A short history of heavy ion beam probing

The author describes some aspects of research on controlled thermonuclear fusion as an energy source, starting in the late 1950s. There was a need for new diagnostic techniques for studying high temperature plasmas. The author proposed a diagnostic for measuring plasma density by probing a deuterium plasma with a deuterium beam and measuring the proton production from the D-D nuclear reaction. By the mid 1960s, it was possible to do so. After carrying out a D-D measurement, the author suggested switching over to an H₂⁺ beam and looking for an H⁺ signal. The H+ was loud and clear and that was the last of the nuclear measurements. One of the first things done using the molecular break-up of the H₂⁺ to measure the density of the hollow cathode arc plasma was a study of a coherent instability. The frequency response wasn't sufficient to measure the instability directly, so a Langmuir probe was used to detect the instability. The Langmuir probe gave a signal from a fixed spatial location but the beam probe signal was swept across the plasma giving 2D spatial resolution. This was the first detailed mapping of a plasma instability. Attempts to apply the ion beam probe to measuring the plasma current density in the ST Tokamak are described. Heavy ion beam probing measurements using hollow cathode arcs as target plasmas made it possible to measure T_e at low temperatures and to identify space potential fluctuations. Installation of a beam probe on the Laser Initiated Target Experiment are described, along with work on the ELMO Bumpy Torus, the VERSATOR Tokamak, TMX, TEXT, ISX-B, the Ergodic Magnetic Limiter and ATF     

A short history of nuclear magnetic moments and GT transitions

We summarize the history and our present understanding of nuclear magnetic moments and Gamow-Teller transitions.The roles of configuration mixing,meson exchange currents and relativistic effects are examined.Experimental evidence for the importance of tensor correlations is also discussed.     

A short history of measurement standards at the National Physical Laboratory

Measurement science has been one of the major interests of the NPL since the creation of the Laboratory in 1900. This article gives a historical review of NPL work on the establishment, maintenance and improvement of the basic standards of measurement for mechanics, electro-magnetics, thermometry, photometry and radiology. Many early NPL standards and essential components of classioal measuring equipment have now been assembled into a permanent collection for preservation at the Laboratory and illustrations of some items in this collection are reproduced in the article.     

A shadowgraph method for ocean acoustics

A knowledge of convection activity in the upper few hundred metres of the ocean is important in establishing ocean-atmosphere heat fluxes and in understanding large-scale water-circulation processes. The usual methods for investigating internal structures in the ocean have certain drawbacks. Lowering probes into the ocean can provide local information only, while towed arrays of sensors are cumbersome and expensive. An alternative acoustic method for revealing internal structures is proposed. It is based on the observed acoustic intensity only and does not rely on phase or travel times. For this reason it is really an acoustic shadowgraph. The method is explained and its successful use in a sea trial is reported.     

Contracting acoustics

This letter covers the subject of the evaluation of tenders for both noise control products, and items with acoustic features which are evaluated at the tender stage of a contract. Examples taken from different fields show that, at the present time, there is a need for manufacturers of noise control products, etc, to understand normal tendering procedure. Such procedures are reviewed in the first part of this note.     

Courtyard acoustics

The acoustic environment of courtyard housing has been studied and the ability of the courtyard to attenuate external noise examined. A scale-model was used to study the effect of the ground treatment, the source and the receiver locations, the depth of the courtyard and the position and arrangement of openings in the walls.Experimental results obtained from the model, together with a simple procedure for predicting the sound pressure levels inside the courtyard, are presented.     

A beam tracing method for interactive architectural acoustics

A difficult challenge in geometrical acoustic modeling is computing propagation paths from sound sources to receivers fast enough for interactive applications. This paper describes a beam tracing method that enables interactive updates of propagation paths from a stationary source to a moving receiver in large building interiors. During a precomputation phase, convex polyhedral beams traced from the location of each sound source are stored in a "beam tree" representing the regions of space reachable by potential sequences of transmissions, diffractions, and specular reflections at surfaces of a 3D polygonal model. Then, during an interactive phase, the precomputed beam tree(s) are used to generate propagation paths from the source(s) to any receiver location at interactive rates. The key features of this beam tracing method are (1) it scales to support large building environments, (2) it models propagation due to edge diffraction, (3) it finds all propagation paths up to a given termination criterion without exhaustive search or risk of under-sampling, and (4) it updates propagation paths at interactive rates. The method has been demonstrated to work effectively in interactive acoustic design and virtual walkthrough applications.     

计算大气声学

近年来陆续涌现的一批有关大气声传播的数值计算工作,已使“计算大气声学”这一新兴“亚分支”的形成指日可待。本文简明扼要、系统全面地介绍了这一崭新领域的概貌,较为详尽地阐述了其主要对象和方法——特别是其中的抛物方程(PE)法、快速场程序(FFP)和可看成是一种修正的射线寻迹法——Gauss射线束(GB)法。因限于篇辐,未能将各种方法的结果比较列入,这一部分有趣的材料以后有机会另行发表。     

宇称时间对称性声学

对称性是自然界中最基本的物理属性之一。很多物理现象都与对称性相关联。例如,量子力学中描述具备一定对称性微观物理过程采用厄米—哈密顿算符,其中厄米性不仅确保算符本征值为实数,而且使微观过程满足几率守恒。1998年,Bender和Boettcher发现存在一类非厄米—哈密顿算符,它们的本征值也为实数并满足几率守恒。这类非厄米哈密顿算符最为典型的特征是满足宇称时间对称性。由于时变薛定谔方程和近轴波动方程形式具有相似性,故可进一步将宇称时间对称性引入经典波开放体系。文章回顾了量子体系中宇称时间对称破缺的发现过程,介绍了宇称时间对称性声学的理论模型,以及近期发现的一些奇异效应,并展望了宇称时间对称性声学的研究前景。     

频散、声场干涉结构、波导不变量与消频散变换

针对浅海环境中利用单深度接收信号自相关函数的Warping变换方法测距时易出现的多值性问题, 提出一种双深度Warping变换融合测距方法。该方法将双深度测量场的Warping变换提取结果与具有深度差异的拷贝场本征函数信息融合, 判别简正波干涉项模态, 提高测距的准确度。此外, 针对实际海洋环境中测量场Warping变换特征峰位置难以准确提取的问题, 将Warping变换的频率不变性与图像形态学方法结合以增强特征频率结构, 提高后续测距的稳健性。海试数据处理结果显示, 测距结果与实际距离符合较好, 表明所提方法具有实际可行性。

     

渔业声学回波散射测量系统的宽频带换能器

针对目前渔业声学宽频带回波散射测量系统采用多个不同频带的换能器合成、结构复杂且不方便携带的缺点,本文提出一种使用低机械品质因数、高谐振频率的积层压电致动器作为核心压电元件的"朗之万"型宽带水声换能器。测试结果表明,该换能器适用的频率范围为20 kHz~150 kHz,在三个渔业声学常用频率38 kHz、70 kHz、120 kHz下的-3 dB波束宽度分别为20.0°、11.5°、5.0°,可以满足对常见渔业资源种类的宽带声学回波散射特征的测量要求。     

语言声学进展及其应用

本文对语言声学研究的最新进展进行综述。首先介绍了人类的言语的产生和感知以及声学分析方面的近期发展,接着重点阐述了计算机处理人类语音(包括语音识别和合成,发音评估以及演唱评价)的最新研究、成果。同时提及了这些研究成果的相关应用。最后是总结与展望。     

Nonlinear acoustics in Nizhni Novgorod (A review)

This article reviews the development of nonlinear acoustics in Nizhni Novgorod from the days when the idea of parametric transmission and reception was conceived until the present time.