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At least 1,189 records · Page 66

457-nm radiation source based on a diode laser for precision spectroscopy of magnesium atoms

We report on the development of a highly stable source of 457-nm radiation based on a diode laser and a tapered amplifier operating in a double-pass scheme. The diode laser frequency was stabilised by a high-Q reference Fabry – Perot interferometer and doubled in a PPSLT nonlinear crystal placed in an enhancement cavity. At a maximum output power of 200 mW at a wavelength of 457 nm, the laser linewidth was less than 5 kHz. The radiation source operation was demonstrated in experiments on precision spectroscopy of cold magnesium atoms in a magneto-optical trap. (lasers)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Deep learning based event reconstruction for cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy

The objective of the cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy (CRES) technology is to build precise particle energy spectra. This is achieved by identifying the start frequencies of charged particle trajectories which, when exposed to an external magnetic field, leave semi-linear profiles (called tracks) in the time–frequency plane. Due to the need for excellent instrumental energy resolution in application, highly efficient and accurate track reconstruction methods are desired. Deep learning convolutional neural networks (CNNs) - particularly suited to deal with information-sparse data and which offer precise foreground localization—may be utilized to extract track properties from measured CRES signals (called events) with relative computational ease. In this work, we develop a novel machine learning based model which operates a CNN and a support vector machine in tandem to perform this reconstruction. A primary application of our method is shown on simulated CRES signals which mimic those of the Project 8 experiment—a novel effort to extract the unknown absolute neutrino mass value from a precise measurement of tritium β - -decay energy spectrum. When compared to a point-clustering based technique used as a baseline, we show a relative gain of 24.1% in event reconstruction efficiency and comparable performance in accuracy of track parameter reconstruction.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

VecPAC: A Vectorizable and Precision-Aware CGRA

This paper proposes VecPAC -- a vectorizable and precision-aware coarse-grained reconfigurable array (CGRA) design. VecPAC integrates CGRA tiles with scalar functional units and specialized tiles with vector functional units that can trade off the number of vector lanes for the accuracy of the computation. We discuss the architecture design and present the related compilation framework. The experimental evaluation on a set of applications from three different domains (embedded, machine learning, and high-performance computing) shows that the hybrid design of VecPAC outperforms CGRAs with only scalar functional units by 1.48x, while providing higher scalability.

Tan, Cheng↗

Report of the Atmosphere to Electrons Land-Based Mesoscale-to-Microscale Coupling Project (FY2020)

The overall goal of the Mesoscale-to-Microscale Coupling (MMC) project is to improve coupling between mesoscale and microscale simulations via improved guidance and new strategies for setting up simulations and for the development of new tools that can be used across the community. Including the mesoscale forcing is critical to modeling the full energy transfer across scales in the atmosphere. The project-specific objectives include: 1) To apply rigorous verification and validation (V&V) techniques to the new modeling tools that are developed as part of the project to ensure the accuracy of our codes and results and to develop estimates of the relative uncertainty. 2) To improve computational performance of the coupled MMC models through the development of methods that can be used to reduce turbulence spin-up time and hence the size of computational domains. 3) To improve representation of the surface layer in microscale models to enhance simulations of hub-height wind speed. 4) To develop guidance for the community describing the best ways to couple mesoscale and microscale models, including specific spatial scales at which the handoff to the microscale model should occur. 5) To prepare documentation and a suite of software tools that can be used across the community. And 6) To transition MMC research to the offshore environment. Major progress was made in each of these areas during FY20. The land-based portion of the project is reported herein, while the offshore portion will be reported separately. The team continued to advance the MMC tools and methodologies as well as to document their performance in journal papers and conference presentations, although several planned conferences were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Neutron measurement from neutrino interactions in NOvA

The NuMI Off-Axis Appearance (NOvA) experiment is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment based at Fermilab, consisting of two functionally identical liquid-scintillator detectors positioned slightly off-axis from the NuMI beam. It aims to probe CP violation in the lepton sector and determine the neutrino mass ordering by comparing the oscillation rates between the detectors. Given the energy dependence of oscillations, energy reconstruction is key--and a key limitation in the precision and accuracy of this kinematic variable is an understanding of primary neutron-related uncertainties since many may go undetected. While recent improvements have reduced discrepancies, NOvA's simulation still overpredicts neutron-linked activity by about 20\%, particularly for neutrons between 5–200 MeV. We present ongoing progress toward a measurement of neutron multiplicity in the NOvA Near Detector using spatially displaced and delayed energy deposits associated with neutron interactions, aiming to constrain neutron-related systematics and improve neutrino energy reconstruction in future oscillation analyses.

Kufatty, G. [Florida State U.]↗

Precision star-tracking telescope

The design, construction, and preliminary testing of a new high accuracy star tracking telescope for the laboratory model of the Stanford gyro relativity experiment are described. The function of the telescope in the final flight experiment is to define (by reference to a suitable star) a direction in space for comparison with the relativistic precession of a group of gyroscopes. The design of the telescope has been strongly affected by designs for other portions of the overall experiments, for example the gyroscopes, the attitude control system of the satellite, and the instrumentation system used in processing relativity data. Main goals for the star tracker are: (1) independent readout of angular position in two planes; (2) absolute null stability over a one year period of mechanical parts; (3) readout linear to 0.001 arc-seconds over + or - 0.05 arc-second; (4) noise performance leading to a resolution of 0.05 arc-second in 0.1 second observation time of the chosen reference star; and (5) provision for automatic gain control capable of matching the gains of the gyroscopes and telescope readouts to 1% or better.

Fairbank, W. M.↗

Polarization mismatch errors in radio phase interferometers.

An analysis is presented which deals with the effects of polarization mismatch errors on the accuracy of a phase interferometer used for position location of unknown emitters relative to known calibration emitters. Closed-form expressions for the induced phase difference between interferometer antennas are derived for several combinations of receiving and transmitting antenna polarizations. Errors contributed by mechanical misalignment between antennas, as well as effects of power loss attributable to polarization mismatch, are also considered. The analysis leads to the conclusion that circularly polarized interferometer and transmitter antennas are best suited for the position location application, if it is assumed that polarization tracking of the interferometer antennas is not available. It is shown that a reasonable amount of ellipticity can be tolerated before the phase error becomes significant.

Muehldorf, E. I.↗

Advanced processing and information extraction techniques applied to ERTS-1 MSS data

Conventional automatic data processing and information extraction techniques fall short of providing the information required by the user in some applications. For those cases, advanced techniques are needed to permit the extraction of the necessary information. Advanced techniques are described and examples of their application to ERTS-1 MSS data are provided. The techniques are designed to help overcome problems in location, mensuration, and classification accuracies which result from geometric distortions of the ERTS MSS data, the relatively coarse resolution of the sensor, and variations in atmospheric state over the region to be surveyed. It is shown that each of these factors can seriously degrade one's ability to extract necessary information. Further, it is shown that advanced techniques can alleviate the effects of these factors.

Malila, W. A.↗

Remote Sensing Application to Land Use Classification in a Rapidly Changing Agricultural/Urban Area: City of Virginia Beach, Virginia

Remote sensing data on computer-compatible tapes of LANDSAT 1 multispectral scanner imager were analyzed to generate a land use map of the City of Virginia Beach. All four bands were used in both the supervised and unsupervised approaches with the LAYSYS software system. Color IR imagery of a U-2 flight of the same area was also digitized and two sample areas were analyzed via the unsupervised approach. The relationships between the mapped land use and the soils of the area were investigated. A land use land cover map at a scale of 1:24,000 was obtained from the supervised analysis of LANDSAT 1 data. It was concluded that machine analysis of remote sensing data to produce land use maps was feasible; that the LAYSYS software system was usable for this purpose; and that the machine analysis was capable of extracting detailed information from the relatively small scale LANDSAT data in a much shorter time without compromising accuracy.

Odenyo, V. A. O.↗

A technique for remotely measuring surface pressure from a satellite using a multicolor laser ranging system

The optical path length from a satellite to the earth's surface is strongly dependent on the atmospheric pressure along the propagation path. Surface pressure can be measured by using a multicolor laser ranging system to observe the change with wavelength in the optical path length from the satellite to a ground target. The equations which relate surface pressure to the differential path lengths are derived and the accuracy of the pressure measurement is evaluated in terms of the ranging system parameters. The results indicate that pressure accuracies of a few millibars appear feasible.

Gardner, C. S.↗

Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment (LACIE). LACIE third interim phase 3 accuracy assessment report

The author has identified the following significant results. An accuracy of 90/85 was achieved with the October estimates which had a relative bias of -9.9 percent and a coefficient of variation of 5.2 percent for the total wheat production in the USGP. The probability was 0.9 that the LACIE estimate was within + or - 15 percent of true wheat production for the USGP. The LACIE spring wheat production underestimates in August, September, and October were the results of area underestimates for spring wheat in the USNGP region. The winter wheat blind study showed that the average proportion estimates were significantly different from the average dot-count, ground truth proportions at the USSGP and USGP-7 levels.

Source record↗

Electrochemical concentration cell ozonesonde performance evaluation

A large number of electrochemical concentration cell (EDD) ozonesondes were calibrated relative to ultraviolet photometric absorption (254 nm) to determine their precision and accuracy. The average agreement with UV photometry was found to be good, but with considerable variation from one ECC ozonesonde to another. Applying individual calibrations to vertical ozone profiles reduced the systematic differences between ECC ozonesonde total ozone values and Dobson spectrophotometric determinations of the same quantity, but did not improve random differences.

Torres, A. L.↗

The abundance of argon at the galactic center

Measurements of forbidden line Ar II 6.99 micron and Pf alpha 7.45 micron made from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory are presented for Sgr A, the H II region at the center of the Galaxy. These line strengths, when combined with ground-based measurements, suggest a factor of enhancement of two in the Ar/H ratio in the galactic center region relative to that in the sun and in the solar neighborhood. The accuracy of the determination is presently limited by the uncertainty in the collision strength for Ar(+).

Lester, D. F.↗

Ground support data from July 10 to July 29, 1978, for HCMM thermal satellite data of the Powder River Basin, Wyoming

Radiometric and meteorological data acquired at three ground stations located approximately 150 km apart in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming, are summarized. The data were collected between July 10 and July 29, 1978, to support the HCMM thermal satellite data acquired during this time period. The parameters measured are direct solar radiance, total solar radiance, sky radiance, air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. A tabulation of the measurement accuracies is presented.

Hummer-Miller, S.↗

Development of computer models for the prediction of large distorted antenna characteristics

A program for calculating the radiation patterns of analytic reflector antennas, using geometric optics and aperture plane integration techniques, was modified and extended to include nonanalytic surfaces. The original program, while capable of predicting patterns for a variety of reflectors, both smooth and multipanelled, was subject to the restriction that the surface had to be expressed analytically, i.e., described by a set of mathematical equations. This restriction was removed by adapting a technique which allows the reflector configuration to be interpolated from a finite set of points measured on the surface. Criteria for choosing both the number and distribution of these measured surface points were developed by comparing the predicted antenna radiation patterns with measured laboratory results. Test cases involved relatively smooth as well as grossly distorted arbitrary surfaces. Finally, surface point accuracies were established by applying random error analysis to the measurement process.

Moskowitz, S. M.↗

User's appraisal of yield model evaluation criteria

The five major potential USDA users of AgRISTAR crop yield forecast models rated the Yield Model Development (YMD) project Test and Evaluation Criteria by the importance placed on them. These users were agreed that the "TIMELINES" and "RELIABILITY" of the forecast yields would be of major importance in determining if a proposed yield model was worthy of adoption. Although there was considerable difference of opinion as to the relative importance of the other criteria, "COST", "OBJECTIVITY", "ADEQUACY", AND "MEASURES OF ACCURACY" generally were felt to be more important that "SIMPLICITY" and "CONSISTENCY WITH SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE". However, some of the comments which accompanied the ratings did indicate that several of the definitions and descriptions of the criteria were confusing.

Warren, F. B.↗

A catalog of selected compact radio sources for the construction of an extragalactic radio/optical reference frame

A catalog of 234 strong compact extragalactic radio sources that display optical counterparts is presented. This catalog identifies proposed sources for establishing an almost inertial reference frame against which the motions of the earth, solar system, galactic objects, and spacecraft may be measured. This catalog also defines those sources for which precise optical positions should be determined in order to relate this reference frame with the optical FK 5 fundamental system. The accuracy of the radio source positions of these sources is not greater than 0.1 arcsec with the majority not greater than 0.01 arcsec. Further refinement to not greater than 0.005 arcsec by future observations is expected soon.

Argue, A. N.↗

Determination of the area and mass distribution of orbital debris fragments

An important factor in modeling the orbital debris environment is the loss rate of debris due to atmospheric drag and lunisolar perturbations. An accurate knowledge of the area-to-mass ratio of debris fragments is required to calculate the effects of atmospheric drag. It is shown here that the orbital elements as a function of time can be used to invert any propagation algorithm to yield the area-to-mass ratio of an orbiting object. From these calculations and the observed radar cross-section of the object, the mass can be calculated to an accuracy of about 30 percent. It is shown that the mass is related to the effective cross-section area by a power-law relation, but for a given area the mass distribution is very broad. An expression is given for the cumulative mass distribution.

Badhwar, G. D.↗