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At least 451 records · Page 25

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NASA NTRS2006

Reducing Stray Light To Characterize Nirspec Subsystems: The Focal Plane Array And Micro-Shutter Array

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is an infrared, space-based telescope scheduled for launch in 2013. JWST includes four scientific instruments, including the Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRSpec), which operates in the wavelength range from 0.6 to 5 microns. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is responsible for two NIRSpec subsystems: the detector subsystem, with its focal plane array (FPA), and the micro-shutter subsystem, with its micro-shutter array (MSA). The FPA is comprised of two side-by-side Rockwell Scientific HgCdTe 2kx2k detectors, with detectors and readout electronics optimized for low noise. The MSA is a GSFC developed micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) that serves as a programmable slit mask, allowing NIRSpec to obtain simultaneous spectra of >100 objects in a single field of view. We present the optical characterization test plan of the FPA. The test plan is driven by many requirements: cryogenic operating temperature, a flight-like beam shape, and multi-wavelength photon flux from 1 to 60,000 per second, thus low stray light is critical. We use commercial optical modeling software to predict stray light effects at the FPA. We also present the optical contrast test plan of the MSA. Since each individual shutter element operates in on/off fashion, the most important optical metric is contrast. The MSA structure is designed to minimize stray and scattered light, and the test setup reduces stray light such that the optical contrast requirement is met.

Connelly, Joseph A.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Stretched Lens Array (SLA) for Collection and Conversion of Infrared Laser Light: 45% Efficiency Demonstrated for Near-Term 800 W/kg Space Power System

For the past 2% years, our team has been developing a unique photovoltaic concentrator array for collection and conversion of infrared laser light. This laser-receiving array has evolved from the solar-receiving Stretched Lens Array (SLA). The laser-receiving version of SLA is being developed for space power applications when or where sunlight is not available (e.g., the eternally dark lunar polar craters). The laser-receiving SLA can efficiently collect and convert beamed laser power from orbiting spacecraft or other sources (e.g., solar-powered lasers on the permanently illuminated ridges of lunar polar craters). A dual-use version of SLA can produce power from sunlight during sunlit portions of the mission, and from beamed laser light during dark portions of the mission. SLA minimizes the cost and mass of photovoltaic cells by using gossamer-like Fresnel lenses to capture and focus incoming light (solar or laser) by a factor of 8.5X, thereby providing a cost-effective, ultra-light space power system.

O'Neill, Mark↗

NASA NTRS1979

Light Controller

Artificial lighting is designed to provide the light intensity necessary if there were no other source of illumination. But many rooms, particularly those in large-windowed office buildings, get a substantial amount of sunlight during the day. An automatic system which considers available sunlight and adjusts the artificial lighting level accordingly can trim energy costs appreciably. Such a system was developed by NASA's Kennedy Space Center. International Technology Corporation, Satellite Beach, Florida, obtained a NASA patent license for the technology, refined the design, and is now producing commercially an improved version known as the Automatic Lighting Controller.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2007

Can the Hypothesis 'Photon Interferes only with Itself' be Reconciled with Superposition of Light from Multiple Beams or Sources?

Any superposition effect as measured (SEM) by us is the summation of simultaneous stimulations experienced by a detector due to the presence of multiple copies of a detectee each carrying different values of the same parameter. We discus the cases with light beams carrying same frequency for both diffraction and multiple beam Fabry-Perot interferometer and also a case where the two superposed light beams carry different frequencies. Our key argument is that if light really consists of indivisible elementary particle, photon, then it cannot by itself create superposition effect since the state vector of an elementary particle cannot carry more than one values of any parameter at the same time. Fortunately, semiclassical model explains all light induced interactions using quantized atoms and classical EM wave packet. Classical physics, with its deeper commitment to Reality Ontology, was better prepared to nurture the emergence of Quantum Mechanics and still can provide guidance to explore nature deeper if we pay careful attention to successful classical formulations like Huygens-Fresnel diffraction integral.

Roychoudhuri, Chandrasekhar↗

NASA NTRS2007

JWST NIRSpec Cryogenic Light Shield Mechanism

The focal plane detectors for the Near-Infrared Spectrometer (NIRSpec) instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) require a light tight cover for calibration as well as an open field-of-view during ground performance testing within a cryogenic dewar. In order to achieve the light attenuation requirements when closed as well as provide a open field of view for the detectors within the cryogenic dewar, a light shield mechanism was designed. This paper discusses the details of the light shield mechanism design, development, and test results.

Sharma, Rajeev K.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Multi-pass light amplifier

A multiple-pass laser amplifier that uses optical focusing between subsequent passes through a single gain medium so that a reproducibly stable beam size is achieved within the gain region. A resonator or a White Cell cavity is provided, including two or more mirrors (planar or curvilinearly shaped) facing each other along a resonator axis and an optical gain medium positioned on a resonator axis between the mirrors or adjacent to one of the mirrors. In a first embodiment, two curvilinear mirrors, which may include adjacent lenses, are configured so that a light beam passing through the gain medium and incident on the first mirror is reflected by that mirror toward the second mirror in a direction approximately parallel to the resonator axis. A light beam translator, such as an optical flat of transparent material, is positioned to translate this light beam by a controllable amount toward or away from the resonator axis for each pass of the light beam through the translator. A second embodiment uses two curvilinear mirrors and one planar mirror, with a gain medium positioned in the optical path between each curvilinear mirror and the planar mirror. A third embodiment uses two curvilinear mirrors and two planar mirrors, with a gain medium positioned adjacent to a planar mirror. A fourth embodiment uses a curvilinear mirror and three planar mirrors, with a gain medium positioned adjacent to a planar mirror. A fourth embodiment uses four planar mirrors and a focusing lens system, with a gain medium positioned between the four mirrors. A fifth embodiment uses first and second planar mirrors, a focusing lens system and a third mirror that may be planar or curvilinear, with a gain medium positioned adjacent to the third mirror. A sixth embodiment uses two planar mirrors and a curvilinear mirror and a fourth mirror that may be planar or curvilinear, with a gain medium positioned adjacent to the fourth mirror. In a seventh embodiment, first and second mirrors face a third mirror, all curvilinear, in a White Cell configuration, and a gain medium is positioned adjacent to one of the mirrors.

Plaessmann, Henry↗

NASA NTRS1992

Fast optical switch having reduced light loss

An electrically controlled optical switch uses an electro-optic crystal of the type having at least one set of fast and slow optical axes. The crystal exhibits electric field induced birefringence such that a plane of polarization oriented along a first direction of a light beam passing through the crystal may be switched to a plane of polarization oriented along a second direction. A beam splitting polarizer means is disposed at one end of the crystal and directs a light beam passing through the crystal whose plane of polarization is oriented along the first direction differently from a light beam having a plane of polarization oriented along the second direction. The electro-optic crystal may be chosen from the crystal classes 43m, 42m, and 23. In a preferred embodiment, the electro-optic crystal is a bismuth germanium oxide crystal or a bismuth silicon oxide crystal. In another embodiment of the invention, polarization control optics are provided which transmit substantially all of the incident light to the electro-optic crystal, substantially reducing the insertion loss of the switch.

Nelson, Bruce N.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Numerical Solution of Light Scattered from and Transmitted through a Rough Dielectric Surface with Applications to Periodic Roughness and Isolated Structures

Light scattering and transmission by rough surfaces are of considerable interest in a variety of applications including remote sensing and characterization of surfaces. In this work, the finite-difference time domain technique is applied to calculate the scattered and transmitted electromagnetic fields of an infinite periodic rough surface. The elements of Mueller matrix for scattered light are calculated by an integral of the near fields over a significant number of periods of the surface. The normalized Mueller matrix elements of the scattered light and the spatial distribution of the transmitted flux for a monolayer of micron-sized dielectric spheres on a silicon substrate are presented. The numerical results show that the nonzero Mueller matrix elements of the system of the monolayer of dielectric spheres on a silicon substrate have specific maxima at some scattering angles. These maxima may be used in characterization of the feature of the system. For light transmitted through the monolayer of spheres, our results show that the transmitted energy focuses around the ray passing through centers of the spheres. At other locations, the transmitted flux is very small. The technique also may be used to calculate the perturbance of the electromagnetic field due to the presence of an isolated structure on the substrate.

Sun, Wenbo↗

NASA NTRS1990

Real-time image difference detection using a polarization rotation spacial light modulator

An image difference detection system is described, of the type wherein two created image representations such as transparencies representing the images to be compared lie coplanar, while light passes through the two transparencies and is formed into coincident images at the image plane for comparison. The two transparencies are formed by portions of a polarization rotation spacial light modulator display such as a multi-pixel liquid crystal display or a magneto optical rotation type. In a system where light passing through the two transparencies is polarized in transverse directions to enable the use of a Wollaston prism to bring the images into coincidence, a liquid crystal display can be used which is devoid of polarizing sheets that would interfere with transverse polarizing of the light passing through the two transparencies.

Chao, Tien-Hsin↗

NASA NTRS1977

Reflective liquid crystal light valve with hybrid field effect mode

There is disclosed a high performance reflective mode liquid crystal light valve suitable for general image processing and projection and particularly suited for application to real-time coherent optical data processing. A preferred example of the device uses a CdS photoconductor, a CdTe light absorbing layer, a dielectric mirror, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between indium-tin-oxide transparent electrodes deposited on optical quality glass flats. The non-coherent light image is directed onto the photoconductor; this reduces the impedance of the photoconductor, thereby switching the AC voltage that is impressed across the electrodes onto the liquid crystal to activate the device. The liquid crystal is operated in a hybrid field effect mode. It utilizes the twisted nematic effect to create a dark off-state (voltage off the liquid crystal) and the optical birefringence effect to create the bright on-state. The liquid crystal thus modulates the polarization of the coherent read-out or projection light responsively to the non-coherent image. An analyzer is used to create an intensity modulated output beam.

Boswell, Donald D.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Recent Studies of the Behavior of the Sun's White-Light Corona Over Time

Predictions of upcoming solar cycles are often related to the nature and dynamics of the Sun's polar magnetic field and its influence on the corona. For the past 30 years we have a more-or-less continuous record of the Sun's white-light corona from groundbased and spacebased coronagraphs. Over that interval, the large scale features of the corona have varied in what we now consider a 'predictable' fashion--complex, showing multiple streamers at all latitudes during solar activity maximum; and a simple dipolar shape aligned with the rotational pole during solar minimum. Over the past three decades the white-light corona appears to be a better indicator of 'true' solar minimum than sunspot number since sunspots disappear for months (even years) at solar minimum. Since almost all predictions of the timing of the next solar maximum depend on the timing of solar minimum, the white-light corona is a potentially important observational discriminator for future predictors. In this contribution we describe recent work quantifying the large-scale appearance of the Sun's corona to correlate it with the sunspot record, especially around solar minimum. These three decades can be expanded with the HAO archive of eclipse photographs which, although sparse compared to the coronagraphic coverage, extends back to 1869. A more extensive understanding of this proxy would give researchers confidence in using the white-light corona as an indicator of solar minimum conditions.

SaintCyr, O. C.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Compact Dielectric-Rod White-Light Delay Lines

Optical delay lines of a proposed type would be made from rods of such dielectric materials as calcium fluoride, fused silica, or sapphire. These would offer advantages over prior optical delay lines, as summarized below. Optical delay lines are key components of opto-electronic microwave oscillators, narrow-band opto-electronic microwave filters, evanescent-field optical biochemical detectors, and some Fourier-Transform spectrum analyzers. Heretofore, optical delay lines used in such applications have been of two types: resonators and coiled long optical fibers, both of which have disadvantages: Resonators are compact, but excitation must be provided by narrow-band lasers. Wide-band (including noisy) laser light cannot be coupled efficiently to narrow-band resonators. When light is coupled into a narrowband resonator from a source of reasonably high power, a significant amount of optical energy circulates within the resonator, causing nonlinear loss and significant noise. Typically, a coil-type optical delay line is made of fused-silica fiber, which exhibits fundamental loss. To overcome the limit imposed by the optical loss in fused silica, it would be necessary to use fibers having crystalline cores. Although space is saved by winding fibers into coils, fiber-coil delay lines are still inconveniently bulky. The proposed compact dielectric-rod delay lines would exploit the special class of non-diffracting light beams that are denoted Bessel beams because their amplitudes are proportional to Bessel functions of the radii from their central axes. High-order Bessel beams can have large values of angular momentum. They can be generated with the help of whispering-gallery-mode optical resonators, as described, for example, in "Simplified Generation of High-Angular-Momentum Light Beams" (NPO-42965) NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 31, No. 3 (March 2007), page 8a. In a delay line according to the proposal, the dielectric rod would be dimensioned to function as a multimode waveguide. Suitably chosen high-angular-momentum modes in such a waveguide exhibit low group velocity (hence, long delay) and no resonance. Such a delay line could perform well at any wavelength or range of wavelengths within the transparency wavelength band of the dielectric material, and the maximum possible group delay achievable through suitable design would be limited only by the optical loss in the rod material.

Maleki, Lute↗

NASA NTRS2008

Solid-State Lighting Module (SSLM)

The project's goal was to build a light-emitting-diode (LED)-based light fixture that is identical in fit, form, and function to the existing International Space Station (ISS) General Luminaire Assembly (GLA) light fixture and fly it on the ISS in early FY 2008 as a Station Detailed Test Objective (SDTO). Our design offers the following strengths: proven component hardware: Our design uses components flown in other KSC-developed hardware; heat path thermal pad: LED array heat is transferred from the circuit board by silicon pad, negating the need for a cooling fan; variable colorimetry: The output light color can be changed by inserting different LED combinations.

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NASA NTRS2009

X-Rays from the Explosion Site: Fifteen Years of Light Curves of SN 1993J

We present a comprehensive analysis of the X-ray light curves of SN 1993J in a nearby galaxy M81. This is the only supernova other than SN 1987A, which is so extensively followed in the X-ray bands. Here we report on SN 1993J observations with the Chandra in the year 2005 and 2008, and Swift observations in 2005, 2006 and 2008. We combined these observations with all available archival data of SN 1993J, which includes ROSAT, ASCA, Chandra, and XMM-Newton, observations from 1993 April to 2006 August. In this paper we report the X-ray light curves of SN 1993J, extending up to fifteen years, in the soft (0.3-2.4 keV), hard (2-8 keV) and combined (0.3-8 keV) bands. The hard and soft-band fluxes decline at different rates initially, but after about 5 years they both undergo a t(sup -1) decline. The soft X-rays, which are initially low, start dominating after a few hundred days. We interpret that most of the emission below 8 keV is coming from the reverse shock which is radiative initially for around first 1000-2000 days and then turn into adiabatic shock. Our hydrodynamic simulation also confirms the reverse shock origin of the observed light curves. We also compare the Ha line luminosity of SN 1993J with its X-ray light curve and note that the Ha line luminosity has a fairly high fraction of the X-ray emission, indicating presence of clumps in the emitting plasma.

Chandra, Poonam↗

NASA NTRS2006

Theodolite Ring Lights

Theodolite ring lights have been invented to ease a difficulty encountered in the well-established optical-metrology practice of using highly reflective spherical tooling balls as position references. A theodolite ring light produces a more easily visible reflection and eliminates the need for an autocollimating device. A theodolite ring light is a very bright light source that is well centered on the optical axis of the instrument. It can be fabricated, easily and inexpensively, for use on a theodolite or telescope of any diameter.

Clark, David↗

NASA NTRS2011

Disinfection of Spacecraft Potable Water Systems by Photocatalytic Oxidation Using UV-A Light Emitting Diodes

Ultraviolet (UV) light has long been used in terrestrial water treatment systems for photodisinfection and the removal of organic compounds by several processes including photoadsorption, photolysis, and photocatalytic oxidation/reduction. Despite its effectiveness for water treatment, UV has not been explored for spacecraft applications because of concerns about the safety and reliability of mercury-containing UV lamps. However, recent advances in ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV LEDs) have enabled the utilization of nanomaterials that possess the appropriate optical properties for the manufacture of LEDs capable of producing monochromatic light at germicidal wavelengths. This report describes the testing of a commercial-off-the-shelf, high power Nichia UV-A LED (250mW A365nnJ for the excitation of titanium dioxide as a point-of-use (POD) disinfection device in a potable water system. The combination of an immobilized, high surface area photocatalyst with a UV-A LED is promising for potable water system disinfection since toxic chemicals and resupply requirements are reduced. No additional consumables like chemical biocides, absorption columns, or filters are required to disinfect and/or remove potentially toxic disinfectants from the potable water prior to use. Experiments were conducted in a static test stand consisting of a polypropylene microtiter plate containing 3mm glass balls coated with titanium dioxide. Wells filled with water were exposed to ultraviolet light from an actively-cooled UV-A LED positioned above each well and inoculated with six individual challenge microorganisms recovered from the International Space Station (ISS): Burkholderia cepacia, Cupriavidus metallidurans, Methylobacterium fujisawaense, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Sphingomonas paucimobilis and Wautersia basilensis. Exposure to the Nichia UV-A LED with photocatalytic oxidation resulted in a complete (>7-log) reduction of each challenge bacteria population in <180 minutes of contact time. With continued advances in the design and manufacture of UV-A LEDs and semi-conducting photocatalysts, LED activated photochemical process technology promises to extend its application to spacecraft environmental systems.

Birmele, Michele N.↗

NASA NTRS2011

An Investigation of How a Meteor Light Curve is Modified by Meteor Shape and Atmospheric Density Perturbations

This is a preliminary investigation of how perturbations to meteoroid shape or atmospheric density affect a meteor light curve. A simple equation of motion and ablation are simultaneously solved numerically to give emitted light intensity as a function of height. It is found that changing the meteoroid shape, by changing the relationship between the cross-section area and the mass, changes the curvature and symmetry of the light curve, while making a periodic oscillation in atmospheric density gives a small periodic oscillation in the light curve.

Stokan, E.↗

NASA NTRS2004

White-Light Nulling Interferometers for Detecting Planets

A report proposes the development of a white-light nulling interferometer to be used in conjunction with a singleaperture astronomical telescope that would be operated in outer space. When such a telescope is aimed at a given star, the interferometer would suppress the light of that star while passing enough light from planets (if any) orbiting the star, to enable imaging or spectroscopic examination of the planets. In a nulling interferometer, according to the proposal, scattered light would be suppressed by spatial filtering in an array of single-mode optical fibers rather than by requiring optical surfaces to be accurate within 1/4,000 wavelength as in a coronagraph or an apodized telescope. As a result, angstrom-level precision would be needed in only the small nulling combiner, and not in large, meter-sized optics. The nulling interferometer could work as an independent instrument in space or in conjunction with a coronagraphic system to detect planets outside our solar system.

Mennesson, Bertrand↗