Дисертації з теми "Visible and near infrared"

The potential of different spectroscopic techniques for evaluating potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) quality was investigated. Spectral data in the wavelength range of 400-1750 nm were used to develop quality prediction models. The Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression was used for predicting the water content in potato samples. Water content was predicted with R2 ≥ 0.938.
A further study was conducted to find the best wavelengths for predicting water content using two methods, PLS and multiple linear regression. Wavelength ranges of 910-1020, 1129-1211, 1363-1403 nm were selected for samples without skin, while 700-900, 930-1050, 1100-1300, 1400-1550 nm were selected for samples with-skin. Weight prediction models were established using the predicted water content.
Visible spectroscopy was used for classifying shriveled and non-shriveled potatoes. The wavelength ranges best suited to such a classification were those of 442-452, 456-466, 641-651, and 684-694 nm, with accuracies as high as 94.28% and as low as 80%.

Egg is a fragile component within the human diet. Important changes occur in egg during storage. Prediction of these changes is critical in order to grade the eggs upon their quality and freshness. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the application of visible and near infrared spectroscopy as a non-destructive method for the assessment of egg quality and freshness. Therefore, visible and near infrared transmittance spectral data ranging from 350 to 2500 nm was collected with the help of a radiospectrometer on 360 freshly laid eggs. A partial least squares model was built in order to link the spectral data with the most widely used destructive methods, namely Haugh Units and albumen pH in terms of egg quality and the number of storage days in terms of egg freshness. The ability of maximum R2 method to select the relevant wavelengths in order to build a partial least squares (PLS) predictive model was investigated in the first part of the study. The results showed that this method improved the predictive ability of the model. Coefficient of determination (R2) and root mean square error of cross validation (RMSECV) were calculated in order to select sets of wavelengths to build the model with the best predictive ability. The second part of the study was based on building calibration models for predicting egg freshness in terms of number of storage day and egg quality in terms of Haugh Units and albumen pH. The results showed that the models had good predictive ability and R2 for number of storage days, Haugh Units and albumen pH were 0.89, 0.79 and 0.90, respectively. RMSECV for these three parameters were 1.65, 5.05 and 0.06, respectively.
L'oeuf est un composant fragile dans le regime alimentaire humain. Des changements importants arrivent dans loeuf pendant le stockage. La prediction de ces changements eat ctitique pour classer les oeufs selon leur qualité et leur fraîcheur. Les objectifs de cette étude étaient d'évaluer l'application méthode basée sur la spectroscopie visible et infra-rouge proche comme une method non destructive pour l'évaluation de la qualité et la fraîcheur des oeufs. Donc, la transmission visible et infra rouge proche des données spectrales aux limites de 350 à 2500 nm ont été exécutées à l'aide d'un radiosectromètre sur 360 oeufs récemment pondus. Un modèle des moindres carrées partiels (MCP) a été construit afin de lier les données soectrakes avec les méthodes destructives les plus utilisées, à savoir Unité de Haugh at le pH d'albumen en termes de qualité d'oeufs et le nombre de jours de stoclage en termees de fraîcheur d'oeufs. La première étude a traité de la capacité de la méthode maximum R2 à choisir les longueurs d'onde appropriées afin d'établir un modèle des moindres carrés partiels (MCP). Les résultats ont révélé combien cette méthode a été un bon outil dans le choix des longueurs d'onde instructives et dans l'amélioration de la capacité prédictive du modèle. Le coefficient de détermination (R2) et les erreurs de la racine carrée moyenne (ERCM) ont été calculés afin de choisir des ensembles de longueurs d'onde, lesquels aident le mieux à construire le modèle qui possède la meilleure capacité prédictive. La seconde étude a visé l'établissement des modèles prédictifs de la fraîcheur d'oeufs en fonction du n

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2004.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 40-42).
Comets have historically been defined as objects that experience the formation of a "head" (coma) or "tail" as ice and other volatiles that comprise their chemical makeup vaporize when they near the sun. Comets can lose this ability to form a coma or tail, however, through a variety of dynamical processes, creating objects that could chemically be comets but that do not fit the traditional definition. Thus, a new challenge has arisen to correctly define the properties that differentiate comets and asteroids. In this study, a number of cometary candidates were observed in visible and infrared wavelengths in an attempt to correctly classify them as asteroids or dormant or extinct comets. From this data, two groups of objects were identified: one group of possible cometary candidates, and one group of likely outer asteroid belt origin objects. From this and other studies, a broader picture of solar system dynamics can be achieved that will give much insight into not only the current dynamical processes that control interplanetary bodies, but also processes that were important in the formation and stratification of the solar system at its birth.
by Alison J. Klesman.
S.M.

The compositional distribution of asteroids provides clues to understanding solar system formation and evolutionary processes in the asteroid belt. The surface mineralogy and distribution of volatiles on asteroids is determined using visible and near-infrared spectroscopy. A revised asteroid taxonomy is developed which incorporates compositional information from the near-infrared asteroid spectra. A search is conducted for organic compounds on distant asteroids, thought to be most volatile-rich in composition. Our near-infrared spectroscopy of outer belt asteroids shows a trend of increasing red continuum slope with heliocentric distance. I interpret this trend as a compositional change, possibly due to increasing abundance of complex organic compounds on these more distant objects. I do not observe a CN absorption band near 2.2 $\mu$m, and conclude that the organics present are not primarily CN-bearing solids. The 3-$\mu$m water absorption band is not detected on distant D asteroids, but is seen on main belt D asteroids. This observation is consistent with the idea that D asteroids are volatile-rich, but the object must be heated in order to transform the silicates into hydrated minerals. No evidence of clay minerals is seen on any of the distant asteroids observed. The majority of the Jupiter Trojan asteroids have a uniform spectral appearance in spite of collisional processing, which implies that the dark red surface material is not a thin surface coating, but is representative of the bulk composition. Observations of near-Earth asteroids indicates a wide range of compositions, suggesting a variety of source regions. Two objects are detected which may contain hydrated minerals, a valuable resource in space. Three near-Earth asteroids are studied in detail, revealing a range of pyroxene chemistry and olivine content inconsistent with ordinary chondrite composition. The occurrence of spectral variability, and implied compositional inhomogeneity is approximately 20%, and on spatial scales as small as tens of meters. This observation implies that asteroids are geologically complex, not chemically uniform, as is often assumed in meteorite studies.

Biometric Recognition refers to the automatic identification of a person based on his or her anatomical characteristic or modality (i.e., fingerprint, palmprint, face) or behavioural (i.e., signature) characteristic. It is a fundamental key issue in any process concerned with security, shared resources, network transactions among many others. Arises as a fundamental problem widely known as recognition, and becomes a must step before permission is granted. It is supposed that protects key resources by only allowing those resources to be used by users that have been granted authority to use or to have access to them. Biometric systems can operate in verification mode, where the question to be solved is Am I who I claim I am? or in identification mode where the question is Who am I? Scientific community has increased its efforts in order to improve performance of biometric systems. Depending on the application many solutions go in the way of working with several modalities or combining different classification methods. Since increasing modalities require some user inconvenience many of these approaches will never reach the market. For example working with iris, face and fingerprints requires some user effort in order to help acquisition. This thesis addresses hand-based biometric system in a thorough way. The main contributions are in the direction of a new multi-spectral hand-based image database and methods for performance improvement. The main contributions are: A) The first multi-spectral hand-based image database from both hand faces: palmar and dorsal. Biometric database are a precious commodity for research, mainly when it offers something new like visual (VIS), near infrared (NIR) and thermography (TIR) images at a time. This database with a length of 100 users and 10 samples per user constitute a good starting point to check algorithms and hand suitability for recognition. B) In order to correctly deal with raw hand data, some image preprocessing steps are necessary. Three different segmentation phases are deployed to deal with VIS, NIR and TIR images specifically. Some of the tough questions to address: overexposed images, ring fingers and the cuffs, cold finger and noise image. Once image segmented, two different approaches are prepared to deal with the segmented data. These two approaches called: Holistic and Geometric define the main focus to extract the feature vector. These feature vectors can be used alone or can be combined in some way. Many questions can be stated: e.g. which approach is better for recognition?, Can fingers alone obtain better performance than the whole hand? and Is thermography hand information suitable for recognition due to its thermoregulation properties? A complete set of data ready to analyse, coming from the holistic and geometric approach have been designed and saved to test. Some innovative geometric approach related to curvature will be demonstrated. C) Finally the Biometric Dispersion Matcher (BDM) is used in order to explore how it works under different fusion schemes, as well as with different classification methods. It is the intention of this research to contrast what happen when using other methods close to BDM like Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). At this point, some interesting questions will be solved, e.g. by taking advantage of the finger segmentation (as five different modalities) to figure out if they can outperform what the whole hand data can teach us.
El Reconeixement Biomètric fa referència a la identi cació automàtica de persones fent us d'alguna característica o modalitat anatòmica (empremta digital) o d'alguna característica de comportament (signatura). És un aspecte fonamental en qualsevol procés relacionat amb la seguretat, la compartició de recursos o les transaccions electròniques entre d'altres. És converteix en un pas imprescindible abans de concedir l'autorització. Aquesta autorització, s'entén que protegeix recursos clau, permeten així, que aquests siguin utilitzats pels usuaris que han estat autoritzats a utilitzar-los o a tenir-hi accés. Els sistemes biomètrics poden funcionar en veri cació, on es resol la pregunta: Soc jo qui dic que soc? O en identi cació on es resol la qüestió: Qui soc jo? La comunitat cientí ca ha incrementat els seus esforços per millorar el rendiment dels sistemes biomètrics. En funció de l'aplicació, diverses solucions s'adrecen a treballar amb múltiples modalitats o combinant diferents mètodes de classi cació. Donat que incrementar el número de modalitats, representa a la vegada problemes pels usuaris, moltes d'aquestes aproximacions no arriben mai al mercat. La tesis contribueix principalment en tres grans àrees, totes elles amb el denominador comú següent: Reconeixement biometric a través de les mans. i) La primera d'elles constitueix la base de qualsevol estudi, les dades. Per poder interpretar, i establir un sistema de reconeixement biomètric prou robust amb un clar enfocament a múltiples fonts d'informació, però amb el mínim esforç per part de l'usuari es construeix aquesta Base de Dades de mans multi espectral. Les bases de dades biomètriques constitueixen un recurs molt preuat per a la recerca; sobretot si ofereixen algun element nou com es el cas. Imatges de mans en diferents espectres electromagnètics: en visible (VIS), en infraroig (NIR) i en tèrmic (TIR). Amb un total de 100 usuaris, i 10 mostres per usuari, constitueix un bon punt de partida per estudiar i posar a prova sistemes multi biomètrics enfocats a les mans. ii) El segon bloc s'adreça a les dues aproximacions existents en la literatura per a tractar les dades en brut. Aquestes dues aproximacions, anomenades Holística (tracta la imatge com un tot) i Geomètrica (utilitza càlculs geomètrics) de neixen el focus alhora d'extreure el vector de característiques. Abans de tractar alguna d'aquestes dues aproximacions, però, és necessària l'aplicació de diferents tècniques de preprocessat digital de la imatge per obtenir les regions d'interès desitjades. Diferents problemes presents a les imatges s'han hagut de solucionar de forma original per a cadascuna de les tipologies de les imatges presents: VIS, NIR i TIR. VIS: imatges sobre exposades, anells, mànigues, braçalets. NIR: Ungles pintades, distorsió en forma de soroll en les imatges TIR: Dits freds La segona àrea presenta aspectes innovadors, ja que a part de segmentar la imatge de la ma, es segmenten tots i cadascun dels dits (feature-based approach). Així aconseguim contrastar la seva capacitat de reconeixement envers la ma de forma completa. Addicionalment es presenta un conjunt de procediments geomètrics amb la idea de comparar-los amb els provinents de l'extracció holística. La tercera i última àrea contrasta el procediment de classi cació anomenat Biometric Dispersion Matcher (BDM) amb diferents situacions. La primera relacionada amb l'efectivitat respecte d'altres mètode de reconeixement, com ara l'Anàlisi Lineal Discriminant (LDA) o bé mètodes com KNN o la regressió logística. Les altres situacions que s'analitzen tenen a veure amb múltiples fonts d'informació, quan s'apliquen tècniques de normalització i/o estratègies de combinació (fusió) per millorar els resultats. Els resultats obtinguts no deixen lloc per a la confusió, i són certament prometedors en el sentit que posen a la llum la importància de combinar informació complementària per obtenir rendiments superiors.

Fog and haze can have a dramatic impact on vision systems for land and sea vehicles. The impact of such conditions on infrared images is not as severe as for standard images. By fusing images from two cameras, one ordinary and one near-infrared camera, a complete dehazing system with colour preservation can be achieved. Applying several different algorithms to an image set and evaluating the results, the most suitable image fusion algoritm has been identified. Using an FPGA, a programmable integrated circuit, a crucial part of the algorithm has been implemented. It is capable of producing processed images 30 times faster than a laptop computer. This implementation lays the foundation of a real-time dehazing system and provides a significant part of the full solution. The results show that such a system can be accomplished with an FPGA.

This work describes observations of Saturn's atmosphere in the visible and near infrared (450-1000 nm) including four hydrogen quadrupole lines, 17 methane absorption bands ranging over three orders of magnitude in absorption strength, an ammonia absorption band, and the absolute calibrated continuum spectrum. All observations have complete coverage of Saturn's disk, in latitude as well as in center-to-limb position. The accuracy of the data is comparable or better than previous data. This data set gives a quite complete description of Saturn's atmosphere in the visible and near infrared at the spatial resolution of ground based observations. While the main data were acquired in 1988, small changes between 1986 and 1989 were determined also. An atmospheric model is given which fits all observations within estimated errors. It has clear gas at the top of the atmosphere, an extended haze layer and a reflective cloud at the bottom. Pressure levels and the haze optical depth were determined as a function of latitude. The single scattering albedo spectrum of the particles (most likely ammonia ice crystals) is also given for each latitude. The methane mixing ratio is (3.0 ± 0.6) x 10⁻³, the ammonia mixing ratio is (1.2 + 0.8/-0.6) x 10⁻³ below the ammonia condensation level. Room temperature methane absorption spectra do not fit the observed spectra for any cloud structure. A cold temperature methane absorption spectrum is determined under the assumption that methane band strengths are temperature invariant, but not necessarily the absorption coefficients at each location across the band. It indicates that the absorption coefficients are typically 20-30 per cent stronger in the center of a band and up to a factor of two weaker in the wings. This spectrum should be useful in the interpretation of methane observations of all the giant planets and Titan.

L' ATP es una molecula clau en el metabolisme cel.lular, actuant com a donador d'energia lliure i acoplant reaccions endergoniques i exergoniques. L'ATP es sintetitzat a la mitocondria en un proces anomenat fosforil.lacio oxidativa despres d'una serie de reaccions a la cadena de citocroms que es troba en la membrana interna de l'organel.la. La font d'energia necessaria per aquesta sintesi s'obte en les cel.lules animals dels nutrients de l'ingestio, i de la llum solar en les plantes. Existeix una via alternativa de sintesi d'ATP extramitocondrial, la glicolisi, que s'inicia amb la fosforilacio de la glucosa per l'enzim hexokinasa.
Interaccio llum-materia
L'energia electromagnetica l'ona de la qual oscil.la en una longitud d'ona de nanometres es anomenada llum. En aquestes frequencies, l'energia promou excitacio electronica de certs atoms i molecules. Existeix una interaccio diferent de la llum amb molecules, produida per el camp electromagnetic que per definicio la llum provoca en qualsevol medi. El camp electric resultant desplaca els electrons dels enllacos quimics produint una polaritzacio del medi sense que existeixi absorcio de l'energia. Aquest es un mecanisme interactiu que existeix sempre, i es l'unic que es dona en molecules que son transparents (no absorbeixen) per a una determinada frequencia de la llum, com es el cas de l'ATP per l'energia visible i infravermella propera.
Experiments, resultats i discussio
Quan l'ATP es excitat amb fotons ultraviolats, es produiex una fluorescencia en longituts d'ona visibles. L'io magnesi s'ha utilitzat per estudiar com la llum visible i infravermella propera produiex un desplacament de carregues electriques a la molecula d'ATP.
La construccio d'un interferometre de Michelson ha servit per observar l'interaccio no absortiva de la llum i l'ATP. La mesura directa de l'index de refraccio d'una solucio d'ATP dona informacio sobre les caracteristiques electriques del medi. L'observacio de que aquest index canvia despres d'irradiar la solucio amb longituds d'ona visibles i infravermelles properes, confirmen que la llum provoca canvis electrics significatius en l'ATP.
En aquest treball tambe s'ha estudiat el comportament bioquimic de l'ATP irradiat quant forma part de dues reaccions quimiques diferents: la de la luciferina-luciferasa i la de la hexoquinasa. En tots dos casos, l'us d'aquest ATP irradiat ha produit una alteracio dels parametres cinetics estudiats, V0 i k en la reaccio de la luciferina-luciferasa, i km i vmax en la reaccio de l'hexoquinasa.
Conclusions
Aquesta interaccio no absortiva de la llum amb l'ATP es la primera descrita per a una biomolecula. El mecanisme aporta noves dades per explicar els efectes observats en el metabolisme cel.lular despres de l'irradiacio d'organismes, teixits i cultius cel.lulars amb llum visible i infravermella propera.
ATP is a key molecule in cellular metabolism. In this thesis, I examined the effects of visible (635 and 655 nm) and near-infrared (810 and 830 nm) light on ATP in solution. I also examined were the biochemical behavior of light-exposed ATP in the luciferine-luciferase reaction and hexokinase reaction, the initial step in glycolysis that begins extra mithocondrial ATP synthesis. Irradiated groups in the luciferine-luciferase reaction showed an improvement in the kinetic parameters V0 and k, and more ATP molecules reacted with the enzyme when they were excited by light. When irradiated ATP was added to the hexokinase reaction, the experimental groups showed significant differences in the Michaelis-Menten kinetic parameters (km for ATP and vmax) and the rate of product synthesis was greater. Changes in both reactions were wavelength and dose dependant.
When ATP was excited with UV photons, it fluoresced. This fluorescence decreased when Mg2+ was added, probably because the ion binds the phosphates, which are the part of the molecule responsible for light emission. Irradiating the ATP-Mg2+ solution with 655 nm and 830 nm light increased the fluorescence resulting from a displacement of charges in the phosphor-oxygen bond that repels Mg2+.
The refraction of light in an ATP solution was observed by the Michelson interferometer and by directly measuring the refractive index. The refractive index changed after red and near-infrared light interaction due to a change in the electrical permittivity of the medium.
Since ATP in water is transparent to visible and near-infrared light, and is therefore not a chromophore for those wavelengths, I conclude that the observed light interaction with ATP is not due to photon absorption but to the electromagnetic disturbance produced by the light, which leads to a polarization of the dielectric molecule that is ATP.
This interaction of visible and near-infrared electromagnetic energy with ATP offers new perspectives for explaining light interaction at subcellular level.

In this thesis, improvement of face recognition performance with the use of images from the visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) spectrum is attempted. Face recog- nition systems can be adversely affected by scenarios which encounter a significant amount of illumination variation across images of the same subject. Cross-spectral face recognition systems using images collected across the VIS and NIR spectrum can counter the ill-effects of illumination variation by standardising both sets of images. A novel preprocessing technique is proposed, which attempts the transformation of faces across both modalities to a feature space with enhanced correlation. Direct matching across the modalities is not possible due to the inherent spectral dif- ferences between NIR and VIS face images. Compared to a VIS light source, NIR radiation has a greater penetrative depth when incident on human skin. This fact, in addition to the greater number of scattering interactions within the skin by rays . from the NIR spectrum can alter the morphology of the human face enough to dis- able a direct match with the corresponding VIS face. Several ways to bridge the gap between NIR-VIS faces have been proposed previously. Mostly of a data-driven ap- proach, these techniques include standardised photometric normalisation techniques and subspace projections. A generative approach driven by a true physical model has not been investigated till now. In this thesis, it is proposed that a large proportion of the scattering interactions present in the NIR spectrum can be accounted for using a model for subsurface scattering. A novel subsurface scattering inversion (SSI) algorithm is developed that implements an inversion approach based on translucent surface rendering by the computer graph- ics field, whereby the reversal of the first order effects of subsurface scattering is attempted. The SSI algorithm is then evaluated against several preprocessing tech- niques, and using various permutations of feature extraction and subspace projection algorithms. The results of this evaluation show an improvement in cross spectral face recognition performance using SSI over existing Retinex-based approaches. The top performing combination of an existing photometric normalisation technique, Sequential Chain, is seen to be the best performing with a Rank 1 recognition rate of 92.5%. In addition, the improvement in performance using non-linear projection models shows an element of non-linearity exists in the relationship between NIR and VIS.

Soil analysis for agriculture, pollution assessment/remediation or resource exploration requires rapid procedures that are reliable, fast and cheap. This study examined the potential of visible near infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (VNIR DRS) for soil analysis with emphasis on soil organic carbon (SOC) and extractible total petroleum hydrocarbon (ETPH). Preliminary laboratory studies were conducted to determine if visible near infrared diffuse reflectance spectral data contain adequate information for characterising SOC and ETPH and to identify sensitive wavelength regions best suited for quantitative modeling. It was concluded that VNIR DR spectra contained adequate information to quantify both SOC and ETPH in soils. Modelling with the whole spectrum was also found to give better predictions compared to modelling with portions of the spectrum. A 76/24 dataset split pattern was identified as an optimal split, ensuring that significant proportions of datasets are used for both model calibration and testing. Soil is inherently heterogeneous varying in space. The prediction performances of VNIR DRS models were observed to reduce with an increase in the geographical size of soil collection sites indicating that the best calibration models will likely be generated from spectral data derived from local soils with similar geology. Performance of VNIR DRS for characterizing ETPH was affected by SOC content. Higher model performances were observed at low organic carbon content, though all models developed for the SOC range studied (0.94 – 26.5%) had good prediction qualities (RPD > 2). Similarly, model performances were also affected by the type of petroleum hydrocarbon product that had been used to contaminate soils. This study provides evidence that VNIR DRS can be an important analytical approach to soil analysis particularly when and where costs and time are limiting conditions.

L'exoplanètologie commence à s’intéresser aux naines M afin de détecter et caractériser des planètes. Ces étoiles sont les plus communes; leur petite taille facilite la détection de petites planètes; et les planètes dans la zone habitable sont plus faciles à détecter grâce à leur proximité à l'étoile. La population émergente de planètes de naines M montre des caractéristiques intrigantes par rapport à celle des étoiles FGK. Cette thèse a pour but explorer la détection de planètes de naines M par vitesses radiales visibles et proche infrarouges. J'ai aussi analysé la population de planètes de naines M au début et fin de la thèse. Dans le visible, j'ai travaillé avec le spectrographe SOPHIE (OHP), en tant que membre du consortium SOPHIE exoplanètes qui mène des programmes de recherche d'exoplanètes, dont l'un d'eux cherche des planètes autour de naines M. J'ai adapté un algorithme de calcul des vitesses radiales à ses cibles et analysé les données résultantes. J'ai confirmé la présence de signaux périodiques qui, bien que présents dans l'analyse standard, étaient partiellement noyés dans le bruit. Quatre nouvelles planètes ont été publiées. J'ai étudié des indices d'activité stellaire en identifiant les plus adaptés pour SOPHIE. Dans le proche infrarouge, j'ai travaillé avec le spectropolarimètre SPIRou (CFHT). Ce nouvel instrument est conçu pour observer des naines M, qu'irradient principalement dans l'infrarouge. J'ai travaillé sur le système de réduction des données, particulièrement sur la solution en longueur d'onde, crucial pour mesurer des vitesses radiales précises. J'ai développé et testé plusieurs méthodes pour combiner les différentes sources de calibration
Exoplanet science has begun to focus on M-dwarf stars for exoplanet detection and characterisation. They are the most common stars in the galaxy; their small size means smaller exoplanets can be detected; habitable zone planets are easier to detect as it is closer to the star. The emerging population of M dwarf planets shows intriguing characteristics compared to those hosted by FGK stars. The aim of this thesis is to explore the detection of exoplanets around M dwarfs via the radial velocity method, in both the near infra-red and visible domains. I also performed analyses of the known population of planets around M dwarfs at the start of the thesis and at its conclusion. In the visible, I worked with the SOPHIE spectrograph at the OHP, as part of the SOPHIE exoplanets consortium. This group leads several exoplanet surveys, one of which searches for planets around M dwarfs. I adapted a template-matching algorithm to its targets, and analysed the resulting radial velocities. I confirmed the significance of periodic signals that, while apparent in the standard analysis, were partially hidden by noise. Four new exoplanets have been published. I studied stellar activity indicators, identifying those most suited to SOPHIE spectra. In the near infrared, I worked with the SPIRou spectropolarimeter at the CFHT. This new instrument was conceived for observing M dwarfs, which emit most of their radiation in the infrared. I worked on the data reduction pipeline, specifically on the wavelength solution (pixel position-wavelength correspondence), crucial for measuring precise radial velocities. I developed and tested ways to combine different wavelength calibrators

A new technique for detecting solar oscillations in the visible to near infrared continuum has been developed and tested at the Santa Catalina Laboratory for Experimental Relativity by Astrometry (SCLERA). In 1985, measurements of the solar radiation intensity near disk center were made by Oglesby (1986, 1987). The results of these observations have been compared to the reported detections and classifications by Hill (1984, 1985) and Rabaey and Hill (1987) of the low-order, low-degree acoustic modes; the intermediate degree f-modes; and the low-order g-modes. For the low-order, low-degree, acoustic modes and the intermediate degree f-modes, a total of 40 multiplets were used in the analysis. The coincidence rates between the peaks in the power spectrum of the 1985 observations and the classified frequency spectrum for multiplets taken in subgroups of ≈5 (same n and contiguous in ℓ) are typically 4-5 σ above the accidental coincidence rate. The maximum coincidence rates for these same subgroups of multiplets were found to occur for frequency shifts of the classified spectrum ranging from -0.27 μHz for modes that are sensitive to the internal properties near the bottom of the convection zone to 0.06 μHz for modes that are sensitive to internal properties near the top of the convection zone. Also included in this work is a comparison of diameter measurements obtained at SCLERA in 1978 (Caudell 1980) with the classified modes mentioned above. Agreement in this case is at the 3.1 σ level for both the f-mode (n = 0) multiplets with 21 ≤ ℓ ≤ 36 and the n = 1, 6 ≤ ℓ ≤ 12 acoustic modes. The confirmation of the detection and classification of the low-order g-modes of oscillation was found to be at the 3.3 σ level. Additionally, the m dependence of the 1985 power spectrum was found to behave in the manner expected for the proper classifications in m for the g-modes.

Hydrovolcanic basaltic tephras from tuff rings and tuff cones were studied in order to better understand their origin and alteration processes. The visual and near infrared reflectance of tephras collected from Basin and Range tuff rings and tuff cones was measured in the laboratory. Further mineralogic and chemical information was gained through petrographic microscopy, X-ray diffraction, electron microprobe analysis and iron Mossbauer spectrometry. In addition, remotely sensed data from several airborne sensors was obtained for the Lunar Crater Volcanic Field in Nye County, Nevada and the Pavant Butte tuff cone in Millard County, Utah. Fresh tuff rings, resulting from dry pyroclastic surges, are composed of a variable mix of country rock fragments and unaltered sideromelane which has a dark reflectance spectrum dominated by Fe²⁺ crystal field bands near 1 and 2 μm. If water condenses on the sideromelane, a process of nearly syn-depositional hydration can occur. With increasing hydration, water and OH vibrational absorptions develop at 1.4 and 1.9 μm. Smectite clay minerals were recognized within thinly bedded tuff rings by the presence of a 2.2 μm absorption and by XRD results. These minerals have developed without extensive palgonitization. Tuff ring tephras can also become oxidized to the extent that a well developed Fe³⁺-O²⁻ charge transfer edge develops with weak Fe³⁺ crystal field features shortwards of 0.8 μm. The poorly inflated pyroclastic “flow”, that characterizes tuff cone formation, produces hot, wet, cohesive ash deposits that can alter relatively rapidly to palagonite. The reflectance of these highly palagonitized tephras is twice as high as that of tuff ring deposits, H₂O and OH vibrational absorption bands are also stronger and a 2.3 μm Mg-OH band is generally present. Increasing oxidation causes spectral features resulting from Fe³⁺ to become more pronounced. These include a shortwards shift in position and shallowing of the “1-μm” crystal field band and steepening of the Fe³⁺-O²⁻ charge transfer edge. Differences in spectral reflectance are ascribed primarily to differences in the degree of alteration which in turn is influenced by the water/magma ratio extant at the time of eruption. Remotely sensed data of hydrovolcanic vents acquired by several different air- and spaceborne sensors was also examined. These data sets were analyzed using a linear spectral mixture model. It was found that palagonite tuff constitutes an easily mapped spectral endmember, while the hydrated tuff typical of tuff rings is difficult to distinguish from other dark materials. The best mapping was performed with the systems with high spatial resolution such as the NSOO1 Thematic Mapper Simulator and the Geoscan Mk II advanced multispectral scanner. Airborne Visible/lnfrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) data, calibrated to reflectance through reference endmember modelling, revealed previously undetected 2.2 μm absorption features in the palagonite tuff at Pavant Butte. The 1-μm feature in Pavant Butte palagonite tuff was mapped from the AVIRIS data using a band depth mapping routine although the resulting discrimination of palagonite tuffs was not as good as was obtained with the spectral mixture model.

This work presents recent advances in photorefractive polymer composites towards improved efficiency, speed, persistence of holograms and sensitivity at both visible and near infrared wavelengths. Besides the pure performance characteristics, a thin-device approach is presented to reduce operating voltage of these devices to practical levels and these materials are analyzed in both reflection and transmission geometries.The thin device operating at 1.3kV holds erasable, Bragg holograms with 80% efficiency in addition to its video-rate response time. The transition of hologram state from 'thick' to 'thin' is analyzed in detail. On the near IR portion of spectrum, new photorefractive polymer composites have been developed that enable high performance operation at 845nm and 975nm. Utilizing our novel photorefractive materials we demonstrate large diffraction efficiency in four-wave mixing experiments and video-rate response times. A major step towards achieving submillisecond response times is obtained through recording photorefractive gratings with individual nanosecond pulses at 532nm. At 4 mJ/cm2 illumination, a maximum diffraction efficiency of 56% has been obtained with a build-up time of only 300 microseconds (t1). This fast response enables applications in optical processing requiring frame rates of 100Hz or more. Due to the short duration of the writing pulses, the recording is insensitive to vibrations. Combining molecules that have different frontier orbital energies in a copolymer system and utilizing thermal fixing approach has led to long grating lifetimes of more than several hours. Later, in this dissertation, two low-glass-transition photorefractive polymer composites are investigated in reflection geometry. 60% is diffraction efficiency is observed in 105 micron thick devices of a PVK based composite. The reflection holograms are more sensitive to reading angle and slight birefringence due to the poling of chromophores has proven to cause a Bragg mismatch.

Abstract The present thesis exposes methods and results obtained exploiting information provided by visible and near-infrared spectra over Mercury and Venus. We use information from different datasets to perform a geologically supervised investigation, in order to identify the presence of compositional heterogeneities and reconstruct the stratigraphy in the shallow crust of the two Terrestrial planets. We name these procedures “Datasets Fusion Techniques” (DFTs). We combine the MASCS dataset with the MDIS dataset from the MESSENGER mission to analyze the local and global crustal properties of Mercury. We select all MASCS observations contained within geologic units previously mapped using high-resolution MDIS NAC images. Similarly, we combine the Venus Express VIRTIS dataset with Magellan SAR imaging dataset for identifying location and extent of the recently active lava flows possibly responsible for the relatively high 1 μm emissivity anomalies observed by the VIRTIS instrument on Idunn Mons on Venus. Using a forward modeling-like procedure, we mapped a number of lava flows on Magellan SAR images, then assigning them a different value of simulated emissivity at each iteration. We found one non-unique solution which well approximates VIRTIS observations. This thesis is a comprehensive study which embraces three main research works performed during the current PhD project. The results show the occurrence of vertical and horizontal heterogeneities in the composition of the shallow crust of Mercury, providing as well important indications for the presence of N-S dichotomy. We also found that the recently active lava flows on Idunn Mons are most likely flank flows located on the eastern flank of the volcanic structure. We could finally reconstruct the stratigraphy beneath the local scale study areas of Mercury and Venus. This PhD thesis demonstrates that DFTs can be used as a powerful expedient for improving the quality of information we can achieve from remote sensing analyses
Original papers Piero D’Incecco, Jörn Helbert, Mario D’Amore, Alessandro Maturilli, James W. Head, Rachel L. Klima, Noam R. Izenberg, William E. McClintock, Harald Hiesinger, Sabrina Ferrari, Shallow crustal composition of Mercury as revealed by spectral properties and geological units of two impact craters, Planetary and Space Science, Volume 119, 15 December 2015, Pages 250-263, ISSN 0032-0633, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2015.10.007. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032063315003062) Keywords: Mercury; MESSENGER; MASCS; MDIS; Impact craters; Stratigraphy Piero D’Incecco, Jörn Helbert, Mario D’Amore, Sabrina Ferrari, James W. Head, Alessandro Maturilli, Harald Hiesinger, A geologically supervised spectral analysis of 121 globally distributed impact craters as a tool for identifying vertical and horizontal heterogeneities in the composition of the shallow crust of Mercury, Planetary and Space Science, Volume 132, 1 November 2016, Pages 32-56, ISSN 0032-0633, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2016.08.004. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032063315301094) Keywords: Mercury; MESSENGER; MASCS; MDIS; Impact craters; Datasets Fusion Techniques (DFTs) Piero D'Incecco, Nils Müller, Jörn Helbert, Mario D'Amore, Idunn Mons on Venus: Location and extent of recently active lava flows, Planetary and Space Science, Volume 136, February 2017, Pages 25-33, ISSN 0032-0633, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2016.12.002. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S003206331630112X) Keywords: Venus; VIRTIS; Magellan; Volcanism; Idunn Mons; Stratigraphy

This thesis presents the development of a new class of high-power, continuous-wave (cw) optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) with extended tunability from visible to near-infrared (near-IR). While lasers have been in use for nearly 50 years, it is still difficult to develop laser systems that can cover many regions of the optical spectrum, from ultraviolet (UV) and visible to the near and mid-infrared wavelength range, with potential applications in the fields such as spectroscopy, remote sensing, trace gas detection, and many more. Development of cw OPOs in singly-resonant oscillator (SRO) configurations, the focus of this thesis, is challenging due to the high threshold pump power (several watts). In addition, with visible pumping, photorefractive effect and thermal lensing effects become important issues to overcome. Therefore, the realization of practical cw SROs requires optimal cavity design, suitable nonlinear materials, and high-power laser with high spectral and spatial quality. High-power, single-frequency, cw SROs based on 30-mm-long MgO-doped, stoichiometrically grown, periodically-poled LiTaO3 (MgO:sPPLT) have been developed. The oscillators were pumped in the green by a frequency-doubled cw diode-pumped Nd:YVO4 laser at 532 nm. With a single grating period of 7.97 µm, continuous signal and idler coverage over 848-1430 nm is obtained by temperature tuning between 52 oC and 248 oC. In a linear cavity configuration and double-pass pumping, an oscillation threshold of 2.88 W has been obtained, and single-pass idler powers in excess of 1.51 W have been generated over 1104-1430 nm for 6 W of pump power at an extraction efficiency of 25.2% and photon conversion efficiency of 56.7%. For single-frequency performance of the cw SRO across 848-1430 nm, we have used a compact ring cavity configuration along with a frequency selecting element (etalon). Using the same MgO:sPPLT crystal, the SRO oscillation threshold of 2.84 W has been obtained, and single-pass idler powers in excess of 1.59 W have been generated over 1104-1430 nm with a maximum SRO extraction efficiency of 25.2% and pump depletions as much as 67%. The single-frequency idler output has a linewidth of ~7 MHz. Under free-running conditions and in the absence of thermal isolation, the idler power exhibits a peak-to-peak stability of 16% over 5 hours. Although the cw SRO can provide optical radiation across 848-1430 nm, the high output power was only available over 1104-1430 nm, due to the high reflectivity of the cavity mirrors for SRO operation. Using finite output coupling of the resonant wave, we have extended the available practical output power across the entire tuning range. The cw out-coupled SRO (OC-SRO) can deliver total power of up to 3.6 W at 40% extraction efficiency with a linewidth of 3 MHz across 848-1430 nm. The signal power shows a peak-to-peak power stability <10.7% over 40 minutes in a TEM00 spatial mode with M2 <1.52. Without any active stabilization, the resonant signal exhibits a natural long-term frequency stability <75 MHz over 15 minutes and short-term frequency stability <10 MHz over 10 seconds, demonstrating the potential of the system for spectroscopic applications. Using internal second-harmonic-generation of the resonant near-infrared signal radiation of the MgO:sPPLT cw SRO in a 5-mm-long BiB3O6 crystal, we have generated 1.27 W of cw, single-frequency blue power over a tunable range of 425-489 nm with a linewidth of 8.5 MHz and a Gaussian spatial beam profile. The blue source is frequency-stable to better than 280 MHz, limited by the resolution of the wavemeter. We have also developed cw green sources, in a simple single-pass experimental configuration by frequency-doubling a fiber laser using MgO:sPPLT and periodically-poled KTiOPO4 (PPKTP) crystals, generating as much as 9.6 W of green radiation in TEM00 spatial beam profile (M2 <1.33) with a single-pass efficiency of 32.7% in MgO:sPPLT. This green source has also successfully been used to pump cw SROs and will be used to pump Ti:sapphire lasers. Using this frequency-doubled green source, we have demonstrated cw OC-SRO providing a stable single-frequency output power up to 2 W across the tuning range of 855-1408 nm, with peak-to-peak power stability <11.7%, frequency-stability <10 MHz over 10 seconds, in TEM00 (M2 <1.26) spatial beam profile.
Esta tesis presenta el desarrollo de una nueva clase de osciladores ópticos paramétricos (OPOs) de onda continua (cw) y alta potencia con extendida sintonización desde el visible al infrarrojo (IR) cercano. A pesar de que los láseres están en uso desde hace casi 50 años, todavía es difícil desarrollar sistemas láser que puedan cubrir muchas regiones del espectro óptico en los rangos de longitud de onda desde el ultravioleta (UV) y visible hasta el infrarrojo cercano y medio, con potenciales aplicaciones en campos como la espectroscopia, sensores remotos, detección de trazas de gases, entre muchas otras. El desarrollo de cw OPOs en configuraciones de oscilador simplemente resonante (SRO), objetivo principal de esta tesis, es un gran desafío debido al alto umbral de potencia de bombeo (varios watts). Además, cuando se emplea bombeo visible, los efectos fotorrefractivo y de lente térmica adquieren especial relevancia y son difíciles de superar. Por lo tanto, la realización de cw SROs prácticos requiere de un óptimo diseño de cavidad, adecuados materiales no lineales y láseres de alta potencia con excelente calidad tanto espectral como espacial. Se han desarrollado cw SROs de alta potencia y frecuencia única basados en cristales de LiTaO3 de 30 mm de longitud, de crecido estequiométrico, con dopado de MgO y periódicamente pulidos (MgO:sPPLT). Los osciladores fueron bombeados en el verde mediante el láser de cw Nd:YVO4 bombeado por diodos y doblado en frecuencia. Utilizando un único periodo de red de 7.97 m, se ha obtenido cobertura continua de los campos señal y pivote en el rango 848-1430 nm por sintonización de temperatura entre 52ºC y 248ºC. Empleando una configuración de cavidad lineal y bombeo de doble paso, se ha logrado un umbral de oscilación de 2.88 W y se han generado potencias superiores a 1.51 W para el campo pivote en simple paso dentro del rango 1104-1430 nm para 6 W de potencia de bombeo, eficiencia de extracción del 25.2% y eficiencia de conversión de fotón del 56.7%. Con el objetivo de operar el cw SRO en frecuencia única a través del rango 848-1430 nm, hemos utilizado una configuración compacta de cavidad en anillo junto a un elemento para la selección de frecuencia (etalon). Utilizando el mismo cristal de MgO:sPPLT, se ha obtenido un umbral de oscilación del SRO de 2.84 W y se han generado potencias superiores a 1.59 W para el campo pivote en paso único dentro del rango 1104-1430 nm con una eficiencia máxima de extracción del 25.2 % y agotamiento del bombeo tan alto como el 67%. La salida del campo pivote en frecuencia única tiene un ancho de línea de ~ 7 MHz. Bajo condiciones de sistema libre y en ausencia de aislamiento térmico, la potencia del campo pivote exhibe estabilidad de pico a pico de 16% durante 5 horas. A pesar de que el cw SRO puede proveer radiación óptica en el rango 848-1430 nm, la alta potencia de salida solo se consiguió obtener en el rango 1104-1430 nm a causa de la alta reflectividad de los espejos de la cavidad para operar en SRO. Utilizando un acoplamiento de salida finito de la onda resonante, hemos extendido la disponibilidad de prácticas potencias de salida a través de todo el rango de sintonía. El cw SRO con acoplador de salida (OC-SRO) puede entregar un apotencia total de hasta 3.6 W con una eficiencia de extracción del 40% y con un ancho de línea de 3 MHz en el rango 848-1430 nm. La potencia del campo señal muestra fluctuaciones en potencia de pico a pico <10.7% durante 40 minutos y modo espacial TEM00 con M2<1.52. En ausencia de estabilización activa, el campo señal resonante exhibe una estabilidad en frecuencia natural a largo término con fluctuaciones <75 MHz durante 15 minutos, así como a corto término con fluctuaciones<10MHz durante 10 segundos, demostrando el potencial del sistema para aplicaciones en espectroscopia. Utilizando generación interna de segundo harmónico del campo señal resonante en el rango del infrarrojo cercano del MgO:sPPLT cw SRO mediante un cristal de BiB3O6 de 5 mm de longitud, hemos logrado generar 1.27 W de potencia cw y frecuencia única en el azul dentro del rango de sintonía 425-489 nm y con un ancho de línea de 8.5 MHz y un perfil espacial del haz de tipo Gaussiano. La estabilidad en frecuencia de la fuente azul es mejor que 280 MHz, donde la limitación viene impuesta por la resolución del medidor de longitud de onda empleado. Adicionalmente, hemos desarrollado fuentes verdes en cw en una sencilla configuración experimental de único paso, mediante el doblado en frecuencia de un láser de fibra con cristales de MgO:sPPLT y KTiOPO4 pulido periódicamente (PPKTP), generando hasta 9.6 W de radiación verde en modo espacial TEM00 (M2<1.33) con una eficiencia de paso único de 32.7% en MgO:sPPLT. Esta fuente verde has sido también empleada exitosamente para bombear cw SROs y será utilizada para bombear láseres de Ti:sapphire. Mediante esta fuente verde doblada en frecuencia, hemos demostrado que el cw OC-SRO proporciona una salida estable en frecuencia única con potencia de hasta 2 W a través del rango de sintonía 855-1408 nm, con estabilidad en potencia de pico a pico <11.7%, estabilidad en frecuencia <10 MHZ durante 10 segundos y modo espacial TEM00 (M2<1.26).

Després del descobriment dels primers exoplanetes fa unes tres dècades, la detecció i caracterització de companys planetaris s’ha convertit en un tema de recerca prominent, especialment la cerca de planetes semblants a la Terra, cossos rocosos que orbiten a la zona habitable (HZ) de les seves estrelles hostes. Un dels principals mètodes utilitzats per trobar i caracteritzar exoplanetes és la tècnica de l’espectroscòpia Doppler o velocitat radial (RV), basada en l’ús d’espectres estel·lars per mesurar canvis periòdics en la RV d’una estrella causats per l’atracció gravitatòria d’un exoplaneta en òrbita. Actualment, la variabilitat intrínseca de les estrelles hostes és el principal repte en l’estudi d’exoplanetes. Les estrelles no són cossos invariables i homogenis, sinó que presenten variabilitat en diferents escales de temps. La més rellevant és l’activitat magnètica estel·lar, que inclou fenòmens com ara taques o fàcules que apareixen a la superfície de l’estrella i estan modulades per la seva rotació. Aquests fenòmens distorsionen els espectres estel·lars, introduint biaixos en les RVs prou grans com per amagar o fins i tot imitar el senyal causat per un planeta. Per tant, per continuar detectant i estudiant exoplanetes de baixa massa, és clau aconseguir una millor comprensió d’aquests fenòmens estel·lars i els seus efectes en les nostres observacions. Aquesta tesi se centra en l’estudi dels efectes de l’activitat estel·lar en observacions espectroscòpiques d’estrelles fredes obtingudes amb l’instrument CARMENES. CARMENES és un espectrògraf d’alta resolució capaç d’observar el rang de longitud d’ona visible i infraroig proper. Està realitzant un estudi de més de 300 nanes M, les estrelles amb menor massa de la seqüència principal, amb l’objectiu primordial de detectar exoplanetes petits. En primer lloc, hem desenvolupat un codi que implementa el mètode de la funció de correlació creuada (CCF) per mesurar RVs i indicadors d’activitat estel·lar en observacions d’alta resolució, i l’hem aplicat a les dades de CARMENES. Aquest mètode utilitza màscares binàries ponderades, un template estel·lar simplificat construït mitjançant la selecció de línies espectrals. Hem creat diverses màscares en funció del subtipus espectral i de la velocitat de rotació de l’estrella a analitzar. A continuació, hem utilitzat els indicadors d’activitat derivats de la CCF, juntament amb altres indicadors d’activitat espectroscòpics, per analitzar les seves variacions temporals en una mostra de quasi 100 nanes M de diverses masses i nivells d’activitat. Aproximadament la meitat de les estrelles analitzades mostren RVs amb senyals d’activitat clars. Diferents indicadors són sensibles a l’activitat de manera diferent segons les característiques de l’estrella: indicadors cromosfèrics són més útils per a estrelles de baixa activitat, indicadors relacionats amb el canvi de RV amb longitud d’ona funcionen millor per a les estrelles més actives, i altres indicadors relacionats amb el canvi d’amplada de les línies fotosfèriques proporcionen resultats similars en tot tipus d’estrelles, però són especialment útils per a les més actives i de menor massa. Finalment, hem analitzat els efectes de l’activitat sobre línies d’absorció individuals presents en l’espectre d’estrelles actives. Estudiant les correlacions entre les RVs de línies individuals i els indicadors d’activitat, podem classificar les línies observades segons la seva sensibilitat a l’activitat. Això ens permet seleccionar línies afectades de forma diferent per l’activitat i utilitzar-les per tornar a calcular RVs. Així obtenim RVs per a les quals mitiguem o incrementem el senyal d’activitat en diversos graus. També observem que les mateixes línies en diferents estrelles mostren diferent sensibilitat a l’activitat.
Después del descubrimiento de los primeros exoplanetas hace unas tres décadas, la detección y caracterización de compañeros planetarios se ha convertido en un tema de investigación prominente, especialmente la búsqueda de planetas parecidos a la Tierra, cuerpos rocosos que orbitan en la zona habitable (HZ) de sus estrellas huéspedes. Uno de los principales métodos utilizados para encontrar y caracterizar exoplanetas es la técnica de la espectroscopía Doppler o velocidad radial (RV), basada en el uso de espectros estelares para medir cambios periódicos en la RV de una estrella causados por la atracción gravitatoria de un exoplaneta en órbita. Actualmente, la variabilidad intrínseca de las estrellas huéspedes es el principal reto en el estudio de exoplanetas. Las estrellas no son cuerpos invariables ni homogéneos, sino que presentan variabilidad en distintas escalas de tiempo. La más relevante es la actividad magnética estelar, que incluye fenómenos como manchas o fáculas que aparecen en la superficie de la estrella y están moduladas por su rotación. Estos fenómenos distorsionan los espectros estelares, introduciendo sesgos en las RVs suficientemente grandes como para esconder o hasta imitar la señal causada por un planeta. Por lo tanto, para continuar detectando y estudiando exoplanetas de baja masa, una mejor comprensión de estos fenómenos estelares y sus efectos en nuestras observaciones es clave. Esta tesis se centra en el estudio de los efectos de la actividad estelar en observaciones espectroscópicas de estrellas frías obtenidas con el instrumento CARMENES. CARMENES es un espectrógrafo de alta resolución capaz de observar en el rango de longitudes de onda visible e infrarojo cercano. Está realizando un estudio de más de 300 enanas M, las estrellas con menor masa de la secuencia principal, con el objetivo primordial de detectar exoplanetas pequeños. En primer lugar, hemos desarrollado un código que implementa el método de la función de correlación cruzada (CCF) para medir RVs e indicadores de actividad estelar en observaciones de alta resolución, y lo hemos aplicado a los datos de CARMENES. Este método usa máscaras binarias ponderadas, un template estelar simplificado construido seleccionando líneas espectrales. Hemos creado varias máscaras en función del subtipo espectral y de la velocidad de rotación de la estrella a analizar. A continuación, hemos utilizado los indicadores de actividad derivados de la CCF, juntamente con otros indicadores de actividad espectroscópicos, para analizar sus variaciones temporales en una muestra de casi 100 enanas M de varias masas y niveles de actividad. Aproximadamente la mitad de las estrellas analizadas muestran RVs con señales de actividad claros. Distintos indicadores son sensibles a la actividad de forma diferente según las características de la estrella: indicadores cromosféricos son más útiles para estrellas de baja actividad, indicadores relacionados con el cambio de RV con la longitud de onda funcionan mejor para estrellas más activas, y otros indicadores relacionados con el cambio de anchura de las líneas fotosféricas proporcionan resultados similares en todo tipo de estrellas, pero son especialmente útiles para las más activas y de menor masa. Finalmente, hemos analizado los efectos de la actividad sobre líneas de absorción individuales presentes en el espectro de estrellas activas. Estudiando las correlaciones entre las RVs de líneas individuales y los indicadores de actividad, podemos clasificar las líneas observadas según su sensibilidad a la actividad. Esto nos permite seleccionar líneas afectadas de forma distinta por la actividad y usarlas para volver a calcular RVs. De esta forma obtenemos RVs para las cuales mitigamos o incrementamos la señal de actividad en diversos grados. También observamos que las mismas líneas en distintas estrellas muestran diferente sensibilidad a la actividad.
After the discovery of the first exoplanets about three decades ago, the detection and characterization of planetary companions has become a prominent research topic, especially the search for Earth-like planets, rocky bodies orbiting in the habitable zone (HZ) of their host stars. One of the main methods used to find and characterise exoplanets is the Doppler spectroscopy or radial velocity (RV) technique, based on using stellar spectra to measure periodic changes in the RV of a star caused by the gravitational pull of an orbiting exoplanet. Currently, the intrinsic variability of the host stars is the major challenge faced in the study of exoplanets. Stars are not quiet, homogeneous bodies, but display variability on different timescales, the most concerning being stellar magnetic activity, phenomena such as spots or faculae appearing on the stellar surface and modulated by the stellar rotation. These features distort the stellar spectra, introducing biases in our RVs that can be large enough to hide or even mimic the signal caused by a planet. Therefore, to continue detecting and studying low-mass exoplanets, a better understanding of these stellar phenomena and their effects on our observations is key. This thesis is focused on the study of stellar activity effects on spectroscopic observations of cool stars obtained with the CARMENES instrument. CARMENES is a high-resolution spectrograph capable of observing on the visible and near-infrared wavelength ranges. It is performing a survey of over 300 M dwarfs, stars at the low-mass end of the main sequence, with the main goal of detecting small exoplanets. Firstly, we developed a pipeline that implements the cross-correlation function (CCF) method to measure RVs and indicators of stellar activity on high-resolution observations, and applied it to the CARMENES survey data. This method uses weighted binary masks, a simplified stellar template built by selecting sharp spectral lines, of which we created different kinds depending on the spectral subtype and the rotational velocity of the target star. We then used the activity indicators derived from the CCF, together with other spectroscopic activity proxies, to analyse their temporal variations in a sample of almost 100 M dwarfs with a range of masses and activity levels. We found that about half of the stars analysed show RVs with clear signals of activity. Different indicators trace activity differently depending on the characteristics of the star: chromospheric indicators are the most useful for low-activity stars, indicators related to the change in RV with wavelength work better for the most active stars, and other indicators related to the change in width of the photospheric lines provide similar results in all types of stars, but are especially useful for the most active and lowest-mass ones. Finally, we analysed the effects of activity on individual absorption features present on the spectra of active stars. By studying the correlations between the individual line RVs and activity indicators, we are able to classify the observed lines according to their sensitivity to activity. This allow us to select differently affected lines and use them to recompute RVs for which we mitigate or enhance the activity signal to varying degrees. We also observe that the same lines on different stars show different sensitivities to activity.

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) is a rapid proximal-sensing method that is being used more and more in laboratory settings to measure soil properties. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy research that has been completed in laboratories shows promising results, but very little has been reported on how DRS will work in a field setting on soils scanned in situ. Seventy-two soil cores were obtained from six fields in Erath and Comanche County, Texas. Each soil core was scanned with a visible near-infrared (VNIR) spectrometer with a spectral range of 350-2500 nm in four different combinations of moisture content and pre-treatment: field-moist in situ, air-dried in situ, field-moist smeared in situ, and air-dried ground. Water potential was measured for the field-moist in situ scans. The VNIR spectra were used to predict total and fine clay content, water potential, organic C, and inorganic C of the soil using partial least squares (PLS) regression. The PLS model was validated with data 30% of the original soil cores that were randomly selected and not used in the calibration model. The root mean squared deviation (RMSD) of the air-dry ground samples were within the in situ RMSD and comparable to literature values for each soil property. The validation data set had a total clay content root mean squared deviation (RMSD) of 61 g kg-1 and 41 g kg-1 for the field-moist and air-dried in situ cores, respectively. The organic C validation data set had a RMSD of 5.8 g kg-1 and 4.6 g kg-1 for the field-moist and air-dried in situ cores, respectively. The RMSD values for inorganic C were 10.1 g kg-1 and 8.3 g kg-1 for the field moist and air-dried in situ scans, respectively. Smearing the samples increased the uncertainty of the predictions for clay content, organic C, and inorganic C. Water potential did not improve model predictions, nor did it correlate with the VNIR spectra; r2-values were below 0.31. These results show that DRS is an acceptable technique to measure selected soil properties in-situ at varying water contents and from different parent materials.

Experiments were conducted to assess the feasibility of determining the quality attributes of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill cv 'DRK 453' and 'Trust') based upon visible/near-infrared reflectance (VIS/NIR) spectroscopy. A partial least squares regression (PLS) method was used to build prediction models. Excellent prediction performance was achieved for lycopene content (LC), colour value a*/b* ratio, tomato colour index (TCI), and firmness. Coefficient of determination (R2) for each of the parameters was respectively 0.96, 0.99, 0.99, and 0.97. All these R2 were significant at 1% level. The root mean square errors of prediction (RMSEP) for all the parameters were low indicating the high quality of the fit of the prediction models. The values were 2.15, 0.06, 1.52, and 1.44 for LC, a*/b* ratio, TCI, and firmness, respectively. However, the models for prediction of titratable acidity, soluble solids content (SSC) and acid-Brix ratio showed relatively poor reliability, with R2 value of 0.49, 0.03 and 0.65, and RMSEP of 0.43, 0.15 and 0.08, respectively. Further, a model built by the PLS2 method showed good performance in simultaneously predicting a*/b* ratio, TCI, firmness, and LC of tomato, with R2 values of 0.99, 0.99, 0.97, and 0.92, and RMSEP of 0.06, 1.75, 1.44, and 3.03, respectively. Once again here all the R2 values were significant at 1% level.
Des essais visant à évaluer la faisabilité d'utiliser la spectroscopie de réflectance dans le visible et le proche infrarouge (VIS/PIR) pour déterminer certaines caractéristiques contribuant à la qualité de la tomate (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cv. 'DRK 453' et 'Trust') ont été menés. Une analyse de régression partielle par les moindres carrés a servi à bâtir des modèles de prédiction. D'excellentes prédictions ont été obtenues pour la teneur en lycopène (TL), la valeur chromatique a*/b*, l'indice de couleur de la tomate (ICT), et la fermeté. Les coefficients de détermination (R2) pour chacun de ces paramètres ont été de 0.96, 0.99, 0.99 et 0.97. Tous ces R2 ont été significatifs à un niveau de 1%. L'erreur-type de prédiction (ETP) a été petite pour tous ces paramètres, indiquant un très bon degré d'ajustement des modèles. Des valeurs d'ETP de 2.15, 0.06, 1.52 et 1.44 ont respectivement été obtenues pour le TL, le rapport a*/b*, l'ICT, et la fermeté. Cependant, les modèles visant à prédire l'acidité totale, la teneur en solides solubles et le rapport acide-Brix se sont montrés peu fiables avec des valeurs respectives de R2 de 0.49, 0.03 et 0.65 et de ETP de 0.43, 0.15 et 0.08. De plus, un modèle multivariable bâti par une méthode de régression partielle par des moindres carrés (PLS2) s'est montrée très performant pour la prédiction simultanée du rapport a*/b*, de l'ICT, de la fermeté et de la TL avec des valeurs respectives de R2 de 0.99, 0.99, 0.97 et 0.92 et de ETP de 0.06, 1.75, 1.44 et 3.03. Comme auparavant toutes les valeurs de R2 ont été significatives à un niveau de 1%.

Visible and near infrared (NIR) reflectance and transmission spectra (400 - 2500 nm) of various flesh foods in various presentations were examined for qualitative and quantitative analysis. Discriminant functions for muscle types and animal species were included. Lamb muscles (n: 306), chicken breast and thigh muscles (n: 48), bull and steer muscles (n: 103), raw fish (n: 80), fish meal (n: 700) and fish oil (n: 160) samples were examined in the experiments. INTACT and MINCED presentation to the instrument were compared, as well as type of muscle (longissimus dorsi, infra spinatus, supra spinatus, semimembranosus, semitendinosus, rectus femoris), effect of sex and both longitudinal (LS) and transverse section (TS) of the muscle on the optical properties and Partial Least Squares (PLS) calibrations for gross composition. MINCED presentation to the instrument gave the best results for the NIRS calibrations in all the muscle tissues utilized, while, INTACT presentation showed poorer calibrations. Muscle type and sex affect the calibrations. Raw fish and fish by-products, both fish meal and oil had good NIRS calibrations for the twelve parameters analyzed. The results show that NIRS is acceptable as a method for determining gross composition in a wide variety of flesh foods in MINCED presentation. Principal component analyses (PCA) and Soft Independent Modelling of Class Analogy (SIMCA) were used for the authentication and classification between muscles and among animal species. The conclusions of this work are that NIRS can successfully predict chemical composition in different muscles in MINCED rather than INTACT presentation. Classifications using PCA and SIMCA were excellent tools to authenticate flesh foods.

Passive spectroscopy diagnostics play a key role in advancing the physics of plasma exhaust in the edge and divertor regions of tokamaks. Information obtained from spectral line intensities and profile shapes is crucial for estimating plasma parameters, particularly for studies of cold and dense detached plasmas. This work aims to characterise the visible and near-infrared spectral regions with emphasis on the Balmer and Paschen hydrogen series lines, their diagnostic applications and interpretation techniques. Whereas the Balmer series lines are measured routinely, few observations of the Paschen series lines have been carried out in the fusion plasma context. Extending observations to the near-infrared region for more detailed studies of the Paschen series is addressed through diagnostic development with the aim of providing coverage of the visible to near-infrared spectral range (350-1900 nm) along the same optical line-of-sight. An initial spectral survey on MAST using a purpose built diagnostic provides new insight into the spectral features in the near-infrared and confirms the viability of Paschen line observations. Following the proof of concept measurements on MAST, diagnostic development on the JET ITER-like wall mirror-linked divertor spectroscopy system facilitated more refined measurements. The main outputs include first of its kind measurements of the Pa-alpha line and spatially resolved spectral line profile measurements of the Pa-beta line. In the visible range ELM-resolved Balmer and impurity emission profile measurements at high spatial resolution were obtained using a new filtered camera system. A detailed assessment of the diagnostic scope for parameter estimation from both high-n and low-n Balmer and Paschen series lines is presented, underpinned by a parametrised line profile model which captures the relevant broadening and splitting mechanisms, including the Zeeman, Stark and Doppler processes. Interpretation of JET divertor plasma measurements, in combination with synthetic data simulation results, highlights the importance of complementary Balmer and Paschen series measurements for refining parameter estimates in divertor plasmas.

The work presented in this thesis describes the design, configuration and operation of femtosecond optical parametric oscillators based on the materials KTiOPO4 (KTP) and RbTiOAsO4 (RTA) and pumped by a self- modelocked Ti:sapphire laser. The alignment of the pump laser is detailed and thermal effects in the Ti:sapphire rod are examined in the context of a general technique which optimises modelocked performance at any pump power. A KTP-based femtosecond parametric oscillator is described which produces 400-fs-duration signal pulses at an average output power of 150 mW when operated in the absence of group-velocity dispersion- compensation. With intracavity dispersion-compensation, the oscillator produces 40-fs-duration pulses with an average power of 50 mW. Tuning is demonstrated from 1.12 - 1.25 mum in the signal wave and from 2.5 - 3.0 mum in the idler wave by changing only the pump-laser wavelength. Using a novel idler-feedback arrangement, reductions in the oscillation threshold and increases in the signal output power of 10 % are described. Soliton generation in the oscillator is achieved when the net cavity dispersion is positive and results show good agreement with theory. An oscillator using RTA is demonstrated which achieves conversion efficiencies exceeding 30 % and has an operating threshold of only 50 mW. Average signal powers of 100 mW and 185 mW are extracted from the oscillators with and without dispersion-compensation respectively. The corresponding pulse durations are 67 fs and 980 fs and tunability in the signal and idler waves from 1.23 - 1.34 mum and 2.10 - 2.43 mum is demonstrated. Visible output from 620 - 660 nm is obtained by intracavity- doubling and powers of up to 170 mW are measured. These results suggest that RTA has a higher nonlinear coefficient than KTP.

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Visible to near-, shortwave-, and longwave-infrared (VNIR, SWIR, LWIR) remote sensing data are typically analyzed in their individual wavelength regions, even though theory suggests combined use would emphasize complementary features. This research explored the potential for improvements in material classification using integrated datasets. Hyperspectral (HSI) VNIR and SWIR data from the MaRSuper Sensor System (MSS-1) were analyzed with HSI LWIR data from the Spatially Enhanced Broadband Array Spectrograph System (SEBASS) to determine differences between individual (baseline) and combined analyses. The first integration approach applied separate minimum noise fraction (MNF) transforms to the three regions and combined only non-noise transformed bands from the individual regions during analysis. The second approach integrated over 470 hyperspectral bands covering the VNIR, SWIR, and LWIR wavelengths before using MNF analysis to isolate linear band combinations containing high signal to noise. Spectral endmembers isolated from data were unmixed using partial unmixing. The feasible and high abundance pixels were spatially mapped using a consistent feasibility ratio threshold. Both integration methods enabled straight-forward and effective identification, characterization, and mapping of the scene because higher variability existed between endmembers and background. Results were compared to the baseline analysis. Material identification was more conclusive when analyzing across the full spectrum.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are widely distributed organic pollutants. At petroleum contaminated sites, PAHs are often the key risk drivers because of their carcinogenicity. Assessing the risk of PAH at contaminated sites by conventional soil sampling, solvent extraction and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis is expensive and time-consuming. Employing a rapid and cheap measurement technique for PAH would be beneficial to risk assessment by eliminating costs and time associated with the conventional method. The literature has shown that visible and near infrared (vis-NIR) spectroscopy is a rapid and cheap technique for acquiring information about key soil properties. In this study, models based on vis-NIR spectroscopy (350–2500 nm) were developed to predict and map PAH in contaminated soils for the ultimate aim of informing risk assessment and/or remediation. The reference chemical analytical method used was GC–MS while the multivariate analytical technique used for model development was partial least squares (PLS) regression analysis with full cross-validation. A total of 150 soil samples from the UK were used for the laboratory-scale study while 137 samples were used for the near-onsite adaptive trials at three oil spill sites in Ogoniland, Niger Delta province of Nigeria. Both laboratory- and field-scale results showed that soil diffuse reflectance decreased with increasing PAH concentration. Hydrocarbon absorption features observed around 1647 nm in the first overtone region of the NIR spectrum showed a positive link to PAH. Laboratory-scale study showed that both individual and combined effects of oil concentration, and moisture and clay contents on soil spectral characteristics and calibration models were significant (p<0.05). For the field-scale study, inverse distance weighting soil maps of PAH developed with chemically-measured and vis-NIR-predicted data were comparable with a fair to good agreement between them (Kappa coefficient = 0.19–0.56). Hazard assessment of the oil spill sites using both measurement methods showed that the impact of the contamination varied distinctly across the management zones. The type of action required for site-specific risk assessment and/or remediation also varied among the different zones. This result shows promise that vis-NIR can be a good screening tool for petroleum release sites.

In this project I have studied the optical properties of electrochromic crystalline tungsten oxide, WO3. The practical application could be for a window for desalination of sea water which requires a high absorption coefficient A(λ) for near infrared radiation (NIR), while at the same time a high transmittance T(λ) in the visible spectral range.   An electrochromic (EC) material is a material that changes its optical properties when inserting or extracting ions by applying a voltage. The WO3 was prepared on a glass substrate coated by a transparent electrical conductor. The conductor used is tin doped indium oxide. In2O3:Sn, indium-tin-oxide (ITO). The preparation of the thin films has been carried out using DC magnetron reactive sputtering. The structure of unheated tungsten oxide is amorphous and once heated it is crystalline. Li+ ions were inserted into the tungsten oxide material with electrochemical methods to create the coloring effect. The optical properties were recorded in the 330 < λ < 2500 nm wavelength range by use of a Perkin-Elmer Lambda 9 spectrophotometer.   The highest reflectance R(λ), approximately 50% in NIR and absorption coefficient A(λ) = 1,5 x 105 [cm-1], were measured for the sample that had been post annealed at 500 deg C. The crystalline tungsten oxide films provides for a good switching capability in the NIR spectral range wile at the same time maintaining a high transmittance T(λ) in the visible spectrum.

Soil spectroscopy has experienced a tremendous increase in soil property characterisation, and can be used not only in the laboratory but also from the space (imaging spectroscopy). Partial least squares (PLS) regression is one of the most common approaches for the calibration of soil properties using soil spectra. Besides functioning as a calibration method, PLS can also be used as a dimension reduction tool, which has scarcely been studied in soil spectroscopy. PLS components retained from high-dimensional spectral data can further be explored with the gradient-boosted decision tree (GBDT) method. Three soil sample categories were extracted from the Land Use/Land Cover Area Frame Survey (LUCAS) soil library according to the type of land cover (woodland, grassland, and cropland). First, PLS regression and GBDT were separately applied to build the spectroscopic models for soil organic carbon (OC), total nitrogen content (N), and clay for each soil category. Then, PLS-derived components were used as input variables for the GBDT model. The results demonstrate that the combined PLS-GBDT approach has better performance than PLS or GBDT alone. The relative important variables for soil property estimation revealed by the proposed method demonstrated that the PLS method is a useful dimension reduction tool for soil spectra to retain target-related information.

Soil spectroscopy has experienced a tremendous increase in soil property characterisation, and can be used not only in the laboratory but also from the space (imaging spectroscopy). Partial least squares (PLS) regression is one of the most common approaches for the calibration of soil properties using soil spectra. Besides functioning as a calibration method, PLS can also be used as a dimension reduction tool, which has scarcely been studied in soil spectroscopy. PLS components retained from high-dimensional spectral data can further be explored with the gradient-boosted decision tree (GBDT) method. Three soil sample categories were extracted from the Land Use/Land Cover Area Frame Survey (LUCAS) soil library according to the type of land cover (woodland, grassland, and cropland). First, PLS regression and GBDT were separately applied to build the spectroscopic models for soil organic carbon (OC), total nitrogen content (N), and clay for each soil category. Then, PLS-derived components were used as input variables for the GBDT model. The results demonstrate that the combined PLS-GBDT approach has better performance than PLS or GBDT alone. The relative important variables for soil property estimation revealed by the proposed method demonstrated that the PLS method is a useful dimension reduction tool for soil spectra to retain target-related information.

This work is a description of the Visible to near Infrared Spectrograph system for the CHARA array. The CHARA Array is a 6-telescope interferometer at the Mount Wilson Observatory in the mountains north of Pasadena, California. It combines the light from the 1-meter telescopes, and measures the visibility of the resulting interference fringes, which gives information about the source intensity distribution on the sky. The resolution of the instrument is proportional to the telescope separation, or baseline, divided by the wavelength. The VIS system operates in the 600-1000~nm wavelength range, a factor of 3 to 4 shorter than the standard operating wavelength at CHARA, 2.13 um. An introduction to interferometry is given, with a description of the CHARA Array. The effects of diffraction through the system combined with atmospheric turbulence are described, and the results of a computer model given. The VIS system design is described, and results of the first fringe data are presented, including system visibility and throughput estimates.

Visible and near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy has been demonstrated to be a fast and cheap tool for estimating a large number of chemical and physical soil properties, and effective features extracted from spectra are crucial to correlating with these properties. We adopt a novel methodology for feature extraction of soil spectroscopy based on fractal geometry. The spectrum can be divided into multiple segments with different step–window pairs. For each segmented spectral curve, the fractal dimension value was calculated using variation estimators with power indices 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0. Thus, the fractal feature can be generated by multiplying the fractal dimension value with spectral energy. To assess and compare the performance of new generated features, we took advantage of organic soil samples from the large-scale European Land Use/Land Cover Area Frame Survey (LUCAS). Gradient-boosting regression models built using XGBoost library with soil spectral library were developed to estimate N, pH and soil organic carbon (SOC) contents. Features generated by a variogram estimator performed better than two other estimators and the principal component analysis (PCA). The estimation results for SOC were coefficient of determination (R2) = 0.85, root mean square error (RMSE) = 56.7 g/kg, the ratio of percent deviation (RPD) = 2.59; for pH: R2 = 0.82, RMSE = 0.49 g/kg, RPD = 2.31; and for N: R2 = 0.77, RMSE = 3.01 g/kg, RPD = 2.09. Even better results could be achieved when fractal features were combined with PCA components. Fractal features generated by the proposed method can improve estimation accuracies of soil properties and simultaneously maintain the original spectral curve shape.

Visible and near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy has been demonstrated to be a fast and cheap tool for estimating a large number of chemical and physical soil properties, and effective features extracted from spectra are crucial to correlating with these properties. We adopt a novel methodology for feature extraction of soil spectroscopy based on fractal geometry. The spectrum can be divided into multiple segments with different step–window pairs. For each segmented spectral curve, the fractal dimension value was calculated using variation estimators with power indices 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0. Thus, the fractal feature can be generated by multiplying the fractal dimension value with spectral energy. To assess and compare the performance of new generated features, we took advantage of organic soil samples from the large-scale European Land Use/Land Cover Area Frame Survey (LUCAS). Gradient-boosting regression models built using XGBoost library with soil spectral library were developed to estimate N, pH and soil organic carbon (SOC) contents. Features generated by a variogram estimator performed better than two other estimators and the principal component analysis (PCA). The estimation results for SOC were coefficient of determination (R2) = 0.85, root mean square error (RMSE) = 56.7 g/kg, the ratio of percent deviation (RPD) = 2.59; for pH: R2 = 0.82, RMSE = 0.49 g/kg, RPD = 2.31; and for N: R2 = 0.77, RMSE = 3.01 g/kg, RPD = 2.09. Even better results could be achieved when fractal features were combined with PCA components. Fractal features generated by the proposed method can improve estimation accuracies of soil properties and simultaneously maintain the original spectral curve shape.

No soil, no life. Know soil, know life. Soil provides the basis for life. To promote soil security, soil monitoring is essential. However, conventional methods of soil analysis are costly and time-consuming. This thesis explores contemporary data analytics for analyzing soil infrared spectroscopy data. New data analytics take soil infrared spectral data and convert them to soil properties that are useful for assessing its conditions. This thesis deals with issues of sampling, spectral reduction techniques, deep learning models, and application in soil contamination assessment. Soil spectral data has to be trained using machine learning models to provide predictions for soil properties. The effect of sampling size and designs on the model performance were evaluated. Various ways of spectra data dimension reductions were explored using variable selection techniques to prevent model overfitting when a limited number of samples was available. To deal with large data collected from regional and national soil spectral libraries, deep learning techniques were explored. The convolutional neural network (CNN) was demonstrated as a highly accurate method for predicting soil properties on a large database. A method was derived to enable the interpretability of the CNN model. The application of infrared spectroscopy in screening soil contaminants (microplastics and petroleum hydrocarbons) were illustrated. Collectively, this thesis provides novel data analytics that enabled enhanced applications of infrared spectroscopy in soil science.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2005.
Theo A. ten Brummelaar, committee chair; Brian D. Thoms, Todd J. Henry, William G. Bagnuolo, Douglas R. Gies, Harold A. McAlister, committee members. Author's name from thesis t.p. Electronic text (548 p. : ill.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed June 27, 2007; title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 539-548).

As part of the Bagnold Dune campaign conducted by Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity, visible/near-infrared reflectance spectra of dune sands were acquired using Mast Camera (Mastcam) multispectral imaging (445-1013nm) and Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) passive point spectroscopy (400-840nm). By comparing spectra from pristine and rover-disturbed ripple crests and troughs within the dune field, and through analysis of sieved grain size fractions, constraints on mineral segregation from grain sorting could be determined. In general, the dune areas exhibited low relative reflectance, a weak similar to 530nm absorption band, an absorption band near 620nm, and a spectral downturn after similar to 685nm consistent with olivine-bearing sands. The finest grain size fractions occurred within ripple troughs and in the subsurface and typically exhibited the strongest similar to 530nm bands, highest relative reflectances, and weakest red/near-infrared ratios, consistent with a combination of crystalline and amorphous ferric materials. Coarser-grained samples were the darkest and bluest and exhibited weaker similar to 530nm bands, lower relative reflectances, and stronger downturns in the near-infrared, consistent with greater proportions of mafic minerals such as olivine and pyroxene. These grains were typically segregated along ripple crests and among the upper surfaces of grain flows in disturbed sands. Sieved dune sands exhibited progressive decreases in reflectance with increasing grain size, as observed in laboratory spectra of olivine size separates. The continuum of spectral features observed between the coarse- and fine-grained dune sands suggests that mafic grains, ferric materials, and air fall dust mix in variable proportions depending on aeolian activity and grain sorting.

Bulk heterojunction organic solar cells (BHJ OSCs) have been fascinated in recent years for the future green energy generation due to their most promising results of low-cost fabrication, great flexibility, and lightweight properties. Very recently small molecule donors in the BHJ active layers have shown prominent attention due to the synergistic advantages over the polymer counterparts, which possess easy purification, highly facile synthesis, and negligible batch-batch variations. To construct push-pull molecules for p-type semiconductors, acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A) based backbone exalted so far. In addition, the most impressive small molecule electron-donor units (D) are like benzodithiophene (BDT), oligothiophene, 3-dithienosilole (DTS), and indacenedithiophene (IDT) and so on. Likewise, electron-acceptors (A), such as 3-alkylrhodanine, diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP), and perylenediimide (PDI) have been utilized. Porphyrin derivatives show excellent photochemical and electrochemical properties. Interestingly, porphyrins can be easily modified by different substituents at the peripheral positions (meso- and β-) and metal insertions at the center of the porphyrin core. In this work, we design, synthesize and characterize visible-near infrared absorbing new porphyrin dimer based small molecules with acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A) configuration for bulk heterojunction organic solar cells, and investigate their structure-property relationships, specifically the effect of conjugation and planarity of the backbone central units on the charge mobility, film morphology, and solar cell performances. Chapter 1 deals with an overview of the past and recent development of BHJ OSCs, particularly the key principles and photovoltaic characteristics. Furthermore, we focus on the detailed classification of porphyrin-based small molecules and their performances in OSCs. In chapter 2, two promising near-IR absorbing porphyrin-based dimeric small molecules were designed and synthesized, in which diketopyrrolopyrrole-ethynylene-bridged porphyrin dimers are capped with electron-deficient 3-ethylrhodanine (A2) via a π-bridge of phenylene ethynylene, with an optimal A2-π-D-A1-D-π-A2 architecture affording porphyrin dimers DPP-2TTP and DPP-2TP. They possess strong absorption in ranges of 400-550 (Soret bands) and 700-900 nm (Q bands). Their intrinsic absorption deficiency between the Soret and Q bands could be perfectly compensated by a wide bandgap small molecule DR3TBDTTF with absorption in 500-700 nm. Impressively, the optimal ternary device based on the blend films of DPP-2TPP, DR3TBDTTF (20 wt.%) and PC71BM, shows a PCE of 11.15%, while the binary devices based on DPP-2TTP/PC71BM and DPP-2TP/PC71BM blend films exhibit PCEs of 9.30% and 8.23%, respectively. The high compatibility of the low bandgap porphyrin dimers with the wide bandgap small molecule provides a new threesome with PC71BM for highly efficient panchromatic ternary organic solar cells. Chapter 3 describes another two new A-π-D-π-A structural porphyrin small molecules denoted as TDPP-2P and TDPPE-2P which are constructed from dimeric porphyrin linked by 2,5-bis(2-butyloctyl)-3,6-di(thiophen-2-yl)pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole-1,4(2H,5H)-dione (TDPP), and 2,5-bis(2-butyloctyl)-3,6-bis(5-ethynyl-2-thienyl)-2,5-dihydro-pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole-1,4(2H,5H)-dione (TDPPE), respectively, further π-extended symmetrically with electron-deficient 4-[(3-ethyl-4-oxo-2-thioxo-5-thiazolidinylidene)methyl]-phenylethynyl fragments. Compared to the absorption spectra of TDPP-2P, astonishingly TDPPE-2P improves the range of near-infrared over 1000 nm due to the enhanced coplanarity of the central core. Moreover, the intrinsic absorption deficiency (500-700 nm) is perfectly compensated by IT-M small molecule acceptor. Remarkably the blend film TDPPE-2P:IT-M accomplished panchromatic photo-current absorption from 400-900 nm, as a result, the device exhibits a prominent PCE of 5.69%. Whereas, the film TDPP-2P:IT-M shows comparatively low PCE of 4.12%. Finally, we believe that such a combination of TDPPE-2P:IT-M device demonstrates synergetic compatibility of donor/acceptor domain to promote the complementary absorption spectrum and enhances through higher hole mobilities and better crystallinity of the surface and interface for non-fullerene small-molecule organic solar cells. In Chapter 4, we further modified and synthesized a new series of A*-π-D2-D1-D2-π-A* based porphyrin dimer (2P) (D2) small molecules flanked by 4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)-2,6-diethynylbenzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene (TBDTE) and 4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene (TBDT) as TBDTE-2P and TBDT-2P respectively, in which benzodithiophene (BDT) (D1) based analog was constructed as a central unit because of extended coplanarity conjugation length. Finally, TBDTE and TBDT units end-capped with 3-ethylrhodanine (A*) via a π-bridge of phenyl ethynyl linker and 2-octyldodecan-1-al long alkyl chain was used on vertical meso-porphyrins to improve the material solubility for the solution-processed OSCs. The compound TBDTE-2P accomplishes absorption range from 400-800 nm in the vis-near-infrared region, whereas TBDT-2P compound absorbs 400-700 nm range. The higher absorption range of TBDTE-2P arises from more planar backbone orientation and strong intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) within the donor molecules. Further, we focus on the OPV performances of binary devices TBDTE-2P / TBDT-2P: IDIC under AM 1.5G 1-Sun and 300 lux LED illuminations. The champion device TBDTE-2P: IDIC was accumulated a PCE of 7.46% under 1-Sun whereas a PCE of 12.34% was obtained under indoor light illuminations. The exploit of superior properties, charge generation and collection, hole and electron mobilities, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were also examined. In Chapter 5, we synergistically designed and synthesized two new porphyrin dimers triply fused at meso-meso, β-β and βꞌ-βꞌ positions, from the corresponding meso-meso singly-linked porphyrin arrays. These fused porphyrin tapes differ by two metal atoms at the porphyrin core, such as zinc and nickel, termed as F-C19ZnP and F-C19NiP, respectively. With the purpose for design new acceptor-donor-acceptor small molecules for OSCs, the two fused porphyrin tapes were investigated in detail on the photophysical and electrochemical properties. Both fused porphyrins exhibit a strong and wide Soret-band absorption from 400-570 nm. Interestingly, the compound F-C19ZnP is recorded a larger red-shift absorption than the compound F-C19NiP consistent with cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements, because the Zn-porphyrin attains more planar conjugated geometry. Finally, the dissertation was completed with a summary in chapter 6

High peak power 10 ns near-infrared coherent radiation has been obtained from frequency conversion of a dye laser beam in a LiNbO$\sb3$ crystal. The observed tuning range spanned the 0.734 to 2.853 $\mu$m wavelength range. An examination of optical parametric oscillator frequency conversion revealed that the production of the monochromatic laser radiation at the signal wavelength was only obtainable for a limited portion of the accessible pump wavelengths. In contrast, optical parametric amplifier frequency conversion resulted in the production of bichromatic infrared radiation for the entire accessible pump wavelength range. It appears that the crystal pump acceptance bandwidth leading to reduce power conversion can be described by a model in which the signal wave is assumed to have zero bandwidth.

Thesis (Ph. D.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2007.
Thesis research directed by: Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

Soil compaction is a widely spread problem in agricultural soils that has negative agronomic and environmental impacts. The former may lead to poor crop growth and yield, whereas the latter may lead to poor hydraulic properties of soils, and high risk to flooding, soil erosion and degradation. Therefore, the elimination of soil compaction must be done on regular bases. One of the main parameters to quantify soil compaction is soil bulk density (BD). Mapping of within field variation in soil BD will be a main requirement for within field management of soil compaction. The aim of this research was to develop a new approach for the measurement of soil BD as an indicator of soil compaction. The research relies on the fusion of data from visible and near infrared spectroscopy (vis-NIRS), to measure soil gravimetric moisture content (ω), with frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) data to measure soil volumetric moisture content (θv). The values of the estimated ω and θv, for the same undisturbed soil samples were collected from selected locations, textures, soil moisture contents and land use systems to derive soil BD. A total of 1013 samples were collected from 32 sites in the England and Wales. Two calibration techniques for vis-NIRS were evaluated, namely, partial least squares regression (PLSR) and artificial neural networks (ANN). ThetaProbe calibration was performed using the general formula (GF), soil specific calibration (SSC), the output voltage (OV) and artificial neural networks (ANN). ANN analyses for both ω and θv properties were based either on a single input variable or multiple input variables (data fusion). Effects of texture, moisture content, and land use on the prediction accuracy on ω, θv and BD were evaluated to arrive at the best experimental conditions for the measurement of BD with the proposed new system. A prototype was developed and tested under laboratory conditions and implemented in-situ for mapping of ω, θv and BD. When using the entire dataset (general data set), results proved that high measurement accuracy can be obtained for ω and θv with PLSR and the best performing traditional calibration method of the ThetaProbe with R2 values of 0.91 and 0.97, and root mean square error of prediction (RMSEp) of 0.027 g g-1 and 0.019 cm3 cm-3, respectively. However, the ANN – data fusion method resulted in improved accuracy (R2 = 0.98 and RMSEp = 0.014 g g-1 and 0.015 cm3 cm-3, respectively). This data fusion approach gave the best accuracy for BD assessment when only vis-NIRS spectra and ThetaProbe V were used as an input data (R2 = 0.81 and RMSEp = 0.095 g cm-3). The moisture level (L) impact on BD prediction revealed that the accuracy improved with soil moisture increasing, with RMSEp values of 0.081, 0.068 and 0.061 g cm-3, for average ω of 0.11, 0.20 and 0.28 g g-1, respectively. The influence of soil texture was discussed in relation with the clay content in %. It was found that clay positively affected vis-NIRS accuracy for ω measurement and no obvious impact on the dielectric sensor readings was observed, hence, no clear influence of the soil textures on the accuracy of BD prediction. But, RMSEp values of BD assessment ranged from 0.046 to 0.115 g cm-3. The land use effect of BD prediction showed measurement of grassland soils are more accurate compared to arable land soils, with RMSEp values of 0.083 and 0.097 g cm-3, respectively. The prototype measuring system showed moderate accuracy during the laboratory test and encouraging precision of measuring soil BD in the field test, with RMSEp of 0.077 and 0.104 g cm-3 of measurement for arable land and grassland soils, respectively. Further development of the prototype measuring system expected to improve prediction accuracy of soil BD. It can be concluded that BD can be measured accurately by combining the vis-NIRS and FDR techniques based on an ANN-data fusion approach.