Results for “optical transmitters” — Page 3

DOE OSTI2026

Using Artificial Soiling to Rank Anti-Soiling Coatings for Arid Climates

A simple method to evaluate (e.g., screen and rank) the performance of coatings that are fully or partially anti-soiling (AS) is lacking within the PV industry. Artificial soiling may be used as a rapid and economical assessment approach, offering an efficient alternative to time-intensive, site-specific field testing. In this study, we present an artificial soiling method to replicate the anti-soiling performance rankings of two groups of coated glass samples supplied by two manufacturers (group C with CA, CP, and CS coatings; group A with AC coating). These are compared to field aging in two climates: semi-arid Lemoore, California over 4 months, and the hot desert in Mesa, Arizona over 7 months. Both field and indoor performance ranking utilize the transmittance ratio, defined as the optical transmittance between a coated sample and an uncoated reference in each group, as an evaluation metric to assess the effectiveness of the artificial soiling approach in replicating field soiling. It is critical to mimic the dominant field meteorological conditions associated with soiling-prone days and vulnerable times of day during the soiling season. Our results reveal that the use of artificial soiling for field performance ranking among coatings strongly depends on the soil type (composition and particle distribution), dust surface density, and prevalent environmental factors (wetting saturation by humidity, dew condensation extent, and prior weathering history of the coating). The similar rank order relative to the field suggests that the artificial soiling approach presented may be used for down-selecting anti-soiling coatings prior to prolonged field validation.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2021

A 10-Gb/s Driver/Receiver ASIC and Optical Modules for Particle Physics Experiments

We present the design and test results of a Drivers and Limiting AmplifierS ASIC operating at 10 Gbps (DLAS10) and three Miniature Optical Transmitter/Receiver/Transceiver modules (MTx+, MRx+, and MTRx+) based on DLAS10. DLAS10 can drive two Transmitter Optical Sub-Assemblies (TOSAs) of Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs), receive the signals from two Receiver Optical Sub-Assemblies (ROSAs) that have no embedded limiting amplifiers, or drive a VCSEL TOSA and receive the signal from a ROSA, respectively. Each channel of DLAS10 consists of an input Continuous Time Linear Equalizer (CTLE), a four-stage limiting amplifier (LA), and an output driver. The LA amplifies the signals of variable levels to a stable swing. The output driver drives VCSELs or impedance-controlled traces. DLAS10 is fabricated in a 65 nm CMOS technology. The die is 1 mm x 1 mm. DLAS10 is packaged in a 4 mm x 4 mm 24-pin quad-flat no-leads (QFN) package. DLAS10 has been tested in MTx+, MRx+, and MTRx+ modules. Both measured optical and electrical eye diagrams pass the 10 Gbps eye mask test. Furthermore, the input electrical sensitivity is 40 mVp-p, while the input optical sensitivity is -12 dBm. The total jitter of MRx+ is 29 ps (P-P) with a random jitter of 1.6 ps (RMS) and a deterministic jitter of 9.9 ps. Each MTx+/MTRx+ module consumes 82 mW/ch and 174 mW/ch, respectively.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

NASA NTRS1975

Experiment definition phase shuttle laboratory LDRL-10.6 experiment

The 10.6 microns laser data relay link (LDRL 10.6) program was directed to applying optical communications to NASA's wideband data transmission requirements through the 1980's. The LDRL consists of a transmitter on one or more low earth orbit satellites with an elliptical orbit satellite receivers. Topics discussed include: update of the LDRL design control table to detail the transmitter optical chain losses and to incorporate the change to a reflective beam pre-expander; continued examination of the link establishment sequence, including its dependence upon spacecraft stability; design of the transmitter pointing and tracking control system; and finalization of the transmitter brassboard optical and mechanical design.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2008

Range Imaging without Moving Parts

Range-imaging instruments of a type now under development are intended to generate the equivalent of three-dimensional images from measurements of the round-trip times of flight of laser pulses along known directions. These instruments could also provide information on characteristics of targets, including roughnesses and reflectivities of surfaces and optical densities of such semi-solid objects as trees and clouds. Unlike in prior range-imaging instruments based on times of flight along known directions, there would be no moving parts; aiming of the laser beams along the known directions would not be accomplished by mechanical scanning of mirrors, prisms, or other optical components. Instead, aiming would be accomplished by using solid-state devices to switch input and output beams along different fiber-optic paths. Because of the lack of moving parts, these instruments could be extraordinarily reliable, rugged, and long-lasting. An instrument of this type would include an optical transmitter that would send out a laser pulse along a chosen direction to a target. An optical receiver coaligned with the transmitter would measure the temporally varying intensity of laser light reflected from the target to determine the distance and surface characteristics of the target. The transmitter would be a combination of devices for generating precise directional laser illumination. It would include a pulsed laser, the output of which would be coupled into a fiber-optic cable with a fan-out and solid-state optical switches that would enable switching of the laser beam onto one or more optical fibers terminated at known locations in an array on a face at the focal plane of a telescope. The array would be imaged by the telescope onto the target space. The receiver optical system could share the aforementioned telescope with the transmitter or could include a separate telescope aimed in the same direction as that of the transmitting telescope. In either case, light reflected from the target would be focused by the receiver optical system onto an array of optical fibers matching the array in the transmitter. These optical fibers would couple the received light to one or more photodetector( s). Optionally, the receiver could include solid-state optical switches for choosing which optical fiber(s) would couple light to the photodetector(s). This instrument architecture is flexible and can be optimized for a wide variety of applications and levels of performance. For example, it is scalable to any number of pixels and pixel resolutions and is compatible with a variety of ranging and photodetection methodologies, including, for example, ranging by use of modulated (including pulsed and encoded) light signals. The use of fixed arrays of optical fibers to generate controlled illumination patterns would eliminate the mechanical complexity and much of the bulk of optomechanical scanning assemblies. Furthermore, digital control of the selection of the fiber-optic pathways for the transmitted beams could afford capabilities not seen in previous three-dimensional range-imaging systems. Instruments of this type could be specialized for use as, for example, proximity detectors, three-dimensional robotic vision systems, airborne terrain-mapping systems, and inspection systems.

Blair, J. Bryan↗

NASA NTRS1995

Advanced Laser Processing of Materials--Fundamentals and Applications

Preparation of amorphous thin films in semiconductors and their transition to the crystalline phase may apply to switching devices. Surfaces of single crystal samples of bulk In2Se3 and thin films of InSe were treated using an excimer laser, and microscopic examination showed the treated portions of the surface had become amorphous. Film samples of InSe were laser-treated like the bulk samples. Examination of these treated flims showed shifts in the optical transmittance spectra as well as surface morphology changes.

amorphous thin films semiconductors crystalline ph↗

NASA NTRS1981

Spacecraft contamination prediction and testing techniques

Techniques used in the prediction of spacecraft contamination for the Galileo Jupiter Orbiter and in the determination of the effects of such contamination are presented. Following a quick-look assessment of the contributions of ground-based initial contaminant loading, launch vehicle interface effects, vacuum-exposed outgassing deposition and attitude control thruster impingement and venting to the spacecraft contamination burden, the evaluations centered on the effects of the attitude control thruster on the scan platform optics, including calculations of thruster flowfields and a high-fidelity computer simulation of contaminant distribution. The evaluations revealed a considerable problem with thruster contamination, which could be solved by the use of a thrust shield and the avoidance of thruster operation at certain scan platform orientations. The effects of the various possible contaminants on spacecraft thermal and optical system performances were also investigated in studies of the optical transmittance of deposited monomethyl hydrazine nitrate, vacuum optical degradation due to contaminant outgassing and re-emission outgassing, and an operational satellite contaminant monitor on the NOAA-C satellite. It is concluded that with a good evaluation and testing program, contamination control may become a necessary portion of system design procedures, and recommendations for the implementation of various practices and tests to minimize contamination effects are presented.

Jeffery, J. A.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Optical Modem Enabling Broadband Datacom Links for Crewed Cis-Lunar Missions

We report on the design, development, and testing of our high-power broadband optical modem supporting NASA’s crewed Artemis-2 mission. The O2O modem will be mounted in the crewed Orion module and provide a broadband 505,000 km bi-directional optical link back to earth while en route to the moon. The full-duplex modem consists of a high-power optical transmitter and receiver optimized for serially-concatenated pulse-position modulation (SCPPM). The transmitter is a master-oscillator power-amplifier optical architecture using efficient cladding-pumped amplification in erbium-ytterbium co-doped fiber. The transmitter outputs up to 1 W at ≈1550 nm (limited for eye safety) and supports 6 different user-rates ranging from 20.39 Mb/s to 260.95 Mb/s using PPM16 and PPM32 modulation formats. The optical receiver supports two user-rates: 10.19 Mb/s and 20.39 Mb/s with both rates employing PPM32. The narrowband receiver filtering is optimized to simultaneously accept four separate wavelength channels to mitigate atmospherics through spatial diversity. A configurable interleaver provides additional protection against atmospherics-based signal fading and a powerful soft-decision error correction scheme enables highly sensitive detection. The measured sensitivities at the two bit-rates are -73.8 and -71.8dBm, respectively. The architecture was designed for reliable operation in space, featuring automatic hardware interlocks, pump sparing for the amplifiers, and autonomous operation of all internal hardware and software control loops. The protoflight unit (PFU) was put through rigorous environmental testing which included pyroshock, vibration, electromagnetic interference/compatibility, and thermal-vacuum testing. The modem successfully passed all the environmental screening and has been declared at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6.

space communications↗

NASA NTRS1976

Halide eutectic growth experiment MA-131

Fiberlike sodium chloride/lithium fluoride eutectic mixtures have been produced on earth and in space by the directional solidification technique. Macroscopic and microscopic examinations were made on longitudinal and transverse sections of Apollo Soyuz Test Project space grown and earth grown ingots. It was found that samples grown in space have a higher percentage of fibers alined with the growth axis. The enhanced alinement of fibers is attributed to the absence of convection currents in the liquid during solidification. Optical transmittance measurements of transverse sections of the space grown and earth grown ingots were performed with an infrared spectrometer. For a given sample thickness, the highest transmittance was obtained from ingots grown in space. For samples of different thicknesses, grown either in space or on earth, it was found that the thinner the sample, the higher the transmittance. This is in agreement with the general optical property of transparent materials.

Yue, A. S.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Fiber optic multiplex optical transmission system

A multiplex optical transmission system which minimizes external interference while simultaneously receiving and transmitting video, digital data, and audio signals is described. Signals are received into subgroup mixers for blocking into respective frequency ranges. The outputs of these mixers are in turn fed to a master mixer which produces a composite electrical signal. An optical transmitter connected to the master mixer converts the composite signal into an optical signal and transmits it over a fiber optic cable to an optical receiver which receives the signal and converts it back to a composite electrical signal. A de-multiplexer is coupled to the output of the receiver for separating the composite signal back into composite video, digital data, and audio signals. A programmable optic patch board is interposed in the fiber optic cables for selectively connecting the optical signals to various receivers and transmitters.

Bell, C. H.↗

DOE OSTI2022

Unconventional optical properties of 2D Janus SMoSe induced by structural asymmetry

The Janus SMoSe monolayer that is best-known for its structural asymmetry is found to exhibit unconventional optical properties compared with its counterpart MoSe 2 . Optical transmittance measurements on monolayers that are directly synthesized on sapphire substrates reveal that the transmittance, as well as the real and imaginary parts of the optical dielectric constants of Janus SMoSe obtained from the Kramers–Kronig constrained analysis, show strong dependence on the polarization direction of the incident light. Meanwhile, the transmittance of the unpolarized light of Janus SMoSe becomes insensitive to light at incident angles up to 30°. The intrinsic dipoles induced by the structural asymmetry of Janus SMoSe are believed to produce these distinct optical properties. Finally, by estimating the optical absorption of the intrinsic dipoles and tracing their dependence on the light incident angles, we speculate that the dipoles are not perpendicularly aligned to the in-plane direction of the monolayer, but rather tilted by a small angle between 0° and 10°.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NASA NTRS1989

Optical Communication with Semiconductor Laser Diode

Theoretical and experimental performance limits of a free-space direct detection optical communication system were studied using a semiconductor laser diode as the optical transmitter and a silicon avalanche photodiode (APD) as the receiver photodetector. Optical systems using these components are under consideration as replacements for microwave satellite communication links. Optical pulse position modulation (PPM) was chosen as the signal format. An experimental system was constructed that used an aluminum gallium arsenide semiconductor laser diode as the transmitter and a silicon avalanche photodiode photodetector. The system used Q=4 PPM signaling at a source data rate of 25 megabits per second. The PPM signal format requires regeneration of PPM slot clock and word clock waveforms in the receiver. A nearly exact computational procedure was developed to compute receiver bit error rate without using the Gaussion approximation. A transition detector slot clock recovery system using a phase lock loop was developed and implemented. A novel word clock recovery system was also developed. It was found that the results of the nearly exact computational procedure agreed well with actual measurements of receiver performance. The receiver sensitivity achieved was the closest to the quantum limit yet reported for an optical communication system of this type.

Davidson, Frederic↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development of a Ground Multi-Mission Low-Cost Optical Terminal (LCOT) for Free-Space Optical Communications

Once confined to the realm of laboratory experiments and theoretical papers, space-based laser communications (lasercomm) are on the verge of achieving mainstream status. Organizations from Facebook to NASA, and missions from cubesats to Orion are employing lasercomm to achieve gigabit communication speeds at mass and power requirements lower than that of traditional radio frequency (RF) methods. Since first demonstrating free-space optical communications services with Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD) in 2013, NASA has invested in developing optical communications technologies and capabilities to enhancing its space communications networks. Along with evolving optical space terminals, NASA is also developing lasercomm grounds stations capable of meeting the rapidly increasing data volume demands of upcoming missions, from low-earth to lunar orbits and beyond and integrating these advanced capabilities into its Near-Space and Deep Space Networks. To meet this emerging need, the Low-Cost Optical Terminal (LCOT) project at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is designing, building and validating a prototype for a flexible, multi-mission, and economical optical ground terminal that could be used as a blueprint for a global network of optical ground stations, capable of supporting a wide variety of missions. To date a major impediment to widespread adoption of laser communication has been the lack of an existing ground network infrastructure. A mission that wishes to take advantage of laser communication not only needs to invest in an optical space terminal, but it must also finance the creation of ground terminals to receive the downlink signal. This adds significant additional cost. Missions that do decide to incur the cost of financing a network of ground terminals end up building highly specialized optical receivers that are operable as receivers for that specific mission only. Significant Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) cost is invested to build highly specialized one-of-a-kind ground terminals that go into storage after that particular mission is over. This is not an economical approach and does nothing to grow the number of optical ground stations available to future missions. In essence each mission that wants to take advantage of the benefits of lasercom has to start from scratch to provide a ground terminal network to support it. As long as this is the case, the cost for using laser communications will be too high for most missions to consider. LCOT intends to close this gap in technology by designing and developing a standard optical ground terminal design that is flexible enough to serve as a receiver for a wide range of future missions – a ground terminal that can be quickly reconfigured to receive downlinks at different wavelengths using different signal formats. Not only does LCOT have the industry-building objectives of utilizing commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components to the maximum extent possible, but also spurs the commercial development of other necessary lasercomm components not currently offered by industry. Finally, LCOT will give NASA scientists and engineers a facility where they can gain real-world experience with optical communications. It will give engineers a cost-effective way to try out new concepts and processes by providing the infrastructure for such testing. In this way it is hoped LCOT will serve as a stimulus for innovation in optical communications and speed its widespread adoption by future missions. The LCOT is comprised of five subsystems: Free-Space Optical, Transceiver, Amplifier, Monitor and Control, and Observatory Infrastructure. In August 2021, the LCOT team installed a 70 cm telescope, developed by Planewave Instruments that was optimized for optical communications. Free-Space Optical subsystem comprises of the telescope and its associated hardware, including a transmitter optical assembly, wide field cameras, two optical benches, and an adaptive optics subsystem. The transmit optical assembly, a unique concept design, is a cluster of four functionally independent transmit subassemblies located on the receive telescope. In addition to receiving optical signals and directing the expanded beam with high precision to the space terminal, it also performs tracking functions. The transmit optical assembly will support operations from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) through lunar and will be used as a template for industry manufacturing. The Optical Infrastructure subsystem is responsible for providing environmentally controlled shelters for LCOT equipment and various other systems. To maintain the safety and proper functionality of the telescope, a 16 ft Astrohaven clamshell dome procured which provides all-sky coverage without the need to rotate the dome. Additionally, Atmospheric Monitoring Assembly (AMA) will be part of optical infrastructure subsystem to ensure accurate performance of the LCOT. Like existing optical ground stations, LCOT will measure standard weather station parameters, infrared all sky image of cloud cover, and cloud height. LCOT, however, adds requirements for measuring night time seeing and, in the future, daytime seeing. Unlike other optical ground terminals, the LCOT is transceiver agnostic; user transceivers may be duplex transceivers, standalone receivers, or standalone transmitters with or without acquisition beacon functionality. As such, the LCOT project accommodates testing with external customer transceivers in a flexible manor, further complimenting its intended multi-mission goals. Another unique component of LCOT is the use of a new amplifier technology – the Very Large Mode Area (VLMA) amplifiers. This new technology allows LCOT to avoid the issues faced by previous laser communications ground terminals, gives users more flexibility and modular capability, and is capable of reaching an order of magnitude higher peak power than traditional High Power Optical Amplifiers (HPOA). One drawback of the VLMA HPOA approach is that the amplified light is output into free-space. The solution developed by LCOT is an optics train that couples the output of the VLMA amplifier into a short fiber for transport to the transmit telescopes with high efficiency. Like many of the LCOT components, a set of detailed manufacturing drawings have been created for the optics train to allow any machine shop with a multi-axis Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine to fabricate the piece parts from commonly available materials. In line with the goals of LCOT, the monitor and control functions are developed as a modular and flexible system with the ability to support future hardware or algorithm changes, minimizing disruptions. A main priority of development in the Monitor and Control Subsystem (MCS) is the safety monitor system.

laser communication↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development of a Ground Multi-mission Low Cost Optical Terminal(LCOT) for Free-Space Optical Communication

Once confined to the realm of laboratory experiments and theoretical papers, space-based laser communications (lasercomm) are on the verge of achieving mainstream status. Organizations from Facebook to NASA, and missions from cubesats to Orion are employing lasercomm to achieve gigabit communication speeds at mass and power requirements lower than that of traditional radio frequency (RF) methods. Since first demonstrating free-space optical communications services with Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD) in 2013, NASA has invested in developing optical communications technologies and capabilities to enhancing its space communications networks. Along with evolving optical space terminals, NASA is also developing lasercomm grounds stations capable of meeting the rapidly increasing data volume demands of upcoming missions, from low-earth to lunar orbits and beyond and integrating these advanced capabilities into its Near-Space and Deep Space Networks. To meet this emerging need, the Low-Cost Optical Terminal (LCOT) project at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is designing, building and validating a prototype for a flexible, multi-mission, and economical optical ground terminal that could be used as a blueprint for a global network of optical ground stations, capable of supporting a wide variety of missions. To date a major impediment to widespread adoption of laser communication has been the lack of an existing ground network infrastructure. A mission that wishes to take advantage of laser communication not only needs to invest in an optical space terminal, but it must also finance the creation of ground terminals to receive the downlink signal. This adds significant additional cost. Missions that do decide to incur the cost of financing a network of ground terminals end up building highly specialized optical receivers that are operable as receivers for that specific mission only. Significant Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) cost is invested to build highly specialized one-of-a-kind ground terminals that go into storage after that particular mission is over. This is not an economical approach and does nothing to grow the number of optical ground stations available to future missions. In essence each mission that wants to take advantage of the benefits of lasercom has to start from scratch to provide a ground terminal network to support it. As long as this is the case, the cost for using laser communications will be too high for most missions to consider. LCOT intends to close this gap in technology by designing and developing a standard optical ground terminal design that is flexible enough to serve as a receiver for a wide range of future missions – a ground terminal that can be quickly reconfigured to receive downlinks at different wavelengths using different signal formats. Not only does LCOT have the industry-building objectives of utilizing commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components to the maximum extent possible, but also spurs the commercial development of other necessary lasercomm components not currently offered by industry. Finally, LCOT will give NASA scientists and engineers a facility where they can gain real-world experience with optical communications. It will give engineers a cost-effective way to try out new concepts and processes by providing the infrastructure for such testing. In this way it is hoped LCOT will serve as a stimulus for innovation in optical communications and speed its widespread adoption by future missions. The LCOT is comprised of five subsystems: Free-Space Optical, Transceiver, Amplifier, Monitor and Control, and Observatory Infrastructure. In August 2021, the LCOT team installed a 70 cm telescope, developed by Planewave Instruments that was optimized for optical communications. Free-Space Optical subsystem comprises of the telescope and its associated hardware, including a transmitter optical assembly, wide field cameras, two optical benches, and an adaptive optics subsystem. The transmit optical assembly, a unique concept design, is a cluster of four functionally independent transmit subassemblies located on the receive telescope. In addition to receiving optical signals and directing the expanded beam with high precision to the space terminal, it also performs tracking functions. The transmit optical assembly will support operations from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) through lunar and will be used as a template for industry manufacturing. The Optical Infrastructure subsystem is responsible for providing environmentally controlled shelters for LCOT equipment and various other systems. To maintain the safety and proper functionality of the telescope, a 16 ft Astrohaven clamshell dome procured which provides all-sky coverage without the need to rotate the dome. Additionally, Atmospheric Monitoring Assembly (AMA) will be part of optical infrastructure subsystem to ensure accurate performance of the LCOT. Like existing optical ground stations, LCOT will measure standard weather station parameters, infrared all sky image of cloud cover, and cloud height. LCOT, however, adds requirements for measuring night time seeing and, in the future, daytime seeing. Unlike other optical ground terminals, the LCOT is transceiver agnostic; user transceivers may be duplex transceivers, standalone receivers, or standalone transmitters with or without acquisition beacon functionality. As such, the LCOT project accommodates testing with external customer transceivers in a flexible manor, further complimenting its intended multi-mission goals. Another unique component of LCOT is the use of a new amplifier technology – the Very Large Mode Area (VLMA) amplifiers. This new technology allows LCOT to avoid the issues faced by previous laser communications ground terminals, gives users more flexibility and modular capability, and is capable of reaching an order of magnitude higher peak power than traditional High Power Optical Amplifiers (HPOA). One drawback of the VLMA HPOA approach is that the amplified light is output into free-space. The solution developed by LCOT is an optics train that couples the output of the VLMA amplifier into a short fiber for transport to the transmit telescopes with high efficiency. Like many of the LCOT components, a set of detailed manufacturing drawings have been created for the optics train to allow any machine shop with a multi-axis Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine to fabricate the piece parts from commonly available materials. In line with the goals of LCOT, the monitor and control functions are developed as a modular and flexible system with the ability to support future hardware or algorithm changes, minimizing disruptions. A main priority of development in the Monitor and Control Subsystem (MCS) is the safety monitor system.

Haleh Safavi↗

DOE OSTI2020

The Abrasion of Photovoltaic Glass: A Comparison of the Effects of Natural and Artificial Aging

Natural soiling and the subsequent requisite cleaning of photovoltaic (PV) modules result in abrasion damage to the cover glass. The durability of the front glass has important economic consequences, including determining the use of antireflective and/or antisoiling coatings as well as the method and frequency of operating maintenance (cleaning). The abrasion of coatings and glass has been explored in a field study, including the soiling-prone locations of Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Kuwait City (Kuwait), Mesa (Arizona), Mumbai (India), and Sacramento (California). Dry-brush-cleaned specimens will be compared to those subjected to artificial-brush testing. The characteristics of material integrity, surface energy, optical transmittance, surface roughness, and scratch size were examined using an optical microscope, contact goniometer (for water), spectrophotometer, interferometer, and atomic force microscope (AFM), respectively. The findings of this study will be used to provide feedback regarding the cleaning equipment, cleaning methods, and coatings used in the PV industry. The study here will also be used to aid in developing an abrasion standard for the PV industry.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

NASA NTRS1996

Pulsed Plasma Thruster Contamination

Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (PPT's) are currently baselined for the Air Force Mightysat II.1 flight in 1999 and are under consideration for a number of other missions for primary propulsion, precision positioning, and attitude control functions. In this work, PPT plumes were characterized to assess their contamination characteristics. Diagnostics included planar and cylindrical Langmuir probes and a large number of collimated quartz contamination sensors. Measurements were made using a LES 8/9 flight PPT at 0.24, 0.39, 0.55, and 1.2 m from the thruster, as well as in the backflow region behind the thruster. Plasma measurements revealed a peak centerline ion density and velocity of approx. 6 x 10(exp 12) cm(exp -3) and 42,000 m/s, respectively. Optical transmittance measurements of the quartz sensors after 2 x 10(exp 5) pulses showed a rapid decrease in plume contamination with increasing angle from the plume axis, with a barely measurable transmittance decrease in the ultraviolet at 90 deg. No change in optical properties was detected for sensors in the backflow region.

Myers, Roger M.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Investigation of a GaAlAs Mach-Zehnder electro-optic modulator

A GaAs modulator operating at 0.78 to 0.88 micron wavelength has the potential to be integrated with a GaAs/GaAlAs laser diode for an integrated fiber-optic transmitter. A travelling-wave Mach-Zehnder modulator using the electro-optic effect of GaAs and operating at a wavelength of 0.82 microns has been investigated for the first time. A four layer Strip-loaded ridge optical waveguide has been analyzed using the effective index method and single mode waveguides have been designed. The electro-optic effect of GaAs has also been analyzed and a modulator using the geometry producing the maximum phase shift has been designed. A coplanar transmission line structure is used in an effort to tap the potentially higher bandwidth of travelling-wave electrodes. The modulator bandwidth has been calculated at 11.95 GHz with a required drive power of 2.335 Watts for full intensity modulation. Finally, some preliminary experiments were performed to characterize a fabrication process for the modulator.

Materna, David M.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Optical Tunable-Based Transmitter for Multiple Radio Frequency Bands

An optical tunable transmitter is used to transmit multiple radio frequency bands on a single beam. More specifically, a tunable laser is configured to generate a plurality of optical wavelengths, and an optical tunable transmitter is configured to modulate each of the plurality of optical wavelengths with a corresponding radio frequency band. The optical tunable transmitter is also configured to encode each of the plurality of modulated optical wavelengths onto a single laser beam for transmission of a plurality of radio frequency bands using the single laser beam.

Nguyen, Hung↗

NASA NTRS2007

Optomechanical Design and Analysis Considerations on the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter

This paper presents the mechanical design and analysis work completed on the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA). LOLA is one of six instruments on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), scheduled to launch in 2008. LOLA's main objective is to produce a high-resolution global lunar topographic model to aid in safe landings and enhance surface mobility in future exploration missions. LOLA will also look for evidence of ice water in the permanently shadowed regions around the lunar poles. Beryllium was chosen as the primary material for the LOLA Optical Transmitter Assembly to take advantage of the material's low mass density for light weight optical instrument design and for CTE matching of the refractive optical components. In addition, the thermal conductivity and specific heat of beryllium minimizes thermal gradients and thermal excursions. Special consideration must be made for the planning and preparation to fabricate beryllium components, as well as the preparation and cleaning of the components for gold plating. Assembly challenges include handling, precision cleaning and integration and testing. Structural analysis considerations include following General Environmental Verification Specification (GEVS) guidelines for GSFC payloads. The GEVS random environment for LOLA has an acceptance level of 10.0 Grms, which was analyzed for higher frequency transients. The low frequency transients were analyzed using a Mass Acceleration Curve to obtain an equivalent static loading. In addition, Structural-Thermal-Optical analysis, commonly referred to as STOP analysis, was completed to predict optical performance under the instrument's operational thermal environment. This included stress and distortion analysis on the receiver telescope lens.

Schmidt. Stephen↗