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At least 793 records · Page 44

Control of Shock Loading from a Jet in a Flexible Structure's Presence

The control of shock noise or screech from a jet near a flexible structure is discussed. The pressure from the supersonic jet consists of a shock with spiral and flapping nonaxisymmetric modes superimposed on broadband response. This shock induces a nonlinear-nonstationary loading problem associated with acoustic wave generation and propagation coupled with structural vibration. Control of the shock is achieved by placing a ring at the nozzle lip oscillating at the shock fundamental frequency. The ring prevents the shock characteristics originating in the column of the shear layer from sustaining connection with the out-of-phase surface vibration. Shock-free flow is maintained over a large pressure ratio. The peak power spectral density of the pressure due to shock fundamental and harmonics is converted to broadband level. The experiment is motivated by consideration of aircraft structural fatigue and interior noise.

Maestrello, Lucio↗

Aeroelastic Computations of a Compressor Stage Using the Harmonic Balance Method

The aeroelastic characteristics of a compressor stage were analyzed using a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) solver that uses the harmonic balance method to solve the governing equations. The three dimensional solver models the unsteady flow field due to blade vibration using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations. The formulation enables the study of the effect of blade row interaction through the inclusion of coupling modes between blade rows. It also enables the study of nonlinear effects of high amplitude blade vibration by the inclusion of higher harmonics of the fundamental blade vibration frequency. In the present work, the solver is applied to study in detail the aeroelastic characteristics of a transonic compressor stage. Various parameters were included in the study: number of coupling modes, blade row axial spacing, and operating speeds. Only the first vibration mode is considered with amplitude of oscillation in the linear range. Both aeroelastic stability (flutter) of rotor blade and unsteady loading on the stator are calculated. The study showed that for the stage considered, the rotor aerodynamic damping is not influenced by the presence of the stator even when the axial spacing is reduced by nearly 25 percent. However, the study showed that blade row interaction effects become important for the unsteady loading on the stator when the axial spacing is reduced by the same amount.

Reddy, T. S. R.↗

Solid-state lasers for coherent communication and remote sensing

Semiconductor-diode laser-pumped solid-state lasers have properties that are superior to other lasers for the applications of coherent communication and remote sensing. These properties include efficiency, reliability, stability, and capability to be scaled to higher powers. We have demonstrated that an optical phase-locked loop can be used to lock the frequency of two diode-pumped 1.06 micron Nd:YAG lasers to levels required for coherent communication. Monolithic nonplanar ring oscillators constructed from solid pieces of the laser material provide better than 10 kHz frequency stability over 0.1 sec intervals. We have used active feedback stabilization of the cavity length of these lasers to demonstrate 0.3 Hz frequency stabilization relative to a reference cavity. We have performed experiments and analysis to show that optical parametric oscillators (OPO's) reproduce the frequency stability of the pump laser in outputs that can be tuned to arbitrary wavelengths. Another measurement performed in this program has demonstrated the sub-shot-noise character of correlations of the fluctuations in the twin output of OPO's. Measurements of nonlinear optical coefficients by phase-matched second harmonic generation are helping to resolve inconsistency in these important parameters.

Byer, Robert L.↗

Compact, ultrastable, high repetition-rate 2 μm and 3 μm fiber laser for seeding mid-IR OPCPA

We report a compact and reliable ultrafast fiber laser system optimized for seeding a high energy, 2 μ m pumped, 3 μ m wavelength optical parametric chirped pulse amplification to drive soft X-ray high harmonics. The system delivers 100 MHz narrowband 2 μ m pulses with >1 nJ energy, synchronized with ultra-broadband optical pulses with a ∼1 μ m FWHM spectrum centered at 3 μ m with 39 pJ pulse energy. The 2 μ m and 3 μ m pulses are derived from a single 1.5 μ m fiber oscillator, fully fiber integrated with free-space downconversion for the 3 μ m. The system operates hands-off with power instabilities <0.2% over extended periods of time.

Optics↗

Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with the August 2006 Timing Glitch of the Vela Pulsar

The physical mechanisms responsible for pulsar timing glitches are thought to excite quasinormal mode oscillations in their parent neutron star that couple to gravitational-wave emission, In August 2006, a timing glitch was observed in the radio emission of PSR B0833-45, the Vela pulsar. At the time of the glitch, the two colocated Hanford gravitational-wave detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave observatory (LIGO) were operational and taking data as part of the fifth LIGO science run (S5). We present the first direct search for the gravitational-wave emission associated with oscillations of the fundamental quadrupole mode excited by a pulsar timing glitch. No gravitational-wave detection candidate was found. We place Bayesian 90% confidence upper limits of 6,3 x 10(exp -21) to 1.4 x 10(exp -20) on the peak: intrinsic strain amplitude of gravitational-wave ring-down signals, depending on which spherical harmonic mode is excited. The corresponding range of energy upper limits is 5.0 x 10(exp 44) to 1.3 x 10(exp 45) erg.

Camp, J. B.↗

Solid-state laser sources for remote sensing

Recent progress in slab-geometry and conventional rod Nd:YAG solid-state lasers for applications in remote sensing is presented. Developments in slab geometry lasers, which were aimed at improving pulse energy and tuning range, have been based on the use of a Nd:glass substrate with a zig-zag optical path, with selective Raman shifting in gases and harmonic generation in LiNbO3 and KDP to extend the tuning range into the UV and visible regions. The theoretically predicted advantages of the elimination of birefringence and thermal and stress-induced focusing in the slab-geometry laser have been confirmed in measurements on a test-bed Nd:glass system, and a CW lamp pumped Nd:YAG oscillator, which have also demonstrated an order of magnitude improvement in laser performance. A single axial mode Nd:YAG oscillator has also been designed which, operating in a 3-msec quasi-CW mode, has a chirp rate of 30 kHz/microsec and a free-running stability of + or - 20 MHz. With chirp compensation, this stability is adequate for wind velocity measurements by coherent lidar.

Byer, R. L.↗

A theory of rotating stall of multistage axial compressors. II - Finite disturbances

A small-disturbance theory of rotating stall in axial compressors is extended to finite amplitude, assuming the compressor characteristic is a parabola over the range of the disturbance. An exact solution is found which requires the operating point to be at the minimum or maximum of the parabola. If the characteristic is flat in a deep-stall regime, the previous harmonic solution applies with neither reverse flow or 'unstalling'. If the characteristic is concave upward in deep stall, the disturbance has a skewed shape, steeper at the stall-zone trailing edge as experiment shows. Propagation speed is only slightly affected by this nonlinearity. Near stall inception, negative curvature in combination with multiple stall zones can limit the nonlinear oscillation, in the manner of 'progressive' stall. If, as seems likely, lag at stall inception is negative (opposite to inertia), propagation speed exceeds 1/2 wheel speed, as experiments suggest.

Moore, F. K.↗

Properties of r-modes in the sun

Global oscillations of the sun (r-modes) with very long periods of about 1 month are reviewed and studied. Such modes would be trapped in an acoustic cavity formed either by most of the convective envelope or by most of the radiative interior. A turning point frequency giving cavity boundaries is defined and the run of eigenvalues for angular harmonics l less than or equal to 3 are plotted for a conventional solar convection zone. The r-modes show equipartition of oscillatory energy among shells which each contain one antinode in the radial dimension. Toroidal motion is dominant to at least the 14th radial harmonic mode. Viscosity from convective turbulence is strong and would damp any mode in just a few solar rotations if it were the only significant nonadiabatic effect. 'Radial fine splitting' which lifts the degeneracy in n is very small (20 nHz or less) for all n less than or equal to 14 trapped in the envelope. But if splitting could be detected, there would be a valuable new constraint on solar convection theories.

Wolff, C. L.↗

Impacts of swinging door lossy compression of synchrophasor data

As the number of operational Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) is increasing, compression is becoming crucial for efficiently transferring and storing enormous amount of synchrophasor data continuously measured from a power system. Some utilities in the U.S. have already adopted a nonlinear compression technique, called Swinging Door Algorithm (SDA), assuming compressed data meets technical and regulatory requirements without resulting in any degradation of the measurements. This paper studies impacts of this compression algorithm on field measured and simulated PMU data, and presents results from spectral analyses of raw and decompressed measurements. The results show blind application of the SDA compression alters frequency content in the measurements and introduces false harmonics and aliasing. These can lead to false conclusions being drawn from the measurements about the power system condition.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Critical Fluctuations in Beam-Plasma Systems and Solar Type III Radio Bursts

The type III radio bursts are the most intense radio emissions from the sun. In Figure 1, we present a typical type III burst observed by the STEREO spacecraft. Ginzburg and Zheleznyakov (1958) were the first to suggest that Langmuir waves excited by the solar flare accelerated electrons are the source of these bursts. The in situ detection of electron beams and Langmuir waves in association with type III bursts together with tracking of type III burst sources in the interplanetary medium confirmed this plasma hypothesis. However, the dynamics of type III electron beams and their interaction with the ambient plasma through the excited Langmuir waves is an unsolved problem. In order that the electron beams don't lose their energy by resonantly interacting with Langmuir waves, various nonlinear processes, such as the induced scattering of Langmuir waves off the background ions in weak turbulence regime and oscillating two-stream instability in strong turbulence regime were invoked. However, the observed electron density fluctuations do not allow Langmuir waves to grow to very high intensities as pointed out by several authors. As far as the conversion of Langmuir wave energy into electromagnetic energy is concerned, there is no consensus either for the fundamental or for the second harmonic emission. In this paper, we address these issues in terms of critical fluctuations near the boundary of the beam-plasma instability which is analogous to the anomalously growing fluctuations near the phase transition points called critical points. We show that this phenomenon can account for the survival of electron beams over large distances as well as the intensities of Langmuir waves excited during this phase transition regime are sufficient to explain the peak intensities of the fundamental as well as harmonic emissions

Fluctuations↗

Characteristics of the motions, turbulence intensity, diffusivity, flux of momentum and sensible heat in the upper atmosphere

Analyses of the meteorological rocket data obtained from an experiment conducted at 3-hour intervals at 8 western meridional rocket stations are presented. Large variations in the meridional wind contribute substantially to overall turbulence in the tropical stratosphere. The solar semidiurnal component of wind oscillations in the tropics was observed to be much higher than predicted by theory, often exceeding the magnitude of the diurnal amplitude throughout the stratosphere. The observed value of the solar diurnal amplitude in the stratosphere was in line with theoretical prediction. The solar terdiurnal amplitudes for temperature, meridional and zonal winds were non-negligible and must be considered in any harmonic analysis. Phase angle variation with height was rapid for all harmonics; however, there was general agreement between predicted and observed phase angles. Because of large changes in the mean winds in the mesosphere with season, harmonic determinations are difficult. There appear to be large zonal wind changes even within the same season as mentioned previously. Turbulence diffusivity in the upper stratosphere is greater near the equator than in the mid-latitudes.

Kao, S. K.↗

ORBITAL ANGULAR MOMENTUM BEAMS RESEARCH USING A FREE-ELECTRON LASER OSCILLATOR

Strong Hadron Cooling (SHC), utilizing the coherent electron cooling scheme, has been extensively investigated for the Electron Ion Collider (EIC). Throughout our cooling optimization studies, we realized that a Super-Gaussian electron bunch offers enhanced performance in comparison to a Gaussian bunch. Our approach involves initiating the electron beam distribution in a double peak form, transitioning them into a Super-Gaussian distribution due to the longitudinal space charge. Subsequently, a chicane within the linac section compresses the bunch to meet the required bunch length. We tuned a third harmonic cavity amplitude to reduce the nonlinear term of the chicane. Moreover, given the low initial current leading to a small but non-uniform slice energy spread, we evaluated utilizing laser heating techniques to achieve a uniformly distributed slice energy spread. In this report, we discuss the concepts and simulation results

Wang, E.↗

Anomalous two-photon Compton scattering

Abstract X-ray free-electron lasers can generate radiation pulses with extreme peak intensities at short wavelengths. This enables the investigation of laser–matter interactions in a regime of high fields, yet at a non-relativistic ponderomotive potential, where ordinary rules of light–matter interaction may no longer apply and nonlinear processes are starting to become observable. Despite small cross-sections, first nonlinear effects in the hard x-ray regime have recently been observed in solid targets, including x-ray-optical sum-frequency generation (XSFG), x-ray second harmonic generation (XSHG) and two-photon Compton scattering (2PCS). Nonlinear interactions of bound electrons in the x-ray range are fundamentally different from those dominating at optical frequencies. Whereas in the optical regime nonlinearities are predominantly caused by anharmonicities of the atomic potential in the chemical bonds, x-ray nonlinearities far above atomic resonances are expected to be due to nonlinear oscillations of quasi-free electrons, including inner-shell atomic electrons. While the quasi-free-electron model agrees reasonably well with the experimental data for XSFG and XSHG, 2PCS measurements have led to unexpected results: the energy of the nonlinearly scattered photons from non-relativistic electrons shows a substantial unexpected red shift in addition to the Compton shift that is well beyond that predicted by a nonlinear quantum electrodynamics model for free electrons. A potential explanation for the spectral broadening is based on a previously unexplored scattering process that involves the whole atom rather than just quasi-free electrons. A first simulation that includes the atomic binding potential was successful in describing a broadening of the spectrum of the nonlinearly scattered photons to longer wavelengths for soft x-rays. However, the same model does not show any broadening at hard x-ray wavelengths, which is in agreement with other simulation approaches. To this point no calculation has been able to reproduce the experimentally observed broadening. Here we present further experimental data of 2PCS for an extended parameter range using additional diagnostics. In particular, we present measurements of the electron momentum distribution during the interaction that strongly suggest that the spectral broadening is not caused by an increased plasma temperature. We extend our measurement of the magnitude of the red shift in beryllium to > 1.9 k e V in addition to the Compton shift expected for free electrons and expand the measurement of the angular distribution to include forward scattering angles. We also present first measurements of 2PCS from diamond.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Electric field distribution in a non-self-sustained RF discharge with ionization generated by Ns discharge pulses

Abstract Electric field in a capacitively coupled, non-self-sustained RF discharge nitrogen plasma with external ionization generated by high-voltage ns pulses has been measured by ps Electric field induced second harmonic generation (EFISH). The measurements are made both in the bulk of the plasma and in the sheaths, using the absolute calibration by the Laplacian field between two plane electrodes. The results are compared with the kinetic modeling calculations. The RF electric field in the sheaths is significantly higher compared to that in the plasma, due to the displacement of the electrons by the drift oscillations and the resultant plasma self-shielding. However, the kinetic modeling predictions indicate that the electron impact ionization in the sheaths is largely ineffective, due to the low electron density. The reduction of the electric field in the plasma by the self-shielding in the sheaths is moderate, such that the energy is coupled to the plasma by the below-breakdown RF field. The peak RF field in the plasma is in the range of 15–25 Td, indicating the efficient vibrational excitation of N 2 by electron impact. The modeling predictions suggest that the targeted vibrational excitation of molecular species in a non-self-sustained RF discharge with external ionization is scalable to high pressures, electron densities, and discharge powers. The present approach can be extended to the vibrational excitation of other molecular species where the vibrational relaxation is relatively slow, such as CO, CO 2 , and H 2 .

Physics↗

Calculation of viscous effects on transonic flow for oscillating airfoils and comparisons with experiment

A method is described for calculating unsteady transonic flow with viscous interaction by coupling a steady integral boundary-layer code with an unsteady, transonic, inviscid small-disturbance computer code in a quasi-steady fashion. Explicit coupling of the equations together with viscous -inviscid iterations at each time step yield converged solutions with computer times about double those required to obtain inviscid solutions. The accuracy and range of applicability of the method are investigated by applying it to four AGARD standard airfoils. The first-harmonic components of both the unsteady pressure distributions and the lift and moment coefficients have been calculated. Comparisons with inviscid calcualtions and experimental data are presented. The results demonstrate that accurate solutions for transonic flows with viscous effects can be obtained for flows involving moderate-strength shock waves.

Howlett, James T.↗

A stable submillimeter laser local oscillator for heterodyne radiometry and spectroscopy

A submillimeter laser with off-axis pump beam injection is described. This design concept achieves complete isolation of the pump laser with respect to the pump radiation reflected from the submillimeter resonator. Active line independent stabilization of the pump laser is obtained by the use of an external tunable etalon as a frequency reference. The submillimeter output power is constant to within 4% over periods of hours. Mean frequency drifts of less than 2 parts in 100 million per minute were measured by mixing with very high harmonics of an X-band synthesizer in a planar Schottky diode.

Koepf, G. A.↗

High-Frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in the Black Hole X-Ray Transient XTE J1650-500

We report the detection of high-frequency variability in the black hole X-ray transient XTE 51650-500. A quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) was found at 250 Hz during a transition from the hard to the soft state. We also detected less coherent variability around 50 Hz that disappeared when the 250 Hz QPO showed up. There are indications that when the energy spectrum hardened the QPO frequency increased from approx. 110 to approx. 270 Hz, although the observed frequencies are also consistent with being 1 : 2 : 3 harmonics of each other. Interpreting the 250 Hz as the orbital frequency at the innermost stable orbit around a Schwarzschild black hole leads to a mass estimate of 8.2 solar mass. The spectral results by Miller et al., which suggest considerable black hole spin, would imply a higher mass.

Holman, Jeroen↗

Evidence for Oscillating Two-Stream Instability and Spatial Collapse of Langmuir Waves in a Solar Type II Radio Burst

We present the high time resolution in situ observations of Langmuir waves, likely excited by an electron beam accelerated by a coronal-mass ejection-driven super-critical quasi-perpendicular interplanetary shock into its upstream solar wind, which happens to be the source region of a solar type II radio burst. We show that (1) these waves occur as coherent localized magnetic-field-aligned, one-dimensional wave packets with durations of a few milliseconds and with peak intensities well in excess of the threshold for strong turbulence processes, (2) they provide what is believed to be the first evidence for: (a) the oscillating two-stream instability (OTSI) L(sub 1) + L(sub 2) S/⟶ U + D, where L(sub 1) and L(sub 2), U and D, and S are the pump Langmuir waves, up- and down-shifted side bands, and ion sound waves, respectively, (b) a three-wave interaction U + D ⟶ T(sub 2f(sub pe)), where T(sub 2f(sub pe)) is the second harmonic electromagnetic wave, (3) they satisfy the threshold condition for formation of collapsing solitons, and (4) they are accompanied by their ponderomotive force induced density cavities with δn(sub p)/n(sub e) > δn(sub b)/n(sub e), where δn(sub p)/n(sub e) is the level of ponderomotive force induced density fluctuations and δn(sub b)/n(sub e) is that of the ambient fluctuations. These findings strongly suggest that the observed wave packets provide evidence for the collapsing solitons formed as a result of OTSI. The implication is that the strong turbulence processes probably play very important roles in excitation of type II radio emissions as well as in stabilization of shock-accelerated electron beams.

Sun radio radiation↗