Ultra-high resolution Fourier domain optical coherence tomography for resolving thin layers in painted works of art

While OCT has been applied to the non-invasive examination of the stratigraphy of paint layers in recent years, it has been recognized that the resolutions of commercially available OCT cannot compete in depth resolution with conventional microscopic examination of cross-sections of paint samples. It is necessary to achieve resolutions better than 3 microns to resolve the thinnest layers of paint and varnish. In this paper, we demonstrate a Fourier domain ultrahigh resolution OCT at 810nm with depth resolution of 1.8μm in air (or 1.2μm in varnish or paint)

Non-adiabatic optomechanical Hamiltonian of a moving dielectric membrane in a cavity

We formulate a non-relativistic Hamiltonian in order to describe the interaction between a moving dielectric membrane and radiation pressure. Such a Hamiltonian is derived without making use of the single-mode adiabatic approximation, and hence it enables us to incorporate multi-mode effects in cavity optomechanics. By performing second quantization, we show how a set of generalized Fock states can be constructed to represent quantum states of the membrane and cavity field. In addition, we discuss examples showing how photon scattering among different cavity modes would modify the interaction strengths and the mechanical frequency of the membrane

A high-speed distortionless predictive image-compression scheme

A high-speed distortionless predictive image-compression scheme that is based on differential pulse code modulation output modeling combined with efficient source-code design is introduced. Experimental results show that this scheme achieves compression that is very close to the difference entropy of the source

A model for the formation of the active region corona driven by magnetic flux emergence

We present the first model that couples the formation of the corona of a solar active region to a model of the emergence of a sunspot pair. This allows us to study when, where, and why active region loops form, and how they evolve. We use a 3D radiation MHD simulation of the emergence of an active region through the upper convection zone and the photosphere as a lower boundary for a 3D MHD coronal model. The latter accounts for the braiding of the magnetic fieldlines, which induces currents in the corona heating up the plasma. We synthesize the coronal emission for a direct comparison to observations. Starting with a basically field-free atmosphere we follow the filling of the corona with magnetic field and plasma. Numerous individually identifiable hot coronal loops form, and reach temperatures well above 1 MK with densities comparable to observations. The footpoints of these loops are found where small patches of magnetic flux concentrations move into the sunspots. The loop formation is triggered by an increase of upwards-directed Poynting flux at their footpoints in the photosphere. In the synthesized EUV emission these loops develop within a few minutes. The first EUV loop appears as a thin tube, then rises and expands significantly in the horizontal direction. Later, the spatially inhomogeneous heat input leads to a fragmented system of multiple loops or strands in a growing envelope.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, accepted to publication in A&

Low cost silicon solar array project silicon materials task: Establishment of the feasibility of a process capable of low-cost, high volume production of silane (step 1) and the pyrolysis of silane to semiconductor-grade silicon (step 2)

A quartz fluid bed reactor capable of operating at temperatures of up to 1000 C was designed, constructed, and successfully operated. During a 30 minute experiment, silane was decomposed within the reactor with no pyrolysis occurring on the reactor wall or on the gas injection system. A hammer mill/roller-crusher system appeared to be the most practical method for producing seed material from bulk silicon. No measurable impurities were detected in the silicon powder produced by the free space reactor, using the cathode layer emission spectroscopic technique. Impurity concentration followed by emission spectroscopic examination of the residue indicated a total impurity level of 2 micrograms/gram. A pellet cast from this powder had an electrical resistivity of 35 to 45 ohm-cm and P-type conductivity