atomic hydrogen velocity and translational temperature, ultraviolet absorption measurements of ground state atomic hydrogen, Raman scattering measurements of the electronic ground state of molecular hydrogen, and optical emission based measurements of electronically excited atomic hydrogen, electron number density, and electron temperature. In addition, we have developed a collisional-radiative model of atomic hydrogen for use in conjunction with magnetohydrodynamic models to predict the plasma radiative spectrum, and near-electrode plasma models to better understand current transfer from the electrodes to the plasma. In the final year of the grant, a new program aimed at developing diagnostics for xenon plasma thrusters was initiated, and results on the use of diode lasers for interrogating Hall accelerator plasmas has been presented at recent conferences.
The atomic hydrogen distribution at 250 km during December 1974 solstice was inferred, considering charge exchange equilibrium, from Atmosphere Explorer-C measurements of n(H(+)), n(O(+) and N(O). An empirical model, derived from the observations by least suqare analysis in terms of spherical harmonics, has the following characteristics: (1) n(H) increases by as much as a factor of two between the summer and winter hemispheres, (2) the n(H) diurnal variation is largest at the equator and (3) the diurnal variation is larger in the winter hemisphere than in the summer. Similar analysis of the gas temperature derived from n(N2) measurements reveals that all n(H) and Tg spherical harmonic coefficients are anticorrelated. Both the diurnal and latitudinal (annual) n(H) and Tg amplitudes are in substantial agreement with the zero flux condition, in which exospheric flow dominates the hydrogen distribution. The observed diurnal phase lag of n(H) with respect to Tg is about one hour, agreeing with theory.
Atomic beam measure of cesium-cesium total cross section
Mariner 9 ultraviolet spectrometer observations show the Mars airglow consists principally of emissions that arise from the interaction of solar ultraviolet radiation with carbon dioxide, the principal constituent of the Mars atmosphere. Two minor constituents, atomic hydrogen and atomic oxygen, also produce airglow emissions. The airglow measurements show that ionized carbon dioxide is only a minor constituent of the ionosphere. Using the airglow measurements of atomic oxygen, it is possible to infer that the major ion is ionized molecular oxygen. The escape rate of atomic hydrogen measured by Mariner 9 is approximately the same as that measured two years earlier by Mariner 6 and 7. If the current escape rate has been operating for 4.5 billion years and if water vapor is the ultimate source, an amount of oxygen has been generated that is far in excess of that observed at present. Mariner 9 observations of Mars Lyman alpha emission over a period of 120 days show variations of 20%.
Quantitative measurement of atomic photoionization cross sections of atomic hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen
This paper compares recent Hayabusa 2 spectral measurements with state-of-the-art shock-layer radiation simulations resulting from the LAURA/HARA code suite. These simulations include coupled ablation, which accounts for the injection of ablation products into the flowfield, and coupled radiation, which accounts for radiative energy loss in the flowfield. To enable the coupled ablation simulations, a best-estimate model is developed for Hayabusa’s carbon-phenolic ablator, based on the limited available published information. The comparison between the simulations and measurements focuses on two atomic nitrogen lines and two atomic oxygen lines, as well as the CN Violet band system. For the atomic lines, the measurements and simulations agree within 25% over most of the trajectory. This excellent agreement is unprecedented for observed radiation measurements of atomic lines, where previous Stardust and Hayabusa 1 comparisons were significantly worse. The improved agreement for these Hayabusa 2 comparisons is both the result of improved measurement quality and enhanced flowfield/radiation modeling. To provide a link between these observed radiation measurements and the radiative heating to a vehicle surface, the recently developed flowfield property binning approach is used to identify flowfield properties that provide the dominant emission contribution to the measured spectrum. These identified flowfield properties are then shown to match those for the surface radiative heating to the currently developed Mars Sample Return (MSR) Earth Entry System (EES) at a specific trajectory point and surface location. This matching of flowfield properties indicates that this EES radiative heating and Hayabusa 2 observed radiation simulations are equivalent radiation problems. Therefore, the excellent agreement between Hayabusa 2 measurements and simulations may be leveraged to inform the radiation heating margin for the MSR EES.
Measurement of mean lives of excited states in hydrogen
The Copernicus Orbiting Astronomical Observatory was used to obtain measurements of Mars Lyman-alpha (1215.671-angstrom) emission at the solar minimum, which has resulted in the first information on atomic hydrogen concentrations in the upper atmosphere of Mars at the solar minimum. The Copernicus measurements, coupled with the Viking in situ measurements of the temperature (170 plus or minus 30 K) of the upper atmosphere of Mars, indicate that the atomic hydrogen number density at the exobase of Mars (250 kilometers) is about 60 times greater than that deduced from Mariner 6 and 7 Lyman-alpha measurements obtained during a period of high solar activity. The Copernicus results are consistent with Hunten's hypothesis of the diffusion-limited escape of atomic hydrogen from Mars.
Reynolds number, viscosity and atom concentration in hypervelocity nozzles measured using stagnation point heat transfer
Critical atomic carbon to oxygen ratio measurement for incipient soot formation in shock heated acetylene, ethylene and ethane/oxygen/argon mixtures
An electron can possess an electric dipole moment (edm) only if time reversal symmetry (T) is violated. No edm of any particle has yet been discovered. CP-violation, equivalent to T-violation by the CPT theorem, does occur in Kaon decays and can be accounted for by the standard model. However, this mechanism leads to an electron edm d(sub e) of the order of 10(exp -38) e cm, whereas the current experimental bound on d(sub e) is about 10(exp -27) e cm. However, well-motivated extensions of the standard model such as supersymmetric theories do predict that de could be as large as the current bound. In addition, CP violation in the early universe is required to explain the preponderance of matter over anti-matter, but the exact mechanism of this CP violation is unclear. For these reasons, we are undertaking a new experimental program to determine de to an improved accuracy of 10(exp -29) e cm. Our experiment will use laser-cooled, trapped Cesium atoms to measure the atomic edm d(sub Cs) that occurs if d(sub e) is not zero. In order to do this, we will measure the energy splitting between the atoms spin states in parallel electric and magnetic fields. The signature of an edm would be a linear dependence of the splitting on the electric field E due to the interaction - d(sub Cs) dot E. Our measurement will be much more sensitive than previous measurements because atoms can be stored in the trap for tens of seconds, allowing for much narrower Zeeman resonance linewidths. Also, our method eliminates the most important systematic errors, proportional to atomic velocity, which have limited previous experiments. In this presentation, we will describe the design of our new apparatus, which is presently under construction. An important feature of our experimental apparatus is that magnetic field noise will be suppressed to a very low value of the order of 1 fT/(Hz)1/2. This requires careful attention to the Johnson noise currents in the chamber, which have not been important in previous experiments. In addition we will present estimates of the limits of the various errors that we expect for our experiment.
Two objectives were addressed during a 10 week 1988 NASA/ASEE summer faculty fellowship at the Johnson Space Center Atmospheric Reentry Materials Structures Evaluation Facility (ARMSEF). These objectives were the evaluation of mass spectrometry for the measurement of atomic and molecular species in an arc jet environment, and the determination of atomic recombination coefficients for reaction cured glass (RCG) coated high temperature surface insulation (HRSI) materials subjected to simulated reentry conditions. Evaluation of mass spectrometry for the measurement of atomic and molecular species provided some of the first measurements of point compositions in arc jet tunnel environments. A major objective of this project centered around the sampling residence time. A three staged vacuum sampling system pulled the molecules and atoms from the arc jet to a quadrupole ionization mass spectrometer in 400 milliseconds. Conditions investigated included a composition survey across the nozzle exit at 3 cm z-distance from the nozzle exit for 3 different currents. Also, a point composition survey was taken around a shock created by the presence of a blunt body.