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At least 73 records · Page 4

Derived Land Surface Emissivity From Suomi NPP CrIS

Presented here is the land surface IR spectral emissivity retrieved from the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) measurements. The CrIS is aboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite launched on October 28, 2011. We describe the retrieval algorithm, demonstrate the surface emissivity retrieved with CrIS measurements, and inter-comparison with the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) emissivity. We also demonstrate that surface emissivity from satellite measurements can be used in assistance of monitoring global surface climate change, as a long-term measurement of IASI and CrIS will be provided by the series of EUMETSAT MetOp and US Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) satellites. Monthly mean surface properties are produced using last 5-year IASI measurements. A temporal variation indicates seasonal diversity and El Nino/La Nina effects not only shown on the water but also on the land. Surface spectral emissivity and skin temperature from current and future operational satellites can be utilized as a means of long-term monitoring of the Earth's environment. CrIS spectral emissivity are retrieved and compared with IASI. The difference is small and could be within expected retrieval error; however it is under investigation.

Zhou, Daniel K.↗

Consideration of temperature-dependent emissivity of selective emitters in thermophotovoltaic systems

Spectral emissivity control is paramount for designing a high-efficiency selective emitter surface required for thermophotovoltaic (TPV) applications. Owing to the temperature dependency of materials optical constants, the spectral properties of a selective emitter surface changes with the emitter temperature. This paper presents the fabrication of a multilayer metal-dielectric ( ${\rm Si}_{3}{\rm N}_{4}/\rm W/Si_{3}{\rm N_{4}}$ ) coated tungsten selective emitter aimed for GaSb-based TPV systems and studies the dependence of its surface spectral emissivity, $\varepsilon (\lambda)$ , upon a temperature ranging from 300 K to 1500 K. Both the simulation and experimental methods were used to characterize $\varepsilon (\lambda)$ as a function of temperature. For wavelengths less than 1.4 µm, $\varepsilon (\lambda)$ was found to have a minimal dependence on temperature. Beyond 1.4 µm, $\varepsilon (\lambda)$ increases with the temperature. At 1.55 µm, the simulation and experimental data estimated a ${\sim}{{4}}\%$ greater emissivity at 1500 K than at room temperature. At 1500 K, the increased $\varepsilon (\lambda)$ at longer wavelengths lowered the spectral conversion efficiency of the selective emitter from 58% to 47%. The output power density, sub-bandgap loss, and TPV conversion efficiency ( ${\eta _{\rm TPV}}$ ) for a GaSb cell illuminated by the selective thermal emitter at 1500 K were estimated. ${\eta _{\rm TPV}}$ drops from 13.7% to 11% due to the increased sub-bandgap emission at 1500 K. Essential approaches for mitigating the sub-bandgap losses to further improve ${\eta _{\rm TPV}}$ are also discussed.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Inverse Design of Photonic Surfaces via High throughput Femtosecond Laser Processing and Tandem Neural Networks

Abstract This work demonstrates a method to design photonic surfaces by combining femtosecond laser processing with the inverse design capabilities of tandem neural networks that directly link laser fabrication parameters to their resulting textured substrate optical properties. High throughput fabrication and characterization platforms are developed that generate a dataset comprising 35280 unique microtextured surfaces on stainless steel with corresponding measured spectral emissivities. The trained model utilizes the nonlinear one‐to‐many mapping between spectral emissivity and laser parameters. Consequently, it generates predominantly novel designs, which reproduce the full range of spectral emissivities (average root‐mean‐squared‐error < 2.5%) using only a compact region of laser parameter space 25 times smaller than what is represented in the training data. Finally, the inverse design model is experimentally validated on a thermophotovoltaic emitter design application. By synergizing laser‐matter interactions with neural network capabilities, the approach offers insights into accelerating the discovery of photonic surfaces, advancing energy harvesting technologies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Accurate evaluation of homogenous and nonhomogeneous gas emissivities

Spectral transmittance and total band adsorptance of selected infrared bands of carbon dioxide and water vapor are calculated by using the line-by-line and quasi-random band models and these are compared with available experimental results to establish the validity of the quasi-random band model. Various wide-band model correlations are employed to calculate the total band absorptance and total emissivity of these two gases under homogeneous and nonhomogeneous conditions. These results are compared with available experimental results under identical conditions. From these comparisons, it is found that the quasi-random band model can provide quite accurate results and is quite suitable for most atmospheric applications.

Tiwari, S. N.↗

Infrared emission high spectral resolution atlas of the stratospheric limb

An atlas of high resolution infrared emission spectra identifies a number of gaseous atmospheric features significant to stratospheric chemistry in the 770-900/cm and 1100-1360/cm regions at six zenith angles from 86.7 to 95.1 deg. A balloon-borne Michelson interferometer was flown to obtain about 0.03/cm resolution spectra. Two 10/cm extracts are presented here.

Maguire, William C.↗

New model of iron spectra in the extreme ultraviolet and application to SERTS and EUV observations: A solar active region and capella

We report new predictions for the EUV spectral emission of FeIX-FeXXIV, based on data now available from the Solar EUV Rocket Telescope and Spectrograph (SERTS) and the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) spectrometers. The iron spectral emission model is the first result of a larger effort to revise the Raymond & Smith model and to update the atomic rates. We present here predicted emissivities for selected densities and temperatures applicable to various astrophysical plasmas. Comparisons of our predicted spectra with two recent observations provide important tests of the atomic data. They also test to some extent some basic assumptions of coronal emission codes: optically thin spectral lines and ionization equilibrium.

Brickhouse, N. S.↗

Infrared Signature Masking by Air Plasma Radiation

Detailed measurements and modeling of the spectral emission of an atmospheric pressure air plasma at temperatures up to -3400 K have been made. The cold gas injected in the plasma torch contained an estimated mole fraction of water vapor of approximately 4.5 x 10(exp -3) and an estimated carbon dioxide mole fraction of approximately 3.3 x 10(exp -4). Under these conditions, the minimum level of air plasma emission is found to be between 3.9 and 4.15 microns. Outside this narrow region, significant spectral emission is detected that can be attributed to the fundamental and overtone bands of NO and OH, and to the v(sub 3) and the (v(sub 1)+v(sub 3)) bands Of CO2. Special attention was paid to the effects of ambient air absorption in the optical path between the plasma and the detector. Excellent quantitative agreement is obtained between the measured and simulated spectra, which are both on absolute intensity scales, thus lending confidence in the radiation models incorporated into NEQAIR2-IR over the course of this research program.

Kruger, C. H.↗

Emissivity of terrestrial materials in the 8-14 microns atmospheric window

Remotely sensed infrared radiance emitted by a surface is a function both of its kinetic temperature and its spectral emissivity. Consequently, assumptions are usually made about the emissivity of earth surface materials to allow their temperatures to be determined, or vice versa. To increase the accuracy of these assumptions, the directional hemispherical spectral reflectance of a wide range of natural earth surface materials has been measured and is summarized here. These include igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks, desert varnish, soils, vegetation, water, and ice. Kirchhoff's Law can be used to predict directional spectral emissivity from these data.

Salisbury, John W.↗

Measurements of thermal infrared spectral reflectance of frost, snow, and ice

Because much of Earth's surface is covered by frost, snow, and ice, the spectral emissivities of these materials are a significant input to radiation balance calculations in global atmospheric circulation and climate change models. Until now, however, spectral emissivities of frost and snow have been calculated from the optical constants of ice. We have measured directional hemispherical reflectance spectra of frost, snow, and ice from which emissivities can be predicted using Kirchhoff's law (e = 1-R). These measured spectra show that contrary to conclusions about the emissivity of snow drawn from previously calculated spectra, snow emissivity departs significantly from blackbody behavior in the 8-14 micrometer region of the spectrum; snow emissivity decreases with both increasing particle size and increasing density due to packing or grain welding; while snow emissivity increases due to the presence of meltwater.

Salisbury, John W.↗

Inverse design of photonic surfaces via multi fidelity ensemble framework and femtosecond laser processing

We demonstrate a multi-fidelity (MF) machine learning ensemble framework for the inverse design of photonic surfaces, trained on a dataset of 11,759 samples that we fabricate using high throughput femtosecond laser processing. The MF ensemble combines an initial low fidelity model for generating design solutions, with a high fidelity model that refines these solutions through local optimization. The combined MF ensemble can generate multiple disparate sets of laser-processing parameters that can each produce the same target input spectral emissivity with high accuracy (root mean squared errors < 2%). SHapley Additive exPlanations analysis shows transparent model interpretability of the complex relationship between laser parameters and spectral emissivity. Finally, the MF ensemble is experimentally validated by fabricating and evaluating photonic surface designs that it generates for improved efficiency energy harvesting devices. Our approach provides a powerful tool for advancing the inverse design of photonic surfaces in energy harvesting applications.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Containerless high temperature property measurements

Containerless processing in the low gravity environment of space provides the opportunity to increase the temperature at which well controlled processing of and property measurements on materials is possible. This project was directed towards advancing containerless processing and property measurement techniques for application to materials research at high temperatures in space. Containerless high temperature material property studies include measurements of the vapor pressure, melting temperature, optical properties, and spectral emissivities of solid boron. The reaction of boron with nitrogen was also studied by laser polarimetric measurement of boron nitride film growth. The optical properties and spectral emissivities were measured for solid and liquid silicon, niobium, and zirconium; liquid aluminum and titanium; and liquid Ti-Al alloys of 5 to 60 atomic pct. titanium. Alternative means for noncontact temperature measurement in the absence of material emissivity data were evaluated. Also, the application of laser induced fluorescence for component activity measurements in electromagnetic levitated liquids was studied, along with the feasibility of a hybrid aerodynamic electromagnetic levitation technique.

Nordine, Paul C.↗

Miniaturized Airborne Imaging Central Server System

In recent years, some remote-sensing applications require advanced airborne multi-sensor systems to provide high performance reflective and emissive spectral imaging measurement rapidly over large areas. The key or unique problem of characteristics is associated with a black box back-end system that operates a suite of cutting-edge imaging sensors to collect simultaneously the high throughput reflective and emissive spectral imaging data with precision georeference. This back-end system needs to be portable, easy-to-use, and reliable with advanced onboard processing. The innovation of the black box backend is a miniaturized airborne imaging central server system (MAICSS). MAICSS integrates a complex embedded system of systems with dedicated power and signal electronic circuits inside to serve a suite of configurable cutting-edge electro- optical (EO), long-wave infrared (LWIR), and medium-wave infrared (MWIR) cameras, a hyperspectral imaging scanner, and a GPS and inertial measurement unit (IMU) for atmospheric and surface remote sensing. Its compatible sensor packages include NASA s 1,024 1,024 pixel LWIR quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP) imager; a 60.5 megapixel BuckEye EO camera; and a fast (e.g. 200+ scanlines/s) and wide swath-width (e.g., 1,920+ pixels) CCD/InGaAs imager-based visible/near infrared reflectance (VNIR) and shortwave infrared (SWIR) imaging spectrometer. MAICSS records continuous precision georeferenced and time-tagged multisensor throughputs to mass storage devices at a high aggregate rate, typically 60 MB/s for its LWIR/EO payload. MAICSS is a complete stand-alone imaging server instrument with an easy-to-use software package for either autonomous data collection or interactive airborne operation. Advanced multisensor data acquisition and onboard processing software features have been implemented for MAICSS. With the onboard processing for real time image development, correction, histogram-equalization, compression, georeference, and data organization, fast aerial imaging applications, including the real time LWIR image mosaic for Google Earth, have been realized for NASA fs LWIR QWIP instrument. MAICSS is a significant improvement and miniaturization of current multisensor technologies. Structurally, it has a complete modular and solid-state design. Without rotating hard drives and other moving parts, it is operational at high altitudes and survivable in high-vibration environments. It is assembled from a suite of miniaturized, precision-machined, standardized, and stackable interchangeable embedded instrument modules. These stackable modules can be bolted together with the interconnection wires inside for the maximal simplicity and portability. Multiple modules are electronically interconnected as stacked. Alternatively, these dedicated modules can be flexibly distributed to fit the space constraints of a flying vehicle. As a flexibly configurable system, MAICSS can be tailored to interface a variety of multisensor packages. For example, with a 1,024x1,024 pixel LWIR and a 8,984x6,732 pixel EO payload, the complete MAICSS volume is approximately 7x9x11 in. (=18x23x28 cm), with a weight of 25 lb (=11.4 kg).

Sun, Xiuhong↗

Thermophotovoltaic Generators Using Selective Metallic Emitters

In the literature to date on thermophotovoltaic (TPV) generators, two types of infrared emitter's have been emphasized : gray body emitters and rare earth oxide selective emitters. The gray body emitter is defined as an emitter with a spectral emissivity independent of wavelength whereas the rare earth oxide selective emitter is idealized as a delta function emitter with a high emissivity at a select wavelength and a near zero emissivity at all other wavelengths. Silicon carbide is an example of a gray body emitter and ER-YAG is an example of a selective emitter. The Welsbach mantle in a common lantern is another example of an oxide selective emitter. Herein, we describe an alternative type of selective emitter, a selective metallic emitter. These metallic emitters are characterized by a spectral emissivity curve wherein the emissivity monotonically increases with shorter infrared wavelengths as is shown. The metal of curve "A", tungsten, typifies this class of selective metallic emitter's. In a thermophotovoltaic generator, a photovoltaic cell typically converts infrared radiation to electricity out to some cut-off wavelength. For example, Gallium Antimonide (GaSb) TPV cells respond out to 1.7 microns. The problem with gray body emitters is that they emit at all wavelengths. Therefore, a large fraction of the energy emitted will be outside of the response band of the TPV cell. The argument for the selective emitter is that, ideally, all the emitted energy can be in the cells response band. Unfortunately, rare earth oxide emitters are not ideal. In order to suppress the emissivity toward zero away from the select wavelength, the use of thin fiber's is necessary. This leads to a fragile emitter typical of a lantern mantle. Even given a thin ER-YAG emitter, the measured emissivity at the select wavelength of 1.5 microns has been reported to be 0.6 while the off wavelength background emissivity falls to only 0.2 at 5 microns. This gives a selectivity ratio of only 3. Another problem with a delta function selective emitter is its low power density at practical temperatures because of its narrow emission bandwidth. The concept of selectivity can be generalized by noting that we simply wish to maximize the ratio of in-cell-band power to out-of-cell-band power. Using this generalized selectivity concept and assuming a GaSb cell covered by a simple dielectric filter, we note that the emissivity selectivity ratio for tungsten is 0.3 (at 1.5 microns) / 0.07 (at 5 microns) = 4.3. In the folloy4ng sections, we note that the selective metallic emitters can be valuable in both radioisotope TPV generators in space and in hydrocarbon fired TPV generators here on earth.

Fraas, Lewis M.↗

Optical and thermodynamic property measurements of liquid metals and alloys

Optical properties and spectral emissivities of liquid silicon, titanium, niobium, and zirconium were investigated by HeNe laser polarimetry at 632.8 nm. The metals were of a high purity and, except for zirconium, clean. The more demanding environmental requirements for eliminating oxide or nitride phases from zirconium were not met. Containerless conditions were achieved by electromagnetic levitation and heating. CO2 laser beam heating was also used to extend the temperature range for stable levitation and to heat solid silicon to form the metallic liquid phase. Corrections to previously reported calorimetric measurements of the heat capacity of liquid niobium were derived from the measured temperature dependence of its spectral emissivity. Property measurements were obtained for supercooled liquid silicon and supercooling of liquid zirconium was accomplished. The purification of liquid metals and the extension of this work on liquids to the measurement of thermodynamic properties and phase equilibria are discussed.

Weber, J. K. R.↗

Optical properties and emissivities of liquid metals and alloys

This paper presents the results from our on-going program to investigate the optical properties of liquid metals and alloys at elevated temperatures. Ellipsometric and polarimetric techniques have been used to investigate the optical properties of materials in the 1000 - 3000 K temperature range and in the 0.3 - 0.1 mu m wavelength range. The ellipsometric and polarimetric techniques are described and the characteristics of the instruments are presented. The measurements are conducted by reflecting a polarized laser beam from an electromagnetically levitated liquid metal or alloy specimen. A Rotating Analyzer Ellipsometer (RAE) or a four-detector Division-of-Amplitude Photopolarimeter (DOAP) is used to determine the polarimetric properties of the light reflected at an angle of incidence of approximately 68 deg. Optical properties of the specimen which are calculated from these measurements include the index of refraction, extinction coefficient, normal spectral emissivity, and spectral hemispherical emissivity. These properties have been determined at various wavelengths and temperatures for liquid Ag, Al, Au, Cu, Nb, Ni, Pd, Pt, Si, Ti, Ti-Al alloys, U, and Zr. We also describe new experiments using pulsed-dye laser spectroscopic ellipsometry for studies of the wavelength dependence of the emissivities and optical properties of materials at high temperature. Preliminary results are given for liquid Al. The application of four-detector polarimetry for rapid determination of surface emissivity and true temperature is also described. Characteristics of these devices are presented. An example of the accuracy of this instrument in measurements of the melting point of zirconium is illustrated.

Krishnan, Shankar↗

SRT Evaluation of AIRS Version-6.02 and Version-6.02 AIRS Only (6.02 AO) Products

Version-6 contains a number of significant improvements over Version-5. This report compares Version-6 products resulting from the advances listed below to those from Version-5. 1. Improved methodology to determine skin temperature (T(sub s)) and spectral emissivity (Epsilon(sub v)). 2. Use of Neural-net start-up state. 3. Improvements which decrease the spurious negative Version-5 trend in tropospheric temperatures. 4. Improved QC methodology. Version-6 uses separate QC thresholds optimized for Data Assimilation (QC=0) and Climate applications (QC=0,1) respectively. 5. Channel-by-channel clear-column radiances R-hat(sub tau) QC flags. 6. Improved cloud parameter retrieval algorithm. 7. Improved OLR RTA. Our evaluation compared V6.02 and V6.02 AIRS Only (V6.02 AO) Quality Controlled products with those of Version-5.0. In particular we evaluated surface skin temperature T(sub s), surface spectral emissivity Epsilon(sub v), temperature profile T(p), water vapor profile q(p), OLR, OLR(sub CLR), effective cloud fraction alpha-Epsilon, and cloud cleared radiances R-hat(sub tau) . We conducted two types of evaluations. The first compared results on 7 focus days to collocated ECMWF truth. The seven focus days are: September 6, 2002; January 25, 2003; September 29, 2004; August 5, 2005; February 24, 2007; August 10, 2007; and May 30, 2010. In these evaluations, we show results for T(sub s), Epsilon(sub v), T(p), and q(p) in terms of yields, and RMS differences and biases with regard to ECMWF. We also show yield trends as well as bias trends of these quantities relative to ECMWF truth. We also show yields and accuracy of channel by channel QC d values of R-hat(sub tau) for V6.02 and V6.02 AO. Version-5 did not contain channel by channel QC d values of R-hat(sub tau). In the second type of evaluation, we compared V6.03 monthly mean Level-3 products to those of Version-5.0, for four different months: January, April, July, and October; in 3 different years 2003, 2007, and 2011. In particular, we compared V6.03 and V5.0 trends of T(p), q(p), alpha-Epsilon, OLR, and OLR(sub CLR) computed based on results for these 12 time periods

Susskind, Joel↗