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At least 181 records · Page 10

Resonance-enhanced compact nonlinear acoustic source of low frequency collimated beam for imaging applications in highly attenuating media

Acoustic signal sources include acoustic resonators that include acoustic nonlinear materials. Acoustic signals at higher frequencies are mixed in the nonlinear materials to produce a lower frequency acoustic signal. Resonance provides increased efficiency in producing acoustic signals at difference frequencies corresponding to resonance frequencies. Higher frequency acoustic signals used in nonlinear mixing are preferably at frequencies corresponding to resonance frequencies as well.

Pantea, Cristian↗

A long path-length optical property measurement device for highly transparent detector media

Measurements of the optical properties of highly transparent liquids are necessary for large-scale detectors that seek to detect optical signatures in kiloton-scale or larger volumes. Detailed understanding of the attenuation and scattering properties of fill media is critical to the ability to accurately simulate detector performance, and yet is often unavailable until in-situ measurements can be performed. Moreover, in-situ measurements may rely on effective attenuation lengths or other approximations to characterize performance, rather than absolute measurements of attenuation and scattering. To better understand the optical properties of potential fill media and purification schemes, a system has been developed which provides simultaneous attenuation and differential scattering cross-section measurements for highly transparent liquids. This horizontal, adjustable path-length “long-arm” system provides excellent isolation from the atmosphere, a high degree of vibration insensitivity, and a simple and reliable method of calibration. Further, scattering measurements can be carried out simultaneously at ports along the beamline equipped with optics allowing the selection of scatter angle and polarization. This enables both reliable quantitative scatter measurements and phase-function separation. This system has been extensively tested using deionized (DI) water as a benchmark, and has demonstrated repeatable measurements of attenuation lengths exceeding 100 m and scattering lengths approaching 1 km.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

The IRX–β relation in kpc-sized star-forming regions in nearby galaxies

The effect of dust attenuation on a galaxy’s light depends on a number of physical properties, such as geometry and dust composition, both of which can vary across the faces of galaxies. To investigate this variation, we continue analysis on star-forming regions in 29 galaxies studied previously. We analyse these regions using Swift /UV Optical Telescope and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer images, as well as Sloan Digital Sky Survey/Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory emission line maps to constrain the relationship between the infrared excess (IRX) and the ultraviolet spectral index, β, for each star-forming region. This relationship can be used to constrain which dust attenuation law is appropriate for the region. We find that the value of D n (4000) for a region is correlated with both IRX and β, and that the gas-phase metallicity is strongly correlated with the IRX. This correlation between metallicity and IRX suggests that regardless of aperture, metal-rich regions have steeper attenuation curves. We also find that integrated galactic light follows nearly the same IRX–β relationship as that found for kpc-sized star-forming regions. Here, this similarity may suggest that the attenuation law followed by the galaxy is essentially the same as that followed by the regions, although the relatively large size of our star-forming regions complicates this interpretation because optical opacity and attenuation curves have been observed to vary within individual galaxies.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Phonon dynamics in the generalized Kitaev spin liquid

Candidate materials for the Kitaev spin liquid generically have residual interactions beyond the Kitaev coupling. It therefore becomes necessary to understand how signatures of the quantum spin liquid, e.g., fractionalization of the spin excitations, are affected by the presence of these interactions. Recently it was shown that phonon dynamics is an indirect but effective probe to study fractionalized excitations in the Kitaev spin liquid. Ultrasound experiments can measure sound attenuation, which should show characteristic temperature and angular dependence of the sound-attenuation coefficient if the scattering of phonons happens predominantly on Majorana fermions. So far the computation of the sound attenuation was only done in the pure spin-phonon coupled Kitaev model, without taking into account residual interactions. In order to understand experimental signatures, here we present a mean-field study of the sound attenuation in the generalized J-K_Γ model, which is relevant to candidate materials. Further, our findings show that as long as the system is in the spin liquid phase, characteristic features of the sound attenuation remain observable even in the presence of residual interactions.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Data-assimilated time-lapse visco-acoustic full-waveform inversion: Theory and application for injected CO 2 plume monitoring

Continuous seismic monitoring for quantifying CO 2 plume migration and detection of any potential leakages in the subsurface is essential for the security of long-term anthropogenic carbon dioxide geologic storage. Traditional time-lapse full-waveform inversion (TLFWI) methods aim to map the CO 2 distribution by estimating seismic velocity changes, but recent studies find that CO 2 -induced attenuation is an important complement to seismic velocity for tracking the CO 2 plumes and even quantifying the CO 2 saturation. We have developed a novel data-assimilated TLFWI method to construct high-resolution time-lapse velocity and attenuation changes from dense time-lapse monitoring data. This method consists of two theoretical developments: visco-acoustic full-waveform inversion (QFWI) and multiparameter hierarchical matrix-powered extended Kalman filter (mHiEKF). The method is capable of (1) posing temporal constraints to retrieve time-lapse information from dense monitoring data by using mHiEKF, (2) accurately recovering high-spatial-resolution velocity and attenuation perturbations using first-order equation system-based QFWI, and (3) providing the model uncertainty by estimating their model standard deviation. With numerical examples, we first find the effectiveness of the new QFWI on estimating accurate velocity and attenuation models simultaneously. Then, a CO 2 leakage case and a realistic Frio-II CO 2 monitoring case are presented to find the advantages and applicability of our data-assimilated QFWI method for estimating time-lapse changes using dense time-lapse monitoring surveys. Here, by assimilating time-lapse seismic monitoring data over time, our data-assimilated QFWI method can improve the resolution of velocity and attenuation changes and decrease their model uncertainties.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Neutron tomography of porous aluminum electrodes used in electrocoagulation of groundwater

In this work, neutron computed tomography (CT) is employed to investigate the dissolution of porous aluminum electrodes during electrocoagulation (EC). Porous electrodes were chosen in efforts to reduce electric power requirements by using larger surface-area electrodes, having both inner and outer surface, for the EC process. Neutron CT allowed 3D reconstruction of the porous electrodes, and image analysis provided the volume of each electrode vs. thickness, which can indicate whether the inner surface is effectively involved in EC reactions. For the anode, the volume decreased uniformly throughout the thickness of the electrode, indicating that both the outer and inner surface participated in electrochemical dissolution, while the volume of the cathode increased uniformly vs. thickness, indicating deposition of material on both the outer and inner surface. The attenuation coefficient vs. thickness, increased for both anode and cathode, indicating surface chemistry changes. For the anode, the attenuation coefficient increased slightly but uniformly, probably due to aluminum oxide formation on the surface of the anode. For the cathode, the attenuation coefficient increased more than for the anode and nonuniformly. The higher increase in the attenuation coefficient for the cathode is due to precipitation of aluminum hydroxide on the electrode surface, which added hydrogen. Image analysis also showed that, although the attenuation coefficient increased throughout the thickness of the electrode, most of the hydroxide deposition occurred on the outer surface. Energy analysis showed that porous electrodes can be used to reduce process energy requirements by as much as 4 times compared to solid electrodes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Material identification system

A method and apparatus for identifying a material in an object. An image of the object generated from energy passing through the object is obtained by a computer system. The computer system estimates attenuations for pixels in a sensor system from the image of the object to form estimated attenuations. The estimated attenuations represent a loss of the energy that occurs from the energy passing through the object. The computer system also identifies the material in the object using the estimated attenuations and known attenuation information for identifying the material in the object.

Jimenez, Jr., Edward Steven↗