Micropropulsion using laser ablation

The micro-laser plasma thruster (LPT) is a new micropropulsion device that uses laser ablation to create very small thrusts (0.1–100 N) for pointing and positioning micro- and nano-satellites. In this paper, we discuss the expected performance of the LPT. For a ms-pulse device, target materials are restricted to those of low thermal conductivity, e.g. polymers. Volume ablation theory adequately describes their behavior. In a ns-pulse version, exhaust velocity can be an order of magnitude higher with correspondingly lower thrust-to-power ratio. The theory for surface absorbers describes the observed behavior. PACS 45.55.Px; 42.70.Jk; 52.50.Jm; 42.62.Cf; 42.70.Km; 78.66.Qr     

Laser plasma thruster

The laser plasma thruster (LPT) is a new microthruster for small satellites. We report on development and testing of a prototype LPT. Some advantages of the LPT are: thruster voltage 4 V, mass less than 1 kg, power-to-thrust ratio 10 kW/N, and I_sp up to 1000 s. Typical thrust level is 250 μN with PVC fuel. Thrust of 1 mN is expected with energetic fuel. The pre-prototype continuous-thrust experiment includes the laser mount and heat sink, lens mounts, and focusing mechanism, which are coupled to the target-material transport mechanism. The target material is applied to a transparent plastic tape, and the laser is focused on a series of tracks on the tape. The tape-drive hardware and laser-drive electronics are described. Design, construction, and calibration of the thrust stand are described. During continuous operation, the exhaust plume is deflected in the direction of the moving tape. When the laser is operated in pulsed mode, the exhaust plume is perpendicular to the tape (parallel to the optical axis). This provides some thrust-vector control. Measured thrust is 70 μN with PVC fuel, and 550 μN with energetic fuel, with a specific impulse of 350 s. Received: 7 October 2002 / Accepted: 20 January 2003 / Published online: 28 May 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +1-505-272-7203, E-mail: luke@iera.nmt.edu     

Do metric standards contract?

We address the question: By what class of force-application programs must a meter stick initially at rest in an inertial frame be moved in order to transfer it to a relatively moving inertial frame without altering the internal energy state of the structure in the process? Such stress-free transfer of a metric standard is essential for moving-axis calibration (a neglected art in established relativity theory). In order to deduce the answer by reasonings appropriate to kinematics, it proves necessary to make an extension of the relativity principle to rectilinear (irrotational) accelerated motions, and to enhance the kinematic motion group accordingly. Since the physical motion groups differ, the answers we obtain to this and to the title question differ from those of special relativity. Our alternative kinematics thus leads to discrepancies that should be measurable atO(v ²/c ²).     

An experimental confirmation of longitudinal electrodynamic forces

According to the conventional views of electromagnetic theory, as these are expressed in the Lorentz force law, all the forces which act on a current carrying metallic conductor are perpendicular to the current streamlines. However, over the years, from Ampère through Maxwell until the present day, there have been persistent claims that when current flows in a metallic conductor, there are mechanical forces acting along current streamlines which subject the conductor to tensile stress, and which are therefore capable of performing work in the direction of current flow. The problem of substantiating these claims has always lain in the difficulty of designing an experiment in which the effects are unambiguously demonstrated. The present paper describes an experiment which to a large extent removes these ambiguities, and which provides a compelling novel demonstration of forces acting along current streamlines. A force calculation based on Ampère's original electrodynamic force law is found to be consistent with the observed behaviour. Received 15 November 2000 and Received in final form 12 March 2001     

A finite element formulation for global linear stability analysis of a nominally two‐dimensional base flow

A stabilized finite element method, to carry out the linear stability analysis of a two‐dimensional base flow to three‐dimensional perturbations that are periodic along span, is presented. The resulting equations for the time evolution of the disturbance requires a solution to the generalized eigenvalue problem. The analysis is global in nature and is also applicable to non‐parallel flows. Equal‐order‐interpolation functions for velocity and pressure are utilized. Stabilization terms are added to the Galerkin formulation to admit the use of equal‐order‐interpolation functions and to eliminate node‐to‐node oscillations that might arise in advection‐dominated flows. The proposed formulation is tested on two flow problems. First, the mode transitions in the circular Couette flow are investigated. Two scenarios are considered. In the first one, the outer cylinder is at rest, while the inner one spins. Two linearly unstable modes are identified. The primary mode is real and represents the axisymmetric Taylor vortices. The second mode is complex and consists of spiral vortices. For the counter‐rotating cylinders, the primary transition is via the appearance of spiral vortices. Excellent agreement with results from earlier studies is observed. The formulation is also utilized to investigate the parallel and oblique modes of vortex shedding past a cylinder for the Re = 100 flow. It is found that the flow is associated with a large number of unstable oblique shedding modes. The parallel mode of vortex shedding is a special case of this family of modes and is associated with the largest growth rate. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Results from a low-energy analysis of the CDMS II germanium data

We report results from a reanalysis of data from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) experiment at the Soudan Underground Laboratory. Data taken between October 2006 and September 2008 using eight germanium detectors are reanalyzed with a lowered, 2 keV recoil-energy threshold, to give increased sensitivity to interactions from weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with masses below ～10 GeV/c(2). This analysis provides stronger constraints than previous CDMS II results for WIMP masses below 9 GeV/c(2) and excludes parameter space associated with possible low-mass WIMP signals from the DAMA/LIBRA and CoGeNT experiments.