536 research outputs found
A high dynamic-range instrument for SPICA for coronagraphic observation of exoplanets and monitoring of transiting exoplanets
This paper, first, presents introductory reviews of the Space Infrared
Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) mission and the SPICA
Coronagraph Instrument (SCI). SPICA will realize a 3m class telescope cooled to
6K in orbit. The launch of SPICA is planned to take place in FY2018. The SPICA
mission provides us with a unique opportunity to make high dynamic-range
observations because of its large telescope aperture, high stability, and the
capability for making infrared observations from deep space. The SCI is a high
dynamic-range instrument proposed for SPICA. The primary objectives for the SCI
are the direct coronagraphic detection and spectroscopy of Jovian exoplanets in
the infrared region, while the monitoring of transiting planets is another
important target owing to the non-coronagraphic mode of the SCI. Then, recent
technical progress and ideas in conceptual studies are presented, which can
potentially enhance the performance of the instrument: the designs of an
integral 1-dimensional binary-shaped pupil mask coronagraph with general
darkness constraints, a concentric ring mask considering the obscured pupil for
surveying a wide field, and a spectral disperser for simultaneous wide
wavelength coverage, and the first results of tests of the toughness of MEMS
deformable mirrors for the rocket launch are introduced, together with a
description of a passive wavefront correction mirror using no actuator.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, 2 table
The Infrared Camera (IRC) for AKARI - Design and Imaging Performance
The Infrared Camera (IRC) is one of two focal-plane instruments on the AKARI
satellite. It is designed for wide-field deep imaging and low-resolution
spectroscopy in the near- to mid-infrared (1.8--26.5um) in the pointed
observation mode of AKARI. IRC is also operated in the survey mode to make an
all-sky survey at 9 and 18um. It comprises three channels. The NIR channel
(1.8--5.5um) employs a 512 x 412 InSb array, whereas both the MIR-S
(4.6--13.4um) and MIR-L (12.6--26.5um) channels use 256 x 256 Si:As impurity
band conduction arrays. Each of the three channels has a field-of-view of about
10' x 10' and are operated simultaneously. The NIR and MIR-S share the same
field-of-view by virtue of a beam splitter. The MIR-L observes the sky about
$25' away from the NIR/MIR-S field-of-view. IRC gives us deep insights into the
formation and evolution of galaxies, the evolution of planetary disks, the
process of star-formation, the properties of interstellar matter under various
physical conditions, and the nature and evolution of solar system objects. The
in-flight performance of IRC has been confirmed to be in agreement with the
pre-flight expectation. This paper summarizes the design and the in-flight
operation and imaging performance of IRC.Comment: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, in pres
A thermodynamic unification of jamming
Fragile materials ranging from sand to fire-retardant to toothpaste are able
to exhibit both solid and fluid-like properties across the jamming transition.
Unlike ordinary fusion, systems of grains, foams and colloids jam and cease to
flow under conditions that still remain unknown. Here we quantify jamming via a
thermodynamic approach by accounting for the structural ageing and the
shear-induced compressibility of dry sand. Specifically, the jamming threshold
is defined using a non-thermal temperature that measures the 'fluffiness' of a
granular mixture. The thermodynamic model, casted in terms of pressure,
temperature and free-volume, also successfully predicts the entropic data of
five molecular glasses. Notably, the predicted configurational entropy avoids
the Kauzmann paradox entirely. Without any free parameters, the proposed
equation-of-state also governs the mechanism of shear-banding and the
associated features of shear-softening and thickness-invariance.Comment: 16 pgs double spaced. 4 figure
The relationship between fragility, configurational entropy and the potential energy landscape of glass forming liquids
Glass is a microscopically disordered, solid form of matter that results when
a fluid is cooled or compressed in such a fashion that it does not crystallise.
Almost all types of materials are capable of glass formation -- polymers, metal
alloys, and molten salts, to name a few. Given such diversity, organising
principles which systematise data concerning glass formation are invaluable.
One such principle is the classification of glass formers according to their
fragility\cite{fragility}. Fragility measures the rapidity with which a
liquid's properties such as viscosity change as the glassy state is approached.
Although the relationship between features of the energy landscape of a glass
former, its configurational entropy and fragility have been analysed previously
(e. g.,\cite{speedyfr}), an understanding of the origins of fragility in these
features is far from being well established. Results for a model liquid, whose
fragility depends on its bulk density, are presented in this letter. Analysis
of the relationship between fragility and quantitative measures of the energy
landscape (the complicated dependence of energy on configuration) reveal that
the fragility depends on changes in the vibrational properties of individual
energy basins, in addition to the total number of such basins present, and
their spread in energy. A thermodynamic expression for fragility is derived,
which is in quantitative agreement with {\it kinetic} fragilities obtained from
the liquid's diffusivity.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
Construction of the free energy landscape by the density functional theory
On the basis of the density functional theory, we give a clear definition of
the free energy landscape. To show the usefulness of the definition, we
construct the free energy landscape for rearrangement of atoms in an FCC
crystal of hard spheres. In this description, the cooperatively rearranging
region (CRR) is clealy related to the hard spheres involved in the saddle
between two adjacent basins. A new concept of the simultaneously rearranging
region (SRR) emerges naturally as spheres defined by the difference between two
adjacent basins. We show that the SRR and the CRR can be determined explicitly
from the free energylandscape.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, submitted to J. Chem. Phy
Magnetic properties of monodispersed Co/CoO clusters
Monodispersed Co/CoO cluster assemblies with the mean cluster sizes of 6 and 13 nm have been prepared by a plasma-gas condensation type cluster beam deposition apparatus. We measured the effects of the oxygen gas flow rate during deposition, temperature, and cluster size on the coercivity and hysteresis loop shift induced by field cooling. The large exchange bias field (10.2 kOe) and coercivity (5 kOe) were observed at 5 K for the monodispersed Co/CoO cluster assembly with d=6 nm. The correlations between unidirectional anisotropy and uniaxial anisotropy, training effect and magnetic relaxation can be interpreted by the hypothesis of a spin disorder in the interfacial layer between the antiferromagnetic CoO shell and the ferromagnetic Co core
Characteristic tunnel-type conductivity and magnetoresistance in a CoO-coated monodispersive Co cluster assembly
We have studied electrical conductivity, sigma, and magnetoresistance in a CoO-coated monodispersive Co cluster assembly fabricated by a plasma-gas-aggregation-type cluster beam deposition technique. The temperature dependence of sigma is described in the form of log sigma vs 1/T for 7<T <80 K. The magnetoresistance ratio (rho(0)=rho(3T))/rho(0) increases sharply with decreasing temperature below 25 K: from 3.5% at 25 K to 20.5% at 4.2 K. This marked increase (by a factor of 6) is much larger than those observed for conventional metal-insulator granular systems. These results are ascribed to the Coulomb blockade effect in the monodispersed cluster assemblies. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)01901-4]
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