Ultra-low Amplitude Research Articles

Variability in NGC 3201 Giant Stars

We present the analysis of 510 light curves in V and I bands of 255 giant stars in the globular cluster NGC 3201. Our aim is to expand the sample of new types of variables reported in a previous study. These variables show a short period (P V < 0.6 day) and a low amplitude (A(V) < 0.06 mag.). We first searched for variability using the generalized Lomb–Scargle and phase dispersion minimization periodograms of the sample, discarding 167 stars as non-variables. We then applied the significance test and reduced the sample to 88 giants, of which we classified 18 as possible variables, 11 as dubious, 41 as non-variables, and 18 as variables. We finally determined the cluster membership of this sample and grouped each star based on their light-curve shape. The discovered variables show periods in the range 0.2440 < P V < 0.5868 days and amplitudes between 0.010 < A(V) < 0.064 mag. Within the sample of 18 variable stars, we report the discovery of an object with a period P V = 0.3603 ± 0.0012 and amplitude A(V) = 0.703 ± 0.029 mag that shows a RR Lyrae ab-type light curve. Additionally, we report two RR Lyrae ab and c types with ultralow amplitude.

Testing ultralow amplitude Cepheid candidates in the Galactic disk by TESS and Gaia

Ultralow amplitude (ULA) and strange mode Cepheids are thought to be pulsating variable stars that are near to or are at the edges of the classical instability strip. Until now, a few dozen such variable star candidates have been found both in the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Milky Way. For the present work, we studied six ULA Cepheid candidates in the Milky Way, identified by using CoRoT and 2MASS data. In order to identify their positions in the period–luminosity and color–magnitude diagrams, we used the Gaia DR3 parallax and brightness data of each star to calculate their reddening-free absolute magnitudes and distances. Furthermore, we calculated the Fourier parameters (e.g., period and amplitude) of the light variations based on CoRoT and TESS measurements, and established the long-term phase shifts for four out of six stars. Based on the results, we conclude that none of the six ULA Cepheid candidates are pulsating variable stars, but rather rotation-induced variable stars (rotational spotted and α2 Canum Venaticorum variables) that are either bluer or fainter than Cepheids would be.

Modeling of Amplitude Squeezing in a Pump-Noise-Suppressed Interband Cascade Laser

A semi-classical rate equation model for the amplitude squeezing of mid-infrared interband cascade lasers is presented based on Green's function method. We analytically investigate the squeezing performance through a small signal analysis, where an additional partition noise in the output power is considered because of the anti-correlation between photons reflected and transmitted at the output laser facet. Thus, the squeezing effect can be achieved in the low frequency region with noise-suppressed pump. Amplitude squeezed states in interband cascade lasers can qualitatively be evaluated depending on the pump noise conditions. Such ultra-low amplitude noise laser sources enable various applications such as high precision measurements, metrology, and spectroscopy range where squeezed states can be used to replace current shot-noise limited laser mid-infrared sources.

Deep learning-based monitoring of surface residual stress and efficient sensing of AE for laser shock peening

• A multi-channel acoustic emission real-time efficient signal detection method and acquisition system. • A novel spatio-temporal complementary model (CNN-LSTM) for fusion of time-varying AE signal. • Dual circulation LSTM explains the decay mechanism of AE using temporal sampling points. • Stronger correlation between information from AE attenuation profile and surface quality. Laser shock peening (LSP) is one of the main anti-fatigue technologies in high-end manufacturing industries. However, guaranteeing its quality consistency is difficult due to its process complexity. Acoustic emission (AE) is a promising solution to accurately monitoring the surface quality of LSP, although, the large scale of monitoring data is still challenging for industrial applications. This paper studied the in-situ evaluation of surface residual compressive stress (SRCS) for 7075 aluminum alloy in LSP and the efficient sensing of AE based on deep learning methods. Firstly, a monitoring system of LSP with four types of AE sensors was developed in order to simultaneously acquire both the ultra-high and ultra-low amplitude of shock wave. The performance of those sensors is further quantitatively evaluated via long-short term memory (LSTM). Then, a new spatio-temporal parallel CNN-LSTM model for SRCS classification was proposed and experimentally validated to outperform CNN and LSTM after parameters optimization. Finally, aiming to efficient sensing of AE, the importance of different frames of AE signal was analyzed by means of the proposed dual circulation LSTM (DC-LSTM) model, which can accurately locate the key frame of time series signal. Besides, the effects of different frames of AE on classification performance was discussed. It was found that the broadband AE sensor without attenuator shows the highest classification accuracy, while the fast decay stage of AE signal has more contribution to the SRCS classification. This paper provides guidance for real-time non-destructive evaluation of residual stress via AE in laser manufacturing.

Perspective on the next generation of ultra-low noise fiber supercontinuum sources and their emerging applications in spectroscopy, imaging, and ultrafast photonics

A new generation of ultrafast and low-noise supercontinuum (SC) sources is currently emerging, driven by the constantly increasing demands of spectroscopy, advanced microscopy, and ultrafast photonics applications for highly stable broadband coherent light sources. In this Perspective, we review recent progress enabled by advances in nonlinear optical fiber design, detail our view on the largely untapped potential for noise control in nonlinear fiber optics, and present the noise fingerprinting technique for measuring and visualizing the noise of SC sources with unprecedented detail. In our outlook, we highlight how these SC sources push the boundaries for many spectroscopy and imaging modalities and focus on their role in the development of ultrafast fiber lasers and frequency combs with ultra-low amplitude and phase noise operating in the 2 μm spectral region and beyond in the mid-IR.

Exploring NLMS-Based Adaptive Filter Hardware Architectures for Eliminating Power Line Interference in EEG Signals

Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a biomedical technique for capturing the human brain’s electrical information to process its activities and actions. EEG is one of the main methods commonly used in neuroscience, from clinical analysis to the design of brain–computer interfaces. The first one of the many challenges in an EEG system design regards the ultra-low amplitude of signals (i.e., of the order of $$20~\upmu \hbox {V}$$ ) and their susceptibility to several kinds of interferences. Electromagnetic interference (EMI) omnidirectionally irradiated by the power line supplies disturbs the EEG instrumentation system with a noise power mostly concentrated from 50 to $$60\,\hbox {Hz}$$ . Our paper investigates the energy efficiency of adaptive filtering (AF) techniques based on the least mean square (LMS), normalized LMS, and set-membership (SM) families for meeting the protection against EMI in EEG systems. The results demonstrate that the LMS algorithm presents an unstable behavior with unsatisfactory results against the normalized LMS filters when subject to noisy scenarios. Therefore, we herein explore dedicated VLSI hardware architectures for the following filters: (a) normalized LMS (NLMS), (b) SM-NLMS, (c) partial update NLMS (PU-NLMS), and (d) SM bi-normalized LMS (SM-BNLMS). PU-NLMS architecture offers the best trade-off between the capability of eliminating the EMI versus its power dissipation, circuit area, and maximum clock frequency. PU-NLMS provides an artifact reduction level of up to $$8.8\,\hbox {dB}$$ , with low energy consumption of 0.62 nJ/operation and just $$1.41\%$$ larger circuit area than the NLMS architecture.

Single‐Entity Electrochemistry: Fundamentals and Applications

Single‐Entity Electrochemistry: Fundamentals and Applications

Design of Wideband Waveguide Hybrid With Ultra-Low Amplitude Imbalance

We present a design and synthesis procedure for a new 90 ° waveguide hybrid with ultra-low amplitude imbalance. This novel hybrid design is based on Reed's multiple branch waveguide hybrid. The primary feature of this quadrature hybrid design is the introduction of a controllable ripple in the operational band by, firstly changing the heights of the input and output branches and, secondly, by introducing three waveguide-height discontinuity sections placed symmetrically in the main waveguide. This layout allows ultra-low amplitude imbalance over a wide operational band. At the same time, it permits a greater input/output branch height as compared to the Reed's 5-branch waveguide hybrid, which should ease fabrication for short-mm and sub-mm wavelengths. This design concept is demonstrated through a 90 ° waveguide hybrid for the 159-216 GHz band (30% fractional bandwidth). Our simulations indicate that the amplitude imbalance of the hybrid is better than 0.2 dB over the most of the 159-216 GHz band with a phase imbalance better than ±4°. Experimental verification of the hybrid shows excellent agreement with the simulations.

Low-noise, low repetition rate, semiconductor-based mode-locked laser source suitable for high bandwidth photonic analog–digital conversion

A semiconductor-based mode-locked laser source with low repetition rate, ultralow amplitude, and phase noise is introduced. A harmonically mode-locked semiconductor-based ring laser is time demultiplexed at a frequency equal to the cavity fundamental frequency (80MHz), resulting in a low repetition rate pulse train having ultralow amplitude and phase noise, properties usually attributed to multigigahertz repetition rate lasers. The effect of time demultiplexing on the phase noise of harmonically mode-locked lasers is analyzed and experimentally verified.

Mode Identification with Cepheid Phase-lag

A large model survey with the Florida-Budapest hydrodynamical code has revisited the Cepheid phase-lag problem. A good agreement between the models and the available observational data has been found for normal amplitude Cepheids. The phase-lag is a method for mode identification that is complementary to that of Fourier decomposition coefficients. In this contribution we exploit its potential in identifying the pulsational mode of Cepheids. The possible application of the phase lag as a test for ultra-low amplitude pulsation is discussed as well.

Ultralow-Amplitude Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud

The MACHO variables of LMC field 77 that lie in the vicinity of the Cepheid instability strip are reexamined. Among the 144 variables that we identify as Cepheids, we find 14 that have Fourier amplitudes <0.05 mag in the MACHO red band, of which seven have an amplitude <0.006 mag: we dub the latter group of stars ultralow-amplitude (ULA) Cepheids. The variability of these objects is verified by a comparison of the MACHO red with the MACHO blue light curves and with those of the corresponding OGLE LMC stars. The occurrence of ULA Cepheids is in agreement with theory. We have also discovered two low-amplitude variables whose periods are about a factor of 5-6 smaller than those of F Cepheids of equal apparent magnitude. We suggest that these objects are Cepheids undergoing pulsations in a surface mode and that they belong to a novel class of Strange Cepheids (or surface mode Cepheids) whose existence was predicted by Buchler et al. (1997).