Elementary Sources Research Articles

Experimental and analytical evaluation of the acoustic radiation of femtosecond laser plasma filament sound sources in air.

Plasma filaments in air induced by femtosecond laser pulses lead to the generation of strong shock waves. This letter presents a systematic study, both experimental and theoretical, of the acoustic radiation by femtosecond laser-generated filaments. A theoretical model is developed based on the experimental results and is used to evaluate the directivity of the filament's acoustic radiation within and beyond the audible frequency range. It is shown that the acoustic directivity of plasma filaments can be derived from the model of a weighted acoustic line source, consisting of elementary point sources with N-shaped excitation.

Neuromodulation of Neuromorphic Circuits

We present a novel methodology to enable control of a neuromorphic circuit in close analogy with the physiological neuromodulation of a single neuron. The methodology is general in that it only relies on a parallel interconnection of elementary voltage-controlled current sources. In contrast to controlling a nonlinear circuit through the parameter tuning of a state-space model, our approach is purely input-output. The circuit elements are controlled and interconnected to shape the current-voltage characteristics (I-V curves) of the circuit in prescribed timescales. In turn, shaping those I-V curves determines the excitability properties of the circuit. We show that this methodology enables both robust and accurate control of the circuit behavior and resembles the biophysical mechanisms of neuromodulation. As a proof of concept, we simulate a SPICE model composed of MOSFET transconductance amplifiers operating in the weak inversion regime.

Fundamental Limits for Implanted Antennas: Maximum Power Density Reaching Free Space

Fundamental limits on antenna performances are of key interest to the antenna designer, as they allow fast assessment of the feasibility of specific antenna requirements. These limits are defined by the key performance indicators (KPI) of specific antennas, such as the directivity for large aperture antennas or the achievable bandwidth on electrically small antennas. These limits have been obtained considering that the antenna radiates into free space. In this contribution, we develop the fundamental limits for implanted antennas, which thus radiate first into a lossy medium. KPIs assessing the quality of a specific antenna radiating into lossy medium are the total radiated power reaching free space (out of the lossy host medium) and the maximum power density obtained at the surface of the lossy host medium. The fundamental limits for implanted antennas proposed in this paper yield upper bounds for both KPIs and have been obtained considering elementary sources radiating into a spherical phantom. The spherical wave expansion of the electromagnetic fields was used to determine all the fields, and the limits obtained yield a useful upper bound for more complex scenarios.

Anterior pituitary function in critical illness.

Critical illness is hallmarked by major changes in all hypothalamic–pituitary–peripheral hormonal axes. Extensive animal and human studies have identified a biphasic pattern in circulating pituitary and peripheral hormone levels throughout critical illness by analogy with the fasting state. In the acute phase of critical illness, following a deleterious event, rapid neuroendocrine changes try to direct the human body toward a catabolic state to ensure provision of elementary energy sources, whereas costly anabolic processes are postponed. Thanks to new technologies and improvements in critical care, the majority of patients survive the acute insult and recover within a week. However, an important part of patients admitted to the ICU fail to recover sufficiently, and a prolonged phase of critical illness sets in. This prolonged phase of critical illness is characterized by a uniform suppression of the hypothalamic–pituitary–peripheral hormonal axes. Whereas the alterations in hormonal levels during the first hours and days after the onset of critical illness are evolutionary selected and are likely beneficial for survival, endocrine changes in prolonged critically ill patients could be harmful and may hamper recovery. Most studies investigating the substitution of peripheral hormones or strategies to overcome resistance to anabolic stimuli failed to show benefit for morbidity and mortality. Research on treatment with selected and combined hypothalamic hormones has shown promising results. Well-controlled RCTs to corroborate these findings are needed.

Novel Source Recovery Method of Underdetermined Time-Frequency Overlapped Signals Based on Submatrix Transformation and Multi-Source Point Compensation

In the signal reception a under complex electromagnetic environment, there always exist time–frequency overlaps among multiple sources, and the separation and recovery of sources in the received hybrid signals are very important and necessary for subsequent information acquisition. In this paper, for the dual-channel underdetermined time–frequency overlapped signals, a method based on submatrix transformation (SMT) and multi-source point compensation (MSPC) is proposed to solve the problem of source recovery. SMT aims to extract time–frequency single-source point of the targeted sources successively to complete the elementary recovery. When the degree of time–frequency overlap increases, the multi-source part has more impact on the time–frequency distribution of the sources and even seriously affects the recovery performance. Therefore, MSPC is proposed to compensate for the missing time–frequency coefficients of the elementary recovered sources, which effectively improves the signal integrity and recovery performance under severe time–frequency overlap. In the experiments, in order to demonstrate the feasibility and superiority of the proposed method, different types of signals are used to test, and the performance comparison with other mainstream source recovery methods is made.

К РАСЧЕТУ ВНУТРЕННИХ НАПРЯЖЕНИЙ ОТ МЕЗОДЕФЕКТОВ, НАКАПЛИВАЮЩИХСЯ НА ГРАНИЦАХ РАЗДЕЛА ПРИ ПЛАСТИЧЕСКОЙ ДЕФОРМАЦИИ ТВЕРДЫХ ТЕЛ

A new method of calculation of elastic stress fields from internal interfaces (intergranular and interphase boundaries) of plastically deformed polycrystals is proposed. As elementary sources of stress fields, rectangular boundary segments containing uniformly distributed segments of dislocation families accumulating on these segments during plastic deformation are considered. It is shown that the elastic stresses field from a segment with arbitrary geometry of plastic flow and segment orientation can be represented as a superposition of fields from four families of continually distributed dislocation segments with tangential and normal components of the Burgers vector. Analytical expressions for the elastic stress tensor components from each of the four families are obtained. In the limiting case, when the length of dislocation segments tends to infinity, the resulting expressions for the components of the elastic stress field transform known expressions for rotational and shear mesodefects. If dislocation segments have a normal burgers vector, then the stress field is equivalent to the stress field from the biaxial dipole of wedge disclinations. In the case of tangential components of the burgers vector, the field is equivalent to the stress field of the planar mesodefect. As an example of the method application, the calculation of internal stress fields in the plastically deformed crystal containing uniformly distributed cubic particles of the second phase is given. It is shown that the intensity of internal stresses at a given value of strain increases with increasing volume fraction of particles. It is found that for a given volume fraction of the second phase, the internal stresses does not depend on their size.

Design of Printed Dipole Array for Omnidirectional Radiation Pattern

In this paper, we describe 2 kinds of printed dipole arrays and compare the performances of these arrays in term of reflexion coefficient, radiation pattern and dimensions. It is interesting to design array in order to obtain better performances in term of omnidirectional radiation pattern in comparison with single element. We choose this elementary source in order to obtain compact array with good performances. These antenna arrays are designed to have omnidirectional radiation pattern with horizontal polarization. We present an application dedicated to compact base station in the last section.

An Analysis of Gravitational Gradients in Rotated Frames and Their Relation to Oriented Mass Sources

AbstractMany mass sources within the Earth and its fluid envelopes show elongated geometries, aligning with the orientations of plate boundaries and plate motions, coastlines, rivers, and drainage basins for instance. To enhance their identification and separation in global or regional gravity observations and models, a dedicated method based on gravitational gradients analysis is presented here. This approach provides a detailed description of the geographic pattern of the gravity variations, which are accurately mapped thanks to the regular spatial coverage of high‐accuracy satellite data and arise from lateral density changes within the planet. First, gravity gradients are defined at different spatial scales in spherical frames, which are rotated along the radial axis according to the orientation of the source. The sensitivity of these gradients to the mass distribution inside a spherical Earth is described and analytical expressions relating the source to the observable are introduced. Then, the gravity gradients responses at different spatial scales to flat, elementary mass sources located at the surface and at increasing depth are studied. Specifically, the paper investigates how a source width and orientation can be determined, for localized and oscillatory mass anomalies with different width‐to‐length aspect ratios. This theoretical case study aims at providing a basis for the analysis of more complex mass structures, when applying the presented method to static or time‐varying satellite gravity field models. It may help deciphering the nature of the gravity sources by the detection of meaningful geometries and orientations in the gravity field.

Estimation of the Directions of Alpha Rhythm Elementary Sources Using the Method of Human Brain Functional Tomography Based On the Magnetic Encephalography Data

New method for the magnetic encephalography data analysis was proposed. The method transforms multichannel time series into the spatial structure of the human brain activity. In this paper we further develop this method to determine the dominant direction of the electrical sources of brain activity at each node of the calculation grid. We have considered the experimental data, obtained with three 275-channel magnetic encephalographs in New York University, McGill University and Montreal University. The human alpha rhythm phenomenon was selected as a model object. Magnetic encephalograms of the brain spontaneous activity were registered for 5-7 minutes in magnetically shielded room. Detailed multichannel spectra were obtained by the Fourier transform of the whole time series. For all spectral components, the inverse problem was solved in elementary current dipole model and the functional structure of the brain activity was calculated in the frequency band 8-12 Hz. In order to estimate the local activity direction, at the each node of calculation grid the vector of the inverse problem solution was selected, having the maximal spectral power. So, the 3D-map of the brain activity vector field was produced – the directional functional tomogram. Such maps were generated for 15 subjects and some common patterns were revealed in the directions of the alpha rhythm elementary sources. The proposed method can be used to study the local properties of the brain activity in any spectral band and in any brain compartment.

Improving taxi-out operations at city airports to reduce CO2 emissions

City airports cause many environmental concerns on population living in their neighbourhood and several actions are often imposed to airport operators and other involved stakeholders in order to reduce impacts and improve the life quality of neighbouring inhabitants. While some solutions have been widely studied – e.g., green surface accessibility – some others, such as taxi-out procedures, have received less attention. However, taxi-out procedures, which are part of the Landing and Take-Off (LTO) cycle, generate a remarkable amount of the whole airport environmental impact, especially carbon emissions. The goal of this paper is to propose an element-by-element approach that could help stakeholders to adopt targeted solutions. Particularly, the airport activity contributing to the airport carbon impact is split into elementary segments in order to compute the environmental effects produced by each elementary source of pollution. The advantage of this approach is the identification of targeted actions on specific segments, which generates more positive effects for the several involved stakeholders. While the study focuses on taxi-out procedures, the proposed approach is general and can be applied widely to simulate other airport activities that contribute to the airport carbon impacts.

Quantum theory of mass potentials.

Probabilistic formalism of quantum mechanics is used to quantitatively link the global scale mass potential with the underlying electrical activity of excitable cells. Previous approaches implemented methods of classical physics to reconstruct the mass potential in terms of explicit physical models of participating cells and the volume conductor. However, the multiplicity of cellular processes with extremely intricate mixtures of deterministic and random factors prevents the creation of consistent biophysical parameter sets. To avoid the uncertainty inherent in physical attributes of cell ensembles, we undertake here a radical departure from deterministic equations of classical physics, instead applying the probabilistic reasoning of quantum mechanics. Crucial steps include: (1) the relocation of the elementary bioelectric sources from a cellular to a molecular level; (2) the creation of microscale particle models in terms of a non-homogenous birth-and-death process. To link the microscale processes with macroscale potentials, time-frequency analysis was applied for estimation of the empirical characteristic functions for component waveforms of electroencephalogram (EEG), eye-blink electromyogram (EMG), and electrocardiogram (ECG). We describe universal models for the amplitude spectra and phase functions of functional components of mass potentials. The corresponding time domain relationships disclose the dynamics of mass potential components as limit distribution functions produced by specific microscale transients. The probabilistic laws governing the microscale machinery, founded on an empirical basis, are presented. Computer simulations of particle populations with time dependent transition probabilities reveal that hidden deterministic chaos underlies development of the components of mass potentials. We label this kind of behaviour “transient deterministic chaos”.

Anomalous resonant reflection in a Fabry-Perot cavity filled with weakly scattering medium.

In this work, we fabricated a metallic Fabry-Perot cavity, filled with a weakly scattering medium of unsintered solgel silica, on a glass substrate. We found anomalous asymmetric resonance reflection spectra of this structure, besides the effects of scattering loss in cavity. The asymmetric reflection is shown to be dependent on the media on both sides of the cavity. It is thought that, as the weakly scattering medium locates between highly reflecting boundaries and the cavity length is far less than the mean free path of light in the medium, light scattering in the medium is enhanced at the resonance conditions and the scattering centers act as elementary sources emitting the scattered incoherent light to the outside of the cavity from both its ends. The asymmetric reflection then results from lossy total internal reflection of the scattered light at one of the boundaries, eventually leaking to the outside of the cavity with the higher index and contributing to the measured backside reflectance.

Long-Range Coupling of Toroidal Moments for the Visible

Dynamic toroidal multipoles are the third independent family of elementary electromagnetic sources in addition to electric and magnetic multipoles. Whereas the dipole–dipole coupling in electric and magnetic multipole families has been well studied, such fundamental coupling effects in the toroidal multipole family have not yet been experimentally investigated. Here we propose a plasmonic decamer nanocavity structure to realize transverse coupling between magnetic toroidal dipoles. The coupling effect was investigated both experimentally and theoretically, by means of electron energy-loss spectroscopy and energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy, together with finite-difference time-domain calculations. We observe that the coupling causes a reorientation of the magnetic moment loops surrounding the initial toroidal moments. This coupling results in three eigenstates of this toroidal system. The underlying coupling mechanism is qualitatively demonstrated. Our investigations pave the way toward a be...

Modelling of low-temperature/large-area distributed antenna array microwave-plasma reactor used for nanocrystalline diamond deposition

In this paper we investigate a distributed antenna array Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition system, composed of 16 microwave plasma sources arranged in a 2D matrix, which enables the growth of 4-in. diamond films at low pressure and low substrate temperature by using H2/CH4/CO2 gas chemistry. A self-consistent two-dimensional plasma model developed for hydrogen discharges is used to study the discharge behavior. Especially, the gas temperature is estimated close to 350 K at a position corresponding to the substrate location during the growth, which is suitable for low temperature deposition. Multi-source discharge modeling evidences that the uniformity of the plasma sheet formed by the individual plasmas ignited around each elementary microwave source strongly depends on the distance to the antennas. The radial profile of the film thickness homogeneity may be thus linked to the local variations of species density.

The spatial coherence of noise fields evoked by continuous source distributions.

In this work, analytic expressions for the spatial coherence of noise fields are derived in the modal domain with the aim of providing a sparse representation. For this purpose, the sound field in a region of interest is expressed in terms of a given pressure distribution on a virtual surrounding cylindrical or spherical surface. According to the Huygens-Fresnel principle, the sound pressure on this surface is represented by a continuous distribution of elementary line or point sources, where orthogonal basis functions characterize the spatial properties. To describe spatially windowed pressure distributions with arbitrary angular extensions, orthogonal basis functions of limited angular support are proposed. As special cases, circular and spherical pressure distributions with uncorrelated source modes of equal power are investigated. It is shown that these distributions result, respectively, in cylindrically isotropic and spherically isotropic, i.e., diffuse noise fields. The analytic expressions derived in this work allow for a prediction of the spatial coherence between arbitrary positions within the region of interest, such that no microphones need to be placed at the actual points of interest. Simulation results are presented to validate the derived relations.

Quasi-homogeneous partial coherent source modeling of multimode optical fiber output using the elementary source method

Multimode fibers (MMF) have many applications in illumination, spectroscopy, sensing and even in optical communication systems. In this work, we present a model for the MMF output field assuming the fiber end as a quasi-homogenous source. The fiber end is modeled by a group of partially coherent elementary sources, spatially shifted and uncorrelated with each other. The elementary source distribution is derived from the far field intensity measurement, while the weighting function of the sources is derived from the fiber end intensity measurement. The model is compared with practical measurements for fibers with different core/cladding diameters at different propagation distances and for different input excitations: laser, white light and LED. The obtained results show normalized root mean square error less than 8% in the intensity profile in most cases, even when the fiber end surface is not perfectly cleaved. Also, the comparison with the Gaussian–Schell model results shows a better agreement with the measurement. In addition, the complex degree of coherence, derived from the model results, is compared with the theoretical predictions of the modified Van Zernike equation showing very good agreement, which strongly supports the assumption that the large core MMF could be considered as a quasi-homogenous source.

Auralization of vibroacoustic models in engineering using Wave Field Synthesis: Application to plates and transmission loss

While perceptual evaluation and sound quality testing with jury are now recognized as essential parts of acoustical product development, they are rarely implemented with spatial sound field reproduction. Instead, monophonic, stereophonic or binaural presentations are used. This paper investigates the workability and interest of a method to use complete vibroacoustic engineering models for auralization based on 2.5D Wave Field Synthesis (WFS). This method is proposed in order that spatial characteristics such as directivity patterns and direction-of-arrival are part of the reproduced sound field while preserving the model complete formulation that coherently combines frequency and spatial responses. Modifications to the standard 2.5D WFS operators are proposed for extended primary sources, affecting the reference line definition and compensating for out-of-plane elementary primary sources. Reported simulations and experiments of reproductions of two physically-accurate vibroacoustic models of thin plates show that the proposed method allows for an effective reproduction in the horizontal plane: Spatial and frequency domains features are recreated. Application of the method to the sound rendering of a virtual transmission loss measurement setup shows the potential of the method for use in virtual acoustical prototyping for jury testing.

Hardness maximization or equalization? New insights and quantitative relations between hardness increase and bond dissociation energy.

It has been overlooked that the change of hardness, η, upon bonding is intimately connected to thermochemical cycles, which determine whether hardness is increased according to Pearson's "maximum hardness principle" (MHP) or equalized, as expected by Datta's "hardness equalization principle" (HEP). So far the performances of these likely incompatible "structural principles" have not been compared. Computational validations have been inconclusive because the hardness values and even their qualitative trends change drastically and unsystematically at different levels of theory. Here I elucidate the physical basis of both rules, and shed new light on them from an elementary experimental source. The difference, Δη=η mol - <η at>, of the molecular hardness, η mol, and the averaged atomic hardness, <η at>, is determined by thermochemical cycles involving the bond dissociation energies D of the molecule, D + of its cation, and D - of its anion. Whether the hardness is increased, equalized or even reduced is strongly influenced by ΔD=2D - D + -D -. Quantitative expressions for Δη are obtained, and the principles are tested on 90 molecules and the association reactions forming them. The Wigner-Witmer symmetry constraints on bonding require the valence state (VS) hardness, η VS, instead of the conventional ground state (GS) hardness, η GS. Many intriguingly "unpredictable" failures and systematic shortcomings of said "principles" are understood and overcome for the first time, including failures involving exotic and/or challenging molecules, such as Be2, B2, O3, and transition metal compounds. New linear relationships are discovered between the MHP hardness increase Δη VS and the intrinsic bond dissociation energy D i . For bond formations, MHP and HEP are not compatible, and HEP does not qualify as an ordering rule.

A 3D electromagnetic model of the iron core in JET

The Magnet and Power Supplies system in JET includes a ferromagnetic core able to increase the transformer effect by improving the magnetic coupling with the plasma. The iron configuration is based on an inner cylindrical core and eight returning limbs; the ferromagnetic circuit is designed in such a way that the inner column saturates during standard operations [1]. The modelling of the magnetic circuit is a critical issue because of its impact on several applications, including equilibrium and reconstruction analysis required for control applications. The most used model in present applications is based on Equivalent Currents (ECs) placed on the iron boundary together with additional specific constraints, in a 2D axisymmetric frame. The (circular) ECs are chosen, by using the available magnetic measurements, to best represent the magnetic polarization effect [1]. Due to the axisymmetric assumption such approach is not well suited to deal with significant 3D effects, e.g. arising in operations with Error Field Correction Coils (EFCC). In this paper a new methodology is proposed, based on a set of 3D-shaped ECs and able to better model the actual 3D magnetization giving rise to a linear system to be solved. According to a well assessed approach [2], the 3D shape of ECs is represented by a set of elementary sources. The methodology has been successfully validated in a number of JET dry-run experiments where 3D effects are generated by EFCC currents. The new procedure has been designed to be easily coupled with equilibrium or reconstruction codes such as EFIT/V3FIT. The proposed model resulted to be very effective in representing 3D iron magnetization, especially if compared with typical 2D models.

Effects of Al and N2 Flow Sequences on the Interface Formation of AlN on Sapphire by EVPE

The interface formation mechanisms of AlN films on sapphire substrates grown by the elementary source vapor phase epitaxy (EVPE) method, which is a new AlN bulk fabrication method using Al and N2 as precursors, are investigated. Supplying N2 after the substrate temperature reaches the growth temperature [Process N2(GT)] causes the interface to become rough due to the thermal decomposition of sapphire. Self-separation occasionally occurs with the Process N2(GT), suggesting that the rough interface generates self-separating films with little strain. On the other hand, supplying N2 beginning at room temperature forms a relatively smooth interface with voids, which can be realized by the reaction between a nitrided sapphire surface and an Al source.