Study of ionospheric D region changes during solar flares using MF radar measurements

During solar flares, the X-ray radiation suddenly increases, resulting in an increase in the electron density of the atmospheric D region and a strong absorption of short-wave radio waves. Based on Langfang medium frequency (MF) radar, this paper analyzed the variation characteristics of D region in the lower ionosphere from 62 km to 82 km. The analysis focused on multiple C-level and M-level solar flare events before and after the large-scale flare event at 11:53 (UT) on September 6, 2017. The results show that it is difficult to detect the electron density over 70 km in Langfang during solar flares, but the electron density value can be obtained as low as 62 km, and the stronger the flare intensity, the lower the detectable electron density height. Besides, the equal electron density height, the received power of X and O waves will also be significantly reduced during the flares, and the reduction of equal electron density height has a weak linear relationship with flare intensity.     

Evaluation of the IRI-2016 and NeQuick electron content specification by COSMIC GPS radio occultation,ground-based GPS and Jason-2 joint altimeter/GPS observations

We examined performance of two empirical profile-based ionospheric models, namely IRI-2016 and NeQuick-2, in electron content (EC) and total electron content (TEC) representation for different seasons and levels of solar activity. We derived and analyzed EC estimates in several representative altitudinal intervals for the ionosphere and the plasmasphere from the COSMIC GPS radio occultation, ground-based GPS and Jason-2 joint altimeter/GPS observations. It allows us to estimate a quantitative impact of the ionospheric electron density profiles formulation in several altitudinal intervals and to examine the source of the model-data discrepancies of the EC specification from the bottom-side ionosphere towards the GPS orbit altitudes. The most pronounced model-data differences were found at the low latitude region as related to the equatorial ionization anomaly appearance. Both the IRI-2016 and NeQuick-2 models tend to overestimate the daytime ionospheric EC and TEC at low latitudes during all seasons of low solar activity. On the contrary, during high solar activity the model results underestimated the EC/TEC observations at low latitudes. We found that both models underestimated the EC for the topside ionosphere and plasmasphere regions for all levels of solar activity. For low solar activity, the underestimated EC from the topside ionosphere and plasmasphere can compensate the overestimation of the ionospheric EC and, consequently, can slightly decrease the resulted model overestimation of the ground-based TEC. For high solar activity, the underestimated EC from the topside ionosphere and plasmasphere leads to a strengthening of the model underestimation of the ground-based TEC values. We demonstrated that the major source of the model-data discrepancies in the EC/TEC domain comes from the topside ionosphere/plasmasphere system.     

Electron density inversed by plasma lines induced by suprathermal electron in the ionospheric modification experiment

Incoherent scatter radar (ISR) is the most powerful ground-based measurement facility to study the ionosphere. The plasma lines are not routinely detected by the incoherent scatter radar due to the low intensity, which falls below the measured spectral noise level of the incoherent scatter radar. The plasma lines are occasionally enhanced by suprathermal electrons through the Landau damping process and detectable to the incoherent scatter radar. In this study, by using the European Incoherent Scatter Association (EISCAT) UHF incoherent scatter radar, the experiment observation presents that the enhanced plasma lines were observed. These plasma lines were considered as manifest of the suprathermal electrons generated by the high-frequency heating wave during the ionospheric modification. The electron density profile is also obtained from the enhanced plasma lines. This study can be a promising technique for obtaining the accurate electron density during ionospheric modification experiment.     

基于Tanaka-Mura模型的电子束焊接头疲劳裂纹萌生模拟

为揭示高温合金电子束焊接头的疲劳特性,对其开展了疲劳裂纹萌生数值模拟研究。考虑焊缝区微观组织特性,对Voronoi图法进行改进,建立了焊缝区包含柱状晶、细等轴晶及粗等轴晶的混合晶区微观组织模型;对ABAQUS进行二次开发,考虑晶粒随机取向,生成晶粒多滑移带模型。基于Tanaka-Mura位错滑移模型,编写了疲劳裂纹萌生算法,考虑晶界处裂纹的连接与合并,对算法进行了改进,并结合有限元计算建立了电子束焊接头疲劳裂纹萌生数值模拟方法。基于上述方法对GH4169电子束焊接头不同载荷大小的疲劳裂纹萌生进行数值模拟,分析了裂纹萌生过程及萌生寿命,并与试验结果进行对比验证;还探讨了不同热影响区晶粒尺寸对焊接接头疲劳裂纹萌生的影响规律。结果表明,电子束焊接头疲劳裂纹均萌生于热影响区,但随着载荷水平的提高,萌生位置向熔合区一侧靠近;当热影响区晶粒尺寸与母材区晶粒尺寸越接近时,接头疲劳寿命越长。     

Assessment of precision in ionospheric electron density profiles retrieved by GPS radio occultations

The Constellation Observing System for Meteorology Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC) is a six satellite radio occultation mission that was launched in April 2006. The close proximity of these satellites during some months after launch provides a unique opportunity to evaluate the precision of Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation (RO) retrievals of ionospheric electron density from nearly collocated and simultaneous observations. RO data from 30 consecutive days during July and August 2006 are divided into ten groups in terms of daytime or nighttime and latitude. In all cases, the best precision values (about 1%) are found at the F peak height and they slightly degrade upwards. For all daytime groups, it is seen that electron density profiles above about 120 km height exhibit a substantial improvement in precision. Nighttime groups are rather diverse: in particular, the precision becomes better than 10% above different levels between 120 and 200 km height. Our overall results show that up to 100–200 km (depending on each group), the uncertainty associated with the precision is in the order of the measured electron density values. Even worse, the retrieved values tend sometimes to be negative. Although we cannot rely directly on electron density values at these altitudes, the shape of the profiles could be indicative of some ionospheric features (e.g. waves and sporadic E layers). Above 200 km, the profiles of precision are qualitatively quite independent from daytime or latitude. From all the nearly collocated pairs studied, only 49 exhibited a difference between line of sight angles of both RO at the F peak height larger than 10°. After analyzing them we find no clear indications of a significant representativeness error in electron density profiles due to the spherical assumption above 120 km height. Differences in precision between setting and rising GPS RO may be attributed to the modification of the processing algorithms applied to rising cases during the initial period of the COSMIC mission.     

Analysis of the ionosphere/plasmasphere electron content variability during strong geomagnetic storm

The ionosphere/plasmasphere electron content (PEC) variations during strong geomagnetic storms in November 2004 were estimated by combining of mid-latitude Kharkov incoherent scatter radar observations and GPS TEC data derived from global TEC maps. The comparison between two independent measurements was performed by analysis of the height-temporal distribution for specific location corresponding to the mid-latitudes of Europe. The percentage contribution of PEC to GPS TEC indicated the clear dependence from the time with maximal values (more than 70%) during night-time. During day-time the lesser values (30–45%) were observed for quiet geomagnetic conditions and rather high values of the PEC contribution to GPS TEC (up to 90%) were observed during strong negative storm. These changes can be explained by the competing effects of electric fields and winds, which tend to raise the layer to the region with lower loss rate and movement of the ionospheric plasma to the plasmasphere.     

用于火星探测的电子分析器定标

用于火星探测的电子分析器采用了带偏转板的同轴圆柱形静电分析器, 该传感器方案在满足性能指标的同时实现了小型化. 利用法国空间辐射研究中心(CESR)的电子源, 对电子分析器两个传感器通道的静电分析器因子、能量分辨率、偏转板偏转因子、 方位角分辨率和极角分辨率进行了定标. 给出了上述参数的定标结果, 并对结果进行了分析. 结果表明,仪器的能量范围、能量分辨率、方位角视场及角度分辨率等参数均优于指标要求. 定标结果为电子分析器在轨数据处理和分析以及在轨运行参数设置提供了依据.      

电子回旋共振离子推力器栅极光学系统的PIC/MCC模拟

为了寻求日益昂贵的电推力器工质氙气的替代品,探讨氩气作为电子回旋共振离子推力器工质的适用性,采用混合PIC方法模拟了氩等离子体在栅极光学系统中输运过程,分析了氩离子束流的聚焦效果、氩等离子体的空间分布和流动特性。结果表明:氩离子束流在已有栅极系统中具有良好的聚焦效果;束流中CEX离子仅占离子总数的万分之一,影响较小;氩气作为工质时,离子喷射速度为75km/s,加速栅极后回流速度为38km/s,与电动力学理论预估值一致。     

热控涂层电子辐照效应

研究防静电Kapton二次表面镜(ITO/Kapton/Al)、S781白漆两种典型热控涂层,在不同能量电子辐照后太阳吸收比退化情况,并利用X射线光电子能谱和扫描电子显微镜对样品表面的成分和形貌进行了分析。结果表明:相同电子注量下,不同能量电子对样品的太阳吸收比退化作用程度是有区别的。而样品光谱反射率、表面形貌、表面成分的损伤效应类似,说明不同能量电子辐照下,样品的退化机理是一致的。     

硅化物涂层电子束重熔表面改性技术

在Nb521铌合金表面采用料浆烧结法制备硅化物涂层,利用高频扫描电子束对硅化物涂层进行重熔处理,通过扫描电子显微镜对处理样品表面形貌进行组织结构分析。研究表明,经过电子束重熔处理,硅化物涂层表面陶瓷晶粒粒度降低,表面粗糙度降低,陶瓷颗粒之间烧结作用增强,重熔区域与未处理区域具有明显的边界,电子束能量分布较均匀,电子束重熔提高了硅化物涂层的抗氧化性能和抗热震性能。