Sample records for grasers
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Enterprise Requirements and Acquisition Model (ERAM) Analysis and Extension
2014-02-20
add them to the ERAM simulation. References . Arena, M. V., Obaid, Y., Galway L. A., Fox, B., Graser, J. C., Sollinger, J. M., Wu, F., & Wong, C... Galway L. A., Fox, B., Graser, J. C., Sollinger, J. M., Wu, F., & Wong, C. (2006). Impossible certainty: Cost risk analysis for air force systems (MG-415
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Succeed Together or Fail Alone: Going from Good to Great in Physical Education
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Pennington, Todd R.; Prusak, Keven A.; Wilkinson, Carol
2014-01-01
"What we have is a systemic failure--one that involves the relationship of physical education programs in public schools with teacher preparation in higher education." (Siedentop & Locke, 1997). This assessment led Prusak, Pennington, Vincent-Graser, Beighle, and Morgan (2010) to an examination of a school district that seemed to…
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1986-12-01
Classification. U Security Marks, Accession *:U00298 AD *. ADA096538 TITLE: Assessment of the Crossed Porro Prism Resonator AUTHOR. Seea, B.A.; Fueloep, K...Laser Range Finder Mechanical Property Stability Resonator Porro Prism Standord Mirror Examine Pgs: 16 Classification: U Security Marks: Accession...Gamma-Ray Laser Graser Mossbauer Effect Borrman Superradiance Nuclear-Magnetic Resonance Pgs: 26 Classification: U Security Marks: Accession *:U00484 AD
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2007-03-01
Chains," Mathematics of Control, Signals, and Systems, vol. 3(1), pp. 1-29, 1990. [4] A . Arnold, J . A . Carrillo, and I. Gamba, "Low and High Field...Aronson, C. L. A ., and J . L. Vázquez, "Interfaces with a corner point in one- dimensional porous medium flow," Comm. Pure Appl. Math, vol. 38(4), pp. 375...K. Levin, "Damage analysis of fiber composites," Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering. [10] K. S. Barber, A . Goel, T. J . Graser, T
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EDITORIAL: Focus on Iron-Based Superconductors FOCUS ON IRON-BASED SUPERCONDUCTORS
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hosono, Hideo; Ren, Zhi-An
2009-02-01
Superconductivity is the most dramatic and clear cut phenomenon in condensed matter physics. Realization of room temperature superconductors, which would lead to the revolution of our society, is an ultimate goal for researchers. The discovery of high Tc cuprate superconductors in 1986 by Bednorz and Müller triggered intensive research worldwide and the maximum critical temperature has been raised above 100 K. Scientific research on this break-through material clarified a new route to high Tc materials, carrier doping to a Mott insulator with anti-ferromagnetic ordering. High superconductivity occurs in the neighborhood of Mott-insulators and Fermi-metals. Such a view, which was completely new, now stands as a guiding principle for exploring new high Tc materials. Many theoretical approaches to the mechanism for cuprate superconductors have been carried out to understand this unexpected material and to predict new high Tc materials. In 2006 a new superconductor based on iron, LaFeOP, was discovered by a group at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. Iron, as a ferromagnet, was believed to be the last element for the realization of superconductivity because of the way ferromagnetism competes against Cooper pair formation. Unexpectedly, however, the critical temperature remained at 4-6 K irrespective of hole/electron-doping. A large increase in the Tc to 26 K was then found in LaFe[O1-xFx]As by the same group (and was published on 23 February 2008, in the Journal of the American Chemical Society). The Tc of this material was further raised to 43 K under a pressure of 2 GPa and scientists in China then achieved a Tc of 56 K at ambient pressure by replacing La with other rare earth ions with smaller radius—a critical temperature that is second only to the high Tc cuprates. This fast progress has revitalized research within superconductivity and in 2008 there were more than seven international symposia specifically on Fe(Ni)-based superconductors. Through the rapid pace of research within the last year, iron-based superconductors have revealed several unique properties such as a high upper critical field and a robustness to impurities. Participation of five 3d-orbitals in the Fermi levels also means that the electronic structure is complex compared with the cuprates. So, we now have a new family of superconductors and it is worth stressing that we have only just begun looking at the many varieties of candidate materials containing an iron square lattice. At this time we do not know whether a material with a critical temperature greater than 100 K exists, or if completely new properties are to be found. However, as a research community we should go ahead with hope and 'strike while the iron is hot'—this saying is always true! This focus issue of New Journal of Physics was put together to provide a broad-based, free-to-read snapshot of the current state of research in this rapidly emerging field. The papers included cover many aspects related to material exploration, physical analysis, and the theory of these materials, and, as editors, we thank the authors for their fine contributions, and the many referees for their considerable efforts that have ensured fast publication. As an aside, the first special issue on this SUBject was published in November 2008 in the Journal of the Physical Society of Japan (vol 77, supplement c) as the proceedings of the International Symposium on Iron-Pnictide Superconductors held in Tokyo on 29-30 June 2008. We would like to encourage the community to read both issues. On a final note we would like to acknowledge the staff of New Journal of Physics for all of their efficient work in bringing this collection to fruition. Focus on Iron-Based Superconductors Contents Microwave response of superconducting pnictides: extended s+/- scenario O V Dolgov, A A Golubov and D Parker Orbital and spin effects for the upper critical field in As-deficient disordered Fe pnictide superconductors G Fuchs, S-L Drechsler, N Kozlova, M Bartkowiak, J E Hamann-Borrero, G Behr, K Nenkov, H-H Klauss, H Maeter, A Amato, H Luetkens, A Kwadrin, R Khasanov, J Freudenberger, A Köhler, M Knupfer, E Arushanov, H Rosner, B Büchner and L Schultz Low-energy spin dynamics in the antiferromagnetic phase of CaFe2As2 N J Curro, A P Dioguardi, N ApRoberts-Warren, A C Shockley and P Klavins Muon spin rotation study of magnetism and superconductivity in BaFe2-xCoxAs2 and Pr1-xSrxFeAsO C Bernhard, A J Drew, L Schulz, V K Malik, M Rössle, Ch Niedermayer, Th Wolf, G D Varma, G Mu, H-H Wen, H Liu, G Wu and X H Chen Magnetic impurities in the pnictide superconductor Ba1-xKxFe2As2 Sutirtha Mukhopadhyay, Sangwon Oh, A M Mounce, Moohee Lee, W P Halperin, N Ni, S L Bud'ko, P C Canfield, A P Reyes and P L Kuhns Neutron scattering investigation of the magnetic order in single crystalline BaFe2As2 M Kofu, Y Qiu, Wei Bao, S-H Lee, S Chang, T Wu, G Wu and X H Chen An NMR study on the F-doping evolution of the iron oxypnictide LaFeAs(O1-xFx) Y Nakai, S Kitagawa, K Ishida, Y Kamihara, M Hirano and H Hosono The peculiar physical properties and phase diagram of BaFe2-xCoxAs2 single crystals X F Wang, T Wu, G Wu, R H Liu, H Chen, Y L Xie and X H Chen Synthesis of LnFeAsO1-y superconductors (Ln=La and Nd) using the high-pressure technique Kiichi Miyazawa, Kunihiro Kihou, Motoyuki Ishikado, Parasharam M Shirage, Chul-Ho Lee, Nao Takeshita, Hiroshi Eisaki, Hijiri Kito and Akira Iyo Correlation effects in the iron pnictides Qimiao Si, Elihu Abrahams, Jianhui Dai and Jian-Xin Zhu Competition/coexisitence of magnetism and superconductivity in iron pnictides probed by muon spin rotation Soshi Takeshita and Ryosuke Kadono Impurity-induced in-gap state and Tc in sign-reversing s-wave superconductors: analysis of iron oxypnictide superconductors Yuko Senga and Hiroshi Kontani Intrinsic magnetic properties of the superconductor NdFeAsO0.9F0.1 from local and global measurements R Prozorov, M E Tillman, E D Mun and P C Canfield Elastic theory for the vortex-lattice melting in iron-based high-Tc superconductors Q-H Chen, Q-M Nie, J-P Lv and T-C Au Yeung Electronic properties of LaO1-xFxFeAs in the normal state probed by NMR/NQR H-J Grafe, G Lang, F Hammerath, D Paar, K Manthey, K Koch, H Rosner, N J Curro, G Behr, J Werner, N Leps, R Klingeler, H-H Klauss, F J Litterst and B Büchner AFe2As2 (A = Ca, Sr, Ba, Eu) and SrFe2-xTMxAs2 (TM = Mn, Co, Ni): crystal structure, charge doping, magnetism and superconductivity Deepa Kasinathan, Alim Ormeci, Katrin Koch, Ulrich Burkhardt, Walter Schnelle, Andreas Leithe-Jasper and Helge Rosner Impurity states in a family of antiferromagnetic iron arsenides Qiang Han and Z D Wang Coherence-incoherence crossover in the normal state of iron oxypnictides and importance of Hund's rule coupling K Haule and G Kotliar Electronic structure of heavily electron-doped BaFe1.7Co0.3As2 studied by angle-resolved photoemission Y Sekiba, T Sato, K Nakayama, K Terashima, P Richard, J H Bowen, H Ding, Y-M Xu, L J Li, G H Cao, Z-A Xu and T Takahashi Absorption and photoemission spectroscopy of rare-earth oxypnictides T Kroll, F Roth, A Koitzsch, R Kraus, D R Batchelor, J Werner, G Behr, B Büchner and M Knupfer Superconductivity in LnFePO (Ln = La, Pr and Nd) single crystals R E Baumbach, J J Hamlin, L Shu, D A Zocco, N M Crisosto and M B Maple Unconventional pairing originating from disconnected Fermi surfaces in the iron-based superconductor Kazuhiko Kuroki, Seiichiro Onari, Ryotaro Arita, Hidetomo Usui, Yukio Tanaka, Hiroshi Kontani and Hideo Aoki Near-degeneracy of several pairing channels in multiorbital models for the Fe pnictides S Graser, T A Maier, P J Hirschfeld and D J Scalapino Investigation of superconducting gap structure in TbFeAsO0.9F0.1 using point contact Andreev reflection K A Yates, K Morrison, J A Rodgers, G B S Penny, J-W G Bos, J P Attfield and L F Cohen Competition of magnetism and superconductivity in underdoped (Ba1-xKx)Fe2As2 Marianne Rotter, Marcus Tegel, Inga Schellenberg, Falko M Schappacher, Rainer Pöttgen, Joachim Deisenhofer, Axel Günther, Florian Schrettle, Alois Loidl and Dirk Johrendt The superconductor KxSr1-xFe2As2: normal state and superconducting properties B Lv, M Gooch, B Lorenz, F Chen, A M Guloy and C W Chu Effect of 3d transition metal doping on the superconductivity in quaternary fluoroarsenide CaFeAsF Satoru Matsuishi, Yasunori Inoue, Takatoshi Nomura, Youichi Kamihara, Masahiro Hirano and Hideo Hosono Influence of the rare-earth element on the effects of the structural and magnetic phase transitions in CeFeAsO, PrFeAsO and NdFeAsO Michael A McGuire, Raphaël P Hermann, Athena S Sefat, Brian C Sales, Rongying Jin, David Mandrus, Fernande Grandjean and Gary J Long Heat capacity measurements on FeAs-based compounds: a thermodynamic probe of electronic and magnetic states P J Baker, S R Giblin, F L Pratt, R H Liu, G Wu, X H Chen, M J Pitcher, D R Parker, S J Clarke and S J Blundell Spin fluctuations, interband coupling and unconventional pairing in iron-based superconductors Zi-Jian Yao, Jian-Xin Li and Z D Wang Superconductivity induced by Ni doping in BaFe2As2 single crystals L J Li, Y K Luo, Q B Wang, H Chen, Z Ren, Q Tao, Y K Li, X Lin, M He, Z W Zhu, G H Cao and Z A Xu Metamagnetic transition in EuFe2As2 single crystals Shuai Jiang, Yongkang Luo, Zhi Ren, Zengwei Zhu, Cao Wang, Xiangfan Xu, Qian Tao, Guanghan Cao and Zhu'an Xu Pressure dependence of the thermoelectric power of the iron-based high-Tc superconductor SmFeAsO0.85 N Kang, P Auban-Senzier, C R Pasquier, Z A Ren, J Yang, G C Che and Z X Zhao Superconductivity in some heavy rare-earth iron arsenide REFeAsO1-δ (RE = Ho, Y, Dy and Tb) compounds Jie Yang, Xiao-Li Shen, Wei Lu, Wei Yi, Zheng-Cai Li, Zhi-An Ren, Guang-Can Che, Xiao-Li Dong, Li-Ling Sun, Fang Zhou and Zhong-Xian Zhao The delicate electronic and magnetic structure of the LaFePnO system (Pn = pnicogen) S Lebègue, Z P Yin and W E Pickett
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New Vistas Open with MIDI at the VLT Interferometer
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
2002-12-01
"First Fringes" in Mid-Infrared Spectral Region with Two Giant Telescopes Summary Following several weeks of around-the-clock work, a team of astronomers and engineers from Germany, the Netherlands, France and ESO [2] has successfully performed the first observations with the MID-Infrared interferometric instrument (MIDI), a new, extremely powerful instrument just installed in the underground laboratory of the VLT Interferometer (VLTI) at the Paranal Observatory (Chile). In the early morning of December 15, 2002, two of the 8.2 m VLT unit telescopes (ANTU and MELIPAL) were pointed towards the southern star eta Carinae and the two light beams were directed via the complex intervening optics system towards MIDI. After a few hours of tuning and optimization, strong and stable interferometric fringes were obtained, indicating that all VLTI components - from telescopes to the new instrument - were working together perfectly. Two more stars were observed before sunrise, further proving the stability of the entire system. The first observations with MIDI mark one more important step towards full and regular operation of the VLT Interferometer [3] . They are a result of five years of determined efforts within a concerted technology project, based on a close collaboration between ESO and several European research institutes (see below). Now opening great research vistas, they also represent several "firsts" in observational astrophysics, together amounting to a real breakthrough in the field of astronomical interferometry . New views at mid-infrared wavelengths : MIDI is sensitive to light of a wavelength near 10 µm, i.e., in the mid-infrared spectral region ("thermal infrared"). This provides rich opportunities to study a wide range of otherwise inaccessible, crucial astrophysical phenomena, e.g., the formation of planets in dusty disks around newborn stars and the innermost regions around black holes. However, it is a great technical challenge to perform mid-IR observations. This is first of all because the terrestrial atmosphere, the telescopes, their mounts and, not least, the complicated optics system needed to guide the beams the long way from the telescopes to the MIDI instrument all glow bright at mid-IR wavelengths. Thus, even the most luminous mid-IR stellar sources "drown" in this bright background, calling for highly refined observational methods and data reduction procedures. Fainter objects with large telescopes : This is the first time telescopes with mirrors as large as these have been used for mid-IR interferometry. The use of the VLT giants at Paranal now allows observing much fainter objects than before. Sharper images with Interferometry : The distance between ANTU and MELIPAL during these observations, 102 metres, is a new world record for interferometry at this wavelength. The achieved angular resolution is indeed the one theoretically possible with this instrumental configuration, about 0.01 arcsec, better than what has ever been achieved before from ground or space at this wavelength. MIDI is the first of two instruments that will be placed at the focus of the VLT Interferometer. It is a collaborative project between several European research institutes: * European Southern Observatory (ESO) * Max Planck Institut für Astronomie (MPIA) (Heidelberg, Germany) * Netherlands Graduate School for Astronomy (NOVA) (Leiden, The Netherlands) * Department of Astronomy - Leiden Observatory (The Netherlands) * Kapteyn Astronomical Institute (Groningen, The Netherlands) * Astronomical Institute, Utrecht University (The Netherlands) * Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy (NFRA) (Dwingeloo, The Netherlands) * Space Research Organization Netherlands (SRON) (Utrecht, Groningen; The Netherlands) * Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg (TLS) (Germany) * Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik (KIS) (Freiburg, Germany) * Observatoire de Paris (OBSPM) (Paris, Meudon, Nancay; France) * Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur (OCA) (Nice, France) The first observations with MIDI will now be followed up by thorough tests of the new instrument before it enters into regular service. It is planned that the first community observations will be performed at the VLTI in mid-2003. Great efforts have gone into making observations with this complex science machine as user-friendly as possible and, contrary to what is normally the case in this technically demanding branch of astronomy, scientists will find interferometric work at the VLTI quite similar to that of using the many other, more conventional VLT instruments. PR Photo 30a/02: MIDI " First Fringes " of eta Carinae. PR Photo 30b/02: The happy team at the moment of "First Fringes". PR Photo 30c/02: MIDI in the Interferometric Laboratory at Paranal. PR Video Clip 03/02: Optical path scan with "First Fringes" appearing on the computer screen. A wonderful moment ESO PR Video Clip 03/02 [384x288 pix MPEG-version] ESO PR Video Clip 03/02 (480 frames/0:19 min) [MPEG; 384x288 pix; 6.6M] [RealMedia; streaming; 56kps] [RealMedia; streaming; 200kps] Another vital step has been accomplished as planned towards full operation of the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the associated VLT Interferometer (VLTI) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile, one of the world's foremost astronomical facilities. Indeed, plans had been made more than one year ago for this milestone event to take place at the end of 2002. In the early morning of December 15, 2002, at 02:45 local time (05:45 UT), a team of astronomers and engineers from Germany, Netherlands, France and ESO celebrated the first successful combination of mid-infrared "light" beams from ANTU and MELIPAL, two of the four 8.2-m VLT Unit Telescopes . This special moment, referred to as the "First Fringes" , occurred when infrared radiation at a wavelength of 8.7 µm from the bright star eta Carinae was captured simultaneously by the two telescopes (situated 102 metres apart) and then directed via a complex optics system towards the MID-Infrared interferometric instrument (MIDI), a new, extremely sensitive and versatile instrument just installed in the underground VLT Interferometric Laboratory. Strong interferometric fringes, well visible on the computer screen to the delighted team, cf. PR Photo 30a-b/02 and PR Video Clip 03/02 , were obtained repeatedly by the MIDI instrument and the recorded data were of excellent quality. A great achievement This is the first time ever interferometry in the near-infrared 8.7 µm-band (technically: the "N"-band") with large telescopes has been accomplished and the first time at 100-m baselines. For this to happen, it was necessary to keep the difference in the length of the light paths from the two telescopes to the focus of the MIDI instrument stable and equal to within a small fraction of this wavelength during the observations, in practice to about 1 µm (0.001 mm). The team spent the first few hours of the night tuning the system, positioning the many optical components and optimizing the various feed-back mechanisms that involve precision-guided mirrors below the two telescopes and the so-called "delay lines" in the underground Interferometric Tunnel [3]. After a few attempts and successive on-line optimization, modulated "fringes" - the typical signature of interferometric measurements - became visible on the screens of the instrument computers, demonstrating conclusively the validity of the overall concept, cf. PR Video Clip 03/02 . The rest of the night was used to further trim the VLTI and MIDI. The team also observed two other objects before sunrise, the young binary star Z Canis Majoris and the enigmatic Eta Carinae - for both, interferometric fringes were convincingly obtained. The perfection of all of the 32 optical elements needed to guide the starlight towards MIDI for these observations contributed to this, as did the availability of advanced user-friendly control software, specially developed for the VLTI and its instruments in order to facilitate the future observations, also by non-specialists. Advantages of MIDI With its high sensitivity to thermal radiation, MIDI is ideally suited to study cosmic material (dust and gas) near a central hot object and heated by its radiation . In the case of astronomical observations in the visible spectral region, such material is usually hidden from view because of a strong obscuring effect that is caused by the dust it contains. Most optical observations of star-forming clouds only show the dark contours of the cloud and nothing about the complex processes that happen inside. Contrarily, this obscuring effect of the dust is often entirely insignificant at the longer mid-infrared wavelengths around 10 µm (0.01 mm) at which MIDI observes, allowing direct studies of what is going on inside. MIDI science targets Thanks to interferometry and the large collecting surface of the VLT telescopes, MIDI achieves unsurpassed image sharpness (about 0.01 arcsec) and sensitivity at these "revealing" wavelengths, promising extremely detailed views, also of faint and distant objects. Clearly, the associated opportunities for exciting research are almost unlimited. Some of the first targets for the fully operational MIDI instrument will thus include the enigmatic dust rings now believed to be located around giant black holes at the centers of quasars and strong radio galaxies. Equally interesting will be in-depth studies of those disks of matter that are known to accompany the creation of new stars and from which exoplanets are forming . And with MIDI, it will now be possible to investigate the outer zones of the extended atmospheres of giant stars where the dust grains form in the first place - those complex particles that, loaded with water ice, minerals and simple organic molecules, eventually move into interstellar space and later play a crucial role in the formation of stars and planets. MIDI - a new and powerful instrument for the VLT Interferometer The MIDI instrument has been developed by a European consortium of astronomical institutes, under the leadership of the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA) in Heidelberg (Germany). Following the installation in 2001 by ESO of the VLTI test instrument, VINCI, to verify and tune the exceedingly complex optical system [3], MIDI is the first of two scientific instruments that will be devoted to interferometric observations with the VLT Interferometer during the coming decade. The other is AMBER which will combine three beams from different telescopes and will be sensitive in the wavelength region of 1-2.5 µm. The MIDI instrument weighs about 1.5 tons and is mounted on a 1.5 x 2.1 m precision optical table, placed at the centre of the underground VLT Interferometric Laboratory at the top of the Paranal mountain, cf. PR Photo 30c/02 . The large cube at the back of the table is a vacuum vessel that allows cooling of the infrared detector and the surrounding optics to temperatures of -270 to -240 °C (4K to 35K on the absolute temperature scale), which is necessary for observations at these infrared wavelengths. Despite its large dimensions, MIDI has to be very carefully adjusted to the light beams arriving from the telescopes, with initial precision exceeding 0.01° (angles) and 0.1 mm (position). The electronic equipment necessary to run the instrument is installed in a separate room in order to reduce any disturbances from heat, noise and vibrations to the lowest possible level. During the observations, the astronomers operate the entire instrument, as well as the VLT Interferometer, from a building below the mountain top, more than one hundred metres away. This state-of-the-art instrument is the outcome of a close collaboration between several European research institutes [1], greatly profiting from their combined expertise in many different technological areas. This involves the construction of large astronomical instruments for infrared observations, involving operation in vacuum and at low temperatures (MPIA in Heidelberg, Germany), designing and manufacturing optics for the extreme cryogenic environment (ASTRON in Dwingeloo, The Netherlands), designing and creating the complex software needed to run the instrument in a user-friendly way (NEVEC in Leiden, The Netherlands, and MPIA), as well as other specialised contributions from the Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik in Freiburg (Germany), Observatoire de Paris-Meudon and Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur in Nice (France), and Thüringer Landessternwarte in Tautenburg (Germany). This wide collaboration was carried out in close cooperation with and profiting from the professional experience of ESO that has built and now operates the Paranal Observatory, ensuring the proper interfacing between MIDI and the VLTI needed for high-performance interferometric measurements. Brief history of the MIDI project Work on the mid-infraredinterferometric instrument MIDI started in 1997 when MPIA proposed to ESO to build such a facility that would conform with ESO's plans for interferometric observations with the VLT telescopes and which would most probably become the first of its kind worldwide. Soon thereafter, the Netherlands Science Organization NOVA with ASTRON and NEVEC and the other partner institutes in France, the Netherlands and Germany joined the project. With Christoph Leinert and Uwe Graser from MPIA teaming up to lead the project, more than two dozen engineers, astronomers and students worked intensively for three and a half years on the planning, design and production, before the integration of this highly complex instrument could start at the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie in Heidelberg. This took place in September 2001 and was followed by a period of extensive instrumental tests. Much preparatory work had to be done at Paranal in parallel, to be ready for a smooth installation of MIDI [3]. After a positive, concluding status review of MIDI by ESO in September 2002, the many parts of the complex instrument were packed into 32 big wooden boxes, with a total weight of 8 tons, and sent from Heidelberg to Paranal by air freight. The installation of MIDI in the VLT Interferometric Laboratory began as scheduled in early November. The first test measurements were carried out during the first days of December with two 40-cm siderostats, the same that were used to obtain "first fringes" with the VINCI test instrument in March 2001, cf. ESO PR 06/01. These initial measurements led to stable, good-quality fringes on the bright stars Alpha Orionis (Betelgeuse) and Omicron Ceti (Mira). The total cost of MIDI is of the order of 6 million Euros. Of this, 1.8 million Euros are for equipment, materials and optical parts, with the remaining for salaries during the extensive planning, construction and testing of this front-line instrument. Some related technical achievements Astronomical observations of electromagnetic radiation at mid-infrared wavelengths near 10 µm are difficult, because this is the spectral region of thermal radiation from our environment . If our eyes were sensitive to that radiation, everything around us would be brilliantly bright, including the sky at night, and no stars would then be visible to the naked eye. Sensitive imaging detectors for these wavelengths have become available during the past years, but to work satisfactorily, they must be cooled to a very low temperature around -265 °C (4K - 10K) during operation. Also the optics in front of the detector must be cooled to about -240 °C - otherwise all images would be immediately overexposed, due to the added thermal radiation from those lenses and mirrors. In practice, the technical solution to this fundamental problem is a so-called closed-cycle cooler that works with high-pressure helium gas and achieves the required low temperatures on several "cold fingers" inside the instrument. However, the associated moving pistons cause vibrations which must be reduced to a minimum by means of special damping materials and connections for the cooler and the instrument. Otherwise this motion would be detrimental to the sensitive measurements, which require near-perfect mechanical stability, to within a fraction of the infrared wavelength, i.e., to 0.001 mm (1 µm) or better. Similarly, slight bending effects of the instrument parts during cool-down from room temperature would also compromise the measurements. This has been avoided by manufacturing the support of all optical parts near the detector from one single, carefully selected block of special aluminium. Still, as the light from the star being observed falls on the detector inside MIDI, it will be surrounded by strong thermal radiation from the terrestrial atmosphere in this direction and all uncooled ("warm") mirrors in the light path. The transfer of the digitally recorded images from the detector to the computer data storage must therefore occur at very high speed, one image per 0.001 sec, and always be strictly synchronized with a modulation inherent in the measurement process. This requires powerful, highly specialized and yet flexible electronics - this crucial part of the new instrument was developed over the past years at MPIA. With this and many other technical innovations successfully completed, and with the first on-the-sky observations just accomplished to the full satisfaction of the MIDI team, this new, powerful instrument will soon be ready to enter into new and unknown research territory. Hundreds of astronomers in the ESO members countries and their colleagues all over the world are now eagerly waiting to get their hands on this new facility.