Development of an optimised, standard-compliant procedure to calculate sound transmission loss: design of transmission rooms

A numerical procedure to estimate the transmission loss of sound insulating structures is proposed based upon the technology of acoustic measurements and standards. A virtual laboratory (VL), namely, a numerical representation of a real laboratory consisting of two reverberation rooms meeting certain sound field quality criteria is designed. VL is to be used for the numerical simulation of standardised measurements under predefined, controlled, acoustic conditions. In this paper, the design and optimisation of VL is investigated. The geometry of the transmission rooms is designed following first principles, in order for diffuse field conditions and sufficiently smooth primary mode distribution in the low frequency to be achieved. A finite element-based optimisation procedure, introduced by the author in previous work, is extended to arbitrarily shaped rooms. It is used to predict the appropriate local geometric modifications so as for improved mode distribution and smoother sound pressure fluctuations of the transmission rooms in the low-frequency range to be achieved and low-frequency measurement reproducibility and accuracy to be increased. Steady-state acoustic response analysis is performed in order to quantify the acoustic field quality of the virtual transmission rooms in the frequency range of measurements. A method to calculate the total absorption, A, of the receiving room is introduced by simulation of the reverberation time measurement procedure using Transient acoustic response analysis. The acoustic performance of VL is overall considered and is shown to meet in a sufficient degree, relative laboratory measurement standards in the frequency range of 100÷704 Hz.     

Direct and inverse magnetoelectric effect in layered composites in electromechanical resonance range: A review

A model is presented for the increase in magnetoelectric (ME) coupling in magnetostrictive-piezoelectric bilayers in the electromechanical resonance region. The ME voltage coefficients α_E have been estimated for transverse field orientations corresponding to minimum demagnetizing fields and maximum α_E. We solved the equation of medium motion taking into account the magnetostatic and elastostatic equations, constitutive equations, Hooke's law, and boundary conditions. The resonance enhancement of ME voltage coefficient for the bilayer is obtained at antiresonance frequency. To obtain the inverse ME effect, a pick up coil wound around the sample is used to measure the ME voltage due to the change in the magnetic induction in magnetostrictive phase. The measured static magnetic field dependence of ME voltage has been attributed to the variation in the piezomagnetic coefficient for magnetic layer. The frequency dependence of the ME voltage shows a resonance character due to the longitudinal acoustic modes in piezoelectric layer. The model is applied to specific cases of cobalt ferrite–lead zirconate titanate and nickel–lead zirconate titanate bilayers. Theoretical ME voltage coefficients versus frequency profiles are in agreement with data.     

Characterization of stimulated Brillouin scattering in small core microstructured chalcogenide fiber

We report a full modal characterization of the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) properties in small core As₂Se₃-based chalcogenide photonic crystal fibers (PCFs). Our results include the calculation of Brillouin gain spectrum (BGS), Brillouin gain coefficient (g_B), Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) by taking into account the contribution of the higher-order acoustic modes. We show that for a highly nonlinear PCF having a 2-μm hole-to-hole pitch and a 0.5-μm hole diameter, a Brillouin gain coefficient g_B = 5.91 10^? 9 m.W^? 1 is obtained around the acoustic frequency of 8.19 GHz, which is more than 340 times larger than that of the same PCF made with silica glass. We demonstrate that the BGS of small core PCF structures show strong SBS and multipeaked behavior, with a presence of a second peak, when decreasing the core diameter which is to be attributed to the higher-order acoustic modes. We designed small core PCFs with tailored Brillouin response for a wide range of applications.     

Performance Evaluation and Effectiveness of the Reverberation Room

This research presents a thorough evaluation of the reverberation room at Acoustics Laboratory in National Institute of Standards (NIS) according to the related international standards. The evaluation aims at examining the room performance and exploring its effectiveness in the frequency range from 125 Hz to 10000 Hz according to the international standard requirements. The room, which was designed and built several years ago, is an irregular rectangular shape free from diffusers. Its volume is about 158.84 m³, which meets the requirement of the ISO 354 standard L_max < 1.9V^1/3. Cut-off frequencies of one and one-third octave are 63 Hz and 100 Hz respectively; however Schroder frequency is 400 Hz. Calculations of cut-off frequency and modal density showed adequate modes that give acceptable uniformity starting comfortably from frequency of 125 Hz. The room has a reverberation time that is suitable for its size over the frequency range of interest. The room sound absorption surface area and its sound absorption coefficient satisfy the criteria given in ISO 3741 and ISO 354. There is an accepted diffuse sound field inside the room due to the standard deviation of measured sound level, which is less than 1.5 dB over all the frequency range. The only exception was 125 Hz which may be due to a lack of diffusivity of the sound field at this frequency. The evaluation proves that the NIS reverberation room is in full agreement with the international standards, which in turns qualifies the room to host measurements inside without concerns.     

Oscillation dependence of two-wave mixing gain for unidirectional ring resonator in photorefractive materials

Dependence of the coupling strength of two-wave mixing gain in photorefractive materials for the single unidirectional ring resonator on oscillation conditions has been analyzed in the strong nonlinear regime. In this regime, difference between the frequency of the pump beam and oscillating beam is proportional to the cavity-length detuning, which can be explained in terms of the photorefractive phase-shift. This phase-shift results due to slightly non-degenerate two-wave mixing that compensates for cavity detuning and satisfies the round-trip phase condition for the steady-state oscillation. The presence of such a phase-shift allows the possibility of the nonreciprocal steady-state energy transfer between the pump and oscillating beams. If the gain due to the beam coupling is large enough to overcome the cavity losses then the signal beam is amplified in the presence of material absorption. Such amplification is responsible for the oscillations. For the single unidirectional ring resonator, the effects of cavity-length detuning, energy coupling coefficient, crystal thickness of the material, reflectivity of the cavity mirrors and material's absorption coefficient on the frequency and intensity of oscillations have also been studied in detail. It has been found that for the smaller value of absorption coefficient (α) of the photorefractive crystal, the unidirectional ring resonator can oscillate at almost any cavity-length detuning (ΔΓ) whereas for the larger value of α oscillation occurs only when the cavity-length detuning is limited to small region (around ΔΓ=0). But reverse of the case is found for energy coupling coefficient (γ₀).     

Bound-to-extended state absorption in quantum wells confined byδ-like barriers

Within the framework of a simple envelope function and effective mass approximation, by including the spatial variation of effective mass and nonparabolicity effects, we have investigated the energy spectrum and intersubband optical absorption in a quantum well with additional thin and higher (δ -like) cladding barriers on either side of the well. The dependence of the absorption coefficient on the structure parameters, doping level, photon energy and temperature has been investigated. The absorption coefficient and spectrum strongly depend on the cladding barrier tunnel transparency. The peak absorption wavelength is shifted towards the high energies as the barrier transparency decreases. The temperature shift of the absorption peak is very small. The results are compared with experiments of Schneider et al. taking into account the broadening induced by well width fluctuations.     

A terahertz single-polarization single-mode photonic crystal fiber with a rectangular array of micro-holes in the core region

A single-polarization single-mode (SPSM) photonic crystal fiber with a rectangular array of micro-holes in the core region was designed in the terahertz frequency range near 1 THz. Based on the asymmetric arrangement of the micro-holes, birefringence between the fundamental x-polarized and y-polarized modes is introduced. A SPSM operation of the terahertz fiber can be supported due to the different mode indices of the x-polarized and y-polarized modes. The SPSM operation band is about 320 GHz with a central frequency of 1 THz. In addition, the proposed terahertz fiber also shows a good property of reduced propagation loss comparing with the dielectric absorption.     

Numerical solutions of the acoustic eigenvalue equation in the rectangular room with arbitrary (uniform) wall impedances

Two numerical procedures for finding the acoustic eigenvalues in the rectangular room with arbitrary (uniform) wall impedances are developed. One numerical procedure applies Newton's method. Here, starting with soft walls, the eigenvalues are found by increasing the impedances of each wall pair in small increments up to the terminal impedances. Another procedure poses the eigenvalue problem as one of homotopic continuation from a non-physical reference configuration in which all eigenvalues are known and obvious. The continuation is performed by the numerical integration of two differential equations. The latter procedure was found to be faster and finds all possible solutions. The set of eigenvalues allowed the room modal natural frequencies and damping constants to be obtained. From sound decays measured in a hard-walled rectangular room, and from the collective-modal-decay curve, the impedances of the hard walls are estimated. These are then used to find the reverberation times of the modes in the room with the floor lined with sound absorbing material of known acoustic impedance. It was found that a single reverberation time, for all modes, is only supported in the rectangular room with hard walls and at the higher frequency bands, consistent with Sabine's theory, which assumes a diffuse sound field. In the rectangular room with hard walls and at the lower frequency bands, and in the rectangular room with the floor lined with sound absorbing material and for all frequency bands, modes with rather distinctive reverberation times may produce sound decays not always consistent with Sabine's prediction.     

The effect of scattering-medium parameters on signal magnitude under acousto-optic tomography

We have experimentally studied the influence of scattering anisotropy parameter g of a medium on the magnitude of signal S (visualization parameter) at an ultrasonic frequency that is registered upon acoustooptic tomography. Aqueous solutions of mixtures of cream and skimmed milk with different ratios between them were used as scattering media. The optical properties of media (absorption coefficient μ_a and reduced scattering coefficient μ′ _S ) have been measured on a spectrophotometer (Perkin-Elmer Lambda 950 UV-VIS-NIR) using the inverse adding-doubling technique. As a result of the investigation, we have found that there is a certain correlation between the value of the scattering anisotropy parameter g of aqueous solutions of investigated mixtures and the percentage of the mixture in the aqueous solution, which ensures the required small value of extinction coefficient μ of the scattering medium. An increase in signal S has been revealed with increasing anisotropy parameter g of the medium at a invariable value of extinction coefficient μ. We have concluded that, to solve an inverse problem on the acousto-optic tomography, it is necessary to take into account possible changes in the g factor in scattering media, including biological ones.     

Application of microwave amplitude modulation technique to measure spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation times accurately with a continuous-wave EPR spectrometer: Solution of Bloch’s equations by a matrix technique and least-squares fitting

A matrix technique to calculate signals recorded using the microwave amplitude-modulation technique is described. The calculations are carried out for spin packets, on and off resonance, to take into account inhomogeneous broadening. Both, the transverse component of magnetization representing the continuous-wave signal in a resonator, such as a cross-looped resonator, as well as the signal (electromotive force) induced in a pickup coil oriented parallel to the external magnetic field, are calculated for an arbitrary value of the coefficient of modulation. This is accomplished by solving the relevant Bloch equations in the rotating frame for the case when the amplitude of the microwave field is modulated by a sinusoidal wave, using Fourier expansions of the longitudinal and transverse components of the magnetization in Bloch equations. This results in a series of coupled equations inM _α(n) (α=y,zz), the magnetic moments of vaarious orders, leading to a penta-diagonal matrix of infinite dimension. These equations are then truncated and solved by a fast matrix technique to calculateM _α(n), required to calculate the modulation signals as functions of the amplitudemodulation frequency Ω. It is outlined how to exploit the expressions for the modulation signals to estimate the spin-lattice relaxation timesT ₁ and spin-spin relaxation timesT ₂ accurately by the leastsquares procedure, fitting simultaneously all signals obtained for spin packets, on and off resonance, at various modulation frequencies. Illustrative examples are provided.     

Two-photon absorption coefficient in relation to the typical pulse models of laser

The two-photon absorption (TPA) coefficient (β) relating to pulse models of laser is theoretically studied based on the nonlinear absorption equation. An expression of nonlinear energy transmission is obtained, in which a factor (g) is introduced to describe the β deviation resulting from the pulse profile of laser. The relative deviation can be then expressed as (1/g − 1)% for comparing β obtained based on other pulse models of laser with β₀ based on the rectangular one. The values of g factor and the deviation of some typical ultra-short pulse models used nowadays are also calculated and presented. Our results suggest that the β deviations from the temporal pulse shapes should not be neglected in usual nonlinear transmission measurement. The g factor may become a useful parameter in taking account of this deviation.     

The effect of construction material, contents and room geometry on the sound field in dwellings at low frequencies

An experimentally validated finite element method is used to model the sound level in rooms at low frequencies. It is demonstrated that the dimensions of rectangular rooms strongly influence the sound pressure level difference. Additional factors were investigated which are not normally considered in the frequency range where diffuse sound field conditions can be assumed. Three effects were investigated: room damping due to wall vibrations, furniture, the effect of small deviations from simple rectangular shapes. It is confirmed by field measurements that the vibrations of masonry walls and floors introduce less damping than surfaces of lightweight construction. Assigning to the FE model a damping equivalent to a surface absorption of 0.02 reproduces the effect of walls of heavyweight construction. Damping equivalent to a surface absorption of 0.15 reproduces the effects of plastered timber-frame walls, floors and ceilings. The work was briefly extended to a room pair built with heavyweight and lightweight material of construction. The modification of the shape of the room frequency response highlights well the effect of material of construction. In-situ and laboratory measurements show that furniture has little effect on steady-state room response below 100 Hz. Modelling a wall recess smaller than 0.5 m improved the agreement between prediction and measurements but the assumption of a simple rectangular room remains appropriate.     

Reverberation time measurements in non-diffuse acoustic field by the modal reverberation time

The increasing presence of low frequency sources and the lack of acoustic standard measurement procedures make the extension of reverberation time measurements to frequencies below 100 Hz necessary. In typical ordinary rooms with volumes between 30 m³ and 200 m³ the sound field is non-diffuse at such low frequencies, entailing inhomogeneities in space and frequency domains. Presence of standing waves is also the main cause of bad quality of listening in terms of clarity and rumble effects. Since standard measurements according to ISO 3382 fail to achieve accurate and precise values in third octave bands due to non-linear decays caused by room modes, a new approach based on reverberation time measurements of single resonant frequencies (the modal reverberation time) has been introduced. From background theory, due to the intrinsic relation between modal decays and half bandwidth of resonant frequencies, two measurement methods have been proposed together with proper measurement procedures: a direct method based on interrupted source signal method, and an indirect method based on half bandwidth measurements. With microphones placed at corners of rectangular rooms in order to detect all modes and maximize SNRs, different source signals were tested. Anti-resonant sine waves and sweep signal turned out to be the most suitable for direct and indirect measurement methods respectively. From spatial measurements in an empty rectangular test room, comparison between direct and indirect methods showed good and significant agreements. This is the first experimental validation of the relation between resonant half bandwidth and modal reverberation time. Furthermore, comparisons between means and standard deviations of modal reverberation times and standard reverberation times in third octave bands confirm the inadequacy of standard procedure to get accurate and precise values at low frequencies with respect to the modal approach. Modal reverberation time measurements applied to furnished ordinary rooms confirm previous results in the limit of modal sound field: for highly damped modes due to furniture or acoustic treatment, the indirect method is not applicable due to strong suppression of modes and the consequent deviation of the acoustic field from a non-diffuse condition to a damped modal condition, while standard reverberation times align with direct method values. In the future, further investigations will be necessary in different rooms to improve uncertainty evaluation.     

Localization of acoustic vibrational modes in a chain-type lattice

The problem of weak localization of acoustic phonon modes in a nonideal chain-type crystal lattice is studied. An expression is obtained for the diffusion coefficient tensor D. The role of the back coherent scattering processes is investigated. It is established that on account of such processes a substantial renormalization of the diffusion coefficient D can occur in the relatively low-frequency range, where the dispersion laws for phonon modes exhibit quasi-one-dimensional properties.     

Determination of low absorption coefficients from absorptance measurements on thin films

We discuss the determination of the absorption coefficient (α) from absorptance (A) measurements on thin films in the low absorption range, especially in the case of amorphous semiconductor films studied by photothermal spectroscopies. We propose approximate expressions between A and α, determine their range of validity and compare them to expressions used by other authors.     

Far infrared optical properties of free carriers in GaAs

Transmission and reflection measurements over the frequency range 17–200 cm^?1 were made on GaAs with electron concentrations of 1·0 and 4·9 × 10¹⁶ cm^?3. The plasma frequencies of the samples fall within the measurement range. When values of the free carrier absorption coefficient α and the real refractive index n as derived from the data are plotted in the form (αn)^?1 vs (frequency)², the plots are linear, in excellent agreement with Drude theory. Deduced values of effective mass, relaxation time and mobility agree with published values and with a d.c. drift measurement.     

The directivity pattern of an interferometer for measuring thermal acoustic radiation

The directivity patterns of a pair of piezoelectric transducers for measuring the spatial correlation function of sound pressures produced by sources of thermal acoustic radiation in the megahertz frequency range are calculated. Sources in the form of a heated plane or strip are considered. The signal detection by two circular or rectangular piezoelectric transducers and by focusing transducers is studied. It is demonstrated that, for measuring the correlation function, the piezoelectric transducers must partially overlap. To determine the directivity pattern with a strong dependence on the distance between the heated object and the pair of piezoelectric transducers, focusing piezoelectric transducers should be used. The results obtained offer possibilities for a noninvasive measurement of the absorption coefficient of a medium and also for the realization of the previously proposed [20] passive acoustic thermotomograph, which does not use a priori information on the absorption coefficient of the medium.     

sd-Exchange electron spin resonance in a ferromagnetic metal

The possibility of resonance absorption in the terahertz range caused by the sd-exchange interaction at the incidence of an electromagnetic wave on a ferromagnetic metal has been predicted. The absorption coefficient has been calculated. It has been shown that the resonance frequency is determined by the magnetization of a ferromagnet and the absorption coefficient additionally depends on the orientation of the magnetization with respect to the plane of polarization of the wave.