Geoacoustic inversion and source localization using beamformed data from a ship of opportunity has been demonstrated with a bottom-mounted array. An alternative approach, which lies within a class referred to as spatial filtering, transforms element level data into beam data, applies a bearing filter, and transforms back to element level data prior to performing inversions. Automation of this filtering approach is facilitated for broadband applications by restricting the inverse transform to the degrees of freedom of the array, i.e., the effective number of elements, for frequencies near or below the design frequency. A procedure is described for nonuniformly spaced elements that guarantees filter stability well above the design frequency. Monitoring energy conservation with respect to filter output confirms filter stability. Filter performance with both uniformly spaced and nonuniformly spaced array elements is discussed. Vertical (range and depth) and horizontal (range and bearing) ambiguity surfaces are constructed to examine filter performance. Examples that demonstrate this filtering technique with both synthetic data and real data are presented along with comparisons to inversion results using beamformed data. Examinations of cost functions calculated within a simulated annealing algorithm reveal the efficacy of the approach.

This paper presents the application of the differential equation approach to solving the second-order coupled-mode equations in inhomogeneous ocean environments. The model incorporates sound velocity profile points to construct depth-dependent, piecewise linear, ocean and bottom environments along a range grid. Modal solutions are evaluated in terms of Airy functions. The formalism to evaluate analytically the mode-coupling coefficients is presented. Comparisons to conventional expressions of the coefficients are made. The integro-differential form of the coupled equations is solved using an approach developed in nuclear theory that incorporates the Lanczos method [Knobles, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 96, 1741-1747 (1994)]. Demonstration of the practicality of this approach is made by applying the results in actual calculations with realistic ocean environments. The formalism to evaluate analytically the mode-coupling coefficients is presented. Several benchmark examples were examined in order to validate the model and are discussed, including propagation over a hill, benchmark wedge problems, and a range-varying sound speed profile benchmark. The importance of this model is also demonstrated by the physical insight gained in having a coupled-mode approach to solving range-dependent problems.

We have discovered that laser beam deflection spectroscopy can be used for the absolute measurement of wave or particle beam attenuation in condensed matter. The concept has been experimentally evaluated by successfully measuring the absolute optical attenuation in a crystal of U3+:CaF2 at 514 nm. A theoretical model that explains the experiment and characterizes the range of applicability of the method has been developed.

A two-way coupled mode approach based on an integral equation formalism is applied to sound propagation through internal wave fields defined at the 1999 Shallow Water Acoustics Modeling Workshop. Solutions of the coupled equations are obtained using a powerful approach originally introduced in nuclear theory and also used to solve simple nonseparable problems in underwater acoustics. The basic integral equations are slightly modified to permit a Lanczos expansion to form a solution. The solution of the original set of integral equations is then easily recovered from the solution of the modified equations. Two important aspects of the integral equation method are revealed. First, the Lanczos expansion converges faster than a Born expansion of the original integral equations. Second, even when the Born expansion diverges due to strong mode coupling, the Lanczos expansion converges. It is shown that the internal wave problems examined are essentially one-way propagation problems because one observes good agreement between the coupled mode solutions and those provided by an energy-conserving parabolic equation algorithm. In the Workshop examples, at both 25 and 250 Hz, significantly greater coupling between modes occurs in the linear internal wave field case than the nonlinear soliton case.

Scattering from a rough surface in an ocean waveguide is described in a new derivation from a two-way coupled-mode representation. The general formalism, which contains scattering effects to all orders, is truncated to the first-order terms of an iterative (Born) expansion. Both two- and three-dimensional ocean waveguide geometries are discussed. By reducing the mode functions in terms of plane wave reflection coefficients, the off-diagonal components of the scattering kernel that is derived are shown to be consistent with a standard solution, but the diagonal components are different from the standard solution.