Optimal Image Reconstruction in Radio Interferometry

We introduce a method for analyzing radio interferometry data which produces maps which are optimal in the Bayesian sense of maximum posterior probability density, given certain prior assumptions. It is similar to maximum entropy techniques, but with an exact accounting of the multiplicity instead of the usual approximation involving Stirling's formula. It also incorporates an Occam factor, automatically limiting the effective amount of detail in the map to that justified by the data. We use Gibbs sampling to determine, to any desired degree of accuracy, the multi-dimensional posterior density distribution. From this we can construct a mean posterior map and other measures of the posterior density, including confidence limits on any well-defined function of the posterior map.Comment: 41 pages, 11 figures. High resolution figures 8 and 9 available at http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~bwandelt/SuttonWandelt200

Multifrequency Aperture-Synthesizing Microwave Radiometer System (MFASMR). Volume 1

Background material and a systems analysis of a multifrequency aperture - synthesizing microwave radiometer system is presented. It was found that the system does not exhibit high performance because much of the available thermal power is not used in the construction of the image and because the image that can be formed has a resolution of only ten lines. An analysis of image reconstruction is given. The system is compared with conventional aperture synthesis systems

Antenna beamforming using optical processing

This work concerns itself with the analytical investigation into the feasibility of optical processor based beamforming for microwave array antennas. The primary focus is on systems utilizing the 20 and 30 GHz communications band and a transmit configuration exclusively to serve this band. A mathematical model is developed for computation of candidate design configurations. The model is capable of determination of the necessary design parameters required for both spatial aspects of the microwave footprint (beam) formation as well as transmitted signal quality. Computed example beams transmitted from geosynchronous orbit are presented to demonstrate network capabilities. A comprehensive device/component survey is also conducted in parallel to determine the feasibility of breadboarding a transmit processor. Recommendations are made for the configuration of such a processor and the components which would comprise such a network

Storage of Short Light Pulses in a Fiber-Based Atom-Cavity System

In this work I theoretically investigate and experimentally realize the storage of short light-pulses in a fiber-based atom-cavity system. Our miniaturized optical resonator - with seven times the natural atomic linewidth and a small mode volume - simultaneously ensures a high bandwidth and operation in the strong-coupling regime. In particular, it enables the storage of light pulses with on average one photon and a temporal extent of less than 10 ns, which is more than a factor of two shorter than the atomic excited state lifetime of rubidium. We obtain a storage efficiency of 8 %, consistent with both cavity losses and the employed level scheme. In order to improve the coupling and number of measurements for which a single atom can be recycled, we use dipole-trap assisted, degenerate Raman sideband cooling and a further development of our carrier-free Raman sideband cooling scheme, which permits a three-dimensional ground state population of 70 %. The new techniques increase the measurement repetition rate by two orders of magnitude to ~ 2 kHz. Moreover, for the first time we achieve a Zeeman state preparation fidelity above 95 % in our experiment. On this basis, I present the deterministic generation of single photons in the near-adiabatic limit. By shaping the control laser pulse, we do not only show that we can control the temporal waveform of retrieved photons, but also reach a faster extraction from the cavity-coupled atom than possible in free-space. The quantum nature of the retrieved light is verified by measuring a second-order correlation function, which yields the expected antibunching. Moreover, the generation of photons in the cavity mode with an efficiency exceeding 66 % is used as a fast hyperfine-state detection method, since our traditional, non-destructive state detection via a probe laser is no longer applicable in a Raman configuration due to the absence of a cycling transition. In order to realize Raman coupling between the two hyperfine ground states, we develop a scheme for shifting the cavity resonance frequency between two hyperfine transitions. During the scan, we are furthermore able to determine the atom-cavity coupling strength via the vacuum Rabi splitting in each individual measurement - a useful tool for post-selection of acquired data sets. By employing a numerical simulation based on a full quantum-mechanical master equation, I find the strategy to store a coherent laser pulse with the maximum possible efficiency for a given system. Although the cavity input field is treated classically, our simulation model is able to calculate efficiencies for a pure single-photon Fock-state input. Moreover, numerical optimal control methods enable us to find control pulses with storage efficiencies slightly above those achieved for temporally-scaled adiabatic control pulses. For our specific system, we finally demonstrate the non-adiabatic storage of a short, coherent light pulse. The ability to interact with pulses of high bandwidths encourages quantum hybrid experiments with quantum dots as single-photon sources. In this context, the stabilization of their emission frequency to an atomic transition is required. In collaboration with the IFW Dresden, I present a technique to counteract long-term frequency drifts by applying rate-based feedback to a strain-tunable quantum dot, which results in frequency deviations smaller than 1.5 % of its emission linewidth. By simultaneously stabilizing the emission frequency of two quantum dots in separate cryostats, we enhance their two-photon interference visibility in a Hong-Ou-Mandel measurement from 31 % to 41 %, which corresponds to the maximum reachable visibility for the given emitters. Frequency-stable, efficient photon sources together with atom-cavity based quantum memories may facilitate the realization of quantum networks

The Telecommunications and Data Acquisition Report

This publication, one of a series formerly titled The Deep Space Network Progress Report, documents DSN progress in flight project support, tracking and data acquisition research and technology, network engineering, hardware and software implementation, and operations. In addition, developments in Earth-based radio technology as applied to geodynamics, astrophysics and the radio search for extraterrestrial intelligence are reported

Microwave control of atomic motion in a spin dependent optical lattice

The subject of this work is the control of the quantum mechanical motional state of trapped neutral Cesium atoms. This is accomplished using a rarely considered method based on microwave radiation in combination with a spin dependent optical lattice potential. The setup used was designed to trap and to store on the order of ten atoms in a one dimensional optical lattice. Fluorescence imaging allows to determine both, the number and the position of the atoms. The spin degree of freedom is manipulated using microwave radiation and the trapping potential allows to shift the atoms to the 'left' or to the 'right' along the potential axis, depending on their spin orientation. A microwave spectrum with a slightly displaced lattice exhibits sideband peaks corresponding to a change of the vibrational quantum number. This is the mechanism which introduces coupling between the spin and the motional degree of freedom. The work draws parallels to the usually used sideband technique based on optical transitions instead of microwaves and exploiting the photon recoil instead of a state dependent potential. Similar to the optical method the microwave based approach allows for the realization of a resolved-sideband cooling technique which efficiently prepares the atomic ensemble in the motional ground state. Starting from this purified quantum mechanical state, other interesting states are prepared using successive sideband transitions. The result of the preparation is probed by implementing filtering schemes for the motional state. With this control technique the experimental setup in total is capable to control the spin, the position along the one dimensional periodic potential and the vibrational state of the atoms.Mikrowellenbasierte Kontrolle über den atomaren Bewegungszustand in einem optischen Gitter Das Thema dieser Arbeit ist die Manipulation der quantenmechanischen Ortswellenfunktion von neutralen Cäsiumatomen, die sich wohl lokalisiert in dem Potential einer Dipolfalle befinden. Dazu wird eine wenig untersuchte Methode verwendet, die auf Mikrowellenübergängen in Kombination mit einem spinabhängigen Potential basiert. Der verwendete Aufbau ist dafür konzipiert worden, etwa zehn Atome in einem eindimensionalen optischen Gitter zu speichern. Die Anzahl der Atome und deren Position entlang der Potentialachse werden durch Fluoreszenzabbildung bestimmt. Während der atomare Spin mittels Mikrowellenpulsen manipuliert werden kann, erlaubt die Dipolfalle den Transport von Atomen nach 'links' oder nach 'rechts', abhängig von deren Spinausrichtung. Ein Mikrowellenspektrum in einer Konfiguration mit leicht versetzten spinabhängigen Potentialen weist Seitenbänder auf, die von einem Wechsel der vibronischen Quantenzahl herrühren. Dieser Mechanismus stellt die Grundlage für die Kopplung zwischen dem Spin- und dem Vibrationsfreiheitsgrad dar. In der Arbeit werden die Parallelen aufgezeigt zu der üblicherweise verwendeten Seitenbandmethode, die auf optischen Übergängen statt auf Mikrowellen basiert und den Photonenrückstoß ausnutzt anstatt ein spinabhängiges Potential. Ähnlich zu der optischen Methode erlaubt der mikrowellenbasierte Ansatz die Implementierung eines Seitenbandkühlschemas, was das atomare Ensemble effizient im vibronischen Grundzustand präpariert. Ausgehend von dem reinen quantenmechanischen Ausgangszustand lassen sich durch sukzessive Anwendung von Seitenbandübergängen weitere interessante Bewegungszustände präparieren. Das Resultat wird durch ein Filterschema für die Vibrationsquantenzahl verifiziert. Insgesamt bietet der experimenteller Aufbau damit die Kontrolle über den Spinfreiheitsgrad, über die Position der Atome entlang des periodischen Potentials und über die atomare Ortswellenfunktion

34th Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems-Final Program

Organized by the Naval Postgraduate School Monterey California. Cosponsored by the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society. Symposium Organizing Committee: General Chairman-Sherif Michael, Technical Program-Roberto Cristi, Publications-Michael Soderstrand, Special Sessions- Charles W. Therrien, Publicity: Jeffrey Burl, Finance: Ralph Hippenstiel, and Local Arrangements: Barbara Cristi

Digital Image Processing

Newspapers and the popular scientific press today publish many examples of highly impressive images. These images range, for example, from those showing regions of star birth in the distant Universe to the extent of the stratospheric ozone depletion over Antarctica in springtime, and to those regions of the human brain affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Processed digitally to generate spectacular images, often in false colour, they all make an immediate and deep impact on the viewer’s imagination and understanding. Professor Jonathan Blackledge’s erudite but very useful new treatise Digital Image Processing: Mathematical and Computational Methods explains both the underlying theory and the techniques used to produce such images in considerable detail. It also provides many valuable example problems - and their solutions - so that the reader can test his/her grasp of the physical, mathematical and numerical aspects of the particular topics and methods discussed. As such, this magnum opus complements the author’s earlier work Digital Signal Processing. Both books are a wonderful resource for students who wish to make their careers in this fascinating and rapidly developing field which has an ever increasing number of areas of application. The strengths of this large book lie in: • excellent explanatory introduction to the subject; • thorough treatment of the theoretical foundations, dealing with both electromagnetic and acoustic wave scattering and allied techniques; • comprehensive discussion of all the basic principles, the mathematical transforms (e.g. the Fourier and Radon transforms), their interrelationships and, in particular, Born scattering theory and its application to imaging systems modelling; discussion in detail - including the assumptions and limitations - of optical imaging, seismic imaging, medical imaging (using ultrasound), X-ray computer aided tomography, tomography when the wavelength of the probing radiation is of the same order as the dimensions of the scatterer, Synthetic Aperture Radar (airborne or spaceborne), digital watermarking and holography; detail devoted to the methods of implementation of the analytical schemes in various case studies and also as numerical packages (especially in C/C++); • coverage of deconvolution, de-blurring (or sharpening) an image, maximum entropy techniques, Bayesian estimators, techniques for enhancing the dynamic range of an image, methods of filtering images and techniques for noise reduction; • discussion of thresholding, techniques for detecting edges in an image and for contrast stretching, stochastic scattering (random walk models) and models for characterizing an image statistically; • investigation of fractal images, fractal dimension segmentation, image texture, the coding and storing of large quantities of data, and image compression such as JPEG; • valuable summary of the important results obtained in each Chapter given at its end; • suggestions for further reading at the end of each Chapter. I warmly commend this text to all readers, and trust that they will find it to be invaluable. Professor Michael J Rycroft Visiting Professor at the International Space University, Strasbourg, France, and at Cranfield University, England

Imaging with Diffraction Tomography

The problem of cross sectional (tomographic) imaging bf objects with diffracting sources is addressed. Specifically the area of investigation is the effect of multiple scattering and attenuation phenomena in diffraction imaging. This work reviews the theory and limits of first order diffraction tomography and studies iterative techniques that can be used to improve the quality of tomographic imaging with diffracting sources. Conventional (straight-ray) tomographic algorithms are not valid when used with acoustic or microwave energy. Thus more sophisticated algorithms are needed; First order diffraction tomography uses a linearized version of the wave equation and gives an especially simple reconstruction algorithm. This work reviews first order approximations to the scattered field and studies the quality of the reconstructions when the assumptions behind these approximations are violated. It will be shown that the Born approximation is valid when the phase change across the object is less than it and the Rytov approximation is valid when the refractive index changes by less than two or three percent. Better reconstructions will be based on higher order approximations to the scattered field. This work describes two fixed point algorithms (the Born and the Rytov approximations) and an algebraic approach to more accurately calculate the scattered fields. The limits of each of these approaches is discussed and simulated results are shown. Finally a review of higher order inversion techniques is presented. Each of these techniques is reviewed and some of their limitations are discussed