Twenty-odd years ago, scientists managed to produce several new techniques for manipulating certain properties of laser and microwave radiation. These new properties made it possible for the radiation to contain a lot more information than what was previously known. What they had discovered was that light could be twisted, thereby not only carrying polarization, also known as spin angular momentum (SAM) but also orbital angular momentum (OAM).Radar beams are used by scientists to probe the earth’s ionosphere. By measuring the echo of the radar waves one can deduce a lot of information, such as density and temperature of the plasma. In this thesis we will expand an existing program (iscatspb0.m) which computes the spectrum of plasma fluctuations as seen with an incoherent scatter radar, to having it incorporate radar beams carrying OAM, to see what new information of the plasma can be obtained.The three major findings in this thesis were what magnitude of the integer l is needed in order for the contribution of OAM to equal the contribution for the beam opening angle, how much the radar beam opening angle affected the measurements and in what way the spectrum obtained by a twisted beam is affected by different flows

In the last decade much interest has been shown in space-time trellis codes (STTCs) since they can offer coding gain along with the ability to exploit the space and time diversity of MIMO channels. STTCs can be flexibly designed by trading off performance versus complexity. The work of Dayal [1] stated that if training symbols are used together with data symbols, then a space-time code can be viewed as a noncoherent code. The authors of [1] described the migration from coherent space-time codes to training assisted noncoherent space-time codes. This work focuses on the development of training assisted noncoherent STTCs, thus extending the concept of noncoherent training codes to STTCs. We investigate the intrinsic link between coherent and noncoherent demod- ulation. By analyzing noncoherent STTCs for up to four transmit antennas, we see that they have similar performance deterioration to noncoherently demodulated M-PSK using a single antenna. Various simulations have been done to confirm the analysis.

Diagnosing diffuse liver disease first involves measurement of blood enzymes followed by biopsy. However, blood markers lack spatial and diagnostic specificity and biopsy is highly risky and variable. Although structural changes have been evaluated using diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), the technique is minimally quantitative. Quantitative MR diffusion approaches, such as intra-voxel incoherent motion (IVIM) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) have been proposed to better characterize diseased liver. However, the so called pseudo-hepatic artefact due to cardiac motion, drastically affects DWI results. The overall goals of this thesis were thus to evaluate the pseudo-hepatic anisotropy artefact on the quality of diffusion tensor (DT) and IVIM metrics, and to identify potential solutions. Intra- and intersession DTI repeatability was evaluated in healthy human livers when varying the number of diffusion encoding gradients (NGD) and number of signal averages (NSA). Although no further advantage was observed with increasing NGD beyond 6 directions, increased NSA improved intra- and inter-session repeatability. The pseudo-hepatic artefact resulted in increased fractional anisotropy (FA) and tensor eigenvalues (λ1, λ2, λ3), most prominent in the left liver lobe during systole of the cardiac cycle. Without taking advantage of tensor directional information, increasing the acquired NGD slightly improved IVIM fit quality thus helping to minimize the pseudo-hepatic artefact. Combining IVIM and DTI resulted in FA values closer to the hypothesized value of 0.0, which, based on liver microstructure is most logical. Although both IVIM-DTI and DTI-IVIM exhibited similar fit R2 values, the latter failed more often, especially near major blood vessels. Thus, IVIM-DTI was concluded to be more robust and thus the better approach. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Σ3{111} coherent twin boundary (CTB) in face-centered-cubic (FCC) metals and alloys have been regarded as an efficient way to simultaneously increase strength and ductility at the nanoscale. Extensive study of dislocation-CTB interaction has been carried out by a combination of computer simulations, experiments and continuum theory. Most of them, however, are based on the perfect CTB assumption. A recent study [Wang YM, Sansoz F, LaGrange T, et al. Defective twin boundaries in nanotwinned metals. Nat Mater. 2013;12(8):697-702.] has revealed the existence of intrinsic kink-like defects in CTBs of nanotwinned copper through nanodiffraction mapping technique, and has confirmed the effect of these defects on deformation mechanisms and mechanical behavior. One of the deformation mechanisms proposed therein, i.e. general hard dislocation slip intersecting with kink line is studied here in detail by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Simulations are performed using copper bicrystal models with a particular focus on the interaction of a screw dislocation with 0 degree and 60 degree kinked CTBs. It is found that kink-like defects have a profound impact on screw dislocation - CTB interaction mechanisms, resulting in significant strengthening or softening effects.

Pour construire le lien entre l'organisation structurale des milieux dispersés concentrés et leurs propriétés mécaniques, il est nécessaire de pourvoir identifier leur structure à l'échelle microscopique. En particulier, il faut être capable mesurer la taille des particules ou des amas de particules, leur concentration et les éventuelles anisotropies liées à une déformation ou une orientation (globale ou partielle) dans le cas de particules anisotropes (fibres par exemple) ou déformables (émulsions, globules rouges,...). La difficulté majeure est que ces systèmes composés de particules micrométriques sont généralement opaques à la lumière visible (produits agroalimentaires tels que les laitages, fluides biologiques tels que le sang, matériaux liés au bâtiment tels que les ciments, les argiles ou les peintures,...). Nous avons ainsi mis au point une technique optique basée sur la diffusion multiple de la lumière. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, nous nous intéressons plus particulièrement à la caractérisation des milieux constitués d'objets anisotropes. Sous l'action d'un champ de cisaillement, on observe une orientation privilégiée ou une déformation globale des particules. L'objectif de cette thèse est donc à la fois d'étudier les mécanismes qui sont à l'origine de la déformation et/ou l'orientation des particules et également de mesurer ces anisotropies à l'échelle microscopique. On s'appuie pour mener cette étude sur un dispositif développé au laboratoire basé sur le transport incohérent de lumière couplé à un rhéomètre. Il s'agit d'un dispositif constitué d'une source laser focalisée à la surface d'un échantillon et d'une caméra CCD permettant l'acquisition d'une image rétrodiffusée loin du point d'impacte du laser. Parallèlement, une base de données de simulation de Monte Carlo est en cours de réalisation permettant par analyse des images rétrodiffusées anisotropes, de remonter à l'information sur l'anisotropie réelle des particules (facteur de forme) leur champ d'orientation (paramètre d'ordre). En effet, en confrontant les données expérimentales aux données numériques, nous sommes en mesure de déterminer le taux d'orientation moyen de particules très anisotropes ou de caractériser la déformation des particules. Une application à la déformation des rouges sous cisaillement pour du sang en concentration physiologique (40 à 50% en volume) sera présentée. D'autres applications, notamment à l'endommagement des plastiques et à l'orientation de suspensions de fibres seront discutées / To build the link between the structural organization between concentrated dispersions and their mechanical properties, you have to be able to identify their microscopic structure. In particular, for anisotropic particles (fibbers for example) or deformable particles (emulsions, red blood cells...), the knowledge of the particle size, the concentration, the deformation or the orientation of particles (partial or global) are very important. Most of concentrated dispersions are generally opaque to visible light (biological fluids as blood, clays...). An optical diffusing method based on multiple diffusion light has been developed in the laboratory to study this kind of materials. In this thesis, we are interested in the general problem of characterizing concentrated dispersions with anisotropic objects. Under shear rate, a preferential orientation or a global deformation of particles has been observed. The objective of this thesis is to study the mechanisms which involve deformation and/or orientation of anisotropic particles. An experimental device based on the incoherent light transport has been developed at the laboratory in order to determine the orientation or the deformation. The experimental device is composed of a focused laser diode and a CCD camera to acquire the backscattered images. A data base of Monte Carlo simulation has been created in order to get the form factor or the orientation of particles by analyse of anisotropic backscattered images. By comparing the numerical data with the experimental data, we are able to determine the average rate of orientated particles. Thanks to this optical diffusing method, the deformation of red blood cells in physiological concentration (40 to 50% volume fraction) and the orientation of fibbers dispersion has been study

Incoherent scatter radar (ISR) systems allow researchers to peer into the ionosphere via remote sensing of intrinsic plasma parameters. ISR sensors have been used since the 1950s and until the past decade were mainly equipped with a single mechanically steerable antenna. As such, the ability to develop a two or three dimensional picture of the plasma parameters in the ionosphere has been constrained by the relatively slow mechanical steering of the antennas. A newer class of systems using electronically steerable array (ESA) antennas have broken the chains of this constraint, allowing researchers to create 3-D reconstructions of plasma parameters. There have been many studies associated with reconstructing 3-D fields of plasma parameters, but there has not been a systematic analysis into the sampling issues that arise. Also, there has not been a systematic study as to how to reconstruct these plasma parameters in an optimum sense as opposed to just using different forms of interpolation. The research presented here forms a framework that scientists and engineers can use to plan experiments with ESA ISR capabilities and to better analyze the resulting data. This framework attacks the problem of space-time sampling by ESA ISR systems from the point of view of signal processing, simulation and inverse theoretic image reconstruction. We first describe a physics based model of incoherent scatter from the ionospheric plasma, along with processing methods needed to create the plasma parameter measurements. Our approach leads to development of the space-time ambiguity function, forming a theoretical foundation of the forward model for ISR. This forward model is novel in that it takes into account the shape of the antenna beam and scanning method along with integration time to develop the proper statistics for a desired measurement precision. Once the forward model is developed, we present the simulation method behind the Simulator for ISR (SimISR). SimISR uses input plasma parameters over space and time and creates complex voltage samples in a form similar to that produced by a real ISR system. SimISR allows researchers to evaluate different experiment configurations in order to efficiently and accurately sample specific phenomena. We present example simulations using input conditions derived from a multi-fluid ionosphere model and reconstructions using standard interpolation techniques. Lastly, methods are presented to invert the space-time ambiguity function using techniques from image reconstruction literature. These methods are tested using SimISR to quantify accurate plasma parameter reconstruction over a simulated ionospheric region.

Ionospheric scale height is a measure of the topside altitude dependence of electron density and is a key ionospheric parameter due to its intrinsic connection to ionospheric dynamics, plasma temperature, and composition. A longtime problem has been that information on the bottomside ionospheric profile is readily available, but the observation of the topside ionosphere is still challenging. Despite numerous data techniques to characterize the topside ionosphere, the knowledge of the behavior of the topside ionosphere and its subsequent scale heights remains insufficient. The goal of this study is to evaluate whether or not we can characterize the topside ionospheric density and temperature profiles in the event that neither temperature nor electron density are measured by using a cost-effective method. In a simple model, the electron density in the F-region topside decreases exponentially with height. This exponential decay is mainly driven by thermal diffusive equilibrium, but also dependent on the dominant ion species, as well as other drivers during nondiffusive conditions. A scale height based on observations of the temperature can generate topside electron density profiles. While a measure of the electron density profile enables a scale height to be inferred, hence yielding temperature information. We found a new way to represent how much total electron content (TEC) is allotted for the topside ionosphere. We then used this information to successfully determine TEC using ionosonde data containing only bottomside electron density information. For the first time, slab thickness, which is directly proportional to scale height, was found to be correlated to the peak density height and introduced as a new index, k. Ultimately, k relates electron density parameters and can be a very useful tool for describing the topside ionosphere shape and subsequently, scale height. The methodology of using cost-effective, readily available ionosonde bottomside electron density data combined with GPS TEC was discovered to be capable of inferring the topside ionosphere. This was verified by incoherent scatter radar (ISR) data, though major issues surrounding the availability of ionogram data during nighttime hours greatly limited our study, especially during diffusive equilibrium conditions. Also, significant differences were found between ISR and ionosonde-determined peak density parameters, NmF2 and hmF2, and raised concerns in how the instruments were calibrated.

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a multicarrier modulation technique which is robust against multipath fading and very easy to implement in transmitters and receivers using the inverse fast Fourier transform and the fast Fourier transform. A guard interval using cyclic prefix is inserted in each OFDM symbol to avoid the inter-symbol interference. This guard interval should be at least equal to, or longer than the maximum delay spread of the channel to combat against inter-symbol interference properly.<p> In coherent detection, channel estimation is required for the data detection of OFDM systems to equalize the channel effects. One of the popular techniques is to insert pilot tones (reference signals) in OFDM symbols. In conventional method, pilot tones are inserted into every OFDM symbols. Channel capacity is wasted due to the transmission of a large number of pilot tones. To overcome this transmission loss, incoherent data detection is introduced in OFDM systems, where it is not needed to estimate the channel at first. We use differential modulation based incoherent detection in this thesis for the data detection of OFDM systems. Data can be encoded in the relative phase of consecutive OFDM symbols (inter-frame modulation) or in the relative phase of an OFDM symbol in adjacent subcarriers (in-frame modulation). We use higher order differential modulation for in-frame modulation to compare the improvement of bit error rate. It should be noted that the single differential modulation scheme uses only one pilot tone, whereas the double differential uses two pilot tones and so on. Thus overhead due to the extra pilot tones in conventional methods are minimized and the detection delay is reduced. It has been observed that the single differential scheme works better in low SNRs (Signal to Noise Ratios) with low channel taps and the double differential works better at higher SNRs. Simulation results show that higher order differential modulation schemes don¡¯t have any further advantages. For inter-frame modulation, we use single differential modulation where only one OFDM symbol is used as a reference symbol. Except the reference symbol, no other overhead is required. We also perform channel estimation using differential modulation. Channel estimation using differential modulation is very easy and channel coefficients can be estimated very accurately without increasing any computational complexity. Our simulation results show that the mean square channel estimation error is about ¡¼10¡½^(-2) at an SNR of 30 dB for double differential in-frame modulation scheme, whereas channel estimation error is about ¡¼10¡½^(-4) for single differential inter-frame modulation. Incoherent data detection using classical DPSK (Differential Phase Shift Keying) causes an SNR loss of approximately 3 dB compared to coherent detection. But in our method, differential detection can estimate the channel coefficients very accurately and our estimated channel can be used in simple coherent detection to improve the system performance and minimize the SNR loss that happens in conventional method.