Azimuthal Scans Research Articles

The Southern Twenty-centimetre All-sky Polarization Survey (STAPS): Survey description and maps

We present data processing and verification of the Southern Twenty-centimetre All-sky Polarization Survey (STAPS) conducted with Murriyang, the Parkes 64-m telescope. The survey covers the sky area of -89 Dec and the frequency range of 1.3-1.8 GHz split into 1-MHz channels. STAPS was observed commensally with the S-band Polarization All-Sky Survey (S-PASS). The survey is composed of long azimuth scans, which allows us to absolutely calibrate Stokes Q and U with the data processing procedure developed for S-PASS. We obtained I, Q, and U maps on both the flux density scale (Jy beam^-1) and the main beam brightness temperature scale (K), for the 301 frequency channels with sufficiently good data. The temperature scale is tied to the Global Magneto-ionic Medium Survey (GMIMS) high-band north sky survey conducted with the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory 26-m telescope. All the STAPS maps are smoothed to a common resolution of $20 The root mean square (rms) noise per channel ranges from about 16 mK to 8 mK for I, and from about 8 mK to 5 mK for Q and U, at frequencies from 1.3 to 1.8 GHz. The rms noise in Q and U varies with declination and reaches minimum at declination of -89 We also ran rotation measure (RM) synthesis and RM clean to obtain peak polarized intensity and Faraday depth maps. The whole STAPS data processing was validated by comparing flux densities of compact sources, pixel flux density versus pixel flux density for Cen A, pixel temperature versus pixel temperature for the entire survey area, and the RMs of extragalactic sources between STAPS and other measurements. The uncertainty of the flux density scale is less than 10%. STAPS delivers an L-band (λ20 cm) multifrequency polarization view of the Galaxy, and will help advance our understanding of the Galactic magnetic field and magnetized interstellar medium.

A combined aperture‐coupled membrane microstrip patch antenna array

AbstractA novel lightweight L‐band combined aperture‐coupled microstrip antenna has been proposed for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) applications. The proposed antenna element is composed of only two membranes. This design innovatively integrates the coupling aperture with the radiating patch, significantly reducing the number of required dielectric layers to achieve a simplified and lightweight structure. The feed line is placed on the front side to facilitate integration with the transmit/receive (T/R) module. Simulation results demonstrate that the antenna element exhibits excellent radiation pattern performance and bandwidth. A passive antenna array utilising polyimide as the dielectric material was fabricated and measured to validate its performance. This array employs a 4‐stage Wilkinson power divider network. Measurements show that S1,1 is below −15 dB in the frequency range from 1.15 to 1.49 GHz, with a maximum efficiency of 72.87%. Additionally, an phased array antenna was fabricated and tested. This array demonstrated stable radiation pattern performance over an azimuthal scan range of and an elevation scan of . This design offers a new option for antenna modules in spaceborne SAR applications.

Signs on glasses: LiDAR data voids, hotspot effect, and reflection artifacts

A key challenge in terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) based as-built survey is the presence of data voids, reflection artifacts, and hotspot effect on glasses. This paper investigates the effects of scanning range, illumination condition, instrument height, and spatial offset of an occluded object between the scanner and glasses with respect to these data artifacts. Experimental results show that ordinary float glass encounters a high percentage of data voids (> 93%) and reflective glass backscatters laser pulses with greater than 50%. Hotspot effect is found notable at azimuth scanning angle between ± 2 and 5° on both types of glasses. Ordinary float glass never results in any reflection artifacts, while they likely emerge when the scanner is set up at a certain height (> 0.7 m) and a closer range (≤ 7.5 m) on the reflective glass. These findings shed light on the future algorithmic development of glass detection, classification, and defects removal.

Structural and optical properties of Eu-doped ZnO epitaxial thin films grown by pulsed-laser deposition

Pulsed-laser deposition was utilized to fabricate Eu-doped ZnO epitaxial films on c-plane sapphire substrates with Eu concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 4.0 at. %. The structural properties were analyzed using x-ray diffraction surface normal radial scans and azimuthal cone scans, which confirmed the epitaxy of the film samples. Reciprocal space mapping was performed on ZnO(101̄1) to visualize the effect of Eu incorporation. X-ray fluorescence mapping confirmed the homogeneous distribution of Zn and Eu, and x-ray absorption near-edge structure spectra directly confirmed the trivalent state of Eu ions. The optical properties were assessed using temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL). Various defects were identified. With increasing Eu dopant concentration, PL emissions from defects and the Eu 4f-intraband transitions gradually became the predominant features in the PL spectra at low temperatures. Furthermore, PL analysis suggested that Eu ions substituted Zn, occupying sites with lower C3v symmetry due to the distortion caused by Eu incorporation.

A theoretical analysis of the logging-while-drilling dipole acoustic reflection measurement

Post-drilling wireline acoustic single-well imaging technology can now detect geological structures tens of meters away from boreholes. Further development of this single-well imaging technology in the logging-while-drilling (LWD) environment will have significant values in real-time applications such as geosteering and reservoir navigation. Based on the wireline imaging application, we propose a new method for the LWD application. In wireline imaging, the four-component (4C) dipole acoustic data are azimuthally rotated to scan the reflectors around the borehole. In LWD, azimuthal scanning is achieved by drilling rotation such that the 4C dipole system in the wireline is replaced by a one-dipole-source and two-receiver LWD system, where the two receivers are mounted on opposite sides of the drill collar. For the LWD application, we first developed the theory for LWD dipole shear-wave reflection imaging and validated the theory using 3D finite-difference waveform modeling. Using the analytical solution, we analyzed the far-field radiation directivity of an acoustic LWD dipole source and the effect of drilling rotation on the shear-wave reflection imaging using the LWD acoustic system. The LWD analysis results show that, for fast formations, the SH-wave is the dominant component for imaging, whereas for slow formations, the P-wave becomes important and can be used for imaging. Our results also indicate that the reflection data acquired by the system are affected by the speed of drilling rotation. The take-off azimuth at the wave radiation may be different from the incident azimuth at the wave reception. Knowing the rotation speed, this azimuth difference can be corrected. A further advantage of using the oppositely mounted receivers is that the reflected wave arrives earlier (later) at the front (back)-side receiver; thus, the arrival time difference between the receivers can be used to eliminate the 180°-azimuth ambiguity of dipole acoustic imaging. For reflection imaging, using the proposed LWD system configuration, we tested its azimuth sensitivity and validated its 180°-ambiguity solution using synthetic LWD and field wireline dipole data. The results of this work, therefore, provide a theoretical foundation for the development of the LWD acoustic reflection imaging system.

Enhancing the Mechanical Properties of Regenerated Cellulose through High-Temperature Pre-Gelation

This paper investigates the effects of pre-gelation on cellulose dissolved in LiCl/DMAc solutions to enhance the properties of regenerated cellulose materials. This study focuses on characterizing the crystallinity, molecular orientation, and mechanical performance of cellulose fibers and hydrogels prepared with and without pre-gelation treatment. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis reveals that crystallinity improvement from 55% in untreated fibers to 59% in fibers pre-gelled for 3 and 7 days, indicating a more ordered arrangement of cellulose chains post-regeneration. Additionally, XRD patterns show improved chain alignment in pre-gelled fibers, as indicated by reduced full width at half the maximum of Azimuthal scans. Mechanical testing demonstrates a 30% increase in tensile strength and a doubling of the compression modulus for pre-gelled fibers compared to untreated fibers. These findings underscore the role of pre-gelation in optimizing cellulose material properties for applications ranging from advanced textiles to biomaterials and sustainable packaging. Future research directions include further exploration of the structural and functional benefits of pre-gelation in cellulose processing and its broader implications in material science and engineering.

Magnetic symmetries of terbium tetraboride (TbB4) revealed by resonant x-ray Bragg diffraction

A recent experimental study of TbB4 at a low temperature using resonant x-ray Bragg diffraction implies a magnetic symmetry not found in any other rare-earth tetraboride. The evidence for this assertion is a change in the intensity of a TbB4 Bragg spot on reversing the handedness (chirality) of the primary x-ray beam [R. Misawa, K. Arakawa, T. Yoshioka, H. Ueda, F. Iga, K. Tamasaku, Y. Tanaka, and T. Kimura, ]. It reveals a magnetic chiral signature in TbB4 that is forbidden in phases of rare-earth tetraborides known to date, as the previous magnetic symmetries are parity-time (PT) symmetric with anti-inversion present in the magnetic crystal class. Misawa appeal to a PT-symmetric diffraction pattern to interpret their interesting diffraction patterns. In addition to the use of symmetry that does not permit a chiral signature, calculated patterns impose cylindrical symmetry on Tb sites with no justification. We review magnetic symmetries for TbB4 consistent with a published neutron powder diffraction pattern and susceptibility measurements. On the basis of this information, noncollinear antiferromagnetic order exists below a temperature ≈44 K with no ferromagnetic component. Our symmetry-informed patterns encapsulate Tb electronic degrees of freedom in terms of multipoles consistent with established sum rules for dichroic signals. The investigated symmetry templates are noncentrosymmetric, noncollinear antiferromagnetic constructions with propagation vector k=(0,0,0). An inferred chiral signature for a parity-even absorption event has an interesting composition. There is the anticipated product of Tb axial dipoles and chargelike quadrupoles (from Templeton-Templeton scattering). Beyond this contribution, though, symmetry allows a product of dipoles in the chiral signature. A predicted change in the intensity of a Bragg spot with rotation of the crystal about the reflection vector (an azimuthal angle scan) can be tested in future experiments. Likewise contributions to Bragg diffraction patterns from Tb anapoles and higher-order Dirac multipoles. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Method of constructive synthesis of a flat active phased array antenna with a limited number of active channels

A method of constructive synthesis of a flat active phased array antenna from linear horizontal sublattices with an unequal number of antenna elements and the number of active channels equal to the number of sublattices is proposed. The transmission coefficients of the active channels, the number of elements in the sublattices and the coordinates of the placement of the phase centers of the sublattices of the active phased array antenna array in a flat opening are considered as the desired parameters of the constructive synthesis problem. Restrictions are set on the shape of the boundary of the flat opening and the amplitude distribution in the opening of the active phased array antenna. The requirements for the scanning sector of the active phased array antenna are formulated. The method is based on an iterative procedure. In the process of its implementation, the deviation of the amplitude distribution in the opening of the active phased array antenna from the sublattices from the specified amplitude distribution is minimized. The method has shown its efficiency in the formation of various amplitude distributions in the AFAR opening. The stability of the problem solution to external influences, including in the event of failures of antenna elements, is estimated. The solutions obtained can be used in monopulse radar stations with mechanical beam scanning in the azimuthal plane and electronic scanning in the angular plane.

Azimuthal Scanning Excitation Surface Plasmon Resonance Holographic Microscopy

AbstractSurface plasmon resonance (SPR) holographic microscopy exploits surface plasmon wave as illumination and acquires both SPR intensity and phase images. It detects extremely tiny variations of weakly interacting objects owing to high sensitivity and has been applied in cell biology, material science, surface chemistry, etc. However, it is very challenging to solve the problem of poor spatial resolution due to the transverse propagation of surface plasmon wave. In this paper, an azimuthal scanning excitation method is proposed in SPR holographic microscopy to improve the spatial resolution by engineering the Fourier spectra of SPR images from dual‐arc to circular shape. The study modulates the light field with spatial position, wavevector, and polarization to realize azimuthal scanning excitation of SPR. Systematic experiments of dielectric spheres, nanowires, two‐dimension materials, and complex nanostructure are conducted to show the resolution improvement with one order of magnitude, the higher detection sensitivity of SPR phase than that of SPR intensity, and the necessities of both of high‐resolution SPR intensity and phase images to retrieve sample information in certain scenarios. Benefiting from the high detection sensitivity and spatial resolution, the proposed microscopy will find wide applications in nanoparticle analysis, low‐dimensional material characterization, and imaging extremely thin or transparent samples.

Design Approach to Azimuthal Null Frequency Scanning Circular Sector Patch Antenna Under Triple-Mode Resonance

Design Approach to Azimuthal Null Frequency Scanning Circular Sector Patch Antenna Under Triple-Mode Resonance

Azimuthal scanning of the atmosphere in a muon flux

A new approach to the analysis of the intensity of the muon flux from different azimuthal directions is considered, which makes it possible to detect waves in the atmosphere from large-scale atmospheric phenomena (fronts, thunderstorm cells).

Azimuthal Scanning of the Atmosphere in the Muon Flux

Azimuthal Scanning of the Atmosphere in the Muon Flux

A Low-Profile Risley-Prism-Based 2-D Beam-Scanning Circularly Polarized Folded Transmitarray Antenna at Ku-Band

In this communication, a novel folded transmitarray antenna (FTA) based on the principle of Risley-Prisms antenna is proposed, which can achieve circular polarized (CP) beam scanning in both azimuth and elevation planes with low scanning loss. The antenna consists of a CP patch feed source, a metal ground plate, and two rotatable circular polarization selective metasurfaces (CPSMs). The CPSM can fully reflect the CP incident waves in one mode (LHCP mode or RHCP mode) and transmit the CP incident waves in the other mode. By mechanically rotating two CPSMs above the feed source, the beam’s scan range covers 0-52° in the elevation plane and 0-360° in the azimuth plane. The measured maximum gain is 22.9 dBic at 16 GHz, with a total efficiency of 30.1%. Moreover, since the wave’s propagation path is folded, the overall profile of the proposed antenna is only 1.92 λ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> including the feed source. The proposed antenna has advantages of low profile, compact structure, low loss, low cost, high gain, and easy fabrication. It has potential in applications where has limited space and weight, such as satellite communication and vehicle communication systems.

Vertically Polarized Compact Reconfigurable 360° Azimuth Scanning Array for Aviation Applications

In this communication, a 360° azimuth scanning array based on a compact reconfigurable element is proposed for aviation applications. In our design, a reconfigurable compact Yagi-Uda element is constructed by combing a driven element and two switchable parasitic elements. When constituting an array, more energy can be coupled to the parasitic elements and the current magnitude of the parasitic element reaches nearly the same as that of the driven element. Then, a tunable backside radiation zero point and high backside suppression can be realized for the Yagi-Uda element with only one reflector. The reconfigurable element is able to switch the radiation pattern between two broadside states in two directions and an endfire state. The measured results of the 1 × 8 prototype indicate that a wide scanning range from -180° to 180° is attained with a peak gain of 11.8 dBi and a gain fluctuation of less than 3 dB. The array has a small cross-section area of 0.47λ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> × 0.26λ <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> . This work provides a compact reconfigurable antenna with full 360° coverage for aviation applications. The tunable radiation zero point has the potential to promote future anti-interference array designs.

Antenna Beampattern Matched Optimum Coherent Detection in High-Resolution Mechanically Scanning Maritime Surveillance Radars

Mechanically scanning radars are still widely used in ocean guard and surveillance areas nowadays, owing to simple structure, light weight and low cost. The antenna rotation causes amplitude modulation of target returns along pulses by the antenna azimuth beampattern. The traditional coherent detection that ignores this modulation suffers from some performance loss. In this paper, an antenna beampattern matched optimum coherent detector and a dual-threshold detection scheme are proposed for high-resolution mechanically scanning maritime surveillance radars. Firstly, it is shown that the modulation of target returns is determined by the antenna azimuth beampattern, scan rate, and pulse repetition interval (PRI) and the antenna scanning also affect the temporal correlation of sea clutter. Secondly, the antenna beampattern matched optimum coherent detector is given in compound-Gaussian sea clutter with inverse Gamma distributed texture and the pulse scanning mode is used to deal with unknown target azimuth angle in the matched filter. Thirdly, to mitigate the high computational cost of the pulse scanning mode, a dual-threshold scheme is given, which searches all pulse-range cells by short-time integration and further confirms suspected cells whose test statistics are between the two lower and higher thresholds in the search by long-time integration. Moreover, two fast recursive clutter covariance matrix inversion algorithms along pulses and range cells are presented, which bring a great reduction in computational complexity. Finally, real measured radar data is used to verify the proposed detector and scheme and the experimental results show that it behaves better in detection of small targets than the traditional detectors.

Self-Complementary Hyperbolic Metasurface Antennas

Anisotropic Self-Complementary Metasurfaces (SCM) are structures constituted by a “self-dual” (according to Babinet’s duality principle) alternance of inductive and capacitive complementary strips. They support orthogonally polarized surface-wave modes with the same phase velocity in the principal direction of propagation. The isofrequency dispersion curves of these modes are hyperbolas, and therefore these metasurfaces (MTSs) fall in the category of hyperbolic MTSs. It is shown here that the hyperbolas may degenerate in same cases into almost straight lines, which implies that the velocity of energy transport is constantly directed along the complementary strips at any frequency and for any possible phasing orthogonal to the strips. In this circumstance, the SCM can be conveniently used to design dual-polarized leaky-wave antennas by modulating the impedances of the complementary strips. Each strip behaves as a channel, which can be independently fed with the desired phase and amplitude. We demonstrate here that these antennas exhibit a strong decoupling between both co-polar and cross-polar channels, even when the distance between strips is electrically small. This increases the performance of the antenna, especially in azimuthal beam scanning. A prototype at 2.6 GHz has been constructed and successfully measured confirming the theoretical conjectures.

Dissolution dynamics of woven all-silk composites fabricated in the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate

Single layer woven all-silk composites (ASCs) have been prepared using the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3- methylimidazolium acetate ([C2mim][OAc]), with the dissolution carried out under various times and temperatures. Cross sectional images revealed the dissolved and coagulated silk matrix were formed along both fibre directions with thicker matrix layer observed along warp direction. Radial integration utilising the second Legendre polynomial function (P2) were conducted on the collected intensity distribution curves attained from WAXD azimuthal scans, enabling the quantitative measurement of the average orientation of crystals. A simple linear mixing rule was employed to correlate the coagulated matrix (Vm) with respective P2 values, leading to the calculation of Vm. Time–temperature superposition (TTS) was verified through the construction of master curves, from which the dissolution was found to have Arrhenius-like behaviour allowing the determination of dissolution activation energy (Ea). The three measured tensile properties were all found to follow TTS principle, thus yielding another two methods to determine Ea. Five different methods point to an average Ea value of 93±2 kJ/mol. Additionally, the dissolution rates and activation energies of single and woven silk were compared. The master curves constructed in this study may provide a guidance for future design of silk fibre reinforced composites with desired properties.

Combined Scattering, Interferometric, and Fluorescence Oblique Illumination for Live Cell Nanoscale Imaging

To determine the molecular and/or mechanical basis of cell migration using live cell imaging tools, it is necessary to correlate multiple 3D spatiotemporal events simultaneously. Fluorescence nanoscopy and label-free nanoscale imaging can complement each other by providing both molecular specificity and structural dynamics of sub-cellular structures. A combined imaging system would permit obtaining quantitative 3D spatial temporal details of individual cellular components. In this paper, we empirically determined optimal azimuthal scanning angles of rotating beams to achieve simultaneous and label-free nanoscale and fluorescence imaging. Label-free nanoscale imaging here refers to interferometric, bright-field (BF) and dark-field (DF) rotating coherence scattering (ROCS) microscopy, while fluorescence refers to high-inclined laminated oblique (HiLO) and total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) imaging. The combined capabilities of interferometric, scattering, and fluorescence imaging enable (1) the identification of molecular targets (substrate or organelle), (2) quantification of 3D cell morphodynamics, and (3) tracking of intracellular organelles in 3D. This combined imaging tool was then used to characterize migrating platelets and endothelial cells, both critical to the process of infection and wound healing. The combined imaging results of more than ∼1000 platelets suggest that serum albumin (bovine) is necessary for platelets to migrate and scavenge fibrin/fibrinogen. Furthermore, we identified new asynchronous membrane fluctuations between the leading and rear edges of a migrating platelet. We further demonstrated that interferometric imaging permits the quantification of mitochondrial dynamics on human lung microvascular endothelial cells. Our data suggests that axial displacement of mitochondria is minimal when it is closer to the nucleus or the leading edge of a cell membrane. Taken together, this combined nanoscopy platform helps to quantify multiple spatial temporal events of a migrating cell that will undoubtedly open ways to new quantitative correlative nanoscale live cell imaging.

60 GHz Electronically Tunable Leaky-Wave Antenna Based on Annular Surface Plasmon Polariton Media for Continuous Azimuth Scanning

This article proposes a single-layered electronically tunable annular surface plasmon polariton (SPP)-based leaky-wave antenna at 60 GHz for continuous azimuthal beam scanning. Initially, the groundless annular SPP transmission line is designed having specialized feeding mechanism which is operational at 60 GHz under SPP mode. Periodic radiating semicircular patches are incorporated into the vicinity of the TL that form an additional momentum caused to convert the slow-wave SP mode to radiating leaky-mode and placement of extra metallic ground makes the radiated beam unidirectional. Furthermore, implementation of the varactor diodes with imposed suitable switching conditions make the geometry electronically tunable to achieve a continuous complete azimuth coverage. The theoretical predictions, numerical simulations and the experimental validations of the proposed structure show good agreement. The proposed antenna show an overall scanning range of 275°, peak gain of 19.9 dBi with average sidelobe level of −10 dB and minimum cross polar level of −20 dB. Availing the benefits from the low-profile compactness and improved performance, the proposed groundless LWA appears as a promising candidate for integration in 60-GHz mm-wave applications.

Проблема обнаружения аномальных волн на воде навигационными радиолокаторами 1. Модели аномальных волн

The abnormal or freak waves of great height present a serious danger for ships and sea oil platforms. In this review we discuss the characteristics of freak waves. The freak waves are interested for us as the targets for an azimuth scan pulsed microwave radar. In our research, first of all, we consider the geometrical shapes of two-dimensional models of abnormal waves and briefly three-dimensional models. To the well-known classification of abnormal waves: Singular Wave Tower, Three Sisters, White Wall we added two variants of crests: smooth or three-cornered. Also, we briefly study the temporal attributes of abnormal waves. In the end of our research, we propose the criterion of discovery of short abnormal waves with azimuth scan pulsed microwave radar.