Photonic instantaneous microwave frequency measurement based on two different phase modulation to intensity modulation conversions

A novel photonic technique for instantaneous frequency measurement of microwave signal based on phase modulation to intensity modulation conversion is proposed and demonstrated. In the proposed system, an optical carrier is modulated by a microwave signal with its frequency to be measured through a phase modulator. The phase-modulated optical signal is then converted to intensity-modulated signals in two independent paths using a dispersive media and a frequency discriminator respectively. Since the dependence of the received microwave power on the input microwave frequency in the two paths differs, the microwave power ratio between the two paths can be used to uniquely determine the microwave frequency. The major advantages of the approach lie in that only one laser source and the bias-free phase modulator is employed in the system, which improves the stability of the system. Experimental demonstrations of the frequency measurement based on the proposed approach are presented.     

Dual-beam coaxial amplification system of stimulated Brillouin scattering based on polarization control technology

In the field of Brillouin lidar, it has very important significance to find one method that can amplify the Brillouin scattering signal in real time. One new-type Brillouin lidar detection system based on Nd:YAG pulsed laser and polarization control device is designed in this paper. The key point of this detection system is to have two pulsed coherent lights with same frequency, same polarization and same initial phase, of which one beam is taken as the detection wave for generating stimulated Brillouin scattering signal and the other beam is taken as pumping wave for real time and effective amplification of stimulated Brillouin scattering signal. This detection system mainly includes two pulsed lasers and one electro-optical polarization controller. The laser is mainly used to obtain the pulsed lights with same frequency and same phase, and the polarization controller is mainly used to change the polarization state of two coaxial beams to make them change into same polarization state from orthogonal polarization state thus to enable the pumping wave to amplify the backward stimulated Brillouin scattering signal. It is shown from the experimental results that the adoption of this new system can realize the effect of pumping amplification and can increase the signal to noise ratio to a certain extent.     

Low-loss multilayered metamaterial exhibiting a negative index of refraction at visible wavelengths

We experimentally demonstrate a low-loss multilayered metamaterial exhibiting a double-negative refractive index in the visible spectral range. To this end, we exploit a second-order magnetic resonance of the so-called fishnet structure. The low-loss nature of the employed magnetic resonance, together with the effect of the interacting adjacent layers, results in a figure of merit as high as 3.34. A wide spectral range of negative index is achieved, covering the wavelength region between 620 and 806 nm with only two different designs.     

Possible link of a structurally driven spin flip transition and the insulator-metal transition in the perovskite La(1-x)Ba(x)CoO3

The nature of the magnetic ground state near the insulator-metal transition (IMT) in La(1-x)Ba(x)CoO3 was investigated via neutron scattering. Below the critical concentration, x(c)～0.22, a commensurate antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase appears initially. Upon approaching x(c), the AFM component weakens and a ferromagnetic (FM) ordered phase sets in while in the rhombohedral lattice. At x(c), a spin flip to a new FM structure occurs at the same time as the crystal symmetry transforms to orthorhombic (Pnma). The Pnma phase may be the driving force for the IMT.     

Rotation-induced breakdown of torsional quantum control

Control of the torsional angles of nonrigid molecules is key for the development of emerging areas like molecular electronics and nanotechnology. Based on a rigorous calculation of the rotation-torsion-Stark energy levels of nonrigid biphenyl-like molecules, we show that, unlike previously believed, instantaneous rotation-torsion-Stark eigenstates of such molecules, interacting with a strong laser field, present a large degree of delocalization in the torsional coordinate even for the lowest energy states. This is due to a strong coupling between overall rotation and torsion leading to a breakdown of the torsional alignment. Thus, adiabatic control of changes on the planarity of this kind of molecule is essentially impossible unless the temperature is on the order of a few Kelvin.     

Simultaneous measurement of strain and temperature with a long-period fiber grating inscribed Sagnac interferometer

A Sagnac interferometer with a long-period fiber grating (LPG) inscribed in the polarization-maintaining fiber (PMF) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for simultaneous measurement of strain and temperature. Due to the different responses of the LPG and the Sagnac interferometer to strain and temperature, simultaneous measurement can be achieved by monitoring the wavelength shifts and the intensity changes of a resonance dip of the sensor setup. The experimental results show that the achieved sensitivities to strain and temperature are 6.4 × 10^− 3 dB/με and 0.65 nm/°C, respectively.     

图形处理器并行计算用于离子发动机粒子模拟

 为了研究离子发动机羽流对航天器的影响,采用质点网格-蒙特卡罗碰撞方法对离子发动机羽流中的交换电荷离子进行了模拟。利用计算设备统一架构技术,开发出一套基于图形处理器的并行粒子模拟程序。随机数生成采用并行MT19937伪随机数生成器算法,电场方程使用完全近似存储格式的代数多重网格法求解。r-z轴对称坐标系中,在z=0 m处获得的电流密度均值为4.5×10^-5 A/m²,图形处理器所得结果与中央处理器模拟结果吻合。在16核心的NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT图形显示卡上,取得相对于Intel Core 2 E6300中央处理器4.5~10.0倍的加速比。     

Accurate measurement of small heteronuclear coupling constants from pure-phase α/β HSQMBC cross-peaks

A simple proton-selective α/β-HSQMBC experiment is proposed for the accurate measurement of long-range proton-carbon coupling constants (nJCH) in small molecules without need for an individualized and time-consuming post-processing fitting procedure. The method acquires two pure-phase In-phase (IP) and Anti-phase (AP) multiplets completely free of any phase distortion due to the absence of JHH evolution. Accurate nJCH values can be directly measured analyzing the relative displacement of the resulting IPAP cross-peaks. Discussion about signal intensity dependence and cross-talk is made for a range of experimental conditions. The robustness of the method is evaluated by comparing the nJCH value measured from the analysis of the three available IP, AP and IPAP multiplet patterns. Multiple-frequency and region-selective versions of the method can also be efficiently recorded provided that excited protons are not mutually coupled.     

Anomalous NMR relaxation in cartilage matrix components and native cartilage: fractional-order models

We present a fractional-order extension of the Bloch equations to describe anomalous NMR relaxation phenomena (T(1) and T(2)). The model has solutions in the form of Mittag-Leffler and stretched exponential functions that generalize conventional exponential relaxation. Such functions have been shown by others to be useful for describing dielectric and viscoelastic relaxation in complex, heterogeneous materials. Here, we apply these fractional-order T(1) and T(2) relaxation models to experiments performed at 9.4 and 11.7 Tesla on type I collagen gels, chondroitin sulfate mixtures, and to bovine nasal cartilage (BNC), a largely isotropic and homogeneous form of cartilage. The results show that the fractional-order analysis captures important features of NMR relaxation that are typically described by multi-exponential decay models. We find that the T(2) relaxation of BNC can be described in a unique way by a single fractional-order parameter (α), in contrast to the lack of uniqueness of multi-exponential fits in the realistic setting of a finite signal-to-noise ratio. No anomalous behavior of T(1) was observed in BNC. In the single-component gels, for T(2) measurements, increasing the concentration of the largest components of cartilage matrix, collagen and chondroitin sulfate, results in a decrease in α, reflecting a more restricted aqueous environment. The quality of the curve fits obtained using Mittag-Leffler and stretched exponential functions are in some cases superior to those obtained using mono- and bi-exponential models. In both gels and BNC, α appears to account for micro-structural complexity in the setting of an altered distribution of relaxation times. This work suggests the utility of fractional-order models to describe T(2) NMR relaxation processes in biological tissues.