SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Refraction”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 559 records · Page 31

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2026

Barium Fluoride as a Standard Reference Material for Infrared Refractometry

This work proposes a standard reference material (SRM) for measurements of refractive index in the infrared spectral region (1–12 μm). The purpose of this material is to enable cross-method comparison of refractive index data obtained through minimum deviation, ellipsometry, interferometry, and prism coupling techniques. This will allow vendors and metrology laboratories, regardless of which technique they employ, to certify that their measurements meet required levels of accuracy, precision, and repeatability. Drawing on foundational work by Tilton at the National Bureau of Standards, a figure of merit for candidate SRM materials is outlined, and three materials are selected for further evaluation. Ultimately, barium fluoride is proposed as the most suitable SRM for the infrared spectral region, based on its broad transmission range, chemical and mechanical stability, low temperature dependence of refractive index, and well-characterized dispersion behavior.

Andrew Howe↗

NASA NTRS1965

Radio meteorology at jpl goldstone pioneer station, july 14, 1965 final report

Macroscopic refractive index structure of troposphere and local microscopic refractive index variations - radio meteorology

REFRACTIVE INDEX↗

NASA NTRS1966

Optical interferometry of inhomogeneous gases.

One-dimensional refractive index distribution using power series expansions for refractive index and ray traces obtained from relation of inhomogeneities and interference pattern of Mach- Zehnder interferometer

MACH-ZEHNDER INTERFEROMETER↗

NASA NTRS2021

Polarimetric sensitivity of light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols over ocean: A theoretical assessment

Visible-light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols within the boundary layer affect the radiance and polarization states of the radiation at the top of the atmosphere. Remote sensing from suborbital and satellite-based platforms utilizes these radiance and polarization signals to retrieve the key properties of these aerosols. Recent retrieval algorithms have shown a progressive trend toward including multi-angular and multi-spectral polarimetric measurements to produce better retrieval accuracy in comparison to those using measurements based on a single viewing angle. Here, we perform a theoretical investigation of the top of atmosphere (TOA) radiance-related reflectance factor (bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF)) and the two types of polarimetry-related factors (polarized bidirectional reflectance factor (pBRF) and the degree of linear polarization (DoLP)) for different types of atmospheric light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols as a function of particle size distribution. We selected three polarimetric bands corresponding to those utilized by NASA's Airborne Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (AirMSPI)—near-UV (470 nm), visible (660 nm), and near-infrared (865 nm)—for our simulations which were performed over ocean surface using the successive order of scattering (SOS) algorithm coupled to a Lorenz-Mie aerosol optics model. The analysis of particle phase matrix elements indicates a close relationship between the angular dependencies of DoLP and associated phase matrix components at the shortest polarimetric band (470 nm). Using Jacobian analysis, we find that the radiance- and polarimetry-related reflectance factors of weakly light-absorbing aerosols, such as brown carbon, are more sensitive to changes in particle size and imaginary refractive index in comparison with those of black carbon, which is strongly light-absorbing. Our results suggest that the DoLP data could be used by future retrieval algorithms for reliably estimating microphysical properties of absorbing carbonaceous aerosols with imaginary refractive index less than 0.4.

refractive index↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

RSP Data Status, Updates and Plans from the Team

•All radiance (L1C), aerosol and cloud (L2) products are in the archive. •Revised calibration performed at GSFC in July 2021 applied to reprocessing. •Clouds have smaller drops and higher optical depths (larger droplet number concentrations) in winter than in summer. Cloud top droplet size distributions tend to be narrow with roughly 80% having an effective variance of less than 0.07. This is relevant to how well bulk auto-conversion parameterizations are likely to work at cloud top (order of magnitude effects) and also to assumptions used in the remote sensing of droplet number (~ 10% effect). Real refractive index and effective radius retrievals are consistent with hygroscopic growth of aerosols Real refractive index and effective variance retrievals imply the presence of an insoluble fraction of aerosols Future work on clouds will look at differences in cloud top drizzle formation and auto-conversion rates between the different campaigns and at how well mixed phase clouds can be detected (if at all) from sensors such as VIIRS and PACE OCI.

Research Scanning Polarimeter↗

NASA NTRS1971

The reduction of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration plates at the New Mexico University

A method of reducing GEOS satellite plates is described. The catalog positions of stars, whose images were measured, are updated to the time of the photographic observation. The plate constants are used to compute the positions of the seven (or fewer) flashing light images which were measured. There are corrected for refraction, parallax, and radial and decentering lens distortions. With sidereally tracking cameras, the exterior orientation is further corrected to the time of the particular flash, and the change of refraction with time is allowed for. First and second differences and standard deviations and covariances for the flashing light images are developed as a measure of accuracy.

Haas, W. H.↗

NASA NTRS1971

Absorbing ice model of interstellar grains.

Extinction curves have been calculated for Mie scattering by grains with a refractive index m equals to n - ik, where n was between 1.3 and 2.0 and k varied from 0 to 0.5. A good fit for the observed interstellar extinction in the wavelength region of 0.1 to 2.0 microns was obtained for particles with a radius of 0.1 micron and m equal to 1.3 - 0.2i. Inclusion of the changes in the refractive index in the vacuum ultraviolet region due to the strong absorptions of methane, ammonia and water does not appreciably alter these results. Theoretical extinction curves for the composite medium of H2O, NH3, CH4, and graphite show a general agreement with the observed interstellar reddening curve over the whole spectral range, in addition to producing kinks in the far-ultraviolet region.

Swamy, K. S. K.↗

NASA NTRS1972

Correction of satellite tracking data for an arbitrary tropospheric profile.

A procedure is given for deriving elevation-error and range-error correction equations in a form suitable for use in the rapid processing of satellite tracking data. The refractivity of the troposphere is assumed to have spherical symmetry, but may have any given profile that does not depart greatly from standard. When the procedure was tested for numerical accuracy by application to an exponential profile, the corrections calculated agreed with those obtained by ray tracing to 0.3% or better over a range of surface refractivity from 200 to 450 and a range of radiowave arrival angles from horizontal to vertical.

Marini, J. W.↗

NASA NTRS1972

Some aspects of the thermal history of lunar glass.

Electron microprobe examination revealed that glassy lunar fragments had inclusions as well as boundaries between mineral glasses of different compositions. Glassy lunar spherules showed detectable heterogeneity less marked than that of the fragments. The room-temperature refractive indices and densities of the spherules are changed by heat-treating them at 500 to 700 C. The large increases (as much as 2% in density and 0.7% in index of refraction) are difficult to explain on the basis of classical glass-transition phenomena alone unless extremely rapid cooling rates are assumed. Further, the spherules darkened significantly when they were heated in air or a medium vacuum above 625 C.

Cooper, A. R.↗

NASA NTRS1972

An experimental investigation of radiative properties of aluminum oxide particles.

The radiative properties of aluminum oxide at high temperatures were determined at various wavelengths. Absorption cross-sections of aluminum oxide particles averaged over a particle size distribution were determined by measuring the radiative emission from the particles in a flame and by determining the particle number density and size distribution from measurements of the scattering of laser light incident on the particles in this flame. From these values of average absorption cross-section, the imaginary part of the refractive index was deduced. Results indicate that the absorption cross-section and the imaginary part of the refractive index increase as the temperature increases in the range from 1920 to 2610 K, and that these properties decrease with increasing wavelength in the interval from 0.35 to 1.2 micron, indicating a nongray-body behavior.

Mularz, E. J.↗

NASA NTRS1972

Fine structure of the lower atmosphere as seen by high resolution radar

A ground-based vertically pointing FM-CW radar is described that permits remote probing of the refractive index structure in the troposphere. The radar has the characteristics of extremely high sensitivity, ultrahigh range resolution, and close minimum detection range without clutter. The sounder routinely detects layer structures in the lower troposphere. These layers are always associated with gradients in the vertical refractive index profile, and are frequently very thin, approaching the resolution of the radar (1 m). Very often they are perturbed by wave motions. Examples of various wave patterns are presented, and an explanation is given for organized substructures frequently superimposed on larger scale wave motions.

Richter, J. H.↗

NASA NTRS1972

Current methods of radio occultation data inversion

The methods of Abel integral transform and ray-tracing inversion have been applied to data received from radio occultation experiments as a means of obtaining refractive index profiles of the ionospheres and atmospheres of Mars and Venus. In the case of Mars, certain simplifications are introduced by the assumption of small refractive bending in the atmosphere. General inversion methods, independent of the thin atmosphere approximation, have been used to invert the data obtained from the radio occultation of Mariner 5 by Venus; similar methods will be used to analyze data obtained from Jupiter with Pioneers F and G, as well as from the other outer planets in the Outer Planet Grand Tour Missions.

Kliore, A. J.↗

NASA NTRS1972

Errors incurred in profile reconstruction and methods for increasing inversion accuracies for occultation type measurements

A method for augmenting the occultation experiment is described for slightly refractive media. This method which permits separation of the components of the gradient of refractivity, appears applicable to most of the planets for a major portion of their atmospheres and ionospheres. The analytic theory is given, and the results of numerical tests with a radially and angularly varying model of an ionosphere are discussed.

Gross, S. H.↗

NASA NTRS1972

A comparison of techniques for inversion of radio-ray phase data in presence of ray bending

Derivations are presented of the straight-line Abel transform and the seismological Herglotz-Wiechert transform (which takes ray bending into account) that are used in the reconstruction of refractivity profiles from radio-wave phase data. Profile inversion utilizing these approaches, performed in computer-simulated experiments, are compared for cases of positive, zero, and negative ray bending. For thin atmospheres and ionospheres, such as the Martian atmosphere and ionosphere, radio wave signals are shown to be inverted accurately with both methods. For dense media, such as the solar corona or the lower Venus atmosphere, the refractive recovered by the seismological Herglotz-Wiechert transform provide a significant improvement compared with the straight-line Abel transform.

Wallio, H. A.↗

NASA NTRS1972

Photographic observations of the occultation of Beta Scorpii by Jupiter

Larson, S. M.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Photographic observations of the occultation of Beta Scorpii by Jupiter.

The occultation of the multiple star Beta Scorpii by Jupiter was observed visually and photographically from the Bosscha Observatory in Lembang (Java), Indonesia, on May 13, 1971. The photographs recorded the dimming of the stars as the light was differentially refracted by the Jovian atmosphere, and gave support to a scale height much greater than 8 and more nearly 30 km. In addition, during the ingress of Beta Scorpii, flashes up to 1 second long were observed visually, occurring at irregular intervals, spaced by 2-8 seconds, over a total period of 7 minutes. Measurements of the position of the brightest component of Beta Scorpii during ingress shows refraction of approximately 1.4 sec before becoming unobservable.

Larson, S. M.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Photographic observations of the occulation of Beta Scorpii by Jupiter

The occultation of the multiple star Beta Scorpii by Jupiter was observed visually and photographically from the Bosscha Observatory in Lembang (Java), Indonesia, on May 13, 1971. The photographs recorded the dimming of the stars as the light was differentially refracted by the Jovian atmosphere, and gave support to a scale height much greater than 8 and more nearly 30 km. In addition, during the ingress of Beta Scorpii, flashes up to 1 second long were observed visually (while guiding in the reflex device of the camera) that occurred irregular intervals, spaced by 2-8 seconds, over a total period of 7 minutes. Measurements of the position of the brightest component of Beta Scorpii during ingress shows refraction of approximately 1.4 sec before becoming unobservable.

Larson, S. M.↗

NASA NTRS1974

A simple radiative transfer model of the high latitude mesospheric scattering layer

A simple radiative transfer model of the particle layer found at 85 km over the summer poles is presented. The effects of the layer on the global radiative temperature, the polar region temperature, and the greenhouse effect are discussed. The estimated magnitude of the global radiative temperature change is 3.5 x .001 K to 2.2 x .01 K, depending on the value of the imaginary part of the particle index of refraction. The layer is shown to have a possible secondary influence on the temperature of the polar region while the contribution which the layer makes to the greenhouse effect is shown to be negligible. The imaginary part of the particle index of refraction is shown to be important in determining the attenuation properties of the layer.

Hummel, J. R.↗