On the propagation of electromagnetic waves through the atmosphere
A general method of tackling the problem of the propagation of electromagnetic waves in the ionosphere has been developed and the current methods of Appleton, Hartree, Saha, Rai and Mathur, etc., have been deduced as special cases from the general results. The different assumptions by Appleton, Hartree, Bose, Booker and Rai, as regards the condition of reflexion of the waves from the ionosphere, have been shown to be identical. A symbol-correspondence chart for the different symbols used by the different workers has been given to facilitate the understanding of the parallelism between the different methods. Polarization of the radio waves have been discussed fully.
Prediction, Detection, and Correction of Faraday Rotation in Full-Polarimetric L-Band SAR Data
With the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensor PALSAR onboard the Advanced Land Observing Satellite, a new full-polarimetric spaceborne L-band SAR instrument has been launched into orbit. At L-band, Faraday rotation (FR) can reach significant values, degrading the quality of the received SAR data. One-way rotations exceeding 25 deg are likely to happen during the lifetime of PALSAR, which will significantly reduce the accuracy of geophysical parameter recovery if uncorrected. Therefore, the estimation and correction of FR effects is a prerequisite for data quality and continuity. In this paper, methods for estimating FR are presented and analyzed. The first unambiguous detection of FR in SAR data is presented. A set of real data examples indicates the quality and sensitivity of FR estimation from PALSAR data, allowing the measurement of FR with high precision in areas where such measurements were previously inaccessible. In examples, we present the detection of kilometer-scale ionospheric disturbances, a spatial scale that is not detectable by ground-based GPS measurements. An FR prediction method is presented and validated. Approaches to correct for the estimated FR effects are applied, and their effectiveness is tested on real data.
A technique for large-field, superficial electron therapy.
The application of electron beams to radiation therapy has received increased attention in recent years. This interest stems largely from the special characteristics of the electron depth-dose distribution; the fall-off in depth dose near the end of the range of the electrons is particularly rapid for electron beams having energies less than about 10 Mev. Such an electron beam is suitable for the treatment of widespread, superficial lesions, where it is desirable to minimize the dose to deep tissues. All the common sources of super-voltage x-rays, apart from radioactive substances, are inherently capable of producing an external beam of electrons, though with varying degrees of complexity. Electrons of about the energy suitable for superficial therapy (several Mev) may be used to produce an x-ray beam which is sufficiently penetrating for the treatment of even the deepest lesions. The Stanford medical linear accelerator was designed to provide both x-rays and electron beams. The accelerator and its applic...