1,328 research outputs found
N/P GaAs concentrator solar cells with an improved grid and bushbar contact design
The major requirements for a solar cell used in space applications are high efficiency at AMO irradiance and resistance to high energy radiation. Gallium arsenide, with a band gap of 1.43 eV, is one of the most efficient sunlight to electricity converters (25%) when the the simple diode model is used to calculate efficiencies at AMO irradiance, GaAs solar cells are more radiation resistant than silicon solar cells and the N/P GaAs device has been reported to be more radiation resistant than similar P/N solar cells. This higher resistance is probably due to the fact that only 37% of the current is generated in the top N layer of the N/P cell compared to 69% in the top layer of a P/N solar cell. This top layer of the cell is most affected by radiation. It has also been theoretically calculated that the optimized N/P device will prove to have a higher efficiency than a similar P/N device. The use of a GaP window layer on a GaAs solar cell will avoid many of the inherent problems normally associated with a GaAlAs window while still proving good passivation of the GaAs surface. An optimized circular grid design for solar cell concentrators has been shown which incorporates a multi-layer metallization scheme. This multi-layer design allows for a greater current carrying capacity for a unit area of shading, which results in a better output efficiency
Bose-Einstein Condensation of Sr Through Sympathetic Cooling with Sr
We report Bose-Einstein condensation of Sr, which has a small,
negative s-wave scattering length (\,). We overcome the poor
evaporative cooling characteristics of this isotope by sympathetic cooling with
Sr atoms. Sr is effective in this role in spite of the fact that
it is a fermion because of the large ground state degeneracy arising from a
nuclear spin of , which reduces the impact of Pauli blocking of
collisions. We observe a limited number of atoms in the condensate
() that is consistent with the value of and the
optical dipole trap parameters.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Degenerate Fermi Gas of Sr
We report quantum degeneracy in a gas of ultra-cold fermionic Sr
atoms. By evaporatively cooling a mixture of spin states in an optical dipole
trap for 10.5\,s, we obtain samples well into the degenerate regime with
. The main signature of degeneracy is a change in the
momentum distribution as measured by time-of-flight imaging, and we also
observe a decrease in evaporation efficiency below .Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Runaway evaporation for optically dressed atoms
Forced evaporative cooling in a far-off-resonance optical dipole trap is
proved to be an efficient method to produce fermionic- or bosonic-degenerated
gases. However in most of the experiences, the reduction of the potential
height occurs with a diminution of the collision elastic rate. Taking advantage
of a long-living excited state, like in two-electron atoms, I propose a new
scheme, based on an optical knife, where the forced evaporation can be driven
independently of the trap confinement. In this context, the runaway regime
might be achieved leading to a substantial improvement of the cooling
efficiency. The comparison with the different methods for forced evaporation is
discussed in the presence or not of three-body recombination losses
Repumping and spectroscopy of laser-cooled Sr atoms using the (5s5p)3P2 - (5s4d)3D2 transition
We describe repumping and spectroscopy of laser-cooled strontium (Sr) atoms
using the (5s5p)3P2 - (5s4d)3D2 transition. Atom number in a magneto-optical
trap is enhanced by driving this transition because Sr atoms that have decayed
into the (5s5p)3P2 dark state are repumped back into the (5s2)1S0 ground state.
Spectroscopy of 84Sr, 86Sr, 87Sr, and 88Sr improves the value of the (5s5p)3P2
- (5s4d)3D2 transition frequency for 88Sr and determines the isotope shifts for
the transition.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Measurement of Thermal Noise in Multilayer Coatings with Optimized Layer Thickness
A standard quarter-wavelength multilayer optical coating will produce the
highest reflectivity for a given number of coating layers, but in general it
will not yield the lowest thermal noise for a prescribed reflectivity. Coatings
with the layer thicknesses optimized to minimize thermal noise could be useful
in future generation interferometric gravitational wave detectors where coating
thermal noise is expected to limit the sensitivity of the instrument. We
present the results of direct measurements of the thermal noise of a standard
quarter-wavelength coating and a low noise optimized coating. The measurements
indicate a reduction in thermal noise in line with modeling predictions.Comment: 8 pages, 14 figure
The dependence of test-mass thermal noises on beam shape in gravitational-wave interferometers
In second-generation, ground-based interferometric gravitational-wave
detectors such as Advanced LIGO, the dominant noise at frequencies
Hz to Hz is expected to be due to thermal fluctuations in the
mirrors' substrates and coatings which induce random fluctuations in the shape
of the mirror face. The laser-light beam averages over these fluctuations; the
larger the beam and the flatter its light-power distribution, the better the
averaging and the lower the resulting thermal noise. In semi-infinite mirrors,
scaling laws for the influence of beam shape on the four dominant types of
thermal noise (coating Brownian, coating thermoelastic, substrate Brownian, and
substrate thermoelastic) have been suggested by various researchers and derived
with varying degrees of rigour. Because these scaling laws are important tools
for current research on optimizing the beam shape, it is important to firm up
our understanding of them. This paper (1) gives a summary of the prior work and
of gaps in the prior analyses, (2) gives a unified and rigorous derivation of
all four scaling laws, and (3) explores, relying on work by J. Agresti,
deviations from the scaling laws due to finite mirror size.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Class. Quantum Gra
Generation of a flat-top laser beam for gravitational wave detectors by means of a nonspherical Fabry-Perot resonator
We have tested a new kind of Fabry-Perot long-baseline optical resonator proposed to reduce the thermal noise sensitivity of gravitational wave interferometric detectors--the "mesa beam" cavity--whose flat top beam shape is achieved by means of an aspherical end mirror. We present the fundamental mode intensity pattern for this cavity and its distortion due to surface imperfections and tilt misalignments, and contrast the higher order mode patterns to the Gauss-Laguerre modes of a spherical mirror cavity. We discuss the effects of mirror tilts on cavity alignment and locking and present measurements of the mesa beam tilt sensitivity
- …