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At least 145 records · Page 8

Bayesian Spectral Moment Estimation and Uncertainty Quantification

We present a Bayesian spectral fitting method developed for spectroscopic data analysis, particularly (but not solely) in the context of fusion energy research. The presented techniques are particularly valuable to estimating moments and corresponding uncertainties whenever the spectra result from line-integrated measurements in nonuniform plasmas, for which the approximation of atomic line shapes being ideal Gaussians gives poor estimates. We decompose multiple, potentially overlapping spectral lines into a sum of Gauss-Hermite polynomials, whose properties allow efficient truncation and uncertainty quantification, often with only three free parameters per atomic emission line. Tests with both synthetic and experimental data demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness where more standard nonlinear fitting routines may experience difficulties. A parallelized version of our implementation is publicly released under an open source license.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Modification of conventional peak shapes to accurately represent spectral asymmetry: High-Resolution X-ray photoelectron spectra of [C 4 C 1 Pyrr][NTf 2 ] and [C 8 C 1 Im][NTf 2 ] ionic liquids

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is one of the most widely used techniques for surface characterization. Analysis of XPS data is challenging and requires the analyst to fit the data with synthetic line shapes to reach physically meaningful interpretations. Experimental spectral envelopes, however, are complex and display asymmetric features that are often ignored or attributed to additional chemical components. The high-resolution XPS spectra of [C 4 C 1 Pyrr][NTf 2 ] and [C 8 C 1 Im][NTf 2 ] all exhibit a degree of asymmetry which is systematically observed at the higher binding energy side of photoemission envelopes. Here, we present the development of a refined fitting procedure for XPS spectra of these ionic liquid-based systems which include (a) Shirley background offset necessary to account for the insulator-like region and (b) spectral asymmetry in C 1s and N 1s regions. Further, Shirley and trapezoid components are applied to compensate for inelastic scattering taking place during electron transitions as high as 7.8 eV above the start of the fitting region in C 1s high-resolution spectrum. To demonstrate the fitness of this model, we present an analysis of a 2:1 mixture of [C 4 C 1 Pyrr][NTf 2 ]: [C 8 C 1 Im][NTf 2 ].

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Remote sensing with a tunable alexandrite laser transmitter

A high-resolution, tunable alexandrite laser system is described. Two alexandrite lasers are continuously tunable from 725-790 nm and have a bandwidth of 0.02/cm. The stability of the two lasers is evaluated. The line shape of the laser emission and spectral purity of the system were measured. The data reveal that the output consists of three axial modes with an overall width of 0.026/cm, and the spectral impurity of the alexandrite laser output is less than 0.01 percent. The ground-based lidar system is utilized for measuring atmospheric pressure profiles; the integrated absorption in the wings of lines in the O2 A band is studied to produce the profiles. An example of lidar-collected atmospheric pressure data is presented and compared with radiosonde data; only a 0.3 percent deviation between the data is observed.

Korb, C. L.↗

Impact of Measurement System Characteristics on Advanced Sounder Information Content

Advanced satellite sensors are tasked with improving global observations of the Earth's atmosphere, clouds, and surface to enable enhancements in weather prediction, climate monitoring capability, and environmental change detection. Achieving such an improvement in geophysical information inferred from these observations requires optimal usage of data from current systems as well as instrument system enhancements for future sensors. This presentation addresses results of tradeoff studies evaluating the impact of spectral resolution, spectral coverage, instrument noise, and a priori knowledge on remote sensing system information content, with a specific emphasis on thermodynamic state and trace species information obtainable from advanced atmospheric sounders. Particular attention will be devoted toward information achievable from the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) on the NASA EOS Aqua satellite in orbit since 2002, the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) aboard MetOp-A since 2006, and the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) instrument to fly aboard the NPP and JPSS series of satellites expected to begin in late 2011. While all of these systems cover nearly the same infrared spectral extent, they have very different number of channels, instrument line shapes, coverage continuity, and instrument noise. AIRS is a grating spectrometer having 2378 discrete spectral channels ranging from about 0.4 to 2.2/cm resolution; IASI is a Michelson interferometer with 8461 uniformly-spaced spectral channels of 0.5/cm (apodized) resolution; and CrIS is a Michelson interferometer having 1305 spectral channels of 0.625, 1.250, and 2.50/cm (unapodized) spectral resolution, respectively, over its three continuous but non-overlapping bands. Results of tradeoff studies showing information content sensitivity to assumed measurement system characteristics will be presented.

Larar, Allen M.↗

Heterodyne Spectroscopy in the Thermal Infrared Region: A Window on Physics and Chemistry

The thermal infrared region contains molecular bands of many of the most important species in gaseous astronomical sources. True shapes and frequencies of emission and absorption spectral lines from these constituents of planetary and stellar atmospheres contain unique information on local temperature and abundance distribution, non-thermal effects, composition, local dynamics and winds. Heterodyne spectroscopy in the thermal infrared can remotely measure true line shapes in relatively cool and thin regions and enable the retrieval of detailed information about local physics and chemistry. The concept and techniques for heterodyne detection will be discussed including examples of thermal infrared photomixers and instrumentation used in studies of several astronomical sources. Use of heterodyne detection to study non-LTE phenomena, planetary aurora, minor planetary species and gas velocities (winds) will be discussed. A discussion of future technological developments and relation to space flight missions will be addressed.

Kostiuk, Theodor↗

Development and Characterization of Electrodes for Surface-Specific Attenuated Total Reflection Two-Dimensional Infrared Spectroelectrochemistry

Electrochemical interfaces still have remaining mysteries surrounding the interfacial region of the electrical double layer, despite being prevalent throughout the energy and water remediation industries. The electrical double layer is where many important dynamic processes such as catalysis and electron transfer occur. The goal of this work is to study the electrical double layer with two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) spectroscopy to experimentally access the details of the structural dynamics of this complex environment. However, there are several experimental challenges to applying 2D IR spectroscopy to this application, such as assuring the surface specificity of the spectrum, optimizing the signal strength while minimizing spectral distortions from dispersion and Fano line shapes, and selecting electrode materials that are both sufficiently IR compatible and conductive. Here we will discuss various considerations when designing 2D IR experiments of electrode interfaces utilizing several substrates and experimental configurations and demonstrate a robust method for 2D IR experiments of electrode interfaces under applied potential that combines nonconducting Si ATR wafers with conductive ITO and thin nanostructured films of plasmonically active Au functionalized with 3-mercapto-2-butanone (MCB). We show that layered electrodes on thin Si ATR wafers with MCB are sensitive to applied potential and that the distortions in the linear and 2D IR spectra are heavily dependent on the morphology of the Au surface.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Burst detection capability of the Mars Observer gamma-ray spectrometer

This paper describes the gamma-ray burst detection capability of the gamma-ray spectrometer on board the Mars Observer spacecraft. The instrument is designed to respond to significant bursts by suspending its observation of the Martian surface in favor of optimizing the collection of pre-burst, burst, and post-burst data. The results are expected to contribute to our understanding of gamma-ray bursts through a high energy resolution search for line emission, by the examination of spectral shapes and by comprising one leg of an arrival time network to determine the direction of origin.

Metzger, Albert E.↗

Intrinsic Line Shape Measurements of the XRS Instrument on Astro-E2

The XRS instrument on the Astro-E2 observatory contains a substantially improved microcalorimeter array over the Astro-E mission. In addition to roughly a factor of 2 improvement in the detector resolution at 6 keV, the detector response is shown to be almost perfectly gaussian. We have made measurements of the detector response of the flight instrument, using a double crystal monochrometer at 4 and 8 keV, a 55-Fe internal conversion source, and x-ray induced fluorescence from a number of targets including Ti, Cu, and GaAs. The detector response has been measured to be entirely gaussian to at least 2 orders of magnitude down from the peak of the line or line complex. This is in sharp contrast to the results from the XRS on Astro-E where many channels exhibited excess counts on the high energy side of the spectral lines. Here we present details of the line shape measurement as well as the detector response as measured during the XRS ground calibration including details of the line fits and line models.

Porter, F. Scott↗

Quantitative observations of the behavior of anomalous low altitude ClO in the Antarctic spring Stratosphere, 1987

During the second National Ozone Expedition ground-based observations at McMurdo Station Antarctica were performed which resulted in a second season's measurement of abnormally large amounts of ClO in the Antarctic spring stratosphere. The original measurements of 1986, in which the presence of this anomalous layer was first discovered, were limited in low altitude recovery of the ClO mixing ratio profile by the restrictions of the spectral bandwidth (256 MHz) which was used to measure the pressure-broadened ClO emission line shape. The 1987 measurements were marked by the use of twice the spectral bandpass employed the previous year, and allow a better characterization of the ClO mixing ratio profile in the critical altitude range 18 to 25 km. In-situ aircraft measurements of ClO made over the Palmer Peninsula during Aug. and Sept. of 1987 by Anderson, et al. effectively determined the important question of the ClO mixing ratio profile at altitudes inaccessible to our technique, below approximately 18 to 18.5 km. These flights did not penetrate further than 75 deg S, however, (vs 78 deg S for McMurdo) and were thus limited to coverage near the outer boundaries of the region of severest ozone depletion over Antarctica in 1987, did not reach an altitude convincingly above that of the peak mixing ratio for ClO, and were not able to make significant observations of the diurnal variation of ClO. The two techniques, and the body of data recovered by each, thus complement one another in producing a full picture of the anomalous ClO layer intimately connected with the region of Antarctic spring ozone depletion. An analysis is presented of the mixing ratio profile from approximately 18 to 45 km, the diurnal behavior, and the secular change in ClO over McMurdo Station during Sept. and early Oct. 1987.

Dezafra, R. L.↗

H β and H γ Absorption-line Profile Inconsistencies in Laboratory Experiments Performed at White Dwarf Photosphere Conditions

The spectroscopic method relies on hydrogen Balmer absorption lines to infer white dwarf (WD) masses. These masses depend on the choice of atmosphere model, hydrogen atomic line shape calculation, and which Balmer series members are included in the spectral fit. In addition to those variables, spectroscopic masses disagree with those derived using other methods. Here we present laboratory experiments aimed at investigating the main component of the spectroscopic method: hydrogen line shape calculations. These experiments use X-rays from Sandia National Laboratories’ Z-machine to create a uniform ~15 cm 3 hydrogen plasma and a ~4 eV backlighter that enables recording high-quality absorption spectra. The large plasma, volumetric X-ray heating that fosters plasma uniformity, and the ability to collect absorption spectra at WD photosphere conditions are improvements over past laboratory experiments. Analysis of the experimental absorption spectra reveals that electron density (n e ) values derived from the Hγ line are ~34% ± 7.3% lower than from Hβ. Two potential systematic errors that may contribute to this difference were investigated. A detailed evaluation of self-emission and plasma gradients shows that these phenomena are unlikely to produce any measurable Hβ–Hγ n e difference. WD masses inferred with the spectroscopic method are proportional to the photosphere density. Hence, the measured Hβ–Hγ n e difference is qualitatively consistent with the trend that WD masses inferred from their Hβ line are higher than that resulting from the analysis of Hβ and Hγ. In conclusion, this evidence may suggest that current hydrogen line shape calculations are not sufficiently accurate to capture the intricacies of the Balmer series.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

A new inversion method of remote sounding of planetary atmospheres

A new inversion method for remote sounding of planetary atmospheres is presented which appears to have several significant advantages over the conventional methods. This method is applicable to high-resolution observations where the spectral lines are fully resolved and is based on matching the calculated slopes of the spectral line profiles with slopes of the observed line shapes. The method is applied to inversion of ozone absorption lines in the earth's atmosphere, and the results are compared with those obtained by a conventional method. The proposed method is seen to provide a significant improvement in the overall accuracy of the retrieved profiles, with higher vertical resolution and higher levels which may be probed.

Abbas, M. M.↗

Spontaneous radiation from relativistic electrons in a tapered undulator

The spectrum, angular distribution, polarization, and coherence properties of the radiation emitted by relativistic electrons undulating through a quasiperiodic tapered magnetic field are studied. Tapering the wavelength and/or field strength along the undulator's axis has the effect of spreading the spectral line to higher frequencies; interference over this broader spectral range results in a more complex line shape. The angular dependence, on the other hand, is not affected by the amount of taper. The polarization of the radiation in the forward direction is determined by the transverse polarization of the undulator, but the polarization changes off axis. The radiation patterns predicted here are distinct from those of untapered undulators and their detection is now feasible. They will provide useful diagnostics of electron trajectories and threshold behavior in free-electron-laser oscillators using tapered undulators.

Bosco, P.↗

Effective Frequency Technique

An effective monochromatic frequency technique is described to represent the effects of finite spectral bandwidth for active and passive measurements centered on an absorption line, a trough region, or a slowly varying spectral feature. For Gaussian and rectangular laser line shapes, the effective frequency is shown to have a simple form which depends only on the instrumental line shape and bandwidth and not on the absorption line profile. The technique yields accuracies better than 0.1% for bandwidths less than 0.2 times the atmospheric line width.

Kirk, C. Laurence↗

The HITRAN2016 Molecular Spectroscopic Database

This paper describes the contents of the 2016 edition of the HITRAN molecular spectroscopic compilation. The new edition replaces the previous HITRAN edition of 2012 and its updates during the intervening years. The HITRAN molecular absorption compilation is composed of five major components: the traditional line-by-line spectroscopic parameters required for high-resolution radiative-transfer codes, infrared absorption cross-sections for molecules not yet amenable to representation in a line-by-line form, collision-induced absorption data, aerosol indices of refraction, and general tables such as partition sums that apply globally to the data. The new HITRAN is greatly extended in terms of accuracy, spectral coverage, additional absorption phenomena, added line-shape formalisms, and validity. Moreover, molecules, isotopologues, and perturbing gases have been added that address the issues of atmospheres beyond the Earth. Of considerable note, experimental IR cross-sections for almost 300 additional molecules important in different areas of atmospheric science have been added to the database. The compilation can be accessed through www.hitran.org. Most of the HITRAN data have now been cast into an underlying relational database structure that offers many advantages over the long-standing sequential text-based structure. The new structure empowers the user in many ways. It enables the incorporation of an extended set of fundamental parameters per transition, sophisticated line-shape formalisms, easy user-defined output formats, and very convenient searching, filtering, and plotting of data. A powerful application programming interface making use of structured query language (SQL) features for higher-level applications of HITRAN is also provided.

HITRAN↗

Hyperfine structure and isotope shifts of xenon measured for near-infrared transitions with Doppler-free saturated absorption spectroscopy

Hyperfine structure and isotope shifts of Xe were investigated with Doppler-free saturated absorption spectroscopy for all transitions in the 820-841 nm spectral interval. The Xe samples were commercial gases of natural isotopic abundances. The measurements were performed by employing a widely tunable narrow line Ti:sapphire laser. The hyperfine structures for 129 Xe and 131 Xe were well resolved. For the transitions with the wavelengths in vacuum near 820.860 nm and 841.150 nm also isotope shifts of the even isotopes were clearly observed. The modeling of the shapes of the observed absorption lines qualitatively reproduces experimental spectral profiles. The measured absorption peaks of the hyperfine structure and isotope shifts of Xe isotopes present characteristic spectral fingerprints for their identification. Eventually, quantitative spectral analysis will provide isotopic abundances of natural, as well as radioactive Xe gas samples.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Method for decomposing observed line shapes resulting from multiple causes - Application to plasma charge-exchange-neutral spectra

A method is given for decomposing the widths of observed spectral lines resulting from unresolved line splitting, additive kinetic processes of different types, instrumental broadening (slit function), Doppler broadening, etc. all superimposed. The second moments are used as measures of the various widths involved. The method is not applicable if dispersion type (Lorentz) broadening occurs. Application is made to plasma charge-exchange-neutral spectra of hydrogen, deuterium, and helium.

Patch, R. W.↗

A Multiwavelength View of IC 860: What Is in Action inside Quenching Galaxies

We present a multiwavelength study of IC 860, a nearby post-starburst galaxy at the early stage of transitioning from blue and star forming to red and quiescent. Optical images reveal a galaxy-wide, dusty outflow originating from a compact core. We find evidence for a multiphase outflow in the molecular and neutral gas phase from the CO position–velocity diagram and NaD absorption features. We constrain the neutral mass outflow rate to be ~0.5 M ⊙ yr -1 , and the total hydrogen mass outflow rate to be ~12 M ⊙ yr -1 . Neither outflow component seems able to escape the galaxy. We also find evidence for a recent merger in the optical images, CO spatial distribution, and kinematics, and evidence for a buried active galactic nucleus in the optical emission line ratios, mid-IR properties, and radio spectral shape. The depletion time of the molecular gas reservoir under the current star formation rate is ~7 Gyr, indicating that the galaxy could stay at the intermediate stage between the blue and red sequence for a long time. Thus the timescales for a significant decline in star formation rate (quenching) and gas depletion are not necessarily the same. Our analysis supports the quenching picture where outflows help suppress star formation by disturbing rather than expelling the gas and shed light on possible ongoing activities in similar quenching galaxies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗