Large Source Size Research Articles

Complex organic molecules uncover deeply embedded precursors of hot cores

Context. During the process of star formation, the dense gas undergoes significant chemical evolution leading to the emergence of a rich variety of molecules associated with hot cores and hot corinos. However, the physical conditions and the chemical processes involved in this evolution are poorly constrained. In particular, the early phases, corresponding to a stage prior to the emergence of any strong ionising emission from the protostar, are still poorly studied. Aims. In this work, we provide a full inventory of the emission from complex organic molecules (COMs) to investigate the physical structure and chemical composition of six high-mass protostellar envelopes. We aim to investigate the conditions for the emergence of COMs in hot cores. Methods. We performed an unbiased spectral survey towards six infrared-quiet massive clumps between 159 GHz and 374 GHz with the APEX 12 m telescope, covering the entire atmospheric windows at 2 mm, 1.2 mm, and 0.8 mm. To identify the spectral lines, we used rotational diagrams and radiative transfer modelling assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium. Results. We detect up to 11 COMs plus three isotopologues, of which at least five COMs (CH3OH, CH3CN, CH3OCHO, CH3OCH3, and CH3CHO) are detected towards all sources. Towards all the objects, most of the COM emission is found to be cold, with respect to the typical temperatures at which COMs are found, with a temperature of 30 K and extended with a size of ~0.3 pc. Although the bulk of the gas for our sample of young massive clumps has a cold temperature, we also detect emission from COMs originating from the immediate vicinity of the protostar. This warm component of the envelope is best traced by methanol and methyl cyanide, in particular methyl cyanide traces a compact (~1″) and the hottest (T ~200 K) component of the envelope. Only three out of the six sources exhibit a robustly detected hot gas component (T > 100 K) traced by several COMs. We find a gradual emergence of the warm component in terms of size and temperature, together with an increasing molecular complexity, allowing us to establish an evolutionary sequence for our sample based on COMs. While they can already be well characterised by an emerging molecular richness, gas temperatures of COMs in the hot gas and molecular abundances suggest that COMs may become abundant in the gas phase at temperatures below the thermal desorption temperature. Conclusions. Our findings confirm that the sources of our sample of infrared-quiet massive clumps are in an early evolutionary stage during which the bulk of the gas is cold. The presence of COMs is found to be characteristic of these early evolutionary stages accompanying high-mass star and cluster formation. While the extent of the compact heated regions resembles that of hot cores, the molecular abundances, except for complex cyanides, resemble those of hot corinos and are lower than the peak COM abundances of hot cores. We suggest that the emergence of hot cores is preceded by a phase in which mostly O-bearing COMs appear first with similar abundances to hot corinos albeit with larger source sizes.

Seismic Waveform‐Coherence Controlled by Earthquake Source Dimensions

Rupture size is a fundamental earthquake source parameter that is challenging to infer independently from far-field seismological observations. Here, we develop a novel observational constraint on source size based on the decay rate of wavefield coherence across a seismic array. For a given earthquake, waveform coherence decays with increasing interstation distance or, more precisely, with increasing projection difference defined as the difference between the takeoff vectors associated to the two stations projected along the rupture direction. We find that coherence generally falls off with projection difference faster for earthquakes of larger magnitudes. The magnitude dependence of the coherence decay rate can be explained by a finite source effect: larger source sizes cause larger differences of phase delays between waves arriving from different parts of the rupture at different stations, hence a stronger spatial variability of the wavefield, resulting in a breakdown of waveform coherence. Assuming a 1-D Haskell's source model, the rupture size can be estimated from the coherence decay rate. We apply this method to USArray data of earthquakes in three subduction zones, the Sea of Okhotsk, South America and Japan. The source sizes inferred from the coherence decay patterns are consistent with scaling relations intermediate between width-saturated L-models and quasi equi-dimensional rupture models. Our observation captures a unique pattern of array waveform coherence and demonstrates the potential of utilizing waveform coherence to study earthquake source parameters.

Micro-size picosecond-duration fast neutron source driven by a laser–plasma wakefield electron accelerator

Abstract A pulsed fast neutron source is critical for applications of fast neutron resonance radiography and fast neutron absorption spectroscopy. However, due to the large transversal source size (of the order of mm) and long pulse duration (of the order of ns) of traditional pulsed fast neutron sources, it is difficult to realize high-contrast neutron imaging with high spatial resolution and a fine absorption spectrum. Here, we experimentally present a micro-size ultra-short pulsed neutron source by a table-top laser–plasma wakefield electron accelerator driving a photofission reaction in a thin metal converter. A fast neutron source with source size of approximately 500 μm and duration of approximately 36 ps has been driven by a tens of MeV, collimated, micro-size electron beam via a hundred TW laser facility. This micro-size ultra-short pulsed neutron source has the potential to improve the energy resolution of a fast neutron absorption spectrum dozens of times to, for example, approximately 100 eV at 1.65 MeV, which could be of benefit for high-quality fast neutron imaging and deep understanding of the theoretical model of neutron physics.

LOFAR observations of radio burst source sizes and scattering in the solar corona

Low frequency radio wave scattering and refraction can have a dramatic effect on the observed size and position of radio sources in the solar corona. The scattering and refraction is thought to be due to fluctuations in electron density caused by turbulence. Hence, determining the true radio source size can provide information on the turbulence in coronal plasma. However, the lack of high spatial resolution radio interferometric observations at low frequencies, such as with the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR), has made it difficult to determine the true radio source size and level of radio wave scattering. Here we directly fit the visibilities of a LOFAR observation of a Type IIIb radio burst with an elliptical Gaussian to determine its source size and position. This circumvents the need to image the source and then de-convolve LOFAR’s point spread function, which can introduce spurious effects to the source size and shape. For a burst at 34.76 MHz, we find full width at half maximum (FWHM) heights along the major and minor axes to be 18.8′ ± 0.1′ and 10.2′ ± 0.1′, respectively, at a plane of sky heliocentric distance of 1.75 R⊙. Our results suggest that the level of density fluctuations in the solar corona is the main cause of the scattering of radio waves, resulting in large source sizes. However, the magnitude of ε may be smaller than what has been previously derived in observations of radio wave scattering in tied-array images.

Propagation of Airyprime beam in uniaxial crystal orthogonal to propagation axis

Received field expression of Airyprime beam in uniaxial crystal is derived analytically. Received field contains parabolic cylinder function which is a solution of Helmholtz euqtion in parabolic coordinates. Variations of intensity profile at the output plane is investigated considering source size, ratio of ordinary and extra-ordinary refractive indexes, and propagation length. It is seen that all selected beams take the shape of flat-topped beam. Beam having larger source size take its final shape at longer distance than smaller beams. Results of this study will be benefical for laser modulators, beam shaping, and laser applications.

Double-spherically bent crystal high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy of spatially extended sources

An aberration-free imaging technique was used to design a double-spherically bent crystal spectrometer with high energy and spatial resolutions to ensure that the individual spectral lines are represented as perfectly straight lines on the detector. After obtaining the matched parameters of the two crystals via geometry-based optimization, an alignment method was employed to allow the spacing between the crystals and the detector to be coupled with the source. The working principle of this spectrum-measuring scheme was evaluated using a Cu X-ray tube. High-quality spectra with energy resolutions (E/ΔE) of approximately 3577 were obtained for a relatively large source size.

Effect on the longitudinal coherence properties of a pseudothermal light source as a function of source size and temporal coherence.

In the present Letter, a synthesized pseudothermal light source having high temporal coherence (TC) and low spatial coherence (SC) properties is used. The longitudinal coherence (LC) properties of the spatially extended monochromatic light source are systematically studied. The pseudothermal light source is generated from two different monochromatic laser sources: He-Ne (at 632nm) and DPSS (at 532nm). It was found that the LC length of such a light source becomes independent of the parent laser's TC length for a large source size. For the chosen lasers, the LC length becomes constant to about 30μm for a laser source size of ≥3.3 mm. Thus, by appropriately choosing the source size, any monochromatic laser light source depending on the biological window can be utilized to obtain high axial resolution in an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system irrespective of its TC length. The axial resolution of 650nm was obtained using a 1.2 numerical aperture objective lens at a 632nm wavelength. These findings pave the path for widespread penetration of pseudothermal light into existing OCT systems with enhanced performance. A pseudothermal light source with high TC and low SC properties could be an attractive alternative light source for achieving high axial resolution without needing dispersion compensation as compared to a broadband light source.

Single-image geometric-flow x-ray speckle tracking

We develop a speckle-tracking method for x-ray phase-contrast imaging, based on the concept of geometric flow. This flow is a conserved current associated with deformation of illuminating x-ray speckles induced by passage through a sample. The method provides a rapid, efficient, and accurate algorithm for quantitative phase imaging. It is highly photon efficient and able to image dynamic objects, since a single radiograph of the sample is sufficient for the phase recovery. We experimentally quantify the resolution and contrast of the approach with both two-dimensional and three-dimensional phase-imaging applications using x-ray synchrotron radiation. Finally, we discuss adaptations of the method to imaging with compact x-ray sources that have a large source size and significant spectral bandwidth.

Collimated gamma photon emission driven by PW laser pulse in a plasma density channel

We use three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations to demonstrate that a plasma density channel can stably guide the petawatt laser pulse in near critical plasmas. In this regime, a directed, collimated, and micro-sized gamma photon beam is emitted by the direct-laser accelerated electrons along the channel axis. While in the case without the plasma density channel, the laser tilting behavior leads to the generation of randomly deflected gamma photon beams with a large divergence angle and transverse source size. In addition, in the plasma density channels, the divergence angle of the gamma photon beams can be much reduced by using a smaller value of n0/a0nc. The energy conversion efficiency can also be improved by increasing the laser power or the plasma density. This regime provides an efficient and compact approach for the production of high quality gamma photon beams.

Propagation properties of cylindrical sinc Gaussian beam

We investigate the propagation properties of cylindrical sinc Gaussian beam in turbulent atmosphere. Since an analytic solution is hardly derivable, the study is carried out with the aid of random phase screens. Evolutions of the beam intensity profile, beam size and kurtosis parameter are analysed. It is found that on the source plane, cylindrical sinc Gaussian beam has a dark hollow appearance, where the side lobes also start to emerge with increase in width parameter and Gaussian source size. During propagation, beams with small width and Gaussian source size exhibit off-axis behaviour, losing the dark hollow shape, accumulating the intensity asymmetrically on one side, whereas those with large width and Gaussian source size retain dark hollow appearance even at long propagation distances. It is seen that the beams with large widths expand more in beam size than the ones with small widths. The structure constant values chosen do not seem to alter this situation. The kurtosis parameters of the beams having small widths are seen to be larger than the ones with the small widths. Again the choice of the structure constant does not change this trend.

Transmittance of Multi Gaussian Optical Beams for Uplink Applications in Atmospheric Turbulence

On-axis slant path uplink transmittance (used in short as transmittance throughout the text) for multi Gaussian optical beam in Kolmogorov atmospheric turbulent medium is investigated. It is observed that for both the flat-topped and the annular beams, as the propagation distance, wind speed and the zenith angle increase, the transmittance decreases. The transmittance of flat-topped beams increases when the number of beams, source size or the wavelength increases. For the annular beam, when the outer/inner beam size ratio is kept constant, larger source sizes yield larger transmittance values. Transmittance of the thicker annular beams is found to be larger than the transmittance of the thinner annular beams.

Primordial star clusters at extreme magnification

Gravitationally lensed galaxies with magnification ~10-100 are routinely detected at high redshifts, but magnifications significantly higher than this are hampered by a combination of low probability and large source sizes. Magnifications of ~1000 may nonetheless be relevant in the case of intrinsically small, high-redshift objects with very high number densities. Here, we explore the prospects of detecting compact (< 10 pc), high-redshift (z > 7) Population III star clusters at such extreme magnifications in large-area surveys with planned telescopes like Euclid, WFIRST and WISH. We find that the planned WISH 100 sq. deg ultradeep survey may be able to detect a small number of such objects, provided that the total stellar mass of these star clusters is > 10000 solar masses. If candidates for such lensed Population III star clusters are found, follow-up spectroscopy of the surrounding nebula with the James Webb Space Telescope or groundbased Extremely Large Telescopes should be able to confirm the Population III nature of these objects. Multiband photometry of these objects with the James Webb Space Telescope also has the potential to confirm that the stellar initial mass function in these Population III star clusters is top-heavy, as supported by current simulations.

The dependence of the gravity effect in elliptic neutron guides on the source size

Elliptic neutron guides are expected to be widely used for construction of long neutron beamlines at the future European Spallation Source and other facilities due to their superiour transmission properties compared to conventional straight guides. At the same time, neutrons traveling long distances are subject to the action of gravity that can significantly modify their flight paths. In this work, the influence of gravity on a neutron beam propagating through elliptic guides is studied for the first time in a systematic way with Monte-Carlo simulations. It is shown that gravity leads to significant distortions of the phase space during propagation through long elliptic guides, but this effect can be recovered by a sufficiently large source size. The results of this analysis should be taken into account during design of long neutron instruments at the ESS and other facilities.

Sparse phase-stepping in two-dimensional x-ray phase contrast imaging.

We have developed a sparse phase-stepping (SPS) method for x-ray Talbot-Lau interferometry, which first constructs a SPS intensity pattern of fewer images than the conventional phase-stepping (PS) method and then fills the data gap with neighboring pixels for phase retrieval. The SPS method is highly beneficial in practice since the fundamental difference in spatial resolution between the SPS and PS methods becomes negligible due to the blur caused by an interferometer. The concept of the SPS method has been proved by the experiment using a small effective source size. Furthermore, the experiment using a large effective source size has verified that in practical situations the SPS method can reduce the required number of images for phase retrieval and still offer the retrieved images with as high a spatial resolution as the PS method.

Scintillation and BER for optimum sinusoidal Gaussian beams in weak non-Kolmogorov turbulence

The scintillation index and the average bit error rate (BER) are evaluated for the optimum sinusoidal Gaussian beams in weak non-Kolmogorov turbulence. The beam parameters that minimize the scintillation index and the average BER are stated and such beams are denoted as the optimum beams. For the collimated Gaussian, cos- and cosh-Gaussian beams, the scintillations increase as the power law exponent, α increases. Cos- and cosh-Gaussian beams that have larger absolute displacement parameters are found to exhibit larger scintillations especially at small α. Larger focal length and larger source size of cos-Gaussian beams induce reduction in the scintillations. When the propagation distance is large, the power law exponent is small and the source size is large, the scintillations of the optimum beams tend to decrease. Small power law exponent and large source size reduce the average BER. The optimum beam is shown to exhibit the smallest average BER for any α.

Scintillation analysis of hypergeometric Gaussian beam via phase screen method

We give a scintillation treatment of hypergeometric Gaussian beams via the use of random phase screens. In particular, we analyse the on-axis, point-like and aperture averaged power scintillation characteristics of this beam that cannot be undertaken easily by analytic means. Within the range of examined source and propagation parameters, our evaluations show that there will be less scintillation, with increasing hollowness at small source sizes and zero topological charge. At larger source sizes or topological charges, this is reversed and decreasing hollowness will reduce scintillation. More or less the same trend is observed for aperture averaging such that at small source sizes and zero topological charge, increased hollowness will result in lower scintillation. At larger source size and topological charges, there will be a transition from the case of smaller values of hollowness giving rise to less scintillation at smaller aperture openings to the case of larger values of hollowness giving rise to less scintillation at larger aperture openings. In general nonzero topological charges will produces more scintillations, both in on-axis and aperture averaged cases.

PROXIMA 2A – A New Fully Tunable Micro-focus Beamline for Macromolecular Crystallography

PROXIMA 2 is the first canted beamline at the French National Synchrotron Source SOLEIL, and it will provide two independent and tunable experimental stations, PX2-A & PX2-B, dedicated to macromolecular crystallography. The first station, PX2-A, is currently under construction. The source is an in-vacuum U24 undulator, and the optical layout includes a cryogenically cooled channel-cut Si[111] monochromator, a convex horizontal pre-focussing mirror (HPM) and a pair of focusing bimorph mirrors in Kirkpatrick-Baez (KB) configuration. This innovative optical scheme, harnesses a convex mirror to produce a virtual secondary source, which permits the KB mirrors to refocus the X-rays down to 5 μm from a relatively large horizontal source size. In fully focussed mode, the cross-section of the beam at the sample position will be approximately 5.0 μm × 3.5 μm (H×V FWHM) delivering a photon flux of 1×1013 – 4×1011 ph/s over the range of 5 – 15 keV with a desired positional stability better than 0.5 μm rms over several hours. To achieve such stability, the supports for the optical elements are designed to minimise the effects of vibrations transmitted from the surroundings, and accelerometers will be mounted in situ to monitor these effects. For long term drifts, the experimental hutch is temperature controlled to within 0.1°C, and a preparation laboratory acts as a buffer zone. Two types of X-ray Beam Position Monitors (XBPMs), single crystal CVD diamond and thin foil-diode devices, have been developed to improve their robustness and signal-noise ratio. Due to the limitations of space, three compact and modular "slit boxes" have been designed: These vessels house a variety of beam conditioning elements such as slits, XBPMs, attenuators, imagers and a fast shutter. At the end of the station, a micro-diffractometer and an area detector (ADSC Q315) have already been installed, and the first X-ray diffraction data with unfocussed beam from test crystals are of excellent quality.

BER of annular and flat-topped beams in strong turbulence

The average bit error rate (<BER>) of annular and flat-topped beams are evaluated in strong turbulence. In this respect, our earlier results on the scintillation indices obtained by the unified Rytov method are employed and the intensity is taken to be gamma–gamma distributed. For comparison purposes, <BER> for the log-normal intensity distribution is also evaluated. It is found that for the annular beams, the ones that are thinner, possessing smaller ratio of primary to secondary beam size, and smaller focal lengths will have smaller average BER in strong turbulence. For the flat-topped beams, the ones that are flatter and possessing large source sizes have smaller average BER in strong turbulence. Large average SNR substantially reduces the average BER in weak and moderate turbulence, whereas in strong turbulence, the average BER stays at the same value no matter what the average SNR is. Comparison of the log-normal and the gamma–gamma statistics for the intensity shows that the average BER will be higher for the log-normal case when the average SNR is small and the reverse relationship holds at large average SNR. For both the gamma–gamma and the log-normal intensity distributions, <BER> obtained for the annular and the flat-topped beams in strong turbulence is advantageous over the Gaussian beam <BER> values.

Optimization of in-line phase contrast particle image velocimetry using a laboratory x-ray source

Phase contrast particle image velocimetry (PIV) using a laboratory x-ray microfocus source is investigated using a numerical model. Phase contrast images of 75 μm air bubbles, embedded within water exhibiting steady-state vortical flow, are generated under the paraxial approximation using a tungsten x-ray spectrum at 30 kVp. Propagation-based x-ray phase-contrast speckle images at a range of source–object and object–detector distances are generated, and used as input into a simulated PIV measurement. The effects of source-size-induced penumbral blurring, together with the finite dynamic range of the detector, are accounted for in the simulation. The PIV measurement procedure involves using the cross-correlation between temporally sequential speckle images to estimate the transverse displacement field for the fluid. The global error in the PIV reconstruction, for the set of simulations that was performed, suggests that geometric magnification is the key parameter for designing a laboratory-based x-ray phase-contrast PIV system. For the modeled system, x-ray phase-contrast PIV data measurement can be optimized to obtain low error (&amp;lt;0.2 effective pixel of the detector) in the system with magnification lying in the range between 1.5 and 3. For large effective pixel size (&amp;gt;15 μm) of the detector, high geometric magnification (&amp;gt;2.5) is desired, while for large source size system (FWHM &amp;gt; 30 μm), low magnification (&amp;lt;1.5) would be suggested instead. The methods developed in this paper can be applied to optimizing phase-contrast velocimetry using a variety of laboratory x-ray sources.

Non-Kolmogorov spectrum scintillation aspects of dark hollow and flat topped beams

The scintillation aspects of dark hollow (DH) and flat topped (FT) beams propagating in the turbulent atmosphere containing the non-Kolmogorov power spectrum are investigated. It is found that low scintillations will occur when the exponent of the power spectrum is just above the numeric value of 3. Initially, the rises in scintillations will take place as the exponent becomes larger, but later the scintillation reductions will be experienced as the exponent grows further, eventually minimum scintillations will be seen when the exponent has reached the value of 4. This will be the case, for scintillation variations against propagation distance, source size, wavelength, inner and outer scales of turbulence. Furthermore, it is found that at the small source sizes, DH beams will offer less scintillation than FT beams, while at the large source sizes, the reverse will be applicable.