We report the current observations of the carbonization problem in ELI-NP laser beamlines. All the beamlines of 0.1 to 10 PW had the carbonization of the beam transport mirrors at fs pulse in vacuum. We tested 3 different cleaning methods to remove this carbonization, namely the dip cleaning in the water-alcohol mixture, oxygen plasma cleaner, and pump down with silica gel. The dip cleaning was applied to 1 PW mirror to remove the contamination before the carbonization was observed. For the first time for large mirrors. The oxygen plasma can remove surface carbon, but it is not enough to remove the carbon inside the coating. Silica gel provides some slow pumping of the vacuum and some increase of low-mass gasses due to the increased surfaces. The method to identify the pass-way of the contamination into the vacuum chamber was proposed.
Current and future space-exploration endeavors will require new capabilities for large data transfer between Earth and other planets in the Solar system. Data communication with Earth from other planets will be completed through DSN (Deep Space Network) arrays on Earth and satellites around Earth. In an effort to develop advanced Space communication capabilities for large data transfer, NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field (GRC) is also investing a revolutionary concept, named iROC (integrated Radio and Optical Communication), featuring a space-communication terminal which tightly integrates a compact optical transmitter with a radio communication system. A particular design named TeleTenna (Telescope within (RF) Antenna) for future iROC flight-demonstration is being developed at GRC, in which a laser-transmission telescope is placed at the center of an RF antenna. The TeleTenna system capabilities to be demonstrated should include advanced pointing techniques for laser-transmission without a beacon over vast Space distances up to at least 2.0 AU (Astronomical Unit). The pointing-precision imposed on this TeleTenna design for beaconless optical communication should be achievable with an interferometric Star Tracker (iST) for celestial pointing calculation and the metrology for tracking the outgoing laser-beam.
The outer-diameter of the Primary-Mirror (PM) of the telescope (either of Cassegrain or Ritchey-Chrétien type) in the TeleTenna concept for data transmission from Mars to Earth is 0.25 meters, and the Secondary-Mirror (SM) outer-diameter is 0.025 meters. The laser-transmission tertiary optics behind the PM include the laser-fiber port, collimator lens, focus lens, quarter-wave plate, and a beam-splitter in that order; all aligned with the telescope axis.
The test-bed that the first author and GRC team setup back in 2017 for some preliminary studies on beaconless-pointing and optics alignment metrology for the TeleTenna concept, and some experimental results will be presented in this paper. The investigated metrology includes an optics alignment sensing metrology to image a beam reflected from a fiducial on the secondary mirror of the surrogate telescope onto a pixelated sensor (PixSen) behind the telescope. Additionally, the metrology includes sampling a portion of the laser beam and redirecting it onto the iST image plane. The objectives of this procedure are to determine angular change of a laser beam as it comes out of the surrogate telescope.
Among other findings, the work presented here shows that the alignment measurements performed at the edge of the Fine Steering Mirror (FSM) articulation range lead to nonlinearity in the relationship between the out-going beam direction registered on the iST and the fiducial reflected beam direction on an alignment sensor placed behind the telescope. For this reason, the adjustment of FSM angular position can realign only one of the beams with its respective camera but not both, and therefore an additional metrology instrument is required for high pointing precision. In the presented proof-of-concept metrology, this additional metrology component could be the piezo-controller of the FSM and/or an autocollimator that gives with accuracy the position of the FSM. These findings are relevant to the current development and design of the iROC system at GRC.
Attainment of National Ambient Air Quality Standard-NAAQS for exposure limits to air pollutants is of great concern to State and Local agencies and communities in the United State because of potential health impacts. This is particularly important and challenging in urban areas because of high population densities and complex terrain. Exceedances of NAAQS requires states to develop implementation plans to address them and as such, studying the horizontal and vertical distribution and mixing of pollutants is key to understanding their transport and evolution. In this study, vertical and scanning horizontal lidar measurements together with in situ observations from particulate matter and trace gas analyzers from state air quality networks are used to shed light on mechanisms that impact movement of aerosol, including emissions from power generating stations at periods of high electricity demand.
In this study, multiple remote sensing and in-situ measurements are combined in order to obtain a comprehensive
understanding of the aerosol distribution in New York City. Measurement of the horizontal distribution of aerosols is
performed using a scanning eye-safe elastic-backscatter micro-pulse lidar. Vertical distribution of aerosols is measured
with a co-located ceilometer. Furthermore, our analysis also includes in-situ measurements of particulate matter and
wind speed and direction. These observations combined show boundary layer dynamics as well as transport and
inhomogeneous spatial distribution of aerosols, which are of importance for air quality monitoring.
With the dramatically climate changing we are facing today atmospheric monitoring is of major importance.
Several atmospheric monitoring instruments are used for measuring atmospheric composition, optical
coefficients, PM2.5, aerosol optical depth, size distribution, PBL height and many other parameters. However
an inexpensive method of determining these parameters is by use of models and one model that depicts the
aerosol dynamics in the atmosphere is the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. Our paper is
comparing the lidar, sunphotometer and TEOM measurements performed at City College of the City University
of New York against CMAQ model.
With the dramatically climate changing we are facing today atmospheric monitoring is of major importance. Several
atmospheric monitoring instruments are used for measuring atmospheric composition, optical coefficients, PM2.5,
aerosol optical depth, size distribution, PBL height and many other parameters. However an inexpensive method of
determining these parameters is by use of models and one model that depicts the aerosol dynamics in the atmosphere
is the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. Our paper is focused on converting CMAQ retrieval
outputs into optical coefficients that can then be comparing the lidar, AERONET and TEOM measurements
performed at City College of the City University of New York . Differences between the full approach and
parameterized methods such as the MALM formula used in AIR-NOW are observed and comparisons with
AERONET show the full modeling is in general superior to the MALM formula.
In this paper, we explore the possibility of determining thenature and variability of urban aerosol hygroscopic properties
using multi-wavelength Raman lidar measurements at 355nm, as well as backscatter measurements at 532nm and
1064nm.. The addition of these longer wavelength channels allow us to more accurately validate the homogeneity of the
aerosol layer as well as provide additional multiwavelength information that can be used to validate and modify the
aerosol models underlying the hygroscopic trends observed in the Raman channel. In support of our hygroscopic
measurements, we also discuss our calibration procedures for both the aerosol and water vapor profiles. The calibration
algorithm we ultimately use for the water vapor measurements are twilight measurements where water vapor radiosonde
data from the OKX station in NYS, are combined with total water vapor obtained from a GPS MET station. These
sondes are then time correlated with independent near surface RH measurements to address any bias issues that may
occur due to imperfect calibration due to lidar overlap issues and SNR limitations in seeing the water vapor at high
altitudes.. In particular, we investigate the possibility of using ratio optical scatter measurments which eliminate the
inherent problem of variable particle number and illustrate the sensitivity of different hygroscopic aerosols to these
measurements. We find that the use of combine backscatter color ratios between 355 and 1064 together with the
conventional extinction to backscatter ratio at 355nm should be able to improve retrieval of hygroscopic properties.
In this paper, we explore the possibility of determining the nature and variability of urban aerosol hygroscopic
properties using multi-wavelength Raman lidar measurements at 355nm, as well as backscatter measurements at 532nm
and 1064nm. The addition of these longer wavelength channels allow us to more accurately validate the homogeneity of
the aerosol layer as well as provide additional multiwavelength information that can be used to validate and modify the
aerosol models underlying the hygroscopic trends observed in the Raman channel. In support of our hygroscopic
measurements, we also discuss our calibration procedures for both the aerosol and water vapor profiles. The calibration
algorithm we ultimately use for the water vapor measurements are twilight measurements where water vapor radiosonde
data from the OKX station in NYS, are combined with total water vapor obtained from a GPS MET station. These
sondes are then time correlated with independent near surface RH measurements to address any bias issues that may
occur due to imperfect calibration due to lidar overlap issues and SNR limitations in seeing the water vapor at high
altitudes. In particular, we investigate the possibility of using ratio optical scatter measurements which eliminate the
inherent problem of variable particle number and illustrate the sensitivity of different hygroscopic aerosols to these
measurements.
In this paper, we implement and compare two complementary methods for the measurement of low cloud optical depth
with a Raman-Mie lidar over the metropolitan area of New York City. The first approach, based on the method of S.
Young, determines the cloud optical depth by regressing the elastic signal against a molecular reference signal above
and below the cloud. Due to high aerosol loading below and above the low cloud, correction for aerosol influence was
necessary and achieved with the combined Raman-elastic returns. The second approach uses N2-Raman signal to derive
cloud extinction profiles and then integrate them to determine optical depth. We find excellent agreements between
these two retrievals for cloud optical depths as large as 1.5. Extinction-to-backscatter ratio within the low cloud is
obtained and is shown to be consistent to values calculated from liquid water cloud model. The varied lidar ratios at
cloud edge may imply the changes of cloud droplet size providing clues to the CCN seeding process. Furthermore,
multiple-scattering effects on retrieving cloud optical depths are estimated by using an empirical model and specific
lidar parameters.
In this paper, we present results showing the usefulness of multi-wavelength lidar measurements to study the interaction
of aerosols in the PBL with long range advected aerosol plumes. In particular, our measurements are used to determine
the plume angstrom exponent, which allows us to differentiate smoke events from dust events, as well as partitioning the
total aerosol optical depth obtained from a CIMEL sky radiometer between the PBL and the high altitude plumes.
Furthermore, we show that only if the optical depth from the upper level plumes is taken into account, the correlation
between the lidar derived PBL aerosol optical depth and surface PM2.5 is high. In addition, we also observe the
dynamic interaction of high altitude plumes interacting with the PBL, resulting in a dramatic rise in surface PM10
concentrations without a corresponding dramatic rise in PM2.5 concentrations. These observations strongly suggest the
deposition of large particulates into the PBL which is consistent with both lidar angstrom coefficient measurements and
back-trajectory analysis. Finally, we investigate the correspondence between surface PM2.5 concentrations and optical
backscatter coefficients as a function of altitude. To perform this study, our lidar system is replaced by a ceilometer
(Vaisala CL-31) which can determine backscatter to near surface level. In particular, we confirm that near surface
backscatter within the first 100 meters is a good proxy for PM2.5 but as altitude increases beyond 500 meters, the
correlations degrades dramatically. These studies are useful in identifying the vertical length scales in which spaced
based lidars such as Calipso can be used to probe surface PM2.5.
In this paper, we compare the open-path FTIR to the differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) approach in
the Mid-Infrared region for the continuous retrieval of trace gases. After consideration of FTIR capabilities and results,
we explore the potential for a compact quantum cascade laser (QCL) based DOAS system to continuously monitor
ambient concentration levels of Ozone and Ammonia. Based on absorption spectra obtained from the HITRAN2000
database and processed within the GENSPECT environment, we find the optimal window for simultaneous retrieval of
Ozone and Ammonia to be between 1045 (cm-1) and 1047 (cm-1). We further show that for a QCL-based transmitter
with 0.1cm-1 spectral resolution and 10mW power and using nitrogen cooled MCT detector (D* ~ 1010W-1m Hz1/2) in the receiver, it is possible to detect total path ambient concentrations of ozone and ammonia to within 10% accuracy
using suitable targets of opportunity such as an building. Details of the optimal frequency sweeping methodology,
optical path length, shot averaging, and SNR considerations are considered for comparison of the QCL-based standoff
DOAS performance to more conventional open-path FTIR sensors.
High spatial-spectral resolution space based observations in visible-near infrared VNIR portion of the spectrum are required for a variety of remote sensing applications including ocean color, land surface classification, and atmospheric monitoring. In conventional approaches, the spectral selectivity is accomplished by means of interferometry, a series of pass-band filters (channels), or grating based spectrometers selectively designed to cover the spetral domain of interest for a given application. Unfortunately, these schemes are not able to modify the spectral channels for different applications as may be required for an all purpose imager. To accomplish tunability, we examine the feasibility of using Fabry Perot technology and show that by using a dual etalon system, we can achieve sufficient sensitivity and spectral filtration for ocean color observations which are the most difficult radiometrically. System specifications are oultlined and signal to noise ratio (SNR) estimates are developed as a function of the pixel-pixel integration time. Finally, the effects of out of band signals are considered and it is shown that a signal inversion scheme can be used for accurate retrieval of signals.
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