Muonium in silicon tetrachloride

Muonium in liquid SiCl has been observed for the first time at low temperature (−65°C) The observed polarization of muonium is as much as 25% of the total spin polarization and shows a fast relaxation rate.     

Harmonic detection with tunable diode lasers —two-tone modulation

The minimum absorption detectable by a tunable diode laser spectrometer utilising harmonic techniques is often limited by interference fringes generated by scattered light. The sensitivity of the spectrometer to absorption can be increased by applying a jitter modulation. In this paper, the theory of harmonic response for single- and two-tone modulation over optical fringes and Lorentzian absorption lines is developed and compared to experimental measurements. A simple analytic expression for the two-tone harmonic line shape is derived. This expression provides a physical understanding of the effects of the second modulation, and a means to unravel the effects of the second modulation on the linewidth and line shape. For a specific choice of the jitter frequency and phase, it is possible to simultaneously minimise the fringe signal and increase the harmonic absorption signal. The results of this investigation are applicable to trace gas detection using tunable diode lasers, and to other areas of spectroscopy and magnetic resonance where harmonic techniques are used.This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment     

Effect of broadcast and precise ephemerides on estimates of the frequency stability of GPS Navstar clocks

Frequency stability analysis of on-orbit Navstar clocks is performed by the Naval Research Laboratory using both the broadcast and the precise post-processed ephemerides. The phase offset between the Navstar clock and the reference clock is computed from pseudorange measurements obtained by dual-frequency GPS receivers at the five GPS monitor sites and at the U.S. Naval Observatory precise-time site. The broadcast ephemerides are generated at the GPS master control station by a Kalman filter using data collected from the five GPS monitor stations. The precise post-processed ephemerides are generated by the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) using data collected from the GPS monitor sites and from five additional DMA monitor sites. In this paper the frequency stability is estimated for two Navstar caesium clocks–a Block I caesium clock (Navstar 9) and a Block II caesium clock (Navstar 23)–using both the broadcast and the precise ephemerides. A significant improvement in the estimate of the frequency stability of the Block II clocks has been achieved using the precise ephemeris.     

Characterisation of a fibre Raman oscillator using fibre grating reflectors

We have constructed a completely integrated fibre Raman oscillator using two fibre grating reflectors. This was synchronously mode-locked using a CW mode-locked Nd:YAG laser operating at 1.06?m. Spectral and temporal characteristics of the Raman oscillator are presented.     

Different approaches for evaluating exponentially weighted nonequilibrium relations

The Kawasaki identity (KI) and the Jarzynski equality (JE) are important nonequilibrium relations. Both of these relations take the form of an ensemble average of an exponential function and can exhibit convergence problems when the average of the exponent differs greatly from the log of the average of the exponential function. In this work, we re-express these relations so that only selected regions need to be evaluated in an attempt to avoid these convergence issues. In the context of measuring free energies, we compare our method to the JE and the literature standard approach, the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE), and show that in a system with asymmetric work distributions it can perform as well as the MLE. For the KI, we derive an analog to the MLE to compare with our relation and show that these two new relations improve on the KI and are complimentary to each other.     

Observation of the crystallization and supersaturation of mixed component NaNO3-Na2SO4 droplets by FTIR-ATR and Raman spectroscopy

We present here a study of the phase behavior of mixed component NaNO(3)-Na(2)SO(4) (SNS) droplets with NaNO(3) to Na(2)SO(4) molar ratios of 1:1, 3:1, and 10:1, comparing observations with thermodynamic predictions. Measurements are made by Fourier transform infrared attenuated total reflection and micro-Raman spectroscopy for SNS droplets deposited on ZnSe and quartz substrates, respectively. The conventional deliquescence/efflorescence hysteresis in phase behavior is observed. On drying, heterogeneous crystallization leads to phase behavior that is consistent with bulk solution thermodynamics, with the formation of the mixed salt NaNO(3)·Na(2)SO(4)·H(2)O, Na(2)SO(4) (s), and NaNO(3) (s) all observed to form at relative humidities that coincide with predictions by the aerosol inorganics model. However, conditioning of the droplet at high relative humidity prior to drying is observed to lead to quantitative differences between the fractions of different salts formed. When substrate effects do not influence the crystallization process, supersaturated solutions are formed, and this leads to the observation of contact ion pairs. Such measurements of the phase behavior of mixed component droplets are important for testing the reliability of thermodynamic models.