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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1991

Flexible Generation Of Array-Detector Timing Signals

Assembly of custom-made electronic equipment and multipurpose commercial electronic equipment commonly found in electronics-development laboratories facilitates generation and modification of timing pattern signals for control of array detectors. Designed to serve as flexible electronic array-detector-testing apparatus configured via software; timing patterns created, stored, and changed easily. Assembly prepared for experimental evaluation of new detector design in much less time and less expense than necessary to construct special circuits to generate all timing patterns to be tried on new design.

Travis, Jeffrey W.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Effect of detector dead time on the performance of optical direct-detection communication links

Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) operating in the Geiger mode can provide a significantly improved single-photon detection sensitivity over conventional photodiodes. However, the quenching circuit required to remove the excess charge carriers after each photon event can introduce an undesirable dead time into the detection process. The effect of this detector dead time on the performance of a binary pulse-position-modulated (PPM) channel is studied by analyzing the error probability. It is shown that, when background noise is negligible, the performance of the detector with dead time is similar to that of a quantum-limited receiver. For systems with increasing background intensities, the error rate of the receiver starts to degrade rapidly with increasing dead time. The power penalty due to detector dead time is also evaluated and shown to depend critically on badkground intensity as well as dead time. Given the expected background strength in an optical channel, therefore, a constraint must be placed on the bandwidth of the receiver to limit the amount of power penalty due to detector dead time.

Chen, C.-C.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Effect of Detector Dead Time on the Performance of Optical Direct-Detection Communication Links

Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) operating in the Geiger mode can provide a significantly improved single-photon detect ion sensitivity over conventional photodiodes. However, the quenching circuit required to remove the excess charge carriers after each photon event can introduce an undesirable dead time into the detection process. The effect of this detector dead time on the performance of a binary pulse-position-modulted (PPM) channel is studied by analyzing the error probability. It is shown that, when back- ground noise is negligible, the performance of the detector with dead time is similar to that o f a quantum-limited receiver. For systems with increasing background intensities, the error rate of the receiver starts to degrade rapidly with increasing dead time. The power penalty due to detector dead time is also evaluated and shown to depend critically on background intensity as well as dead time. Given the expected background strength in an optical channel, therefore, a constraint must be placed on the bandwidth of the receiver to limit the amount of power penalty due to detector dead time.

Chen, C.-C.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Subminiature infrared detector translation stage

This paper describes a precision subminiature three-axis translation stage used in the GOES Sounder to provide positional adjustment of 12 cooled infrared detectors. Four separate translation stages and detectors are packaged into a detector mechanism which has an overall size of 0.850 x 1.230 x 0.600 inches. Each translation stage is capable of + or - 0.015 inch motion in the X and Y axes and +0.050/-0.025 inch motion in the Z axis with a sensitivity of 0.0002 inches. The function of the detector translation stage allows real time detector signal peaking during Sounder alignment. The translation stage operates in a cryogenic environment under a 10 to the -6th torr vacuum.

Bell, Alan D.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Time-of-flight technique for particle identification at energies from 2 to 400 keV/nucleon

The time of flight technique for particle identification was extended to 2 keV/nucleon and the size of the start-time detector was reduced considerably by the use of carbon foils of few micrograms/cm square in thickness combined with microchannel plates for detecting secondary electrons. Time of flight telescopes incorporating this start-time device were used to measure the stopping power of a number of low energy heavy ions in thin carbon foils and the charge states of these ions emerging from such foils. Applications for the detection and identification of low energy interplanetary and magnetospheric particles are suggested.

Gloeckler, G.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Experiments with the Skylab fire detectors in zero gravity

The Skylab fire detector was evaluated in a zero gravity environment. To conduct the test, small samples of spacecraft materials were ignited in a 5 psi oxygen-rich atmosphere inside a combustion chamber. The chamber free-floated in the cabin of a C-135 aircraft, as the aircraft executed a Keplerian parabola. Up to 10 seconds of zero-gravity combustion were achieved. The Skylab fire-detector tubes viewed the flames from a simulated distance of 3m, and color movies were taken to record the nature of the fire. The experiments established the unique form of zero-gravity fires for a wide range of materials. From the tube-output data, the alarm threshold and detector time constant were verified for the Skylab Fire Detection System.

Linford, R. M. F.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Remote sensing of chlorophyll and temperature in marine and fresh waters.

An airborne differential radiometer was demonstrated to be a sensitive, real-time detector of surface chlorophyll content in water bodies. The instrument continuously measures the difference in radiance between two wavelength bands, one centered near the maximum of the blue chlorophyll a absorption region and the other at a reference wavelength outside this region. Flights were made over fresh water lakes, marine waters, and an estuary, and the results were compared with 'ground truth' measurements of chlorophyll concentration. A correlation between output signal of the differential radiometer and the chlorophyll concentration was obtained. Examples of flight data are illustrated. Simultaneous airborne measurements of chlorophyll content and water temperature revealed that variations in chlorophyll are often associated with changes in temperature. Thus, simultaneous sensing of chlorophyll and temperature provides useful information for studies of marine food production, water pollution, and physical processes such as upwelling.

Arvesen, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Detector response in time-of-flight mass spectrometry at high pulse repetition frequencies

Dead time effects in chevron configured dual microchannel plates (MCPs) are investigated. Response times are determined experimentally for one chevron-configured dual MCP-type detector and two discrete dynode-type electron multipliers with 16 and 23 resistively divided stages. All of these detectors are found to be suitable for time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF MS), yielding 3-6-ns (FWHM) response times triggered on a single ion pulse. It is concluded that, unless there are viable solutions to overcome dead time disadvantages for continuous dynode detectors, suitable discrete dynode detectors for TOF MS appear to have a significant advantage for high repetition rate operation.

Gulcicek, Erol E.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Infrared detector Dewars - Increased LN2 hold time and vacuum jacket life spans

IR detector Dewars commonly suffer from shorter than desired LN2 hold times and insulation jacket vacuum corruption over relatively short time periods. In an attempt to solve this problem for a 9144 detector Dewar, small 1 liter/s appendage ion pumps were selected for continuous pumping of the vacuum jackets. This procedure extended LN2 hold times from 20 to 60 h and virtually eliminated vacuum jacket corruption. Thus the detector systems are usable continuously over periods of 6 months or more.

Jennings, D. E.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Contour Detector and Data Acquisition System for the Left Ventricular Outline

A real-time contour detector and data acquisition system is described for an angiographic apparatus having a video scanner for converting an X-ray image of a structure characterized by a change in brightness level compared with its surrounding into video format and displaying the X-ray image in recurring video fields. The real-time contour detector and data acqusition system includes track and hold circuits; a reference level analog computer circuit; an analog compartor; a digital processor; a field memory; and a computer interface.

Reiber, J. H. C.↗
NASA NTRS1998

MAMA Detector

Work carried out under this grant led to fundamental discoveries and over one hundred publications in the scientific literature. Fundamental developments in instrumentation were made including all the instrumentation on the EUVE satellite, the invention of a whole new type of grazing instrument spectrometer and the development of fundamentally new photon counting detectors including the Wedge and Strip used on EUVE and many other missions and the Time Delay detector used on OREFUS and FUSE. The Wedge and Strip and Time Delay detectors were developed under this grant for less than two million dollars and have been used in numerous missions most recently for the FUSE mission. In addition, a fundamentally new type of diffuse spectrometer has been developed under this grant which has been used in instrumentation on the MMSAT spacecraft and the Lewis spacecraft. Plans are underway to use this instrumentation on several other missions as well.

Bowyer, Stuart↗
NASA NTRS1981

Time delay and integration detectors using charge transfer devices

An imaging system comprises a multi-channel matrix array of CCD devices wherein a number of sensor cells (pixels) in each channel are subdivided and operated in discrete intercoupled groups of subarrays with a readout CCD shift register terminating each end of the channels. Clock voltages, applied to the subarrays, selectively cause charge signal flow in each subarray in either direction independent of the other subarrays. By selective application of four phase clock voltages, either one, two or all three of the sections subarray sections cause charge signal flow in one direction, while the remainder cause charge signal flow in the opposite direction. This creates a form of selective electronic exposure control which provides an effective variable time delay and integration of three, six or nine sensor cells or integration stages. The device is constructed on a semiconductor sustrate with a buried channel and is adapted for front surface imaging through transparent doped tin oxide gates.

Mccann, D. H.↗
NASA NTRS1990

High time-resolution imaging with the MAMA detector systems

Current uses of the MAMA detector which utilize the photon time-tagging capabilities of these detectors are reported. These applications currently include image stabilization by means of post-processing corrections of platform drift and speckle interferometry. The initial results of a sounding rocket experiment to obtain UV images of NGC 6240 and results from speckle interferometry of Neptune's moon Triton are presented.

Morgan, Jeffrey S.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Optimal signal-to-noise in digital phase lock amplifiers

An expression for the optimal signal-to-noise ratio for linear phase lock amplifiers is derived. In its digital form the optimal method can be implemented by real-time signal processing techniques. The case of detector-noise-limited systems is analyzed in detail; it is found that the optimal technique can be used to eliminate effectively the detector's time constant from the set of parameters determining the overall efficiency. This has important implications for optical detection system design. Also reported is an experimental verification of the optimal method, thus establishing its practicality.

Doering, Charles R.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Charge distribution and response time for a modulation-doped extrinsic infrared detector

The electric charge distribution and response time of a modulation-doped extrinsic infrared detector are determined. First, it is demonstrated theoretically that the photoconductive layer is effectively depleted of ionized majority-impurity charges so that scattering is small and mobility is high for photogenerated carriers. Then, using parameters appropriate to an actual detector, the predicted response time is 10 to the -8th to about 10 to the -9th s, which is much faster than comparable conventional detectors. Thus, the modulation-doped detector design would be valuable for heterodyne applications.

Hadek, Victor↗