Spatial Variation Of Optical Properties Research Articles

Exploring the optical properties and molecular characteristics of dissolved organic matter in a large river-connected lake (Poyang Lake, China) using optical spectroscopy and FT-ICR MS analysis

River-connected lakes are complicated and dynamic ecosystems due to their distinctive hydrological pattern, which could significantly impact the generation, degradation, and transformation processes of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and further regulate DOM chemistry in lakes. However, the molecular compositions and characteristics of DOM in river-connected lakes are still poorly understood. Thus, here the spatial variations of optical properties and molecular characteristics of DOM in a large river-connected lake (Poyang Lake) were explored via spectroscopic techniques and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS). The results showed high degree of spatial heterogeneity of DOM chemistry (variations in DOC concentrations, optical parameters, and molecular compounds) in Poyang Lake, and the diversity at the molecular level was primarily caused by the heteroatom compounds (N- and S- containing). Compared with classic lakes and rivers, DOM compositions of the river-connected lake had distinctive characteristics (differences in the AImod and DBE values, and CHOS proportions). And the composition characteristics of DOM between the southern and northern parts of Poyang Lake were different (such as the lability and molecular compounds), suggesting the changes of hydrologic conditions may affect the DOM chemistry. In addition, various sources of DOM (autochthonous, allochthonous, and anthropogenic inputs) were identified agreeably based on optical properties and molecular compounds. Overall, this study first characterizes the DOM chemistry and reveals its spatial variations in Poyang Lake at the molecular level, which could improve our understanding of DOM in large river-connected lake systems. Further studies are encouraged to investigate the seasonal variations of DOM chemistry under different hydrologic conditions in Poyang Lake to enrich the knowledge of carbon cycling in river-connected lake systems.

Seasonal and spatial variations of optical properties of light absorbing carbon and its influencing factors in a typical polluted city in Yangtze River Delta, China

A major challenge in understanding radiative forcing of aerosols is accurately monitoring the light absorbing components and clarifying the main reasons of their spatial and temporal variations. In this study, the optical properties of light-absorbing carbon (LAC) in aerosols were measured over one year and the impacts from various emission sources and other influencing factors were analyzed at three sites (suburban (NJU), urban (PAES) and industrial (NUIST) in Nanjing, a typical polluted city in eastern China. With an improved method that combines online and offline techniques, we revised the multiple scattering correction factors and significantly reduced the uncertainty in measurement of absorption coefficients of black carbon (BC). The result reveals the necessity of developing the regional dependent factor for estimation of BC absorption. Relatively large mass absorption efficiency (MAE) of BC was found in summer and industrial region (NUIST), and the mixing state and coating relevant with secondary aerosol formation were the main reasons for such seasonal and site dependent variations. Distinct seasonal variations existed in the MAE of brown carbon (BrC) at NJU. In the winter, BrC from primary emissions such as diesel vehicles had a stronger absorption ability than that from secondary aerosol formation. The lowest MAE values of BrC appeared in summer, reflecting the formation of the non-absorbing biogenic secondary organic aerosol, and the effect of photobleaching. At the urban site PAES, BrC was expected to be mainly from gasoline vehicles and transport of biomass burning emissions, and had a stronger light absorbing ability than the other two sites. The results of simultaneous observations at NJU and PAES indicated that the formation of fresh secondary organic aerosol enhanced the optical absorption of BC but reduced that of BrC. The impacts of various influencing factors on LAC provided effective ways to alleviate their regional radiative forcing at the city scale.

Influence of defects and indium distribution on emission properties of thick In-rich InGaN layers grown by the DERI technique

We report on the spatial variation of optical properties in thick, In-rich InGaN layers, grown by a novel droplet elimination by radical beam irradiation (DERI) technique. The increase of layer thickness causes layer relaxation and results in double-peaked photoluminescence spectra. Spatially resolved measurements show that the defects in the strained sub-layer are distributed inhomogeneously. An increase in the layer thickness results in faster nonradiative recombination due to increasing density of nonradiative recombination centers, as evidenced by time-resolved free carrier absorption, and facilitates larger indium incorporation in the upper part of the layer.

Optimization of sensing parameters for a confocal signal-based wavefront corrector in microscopy

The accuracy of a confocal signal-based wavefront corrector depends on several parameters such as spatial variation of optical properties within the specimen, aberration magnitude and composition, time required for the correction, etc. Here, a numerical analysis has been performed with the aim to improve system performance. The goal of the search algorithm in a confocal signal-based wavefront corrector is to estimate the Zernike coefficients of the aberrations. High-magnitude aberrations show low Strehl ratios. Repeating the correction process results in higher Strehl ratios, but at the cost of increased time. An in-focus on-axis specimen results in higher Strehl ratio compared to an out-of-focus and off-optical-axis specimen. For all cases, the wavefront correction accuracy is better, when the diameter of the pinhole is chosen to be equal to that of the Airy disk. The lower limit on the pinhole size for detecting small magnitude aberrations is set by noise.

Remote sensing of shelf sea optical properties: Evaluation of a quasi-analytical approach for the Irish Sea

A quasi-analytical approach to deriving the coefficients of absorption, a(λ), backscattering, bb(λ), and the attenuation of planar irradiance, Kd(λ), from sub-surface remote sensing reflectance, rrs(λ), was investigated for the optically complex (Case 2) waters of the Irish Sea. The algorithms of Lee et al. (2005b, Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans, 110, C02017) were tuned for this region using radiative transfer calculations which incorporated locally determined specific inherent optical properties and constituent concentrations. The optimised algorithms were then applied to rrs spectra derived from profiling radiometry for 145 stations in the Irish Sea and adjacent waters, and their outputs compared with inherent optical property measurements for these stations. For the modelled data, recoveries of, a(λ), bb(λ) and Kd(λ) in six wavebands between 412nm and 667nm had mean percentage errors below 3% and standard deviations of around 6%. For in situ data, the algorithms tended to over-estimate a(λ) and under estimate bb(λ) relative to measured values, but a contributing factor could be the difficulty of measuring optical properties accurately in turbid waters. Retrieved values of Kd(λ) were highly correlated with those measured in situ, with regression slopes in the best-performing bands of 1.05 at 442nm (r2=0.91) and 0.92 at 488nm (r2=0.96). Three previously published relationships between satellite-derived optical properties at 490nm and euphotic depth, z1%PAR, produced roughly equivalent results with root mean square percentage errors, relative to in situ measurements, of around 20%. On the logarithmic scales usually employed in remote sensing, values of a(488), bb(488), Kd(488) and z1%PAR recovered using the optimised algorithms bore strong linear relationships to in situ measurements, with least square regression slopes in the range 0.89 to 1.03 and r2 values from 0.87 to 0.94. Application of these algorithms to a MODIS image of the Irish Sea in early summer (25th May 2013) revealed marked spatial variations in optical properties which were well correlated with known patterns of tidal stirring in the region.

Computer-aided diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis with optical tomography, Part 2: image classification

This is the second part of a two-part paper on the application of computer-aided diagnosis to diffuse optical tomography (DOT) for diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A comprehensive analysis of techniques for the classification of DOT images of proximal interphalangeal joints of subjects with and without RA is presented. A method for extracting heuristic features from DOT images was presented in Part 1. The ability of five classification algorithms to accurately label each DOT image as belonging to a subject with or without RA is analyzed here. The algorithms of interest are the k-nearest-neighbors, linear and quadratic discriminant analysis, self-organizing maps, and support vector machines (SVM). With a polynomial SVM classifier, we achieve 100.0% sensitivity and 97.8% specificity. Lower bounds for these results (at 95.0% confidence level) are 96.4% and 93.8%, respectively. Image features most predictive of RA are from the spatial variation of optical properties and the absolute range in feature values. The optimal classifiers are low-dimensional combinations (<7 features). These results underscore the high potential for DOT to become a clinically useful diagnostic tool and warrant larger prospective clinical trials to conclusively demonstrate the ultimate clinical utility of this approach.

Parameterization of the inherent optical properties of Murchison Bay, Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria, Africa's largest freshwater lake, suffers greatly from negative changes in biomass of species of fish and also from severe eutrophication. The continuing deterioration of Lake Victoria's ecological functions has great long-term consequences for the ecosystem benefits it provides to the countries bordering its shores. However, knowledge about temporal and spatial variations of optical properties and how they relate to lake constituents is important for a number of reasons such as remote sensing, modeling of underwater light fields, and long-term monitoring of lake waters. Based on statistical analysis of data from optical measurements taken during half a year of weekly cruises in Murchison Bay, Lake Victoria, we present a three-component model for the absorption and a two-component model for the scattering of light in the UV and the visible regions of the solar spectrum along with tests of their ranges of validity. The three-component input to the model for absorption is the chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), total suspended materials concentrations, and yellow substance absorption, while the two-component input to the model for scattering is the Chl-a concentration and total suspended materials.

Development of a High-Spectral-Resolution Lidar for Accurate Profiling of the Urban Aerosol Spatial Variations

A high-spectral-resolution lidar system at a wavelength of 355nm has been developed to accurately profiling of spatial variations of optical properties of aerosols, particularly for urban aerosols, Asian-dust and cirrus clouds, at Xi'an, China. Rayleigh- and Mie-scattering components by atmospheric molecule and aerosol respectively are separated by use of a high-resolution Fabry-Perot etalon. A vibration Raman line of water vapor at 407.5nm is filtered by a high-resolution grating for measurement of water vapor density. The solar background is blocked by using the grating and narrowband filter. As a result, the water vapor density and the main aerosol optical properties, such as the extinction coefficient, backscatter ratio/coefficient and optical depth, are obtained accurately without needs of assumption condition. Preliminary experiment shows that the system has the capability of making measurement up to a height of 15km for aerosol optical properties.

Method to compensate for fluctuations in optical power delivered to a near-field scanning optical microscope

Near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) is a scanning probe technique that uses a tapered optical fiber to probe optical characteristics of a surface in registry with topography. Light can either be injected into the sample or collected from the sample via the subwavelength aperture formed at the tip of the probe. While operating in injection mode, variations in the optical power delivered to the probe, and consequently variations in the optical flux through the aperture, place limits on the imaging of spatial variations in optical properties. We present a novel method utilizing bend loss in an optical fiber to correct for variations in the optical flux of the aperture of a NSOM probe.

Dedicated spectrophotometer for localized transmittance and reflectance measurements

A dedicated spectrophotometer is built to achieve localized transmittance and reflectance measurements. The spatial resolution can be chosen from 100 microm to 2 mm, the spectral resolution from 0.5 to 5 nm, and the spectral range from 400 to 1700 nm. This apparatus can be used to study the index and thickness uniformity on single layers to determine and optimize the characteristics of the deposition chamber. It can also be used to measure the spatial variations of optical properties of intended nonuniform coatings such as linear variable filters.