Computer-made movies and plotting descriptions of ion-molecule collisions with polar targets.
Computer made movies and time history plots for ion-dipole collisions involving polar molecules /CO, HCL and acetonitrile/
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Computer made movies and time history plots for ion-dipole collisions involving polar molecules /CO, HCL and acetonitrile/
Numerical analysis of spiraling in ion molecule collisions with polar targets using computer plotting techniques
Spin exchange theory for collisions between atoms extended to include target polarization
Nozzle-type atomic beams and time-of-flight detection methods are employed in studies of the scattering of thermal-energy He-4 atoms from LiF (001) and NaCl (001) surfaces under conditions where diffraction is observed and where substantial inelastic scattering occurs. Intensity and speed-distribution measurements are obtained for the portion of the scattering within the plane of incidence. For these measurements, incident-beam orientation with respect to target (polar angle and azimuth), incident-beam de Broglie wavelength (0.38-0.60 A), and crystal temperature (300-1000 K) are varied. For LiF, the measured intensity distributions exhibit sharp peaks comprised essentially of elastically scattered atoms and corresponding to up to third-order diffraction, inelastic scattering in the form of local dispersion about each of the elastic peaks, and a component of nominally diffuse scattering distributed below and between the peaks. For NaCl, the same general types of scattering are observed, with elastic scattering less prevalent, intensity peaks not as sharp, and dispersions of inelastic scattering harder to resolve.
Elastic electron scattering cross sections from 5-30 eV are reported for the molecules C2H4, C2H6, C3H8, Si2H6, and GeH4, obtained using an implementation of the Schwinger multichannel method for distributed-memory parallel computer architectures. These results, obtained within the static-exchange approximation, are in generally good agreement with the available experimental data. These calculations demonstrate the potential of highly parallel computation in the study of collisions between low-energy electrons and polyatomic gases. The computational methodology discussed is also directly applicable to the calculation of elastic cross sections at higher levels of approximation (target polarization) and of electronic excitation cross sections.
Radar cross polarization measurements for target surface property determination, noting application to lunar studies
Mathematical framework for the electromagnetic scattering from random extended targets, such as terrain and sea surface, encompasses both power scattering and signal deplorization. It incorporates specular treatment of electromagnetic scattering as well as the electrical properties represented by surface impedance and polarization dependence.
The theory of hard target calibration of lidar backscatter data, including laboratory measurements of the pertinent target reflectance parameters, is extended to include the effects of polarization of the transmitted and received laser radiation. The bidirectional reflectance-distribution function model of reflectance is expanded to a 4 x 4 matrix allowing Mueller matrix and Stokes vector calculus to be employed. Target reflectance parameters for calibration of lidar backscatter data are derived for various lidar system polarization configurations from integrating sphere and monostatic reflectometer measurements. It is found that correct modeling of polarization effects is mandatory for accurate calibration of hard target reflectance parameters and, therefore, for accurate calibration of lidar backscatter data.
Polarization signatures of targets compared with known signatures at known angles. Experiments demonstrated use of radar polarimetry to measure orientation of retroreflective target, even though target much smaller than resolution element of radar. Technique based on comparison of angular dependencies of measured and theoretically derived polarization signatures of target. Polarization signature also used to identify target. Tilt of reflector inferred by finding angle minimizing measure of difference between theoretical and measured radar cross sections of reflector.
Quantitative study of radar cross polarization factor D in order to obtain data on lunar surface roughness and dielectric properties
Sol-gel processing techniques have been used to apply thin porous films to the surfaces of planar infrared (IR) waveguides to produce widely useful chemical sensors. The thin- film coating serves to diminish the concentration of water and increase the concentration of the analyte in the region probed by the evanescent IR wave. These porous films are composed of silica, and therefore, conventional silica surface modification techniques can be used to give the surface a specific functional character. The sol-gel film was surface-modified to make the film highly hydrophobic. These sensors were shown to be capable of detecting non-polar organic analytes, such as benzonitrile, in aqueous solution with detection limits in the ppb range. Further, these porous sol-gel structures allow the analytes to diffuse into and out of the films rapidly, thus reaching equilibrium in less than ten seconds. These sensors are unique because of the fact that their operation is based on the measurement of an IR absorption spectrum. Thus, these sensors are able to identify the analytes as well as measure concentration with high sensitivity. These developments have been documented in previous reports and publications. Recently, we have also targeted detection of the polar organic molecules acetone and isopropanol in aqueous solution. Polar organics are widely used in industrial and chemical processes, hence it is of interest to monitor their presence in effluents or decontamination process flows. Although large improvements in detection limits were expected with non-polar organic molecules in aqueous solutions using very hydrophobic porous sol-gel films on silicon attenuated total reflectance (Si ATR) waveguides, it was not as clear what the detection enhancements might be for polar organic molecules. This report describes the use of modified sol-gel-coated Si ATR sensors for trace detection and quantitation of small polar organic molecules in aqueous solutions. The detection of both acetone and isopropanol molecules in aqueous solution has been previously reported for chalcogenide fiber optic sensors. The sol-gel film was produced using a mixture of ethyltriethoxysilane and tetraethoxysilane and the surface modification was carried out using trimethylchlorosilane. We have demonstrated that this film concentrates the target polar analytes from aqueous solution in the region probed by the evanescent wave to improve detection limits by as much as a factor of 450.
Accreting X-ray pulsars (XRPs) are presumed to be ideal targets for polarization measurements, as their high magnetic field strength is expected to polarize the emission up to a polarization degree of ∼80%. However, such expectations are being challenged by recent observations of XRPs with the Imaging X-ray Polarimeter Explorer (IXPE). Here, we report on the results of yet another XRP, namely, EXO 2030+375, observed with IXPE and contemporarily monitored with Insight-HXMT and SRG/ART-XC. In line with recent results obtained with IXPE for similar sources, an analysis of the EXO 2030+375 data returns a low polarization degree of 0%–3% in the phase-averaged study and a variation in the range of 2%–7% in the phase-resolved study. Using the rotating vector model, we constrained the geometry of the system and obtained a value of ∼60° for the magnetic obliquity. When considering the estimated pulsar inclination of ∼130°, this also indicates that the magnetic axis swings close to the observer’s line of sight. Our joint polarimetric, spectral, and timing analyses hint toward a complex accreting geometry, whereby magnetic multipoles with an asymmetric topology and gravitational light bending significantly affect the behavior of the observed source.
Spin polarization of beta-emitting fragment Mg-23(I(sup pi) = 3/2(sup +), T(sub 1/2 = l1.3 s) produced through the projectile fragmentation process in Mg-24 + Au, Cu and Al collisions has been observed at 91 AMeV. General trend in the observed momentum dependence of polarization is reproduced well qualitatively by a simple fragmentation model based on the participant-spectator picture, for heavy and light targets. However the polarization behavior differs from this model in tern of zero crossing momentum, which become prominent in the case of Cu target, where the polarization is not monotone function of the fragment momentum.
Digital signal-processing system makes images of terrain from synthetic-apperture-radar returns to airplane flying at large drift angle. Output of system includes high-resolution images, four-look images, magnitude/phase-difference images, and "compressed," all-inclusive data sets. Magnitude/phase-difference images produced by correlating images of like polarizations. Useful for investigating phase characteristics of targets in different polarizations.
Towards the end of February 1999, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft is expected to enter a near-circular polar orbit around Mars at an altitude of about 400 km. At this time the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) will begin near-continuous operation and acquire topography of the full planet. The initial areas of study will be concentrated in the southern hemisphere with particular interest in the polar region near the targeted landing site of the Mars Polar Lander. In addition to topography, MOLA matched filter pulse width data will be used to assess foot-print-scale surface roughness in the region. Such observations will also be applied in future studies for assessment of the Mars '01 landing site in the latitude range 15 degrees south to 5 degrees north.
A theoretical analysis of polarization filtering for the bistatic case is developed for optimum discrimination between two types of targets. The resulting method is half analytical and half numerical. Because it is based on the Stokes matrix representation, the targets of interest can be extended targets. The scattered field from such targets is partially polarized. This method is then applied to the monostatic case with numerical examples relying on the JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) full-polarimetric L-band radar data. A matched filter to maximize the power ratio between urban and natural targets is developed. The results show that the same filter is optimal for both ocean and forest targets as natural targets.
Human performance in visual detection, discrimination, identification, and search tasks typically improves with practice. Psychophysical studies suggest that perceptual learning is mediated by an enhancement in the coding of the signal, and physiological studies suggest that it might be related to the plasticity in the weighting or selection of sensory units coding task relevant information (learning through attention optimization). We propose an experimental paradigm (optimal perceptual learning paradigm) to systematically study the dynamics of perceptual learning in humans by allowing comparisons to that of an optimal Bayesian algorithm and a number of suboptimal learning models. We measured improvement in human localization (eight-alternative forced-choice with feedback) performance of a target randomly sampled from four elongated Gaussian targets with different orientations and polarities and kept as a target for a block of four trials. The results suggest that the human perceptual learning can occur within a lapse of four trials (<1 min) but that human learning is slower and incomplete with respect to the optimal algorithm (23.3% reduction in human efficiency from the 1st-to-4th learning trials). The greatest improvement in human performance, occurring from the 1st-to-2nd learning trial, was also present in the optimal observer, and, thus reflects a property inherent to the visual task and not a property particular to the human perceptual learning mechanism. One notable source of human inefficiency is that, unlike the ideal observer, human learning relies more heavily on previous decisions than on the provided feedback, resulting in no human learning on trials following a previous incorrect localization decision. Finally, the proposed theory and paradigm provide a flexible framework for future studies to evaluate the optimality of human learning of other visual cues and/or sensory modalities.
A polarization potential V(pol) for e-N2 collisions is calculated by the generalization of the static part of the method of polarized orbitals to molecular targets. Partial differential equations (PDE) are derived for polarized orbitals, which are functions of the distance (r) from the molecular center and angle (theta) from the molecular axis. The equations are solved with the use of the noniterative PDE technique. From the polarized orbitals a polarization potential can be constructed whose r and theta dependence is found to be significantly different from the well-known phenomenological one. The two potentials are further compared by carrying out limited hybrid-theory scattering calculations. Only those scattering results based on the calculated V(pol) are in satisfactory accord with experiment.