V. Pierro

Radiation properties of planar antenna arrays based on certain categories of aperiodic tilings

Two-dimensional aperiodic tilings are collections of polygons, devoid of any translational symmetries, capable of covering a plane without gaps and overlaps. Although aperiodic, these structures can exhibit order and symmetry in an extended sense. In this paper, we study the radiation properties of planar antenna arrays based on certain categories of two-dimensional aperiodic tilings that illustrate diverse aspects of aperiodic order. Background material on aperiodic tilings and their known electromagnetic properties is reviewed. Results are illustrated to highlight the effects of aperiodic order in the antenna array radiation properties. Potential applications are also envisaged

Localized modes in photonic quasicrystals with Penrose-type lattice.

We investigate the properties of the resonant modes that occur in the transparency bands of two-dimensional finite-size Penrose-type photonic quasicrystals made of dielectric cylindrical rods. These modes stem from the natural local arrangements of the quasicrystal structure rather than, as originally thought, from fabrication-related imperfections. Examples of local density of states and field maps are shown for different wavelengths. Calculations of local density of states show that these modes mainly originate from the interactions between a limited numbers of rods.

Anomalous transport effects on switching currents of graphene-based Josephson junctions

We explore the effect of noise on the ballistic graphene-based small Josephson junctions in the framework of the resistively and capacitively shunted model. We use the non-sinusoidal current-phase relation specific for graphene layers partially covered by superconducting electrodes. The noise induced escapes from the metastable states, when the external bias current is ramped, given the switching current distribution, i.e. the probability distribution of the passages to finite voltage from the superconducting state as a function of the bias current, that is the information more promptly available in the experiments. We consider a noise source that is a mixture of two different types of processes: a Gaussian contribution to simulate an uncorrelated ordinary thermal bath, and non-Gaussian, α-stable (or Lévy) term, generally associated to non-equilibrium transport phenomena. We find that the analysis of the switching current distribution makes it possible to efficiently detect a non-Gaussian noise component in a Gaussian background.

Measurement of thermal noise in multilayer coatings with optimized layer thickness

A standard quarter-wavelength multilayer optical coating will produce the highest reflectivity for a given number of coating layers, but in general it will not yield the lowest thermal noise for a prescribed reflectivity. Coatings with the layer thicknesses optimized to minimize thermal noise could be useful in future generation interferometric gravitational wave detectors where coating thermal noise is expected to limit the sensitivity of the instrument. We present the results of direct measurements of the thermal noise of a standard quarter-wavelength coating and a low noise optimized coating. The measurements indicate a reduction in thermal noise in line with modeling predictions.

Optimized multilayer dielectric mirror coatings for gravitational wave interferometers

The limit sensitivity of interferometric gravitational wave antennas is set by the thermal noise in the dielectric mirror coatings. These are currently made of alternating quarter-wavelength high/low index material layers with low mechanical losses. The quarter-wavelength design yields the maximum reflectivity for a fixed number of layers, but not the lowest noise for a prescribed reflectivity. This motivated our recent investigation of optimal thickness configurations, which guarantee the lowest thermal noise for a targeted reflectivity. This communication provides a compact overview of our results, involving nonperiodic genetically-engineered and truncated periodically-layered configurations. Possible implications for the advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (LIGO) are discussed.

Characterization of escape times of Josephson junctions for signal detection.

The measurement of the escape time of a Josephson junction might be used to detect the presence of a sinusoidal signal embedded in noise when use of standard signal processing tools can be prohibitive due to the extreme weakness of the source or to the huge amount of data. In this paper we show that the prescriptions for the experimental setup and some physical behaviors depend on the detection strategy. More specifically, by exploitation of the sample mean of escape times to perform detection, two resonant regions are identified. At low frequencies there is a stochastic resonance or activation phenomenon, while near the plasma frequency a geometric resonance appears. Furthermore, detection performance in the geometric resonance region is maximized at the prescribed value of the bias current. The naive sample mean detector is outperformed, in terms of error probability, by the optimal likelihood ratio test. The latter exhibits only geometric resonance, showing monotonically increasing performance as the bias current approaches the junction critical current. In this regime the escape times are vanishingly small and therefore performance is essentially limited by measurement electronics. The behavior of the likelihood ratio and sample mean detector for different values of incoming signal to noise ratio is discussed, and a relationship with the error probability is found. Detectors based on the likelihood ratio test could be employed also to estimate unknown parameters in the applied input signal. As a prototypical example we study the phase estimation problem of a sinusoidal current, which is accomplished by using the filter bank approach. Finally we show that for a physically feasible detector the performances are found to be very close to the Cramer-Rao theoretical bound. Applications might be found, for example, in some astronomical detection problems (where the all-sky gravitational and/or radio wave search for pulsars requires the analysis of nearly sinusoidal long-lived waveforms at very low signal-to-noise ratio) or to analyze weak signals in the subterahertz range (where the traditional electronics counterpart is difficult to implement).

Neural Network aided Glitch-Burst Discrimination and Glitch Classification

We investigate the potential of neural-network based classifiers for discriminating gravitational wave bursts (GWBs) of a given canonical family (e.g. core-collapse supernova waveforms) from typical transient instrumental artifacts (glitches), in the data of a single detector. The further classification of glitches into typical sets is explored.In order to provide a proof of concept,we use the core-collapse supernova waveform catalog produced by H. Dimmelmeier and co-Workers, and the data base of glitches observed in laser interferometer gravitational wave observatory (LIGO) data maintained by P. Saulson and co-Workers to construct datasets of (windowed) transient waveforms (glitches and bursts) in additive (Gaussian and compound-Gaussian) noise with different signal-tonoise ratios (SNR). Principal component analysis (PCA) is next implemented for reducing data dimensionality, yielding results consistent with, and extending those in the literature. Then, a multilayer perceptron is trained by a backpropagation algorithm (MLP-BP) on a data subset, and used to classify the transients as glitch or burst. A Self-Organizing Map (SOM) architecture is finally used to classify the glitches. The glitch/burst discrimination and glitch classification abilities are gauged in terms of the related truth tables. Preliminary results suggest that the approach is effective and robust throughout the SNR range of practical interest. Perspective applications pertain both to distributed (network, multisensor) detection of GWBs, where someintelligenceat the single node level can be introduced, and instrument diagnostics/optimization, where spurious transients can be identified, classified and hopefully traced back to their entry points

Material loss angles from direct measurements of broadband thermal noise

We estimate the loss angles of the materials currently used in the highly reflective test-mass coatings of interferometric detectors of gravitational waves, namely Silica, Tantala, and Ti-doped Tantala, from direct measurement of coating thermal noise in an optical interferometer testbench, the Caltech TNI. We also present a simple predictive theory for the material properties of amorphous glassy oxide mixtures, which gives results in good agreement with our measurements on Ti-doped Tantala. Alternative measurement methods and results are reviewed, and some critical issues are discussed.

A Thermal Model for Pulsed EM Field Exposure Effects in Cells at Nonthermal Levels

The thermal response of an isolated cell under pulsed electric field exposure is studied, including a frequency-dependent membrane capacitance model. The possibility of a fast localized membrane heating up to physiologically significant levels is suggested, without sensible increase in the cytoplasmic temperature.

Interplay between detection strategies and stochastic resonance properties

Abstract We discuss how to exploit stochastic resonance with the methods of statistical theory of decisions. To do so, we evaluate two detection strategies: escape time analysis and strobing. For a standard quartic bistable system with a periodic drive and disturbed by noise, we show that the detection strategies and the physics of the double well are connected, inasmuch as one (the strobing strategy) is based on synchronization, while the other (escape time analysis) is determined by the possibility to accumulate energy in the oscillations. The analysis of the escape times best performs at the frequency of the geometric resonance, while strobing shows a peak of the performances at a special noise level predicted by the stochastic resonance theory. We surmise that the detection properties of the quartic potential are generic for overdamped and underdamped systems, in that the physical nature of resonance decides the competition (in terms of performances) between different detection strategies.