1,721,279 research outputs found

    Euclid commissioning results: the near infrared spectrometer and photometer (NISP) signal detection chain

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    Euclid, the M2 mission of the ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program, aims to explore the Dark Universe by conducting a survey of approximately 14 000 deg2 and creating a 3D map of the observable Universe of around 1.5 billion galaxies up to redshift z ∼ 2. This mission uses two main cosmological probes: weak gravitational lensing and galaxy clustering, leveraging the high-resolution imaging capabilities of the Visual Imaging (VIS) instrument and the photometric and spectroscopic measurements of the Near Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP) instrument. This paper details some of the activities performed during the commissioning phase of the NISP instrument, following the launch of Euclid on July 1, 2023. In particular, we focus on the calibration of the NISP detectors’ baseline and on the performance of a parameter provided by the onboard data processing (called NISP Quality Factor, QF) in detecting the variability of the flux of cosmic rays hitting the NISP detectors. The NISP focal plane hosts sixteen Teledyne HAWAII-2RG (H2RG) detectors. The calibration of these detectors includes the baseline optimization, which optimizes the dynamic range and stability of the signal acquisition. Additionally, this paper investigates the impact of Solar proton flux on the NISP QF, particularly during periods of high Solar activity. Applying a selection criterion on the QF (called NISP QF Proxy), the excess counts are used to monitor the amount of charged particles hitting the NISP detectors. A good correlation was found between the Solar proton flux component above 30 MeV and the NISP QF Proxy, revealing that NISP detectors are not subject to the lower energy components, which are absorbed by the shielding provided by the spacecraft

    Design of the life signature detection polarimeter LSDpol

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    Many biologically produced chiral molecules such as amino acids and sugars show a preference for left or right handedness (homochirality). Light reflected by biological materials such as algae and leaves therefore exhibits a small amount of circular polarization that strongly depends on wavelength. Our Life Signature Detection polarimeter (LSDpol) is optimized to measure these signatures of life. LSDpol is a compact spectropolarimeter concept with no moving parts that instantaneously measures linear and circular polarization averaged over the field of view with a sensitivity of better than 10-4. We expect to launch the instrument into orbit after validating its performance on the ground and from aircraft. LSDpol is based on a spatially varying quarter-wave retarder that is implemented with a patterned liquid-crystal. It is the first optical element to maximize the polarimetric sensitivity. Since this pattern as well as the entrance slit of the spectrograph have to be imaged onto the detector, the slit serves as the aperture, and an internal field stop limits the field of view. The retarder's fast axis angle varies linearly along one spatial dimension. A fixed quarter-wave retarder combined with a polarization grating act as the disperser and the polarizing beam-splitter. Circular and linear polarization are thereby encoded at incompatible modulation frequencies across the spectrum, which minimizes the potential cross-talk from linear into circular polarization.Astrodynamics & Space Mission

    Developing compact and innovative dual-band thermal imagers using multi-layer diffractive optical elements

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    Infrared (IR) remote sensing offers a huge range of applications, mostly addressing make-or-break issues of our century (wildfires, irrigation monitoring, etc.). Multispectral spaceborne instruments require bulky optical systems designed for a specific scientific goal and have very low revisit time. Thereby, constellations of small satellites embarking compact dual-band IR imagers are very promising solutions. We study a dual-band IR diffractive element called multilayer diffractive optical elements (MLDOE). It replaces classical diffractive lenses (DOEs) that cannot operate simultaneously in two distinct wavebands. An MLDOE design is studied using the rigorous finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. Its performance at the ”best” focal plane is deduced using free-space Fourier optics wave propagation. The presented MLDOE design has over 80% Strehl ratio in both bands, outperforming classical DOEs. Its chromatic focal shift has a negative variation, in opposition to refractive lenses, allowing efficient and compact dual-band hybrid lenses.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Spaceborne Instrumentatio

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more sophisticated methods

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    The atmospheric remote-sensing infrared exoplanet large-survey (Ariel) sensitivity and performance

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    The Ariel space mission will characterize spectroscopically the atmospheres of a large and diverse sample of hundreds of exoplanets. Targets will be chosen to cover a wide range of masses, densities, equilibrium temperatures, and host stellar types to study the physical mechanisms behind the observed diversity in the population of known exoplanets. With a 1-m class telescope, Ariel will detect the atmospheric signatures from the small, < 100 ppm, modulation induced by exoplanets on the bright host-star signals, using transit, eclipse, and phase curve spectroscopy. Three photometric and three spectroscopic channels, with Nyquist sampled focal planes, simultaneously cover the 0.5-7.8 micron region of the electromagnetic spectrum, to maximize observing efficiency and to reduce systematics of astrophysical and instrumental origin. This contribution reviews the predicted Ariel performance as well as the design solutions implemented that will allow Ariel to reach the required sensitivity and control of systematics
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