539 research outputs found
State-of-the art of acousto-optic sensing and imaging of turbid media
Acousto-optic (AO) is an emerging hybrid technique for measuring optical contrast in turbid media using coherent light and ultrasound (US). A turbid object is illuminated with a coherent light source leading to speckle formation in the remitted light. With the use of US, a small volume is selected,which is commonly referred to as the “tagging” volume. This volume acts as a source of modulated light, where modulation might involve phase and intensity change. The tagging volume is created by focusing ultrasound for good lateral resolution; the axial resolution is accomplished by making either the US frequency, amplitude, or phase time-dependent. Typical resolutions are in the order of 1 mm. We will concentrate on the progress in the field since 2003. Different schemes will be discussed to detect the modulated photons based on speckle detection, heterodyne detection, photorefractive crystal (PRC) assisted detection, and spectral hole burning (SHB) as well as Fabry-Perot interferometers. The SHB and Fabry-Perot interferometer techniques are insensitive to speckle decorrelation and therefore suitable for in vivo imaging. However, heterodyne and PRC methods also have potential for in vivo measurements. Besides measuring optical properties such as scattering and absorption, AO can be applied in fluorescence and elastography applications
From Laser Speckle to Particle Size Distribution in drying powders: A Physics-Enhanced AutoCorrelation-based Estimator (PEACE)
Extracting quantitative information about highly scattering surfaces from an
imaging system is challenging because the phase of the scattered light
undergoes multiple folds upon propagation, resulting in complex speckle
patterns. One specific application is the drying of wet powders in the
pharmaceutical industry, where quantifying the particle size distribution (PSD)
is of particular interest. A non-invasive and real-time monitoring probe in the
drying process is required, but there is no suitable candidate for this
purpose. In this report, we develop a theoretical relationship from the PSD to
the speckle image and describe a physics-enhanced autocorrelation-based
estimator (PEACE) machine learning algorithm for speckle analysis to measure
the PSD of a powder surface. This method solves both the forward and inverse
problems together and enjoys increased interpretability, since the machine
learning approximator is regularized by the physical law
Orbits and Masses in the T Tauri System
We investigate the binary star T Tauri South, presenting the orbital
parameters of the two components and their individual masses. We combined
astrometric positions from the literature with previously unpublished VLT
observations. Model fits yield the orbital elements of T Tau Sa and Sb. We use
T Tau N as an astrometric reference to derive an estimate for the mass ratio of
Sa and Sb. Although most of the orbital parameters are not well constrained, it
is unlikely that T Tau Sb is on a highly elliptical orbit or escaping from the
system. The total mass of T Tau S is rather well constrained to 3.0 +0.15/-0.24
M_sun. The mass ratio Sb:Sa is about 0.4, corresponding to individual masses of
M_Sa = 2.1+/-0.2 M_sun and M_Sb = 0.8+/-0.1 M_sun. This confirms that the
infrared companion in the T Tauri system is a pair of young stars obscured by
circumstellar material.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysic
Fundamental limitations on Earth-like planet detection with Extremely Large Telescopes
We analyse the fundamental limitations for the detection of extraterrestrial
planets with Extremely Large Telescopes. For this task, a coronagraphic device
combined to a very high order wavefront correction system is required but not
sufficient to achieve the contrast level needed for detecting an
Earth-like planet. The stellar residuals left uncorrected by the wavefront
correction system need to be calibrated and subtracted. In this paper, we
consider a general model including the dynamic phase aberrations downstream the
wavefront correction system, the static phase aberrations of the instrument and
some differential aberrations provided by the calibration unit. A rather
optimistic case of a filled circular pupil and of a perfect coronagraph is
elsewhere assumed. As a result of the analytical study, the limitation mostly
comes from the static aberrations. Using numerical simulations we confirm this
result and evaluate the requirements in terms of phase aberrations to detect
Earth-like planets on Extremely Large Telescopes.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, accepted in A&
The effects of disk and dust structure on observed polarimetric images of protoplanetary disks
Imaging polarimetry is a powerful tool for imaging faint circumstellar
material. For a correct analysis of observations we need to fully understand
the effects of dust particle parameters, as well as the effects of the
telescope, atmospheric seeing, and assumptions about the data reduction and
processing of the observed signal. Here we study the major effects of dust
particle structure, size-dependent grain settling, and instrumental properties.
We performed radiative transfer modeling using different dust particle models
and disk structures. To study the influence of seeing and telescope diffraction
we ran the models through an instrument simulator for the ExPo dual-beam
imaging polarimeter mounted at the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope (WHT).
Particle shape and size have a strong influence on the brightness and
detectability of the disks. In the simulated observations, the central
resolution element also contains contributions from the inner regions of the
protoplanetary disk besides the unpolarized central star. This causes the
central resolution element to be polarized, making simple corrections for
instrumental polarization difficult. This effect strongly depends on the
spatial resolution, so adaptive optics systems are needed for proper
polarization calibration. We find that the commonly employed homogeneous sphere
model gives results that differ significantly from more realistic models. For a
proper analysis of the wealth of data available now or in the near future, one
must properly take the effects of particle types and disk structure into
account. The observed signal depends strongly on the properties of these more
realistic models, thus providing a potentially powerful diagnostic. We conclude
that it is important to correctly understand telescope depolarization and
calibration effects for a correct interpretation of the degree of polarization.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
DeepOrientation: convolutional neural network for fringe pattern orientation map estimation
Fringe pattern based measurement techniques are the state-of-the-art in
full-field optical metrology. They are crucial both in macroscale, e.g., fringe
projection profilometry, and microscale, e.g., label-free quantitative phase
microscopy. Accurate estimation of the local fringe orientation map can
significantly facilitate the measurement process on various ways, e.g., fringe
filtering (denoising), fringe pattern boundary padding, fringe skeletoning
(contouring/following/tracking), local fringe spatial frequency (fringe period)
estimation and fringe pattern phase demodulation. Considering all of that the
accurate, robust and preferably automatic estimation of local fringe
orientation map is of high importance. In this paper we propose novel numerical
solution for local fringe orientation map estimation based on convolutional
neural network and deep learning called DeepOrientation. Numerical simulations
and experimental results corroborate the effectiveness of the proposed
DeepOrientation comparing it with the representative of the classical approach
to orientation estimation called combined plane fitting/gradient method. The
example proving the effectiveness of DeepOrientation in fringe pattern
analysis, which we present in this paper is the application of DeepOrientation
for guiding the phase demodulation process in Hilbert spiral transform. In
particular, living HeLa cells quantitative phase imaging outcomes verify the
method as an important asset in label-free microscopy
Absolute Power Measurements for Advanced LIGO Photon Calibrator
Since its first detection in 2015, the Light Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory has been notably recognized for the successful measurement of gravitational waves. The successful detection of gravitational-waves comes from the effort of more than a thousand scientist working in collaboration. To characterize the change in displacement of the ETMs, LIGO uses several methods of calibration. The Photon Calibrator has gained significance to the point of becoming the primary calibration tool for the Advanced LIGO detectors. Relying on photon radiation pressure to calibrate the interferometer, the photon calibrator measures the change in displacement of the ETM in relation to the power modulation of a secondary laser beam incident on the ETM. The PCal main task is to accurately measure power from a laser source. This thesis aims to reproduce the integrating spheres calibration setup done at the LIGO-Hanford Observatory. An enhancement to the process of calibration is presented by modifying the method in which the thermal coefficient is measured. A detailed explanation of the physics of the integrating spheres used in this experiment is given. the thesis will discuss on the results discrepancies due to the use of different equipment, and conclude with the implementation of new equipment and potential upgrades on the composition of future experiments
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