1,947 research outputs found
Free electron lasers for transmission of energy in space
A one-dimensional resonant-particle model of a free electron laser (FEL) is used to calculate laser gain and conversion efficiency of electron energy to photon energy. The optical beam profile for a resonant optical cavity is included in the model as an axial variation of laser intensity. The electron beam profile is matched to the optical beam profile and modeled as an axial variation of current density. Effective energy spread due to beam emittance is included. Accelerators appropriate for a space-based FEL oscillator are reviewed. Constraints on the concentric optical resonator and on systems required for space operation are described. An example is given of a space-based FEL that would produce 1.7 MW of average output power at 0.5 micrometer wavelength with over 50% conversion efficiency of electrical energy to laser energy. It would utilize a 10 m-long amplifier centered in a 200 m-long optical cavity. A 3-amp, 65 meV electrostatic accelerator would provide the electron beam and recover the beam after it passes through the amplifier. Three to five shuttle flights would be needed to place the laser in orbit
Effects of Nacelle configuration/position on performance of subsonic transport
An experimental study was conducted to explore possible reductions in installed propulsion system drag due to underwing aft nacelle locations. Both circular (C) and D inlet cross section nacelles were tested. The primary objectives were: to determine the relative installed drag of the C and D nacelle installations; and, to compare the drag of each aft nacelle installation with that of a conventional underwing forward, drag of each aft nacelle installation with that of a conventional underwing forward, pylon mounted (UTW) nacelle installation. The tests were performed in the NASA-Langley Research Center 16-Foot Transonic Wind Tunnel at Mach numbers from 0.70 to 0.85, airplane angles of attack from -2.5 to 4.1 degrees, and Reynolds numbers per foot from 3.4 to 4.0 million. The nacelles were installed on the NASA USB full span transonic transport model with horizontal tail on. The D nacelle installation had the smallest drag of those tested. The UTW nacelle installation had the largest drag, at 6.8 percent larger than the D at Mach number 0.80 and lift coefficient (C sub L) 0.45. Each tested configuration still had some interference drag, however. The effect of the aft nacelles on airplane lift was to increase C sub L at a fixed angle of attack relative to the wing body. There was higher lift on the inboard wing sections because of higher pressures on the wing lower surface. The effects of the UTW installation on lift were opposite to those of the aft nacelles
Excluded-Volume Effects in Tethered-Particle Experiments: Bead Size Matters
The tethered-particle method is a single-molecule technique that has been
used to explore the dynamics of a variety of macromolecules of biological
interest. We give a theoretical analysis of the particle motions in such
experiments. Our analysis reveals that the proximity of the tethered bead to a
nearby surface (the microscope slide) gives rise to a volume-exclusion effect,
resulting in an entropic force on the molecule. This force stretches the
molecule, changing its statistical properties. In particular, the proximity of
bead and surface brings about intriguing scaling relations between key
observables (statistical moments of the bead) and parameters such as the bead
size and contour length of the molecule. We present both approximate analytic
solutions and numerical results for these effects in both flexible and
semiflexible tethers. Finally, our results give a precise,
experimentally-testable prediction for the probability distribution of the
distance between the polymer attachment point and the center of the mobile
bead.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Coherent Control for a Two-level System Coupled to Phonons
The interband polarizations induced by two phase-locked pulses in a
semiconductor show strong interference effects depending on the time tau_1
separating the pulses. The four-wave mixing signal diffracted from a third
pulse delayed by tau is coherently controlled by tuning tau_1. The four-wave
mixing response is evaluated exactly for a two-level system coupled to a single
LO phonon. In the weak coupling regime it shows oscillations with the phonon
frequency which turn into sharp peaks at multiples of the phonon period for a
larger coupling strength. Destructive interferences between the two
phase-locked pulses produce a splitting of the phonon peaks into a doublet. For
fixed tau but varying tau_1 the signal shows rapid oscillations at the
interband-transition frequency, whose amplitude exhibits bursts at multiples of
the phonon period.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, RevTex, content change
Band gap engineering by functionalization of BN sheet
From first principles calculations, we investigate the stability and physical
properties of single layer h-BN sheet chemically functionalized by various
groups viz. H, F, OH, CH3, CHO, CN, NH2 etc. We find that full
functionalization of h-BN sheet with these groups lead to decrease in its
electronic band gap, albeit to different magnitudes varying from 0.3 eV to 3.1
eV, depending upon the dopant group. Functionalization by CHO group, in
particular, leads to a sharp decrease in the electronic band gap of the
pristine BN sheet to ~ 0.3 eV, which is congenial for its usage in transistor
based devices. The phonon calculations on these sheets show that frequencies
corresponding to all their vibrational modes are real (positive), thereby
suggesting their inherent stability. The chemisorption energies of these groups
to the B and N atoms of the sheet are found to lie in the range of 1.5 -6 eV.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures PRB(submitted
Electronic Structure and Optical Properties of the Co-doped Anatase TiO Studied from First Principles
The Co-doped anatase TiO, a recently discovered room-temperature
ferromagnetic insulator, has been studied by the first-principles calculations
in the pseudo-potential plane-wave formalism within the local-spin-density
approximation (LSDA), supplemented by the full-potential linear augmented plane
wave (FP-LAPW) method. Emphasis is placed on the dependence of its electronic
structures and linear optical properties on the Co-doping concentration and
oxygen vacancy in the system in order to pursue the origin of its
ferromagnetism. In the case of substitutional doping of Co for Ti, our
calculated results are well consistent with the experimental data, showing that
Co is in its low spin state. Also, it is shown that the oxygen vacancy enhances
the ferromagnetism and has larger effect on both the electronic structure and
optical properties than the Co-doping concentration only.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
Increased accuracy of ligand sensing by receptor internalization
Many types of cells can sense external ligand concentrations with
cell-surface receptors at extremely high accuracy. Interestingly, ligand-bound
receptors are often internalized, a process also known as receptor-mediated
endocytosis. While internalization is involved in a vast number of important
functions for the life of a cell, it was recently also suggested to increase
the accuracy of sensing ligand as the overcounting of the same ligand molecules
is reduced. Here we show, by extending simple ligand-receptor models to
out-of-equilibrium thermodynamics, that internalization increases the accuracy
with which cells can measure ligand concentrations in the external environment.
Comparison with experimental rates of real receptors demonstrates that our
model has indeed biological significance.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Do bilinguals have different concepts? The case of shape and material in Japanese L2 users of English
An experiment investigated whether Japanese speakers’ categorisation of objects and substances as shape or material is influenced by acquiring English, based on Imai and Gentner (1997). Subjects were presented with an item such as a cork pyramid and asked to choose between two other items that matched it for shape (plastic pyramid) or for material (piece of cork). The hypotheses were that for simple objects the number of shape-based categorisations would increase according to experience of English and that the preference for shape and material-based categorisations of Japanese speakers of English would differ from mono¬lingual speakers of both languages. Subjects were 18 adult Japanese users of English who had lived in English-speaking countries between 6 months and 3 years (short-stay group), and 18 who had lived in English-speaking countries for 3 years or more (long-stay group). Both groups achieved above criterion on an English vocabulary test. Results were: both groups preferred material responses for simple objects and substances but not for complex objects, in line with Japanese mono¬linguals, but the long-stay group showed more shape preference than the short-stay group and also were less different from Americans. These effects of acquiring a second language on categorisation have implications for conceptual representation and methodology
Impact of time-ordered measurements of the two states in a niobium superconducting qubit structure
Measurements of thermal activation are made in a superconducting, niobium
Persistent-Current (PC) qubit structure, which has two stable classical states
of equal and opposite circulating current. The magnetization signal is read out
by ramping the bias current of a DC SQUID. This ramping causes time-ordered
measurements of the two states, where measurement of one state occurs before
the other. This time-ordering results in an effective measurement time, which
can be used to probe the thermal activation rate between the two states.
Fitting the magnetization signal as a function of temperature and ramp time
allows one to estimate a quality factor of 10^6 for our devices, a value
favorable for the observation of long quantum coherence times at lower
temperatures.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure
- …