Method for remotely sensing turbulence of planetary atmospheres

Based on variances of log-amplitude and phase fluctuations of radio occultation data received from orbital and fly-by missions, structure constant for Venusian planetary atmosphere has been estimated with high-confidence factor. Analysis indicates that effects of inhomogeneity, finite size, and superrefractivity of atmospheric turbulence cannot be ignored

Low loss dichroic plate

A low loss dichroic plate is disclosed for passing radiation within a particular frequency band and reflecting radiation outside of that frequency band. The dichroic plate is comprised of a configuration of dipole elements defined by slots formed in a conductive plate. The slots are dimensioned so as to pass radiation of a selected frequency and are shaped so as to minimize the relationship between that frequency and the tilt angle of the plate relative to the direction of radiation. The slots are arranged so as to minimize signal power loss due to cross polarization effects

Low-loss, circularly-polarized dichroic plate

Dichroic plate has orthogonally-disposed, loaded dipole apertures with their orientations arranged so as to cancel cross-coupling effects which would otherwise result in power loss to circularly polarized signal

Feasibility study of integral heat sink space suit concepts

Integral heat sink material space suit for body temperature contro

Intention Tremor and Deficits of Sensory Feedback Control in Multiple Sclerosis: a Pilot Study

Background Intention tremor and dysmetria are leading causes of upper extremity disability in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The development of effective therapies to reduce tremor and dysmetria is hampered by insufficient understanding of how the distributed, multi-focal lesions associated with MS impact sensorimotor control in the brain. Here we describe a systems-level approach to characterizing sensorimotor control and use this approach to examine how sensory and motor processes are differentially impacted by MS. Methods Eight subjects with MS and eight age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects performed visually-guided flexion/extension tasks about the elbow to characterize a sensory feedback control model that includes three sensory feedback pathways (one for vision, another for proprioception and a third providing an internal prediction of the sensory consequences of action). The model allows us to characterize impairments in sensory feedback control that contributed to each MS subject’s tremor. Results Models derived from MS subject performance differed from those obtained for control subjects in two ways. First, subjects with MS exhibited markedly increased visual feedback delays, which were uncompensated by internal adaptive mechanisms; stabilization performance in individuals with the longest delays differed most from control subject performance. Second, subjects with MS exhibited misestimates of arm dynamics in a way that was correlated with tremor power. Subject-specific models accurately predicted kinematic performance in a reach and hold task for neurologically-intact control subjects while simulated performance of MS patients had shorter movement intervals and larger endpoint errors than actual subject responses. This difference between simulated and actual performance is consistent with a strategic compensatory trade-off of movement speed for endpoint accuracy. Conclusions Our results suggest that tremor and dysmetria may be caused by limitations in the brain’s ability to adapt sensory feedback mechanisms to compensate for increases in visual information processing time, as well as by errors in compensatory adaptations of internal estimates of arm dynamics

Ultracold Dipolar Gas of Fermionic 23^{23}Na40^{40}K Molecules in their Absolute Ground State

We report on the creation of an ultracold dipolar gas of fermionic $^{23}$Na$^{40}$K molecules in their absolute rovibrational and hyperfine ground state. Starting from weakly bound Feshbach molecules, we demonstrate hyperfine resolved two-photon transfer into the singlet ${\rm X}^1\Sigma^+ |v{=}0,J{=}0\rangle$ ground state, coherently bridging a binding energy difference of 0.65 eV via stimulated rapid adiabatic passage. The spin-polarized, nearly quantum degenerate molecular gas displays a lifetime longer than 2.5 s, highlighting NaK's stability against two-body chemical reactions. A homogeneous electric field is applied to induce a dipole moment of up to 0.8 Debye. With these advances, the exploration of many-body physics with strongly dipolar Fermi gases of $^{23}$Na$^{40}$K molecules is in experimental reach.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Two-Photon Pathway to Ultracold Ground State Molecules of 23^{23}Na40^{40}K

We report on high-resolution spectroscopy of ultracold fermionic \nak~Feshbach molecules, and identify a two-photon pathway to the rovibrational singlet ground state via a resonantly mixed \Bcres intermediate state. Photoassociation in a $^{23}$Na-$^{40}$K atomic mixture and one-photon spectroscopy on \nak~Feshbach molecules reveal about 20 vibrational levels of the electronically excited \ctrip state. Two of these levels are found to be strongly perturbed by nearby \Bsing states via spin-orbit coupling, resulting in additional lines of dominant singlet character in the perturbed complex {${\rm B}^1\Pi |v{=}4\rangle {\sim} {\rm c}^3\Sigma^+ | v{=}25\rangle$}, or of resonantly mixed character in {${\rm B}^1\Pi | v{=}12 \rangle {\sim}{\rm c}^3\Sigma^+ | v{=}35 \rangle$}. The dominantly singlet level is used to locate the absolute rovibrational singlet ground state ${\rm X}^1\Sigma^+ | v{=}0, J{=}0 \rangle$ via Autler-Townes spectroscopy. We demonstrate coherent two-photon coupling via dark state spectroscopy between the predominantly triplet Feshbach molecular state and the singlet ground state. Its binding energy is measured to be 5212.0447(1) \cm, a thousand-fold improvement in accuracy compared to previous determinations. In their absolute singlet ground state, \nak~molecules are chemically stable under binary collisions and possess a large electric dipole moment of $2.72$ Debye. Our work thus paves the way towards the creation of strongly dipolar Fermi gases of NaK molecules.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figure

Electromagnetic scattering and radiation from microstrip patch antennas and spirals residing in a cavity

A new hybrid method is presented for the analysis of the scattering and radiation by conformal antennas and arrays comprised of circular or rectangular elements. In addition, calculations for cavity-backed spiral antennas are given. The method employs a finite element formulation within the cavity and the boundary integral (exact boundary condition) for terminating the mesh. By virtue of the finite element discretization, the method has no restrictions on the geometry and composition of the cavity or its termination. Furthermore, because of the convolutional nature of the boundary integral and the inherent sparseness of the finite element matrix, the storage requirement is kept very low at O(n). These unique features of the method have already been exploited in other scattering applications and have permitted the analysis of large-size structures with remarkable efficiency. In this report, we describe the method's formulation and implementation for circular and rectangular patch antennas in different superstrate and substrate configurations which may also include the presence of lumped loads and resistive sheets/cards. Also, various modelling approaches are investigated and implemented for characterizing a variety of feed structures to permit the computation of the input impedance and radiation pattern. Many computational examples for rectangular and circular patch configurations are presented which demonstrate the method's versatility, modeling capability and accuracy

Spin polarization amplification within nonmagnetic semiconductors at room temperature

We demonstrate theoretically that the spin polarization of current can be electrically amplified within nonmagnetic semiconductors by exploiting the fact the spin current, compared to the charge current, is weakly perturbed by electric driving forces. As a specific example, we consider a T-shaped current branching geometry made entirely of a nonmagnetic semiconductor, where the current is injected into one of the branches (input branch) and splits into the other two branches (output branches). We show that when the input current has a moderate spin polarization, the spin polarization in one of the output branches can be higher than the spin polarization in the input branch and may reach 100% when the relative magnitudes of current-driving electric fields in the two output branches are properly tuned. The proposed amplification scheme does not use ferromagnets or magnetic fields, and does not require low temperature operation, providing an efficient way to generate a highly spin polarized current in nonmagnetic semiconductors at room temperature.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.