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At least 775 records · Page 43

Split Hopkinson Resonant Bar Test for Sonic-Frequency Acoustic Velocity and Attenuation Measurements of Small, Isotropic Geologic Samples

Mechanical properties (seismic velocities and attenuation) of geological materials are often frequency dependent, which necessitates measurements of the properties at frequencies relevant to a problem at hand. Conventional acoustic resonant bar tests allow measuring seismic properties of rocks and sediments at sonic frequencies (several kilohertz) that are close to the frequencies employed for geophysical exploration of oil and gas resources. However, the tests require a long, slender sample, which is often difficult to obtain from the deep subsurface or from weak and fractured geological formations. In this paper, an alternative measurement technique to conventional resonant bar tests is presented. This technique uses only a small, jacketed rock or sediment core sample mediating a pair of long, metal extension bars with attached seismic source and receiver - the same geometry as the split Hopkinson pressure bar test for large-strain, dynamic impact experiments. Because of the length and mass added to the sample, the resonance frequency of the entire system can be lowered significantly, compared to the sample alone. The experiment can be conducted under elevated confining pressures up to tens of MPa and temperatures above 100 C, and concurrently with x-ray CT imaging. The described Split Hopkinson Resonant Bar (SHRB) test is applied in two steps. First, extension and torsion-mode resonance frequencies and attenuation of the entire system are measured. Next, numerical inversions for the complex Young's and shear moduli of the sample are performed. One particularly important step is the correction of the inverted Young's moduli for the effect of sample-rod interfaces. Examples of the application are given for homogeneous, isotropic polymer samples and a natural rock sample.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Numerical investigation on operation mode influenced by external frequency in atmospheric pressure barrier discharge

The influence of external driving frequency on the discharge mode in the dielectric barrier discharge was investigated with a two-dimensional, self-consistent fluid model. The simulation results show that the helium discharge exhibits three operation modes: Townsend, homogeneous glow, and local glow discharges from the lower frequency (1 kHz) to the higher frequency (100 kHz) under discharge parameters specified in this work. The discharge operates in a Townsend mode when the driving frequency varies from 1 to about 7 kHz; while it exhibits homogenous glow characteristics in an approximate range from 7 to 65 kHz; when the external frequency exceeds 65 kHz, it turns into a local glow discharge. The effects of external driving frequency on the discharge mode were revealed and the physical reasons were discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Effect of ionization distribution on the low frequency oscillations mode in Hall thrusters

It is found that the discharge parameters have notable effects on the mode of discharge current low frequency oscillation in Hall thrusters, but different discharge parameters might form the similar low frequency oscillation mode. In order to study the mechanism of oscillation mode formation, the ionization distribution in the discharge channel was measured experimentally, and one-dimensional quasi-neutrality hydrodynamic model was used to study the relationship between ionization distribution and the oscillation mode. Researches show that the low frequency oscillation with a narrow and condensed ionization distribution has the mode of lower amplitude and scattered frequency. The low frequency oscillation amplitude would become high and have dominative frequency component with the relative wide ionization distribution. Therefore, it can be concluded that the difference of ionization distribution characteristics is the main reason of the oscillation mode variation, and discharge parameters are only the external control parameters of ionization distribution characteristics.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Wave frequency dependence of H{sup -} ion production and extraction in a transformer coupled plasma H{sup -} ion source at SNU

The effect of rf wave frequencies on the production of H{sup -} ion is investigated in a transformer coupled plasma H{sup -} ion source at Seoul National University. A Langmuir probe is installed to measure the plasma density and temperature, and these plasma parameters are correlated to the extracted H{sup -} beam currents at various frequencies. The Langmuir probe is also used to measure the density of H{sup -} ions at the ion source by generating photodetachment with an Nd:YAG laser. The extracted H{sup -} currents decrease to a minimum value until 13 MHz and then, increase as the driving frequency increases from 13 MHz while the relative H{sup -} population measured by photodetachment monotonically decreases as the driving rf frequency increases from 11 MHz to 15 MHz. A potential well formed at the extraction region at high frequencies of more than 13 MHz is considered responsible for the increased H{sup -} beam extraction even with a lower photodetachment signal. The variation in the driving rf frequency not only affects the density and temperature of the plasma but also modifies the plasma potential with the existence of a filtering magnetic field and consequently, influences the extracted H{sup -} current through the extraction as well as formation of H{sup -} ions.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Intrinsic dielectric frequency dependent spectrum of a single domain tetragonal BaTiO3

The intrinsic dielectric frequency dependent spectrum of single domain barium titanate (BaTiO3) at room temperature is investigated by considering the vibration of phonons and the conductivity of the tetragonal system in a wide frequency range up to THz. The proposed model combines Debye type of dissipation, soft mode theory, and the influence of conductivity on the dielectric loss to obtain a more precise dielectric frequency spectrum. The calculated results were compared with experimental data on single domain nanocrystals of BaTiO3, both free standing and suspended in a low dielectric medium. The comparisons provide insight into the mechanism for the dielectric behavior, which can be extended to apply to a range of composites that comprise single domain dielectrics embedded in continuous media. At the lower frequency range, conductivity plays a dominant role in the contribution to the dielectric loss along both a-and c-axes, while the phonon vibration controls the dielectric behavior of the system at higher frequency range. When the conductivity of the system increases, the dielectric loss increases below the MHz range, with such an effect diminishing when the frequency reaches the GHz regime. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4734004]

Liu, SY↗

Two-frequency heating technique at the 18 GHz electron cyclotron resonance ion source of the National Institute of Radiological Sciences

The two-frequency heating technique was studied to increase the beam intensities of highly charged ions provided by the high-voltage extraction configuration (HEC) ion source at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS). The observed dependences on microwave power and frequency suggested that this technique improved plasma stability but it required precise frequency tuning and more microwave power than was available before 2013. Recently, a new, high-power (1200 W) wide band-width (17.1–18.5 GHz) travelling-wave-tube amplifier (TWTA) was installed. After some single tests with klystron and TWT amplifiers the simultaneous injection of the two microwaves has been successfully realized. The dependence of highly charged ions (HCI) currents on the superposed microwave power was studied by changing only the output power of one of the two amplifiers, alternatively. While operating the klystron on its fixed 18.0 GHz, the frequency of the TWTA was swept within its full limits (17.1–18.5 GHz), and the effect of this frequency on the HCI-production rate was examined under several operation conditions. As an overall result, new beam records of highly charged argon, krypton, and xenon beams were obtained at the NIRS-HEC ion source by this high-power two-frequency operation mode.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Viscoelastic effects on frequency tuning of a dielectric elastomer membrane resonator

As a recent application of dielectric elastomers (DEs), DE resonators have become an alternative to conventional silicon-based resonators used in MEMS and have attracted much interest from the research community. However, most existing modeling works for the DE resonators ignore the intrinsic viscoelastic effect of the material that may strongly influence their dynamic performance. Based on the finite-deformation viscoelasticity theory for dielectrics, this paper theoretically examines the in-plane oscillation of a DE membrane resonator to demonstrate how the material viscoelasticity affects the actuation and frequency tuning processes of the resonator. From the simulation results, it is concluded that not only the applied voltage can change the natural frequency of the resonator, but also the inelastic deformation contributes to frequency tuning. Due to the viscoelasticity of the material, the electrical loading rate influences the actuation process of the DE resonator, while it has little effect on the final steady frequency tuned by the prescribed voltage within the safety range. With the consideration of the typical failure modes of the resonator and the evolution process of the material, the tunable frequency range and the safe range of the applied voltage of the DE membrane resonator with different dimension parameters are determined in this work, which are found to be dependent on the electrical loading rate. This work is expected to provide a better understanding on the frequency tuning of viscoelastic DE membrane resonators and a guideline for the design of DE devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Resonant frequency detection and adjustment method for a capacitive transducer with differential transformer bridge

The capacitive transducer with differential transformer bridge is widely used in ultra-sensitive space accelerometers due to their simple structure and high resolution. In this paper, the front-end electronics of an inductive-capacitive resonant bridge transducer is analyzed. The analysis result shows that the performance of this transducer depends upon the case that the AC pumping frequency operates at the resonance point of the inductive-capacitive bridge. The effect of possible mismatch between the AC pumping frequency and the actual resonant frequency is discussed, and the theoretical analysis indicates that the output voltage noise of the front-end electronics will deteriorate by a factor of about 3 due to either a 5% variation of the AC pumping frequency or a 10% variation of the tuning capacitance. A pre-scanning method to determine the actual resonant frequency is proposed followed by the adjustment of the operating frequency or the change of the tuning capacitance in order to maintain expected high resolution level. An experiment to verify the mismatching effect and the adjustment method is provided.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

A small-form-factor piezoelectric vibration energy harvester using a resonant frequency-down conversion

While environmental vibrations are usually in the range of a few hundred Hertz, small-form-factor piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters will have higher resonant frequencies due to the structural size effect. To address this issue, we propose a resonant frequency-down conversion based on the theory of dynamic vibration absorber for the design of a small-form-factor piezoelectric vibration energy harvester. The proposed energy harvester consists of two frequency-tuned elastic components for lowering the first resonant frequency of an integrated system but is so configured that an energy harvesting beam component is inverted with respect to the other supporting beam component for a small form factor. Furthermore, in order to change the unwanted modal characteristic of small separation of resonant frequencies, as is the case with an inverted configuration, a proof mass on the supporting beam component is slightly shifted toward a second proof mass on the tip of the energy harvesting beam component. The proposed small-form-factor design capability was experimentally verified using a fabricated prototype with an occupation volume of 20 × 39 × 6.9 mm{sup 3}, which was designed for a target frequency of as low as 100 Hz.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Synchronizing femtosecond laser with x-ray synchrotron operating at arbitrarily different frequencies

The ability to synchronize a femtosecond laser to x-ray pulses is crucial for performing ultrafast time-resolved x-ray scattering experiments at synchrotrons. Conventionally, the task has been achieved by locking a harmonic frequency of the laser oscillator to the storage ring master radio-frequency (RF). However, when the frequency mismatch between the two sources cannot be compensated by small adjustments to the laser cavity length, synchronization to a harmonic frequency requires modifying the optical components of the laser system. We demonstrate a novel synchronization scheme, which is a flexible alternative for synchronizing these two sources operating at arbitrarily different frequencies. First, we find the greatest common divisor (GCD) of the two frequencies that is still within the limited tuning range of the laser cavity length. The GCD is generated by dividing down from the storage ring RF, and is separately multiplied up to provide a feedback signal for synchronizing the laser cavity. Unique to our scheme, the GCD also serves as a harmonic RF source for the laser amplifier such that only laser oscillator pulses at fixed integer multiples of the storage ring RF are selected for amplification and delivery to experiments. Our method is implemented at the Photon Test Facility beamline of Pohang Light Source where timing-jitter less than 4 ps (r.m.s.) is measured using a new shot-to-shot method.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Optically transparent frequency selective surfaces on flexible thin plastic substrates

A novel 2D simple low cost frequency selective surface was screen printed on thin (0.21 mm), flexible transparent plastic substrate (relative permittivity 3.2). It was designed, fabricated and tested in the frequency range 10-20 GHz. The plane wave transmission and reflection coefficients agreed with numerical modelling. The effective permittivity and thickness of the backing sheet has a significant effect on the frequency characteristics. The stop band frequency reduced from 15GHz (no backing) to 12.5GHz with polycarbonate. The plastic substrate thickness beyond 1.8mm has minimal effect on the resonant frequency. While the inner element spacing controls the stop-band frequency, the substrate thickness controls the bandwidth. The screen printing technique provided a simple, low cost FSS fabrication method to produce flexible, conformal, optically transparent and bio-degradable FSS structures which can find their use in electromagnetic shielding and filtering applications in radomes, reflector antennas, beam splitters and polarizers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Frequency chirped light at large detuning with an injection-locked diode laser

We have developed a laser system to generate frequency-chirped light at rapid modulation speeds (∼100 MHz) with a large frequency offset. Light from an external cavity diode laser with its frequency locked to an atomic resonance is passed through a lithium niobate electro-optical phase modulator. The phase modulator is driven by a ∼6 GHz signal whose frequency is itself modulated with a RF MHz signal (<200 MHz). A second injection locked diode laser is used to filter out all of the light except the frequency-chirped ±1 order by more than 30 dB. Using this system, it is possible to generate a 1 GHz frequency chirp in 5 ns.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Coupling and tuning of modal frequencies in direct current biased microelectromechanical systems arrays

Understanding the coupling of different modal frequencies and their tuning mechanisms has become essential to design multi-frequency MEMS devices. In this work, we fabricate a MEMS beam with fixed boundaries separated from two side electrodes and a bottom electrode. Subsequently, we perform experiments to obtain the frequency variation of in-plane and out-of-plane mechanical modes of the microbeam with respect to both DC bias and laser heating. We show that the frequencies of the two modes coincide at a certain DC bias, which in turn can also be varied due to temperature. Subsequently, we develop a theoretical model to predict the variation of the two modes and their coupling due to a variable gap between the microbeam and electrodes, initial tension, and fringing field coefficients. Finally, we discuss the influence of frequency tuning parameters in arrays of 3, 33, and 40 microbeams, respectively. It is also found that the frequency bandwidth of a microbeam array can be increased to as high as 25 kHz for a 40 microbeam array with a DC bias of 80 V.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

The propagation characteristics of electromagnetic waves through plasma in the near-field region of low-frequency loop antenna

A high-speed vehicle flying through the atmosphere between 100 and 20 km may suffer from a “communication blackout.” In this paper, a low frequency system with an on-board loop antenna to receive signals is presented as a potential blackout mitigation method. Because the plasma sheath is in the near-field region of the loop antenna, the traditional scattering matrix method that is developed for the far-field region may overestimate the electromagnetic (EM) wave's attenuation. To estimate the EM wave's attenuation in the near-field region, EM interference (EMI) shielding theory is introduced. Experiments are conducted, and the results verify the EMI shielding theory's effectiveness. Simulations are also conducted with different plasma parameters, and the results obtained show that the EM wave's attenuation in the near-field region is far below than that in the far-field region. The EM wave's attenuation increases with the increase in electron density and decreases with the increase in collision frequency. The higher the frequency, the larger is the EM wave's attenuation. During the entire re-entry phase of a RAM-C module, the EM wave's attenuations are below 10 dB for EM waves with a frequency of 1 MHz and below 1 dB for EM waves with a frequency of 100 kHz. Therefore, the low frequency systems (e.g., Loran-C) may provide a way to transmit some key information to high-speed vehicles even during the communication “blackout” period.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

A high-overtone bulk acoustic wave resonator-oscillator-based 4.596 GHz frequency source: Application to a coherent population trapping Cs vapor cell atomic clock

This article reports on the design and characterization of a high-overtone bulk acoustic wave resonator (HBAR)-oscillator-based 4.596 GHz frequency source. A 2.298 GHz signal, generated by an oscillator constructed around a thermally controlled two-port aluminum nitride-sapphire HBAR resonator with a Q-factor of 24 000 at 68 °C, is frequency multiplied by 2–4.596 GHz, half of the Cs atom clock frequency. The temperature coefficient of frequency of the HBAR is measured to be −23 ppm/ °C at 2.298 GHz. The measured phase noise of the 4.596 GHz source is −105 dB rad{sup 2}/Hz at 1 kHz offset and −150 dB rad{sup 2}/Hz at 100 kHz offset. The 4.596 GHz output signal is used as a local oscillator in a laboratory-prototype Cs microcell-based coherent population trapping atomic clock. The signal is stabilized onto the atomic transition frequency by tuning finely a voltage-controlled phase shifter implemented in the 2.298 GHz HBAR-oscillator loop, preventing the need for a high-power-consuming direct digital synthesis. The short-term fractional frequency stability of the free-running oscillator is 1.8 × 10{sup −9} at one second integration time. In locked regime, the latter is improved in a preliminary proof-of-concept experiment at the level of 6.6 × 10{sup −11} τ{sup −1/2} up to a few seconds and found to be limited by the signal-to-noise ratio of the detected CPT resonance.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Controlling the high frequency response of H{sub 2} by ultra-short tailored laser pulses: A time-dependent configuration interaction study

We combine the stochastic pulse optimization (SPO) scheme with the time-dependent configuration interaction singles method in order to control the high frequency response of a simple molecular model system to a tailored femtosecond laser pulse. For this purpose, we use H{sub 2} treated in the fixed nuclei approximation. The SPO scheme, as similar genetic algorithms, is especially suited to control highly non-linear processes, which we consider here in the context of high harmonic generation. Here, we will demonstrate that SPO can be used to realize a “non-harmonic” response of H{sub 2} to a laser pulse. Specifically, we will show how adding low intensity side frequencies to the dominant carrier frequency of the laser pulse and stochastically optimizing their contribution can create a high-frequency spectral signal of significant intensity, not harmonic to the carrier frequency. At the same time, it is possible to suppress the harmonic signals in the same spectral region, although the carrier frequency is kept dominant during the optimization.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

High-performance radio frequency transistors based on diameter-separated semiconducting carbon nanotubes

In this paper, we report the high-performance radio-frequency transistors based on the single-walled semiconducting carbon nanotubes with a refined average diameter of ∼1.6 nm. These diameter-separated carbon nanotube transistors show excellent transconductance of 55 μS/μm and desirable drain current saturation with an output resistance of ∼100 KΩ μm. An exceptional radio-frequency performance is also achieved with current gain and power gain cut-off frequencies of 23 GHz and 20 GHz (extrinsic) and 65 GHz and 35 GHz (intrinsic), respectively. These radio-frequency metrics are among the highest reported for the carbon nanotube thin-film transistors. This study provides demonstration of radio frequency transistors based on carbon nanotubes with tailored diameter distributions, which will guide the future application of carbon nanotubes in radio-frequency electronics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Symmetry breaking in high frequency, symmetric capacitively coupled plasmas

Two radially propagating surface wave modes, “symmetric,” in which the upper and lower axial sheath fields ( E z ) are aligned, and “anti-symmetric,” in which they are opposed, can exist in capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) discharges. For a symmetric (equal electrode areas) CCP driven symmetrically, we expected to observe only the symmetric mode. Instead, we find that when the applied rf frequency f is above or near an anti-symmetric spatial resonance, both modes can exist in combination and lead to unexpected non-symmetric equilibria. We use a fast 2D axisymmetric fluid-analytical code to study a symmetric CCP reactor at low pressure (7.5 mTorr argon) and low density (~3 × 10 15 m -3 ) in the frequency range of f = 55 to 100 MHz which encompasses the first anti-symmetric spatial resonance frequency f a but is far below the first symmetric spatial resonance f s . For lower frequencies such that f is well below f a> , the symmetric CCP is in a stable symmetric equilibrium, as expected, but at higher frequencies such that f is near or greater than f a , a non-symmetric equilibrium appears which may be stable or unstable. In our study, we develop a nonlinear lumped circuit model of the symmetric CCP to better understand these unexpected results, indicating that the proximity to the anti-symmetric spatial resonance allows self-exciting of the anti-symmetric mode even in a symmetric system. The circuit model results agree well with the fluid simulations. A linear stability analysis of the symmetric equilibrium describes a transition with increasing frequency from stable to unstable.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗