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Air Force Institute of Technology

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Articles 4801 - 4830 of 5699

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

The Design And Development Of A Low-Speed, Low-Force Wind Tunnel Data Acquisition System With An Application To Bicycle Front Fork Spacing, Alan W. Elledge Dec 1994

The Design And Development Of A Low-Speed, Low-Force Wind Tunnel Data Acquisition System With An Application To Bicycle Front Fork Spacing, Alan W. Elledge

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis encompassed the design, development, and application of a low-speed, low-force data acquisition system for the AFIT 5-ft Wind Tunnel. The new data acquisition system was designed and developed to measure approximately 0.045 N (about 0.01 lbf) at nearly 64.4 km/h (40 mph). Verification of the capability was obtained through testing of a cylindrical model. As part of a technology transition program with Wright Laboratory, this new system was used to investigate bicycle front fork blade spacing in order to determine the optimal spacing for minimum drag. As for the minimum drag of a bicycle with an …

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Viscoplastic Characterization And Fatigue Modeling Of Titanium Based Metal Matrix Composites, Mark A. Foringer Dec 1994

Viscoplastic Characterization And Fatigue Modeling Of Titanium Based Metal Matrix Composites, Mark A. Foringer

Theses and Dissertations

Viscoplastic characterization and fatigue modeling of titanium-based metal matrix composites was accomplished by combining a unified viscoplastic theory, a nonlinear micromechanics model, and a linear damage accumulation model. First. Ti 15-3 was characterized using the Bodner-Partom viscoplastic theory. A micromechanics model was then employed in a linear damage accumulation fatigue model to predict the fatigue behavior of titanium based composites. The viscoplastic behavior predictions of the micromechanics model were used to eliminate separately defined time dependent terms in the fatigue model. Also, a new linear damage accumulation model was developed from the fatigue behavior of the composite constituents. Finally, it …

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Fatigue Behavior Of A Cross-Ply Ceramic Matrix Composite At Elevated Temperature Under Tension-Tension Loading, Craig D. Steiner Dec 1994

Fatigue Behavior Of A Cross-Ply Ceramic Matrix Composite At Elevated Temperature Under Tension-Tension Loading, Craig D. Steiner

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the fatigue behavior and damage mechanisms of a [0-90]4s SiC-MAS ceramic matrix composite under tension-tension loading at two elevated temperatures and two frequencies. Stress and strain hystereses, maximum and minimum strain, and modulus of elasticity were evaluated to characterize the material behavior. Microscopy and fractography were used to evaluate damage progression and mechanisms. Fatigue life was independent of frequency at both temperatures.

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Total Ionizing Dose Effects In Mosfet Devices At 77 K, Kevin J. Daul Dec 1994

Total Ionizing Dose Effects In Mosfet Devices At 77 K, Kevin J. Daul

Theses and Dissertations

Total ionizing dose effects on thermal oxide and reoxidized nitrided oxide (RNO) MOSFET devices at 77 K were studied. The MOSFETs were immersed in liquid nitrogen and irradiated, using a 60Co source, up to 1 Mrad(Si) at a dose rate of 107 rads(Si)-sec. Drain current-gate voltage characteristics were obtained and used to determine threshold voltage and transconductance. At 77 K the subthreshold slopes indicated no observed buildup of interface states in any of the transistors. Furthermore, all transistors experienced very little change in the transconductance. Typical negative shifts in threshold voltage as dose increased were observed in all of …

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Model Of A Single Impurity In A Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Describing Electric Field Screening, Anthony N. Dills Dec 1994

Model Of A Single Impurity In A Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Describing Electric Field Screening, Anthony N. Dills

Theses and Dissertations

A mathematical model of the influence on electric field screening arising from a single impurity in a wide bandgap semiconductor has been numerically investigated and compared with analytically derived solutions. The parameter set chosen to perform the comparison of analytical solution and numerical solution is based upon a bismuth silicate crystal. Both the analytical calculations and the numerical calculations are an attempt to mathematically model the internal electric field within a semiconductor. Two types of impurities were looked at: a single donor level and a single trap impurity level. In general, after an abrupt application of a voltage across the …

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Investigation Of Tension-Compression Fatigue Behavior Of A Unidirectional Metal Matrix Composite At Elevated Temperature, Darren L. Kraabel Dec 1994

Investigation Of Tension-Compression Fatigue Behavior Of A Unidirectional Metal Matrix Composite At Elevated Temperature, Darren L. Kraabel

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the fatigue behavior in a unidirectional metal matrix composite under tension-compression loading conditions. Stress-strain responses, modulus and strain trends were monitored to characterize damage. Fractography and microscopy were used to characterize failure modes. Fatigue life curves were plotted base on different parameters such as stress and strain. Tension-compression fatigue life was shorter than the obtained under tension-tension fatigue cycling. Creep, observed in tension-tension. fatigue cycling, and the effects of the compressive load on the plastic zone around the crack tip explain shorter life under tension-compression fatigue loading.

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Photoluminescence Spectroscopy Of 4h- And 6h-Sic, William A. Davis Dec 1994

Photoluminescence Spectroscopy Of 4h- And 6h-Sic, William A. Davis

Theses and Dissertations

Typical undoped bulk grown SiC shows n- or p-type conductivity due to residual impurities such as nitrogen, boron, or aluminum. In order to produce high resistivity material, vanadium can be used as a compensating dopant. Since vanadium is an amphoteric dopant in SiC, it produces either a donor state, VSi4+(3d1) → VSi5+(3d0), or an acceptor state, VSi4+(3d1) → VSi3+(3d2). Thus, vanadium doping can compensate both n- and p-type conductivity. In this work, vanadium doped and undoped 4H- and 6H-SiC grown …

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Artificially Intelligent Air Combat Simulation Agents, Daniel E. Gisselquist Dec 1994

Artificially Intelligent Air Combat Simulation Agents, Daniel E. Gisselquist

Theses and Dissertations

The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), in an effort to improve military simulations, has proposed a standard for Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS). This network protocol will allow dissimilar applications to communicate simulation information. In the field of air combat, this will allow pilots in remote simulators to fly in a common simulation. The success of this standard is dependent on applications being able to work within that standard, as well as a large variety of Computer Generated Forces (CGFs) to complement interactive forces. CGFs are needed to help simulate the large combat scenarios that can only occur in wartime. By …

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Finite Element Methods For Nonlinear Static Analysis Of Sandwich Plates, Damin J. Siler Dec 1994

Finite Element Methods For Nonlinear Static Analysis Of Sandwich Plates, Damin J. Siler

Theses and Dissertations

A finite element method, developed for static analysis of composite plates, was enhanced to be used with sandwich plates. The theory considers geometric nonlinearity and transverse shear. Furthermore, a new postprocessor was written to check for initial failure using the maximum stress criteria. It also includes a procedure for evaluating transverse normal stresses by enforcing equilibrium. The code modifications for sandwiches were verified by comparing finite element solutions to closed-form sandwich theories. Both methods showed good correlation. In addition, comparisons between one type of composite plate and a similar sandwich plate found that the sandwich had better specific stiffness for …

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Applications Of ℓ1 And Mixed H2/ℓ1 Optimization, Mark S. Spillman Dec 1994

Applications Of ℓ1 And Mixed H2/ℓ1 Optimization, Mark S. Spillman

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the use of ℓ1 and mixed H2/ℓ1 optimization methods to design flight control systems. ℓ1 optimization is used to handle tracking issues in the design of digital compensators. Control deflection and rate limitations, overshoot and undershoot limitations and steady-state error requirements are discussed. Model-matching techniques which produce acceptable tracking results with lower order controllers are also examined. New numerical methods for continuous H2/L1 and discrete H2/ℓ1 optimization are presented. These methods are used to design an aircraft controller in continuous and discrete time and the results are compared.

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Improved Numerical Solution Of Mixed H2/H∞ Optimization With Applications, Linda D. Smith Dec 1994

Improved Numerical Solution Of Mixed H2/H∞ Optimization With Applications, Linda D. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This study improved the numerical optimization technique used to compute mixed H2/H∞ controllers. The run time to generate the full curve of an H2/H∞ design was reduced by a factor of almost 200 for a specific example. This was accomplished by improving gradient calculations, upgrading the H∞ norm calculation to capture multiple peaks in the singular value plot and using routines that minimized processing time. The optimization routine used was the MATLAB CONSTR' Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) routine. This SQP routine was compared to a FORTRAN SQP numerical optimizer, IMSL-DNCONG. The method was …

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An Experimental Study Of Planar Heterogeneous Supersonic Confined Jets, Frederick J. Tanis Jr. Dec 1994

An Experimental Study Of Planar Heterogeneous Supersonic Confined Jets, Frederick J. Tanis Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The effects of varying the exit pressure of a supersonic helium jet exhausting coaxially with two parallel supersonic air streams into a constant area duct were investigated. The method used to evaluate the mass entrainment rate was to measure helium molar concentration profiles and mass flux across the duct using a binary gas probe then calculate the mass entrainment into the helium jet. In order to conduct this study a novel binary gas probe was developed which allowed helium concentration and mass flux data to be obtained during continuous traverses across the supersonic flowfield. High exit pressure ratio (EPR) led …

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Accelerating Conservative Parallel Simulation Of Vhdl Circuits, Joel F. Hurford Dec 1994

Accelerating Conservative Parallel Simulation Of Vhdl Circuits, Joel F. Hurford

Theses and Dissertations

This research effort considers heuristic and cost model based techniques for the optimal partitioning of VHDL circuits for parallel simulation. Correlation statistics are gathered on a wide variety of graph-based a priori parameters. Linear regression is used to identify significant parameters for inclusion in a representative cost model. Driving a greedy search, this cost model is used to improve upon initial heuristic partitions. The influence of feedback dominated previous research so a no-feedback algorithm is used to create the initial partition The circuits studied range from 1,050 to 4,243 gates.

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The Enhanced Performance Of An Integrated Navigation System In A Highly Dynamic Environment, Brian J. Bohenek Dec 1994

The Enhanced Performance Of An Integrated Navigation System In A Highly Dynamic Environment, Brian J. Bohenek

Theses and Dissertations

For the U.S. Air Force to maintain an accurate and reliable Navigation Reference System (NRS) with Carrier-Phase Global Positioning System (CPGPS) measurements, it must develop an accurate and robust NRS in the face of cycle slips caused by highly dynamic maneuvers. This research investigates the implementation of a double differencing between receivers-satellites scheme to improve the accuracy of current NRS models. The removal of the 'perfect Doppler velocity aiding measurements' (a very poor assumption of past research) was completed with stable and accurate results. The double differencing implemented showed improvement in the accuracy of the NRS. An investigation of two …

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Multipoint Multirate Signal Processing, Roger L. Claypoole Jr. Dec 1994

Multipoint Multirate Signal Processing, Roger L. Claypoole Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a fundamentally new, systematic study of multipoint multirate signal processing systems. The multipoint multirate operators are analyzed via equivalent circuits comprised entirely of conventional multirate operators. Interconnections of the operators are demonstrated, and the multipoint noble identities are derived. The multipoint polyphase representation is presented, and the M channel multipoint multirate system with vector length N is presented as an MN channel multipoint polyphase system. The conditions sufficient for perfect reconstruction in the multipoint multirate system are derived. These conditions constrain the multipoint filter banks to be composed of comb filters generated from paraunitary sets of conventional …

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Classification Of Ultra High Range Resolution Radar Using Decision Boundary Analysis, Christopher L. Eisenbies Dec 1994

Classification Of Ultra High Range Resolution Radar Using Decision Boundary Analysis, Christopher L. Eisenbies

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the discrimination of targets with Ultra High Range Resolution (UHRR) radar data. Using these measured signals from frontal aspect angles of four aircraft classes, the baseline performance of the Adaptive Gaussian Classifier (AGC) is tested with respect to aligning exemplars to templates. Alignment plays a crucial role in the AGC's classification performance which can degrade by 11% for a target class. The AGC is compared to non-parametric classifiers, but no statistically significant degradation of performance is found. Data separability is analyzed by hounding the Bayes error. The data is well separated in a statistical sense. A feature …

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Distributed Interactive Simulation Virtual Cassette Recorder (Dis Vcr): A Datalogger With Variable Speed Replay, Jonathan L. Fortner Dec 1994

Distributed Interactive Simulation Virtual Cassette Recorder (Dis Vcr): A Datalogger With Variable Speed Replay, Jonathan L. Fortner

Theses and Dissertations

The overall objective of the Distributed Interactive Simulation Virtual Cassette Recorder (DIS VCR) is to add a flexible replay capability to any DIS environment and specifically to the Remote Debriefing Tool (RDT). The DIS VCR's abilities include selective filtering of incoming DIS Protocol Data Units (PDUs), variable-speed replays, ability to pause, fast-forward, rewind, efficient data storage and retrieval, and an interface that simplifies the execution of those functions. The thesis includes a DIS VCR-compatible design for concurrent replay of audio extracted from signal PDUs and an extension to the replay design that supports unmodifiable rendering or receiving applications. For variable-speed …

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Isolated Digit Recognition Without Time Alignment, Jeffrey M. Gay Dec 1994

Isolated Digit Recognition Without Time Alignment, Jeffrey M. Gay

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines methods for isolated digit recognition without using time alignment. Resource requirements for isolated word recognizers that use time alignment can become prohibitively large as the vocabulary to be classified grows. Thus, methods capable of achieving recognition rates comparable to those obtained with current methods using these techniques are needed. The goals of this research are to find feature sets for speech recognition that perform well without using time alignment, and to identify classifiers that provide good performance with these features. Using the digits from the TI46 database, baseline speaker-independent recognition rates of 95.2% for the complete speaker …

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Implementation And Demonstration Of A Multiple Model Adaptive Estimation Failure Detection System For The F-16, Peter K. Eide Dec 1994

Implementation And Demonstration Of A Multiple Model Adaptive Estimation Failure Detection System For The F-16, Peter K. Eide

Theses and Dissertations

A Multiple Model Adaptive Estimation (MMAE) algorithm is implemented with the fully nonlinear six-degree-of-motion, Simulation Rapid-Prototyping Facility (SRF) VISTA F-16 software simulation tool. The algorithm is demonstrated to be capable of identifying flight critical aircraft actuator and sensor failures at a low dynamic pressure (20,000 ft, .4 Mach). Research included single and dual complete failures. Tuning methods for accommodating model mismatch, including addition of discrete dynamics pseudonoise and continuous measurement pseudonoise, are discussed and demonstrated. Scalar residuals within each filter are also examined and characterized for possible use as an additional failure declaration voter. Robustness to sensor failures provided by …

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Development Of A Mammographic Image Processing Environment Using Matlab, John L. Kelley Dec 1994

Development Of A Mammographic Image Processing Environment Using Matlab, John L. Kelley

Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer is a disease that accounts for a disturbingly large number of deaths in females each year. Its prevalence is a topic of concern to all of us since it can affect our families, friends, and coworkers. Although mammographic screening is the most effective method currently available for the early detection of breast cancer, it is far from being an infallible procedure. Mammographic reading is error prone, partly because of the complexity of the task and partly because of the variability in human performance. Computers offer high reproducibility, and when used as an adjunct by the radiologist, may improve …

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An Integrated Gps-Ins-Baro And Radar Altimeter System For Aircraft Precision Approach Landings, Robert A. Gray Dec 1994

An Integrated Gps-Ins-Baro And Radar Altimeter System For Aircraft Precision Approach Landings, Robert A. Gray

Theses and Dissertations

Currently, the Department of Defense (DoD) and the commercial airline industry are utilizing the Instrument Landing System (ILS) during aircraft landings for precision approaches. The replacement system for the aging ILS was thought to he the Microwave Landing System (MLS). Instead, use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) is now thought to be a viable replacement for ILS precision approaches. The majority of current precision landing research has exploited 'stand-alone' GPS receiver techniques. This thesis instead explores the possibilities of using an extended Kalman filter (EKF) that integrates an Inertial Navigation System (INS), GPS, Barometric Altimeter, Pseudolite and Radar Altimeter …

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Analysis And Simulation Of Narrowband Gps Jamming Using Digital Excision Temporal Filtering, Gerald L. Falen Dec 1994

Analysis And Simulation Of Narrowband Gps Jamming Using Digital Excision Temporal Filtering, Gerald L. Falen

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the performance of the Digital Excision Temporal Filter (DETF) to reject narrowband jammers used against the Global Positioning System (GPS). The DETF takes the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the GPS signal and excises any FFT bins that are above a preselected threshold level. Then the excised signal is Inverse Fourier Transformed and fed to the GPS receiver. Several jammer types are simulated including Continuous Wave (CW), Pulse CW, Swept CW, Narrowband Spot Noise, and Wideband Barrage Noise jammers. Cases are also simulated using all but the Wideband Barrage Noise jammer at …

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Processing Of Wide-Angle Synthetic Aperture Radar Signals For Detection Of Obscured Ground Targets, Richard J. Sumner Dec 1994

Processing Of Wide-Angle Synthetic Aperture Radar Signals For Detection Of Obscured Ground Targets, Richard J. Sumner

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates advanced processing techniques for the detection of radar targets in the presence of clutter. It is assumed that the radar data available consist of multi-aspect angle, fully polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. Various techniques are introduced and tested on available SAR data. These techniques attempt to exploit the multi-aspect angles in order to extract target characteristics not available in any single image. SAR images are manipulated in such a way to decrease the probability of false alarms in the target detection process. Target detection performance of the techniques is presented and compared. The techniques are shown …

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Control Of A Large Space Structure Using Multiple Model Adaptive Estimation And Control Techniques, Gordon C. Griffin Jr. Dec 1994

Control Of A Large Space Structure Using Multiple Model Adaptive Estimation And Control Techniques, Gordon C. Griffin Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

A moving bank multiple model adaptive estimator-controller (MMAE-MMAC), based on linear system, quadratic cost, and Gaussian noise (LQG) assumptions, is used to quell unwanted vibrations in a large flexible space structure. The structure, known as the SPace Integrated Controls Experiment, or SPICE, exists at Phillips Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, NM. The structure consists of a large platform and a smaller platform connected by a tripod of flexible legs. The purpose of the control system is to maintain a very precise line-of- sight vector through the center of the spacecraft. Kalman filtering, used to estimate the position and velocity of the bending …

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Embedology And Neural Estimation For Time Series Prediction, Robert E. Garza Dec 1994

Embedology And Neural Estimation For Time Series Prediction, Robert E. Garza

Theses and Dissertations

Time series prediction has widespread application, ranging from predicting the stock market to trying to predict future locations of scud missiles. Recent work by Sauer and Casdagli has developed into the embedology theorem, which sets forth the procedures for state space manipulation and reconstruction for time series prediction. This includes embedding the time series into a higher dimensional space in order to form an attractor, a structure defined by the embedded vectors. Embedology is combined with neural technologies in an effort to create a more accurate prediction algorithm. These algorithms consist of embedology, neural networks, Euclidean space nearest neighbors, and …

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Experimental Definition For Implantation Of The Afit Cortical Multielectrode Array, Adam G. Spenik Dec 1994

Experimental Definition For Implantation Of The Afit Cortical Multielectrode Array, Adam G. Spenik

Theses and Dissertations

A two-dimensional multiplexed array of 256 electrodes (16 x 16) has been fabricated using conventional CMOS fabrication techniques. The size and spacing of the electrodes (160 x 160 µm squares with center-to-center spacing of 250 µm) approximate that of the cortical columns. The device is mounted on a small biocompatible package and a protocol to implant this package on the visual cortex of a ferret and a Rhesus monkey was developed and approved. An instrumentation setup to record the data from the device is described as well as the methods used to demultiplex the data. Testing of the device in …

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Advanced Formation Flight Control, Michael J. Veth Dec 1994

Advanced Formation Flight Control, Michael J. Veth

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, the formation flight control problem is continued from four previous theses. Automatic formation flight involves controlling multiple aircraft equipped with standard Mach-hold, altitude hold, and heading-hold autopilots to maintain a desired distance from a lead aircraft or "rabbit". Changes in the rabbit's states are treated as disturbances to the system and rejected. Previous research is advanced in the following areas: Higher-order aircraft-autopilot models are included into the design and a new feedback control law is employed, resulting in more accurate simulations. An energy tracking scheme is developed and is shown to reduce wing aircraft energy excursions. Finally, …

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Perceptual Based Image Fusion With Applications To Hyperspectral Image Data, Terry A. Wilson Dec 1994

Perceptual Based Image Fusion With Applications To Hyperspectral Image Data, Terry A. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Development of new imaging sensors has created a need for image processing techniques that can fuse images from different sensors or multiple images produced by the same sensor. The methods presented here focus on combining image data from the Airborne Visual and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) hyperspectral sensor into a single or smaller subset of images while maintaining the visual information necessary for human analysis. Three hierarchical multi-resolution image fusion techniques are implemented and tested using the AVIRIS image data and test images that contain various levels of correlated or uncorrelated noise. Two of the algorithms are published fusion methods …

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Satellite Surface Material Composition From Synthetic Spectra, Eugene L. Caudill Dec 1994

Satellite Surface Material Composition From Synthetic Spectra, Eugene L. Caudill

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this research was to determine if measurements from a Sagnac interferometer could provide reliable estimates of satellite material composition. The Sagnac interferometer yields a spatial interferogram that can sampled by a linear detector array. The interferogram is related to the spectrum of the source through a Fourier transform. Here, spectral reflectivities of nine common satellite materials were used to simulate the spectrum on obtains from an ideal Sagnac interferometer in the beam-train of a ground-based telescope whose mission is to view satellites. The signal-to-noise ratio of the spectrum was varied to simulate the effect of range variation …

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Design, Fabrication, Modeling, And Optical Characterization Of Organic Polymer Nonlinear Directional Couplers, John N. Berry Dec 1994

Design, Fabrication, Modeling, And Optical Characterization Of Organic Polymer Nonlinear Directional Couplers, John N. Berry

Theses and Dissertations

This research was an investigation into the suitability of a recently developed polymer, polyphenylene, as a material for integrated optical circuits (IOCs). Polymers show great promise in the area of IOCs because of material processing advantages, compatibility with most existing integrated circuit technology, and relatively strong nonlinear optical characteristics. This thesis contains an overview of: dielectric waveguides, linear and nonlinear directional coupler theory; various models useful in the design and analysis of optical waveguides; the fabrication of three different waveguide designs; the experimental apparatus and procedure used to optically characterize the waveguides; and the experimental results of the characterization. Waveguiding …

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