Granular medium under vertical tapping: change of compaction and convection dynamics around the liftoff threshold

A granular medium submitted to vertical tapping reveals simultaneously compaction and convection. The two phenomena are directly coupled and their dynamics can be quantified by a characteristic compaction time and by an estimation of the convective downhill speed along the wall. A remarkable change of behavior is observed around the liftoff acceleration threshold of the whole packing, with a drastic slowing down of both dynamics below this threshold. Above it, a collective shock wave densifies the packing at each tap, whereas, below it, cumulative localized rearrangements will compact the entire system in the long time range.     

Nanoscale friction: kinetic friction of magnetic flux quanta and charge density waves

In analogy with the standard macroscopic friction, here we present a comparative study of the friction force felt by moving vortices in superconductors and charge density waves. Using experiments and a model for this data, our observations (1) provide a link between friction at the micro- and macroscopic scales, (2) explain the roundness of the static-kinetic friction transition in terms of thermal fluctuations, particle interactions, and system size (critical-phenomena view), and (3) explain the crossing of the kinetic friction F(k) versus velocity V for our pristine (high density of very weak defects) and our irradiated samples (with lower density of deeper pinning defects).     

Scattering amplitude and two-body loss of ultracold alkaline-earth atoms in a shaking synthetic magnetic field

The idea of manipulating the interaction between ultracold fermionic alkaline-earth (like) atoms via a laser-induced periodical synthetic magnetic field was proposed in Kanász-Nagy et al (2018 Phys. Rev. B 97, 155156). In that work, it was shown that in the presence of the shaking synthetic magnetic field, two atoms in ¹S₀ and ³P₀ states experience a periodical interaction in a rotated frame, and the effective inter-atomic interaction was approximated as the time-averaged operator of this time-dependent interaction. This technique is supposed to be efficient for ¹⁷³Yb atoms which have a large natural scattering length. Here we examine this time-averaging approximation and derive the rate of the two-body loss induced by the shaking of the synthetic magnetic field, by calculating the zero-energy inter-atomic scattering amplitude corresponding to the explicit periodical interaction. We find that for the typical cases with shaking angular frequency λ of the synthetic magnetic field being of the order of (2π) kHz, the time-averaging approximation is applicable only when the shaking amplitude is small enough. Moreover, the two-body loss rate increases with the shaking amplitude, and is of the order of 10⁻¹⁰ cm³ · s⁻¹ or even larger when the time-averaging approximation is not applicable. Our results are helpful for the quantum simulations with ultracold gases of fermionic alkaline-earth (like) atoms.     

Surface size effects under plastic deformation of microcrystals and nanocrystals

The size effects associated with the crystal surface as an effective sink for moving dislocations in a thin crystal and as a barrier for these dislocations in the presence of a high-strength film or a special hardened layer on the surface, which favor the accumulation of dislocations in the crystal, have been considered theoretically in terms of the kinetic equation for the density of dislocations concentrated in the crystal in the critical lengths of single-ended (unipolar) dislocation sources. The theoretical results have been illustrated by the experimental data available in the literature for microcrystals and nanocrystals of copper and aluminum. It has been found in accordance with these data that the dependence of the yield stress ??_2% of the crystal on the crystal transverse size D has the form ??_2% ?? D ^?0.75 when there is a free crystal surface for the escape ofthe dislocations and ??_2% ?? D ^?0.5 when there is a high-strength layer on the lateral surface of the crystal..     

Interfacial reactions: mixed order kinetics and segregation effects

We study A-B reaction kinetics at a fixed interface separating A and B bulks. Initially, the number of reactions R(t) approximately tn(infinity)(A)n(infinity)(B) is second order in the far-field densities n(infinity)(A), n(infinity)(B). First order kinetics, governed by diffusion from the dilute bulk, onset at long times: R(t) approximately x(t)n(infinity)(A), where x(t) approximately t(1/z) is the rms molecular displacement. Below a critical dimension, d0) leads to anomalous decay of interfacial densities. Numerical simulations for z = 2 support the theory.     

A statistical model of fatigue failure incorporating effects of specimen size and load amplitude on fatigue life

Among many contributing factors, the load range, number of load cycles and specimen geometry (including configuration and size) are three major variables for fatigue failure. Most existing statistical fatigue models deal with only one or two of these three variables. According to the statistical distribution of microcracks with respect to their size and spatial location, a weakest-link probabilistic model for fatigue failure is established to incorporate the combined effect of load range, number of load cycles and specimen size. The model reveals a compound parameter of load range and number of load cycles reminiscent of the empirical formulae of fatigue stress-life curve and its correlation with another compound parameter of cumulative failure probability and specimen size. Four sets of published fatigue test data are adopted to validate the model.     

High efficiency,small size,and large bandwidth vertical interlayer waveguide coupler

Since the advent of three-dimensional photonic integrated circuits,the realization of efficient and compact optical interconnection between layers has become an important development direction.A vertical interlayer coupler between two silicon layers is presented in this paper.The coupling principle of the directional coupler is analyzed,and the traditional method of using a pair of vertically overlapping inverse taper structures is improved.For the coupling of two rectangular waveguide layers,a pair of nonlinear tapers with offset along the transmission direction is demonstrated.For the coupling of two ridge waveguide layers,a nonlinear taper in each layer is used to achieve high coupling efficiency.The simulation results show that the coupling efficiency of the two structures can reach more than 90%in a wavelength range from 1500 nm to 1650 nm.Moreover,the crosstalk is reduced to less than-50 d B by using multimode waveguides at intersections.The vertical interlayer coupler with a nonlinear taper is expected to realize the miniaturization and dense integration of photonic integrated chips.     

Speech segregation in rooms: monaural, binaural, and interacting effects of reverberation on target and interferer

Speech reception thresholds were measured in virtual rooms to investigate the influence of reverberation on speech intelligibility for spatially separated targets and interferers. The measurements were realized under headphones, using target sentences and noise or two-voice interferers. The room simulation allowed variation of the absorption coefficient of the room surfaces independently for target and interferer. The direct-to-reverberant ratio and interaural coherence of sources were also varied independently by considering binaural and diotic listening. The main effect of reverberation on the interferer was binaural and mediated by the coherence, in agreement with binaural unmasking theories. It appeared at lower reverberation levels than the effect of reverberation on the target, which was mainly monaural and associated with the direct-to-reverberant ratio, and could be explained by the loss of amplitude modulation in the reverberant speech signals. This effect was slightly smaller when listening binaurally. Reverberation might also be responsible for a disruption of the mechanism by which the auditory system exploits fundamental frequency differences to segregate competing voices, and a disruption of the "listening in the gaps" associated with speech interferers. These disruptions may explain an interaction observed between the effects of reverberation on the targets and two-voice interferers.     

Silicon clusters of intermediate size: energetics, dynamics, and thermal effects

A combination of the best available theoretical techniques for energetics, dynamics, and thermodynamics is employed in an extensive study of Si(n) ( n = 20,25) clusters. For T = 0 we solve the electronic structure by the density functional and the highly accurate quantum Monte Carlo approaches. Finite temperature and dynamical effects are investigated by the ab initio molecular dynamics method. This combination of methods enables us to find several new low-energy isomers and to explain the differences in properties, behavior, and stability of elongated versus compact types of structures and to elucidate the origin of the existing discrepancies between theory and experiments.     

Speech perception and talker segregation: effects of level, pitch, and tactile support with multiple simultaneous talkers

Speech intelligibility was investigated by varying the number of interfering talkers, level, and mean pitch differences between target and interfering speech, and the presence of tactile support. In a first experiment the speech-reception threshold (SRT) for sentences was measured for a male talker against a background of one to eight interfering male talkers or speech noise. Speech was presented diotically and vibro-tactile support was given by presenting the low-pass-filtered signal (0-200 Hz) to the index finger. The benefit in the SRT resulting from tactile support ranged from 0 to 2.4 dB and was largest for one or two interfering talkers. A second experiment focused on masking effects of one interfering talker. The interference was the target talker's own voice with an increased mean pitch by 2, 4, 8, or 12 semitones. Level differences between target and interfering speech ranged from -16 to +4 dB. Results from measurements of correctly perceived words in sentences show an intelligibility increase of up to 27% due to tactile support. Performance gradually improves with increasing pitch difference. Louder target speech generally helps perception, but results for level differences are considerably dependent on pitch differences. Differences in performance between noise and speech maskers and between speech maskers with various mean pitches are explained by the effect of informational masking.     

Phase and amplitude collective modes of an incommensurate spin density wave

We examine the collective modes of an incommensurate quasi-one-dimensional spin density wave associated with oscillations in the phase and amplitude of its complex order parameter. Using a linear response formalism that ensures gauge- and translational-invariance the effects of the Coulomb repulsion in the particle-particle channel are shown to simply renormalise the velocity of the massless phase mode to a value higher than the Fermi velocity. Analytic results for the frequency and damping of the massive amplitude mode are presented. These two longitudinal collective modes remain decoupled for arbitrary wavevector q.     

Auditory stream segregation in monkey auditory cortex: effects of frequency separation, presentation rate, and tone duration

Auditory stream segregation refers to the organization of sequential sounds into "perceptual streams" reflecting individual environmental sound sources. In the present study, sequences of alternating high and low tones, "...ABAB...," similar to those used in psychoacoustic experiments on stream segregation, were presented to awake monkeys while neural activity was recorded in primary auditory cortex (A1). Tone frequency separation (AF), tone presentation rate (PR), and tone duration (TD) were systematically varied to examine whether neural responses correlate with effects of these variables on perceptual stream segregation. "A" tones were fixed at the best frequency of the recording site, while "B" tones were displaced in frequency from "A" tones by an amount = delta F. As PR increased, "B" tone responses decreased in amplitude to a greater extent than "A" tone responses, yielding neural response patterns dominated by "A" tone responses occurring at half the alternation rate. Increasing TD facilitated the differential attenuation of "B" tone responses. These findings parallel psychoacoustic data and suggest a physiological model of stream segregation whereby increasing delta F, PR, or TD enhances spatial differentiation of "A" tone and "B" tone responses along the tonotopic map in A1.     

Granular layers on vibrating plates: effective bending stiffness and particle-size effects

Acoustic methods of land mine detection rely on the vibrations of the top plate of the mine in response to sound. For granular soil (e.g., sand), the particle size is expected to influence the mine response. This hypothesis is studied experimentally using a plate loaded with dry sand of various sizes from hundreds of microns to a few millimeters. For low values of sand mass, the plate resonance decreases with added mass and eventually reaches a minimum without particle size dependence. After the minimum, a frequency increase is observed with additional mass that includes a particle-size effect. Analytical nondissipative continuum models for granular media capture the observed particle-size dependence qualitatively but not quantitatively. In addition, a continuum-based finite element model (FEM) of a two-layer plate is used, with the sand layer replaced by an equivalent elastic layer for evaluation of the effective properties of the layer. Given a thickness of sand layer and corresponding experimental resonance, an inverse FEM problem is solved iteratively to give the effective Young's modulus and bending stiffness that matches the experimental frequency. It is shown that a continuum elastic model must employ a thickness-dependent elastic modulus in order to match experimental values.     

Piezoelectric polarization and quantum size effects on the vertical transport in AlGaN/GaN resonant tunneling diodes

In this work,the electronic properties of resonant tunneling diodes(RTDs) based on GaN-AlxGa(1-x)N double barriers are investigated by using the non-equilibrium Green functions formalism(NEG).These materials each present a wide conduction band discontinuity and a strong internal piezoelectric field,which greatly affect the electronic transport properties.The electronic density,the transmission coefficient,and the current–voltage characteristics are computed with considering the spontaneous and piezoelectric polarizations.The influence of the quantum size on the transmission coefficient is analyzed by varying GaN quantum well thickness,Al_xGa_(1-x)N width,and the aluminum concentration x_(Al).The results show that the transmission coefficient more strongly depends on the thickness of the quantum well than the barrier;it exhibits a series of resonant peaks and valleys as the quantum well width increases.In addition,it is found that the negative differential resistance(NDR) in the current–voltage(I–V) characteristic strongly depends on aluminum concentration xAl.It is shown that the peak-to-valley ratio(PVR) increases with xAlvalue decreasing.These findings open the door for developing vertical transport nitrides-based ISB devices such as THz lasers and detectors.     

Lateralization based on interaural phase differences: effects of frequency, amplitude, duration, and shape of rise/decay

Experiments in lateralization were performed to evaluate the relative contribution of envelope and phase cues in binaural hearing with particular reference to the effects of frequency, amplitude, shape of rise/decay, and duration of peak amplitude. Pure-tone signals were presented with interaural phase shifts ranging between 90 degrees and 360 degrees. For a given value of phase shift, the leading signal was presented randomly to the right or left ear over a block of 100 trials, and the laterality of the resultant image was judged. Rise/decay time was varied from 5 to 200 ms across blocks. The results confirmed our previous finding that a rise/decay time of at least 200 ms is required to secure a psychophysically steady-state signal. This value will, however, depend on the values chosen for the other signal parameters. Within limits, decreasing intensity could be compensated for by decreasing rise/decay, suggesting the psychophysical importance of the initial segment of the signal (precedence effect). For low frequencies of 650 to 1250 Hz, performance is sensitive to interaural phase shift and largely independent of frequency. For higher frequencies of 1500 and 2000 Hz, lateralization is independent of the phase cue and also largely insensitive to change in rise/decay time. Finally, performance remains unchanged with variation in peak duration ranging from 25 to 200 ms.     

Speech segregation in rooms: effects of reverberation on both target and interferer

Speech reception thresholds were measured to investigate the influence of a room on speech segregation between a spatially separated target and interferer. The listening tests were realized under headphones. A room simulation allowed selected positioning of the interferer and target, as well as varying the absorption coefficient of the room internal surfaces. The measurements involved target sentences and speech-shaped noise or 2-voice interferers. Four experiments revealed that speech segregation in rooms was not only dependent on the azimuth separation of sound sources, but also on their direct-to-reverberant energy ratio at the listening position. This parameter was varied for interferer and target independently. Speech intelligibility decreased as the direct-to-reverberant ratio of sources was degraded by sound reflections in the room. The influence of the direct-to-reverberant ratio of the interferer was in agreement with binaural unmasking theories, through its effect on interaural coherence. The effect on the target occurred at higher levels of reverberation and was explained by the intrinsic degradation of speech intelligibility in reverberation.     

Velocity dependence of friction and hydrogen bonding effects

We show that the friction force varies with the sliding velocity in a manner that depends on the chemical nature of the interface. Surfaces terminated with the hydrogen acceptor and donor moieties capable of forming H-bond networks exhibit a friction that decreases with sliding velocity, a behavior that is opposite to that of surfaces where no such networks can form. We explain the results with a model where the domains of glassy H-bond networks are disrupted at a critical applied stress leading to slippage.     

Determination of the density of Pb-Sn melts and segregation phenomena on their crystallization

The density of liquid lead-tin alloys (17.64, 25.34, 25.61, 26.07, and 33.88 at % Pb) has been determined using an γ-ray attenuation technique over the temperature range from the liquidus line to 750–1040 K. The experimental uncertainty of the density measurements is estimated to be within the range of ±0.20–0.25%. It has been shown that the temperature hysteresis of the melt density and thermal expansion, which was observed previously in several studies, disappears after stirring the melts. The distribution of the components through the height of the liquid and solid samples and its variation with time and during melting-crystallization has been investigated. The study shows that the melts do not segregate on long standing (about 4 hours) near the liquidus temperature. However, crystallization and melting of homogeneous Pb-Sn alloys is accompanied by liquation phenomenon, which is enhanced as the sample composition deviates from the eutectic one. The text was submitted by the authors in English.