The magnetic (B) field is ubiquitous throughout the Milky Way. Several fundamental questions about the B-field in the cool, star-forming interstellar medium (ISM) remain unanswered. In this dissertation, near-infrared (NIR) polarimetric observations are used to study the large-scale Galactic B-field in the cool ISM in a spiral arm and to determine the role of B-fields in the formation of Infrared Dark Clouds (IRDCs). NIR polarimetry of 31 star clusters, located in and around the Perseus spiral arm, were obtained to determine the orientation of the plane-of-sky B-field in the outer Galaxy, and whether the presence of a spiral arm influenced B-field properties. Cluster distances, which provide upper limits to the B-field probed by observations, were estimated by developing a maximum likelihood method to fit theoretical stellar isochrones to stars in cluster color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs). Using the distance estimates, the cluster locations relative to the Perseus arm were found. The cluster polarization percentages and orientations were compared between clusters foreground to the arm and clusters inside or behind the arm. The cluster polarization orientations are predominantly parallel to the Galactic plane. Clusters inside and behind the arm have larger polarization percentages, likely a result of more polarizing material along the line of sight. The cluster polarization data were also compared to optical, inner Galaxy NIR, and Planck submm polarimetry data, and showed agreement with all three data sets. The polarimetric properties of one IRDC, G28.23, were determined using deep NIR observations. The polarization orientations relative to the cloud major axis were found to change directions with distance from the cloud axis. The B-field strength was estimated to be 10 to 100uG. Despite these large inferred B-field strengths, the B-field was found not to be the dominant force in the formation of the IRDC, though the B-field morphology was influenced by the cloud. Using NIR observations, the B-field of 27 IRDCs were studied. The relative polarization orientations with respect to the cloud major axes were found. No preferential relative orientation was found, implying that the B-field did not greatly influence the formation of this sample of IRDCs.

The spectral polarized radiance distribution provides the most complete description of the light field that can be measured. However, this is a very difficult parameter to measure near the surface because of its large dynamic range, dependence on incoming sky conditions, and waves at the air-sea interface. The measurement of the Stokes vector of the downwelling polarized light field requires the combination of at least four images, all of which must be obtained simultaneously. To achieve this, a new polarimeter (which we call DPOL) has been designed, characterized, calibrated and deployed. The description of the DPOL, its calibrations and characterizations are discussed. The uncertainties in the retrieval of Stokes vector and other derived parameters are also discussed. This instrument is equipped with four fish-eye lenses (180° field of view) with polarizers behind each lens in a different orientation, a coherent optical fiber bundle with 4 arms, a spectral filter changer assembly and a charged coupled-device (CCD) imaging camera. With this system, a single image contains 4 separate fisheye images, each a whole hemisphere of the same scene, each with different polarization information. Using these 4 images and applying appropriate calibration parameters allows us to calculate the four-element Stokes vector and then the total degree of polarization and the angle of plane of polarization of the incoming light field in a hemisphere of desired directions. Under the Office of Naval Research RaDyO (Radiance under a Dynamic Ocean) program, DPOL has been used in the Santa Barbara Channel and Hawaii field experiments. In most cases, data on sky polarization were collected with a separate camera (Sky-Cam) simultaneously with the DPOL. The data and results with these two camera systems in these experiments are presented and are compared. Data on the inherent optical properties of water from the same field experiments collected by collaborators will be shown. Our measurements show that very near the surface, for clear sky conditions, the dominant source of polarization is the refracted sky light. As one progresses in the water column, the polarization due to light scattering by the water increases and polarization due to the water becomes dominant. The dependence of the in-water light field polarization on the sky and surface wave conditions, solar zenith and azimuth angles, the depth of the instrument, the viewing angle, the wavelength of light, the inherent optical properties (IOP’s) of water are discussed.

The reflectarray antenna has been considered as a suitable candidate to replace the traditional parabolic reflectors because of its high-gain and low-profile features. Beam scanning capability and multi-band operation are the current trends of the reflectarray design. It is desired to implement these functionalities with simple and effective techniques. Narrow bandwidth is the main issue which restricts the applications of the microstrip antennas. New microstrip slot antennas and polarization diversified planar antennas are introduced as the solutions to the issue of narrow bandwidth in this dissertation. A dual-band beam scanning reflectarray has been developed. It is the first offset-fed reflectarray that has been ever practically developed to emulate a cylindrical/parabolic type of reflector. Unlike other beam scanning reflectarrays which integrate phase tuning devices into the reflectarray elements and control the reflection phase, the beam scanning capability of this reflectarray is provided by its feed array. This method significantly reduces the complexity of the design of the beam scanning reflectarray. A new dual-band reflectarray configuration is also developed to eliminate the possible top layer blocking effects in the dual-layer reflectarray configuration. Perforated patches loaded with slots on the ground plane and rectangular patches loaded with slots on the patches are adopted as the low and high frequency bands, respectively. It is guaranteed that no physical contact between any two elements will occur. The bandwidth of the conventional microstrip antenna is small. A new wideband circularly polarized microstrip slot antenna is introduced in this dissertation. Very wide 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth is observed for the proposed antenna. The antennas are assembled in triangularly arranged array with sequential rotation feed technique. Polarization polarity is an alternative solution to the narrow bandwidth. A reconfigurable circularly polarized microstrip antenna is proposed. The antenna has both right-hand and left-hand circular polarizations which are controlled by two piezoelectric transducers. In addition, a dual-band dual-linearly-polarized planar array is designed based on the concepts of polarization diversity and multi-band operation. The research presented in this dissertation suggests useful techniques for reflectarrays and novel antenna designs. The results should have many applications for the modern wireless communication and radar systems.

In this thesis, we propose tag and reader antennas which are suitable when attended to metal material for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems. For tag antenna design, we use microstrip antenna with ground plane to reduce the metal effect. In order to match the impedance of different IC chip, some parameter of the tag antenna are designed and described, which can be used to adjust the impedance of tag antenna. For reader antenna design, circularly polarized patch antenna can be achieved by using dual-feeding technique with U-shaped aperture-coupled, where the dual feeds with a phase shift and equal input power amplitude are provided by a Wilkinson power divider. Therefore, a good right-hand circular polarization is obtained and a 3-dB CP bandwidth of the designed reader antenna is greater than 30 ¢H. 900 We then design dual-band antenna and broad CP bandwidth antennas. In the dual-band design, two resonant paths are utilized to cover 915 and 2450 MHz bands that can be used for RFID systems in UHF and ISM bands. In the broad CP bandwidth design, a square slot antenna is used with a cross patch placed at the center of the square slot. Two orthogonal resonant modes with phase difference and equal input power amplitude can be excited by choosing the proper dimensions of the cross patch. A 3-dB CP bandwidth of the designed circularly polarized antenna is greater than 12¢H.

This research studied the polarization switching during theturned on of a VCSEL. The switching periods and beam profilewere investigated by the variation of the driving current and heat sink temperature of the laser. The laser would present a series of polarization switching before it achieved the stable state. At a laser¡¦s current of 5.5 mA, the laser first output in Y-polarization for a period of T1 after the laser was turned on. Then the laser switched to X-polarization and maintained for a period of T2. In the third period of T3, the laser switched to Y-polarization and followed by a final switch to X-polarization. We found that the switching periods would decrease under higher temperature and larger driving current, while the ratio of T2 /T1 and T3/T2 did not change, approximating to a constant of e2.We also found that the beam profile of X-polarization would change periodically with a period of 0.32 mA in the region of 3.5 to 6.0 mA. These results will help to understand the mechanism of the polarization switching when the laser is turned on.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-85). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 158-169). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-85). Also available on the Internet.

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