A new method of detecting interferogram in differential phase-contrast imaging system based on special structured x-ray scintillator screen

An x-ray scintillator screen with a special structure, functioning as detector and analyser grating, was proposed for collecting the interferogram of differential phase contrast imaging without absorption grating and difficulty of fabrication by a state of the art technique. On the basis of phase grating diffraction, a detecting model of the scintillator screen was built for analysing the phase and absorption information of objects. According to the analysis, a new method of phase retrievals based on two-images and the optimal structure of screen were presented.

Effect of electromagnetic parameters on melt flow and heat transfer of AZ80 Mg alloy during differential phase electromagnetic DC casting based on numerical simulation

Based on multi-physical field coupling numerical simulation method,magnetic field distribution,melt flow,and heat transfer behavior of aΦ300 mm AZ80 alloy billet during differential phase electromagnetic DC casting(DP-EMC)with different electromagnetic parameters were studied.The results demonstrate that the increase in current intensity only changes the magnitude but does not change the Lorentz force's distribution characteristics.The maximum value of the Lorentz force increases linearly followed by an increase in current intensity.As the frequency increases,the Lorentz force's r component remains constant,and the z component decreases slightly.The change in current intensity correlates with the melt oscillation and convection intensity positively,as well as the liquid sump temperature uniformity.It does not mean that the higher the electric current,the better the metallurgical quality of the billet.A lower frequency is beneficial to generate a more significant melt flow and velocity fluctuation,which is helpful to create a more uniform temperature field.Appropriate DP-EMC parameters for aΦ300 mm AZ80 Mg alloy are 10-20 Hz frequency and 80-100 A current intensity.

A Uniform Reference Line Based Differential Phase Shifter with Wide Phase Range and Wide Bandwidth

To implement the multi-way phase shifting maintaining the compact size and simplicity in structure,the uniform reference line concept was proposed for the differential phase shifter.However,the performance in bandwidth and phase range deteriorates with the additional requirements considered.To solve this problem,a quarter wavelength coupled line section loaded with open/short stubs is proposed as the basic element to implement the main line and also reference line.According to the theoretical analysis on this basic element,the loading stubs can be used to control the phase shift and also the phase slope of the basic element without affecting the amplitude property.With the predetermined parameters of the uniform reference line,only two parameters are required for the implementation of different differential phase shifts.This demonstrates the high simplicity of the proposed structure.For demonstration,an eight-way differential phase shifter operating at 3.5 GHz was implemented using the vertically installed planar structure.The prototype was further fabricated and measured.Good agreement between simulation and measurement can be observed.The implemented phase shifter can provide a wide range of phase shifting values from 45°to 315°with reference to the uniform reference line over a relative bandwidth of 62.3%.

Round-Robin Differential Phase Shift with Heralded Single-Photon Source

Round-robin differential phase shift （RRDPS） is a novel quantum key distribution protocol which can bound information leakage without monitoring signal disturbance. In this work, to decrease the effect of the vacuum component in a weak coherent pulses source, we employ a practical decoy-state scheme with heralded singlephoton source for the RRDPS protocol and analyze the performance of this method. In this scheme, only two decoy states are needed and the yields of single-photon state and multi-photon states, as well as the bit error rates of each photon states, can be estimated. The final key rate of this scheme is bounded and simulated over transmission distance. The results show that the two-decoy-state method with heralded single-photon source performs better than the two-decoy-state method with weak coherent pulses.

A new broadband differential phase shifter fabricated using a novel CRLH structure

Broadband phase shifters are mostly proposed and fabricated based on the scheme proposed by Shiffman, which uses a coupled line with far ends connected together and a uniform transmission line to give a differential phase shift. Based on the unique dispersion property of the composite right/left-handed (CRLH) metamaterial structure, a new configuration is presented in this paper for fabricating the broadband differential phase shifter, which employs a novel CRLH metamaterial structure as one of the differential phase-shift arms, instead of the conventional coupled line. The new circuit can achieve a phase shift of 90° in an operational bandwidth as broad as one octave and its phase deviations are quite small. An original design of the novel broadband phase shifter is presented, in which the artificial CRLH structure was implemented by microstrip quasi-lumped elements. Both the simulated and measured results of the 90° broadband differential phase shifter are presented.

Method for differential phase delay resolution of phase referencing VLBI technique and its experimental verification

The phase referencing Very Long Baseline Interferometry(VLBI)technique is a newly developed tool to measure the angular position of a deep space exploration probe in the plane-of-the-sky.Through alternating observations between the probe and a nearby reference radio source,their accurate relative angular separation can be obtained from the radio images generated by this technique.To meet the requirements of the current orbit determination software,differential delay should be firstly derived from those radio images.A method to resolve the differential phase delay from the phase referencing VLBI technique is proposed in this paper,and as well the mathematical model for differential phase ambiguity resolution is established.This method is verified with practical measurement data from the Chang’E-3 mission.The differential phase delay between the Chang’E-3 lander and rover was derived from the phase referencing VLBI measurements,and was then imported into the Shanghai astronomical observatory Orbit Determination Program(SODP)to calculate the position of the rover relative to the lander on the lunar surface.The results are consistent with those acquired directly from radio images,indicating that the differential phase ambiguity has been correctly resolved.The proposed method can be used to promote applications of the phase referencing VLBI technique in future lunar or deep space explorations,and more accurate orbit determination becomes promising.

Lower bound for the security of differential phase shift quantum key distribution against a one-pulse-attack

Quantum key distribution is the art of sharing secret keys between two distant parties, and has attracted a lot of attention due to its unconditional security. Compared with other quantum key distribution protocols, the differential phase shift quantum key distribution protocol has higher efficiency and simpler apparatus. Unfortunately, the uncondi- tional security of differential phase shift quantum key distribution has not been proved. Utilizing the sharp continuity of the von Neuman entropy and some basic inequalities, we estimate the upper bound for the eavesdropper Eve＇s infor- mation. We then prove the lower bound for the security of the differential phase shift quantum key distribution protocol against a one-pulse attack with Devatak-Winter＇s secret key rate formula.

Relative position determination of a lunar rover using the biased differential phase delay of same-beam VLBI

When only data transmission signals with a bandwidth of 1 MHz exist in the rover, the position can be obtained using the differential group delay data of the same-beam very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). The relative position between a lunar rover and a lander can be determined with an error of several hundreds of meters. When the guidance information of the rover is used to determine relative position, the rover's wheel skid behavior and integral movement may influence the accuracy of the determined position. This paper proposes a new method for accurately determining relative position. The differential group delay and biased differential phase delay are obtained from the same-beam VLBI observation, while the modified biased differential phase delay is obtained using the statistic mean value of the differential group delay and the biased phase delay as basis. The small bias in the modified biased phase delay is estimated together with other parameters when the relative position of the rover is calculated. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed using the same-beam VLBI observation data of SELENE. The radio sources onboard the rover and the lander are designed for same-beam VLBI observations. The results of the simulations of the differential delay of the same-beam VLBI observation between the rover and the lander show that the differential delay is sensitive to relative position. An approach to solving the relative position and a strategy for tracking are also introduced. When the lunar topography data near the rover are used and the observations are scheduled properly, the determined relative position of the rover may be nearly as accurate as that solved using differential phase delay data.

A Comparison of De-noising Methods for Differential Phase Shift and Associated Rainfall Estimation

Measured differential phase shift ΦDP is known to be a noisy unstable polarimetric radar variable, such that the quality of ΦDP data has direct impact on specific differential phase shift KDP estimation, and subsequently, the KDP-based rainfall estimation. Over the past decades, many ΦDP de-noising methods have been developed; however, the de-noising effects in these methods and their impact on KDP-based rainfall estimation lack comprehensive comparative analysis. In this study, simulated noisy ΦDP data were generated and de-noised by using several methods such as finite-impulse response（FIR）, Kalman, wavelet,traditional mean, and median filters. The biases were compared between KDP from simulated and observedΦDP radial profiles after de-noising by these methods. The results suggest that the complicated FIR, Kalman,and wavelet methods have a better de-noising effect than the traditional methods. After ΦDP was de-noised,the accuracy of the KDP-based rainfall estimation increased significantly based on the analysis of three actual rainfall events. The improvement in estimation was more obvious when KDP was estimated with ΦDP de-noised by Kalman, FIR, and wavelet methods when the average rainfall was heavier than 5 mm h-1.However, the improved estimation was not significant when the precipitation intensity further increased to a rainfall rate beyond 10 mm h-1. The performance of wavelet analysis was found to be the most stable of these filters.

Undersampled differential phase shift on-off keying for optical camera communications

OCC(Optical Camera Communication)has been proposed in recent years as a new technique for visible light communications.This paper introduces the implementation and experimental demonstration of an OCC system.Phase uncertainty and phase slipping caused by camera sampling are the two major challenges for OCC.In this paper,we propose a novel modulation scheme called undersampled differential phase shift on–off keying to encode binary data bits without exhibiting any flicker to human eyes.The phase difference between two consecutive samples conveys one-bit information,which can be decoded by a low-frame-rate camera receiver.Error detection techniques are introduced to enhance the reliability of the system.We present the hardware and software design of the proposed system,which is implemented with a Xilinx FPGA and a Logitech commercial camera.Experimental results demonstrate that a bit-error rate of 10−5 can be achieved with 7.15 mW received signal power over a link distance of 15 cm.

Applications of Wavelet Analysis in Differential Propagation Phase Shift Data De-noising

Using numerical simulation data of the forward differential propagation shift （ΦDP） of polarimetric radar,the principle and performing steps of noise reduction by wavelet analysis are introduced in detail.Profiting from the multiscale analysis,various types of noises can be identified according to their characteristics in different scales,and suppressed in different resolutions by a penalty threshold strategy through which a fixed threshold value is applied,a default threshold strategy through which the threshold value is determined by the noise intensity,or a ΦDP penalty threshold strategy through which a special value is designed for ΦDP de-noising.Then,a hard-or soft-threshold function,depending on the de-noising purpose,is selected to reconstruct the signal.Combining the three noise suppression strategies and the two signal reconstruction functions,and without loss of generality,two schemes are presented to verify the de-noising effect by dbN wavelets：（1） the penalty threshold strategy with the soft threshold function scheme （PSS）; （2） the ΦDP penalty threshold strategy with the soft threshold function scheme （PPSS）.Furthermore,the wavelet de-noising is compared with the mean,median,Kalman,and finite impulse response （FIR） methods with simulation data and two actual cases.The results suggest that both of the two schemes perform well,especially when ΦDP data are simultaneously polluted by various scales and types of noises.A slight difference is that the PSS method can retain more detail,and the PPSS can smooth the signal more successfully.

A new method for resolving phase ambiguity in radio interferometry using Earth rotation synthesis

As a key technique in deep space navigation, radio interferometry can be used to determine the accurate location of a spacecraft in the plane-of-sky by measuring its signal propagation time delay between two remote stations. To improve the measurement accuracy, differential phase delay without phase ambiguity is usually desired. Aiming at the difficulties of resolving phase ambiguity with few stations and narrowband downlink signals, a new method is proposed in this work by taking advantage of the Earth rotation. The high accurate differential phase delay between the spacecraft and a calibrator can be achieved not only in the in-beam observation mode but also in the out-of-beam observation mode. In this paper we firstly built the model of phase ambiguity resolution. Then, main measurement errors of the model are analyzed, which is followed by tests and validations of the model and method using the tracking data of the Cassini mission and Chang'E-3 mission. The results show that the phase ambiguities can be correctly resolved to generate a 10-picosecond level accuracy differential phase delay. Angular measurement accuracy of the Cassini reaches the milli-arc-second level, and the relative position accuracy between the Chang'E-3 rover and lander reaches the meter level.

Differential quadrature time element method for structural dynamics

An accurate and efficient differential quadrature time element method （DQTEM） is proposed for solving ordi- nary differential equations （ODEs）, the numerical dissipation and dispersion of DQTEM is much smaller than that of the direct integration method of single/multi steps. Two methods of imposing initial conditions are given, which avoids the tediousness when derivative initial conditions are imposed, and the numerical comparisons indicate that the first method, in which the analog equations of initial displacements and velocities are used to directly replace the differential quadra- ture （DQ） analog equations of ODEs at the first and the last sampling points, respectively, is much more accurate than the second method, in which the DQ analog equations of initial conditions are used to directly replace the DQ analog equations of ODEs at the first two sampling points. On the contrary to the conventional step-by-step direct integration schemes, the solutions at all sampling points can be obtained simultaneously by DQTEM, and generally, one differential quadrature time element may be enough for the whole time domain. Extensive numerical comparisons validate the effi- ciency and accuracy of the proposed method.

EQUILIBRIUM PHASE DIAGRAMS IN SYSTEM CuO-PbO-Ag

Phase equilibrium in the ternary CuO-PbO-Ag system has been investigated using differential thermal analysis(DTA),thermogravimetry(TG),scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and X-ray diffraction(XRD) techniques.In the ternary CuO-PbO-Ag system,there is a eutectic reaction CuO+PbO+Ag=L at 750℃ and a composition of 12.04 mol.% Ag,16.35 mol.% CuO and 71.61 mol.% PbO.Two miscibility gaps near the two binary tie lines PbO-Ag and CuO-Ag were detected. No binary or ternary compound was detected in the ternary system.SEM and energy dispersive spectroscopy(EDS) confirm the presence of two liquid phases and the eutectic point.

Numerical modeling of DPSK pressure signals and their transmission characteristics in mud channels

A numerical model and transmission characteristic analysis of DPSK （differential phase shift keying） pressure signals in mud channels is introduced. With the control logic analysis of the rotary valve mud telemetry, a logical control signal is built from a Gate function sequence according to the binary symbols of transmitted data and a phase-shift function is obtained by integrating the logical control signal. A mathematical model of the DPSK pressure signal is built based on principles of communications by modulating carrier phase with the phase-shift function and a numerical simulation of the pressure wave is implemented with the mathematical model by MATLAB programming. Considering drillpipe pressure and drilling fluid temperature profile along drillpipes, the drillpipe of a vertical well is divided into a number of sections. With water-based drilling fluids, the impacts of travel distance, carrier frequency, drillpipe size, and drilling fluids on the signal transmission were studied by signal transmission characteristic analysis for all the sections. Numerical calculation results indicate that the influences of the viscosity of drilling fluids and volume fraction of gas in drilling fluids on the DPSK signal transmission are more notable than the others and the signal will distort in waveform with differential attenuations of the signal frequent component.

Macro-physical field of large diameter magnesium alloy billet electromagnetic direct-chill casting:A comparative study

A comprehensive two-dimensional axisymmetric mathematical model that couples transient electromagnetic force with fluid flow,heat transfer,and solidification was established to describe the interaction of multiphysics field during DC casting.The melt flow,heat transfer,and solidification characteristics under differential phase pulse magnetic field and differential phase low-frequency electromagnetic field(DP-PMF and DP-LFEF)were numerically investigated by means of numerical simulation during electromagnetic direct-chill(DC)casting of AZ31 alloy at the same casting conditions.The effects of differential phase electromagnetic fields on Lorentz forces distributions,melt flow,heat transfer,and liquid sump shape were discussed systematically.Based on measured current waveform,the results were compared with those obtained without magnetic field(MF)and under conventional pulse magnetic field(PMF)and low-frequency electromagnetic field(LFEF)under the same conditions.The results show that the application of magnetic fields can significantly change the solidification process of DC casting.Differential phase magnetic fields(DP-LFEF and DP-PMF)can effectively reduce the temperature of the melt in the liquid sump,and the shallower liquid sump depth can be obtained under the differential phase magnetic fields.A large velocity vibration amplitude and a lower temperature are available simultaneously under DP-PMF,resulting in more uniform temperature distribution.

Cost Effective Scheme for OLT in Next Generation Passive Optical Access Network Based on Noise Free Optical Multi Carrier

We propos e a cos t-effective multi-carrier generation technique which minimizes the passive optical access network(PON) costs. In this study replacement of laser array with multi-carrier source at optical line terminal(OLT) side in PON is addressed. With 25-GHz frequency spacing, the generated optical multi-carriers exhibit good tone to noise ratio(TNR) i. e. above 20 d B, and least amplitude difference i. e. 1.5d B. At the OLT, multi-carriers signal based multiplexed differential phase shift keying(DPSK) data from all the channels each having 10 Gbps for downlink is transmitted through 25 km single mode fiber. While the transmitted information is retrieved at optical network unit(ONU), part of the downlink signal is re-modulated using intensity modulated(IM) on-off keying(OOK) for upstream transmission at 10-Gbps. Simulation results are in good agreement with the theoretical analysis, showing error free transmission in downlink and uplink with 10 Gbps symmetric data rate at each channel. The receivedpower, both for uplink and downlink transmission, is adequate for all channels at BER of 10-9 with minimum power penalties. Power budget is calculated for different splitting ratios showing excellent system margins for any unseen losses. The proposed setup provides a cost-effective way minimizing transmission losses, and providing greater system's margin in PON architecture.

Performance of M-QAM, M-DPSK and M-PSK with MRC diversity in a Nakagami-m fading channel

The nature of a wireless communication channel is very unpredictable. To design a good communication link, it is required to know the statistical model of the channel accurately. The average symbol error probability(ASER) was analyzed for different modulation schemes. A unified analytical framework was presented to obtain closed-form solutions for calculating the ASER of M-ary differential phase-shift keying(M-DPSK), coherent M-ary phase-shift keying(M-PSK), and quadrature amplitude modulation(QAM) over single or multiple Nakagami-m fading channels. Moreover, the ASER was estimated and evaluated by using the maximal ratio-combining(MRC) diversity technique. Simulation results show that an error rate of the fading channel typically depends on Nakagami parameters(m), space diversity(N), and symbol rate(M). A comparison between M-PSK, M-DPSK, and M-QAM modulation schemes was shown, and the results prove that M-ary QAM(M-QAM) demonstrates better performance compared to M-DPSK and M-PSK under all fading and non-fading conditions.

Solid–liquid equilibrium of dimethyl terephthalate(DMT), dimethyl isophthalate(DMI) and dimethyl phthalate(DMP) in melt crystallization process

The binary solid-liquid equilibrium of Dimethyl Terephthalate （DMT）, Dimethyl lsophthalate （DMI） and Dimeth- yl Phthalate （DMP） was investigated by experiment and differential scanning calorimetry （DSC）. The result demonstrated DMT/DMI and DMT/DMP systems are eutectic while DMI/DMP is a solid-solution system. The eutectic temperature of DMT/DMI system is 336.7 K and that of DMT/DMP is 271.1 K. Furthermore, a classical solid-liquid phase equilibrium model was used to fit the experimental data of the eutectic systems of DMT/DMI and DMT/ DMP and the theoretical model could describe the eutectic solid-liquid phase diagrams properly.

A sensitive method of determining optic axis azimuth based on laser feedback

A sensitive method to determine the optic axis azimuth of the birefringence element is presented, which is based on laser feedback. The phase difference between the two intensities in birefringence feedback changes with the angle between the optic axis of the birefringence element and laser original polarization. The phase difference is highly sensitive to the relative position of the optic axis and the laser original polarization. This method is used to highly precisely determine the optic axis azimuth, and is able to distinguish between the fast axis and the slow axis of the birefringence element. Theoretical analysis and experimental results are both demonstrated.