Manipulating near field polarization beyond the diffraction limit

We introduce a new optical nanoantenna structure with three-fold rotational symmetry. The proposed gold nanoantenna can produce a hot spot with circular polarization in the gap. The effect of the shape of the arms and geometrical imperfection on the optical response is examined. We introduce a figure of merit for practical applications that utilize the circular polarization. The figure of merit is more sensitive to changes of the geometry than the maximum near field amplitude or the maximum circular polarization. The relatively equivalent optical response of the proposed nanoantenna compared to its counterparts and its reasonable stability against small changes accompanied with its simpler structure design makes it more appropriate for experimentalists.     

Spin caloritronics in noncondensed Bose gases

We consider coupled spin and heat transport in a two-component atomic Bose gas in the noncondensed state. We find that the transport coefficients show a temperature dependence reflecting the bosonic enhancement of scattering and discuss experimental signatures of the spin-heat coupling in spin accumulation, spin separation, and total dissipation. Close to the critical temperature for Bose-Einstein condensation, we find that the spin-heat coupling is strongly reduced, which is also reflected in the spin caloritronics figure of merit that determines the thermodynamic efficiency of spin-heat conversion.     

The Steady State Fluctuation Relation for the Dissipation Function

We give a proof of transient fluctuation relations for the entropy production (dissipation function) in nonequilibrium systems, which is valid for most time reversible dynamics. We then consider the conditions under which a transient fluctuation relation yields a steady state fluctuation relation for driven nonequilibrium systems whose transients relax, producing a unique nonequilibrium steady state. Although the necessary and sufficient conditions for the production of a unique nonequilibrium steady state are unknown, if such a steady state exists, the generation of the steady state fluctuation relation from the transient relation is shown to be very general. It is essentially a consequence of time reversibility and of a form of decay of correlations in the dissipation, which is needed also for, e.g., the existence of transport coefficients. Because of this generality the resulting steady state fluctuation relation has the same degree of robustness as do equilibrium thermodynamic equalities. The steady state fluctuation relation for the dissipation stands in contrast with the one for the phase space compression factor, whose convergence is problematic, for systems close to equilibrium. We examine some model dynamics that have been considered previously, and show how they are described in the context of this work.     

Figure of merit for spectrometers for EDXRF

How should one select the best detector for a particular measurement in energy dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (EDXRF)? How should one select the optimum system configuration, i.e. the best shaping time and beam current? Manufacturers provide a variety of specifications, such as energy resolution and maximum count rate, but these are indirectly related to the end use of an EDXRF instrument, the measurement and detection limit of the measured elemental concentrations. We suggest in this paper using the time required to achieve a given statistical uncertainty as a figure of merit. We derive scaling rules for this figure of merit based on conventional specifications, including energy resolution, peaking time, maximum count rate, detector area, and intrinsic efficiency. These scaling rules also include the peak to background ratio of a photopeak and the number of overlapping peaks. We then show how this figure of merit can be used to select the optimum detector and spectrometer configuration for specific applications and compare the results to data obtained with typical systems. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

金纳米旋转椭球的折射率传感特性分析与优化

对于金纳米颗粒在化学和生物传感中的应用,找到具有高品质因子的金纳米颗粒形状是近年来的研究热点。基于T矩阵方法和介电函数的尺寸修正模型,本文从理论上定量研究了金纳米旋转椭球的尺寸对其折射率灵敏度、半峰宽以及品质因子的影响。为了获得最佳传感性能,对品质因子进行了优化,并得到了最优的颗粒尺寸参数。结果发现,短半轴为11 nm和长半轴为49 nm的金纳米旋转椭球具有最大品质因子6.76。优化后的金纳米旋转椭球可以作为理想的化学和生物传感器。本研究为金纳米旋转椭球在化学和生物传感的应用中提供重要的理论依据。     

脉管制冷用于低温超导磁体冷却的可行性分析

采用制冷机直接冷却的低温超导磁体系统与传统液氮冷却方式相比，具有轻便紧凑、运行简单、维护方便、可长时间连续运行等优点；而脉管制冷由于冷端无运动部件，与传统的G-M制冷机相比，具有结构简单、运行可靠、振动小等优点．本文结合我们在液氮温区脉管制冷方面的技术，从漏热和经济性两方面探讨了将脉管制冷直接用于冷却一个5特斯拉NbTi低温超导磁体的可行性，为后期系统的搭建奠定基础．     

Stationary open systems: A brief review on contemporary theories on irreversibility

Open systems are very important in science and engineering for their applications and the analysis of the real word. At their steady state, two apparently opposed principles for their rate of entropy production have been proposed: the minimum entropy production rate and the maximum entropy production, useful in the analysis of dissipation and irreversibility of different processes in physics, chemistry, biology and engineering. Both principles involve an extremum of the rate of the entropy production at the steady state under non-equilibrium conditions. On the other hand, in engineering thermodynamics, dissipation and irreversibility are analyzed using the entropy generation, for which there exist two principle of extrema too, the minimum and the maximum principle. Finally, oppositions to the extrema principle have been developed too. In this paper, all these extrema principles will be analyzed in order to point out the relations among them and a synthesis useful in engineering applications, in physical and chemical process analysis and in biology and biotechnology will be proposed.     

Magnetocaloritronic nanomachines

We introduce and study a magnetocaloritronic circuit element based on a domain wall that can move under applied voltage, magnetic field and temperature gradient. We draw analogies between Carnot machines and possible devices employing such a circuit element. We propose a realization of magnetocaloritronic cooling and point out the parallels between the operational principles of magnetocaloritronic and thermoelectric cooling and power generation. Following this analogy, we introduce a magnetocaloritronic figure of merit that encodes information about the maximum efficiency of such devices. Even though the magnetocaloritronic figure of merit turns out to be very small for transition-metal based magnets, we speculate that larger numbers may be expected in ferromagnetic insulators.     

The smallest absorption refrigerator: the thermodynamics of a system with quantum local detailed balance

We study the thermodynamics of a quantum system interacting with different baths in the repeated interaction framework. In an appropriate limit, the evolution takes the Lindblad form and the corresponding thermodynamic quantities are determined by the state of the full system plus baths. We identify conditions under which the thermodynamics of the open system can be described only by system properties and find a quantum local detailed balance condition with respect to an equilibrium state that may not be a Gibbs state. The three-qubit refrigerator introduced in Linden et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 130401 (2010)] and Skrzypczyk et al. [J. Phys. A: Math. Theory 44, 492002 (2011)] is an example of such a system. From a repeated interaction microscopic model we derive the Lindblad equation that describes its dynamics and discuss its thermodynamic properties for arbitrary values of the internal coupling between the qubits. We find that external power (proportional to the internal coupling strength) is required to bring the system to its steady state, but once there, it works autonomously as discussed in Linden et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 130401 (2010)] and Skrzypczyk et al. [J. Phys. A: Math. Theory 44, 492002 (2011)].     

Mode-coupling-induced dissipative and thermal effects at long times after a quantum quench

An interaction quench in a Luttinger liquid can drive it into an athermal steady state. We analyze the effects on such an out of equilibrium state of a mode coupling term due to a periodic potential. Employing a perturbative renormalization group approach we show that even when the periodic potential is an irrelevant perturbation in equilibrium, it has important consequences on the athermal steady state as it generates a temperature as well as a dissipation and hence a finite lifetime for the bosonic modes.     

Quantum speed limit for qubit systems: Exact results

Given an initial state, a target state, and a driving Hamiltonian, how fast can the initial state evolve into the target state according to the Schröchinger dynamics? This problem arises in a variety of contexts such as quantum computation, quantum control, and in particular, the problem of maximum information processing rate of quantum systems, and has been studied extensively due to its fundamental importance. In this paper, we purse further the study in the qubit case in which the particular structure admits stronger results. We use the quantum fidelity as well as relative entropy as a figure of merit to characterize the closeness between a fixed initial qubit state and another one undergoing unitary evolution. We work out explicitly maximal and minimal fidelity and relative entropy by determining the closest and the farthest states to the target state and show that these results are unique for qubit systems. We also determine the minimal time for a state to evolve to the extremal states (that is, the farthest one evolved from the initial state in the sense of minimal fidelity or maximal relative entropy), which generalizes the celebrated Mandelstam–Tamm bound and the Margolus–Levitin bound for qubit systems. We further reveal an interesting fact that this minimal time is independent of the initial states.     

On the dynamic mean field theory of spin glasses

We derive in detail Sompolinsky's mean field theory of spin glasses using a diagram expansion of the effective local Langevin equation of Sompolinsky and Zippelius. We use a simpler generating functional than in the literature, on which the quenched average is very easily done. We pay special attention to the existence of an external field. We show that there are two different types of singularities for ω=0 in the equations. The first type, which leads to Parisi'sq(0), is connected with the local magnetisation. The second type, which leads toq′(x), is connected with the nonergodic behaviour. We show that the continuous limit of discrete Sompolinsky solutions has to be taken in order to be in accordance with the fluctuation dissipation theorem on infinite time scales. We discuss carefully the question of dynamical stability. We show that Sommers' solution is unstable only on an infinite time scale and thus remains an acceptable equilibrium theory with a broken symmetry. We argue that for ω=0 a formal violation of the fluctuation dissipation theorem is physically expected if the relaxation times are of the order of the switching time of the external field. From this point of view the spin-glass state is a steady state but not a real equilibrium state.     

Figure of merit for near-velocity-matched traveling-wave modulators

We derive a relationship between the bandwidth and active length and a figure of merit for velocity- and near-velocity-matched lithium niobate traveling-wave electro-optic modulators. The figure of merit is given by the bandwidth per unit drive voltage squared and is independent of the length of the device. Alternatively, this figure of merit can be described by its inverse, which is proportional to the device's switching energy.     

直冷电冰箱制冷循环分析

分析了直冷电冰箱单路、双路、多路循环及双机、双级制冷循环,进行了系统匹配性、市场占有率、成本及其COP值比较。针对双路循环存在的频繁开停机现象,提出了完善控制方式及采用双稳态电磁阀的变温技术。变温室蒸发器与冷冻室蒸发器串联,其前串联双稳态电磁阀2,并在变温室蒸发器上并联双稳态电磁阀1,据变温室温度设定改变双稳态电磁阀通断实现两个循环支路交替制冷。冷藏室温度控制压缩机启停,变温室温度仅控制双稳态电磁阀通断,实现切换制冷剂流向目的。应用该循环方式及相关措施研制的BCD-188CH直冷电冰箱最大负荷日耗电0.38度,变温情况下耗电在0.35度以下,最低达0.31度。     

双激励全波长压电陶瓷超声换能器工作特性分析

对由两个半波长夹心式压电陶瓷换能器级联而成的双激励全波长压电陶瓷超声换能器进行了研究,给出了这种换能器优值的相关参量表达式,通过数值计算分析了该换能器的结构和材料参数对其特性的影响。研究结果表明,当两组压电陶瓷堆分别位于各自所在半波长换能器的位移节点,或者在压电陶瓷片数量确定情况下两组压电陶瓷堆的片数相同时,换能器均能得到最大的优值;在相当大的范围内增加压电陶瓷片的数量,换能器的优值稍有降低,但力因子迅速增大;金属块材料对换能器的优值影响甚微。可见双激励全波长换能器能在不明显降低换能器综合性能的情况下有效增加压电陶瓷的体积,因而可大幅提高换能器的功率容量和负载能力,更适用于大功率重负载的场合。      

Operating characteristics analysis of a dual-excited full-wavelength piezoceramic ultrasonic transducer

A dual-excited full-wavelength piezoceramic ultrasonic transducer as a cascade of two half-wavelength sandwich piezoceramic transducers is studied.The relevant parameters' expressions of the figure of merit N for the transducer are derived,and the effects of the structure and material parameters of the transducer on its characteristics are further analyzed by numerical calculation.The results show that when the two piezoceramic stacks are respectively located at the displacement nodes of their own half-wavelength transducers,or the two piezoceramic stacks have the same number of pieces in the case of a certain number of piezoceramic pieces,the figure of merit of the transducer can reach a maximum.With increasing of the number of piezoceramic pieces in a fairly large range,the figure of merit of the transducer slightly decreases,but the force factor of the transducer increases rapidly.The metal materials of the transducer have little effect on its figure of merit.Thus it can be seen that the dual-excited full-wavelength transducer can effectively increase the volumes of the piezoceramic stacks in the case of that the transducer's comprehensive performance has only a little bit of degradation,so it's power capacity and load capability can be dramatically improved,which means the transducer is more suitable for high power and heavy load applications.     

Millisecond pulsars with r-modes as steady gravitational radiators

Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) probably achieve their fast rotation by mass transfer from their companion stars in low-mass x-ray binaries (LMXBs). The lack of MSPs and LMXBs rotating near breakup has been attributed to the accretion torque being balanced, at fast rotation, by gravitational radiation, perhaps caused by an unstable oscillation mode. It has been argued that internal dissipation involving hyperons may cause LMXBs to evolve into a quasisteady state, with nearly constant rotation rate, temperature, and mode amplitude. We show that MSPs descending from these LMXBs spend a long time in a similar state, as extremely steady sources of gravitational waves and thermal x rays, while they spin down due to gravitational radiation and the standard magnetic torque. Observed MSP braking torques already place meaningful constraints on this scenario.     

An opinion formation model with dissipative structure

We propose an opinion formation model which includes both the influence of internal motivation and dissipation. Active agents adopt their neighbors’ opinions according to a simplified set of rules, but they may gradually lose their interests in the discussion and drop out of it. On the other hand, inert agents can become active by initial activation or internal motivation from neighbors, and participate in the discussion. The initial activation is usually due to occurrence of a social event. The internal motivation, opinion update and dissipation procedure take place simultaneously. We apply the voter rule in our model, and carry out analysis and numerical simulations. Results show if nonzero dissipation stays below a threshold value, the system evolves to a balance state where the average concentration of one opinion is equal to that of the other. With dissipation, a number of small-size opinion clusters exist in the end, but the system gains a fast relaxation rate. The final average opinion is closely related to the dissipation intensity and the length of time for initial activation.     

Enhancement of the thermoelectric figure of merit in a quantum dot due to external ac field

We investigate the figure of merit of a quantum dot (QD) system irradiated with an external microwave filed by nonequilibrium Green?s function (NGF) technique. Results show that the frequency of microwave field influence the figure of merit ZT significantly. At low temperature, a sharp peak can be observed in the figure of merit ZT as the frequency of ac field increases. As the frequency varies, several zero points and resonant peaks emerge in the figure of merit ZT. By adjusting the frequency of the microwave field, we can obtain high ZT. The figure of merit ZT increases with the decreasing of linewidth function Γ. In addition, Wiedemann–Franz law does not hold, particularly in the low frequency region due to multi-photon emission and absorption. Some novel thermoelectric properties are also found in two-level QD system.