12,308 research outputs found
Status of Outer Planet Global Reference Atmospheric Model (GRAM) Upgrades
The inability to test planetary spacecraft in the flight environment prior to a mission requires engineers to rely on ground-based testing and models of the vehicle and expected environments. One of the most widely used engineering models of the atmosphere is the Global Reference Atmospheric Model (GRAM) developed and maintained by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) has provided funding support to upgrade the GRAMs
Generalized Sagnac Effect
Experiments were conducted to study light propagation in a light waveguide
loop consisting of linearly and circularly moving segments. We found that any
segment of the loop contributes to the total phase difference between two
counterpropagating light beams in the loop. The contribution is proportional to
a product of the moving velocity v and the projection of the segment length
Deltal on the moving direction, Deltaphi=4pivDeltal/clambda. It is independent
of the type of motion and the refractive index of waveguides. The finding
includes the Sagnac effect of rotation as a special case and suggests a new
fiber optic sensor for measuring linear motion with nanoscale sensitivity.Comment: 3 pages (including 3 figures
Optical trapping with "on-demand" two-photon luminescence using Cr:LiSAF laser with optically addressed saturable Bragg reflector
We demonstrate a diode-pumped Cr:LiSAF laser with controllable and reliable fast switching between its continuous-wave and mode-locked states of operation using an optically-addressed semiconductor Bragg reflector, permitting dyed microspheres to be continuously trapped and monitored using a standard microscope imaging and on-demand two-photon-excited luminescence techniques
Optically bound microscopic particles in one dimension
Counter-propagating light fields have the ability to create self-organized
one-dimensional optically bound arrays of microscopic particles, where the
light fields adapt to the particle locations and vice versa. We develop a
theoretical model to describe this situation and show good agreement with
recent experimental data (Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 128301 (2002)) for two and three
particles, if the scattering force is assumed to dominate the axial trapping of
the particles. The extension of these ideas to two and three dimensional
optically bound states is also discussed.Comment: 12 pages, incl. 5 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.
Using sonic anemometer temperature to measure sensible heat flux in strong winds
Sonic anemometers simultaneously measure the turbulent fluctuations of vertical wind (<i>w</i>') and sonic temperature (<i>T</i><sub>s</sub>'), and are commonly used to measure sensible heat flux (<i>H</i>). Our study examines 30-min heat fluxes measured with a Campbell Scientific CSAT3 sonic anemometer above a subalpine forest. We compared <i>H</i> calculated with <i>T</i><sub>s</sub> to <i>H</i> calculated with a co-located thermocouple and found that, for horizontal wind speed (<i>U</i>) less than 8 m s<sup>−1</sup>, the agreement was around ±30 W m<sup>−2</sup>. However, for <i>U</i> &asymp; 8 m s<sup>−1</sup>, the CSAT <i>H</i> had a generally positive deviation from <i>H</i> calculated with the thermocouple, reaching a maximum difference of ≈250 W m<sup>−2</sup> at <i>U</i> ≈ 18 m s<sup>−1</sup>. With version 4 of the CSAT firmware, we found significant underestimation of the speed of sound and thus <i>T</i><sub>s</sub> in high winds (due to a delayed detection of the sonic pulse), which resulted in the large CSAT heat flux errors. Although this <i>T</i><sub>s</sub> error is qualitatively similar to the well-known fundamental correction for the crosswind component, it is quantitatively different and directly related to the firmware estimation of the pulse arrival time. For a CSAT running version 3 of the firmware, there does not appear to be a significant underestimation of <i>T</i><sub>s</sub>; however, a <i>T</i><sub>s</sub> error similar to that of version 4 may occur if the CSAT is sufficiently out of calibration. An empirical correction to the CSAT heat flux that is consistent with our conceptual understanding of the <i>T</i><sub>s</sub> error is presented. Within a broader context, the surface energy balance is used to evaluate the heat flux measurements, and the usefulness of side-by-side instrument comparisons is discussed
Non-ancient solution of the Ricci flow
For any complete noncompact Khler manifold with nonnegative and
bounded holomorphic bisectional curvature,we provide the necessary and
sufficient condition for non-ancient solution to the Ricci flow in this paper.Comment: seven pages, latex fil
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