264 research outputs found
Improved cover for cadmium sulfide solar cells
Solar cell performance and radiation resistance is improved by application of 1-mil thickness of Teflon FEP protective material. Cells produce 30 percent more power than similar cells with conventional Kapton covers
Flexible, low-cost silicon solar cell arrays
Silicon solar cell arrays are pressure-bonded to flexible backing and protected by fluorinated ethylene propylene cover in one mechanized operation. Arrays packaged by this method are flexible, lightweight, insulated, breakage resistant and less expensive
Method of making silicon solar cell array
A heat sealable transparent plastic film, such as a flourinated ethylene propylene copolymer, is used both as a cover material and as an adhesive for mounting a solar cell array to a flexible substrate
Optical constants of silicon carbide for astrophysical applications. II. Extending optical functions from IR to UV using single-crystal absorption spectra
Laboratory measurements of unpolarized and polarized absorption spectra of
various samples and crystal stuctures of silicon carbide (SiC) are presented
from 1200--35,000 cm ( 8--0.28 m) and used to improve
the accuracy of optical functions ( and ) from the infrared (IR) to the
ultraviolet (UV). Comparison with previous 6--20 m
thin-film spectra constrains the thickness of the films and verifies that
recent IR reflectivity data provide correct values for in the IR region. We
extract and needed for radiative transfer models using a new
``difference method'', which utilizes transmission spectra measured from two
SiC single-crystals with different thicknesses. This method is ideal for
near-IR to visible regions where absorbance and reflectance are low and can be
applied to any material. Comparing our results with previous UV measurements of
SiC, we distinguish between chemical and structural effects at high frequency.
We find that for all spectral regions, 3C (-SiC) and the polarization of 6H (a type of -SiC) have almost identical
optical functions that can be substituted for each other in modeling
astronomical environments. Optical functions for of 6H SiC
have peaks shifted to lower frequency, permitting identification of this
structure below m. The onset of strong UV absorption for pure
SiC occurs near 0.2 m, but the presence of impurities redshifts the rise
to 0.33 m. Optical functions are similarly impacted. Such large
differences in spectral characteristics due to structural and chemical effects
should be observable and provide a means to distinguish chemical variation of
SiC dust in space.Comment: 46 pages inc. 8 figures and 2 full tables. Also 6 electronic-only
data files. Accepted by Ap
Constraints on mixing angles of Majorana neutrinos
By combining the inputs from the neutrinoless double beta decay and the fits
of cosmological models of dark matter with solar and atmospheric neutrino data,
we obtain constraints on two of the mixing angles of Majorana neutrinos, which
become stronger when coupled with the reactor neutrino data. These constraints
are strong enough to rule out Majorana neutrinos if the small angle solution of
solar neutrino puzzle is borne out.Comment: Some corrections and clarifications adde
A Calorimetric Search on Double Beta Decay of 130Te
We report on the final results of a series of experiments on double decay of
130Te carried out with an array of twenty cryogenic detectors. The set-up is
made with crystals of TeO2 with a total mass of 6.8 kg, the largest operating
one for a cryogenic experiment. Four crystals are made with isotopically
enriched materials: two in 128Te and two others in 130Te. The remaining ones
are made with natural tellurium, which contains 31.7 % and 33.8 % 128Te and
130Te, respectively. The array was run under a heavy shield in the Gran Sasso
Underground Laboratory at a depth of about 3500 m.w.e. By recording the pulses
of each detector in anticoincidence with the others a lower limit of 2.1E23
years has been obtained at the 90 % C.L. on the lifetime for neutrinoless
double beta decay of 130Te. In terms of effective neutrino mass this is the
most restrictive limit in direct experiments, after those obtained with Ge
diodes. Limits on other lepton violating decays of 130Te and on the
neutrinoless double beta decay of 128Te to the ground state of 128Xe are also
reported and discussed. An indication is presented for the two neutrino double
beta decay of 130Te. Some consequences of the present results in the
interpretation of geochemical experiments are discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; more analysis details. Accepted for
publication on Physics Letters
Assessment of dosimetric errors induced by deformable image registration methods in 4D pencil beam scanned proton treatment planning for liver tumours
PURPOSE: Respiratory impacts in pencil beam scanned proton therapy (PBS-PT) are accounted by extensive 4D dose calculations, where deformable image registration (DIR) is necessary for estimating deformation vector fields (DVFs). We aim here to evaluate the dosimetric errors induced by different DIR algorithms in their resulting 4D dose calculations by using ground truth(GT)-DVFs from 4DMRI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Six DIR methods: ANACONDA, Morfeus, B-splines, Demons, CT Deformable, and Total Variation, were respectively applied to nine 4DCT-MRI liver data sets. The derived DVFs were then used as input for 4D dose calculation. The DIR induced dosimetric error was assessed by individually comparing the resultant 4D dose distributions to those obtained with GT-DVFs. Both single-/three-field plans and single/rescanned strategies were investigated. RESULTS: Differences in 4D dose distributions among different DIR algorithms, and compared to the results using GT-DVFs, were pronounced. Up to 40 % of clinically relevant dose calculation points showed dose differences of 10 % or more between the GT. Differences in V95(CTV) reached up to 11.34 ± 12.57 %. The dosimetric errors became in general less substantial when applying multiple-field plans or using rescanning. CONCLUSION: Intrinsic geometric errors by DIR can influence the clinical evaluation of liver 4D PBS-PT plans. We recommend the use of an error bar for correctly interpreting individual 4D dose distributions
Optical data of meteoritic nano-diamonds from far-ultraviolet to far-infrared wavelengths
We have used different spectroscopic techniques to obtain a consistent
quantitative absorption spectrum of a sample of meteoritic nano-diamonds in the
wavelength range from the vacuum ultraviolet (0.12 m) to the far infrared
(100 m). The nano-diamonds have been isolated by a chemical treatment from
the Allende meteorite (Braatz et al.2000). Electron energy loss spectroscopy
(EELS) extends the optical measurements to higher energies and allows the
derivation of the optical constants (n & k) by Kramers-Kronig analysis. The
results can be used to restrain observations and to improve current models of
the environment where the nano-diamonds are expected to have formed. We also
show that the amount of nano-diamond which can be present in space is higher
than previously estimated by Lewis et al. (1989).Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure
A large Hilbert space QRPA and RQRPA calculation of neutrinoless double beta decay
A large Hilbert space is used for the calculation of the nuclear matrix
elements governing the light neutrino mass mediated mode of neutrinoless double
beta decay of Ge76, Mo100, Cd116, Te128 and Xe136 within the proton-neutron
quasiparticle random phase approximation (pn-QRPA) and the renormalized QRPA
with proton-neutron pairing (full-RQRPA) methods. We have found that the
nuclear matrix elements obtained with the standard pn-QRPA for several nuclear
transitions are extremely sensitive to the renormalization of the
particle-particle component of the residual interaction of the nuclear
hamiltonian. Therefore the standard pn-QRPA does not guarantee the necessary
accuracy to allow us to extract a reliable limit on the effective neutrino
mass. This behaviour, already known from the calculation of the two-neutrino
double beta decay matrix elements, manifests itself in the neutrinoless
double-beta decay but only if a large model space is used. The full-RQRPA,
which takes into account proton-neutron pairing and considers the Pauli
principle in an approximate way, offers a stable solution in the physically
acceptable region of the particle-particle strength. In this way more accurate
values on the effective neutrino mass have been deduced from the experimental
lower limits of the half-lifes of neutrinoless double beta decay.Comment: 19 pages, RevTex, 1 Postscript figur
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