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At least 181 records · Page 10

A validation of the fibre orientation and fibre length attrition prediction for long fibre-reinforced thermoplastics

To improve the mechanical performance of polymeric parts, fibre reinforcement has established in industrial applications during the last decades. Next to the widely used Short Fibre-reinforced Thermoplastics (SFT) the use of Long Fibre-reinforced Thermoplastics (LFT) is increasingly growing. Especially for non-polar polymeric matrices like polypropylene (PP), longer fibres can significantly improve the mechanical performance. As with every kind of discontinuous fibre reinforcement the fibre orientations (FO) show a high impact on the mechanical properties. On the contrary to SFT where the local fibre length distribution (FLD) can be often neglected, for LFT the FLD show a high impact on the material’s properties and has to be taken into account in equal measure to the FOD. Recently numerical models are available in commercial filling simulation software and allow predicting both the local FOD and FLD in LFT parts. The aim of this paper is to compare i.) the FOD results and ii) the FLD results from available orientation- and fibre length attrition-models to those obtained from experimental data. The investigations are conducted by the use of different injection moulded specimens made from long glass fibre reinforced PP. In order to determine the FOD, selected part sections are examined by means of Computed Tomographic (CT) analyses. The fully three dimensional measurement of the FOD is then performed by digital image processing using grey scale correlation. The FLD results are also obtained by using digital image processing after a thermal pyrolytic separation of the polymeric matrix from the fibres. Further the FOD and the FLD are predicted by using a reduced strain closure (RSC) as well as an anisotropic rotary diffusion - reduced strain closure model (ARD-RSC) and Phelps-Tucker fibre length attrition model implemented in the commercial filling software Moldflow, Autodesk Inc., San Rafael, CA, USA.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Comparison of different interpolation operators including nonlinear subdivision schemes in the simulation of particle trajectories

In this work, we compare different interpolation operators in the context of particle tracking with an emphasis on situations involving velocity field with steep gradients. Since, in this case, most classical methods give rise to the Gibbs phenomenon (generation of oscillations near discontinuities), we present new methods for particle tracking based on subdivision schemes and especially on the Piecewise Parabolic Harmonic (PPH) scheme which has shown its advantage in image processing in presence of strong contrasts. First an analytic univariate case with a discontinuous velocity field is considered in order to highlight the effect of the Gibbs phenomenon on trajectory calculation. Theoretical results are provided. Then, we show, regardless of the interpolation method, the need to use a conservative approach when integrating a conservative problem with a velocity field deriving from a potential. Finally, the PPH scheme is applied in a more realistic case of a time-dependent potential encountered in the edge turbulence of magnetically confined plasmas, to compare the propagation of density structures (turbulence bursts) with the dynamics of test particles. This study highlights the difference between particle transport and density transport in turbulent fields.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Dimensionality and noise in energy selective x-ray imaging

Purpose: To develop and test a method to quantify the effect of dimensionality on the noise in energy selective x-ray imaging.Methods: The Cramèr-Rao lower bound (CRLB), a universal lower limit of the covariance of any unbiased estimator, is used to quantify the noise. It is shown that increasing dimensionality always increases, or at best leaves the same, the variance. An analytic formula for the increase in variance in an energy selective x-ray system is derived. The formula is used to gain insight into the dependence of the increase in variance on the properties of the additional basis functions, the measurement noise covariance, and the source spectrum. The formula is also used with computer simulations to quantify the dependence of the additional variance on these factors. Simulated images of an object with three materials are used to demonstrate the trade-off of increased information with dimensionality and noise. The images are computed from energy selective data with a maximum likelihood estimator.Results: The increase in variance depends most importantly on the dimension and on the properties of the additional basis functions. With the attenuation coefficients of cortical bone, soft tissue, and adipose tissue as the basis functions, the increase in variance of the bone component from two to three dimensions is 1.4 × 10{sup 3}. With the soft tissue component, it is 2.7 × 10{sup 4}. If the attenuation coefficient of a high atomic number contrast agent is used as the third basis function, there is only a slight increase in the variance from two to three basis functions, 1.03 and 7.4 for the bone and soft tissue components, respectively. The changes in spectrum shape with beam hardening also have a substantial effect. They increase the variance by a factor of approximately 200 for the bone component and 220 for the soft tissue component as the soft tissue object thickness increases from 1 to 30 cm. Decreasing the energy resolution of the detectors increases the variance of the bone component markedly with three dimension processing, approximately a factor of 25 as the resolution decreases from 100 to 3 bins. The increase with two dimension processing for adipose tissue is a factor of two and with the contrast agent as the third material for two or three dimensions is also a factor of two for both components. The simulated images show that a maximum likelihood estimator can be used to process energy selective x-ray data to produce images with noise close to the CRLB.Conclusions: The method presented can be used to compute the effects of the object attenuation coefficients and the x-ray system properties on the relationship of dimensionality and noise in energy selective x-ray imaging systems.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Recent progress in 3-D imaging of sea freight containers

The inspection of very large objects like sea freight containers with X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) is an emerging technology. A complete 3-D CT scan of a see-freight container takes several hours. Of course, this is too slow to apply it to a large number of containers. However, the benefits of a 3-D CT for sealed freight are obvious: detection of potential threats or illicit cargo without being confronted with legal complications or high time consumption and risks for the security personnel during a manual inspection. Recently distinct progress was made in the field of reconstruction of projections with only a relatively low number of angular positions. Instead of today’s 500 to 1000 rotational steps, as needed for conventional CT reconstruction techniques, this new class of algorithms provides the potential to reduce the number of projection angles approximately by a factor of 10. The main drawback of these advanced iterative methods is the high consumption for numerical processing. But as computational power is getting steadily cheaper, there will be practical applications of these complex algorithms in a foreseeable future. In this paper, we discuss the properties of iterative image reconstruction algorithms and show results of their application to CT of extremely large objects scanning a sea-freight container. A specific test specimen is used to quantitatively evaluate the image quality in terms of spatial and contrast resolution and depending on different number of projections.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Traceable micro-CT scaling accuracy phantom for applications requiring exact measurement of distances or volumes

Purpose: Volumetric x-ray microcomputed tomography (CT) can be employed in a variety of quantitative research applications such as image-guided interventions or characterization of medical devices. To ensure the highest geometric fidelity of images for these applications, a phantom and image processing algorithm have been developed to calibrate the scaling accuracy of micro-CT scanners to a traceable standard and provide corrections to image voxel sizing. Methods: The calibration phantom contains six borosilicate beads whose separations have been measured to a traceable standard. An image processing algorithm compares the known separations of the beads to their separations in micro-CT images. A least-squares solution is used to determine linear scaling correction factors along each of the three scanner axes to minimize errors in the bead separations within the images by correcting the image voxel size. The correction factors were applied to images of a similar phantom with beads at different positions to evaluate the ability of the correction factors to reduce errors at points independent of the fiducial locations in the calibration phantom. The calibration phantom was used to evaluate the scaling accuracy of five different micro-CT scanners representing four different scanner models. Results: In two of the five scanners evaluated, the correction factors significantly reduced the mean error in bead separations in the images from 0.17% to 0.05% and from 0.37% to 0.07% of the actual bead separations, respectively. Scanners yielding similar voxel sizes possessed comparable geometric errors after correction using the phantom. Conclusions: Although the magnitude of the corrections is small, such corrections can be important for demanding micro-CT applications. Even if no voxel size correction is required, the phantom provides an easily implemented method to verify the geometric fidelity of micro-CT scanners to a traceable standard of measurement.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Anomaly Detection in Gamma Spectra Using Hopfield Neural Network with B-SAT and Grover’s Algorithm on a Quantum Computing Simulator

Environmental screening of gamma radiation consists of detecting weak nuisance and anomaly signal in the presence of strong and highly varying background. In a typical scenario, a mobile detector-spectrometer continuously measures gamma radiation spectra in short, e.g., one-second, signal acquisition intervals. In principle, gamma radiation sources can be detected and identified by their unique spectral lines. However, detecting sources from data measured in a search scenario is difficult due to the highly varying background because of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM), and low signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of spectral signal measured during one-second acquisition intervals. In recent prior work, we have developed a Hopfield Neural Network (HNN) in conjunction with an image processing algorithm to detect a weak signal anomaly hidden among the highly fluctuating background spectra. The objective of this work is to explore quantum computing methods to increase the speed of HNN. The approach is based on the Grover’s search algorithm in conjunction with a 3-SAT problem formalism. The Grover’s algorithm is implemented on a quantum computing simulator using Qiskit software. Performance of HNN algorithm is benchmarked using search data from an environmental screening campaign, where the anomaly is a subset of measurements containing a 137 Cs source. Results indicate that using Grover’s algorithm on a quantum simulator reduces runtime of HNN by two orders of magnitude.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

Thermochemistry of the smallest QOOH radical from the roaming fragmentation of energy selected methyl hydroperoxide ions

Here, the dissociative photoionization processes of methyl hydroperoxide (CH 3 OOH) have been studied by imaging Photoelectron Photoion Coincidence (iPEPICO) spectroscopy experiments as well as quantum-chemical and statistical rate calculations. Energy selected CH 3 OOH + ions dissociate into CH 2 OOH + , HCO + , CH 3 + , and H 3 O + ions in the 11.4–14.0 eV photon energy range. The lowest-energy dissociation channel is the formation of the cation of the smallest “QOOH” radical, CH 2 OOH + . An extended RRKM model fitted to the experimental data yields a 0 K appearance energy of 11.647 ± 0.005 eV for the CH 2 OOH + ion, and a 74.2 ± 2.6 kJ mol -1 mixed experimental-theoretical 0 K heat of formation for the CH 2 OOH radical. The proton affinity of the Criegee intermediate, CH 2 OO, was also obtained from the heat of formation of CH 2 OOH + (792.8 ± 0.9 kJ mol -1 ) to be 847.7 ± 1.1 kJ mol - 1, reducing the uncertainty of the previously available computational value by a factor of 4. RRKM modeling of the complex web of possible rearrangement-dissociation processes was used to model the higher-energy fragmentation. Supported by Born–Oppenheimer molecular dynamics simulations, we found that the HCO + fragment ion is produced through a roaming transition state followed by a low barrier. Lastly, H 3 O + is formed in a consecutive process from the CH 2 OOH + fragment ion, while direct C–O fission of the molecular ion leads to the methyl cation.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Fourier plane colorimetric sensing using broadband imaging of surface plasmons and application to biosensing

We demonstrate an optical technique for refractive index and thickness sensing of sub-wavelength-thick dielectric analytes. The technique utilizes the broadband, multimode, directional leakage radiation arising from the excitation of hybrid mode surface plasmons (SP) on low aspect ratio periodic plasmonic substrates with period ≈λ. The approach requires relaxed fabrication tolerances compared to extra ordinary transmission-based sensing techniques, wherein minor shifts in the fabricated dimensions result in a very large change from the designed resonant wavelength. We show that refractive index perturbations due to about 10-nm-thick dielectric can be captured optically by the usage of carefully designed plasmonic substrates, a halogen lamp source, free-space optical components, polarizers, and a low-end, consumer-grade charge coupled device camera. The plasmonic substrates were designed for converting the signature of hybrid mode SP excitation into a transmission peak by utilizing a thin homogeneous metal layer sandwiched between the periodic plasmonic structures and the substrate. The resonance is highly sensitive to the refractive index and thickness of the analyte superstrate. The excitation of hybrid mode SP results in a polarization rotation of 90° of the leaked radiation at resonant wavelength. In order to eliminate the problem of image registration (i.e., placing the same feature in the same pixel of the image, for comparison before and after a change in refractive index) for sensing, we perform the color analysis in the Fourier plane. The change in color of the bright emitted spot with highest momentum, corresponding to the leakage of fundamental SP mode, was used to measure the changes in refractive index, whereas the number and color of spots of lower momenta, corresponding to higher-order Fabry Perot modes, was used to measure the variation in thickness. We further show that the Fourier plane analysis can also be used to sense the index of thicker dielectrics, where real plane image analysis may fail to sense index perturbations, simply due to superposition of different modes in the real plane images of such substrates. Control experiments and analysis revealed a refractive index resolution of 10{sup –5} RIU. The results were correlated with simulations to establish the physical origin of the change in the fundamental mode and higher-order modes due to the refractive index and thickness of analyte. As a demonstration of an application and to test the limits of sensing, the substrates were used to image the surface functionalization using 2-nm-thick 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid and immobilization of 7-nm-thick mouse anti-human IgG antibody. In biological systems, where a priori knowledge about a process step is available, where accurate chemical composition testing is not necessary or possible, the presented method could be used to study the surface changes using a label-free sensing mechanism.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Cavitation inception by the backscattering of pressure waves from a bubble interface

The secondary cavitation that occurs by the backscattering of focused ultrasound from a primary cavitation bubble caused by the negative pressure part of the ultrasound (Maxwell, et al., 2011) might be useful for the energy exchange due to bubble oscillations in High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU). The present study is concerned with the cavitation inception by the backscattering of ultrasound from a bubble. In the present experiment, a laser-induced bubble which is generated by a pulsed focused laser beam with high intensity is utilized as a primary cavitation bubble. After generating the bubble, focused ultrasound is emitted to the bubble. The acoustic field and the bubble motion are observed with a high-speed video camera. It is confirmed that the secondary cavitation bubble clouds are generated by the backscattering from the laser-induced bubble. The growth of cavitation bubble clouds is analyzed with the image processing method. The experimental results show that the height and width of the bubble clouds grow in stepwise during their evolution. The direct numerical simulations are also conducted for the backscattering of incident pressure waves from a bubble in order to evaluate a pressure field near the bubble. It is shown that the ratio of a bubble collapse time t{sub 0} to a characteristic time of wave propagation t{sub S}, η = t{sub 0}/t{sub s}, is an important determinant for generating negative pressure region by backscattering. The minimum pressure location by the backscattering in simulations is in good agreement with the experiment.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Computer-automated tuning procedures for semiconductor quantum dot arrays

As with any quantum computing platform, semiconductor quantum dot devices require sophisticated hardware and controls for operation. The increasing complexity of quantum dot devices necessitates the advancement of automated control software and image recognition techniques for rapidly evaluating charge stability diagrams. We use an image analysis toolbox developed in Python to automate the calibration of virtual gates, a process that previously involved a large amount of user intervention. Moreover, we show that straightforward feedback protocols can be used to simultaneously tune multiple tunnel couplings in a triple quantum dot in a computer automated fashion. Finally, we adopt the use of a “tunnel coupling lever arm” to model the interdot barrier gate response and discuss how it can be used to more rapidly tune interdot tunnel couplings to the gigahertz values that are compatible with exchange gates.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

CHARACTERIZING COMPLEXITY IN SOLAR MAGNETOGRAM DATA USING A WAVELET-BASED SEGMENTATION METHOD

The multifractal nature of solar photospheric magnetic structures is studied using the two-dimensional wavelet transform modulus maxima (WTMM) method. This relies on computing partition functions from the wavelet transform skeleton defined by the WTMM method. This skeleton provides an adaptive space-scale partition of the fractal distribution under study, from which one can extract the multifractal singularity spectrum. We describe the implementation of a multiscale image processing segmentation procedure based on the partitioning of the WT skeleton, which allows the disentangling of the information concerning the multifractal properties of active regions from the surrounding quiet-Sun field. The quiet Sun exhibits an average Hoelder exponent {approx}-0.75, with observed multifractal properties due to the supergranular structure. On the other hand, active region multifractal spectra exhibit an average Hoelder exponent {approx}0.38, similar to those found when studying experimental data from turbulent flows.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Optical method for distance and displacement measurements of the probe-sample separation in a scanning near-field optical microscope

In this work, we present an alternative optical method to determine the probe-sample separation distance in a scanning near-field optical microscope. The experimental method is based in a Lloyd’s mirror interferometer and offers a measurement precision deviation of ∼100 nm using digital image processing and numerical analysis. The technique can also be strategically combined with the characterization of piezoelectric actuators and stability evaluation of the optical system. It also opens the possibility for the development of an automatic approximation control system valid for probe-sample distances from 5 to 500 μm.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Correction of Fluorescent Images of Biological Tissues for the Effects of Light Absorption and Scattering

A method for correcting the influence of light attenuation processes in biological tissues on their fluorescent images is proposed. The transfer function that takes into account the radiation losses in the medium at the wavelengths of excitation and emission of fluorescence is calculated analytically, depending on the transport scattering index and the hemoglobin tissue index. The latter is determined on the basis of a color image of the tissue in reflected visible light. Verification of the developed method was carried out on the basis of computer simulation of fluorescent images of biological tissue by the Monte Carlo method.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

High-Resolution Momentum Imaging—From Stern’s Molecular Beam Method to the COLTRIMS Reaction Microscope [Book Chapter]

Multi-particle momentum imaging experiments are now capable of providing detailed information on the properties and the dynamics of quantum systems in Atomic, Molecular and Photon (AMO) physics. Historically, Otto Stern can be considered the pioneer of high-resolution momentum measurements of particles moving in a vacuum and he was the first to obtain sub-atomic unit (a.u.) momentum resolution (Schmidt-Böcking et al. in The precision limits in a single-event quantum measurement of electron momentum and position, these proceedings). A major contribution to modern experimental atomic and molecular physics was his so-called molecular beam method, which Stern developed and employed in his experiments. With this method he discovered several fundamental properties of atoms, molecules and nuclei. As corresponding particle detection techniques were lacking during his time, he was only able to observe the averaged footprints of large particle ensembles. Today it is routinely possible to measure the momenta of single particles, because of the tremendous progress in single particle detection and data acquisition electronics. A “state-of-the-art” COLTRIMS reaction microscope can measure, for example, the momenta of several particles ejected in the same quantum process in coincidence with sub-a.u. momentum resolution. Such setups can be used to visualize the dynamics of quantum reactions and image the entangled motion of electrons inside atoms and molecules. This review will briefly summarize Stern’s work and then present in longer detail the historic steps of the development of the COLTRIMS reaction microscope. Furthermore, some benchmark results are shown which initially paved the way for a broad acceptance of the COLTRIMS approach. Finally, a small selection of milestone work is presented which has been performed during the last two decades.

Jahnke, T.↗

Arbitrary-ratio power splitter based on nonlinear multimode interference coupler

We propose an ultra-compact multimode interference (MMI) power splitter based on nonlinear effects from simulations using nonlinear modal propagation analysis (NMPA) cooperation with finite difference Method (FDM) to access free choice of splitting ratio. Conventional multimode interference power splitter could only obtain a few discrete ratios. The power splitting ratio may be adjusted continuously while the input set power is varying by a tunable laser. In fact, using an ultra- compact MMI with a simple structure that is launched by a tunable nonlinear input fulfills the problem of arbitrary-ratio in integrated photonics circuits. Silicon on insulator (SOI) is used as the offered material due to the high contrast refractive index and Centro symmetric properties. The high-resolution images at the end of the multimode waveguide in the simulated power splitter have a high power balance, whereas access to a free choice of splitting ratio is not possible under the linear regime in the proposed length range except changes in the dimension for any ratio. The compact dimensions and ideal performance of the device are established according to optimized parameters. The proposed regime can be extended to the design of M×N arbitrary power splitters ratio for programmable logic devices in all optical digital signal processing. The results of this study indicate that nonlinear modal propagation analysis solves the miniaturization problem for all-optical devices based on MMI couplers to achieve multiple functions in a compact planar integrated circuit and also overcomes the limitations of previously proposed methods for nonlinear MMI.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Study on efficiency of time computation in x-ray imaging simulation base on Monte Carlo algorithm using graphics processing unit

Monte Carlo (MC) is one of the powerful techniques for simulation in x-ray imaging. MC method can simulate the radiation transport within matter with high accuracy and provides a natural way to simulate radiation transport in complex systems. One of the codes based on MC algorithm that are widely used for radiographic images simulation is MC-GPU, a codes developed by Andrea Basal. This study was aimed to investigate the time computation of x-ray imaging simulation in GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) compared to a standard CPU (Central Processing Unit). Furthermore, the effect of physical parameters to the quality of radiographic images and the comparison of image quality resulted from simulation in the GPU and CPU are evaluated in this paper. The simulations were run in CPU which was simulated in serial condition, and in two GPU with 384 cores and 2304 cores. In simulation using GPU, each cores calculates one photon, so, a large number of photon were calculated simultaneously. Results show that the time simulations on GPU were significantly accelerated compared to CPU. The simulations on the 2304 core of GPU were performed about 64 -114 times faster than on CPU, while the simulation on the 384 core of GPU were performed about 20 – 31 times faster than in a single core of CPU. Another result shows that optimum quality of images from the simulation was gained at the history start from 10{sup 8} and the energy from 60 Kev to 90 Kev. Analyzed by statistical approach, the quality of GPU and CPU images are relatively the same.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗