Spatial Period Research Articles

Chemical and Topographical Changes upon Sub‐100‐nm Laser‐Induced Periodic Surface Structure Formation on Titanium Alloy: The Influence of Laser Pulse Repetition Rate and Number of Over‐Scans

Titanium and its alloys are known to allow the straightforward laser‐based manufacturing of ordered surface nanostructures, so‐called high spatial frequency laser‐induced periodic surface structures (HSFL). These structures exhibit sub‐100 nm spatial periods – far below the optical diffraction limit. The resulting surface functionalities are usually enabled by both, topographic and chemical alterations of the nanostructured surfaces. For exploring these effects, multi‐method characterizations were performed here for HSFL processed on Ti–6Al–4V alloy upon irradiation with near‐infrared ps‐laser pulses (1030 nm, ≈1 ps pulse duration, 1–400 kHz) under different laser scan processing conditions, i.e., by systematically varying the pulse repetition frequency and the number of laser irradiation passes. The sample characterization involved morphological and topographical investigations by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), tactile stylus profilometry, as well as near‐surface chemical analyses hard X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) and depth‐profiling time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF‐SIMS). This provides a quantification of the laser ablation depth, the geometrical HSFL characteristics and enables new insights into the depth extent and the nature of the non‐ablative laser‐induced near‐surface oxidation accompanying these nanostructures. This allows to answer the questions how the processing of HSFL can be industrially scaled up, and whether the latter is limited by heat‐accumulation effects.

Dynamical localization and slow thermalization in a class of disorder-free periodically driven one-dimensional interacting systems

We study if the interplay between dynamical localization and interactions in periodically driven quantum systems can give rise to anomalous thermalization behavior. Specifically, we consider one-dimensional models with interacting spinless fermions with nearest-neighbor hopping and density-density interactions, and a periodically driven on-site potential with spatial periodicity m=2 and m=4. At a dynamical localization point, these models evade thermalization either due to the presence of an extensive number of conserved quantities (for weak interactions) or due to the kinetic constraints caused by drive-induced resonances (for strong interactions). Our models therefore illustrate interesting mechanisms for generating constrained dynamics in Floquet systems which are difficult to realize in an undriven system.

Insights into ENSO Diversity from an Intermediate Coupled Model. Part I: Uniqueness and Sensitivity of the ENSO Mode

Abstract The basic dynamics of the spatiotemporal diversity for El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has been the subject of extensive research and, while several hypotheses have been proposed, remains elusive. One promising line of studies suggests that the observed eastern Pacific (EP) and central Pacific (CP) ENSO may originate from two coexisting leading ENSO modes. We show that the coexistence of unstable EP-like and CP-like modes in these studies arises from contaminated linear stability analysis due to unnoticed numerical scheme caveats. In this two-part study, we further investigate the dynamics of ENSO diversity within a Cane–Zebiak-type model. We first revisit the linear stability issue to demonstrate that only one ENSO-like linear leading mode exists under realistic climate conditions. This single leading ENSO mode can be linked to either a coupled recharge-oscillator (RO) mode favored by the thermocline feedback or a wave-oscillator (WO) mode favored by the zonal advective feedback at the weak air–sea coupling end. Strong competition between the RO and WO modes for their prominence in shaping this ENSO mode into a generalized RO mode makes it sensitive to moderate changes in these two key feedbacks. Modulations of climate conditions yield corresponding modulations in spatial pattern, amplitude, and period associated with this ENSO mode. However, the ENSO behavior undergoing this linear climate condition modulations alone does not seem consistent with the observed ENSO diversity, suggesting the inadequacy of linear dynamics in explaining ENSO diversity. A nonlinear mechanism for ENSO diversity will be proposed and discussed in Part II.

A Method for Estimating the Spatial Period of Energy Release in Solar Flares

A Method for Estimating the Spatial Period of Energy Release in Solar Flares

Modulated distribution of vacancies within the post-irradiated bcc metals

The criterion of formation of a modulated structure by means of the spinodal mechanism in a spatial distribution of interacting vacancies (as strong concentrators of mechanical stresses) in metals as a target after irradiation is analyzed. For the irradiated body-centered cubic vanadium and tungsten, temperature dependences of the spatial periods of such a structure of the substitutional-vacancies’ subsystem are predicted taking into account the total mixing energies consisting of the energies of the (electro)chemical and strain-induced interactions between vacancies, which are cohesive by the nature in short distances and elastic by character at long distances, respectively.

A Method for Estimating the Spatial Period of Energy Release in Solar Flares

A method for estimating the spatial period of energy release in solar flares is proposed toanalyze the present-day satellite observations of arcades of flare coronal loops. The method is based on theapplication of a Fourier analysis to the difference images of flare arcades in the far ultraviolet. The operationof the method is demonstrated with the observations of the Bastille Day flare from the TRACE spacecraftin the 171 ˚A channel. The mean spatial period of energy release in the Bastille Day flare determined bythe proposed method is 5–8 Mm, in good agreement with the scenario for the development of thermalinstability of the preflare current layer in solar flares.

Minute-scale periodicity of neuronal firing in the human entorhinal cortex

Grid cells in the entorhinal cortex demonstrate spatially periodic firing, thought to provide a spatial map on behaviorally relevant length scales. Whether such periodicity exists for behaviorally relevant time scales in the human brain remains unclear. We investigate neuronal firing during a temporally continuous experience by presenting 14 neurosurgical patients with a video while recording neuronal activity from multiple brain regions. We report on neurons that modulate their activity in a periodic manner across different time scales-from seconds to many minutes, most prevalently in the entorhinal cortex. These neurons remap their dominant periodicity to shorter time scales during a subsequent recognition memory task. When the video is presented at two different speeds, a significant percentage of these temporally periodic cells (TPCs) maintain their time scales, suggesting a degree of invariance. The TPCs' temporal periodicity might complement the spatial periodicity of grid cells and together provide scalable spatiotemporal metrics for human experience.

The impact of freshening over the Antarctic Ocean on Pacific Decadal Oscillation

<p>The profound influence of the Antarctic Ocean freshening on the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is investigated in this study by utilizing a series of fully coupled ocean-atmosphere 400-year-modeling experiments. The simulated results derived from the Fast Ocean-Atmosphere Model (FOAM) can reasonably identify the spatial pattern and time period (10–20 years and 20–50 years) of the observed PDO with slightly weak amplitudes. In the sensitivity experiment (Southern Ocean Water Hosing), 1.0 Sv (Sverdrup, 1Sv = 1.0 × 106 m<sup>3</sup>/s) freshwater flux is uniformly imposed over the Antarctic Ocean for 400 years. As a response to this Antarctic Ocean freshening, the Tropical Pacific Ocean displays a normal “La Niña pattern”, while the low-frequency variability within the North Pacific Ocean is much weakened. Preserving the PDO’s spatial pattern, the multidecadal (20–50 years) magnitude becomes weak and shifts toward higher frequency. In contrast, the decadal magnitude of the PDO (10–20 years) is slightly reinforced and also shifts towards higher frequency. Dynamical analysis indicates that the shortening of the PDO multidecadal variability is mainly caused by the acceleration of the first-baroclinic-mode Rossby waves. The spreading of the fresh anomalies and associated increasing stratification in the North Pacific Ocean result in the shortening of the long Rossby wave propagation to cross the subtropical North Pacific basin. A heat budget analysis further shows that the upper-ocean thermodynamic variability in relationship to the stratification oscillation in the North Pacific Ocean is mainly associated with the anomalous behaviors of the meridional advection, heat flux and ocean mixing.</p>

Trench Formation under the Tunable Nanogap: Its Depth Depends on Maximum Strain and Periodicity.

Metallic nanogaps have been studied for many years in the context of a significant amount of field enhancements. Nanogaps of macroscopic lengths for long-wave applications have attracted much interest, and recently one dimensional tunable nanogaps have been demonstrated using flexible PET substrates. For nanogaps on flexible substrates with applied tensile strain, large stress is expected in the vicinity of the gap, and it has been confirmed that several hundred nanometer-deep trenches form beneath the position of the nanogap because of this stress singularity. Here, we studied trench formation under nanogap structures using COMSOL Multiphysics 6.1. We constructed a 2D nanogap unit cell, consisting of gold film with a crack on a PDMS substrate containing a trench beneath the crack. Then, we calculated the von Mises stress at the bottom of the trench for various depths and spatial periods. Based on it, we derived the dependence of the trench depth on the strain and periodicity for various yield strengths. It was revealed that as the maximum tensile strain increases, the trench deepens and then diverges. Moreover, longer periods lead to larger depths for the given maximum strain and larger gap widths. These results could be applied to roughly estimate achievable gap widths and trench depths for stretchable zerogap devices.

Ghost imaging based on Fermat spiral laser array designed for remote sensing.

We propose a Fermat spiral laser array as illumination source in ghost imaging. Due to the aperiodic structure, the Fermat spiral laser array generates illuminating light field without spatial periodicity on the normalized second-order intensity correlation function. A single-pixel detector is used to receive the signal light from object for image reconstruction. The effects of laser array parameters on the quality of ghost imaging are analyzed comprehensively. Through experimental demonstration, the Fermat spiral laser array successfully achieves ghost imaging with high quality by combining with the compressive sensing reconstruction algorithm. This method is expected to be applied in remote sensing by combining with phased and collimated fiber laser array equipped with the high emitting power and high-speed modulation frequency.

Large eddy simulations of kagome and body centered cubic lattice cells

As advanced manufacturing methodologies such as additive manufacturing become accessible and cost effective, more complex and tailored internal cooling schemes can be achieved. One family of cooling geometries that has recently garnered interest within the heat transfer community are lattice structures. These structures offer enhanced mixing and large surface area-to-volume ratios, but their application in advanced heat exchangers is in relative infancy. This study explored the performance of two types of lattice unit cells, specifically Kagome and body centered cubic (BCC), by identifying the flow development and unsteady characteristics using large eddy simulations (LES) at a Reynolds number of 20,000. Simulation results agree well with experimental data, and differences between the two methods was found to be a function of the as-printed quality of the experimental geometry. Results indicate that both lattices feature spatial periodicity in the local Nusselt number and friction factor, due to the changes in flow area and flow interactions in the wake of each lattice strut. LES results show that the flow through the BCC lattice became fully developed, both hydrodynamically and thermally, with fewer unit cells than through the Kagome. In the entry region, the flow in the Kagome lattice became biased towards one side of the channel due to local wakes and interactions with the lattice struts, resulting in a bias to the local heat transfer. The simulations also revealed that the instantaneous vortices shed from the BCC lattice struts interacted with the duct endwalls, pulling the boundary layer from the wall and enhancing heat transfer.

Application of the Thermal Diffusivity Standard for the Heat Transfer Parameter Control in Absorbing Materials

Metrological support creation and use of heat transfer etalons are important stages in the development of modern materials science. This is especially concerned to the emergence of new materials in the world with previously unattainable thermophysical parameters. The purpose of this work was to develop and experimentally verify the idea of joint application of the transient gratings method which is well-known in nonlinear optics and the single thermal diffusivity etalon of conventional type for the heat transfer metrological control in materials of a wide values range. The method proposed is based on thermal diffusivity etalon application as a source of calibrated optical signals that are excited in it by short laser pulses. Their lifetime is formed by the etalon thermal diffusivity and on the transient grating spatial period. The etalon linear graph of gratings lifetimes as a function of the gratings periods squared and grating lifetime of the material under study are used for the thermal diffusivity calculation. Thermal diffusivity of thin sub-surface layers of the samples under study – duraluminium, monocrystalline silicon and thermoelectric lead telluride film was measured. The results obtained are in close agreement with the reference values.

MEG frequency tagging reveals a grid-like code during attentional movements

Grid-cells firing fields tile the environment with a 6-fold periodicity during both locomotion and visual exploration. Here, we tested, in humans, whether movements of covert attention elicit grid-like coding using frequency tagging. Participants observed visual trajectories presented sequentially at fixed rate, allowing different spatial periodicities (e.g., 4-, 6-, and 8-fold) to have corresponding temporal periodicities (e.g., 1, 1.5, and 2Hz), thus resulting in distinct spectral responses. We found a higher response for the (grid-like) 6-fold periodicity and localized this effect in medial-temporal sources. In a control experiment featuring the same temporal periodicity but lacking spatial structure, the 6-fold effect did not emerge, suggesting its dependency on spatial movements of attention. We report evidence that grid-like signals in the human medial-temporal lobe can be elicited by covert attentional movements and suggest that attentional coding may provide a suitable mechanism to support the activation of cognitive maps during conceptual navigation.

Sound transmission across locally resonant honeycomb sandwich meta-structures with large spatial periodicity.

Honeycomb sandwich structures have been widely used in the field of engineering owing to their outstanding mechanical properties. However, for a honeycomb sandwich structure with large spatial periodicity, there is a low-frequency sound insulation valley. Here, the sound transmission across locally resonant honeycomb sandwich meta-structures was investigated to overcome this sound-insulation valley. An analytical model was developed based on the space-harmonic approach and the low-frequency sound insulation valley was determined analytically and numerically. The results indicate that the resonator distributed at the center of the face panel has a significant impact on the sound transmission performance of the honeycomb sandwich structure, whereas the resonator distributed on the wall of the honeycomb core does not contribute to overcoming this sound-insulation valley. Based on the research results, a design strategy for overcoming this sound-insulation valley was determined by tuning the damping parameter and constructing graded resonators. Moreover, sound transmission under the excitation of oblique incidence sound waves was also investigated. Compared with the method of filling porous materials, the proposed design method is more effective, and more importantly, the mass of the resonator is only 1.23% of that of the porous materials.

Rogue waves as modulational instability result in one-dimensional nonlinear triatomic acoustic metamaterials

In this study, a triatomic acoustic nonlinear metamaterial was modelled. It is a network of identical periodic unit cells made up of three different masses. These masses interact with connections modelled by springs whose stiffnesses are linear and nonlinear. Handling the motion equations of nth unit cell, the semidiscrete approximation method is used to extract the three-component coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations. The dispersion relationship was determined. The results showed that the dispersion relation of the one-dimensional triatomic chain contained an acoustic branch and two optical branches. The dispersion curves show that the proposed acoustic metamaterial exhibits two local resonance bandgaps independent of spatial periodicity. The spectral range and frequency bandgap are related to the mass of the three atoms in the original cell. Based on the theory of linear stability analysis, modulation instability is the condition for the existence of rogue waves. Analytically, it is shown that modulational instability and rogue wave phenomena are strongly influenced by variations in the nonlinearity, dispersion, and diffraction terms, which contain the values of the masses and stiffnesses.

Design of Linear Block Copolymers and ABC Star Terpolymers That Produce Two Length Scales at Phase Separation.

Quasicrystals (materials with long-range order but without the usual spatial periodicity of crystals) were discovered in several soft matter systems in the last 20 years. The stability of quasicrystals has been attributed to the presence of two prominent length scales in a specific ratio, which is 1.93 for the 12-fold quasicrystals most commonly found in soft matter. We propose design criteria for block copolymers such that quasicrystal-friendly length scales emerge at the point of phase separation from a melt, basing our calculations on the Random Phase Approximation. We consider two block copolymer families: linear chains containing two different monomer types in blocks of different lengths, and ABC star terpolymers. In all examples, we are able to identify parameter windows with the two length scales having a ratio of 1.93. The models that we consider that are simplest for polymer synthesis are, first, a monodisperse ALBASB melt and, second, a model based on random reactions from a mixture of AL, AS, and B chains: both feature the length scale ratio of 1.93 and should be relatively easy to synthesize.

Investigation of Laser-Induced Surface Structures (LIPSS) on quartz and evaluation of their influence on material wettability

We report here on a study of the generation of Laser-Induced Periodic Surface Structures (LIPSS) on quartz upon irradiation with linearly polarized femto-second laser pulses (pulse duration τ = 200 fs and central wavelength λ = 1030 nm). Two different regimes of LIPSS were observed, Low-Spatial-Frequency-LIPSS (LSFL) and High-Spatial-Frequency-LIPSS (HSFL), characterized by different spatial periods and orientations. The formation of these two types of structures was investigated by varying the laser fluence, the number of laser pulses and the laser repetition rate. Once established how these parameters affect the generation of LIPSS, extended HSFL patterns (25 × 25 mm2) were realized, and their wettability was compared to that of pristine quartz. Contact angle measurements showed that HSFL textured quartz exhibits a super-hydrophilic behaviour, with a measured contact angle equal to 7.6°, with respect to pristine quartz which results simply hydrophilic and shows a contact angle equal to 41.2°.

Tracking control for a position-dependent periodic signal in a variable-speed rotational system

This paper concerns the problem of tracking a position-related periodic signal for an uncertain nonlinear rotational system. Applying the additive-state-decomposition (ASD) technique decomposes the original uncertain nonlinear system into two subsystems: A primary linear time-invariant system that performs spatial repetitive control, and a secondary nonlinear system that ensures robust stability of the whole system with respect to unknown nonlinear dynamics and exogenous disturbances. This method has four features: (i) The ASD technique provides an effective way to deal with the coupling between the spatial periodicity and other factors (temporal and state-dependent uncertainties and disturbances) in a rotational system. This technique ensures satisfactory tracking and disturbance rejection performance; (ii) A real-time digital implementation of a spatial repetitive controller enables repetitive control with an exact period in the position. This ensures the synchronous execution of repetitive control in the position domain and robust stability in the time domain; (iii) The method of accurate phase compensation in a spatial repetitive controller leads to a significant improvement in steady-state tracking performance; and (iv) An extended-state observer precisely estimates the overall effect of disturbances. Integrating a disturbance estimate into a control input effectively compensates for disturbances. Stability criteria and design algorithms are presented in detail. Finally, experiments of a rotational speed-control system demonstrate the effectiveness of this method.

Cryptic trans-lithospheric fault systems at the western margin of South America: implications for the formation and localization of gold-rich deposit superclusters

We present a review of frontier research advances in the investigation of cryptic structures that transect the South American Andes at oblique strike directions. The intersections between these cryptic structures and the superimposed Andean belt correlate with the spatial distribution of gold-rich mineral deposit clusters. The deposit clusters can be described as superclusters, as they comprise various gold deposit types that formed at multiple times throughout the Phanerozoic, impinging repeatedly on the structural intersections. However, the cryptic inherited fault structures are difficult to detect, because their deeper-seated roots are often overlain by younger supracrustal successions, and/or their exposed surface manifestations are structurally obscured by subsequent tectonic-magmatic activity. Thus, it also remains a challenge to constrain the nature and timing of formation, and the respective subsequent evolutionary path, of these proposed pre-Andean structures. Based on various case studies, we demonstrate that the localization of identified Phanerozoic gold deposit superclusters along the western South American margin is fundamentally controlled by structural inheritance often dating back to at least the Mesoproterozoic. Integration of multi-approach observations and datasets allows insights into a larger-scale tectonic history that showcases the successive inheritance of major structures originating from the Amazonian Craton, over the Paleozoic Gondwana margin, into the Cenozoic magmatic belts of the Andes, and even into recent fractures within the subducting oceanic Nazca plate, recording >1.2-billion-years of progressive structural inheritance and growth at one of the longest-lived tectonic margins in Earth history. In contrast to previous models of the spatial distribution of gold deposits, based on statistical approaches and spatial periodicity in self-organized systems focusing on single subduction and/or accretion episodes and belts, we propose that the structural inheritance and intersections are key to the localization of gold deposits in the Andes. In combination with bulk-geochemical data from magmatic rocks, we suggest that inherited structures maintained a trans-lithospheric connectivity to pre-fertilized gold enriched upper mantle reservoirs, which were tapped during multiple tectono-magmatic reactivation episodes.

Self-assembled gold nanoribbons via surface plasmon polaritons: The role of femtosecond laser

Plasmonic nanostructures have emerged as a critical component in broad fields ranging from optical modulation to biosensing and energy harvesting. Here, an ultrathin titanium (Ti) film (8 nm) is introduced between the gold (Au) film and fused silica (SiO2) substrate to facilitate energy deposition of the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waves excited at the Ti/SiO2 interface under 1030 nm fs laser irradiation. The femtosecond laser-SPPs patterning results in the formation of Au nanoribbons with a width of about 270 nm and a spatial period of about 700 nm. Notably, centimeter-scale, self-assembled nanoribbons of high uniformity are achieved within several minutes. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) induced absorption peak is measured at the near-infrared band, confirming the high quality of the fabricated plasmonic nanostructures. Our findings suggest that the femtosecond laser-SPPs patterning technique represents a promising approach for the rapid and cost-effective production of large-scale plasmonic nanostructures.