Beat Signal Research Articles

Measurement of microwave polarization using two polarization orthogonal local microwave electric fields in a Rydberg atom-based mixer

We propose and demonstrate what we believe to be a novel method for measuring the polarization direction of a microwave electric field in a single measurement using a Rydberg atom-based mixer with two orthogonally polarized local microwave electric fields. This approach eliminates the need for physical rotation of the local field, allowing the polarization angle of the signal field to be determined directly by measuring the ratio of the two beat signals. Furthermore, introducing a weak static magnetic field enables the utilization of the Zeeman effect and exploitation of polarization asymmetry. This distinction allows for determining the polarization direction of the microwave field is θ or 180° – θ within the 0 to 180-degree range. The capability to measure microwave polarization in real-time across this range is very valuable for applications in microwave sensing and information transmission.

Time Lens Photon Doppler Velocimetry (TL-PDV) for extreme measurements

Capturing extreme surface velocities with >50 km/s dynamic range, which arise in shock physics such as inertial confinement fusion (ICF), is beyond the reach of conventional photon Doppler velocimetry (PDV) systems due to the need for extremely large electrical bandwidth under such conditions. The recent ignition in ICF calls for new velocimetry that can measure velocities exceeding 100 km/s. Time lens PDV (TL-PDV) is a solution where the high frequency beat signal from a conventional PDV system is periodically temporally magnified in the optical domain using a time lens. Here we experimentally demonstrate TL-PDV for the first time, validate the performance over a 74 km/s velocity range with high accuracy using a temporal magnification factor of 7.6, and verify excellent agreement with conventional PDV for laser driven micro-flyer experiments. TL-PDV currently provides the largest velocity dynamic range among PDV systems and is scalable to even higher velocities, which makes it an ideal candidate for material characterization under the most extreme conditions such as optimizing fuel efficiency in ICF experiments.

Properties of a Broadband Gaussian Pulse Propagating Through a Λ-type Atomic Medium at Room Temperature

Abstract In our study, we conduct a comprehensive theoretical analysis on the propagation behavior of a Gaussian pulse through a four-level Λ-type Rubidium atomic medium under room temperature conditions. Our investigation uncovers the presence of two distinct wavepackets within the medium’s transmission signal. The primary wavepacket, linked to electromagnetically induced transparency transmission, serves as the central signal in the study. Characterized by its optical beat signal utilized for fast microwave strength detection, this wavepacket demonstrates notable features such as pronounced normal dispersion and decreased group velocity. Additionally, the emergence of the Sommerfeld-Brillouin precursor as the second wavepacket further enriches our understanding of pulse dynamics in the medium. Our simulation findings reveal the potential for the optical precursor to play a dominant role in the transmission signal with the adopted methodology. Furthermore, we identify that experimental parameters like atomic density, vapor cell length, and control field intensity play crucial roles in modulating the time delay of the primary signal and the amplitude of the optical precursor.

Parallel indirect time-of-flight ranging using on-chip dual-frequency combs

The significant advancements in autonomous vehicle applications demand detection solutions capable of swiftly recognizing and classifying objects amidst rapidly changing and low-visibility conditions. Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) has emerged as a robust solution, overcoming challenges associated with camera imaging, particularly in adverse weather conditions or low illumination. Rapid object recognition is crucial in dynamic environments, but the speed of conventional LiDARs is often constrained by the 2D scanning of the laser beam across the entire scene. In this study, we introduce a parallelization approach for the indirect time-of-flight (iToF) ranging technique. This method enables efficient and high-speed formation of 1D clouds, offering the potential to have extended range capabilities without being constrained by the laser coherence length. The application potential spans mid-range autonomous vehicles ranging to high-resolution imaging. It utilizes dual-frequency combs with slightly different repetition rates. The method leverages the topology of the target object to influence the phase of the beating signal between the comb lines in the RF domain. This approach enables parallel ranging in one direction, confining the scanning process to a single dimension, and offers the potential for high-speed LiDAR systems. A tri-comb approach will be discussed that can provide an extended unambiguous range without compromising the resolution due to the range–resolution trade-off in iToF techniques. The study starts by explaining the technique for parallel detection of distance and velocity. It then presents a theoretical estimation of phase noise for dual combs, followed by an analysis of distance and velocity detection limits, illustrating their maximum and minimum extents. Finally, a study on the mutual interference conditions between two similar LiDAR systems is presented, demonstrating the feasibility of designing simultaneously operating LiDARs to avoid mutual interference.

Thermal-noise-limited ultra-stable laser operated at 698 nm

Ultra-stable lasers are indispensable in high precision measurements. Here we demonstrate an ultra-stable laser system that reaches the thermal noise limit of the optical cavity for the 698 nm clock transition laser of strontium atomic optical clock. This is achieved by locking the frequency of the external-cavity diode laser (ECDL) to a full ULE optical cavity with a length of 10 cm. By suppressing noise such as temperature disturbance, vibration, residual amplitude modulation (RAM), and fiber phase noise, the measured laser linewidth is less than 0.9 Hz. After subtracting the linear drift of 60 mHz/s, the frequency instability of the beat signal reaches 1.2 × 10−15 at 1 s averaging time, which is close to the thermal noise limit of the optical cavity.

An Interference Mitigation Method for FMCW Radar Based on Time-Frequency Distribution and Dual-Domain Fusion Filtering.

Radio frequency interference (RFI) significantly hampers the target detection performance of frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar. To address the problem and maintain the target echo signal, this paper proposes a priori assumption on the interference component nature in the radar received signal, as well as a method for interference estimation and mitigation via time-frequency analysis. The solution employs Fourier synchrosqueezed transform to implement the radar's beat signal transformation from time domain to time-frequency domain, thus converting the interference mitigation to the task of time-frequency distribution image restoration. The solution proposes the use of image processing based on the dual-tree complex wavelet transform and combines it with the spatial domain-based approach, thereby establishing a dual-domain fusion interference filter for time-frequency distribution images. This paper also presents a convolutional neural network model of structurally improved UNet++, which serves as the interference estimator. The proposed solution demonstrated its capability against various forms of RFI through the simulation experiment and showed a superior interference mitigation performance over other CNN model-based approaches.

Frequency-modulated continuous-wave laser interferometry measurement method based on cross-correlation

Frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) laser interferometry technology holds significant potential for applications in the fields of ultraprecision manufacturing and high-precision sensing. This paper proposes a novel approach among current phase demodulation methods is based on cross-correlation to address the challenge of this technology. On the basis of nonlinear correction of a distributed feedback laser, the intercepted beat frequency signal was first preprocessed with Z-score signal normalization and a smoothing filter. Subsequently, the interference beat signal was subjected to processing using a correlation method to derive the correlation function. Finally, the phase difference between adjacent beat signals was determined by pinpointing the maximum value of the cross-correlation function, enabling accurate displacement demodulation. Experimental validation was performed by constructing an FMCW laser interferometric displacement measurement system. The results indicated that the standard deviation of the displacement error for the cross-correlation method was 2.41 nm during static measurements. Compared to conventional maximum-point method, the static measurement error of the cross-correlation method has been reduced by 1.43 times. In dynamic measurements in the 500 μm range, The measurement error of the cross-correlation method has been reduced by 6.04 times, avoiding the dynamic measurement positioning problem of conventional feature point demodulation methods and making the measurement results more accurate. This advancement holds substantial practical value in the realm of phase demodulation in laser interferometry.

Second contribution to the knowledge of drumming signals of stoneflies from Corsica (Plecoptera: Nemouridae, Leuctridae and Perlodidae)

In this second article on drumming signals of Corsican stoneflies, the complete vibrational duets of three species are described. Protonemura corsicana (Morton, 1930) shows the typical signal pattern of other studied Protonemura species, a two-way exchange with monophasic grouped call and monophasic answer. In absence of direct female answer, when the male had participated in a previous duet, the male can make a second signal just after it call similar to the female answer (probably mimicking it). That could act as a stimulation for the female because, sometimes, the female answers after it. Leuctra fraterna Morton, 1930 males and females communicate with three-way or two-way signal exchanges. Call, answer, and reply are remarkably similar in structure, a signal composed by usually three parts with different rhythm (varied beat-interval signal type). The complete Isoperla insularis (Morton, 1930) duet is described. The male call is a repeated monophasic signal (call train), and the female answer is a one beat signal. A particular interaction between I. insularis males, producing an inter-male rejection signal, is also described.

Interference mitigation for FMCW radar via chirp rate estimation and signal separation

As a prevalent system in radar technology, the Frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar faces significant challenges in interference. This paper proposes a three-step interference mitigation strategy considering the time–frequency (TF) features of interference and time-domain properties of beat signals. Initially, the process involves statistical analysis of chirp rates from high-energy TF points, estimating the matched chirp rates of interference signals. Subsequently, the improved multisynchrosqueezing chirplet transform (IMSSCPT) is suggested for high-resolution TF characterization of interference signals. Utilizing the ridge extraction method, we accurately detect the TF region of interference signals. This precise localization enables the gradual separation of the reconstructed interference from the received signals. Finally, we perform parallel singular value decomposition on Hankel matrices, which are stacked from the mitigated subsequences to obtain the beat subspace and reconstruct the beat signal to reduce the negative effect of noise. A series of experimental comparisons of the proposed algorithm with existing methods have validated its exceptional performance, particularly under conditions of high-level noise.

Long term frequency stabilization and frequency drift suppression of the 313 nm laser

A 313 nm ultraviolet (UV) laser is stabilized through the Pound–Drever–Hall method, and its frequency drift is suppressed by a remote frequency drift correction system. The 313 nm laser is generated through an external cavity diode laser at 1252 nm and two cascaded second harmonic generation (SHG) stages. By locking the 626 nm from the first SHG stage to an ULE cavity and evaluating the beat signal between the 626 nm laser and an optical frequency comb, the 313 nm laser frequency instabilities of 1.80 ×10−12 at 1 s and 4.70 ×10−14 at 64 s averaging time are obtained. With the remote frequency drift correction system, the frequency drift of 313 nm laser is reduced to 0.02 (6) kHz/h. Individual ions in a beryllium Coulomb crystal cooled by the stable 313 nm laser are identified within the 240 s.

Quantum Beats between Spin-Singlet and Spin-Triplet Interlayer Exciton Transitions in WSe2-MoSe2 Heterobilayers.

The long-lived interlayer excitons (IXs) of semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenide heterobilayers are prime candidates for developing various optoelectronic and valleytronic devices. Their photophysical properties, including fine structure, have been the focus of recent studies, and the presence of two spin states, namely, spin-singlet and spin-triplet, has been experimentally confirmed. However, the existence of the interaction between these states and their nature remains unknown to date. Here, we demonstrate the presence of coherent coupling between the spin-singlet and spin-triplet IXs of a WSe2-MoSe2 heterobilayer utilizing quantum beat spectroscopy via a home-built Michelson interferometer. As a clear signature of coherent coupling, the quantum beat signal has been observed for the first time between closely spaced transitions of IXs. The observed strong damping of the quantum beat signals with fast dephasing times of 270-400 fs indicates that fluctuations giving rise to inhomogeneous broadening in the photoluminescence emission of these states are uncorrelated.

Microresonator Brillouin laser and multi-Stokes generation at 2µm

Brillouin scattering in microresonators has emerged as the driving process for developing high-coherence lasers for applications such as coherent optical communications, optical atomic clocks, microcomb solitons, and quantum communications. However, most of the demonstrations of microresonator Brillouin lasers have been limited to a 1550 nm wavelength regime, which benefits from the development of low-loss microresonator devices on different material platforms and the availability of tunable pump lasers. The development of wide bandwidth thulium-doped fiber amplifiers and low two-photon absorption in silicon around 2µm makes this wavelength region a potential candidate for applications in future optical communications, gravitation wave sensing, and atmospheric sensing. All these applications will benefit from the development of Brillouin lasers. However, there has not been much progress on microresonator-based 2µm Brillouin lasers. Here, we present a demonstration of a 2µm microresonator Brillouin laser. We use whispering gallery mode resonances in a ∼330µm silica microsphere to demonstrate a Brillouin lasing threshold of 35 mW. We achieve generation of second- and third-order Brillouin Stokes using pump powers of ∼60mW and 104 mW, respectively. By tuning the pump laser wavelength, we demonstrate high-resolution (∼10 pm) tuning of the Brillouin laser. From the beat signal of the first- and third-order Brillouin Stokes, we estimate a Brillouin laser linewidth of ∼135kHz, which is 15 times smaller than the pump linewidth. This work may find applications in optical communications, soliton combs, and atmospheric sensing in the 2µm wavelength region. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Simulation and implementation of photonic integrated circuits for the filtering and optical heterodyning of mode-locked comb-lines

We present the simulation and implementation of a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) designed for the filtering and optical heterodyning of comb-lines generated by a 20.97 GHz mode-locked fiber ring laser emitting at the optical C-band. We compare simulations obtained for the coupling junction of the microrings in the PIC with the use of an analytic approach and the finite difference time-domain (FDTD) method. A PIC designed for fabrication with the Triplex asymmetric double-stripe (ADS) waveguides was demonstrated. Using the PIC, we demonstrated the optical heterodyning of pairs of comb-lines filtered by tunable microrings. The phase noise of beat signals located at 20.97 and 41.94 GHz was characterized. We provide a discussion on enhancing the RF power of the beat signals with the use of optical injection locking.

Distributed Temperature Sensing through Network Analysis Frequency-Domain Reflectometry.

In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a network analysis optical frequency domain reflectometer (NA-OFDR) for distributed temperature measurements at high spatial (down to ≈3 cm) and temperature resolution. The system makes use of a frequency-stepped, continuous-wave (cw) laser whose output light is modulated using a vector network analyzer. The latter is also used to demodulate the amplitude of the beat signal formed by coherently mixing the Rayleigh backscattered light with a local oscillator. The system is capable of attaining high measurand resolution (≈50 mK at 3-cm spatial resolution) thanks to the high sensitivity of coherent Rayleigh scattering to temperature. Furthermore, unlike the conventional optical-frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR), the proposed system does not rely on the use of a tunable laser and therefore is less prone to limitations related to the laser coherence or sweep nonlinearity. Two configurations are analyzed, both numerically and experimentally, based on either a double-sideband or single-sideband modulated probe light. The results confirm the validity of the proposed approach.

Rotational Doppler effect of vortex beam with frequency-shifted laser feedback

We propose and demonstrate a rotational Doppler measurement system based on frequency-shifted laser feedback interferometry. The system utilizes a vortex beam as the probe, which is modulated by the target and then reflected back into the laser cavity. Compared with the conventional rotational Doppler methods, this approach effectively enhances the amplitude of the generated beat signal through intra-cavity interference between the echo signal and local oscillator. Consequently, it improves sensitivity in weak-signal detection and enables measurement with low probe-beam power. A signal to noise (SNR) enhancement of over 15 dB was observed compare to the Mach-Zehnder structure. This system inherits the advantages of rotational Doppler effect, possessing the capacity to get a frequency proportional to the topological charge of vortex. Experimental validation demonstrates accurate measurement of rotational angle and velocity, with the ability to distinguish rotational direction through heterodyne detection. For vortices with topological charge ranging from 18 to 21 and rotational speeds in range of 150 to 600 revolutions per minute (RPM), the measurement error is within ±3 RPM. Overall, the proposed system possesses high sensitivity to echo signal, low photon consumption, and direction information availability, which provides a new approach for optimizing the rotational Doppler effect in practical applications.

Wavelet Transform and SVM Based Heart Disease Monitoring for Flexible Wearable Devices

INTRODUCTION: Heart disease has been a major health challenge globally, therefore the development of reliable and real-time heart disease monitoring methods is crucial for the prevention and management of heart health. The aim of this study is to explore a flexible wearable device approach based on wavelet transform and support vector machine (SVM) to improve the accuracy and portability of heart disease monitoring. OBJECTIVES: The main objective of this study is to develop a wearable device that combines wavelet transform and SVM techniques to achieve accurate monitoring of physiological signals of heart diseases. METHODS: An integrated method for heart disease monitoring was constructed using flexible sensor technology combined with a wavelet transform and support vector machine. The Marr wavelet transform was applied to the ECG signals, and the feature vectors were constructed by feature parameter extraction. Then, the radial basis kernel SVM was utilized to identify the three ECG signals. The performance of the algorithm was optimized by adjusting the SVM parameters to improve the accurate monitoring of heart diseases. RESULTS: The experimental results show that the proposed wavelet transform and SVM-based approach for flexible wearable devices achieves satisfactory results in heart disease monitoring. In particular, the algorithm successfully extracted feature vectors and accurately classified different ECG signals by skillfully combining the wavelet transform and SVM techniques for the processing of premature beat signals. CONCLUSION: The potential application value of the wavelet transform and SVM-based flexible wearable device approach in heart disease monitoring is emphasized. By efficiently processing ECG signals, the method provides an innovative and comfortable solution for real-time monitoring of cardiac diseases.

Stabilizing Fabry-Perot optical frequency comb with differential phase detection and bias compensation.

We present a stable optical frequency comb (OFC) that utilizes a Fabry-Perot phase modulator. The environmental-induced state variation of the OFC is accurately detected by measuring the relative phase changes of beat signals from its upper and lower sidebands. We then compensate for this variation by controlling OFC bias voltage through a homodyne phase-locked loop. The differential phase detection eliminates the common-mode detection noise, enabling long-term stability of the OFC without requiring any additional reference signal. The relative phase change is only 0.056° over 3800 s. Even under a drastic temperature change, the OFC remains stable, validating the effectiveness of the proposed stabilization method.

A Clutter Identification and Removal Method Based on Long Delay Lines and Cross-Correlation in Through-Wall Detection

Life detection is important in earthquake rescue, but weak vital signal is susceptible to interference by clutters. Due to the undesirable characteristics of the hardware, there are two main types of clutter generated by the frequency modulation continuous wave (FMCW) radar when transmitting signals. One is generated by periodic nonlinearity during frequency modulation, and the other is generated by the phase-locked loop spuriousness (PLLS) in frequency division. They cause additional beat frequencies to appear beside those from the target, leading to false alarms. Since the suppression measures for them are different, it is necessary to distinguish the types of clutter and choose appropriate suppression methods. In this paper, the accurate theoretical modeling of the effects of the periodic nonlinearity and phase-locked loop spuriousness on the beat signal is performed to determine distinctions between them. The clutter occurring in the system used is identified as originating from phase-locked loop spuriousness through fiber-optic experiments. A method using long delay lines and cross-correlation is proposed to identify and remove it. In experiments, the false alarm rate is reduced from over 50 percent to nearly 0 percent, providing strong evidence for the effectiveness of the proposed method in through-wall detection.

Interference fading suppression for distributed acoustic sensor using frequency-shifted delay loop

In order to suppress the interference fading of phase-sensitive optical time domain reflectometer (Φ-OTDR), a multi-frequency detection method based on frequency-shifted delay loop (FSDL) is proposed. A probe pulse train with up to five consistent frequency components are generated by periodic frequency-shifted, amplification, delay and filtering processing in FSDL. The piecewise aggregate approximation (PAA) is introduced to compress the amount of operational data. Wavelet energy spectrum analysis and support vector machine (SVM) are used to extract features and realize the fading classification. With the help of fading label making and restoration, the multi-frequency signals are intelligently aggregated using rotated-vector-sum (RVS). Experimental results show that PAA has applicability in data compression of beat signals. After 5-layer wavelet energy spectrum analysis, the fading binary classification accuracy can reach 96.77 %, and the fading signals identified after segmentation can be restored to the original data. The fading probability based on SVM output labels can be reduced to 1.89 %. The SVM-based classification output labels aggregation shows that the vibration positioning signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can be increased to 13.52 dB, the phase demodulation curve is smoother, and the demodulation SNR can be up to 17.63 dB. Finally, the R-Square of 0.997 for the amplitude of demodulated vibration signal in repeatability experiment verifies the validity of this effective scheme for fading recognition and suppression.

Time‐Resolved Photoemission Electron Microscopy on a ZnO Surface Using an Extreme Ultraviolet Attosecond Pulse Pair

AbstractElectrons photoemitted by extreme ultraviolet attosecond pulses derive spatially from the first few atomic surface layers and energetically from the valence band and highest atomic orbitals. As a result, it is possible to probe the emission dynamics from a narrow 2D region in the presence of optical fields, as well as obtain elemental specific information. However, combining this with spatially‐resolved imaging is a long‐standing challenge because of the large inherent spectral width of attosecond pulses, as well as the difficulty of making them at high repetition rates. Here, this work demonstrates an attosecond interferometry experiment on a zinc oxide (ZnO) surface using spatially and energetically resolved photoelectrons. Photoemission electron microscopy is combined with near‐infrared pump ‐ extreme ultraviolet probe laser spectroscopy and the instantaneous phase of an infrared field is resolved with high spatial resolution. Results show how the core level states with low binding energy of ZnO are well suited to perform spatially resolved attosecond interferometry experiments. A distinct phase shift of the attosecond beat signal is observed across the laser focus which is attributed to wavefront differences between the pump and the probe fields at the surface. This work demonstrates a clear pathway for attosecond interferometry with high spatial resolution at atomic scale surface regions opening up for a detailed understanding of nanometric light‐matter interaction.