Lee J. Rickard

Use of filter vectors in hyperspectral data analysis

We report recent progress using a filter vector technique to analyze the data from a hyperspectral image. The filter vector technique finds the optimal filter vectors for demixing the complex patterns found in the hyperspectral image. The method has the potential to be implemented in real time since it is fully parallel. Computation of the filter vectors for a given family of known species vectors is fast and direct and improved algorithms for developing of the algorithm which may be updated as conditions change is possible. Advantages of using the filter vector techniques over the technique of pattern matching will be discussed. The portable hyperspectral images for low light spectroscopy (PHILLS) instrument has been used on a number of depolyments in the last year. Typically, the instrument files on the Naval Research Laboratorys P-3 Orion aircraft. Currently, the PHILLS instrument records over 1000 wavelength bands between UV and near IR. Results from a number of deployment and test situations is shown.

Two-dimensional synthetic aperture imaging in the optical domain

In scan-mode synthetic aperture imaging radar, spatial resolution in a range is given by a frequency-swept waveform, whereas resolution in the orthogonal direction is derived from the record of phase as the beam footprint executes linear motion over the object. We demonstrate here what is to our knowledge the first two-dimensional imaging that uses exactly this process in the optical domain for a 1 cm x 1 cm object with 90 mumx170 mum resolution.

HYDICE: an airborne system for hyperspectral imaging

HYDICE (the Hyperspectral Digital Imagery Collection Experiment) is a program to build and operate an advanced airborne imaging spectrometer. Scheduled to be operating in 1994, it will provide high quality hyperspectral data for use by a number of US civil agencies in determining its utility for a wide range of applications, as well as in support of basic research. The current status of the system under construction and plans for its operation are reviewed.

Stellar Angular Diameters of Late-Type Giants and Supergiants Measured with the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer

We have measured the angular diameters of 50 F, G, K, and M giant and supergiant stars using the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer at wavelengths between 649 and 850 nm and using three baselines with lengths up to 37.5 m. Uniform-disk diameters, obtained from fits to the visibility amplitude, were transformed to limb-darkened diameters through the use of limb-darkening coefficients for plane-parallel stellar atmosphere models. These limb-darkened diameters are compared with those measured with the Mark III optical interferometer and with those computed by the infrared flux method. Sources of random and systematic error in the observations are discussed.

First Observations with a Co-phased Six-Station Optical Long-Baseline Array: Application to the Triple Star ? Virginis

We report on the first successful simultaneous combination of six independent optical telescopes in an interferometric array. This is double the number of independent telescopes, and 5 times the number of independent baselines, heretofore combined simultaneously. This was accomplished with the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer at Lowell Observatory, near Flagstaff, Arizona. We describe the main technologies demonstrated, including hybrid six-way beam combination, nonredundant multiple optical path modulation for fringe separation, and the fringe detection electronics. To test the array’s suitability for high

Direct Confirmation of Stellar Limb Darkening with the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer

Using three elements of the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer and observing in 20 spectral channels covering 520-850 nm, we have implemented a phase bootstrapping technique in which short baselines with high visibilities are used to keep the longer baselines with low visibilities in phase. Using this method, we have been able to extend the spatial frequency coverage beyond the first zero of the stellar visibility function for two K giants α Arietis, and α Cassiopeiae. The data are inconsistent with a uniform-disk model and confirm the presence of limb-darkened radial profiles. Adopting a particular limb-darkening law enables us to determine the diameter with small formal errors (one part in 1000). In addition, we have measured closure phases for both stars. The closure phases show a jump of 180° at the first zero in the visibility amplitude, which was expected.

Multichannel Optical Aperture Synthesis Imaging of zeta1 URSAE Majoris with the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer

We have used the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer (NPOI) to obtain the first multichannel optical aperture synthesis images of a star. We observed the spectroscopic binary ~ 1 Ursae Majoris at 6 to 10 milliarcseconds separation during seven nights, using three interferometric baselines and 19 spectral channels (A.A. 520-850 nm) of the NPOI. After editing, a typical90 sec scan yielded fringe visibilities at 50 spatial frequencies and closure phases at 15 wavelengths. Three to five scans were obtained each night. The separations and position angles are in good agreement with the visual orbit obtained with the Mark III interferometer (Hummel et al. 1995, AJ, 110, 376) but show small systematic difference that can be used to improve the orbit. The closure phase data provide a sensitive measure of the magnitude difference between the components. These results demonstrate the power of broad-band interferometric observations for fast imaging and the utility of vacuum delay lines for simultaneous observations over a wide band. These observations are the first to produce simultaneous visibilities and closure phases with a separate-aperture optical interferometer, and the second to produce closure phase images, following the results from COAST reported by Baldwin et al. (1996, A&A, 306, L13). The angular resolution here is the highest ever achieved at visual wavelengths, exceeding by an order of magnitude the best thus far achieved by any single-aperture optical telescope. We generated complex visibilities and closure phases (the data types commonly used in radio interferometry) from the optical data and used standard radio interferometry techniques to produce these images. However, the fundamental observables of optical interferometry, the squared visibility amplitude and the closure phase, require the development of new analysis techniques.

Photon-limited synthetic-aperture imaging for planet surface studies.

The carrier-to-noise ratio that results from phase-sensitive heterodyne detection in a photon-limited synthetic-aperture ladar (SAL) is developed, propagated through synthetic-aperture signal processing, and combined with speckle to give the signal-to-noise ratio of the resultant image. Carrier- and signal-to-noise ratios are defined in such a way as to be familiar to the optical imaging community. Design equations are presented to show that a 10-microm SAL in orbit around Mars can give centimeter-class resolution with reasonable laser power. SAL is harder to implement in the short-wave infrared and is probably not practical at visible wavelengths unless many separate images can be averaged. Some tutorial information on phase-sensitive heterodyne detection and on synthetic-aperture signal processing and image formation is provided.

Infrared Properties of Molecular Cirrus. II. Cloud-to-Cloud Variations in Graphite and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Content

We have conducted a photometric survey of translucent molecular clouds in the four IRAS wave bands. We find notable cloud-to-cloud variations in mid-IR emission, with the ratio I12/I25 varying by up to 1 order of magnitude and often above unity. Because the clouds in our sample are nearby and translucent, the cloud heating is well constrained, so that the observed differences in infrared emission must represent differences in grain content. We show from first principles that a dust model containing only two components, Mathis-Rumpl-Nordsieck (MRN) grains in thermal equilibrium and very small grains undergoing stochastic heating, can never produce I12/I25 ≥ 1 under the conditions that prevail in the cloudy interstellar medium. We fit the clouds in this sample with a three-component model which contains continuum emission from both MRN grains and very small graphite grains, plus emission features from a mixture of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). The cloud-to-cloud variations in mid-IR emission require significant differences in their composition of small grains and PAH molecules. Models which describe the formation and evolution of these particles in the interstellar medium must explain the presence of these variations in a cloud sample which is located in the solar neighborhood.

Infrared Properties of Molecular Cirrus. I. Photometry of Extended Sources on IRAS Image Products

We have conducted a survey of IRAS images of the high-latitude molecular cirrus clouds cataloged by Magnani, Blitz, & Mundy. This paper reports the data reduction methods used in our survey and also studies the photometric accuracy that can be achieved for faint extended sources on IRAS image products. The principal topics covered are the modeling and removal of sky backgrounds at high Galactic latitude, and as a function of ecliptic latitude; the relative accuracy of different background models and methods of background removal; the integration of source flux on background-subtracted images; the proper definition of flux error bars, their calculation, and the minimum uncertainties set by the performance of the IRAS detectors; the creation of multiple-wavelength composite images; and the creation of temperature and opacity maps. We find that most error bars quoted for IRAS fluxes in the literature are incorrect. We conclude that the limiting surface brightness to which Sky Flux Plates may be used to study faint extended sources is approximately 0.05 MJy sr-1. The photometric issues discussed herein are relevant to all IRAS image products, including Sky Flux Plates, co-added images, and the IRAS Sky Survey Atlas (ISSA). We compare the accuracy of data reduction on different products and discuss their relative advantages and disadvantages. We are particularly concerned with the accurate removal of zodiacal backgrounds near the ecliptic plane, a region known as the ISSA Reject Set.