Synchrony suppression in complex stimulus responses of a biophysical model of the cochlea

A minimal biophysical model of the cochlea is used to investigate the validity of the hypothesis that a single compressive nonlinearity at the hair cell level can explain some of the suppression phenomena in cochlear responses to complex stimuli. The dependencies of the model responses on the amplitudes and frequencies of two-tone stimuli resemble in many respects the behavior of the experimental data, and can be traced to explicit biophysical parameters in the model. Most discrepancies between theory and experiment stem from simplifications in parameters of the minimal model that play no direct role in the hypothesis. The analysis and simulations predict further results which, pending experimental verification, may provide a more direct test of the influence of the compressive nonlinearity on the relative amplitudes of the synchronous response components, and hence of its role in synchrony suppression. For instance, regardless of the overall absolute levels of a two-tone stimulus applied to this type of model, the ratio of the amplitudes at the input and the ratio of the corresponding responses at the output remain approximately constant and equal (the output ratio changes by at most 6 dB in favor of the stronger tone). Other nonlinear responses to multitonal stimuli can also be reproduced, such as "spectral edge enhancement" [Horst et al., Peripheral Auditory Mechanisms (Springer, Berlin, 1985)] and some aspects of three-tone suppression [Javel et al., Mechanisms of Hearing (Monash U.P., Australia, 1983)]. In contrast to the complex behavior of suppression with increasing sound intensity and the drastic influence of the compressive nonlinearity on the absolute response measures on the auditory nerve (e.g., average rate and synchrony profiles), the percepts of complex sounds are relatively stable. This suggests that the invariant relative response measures are more likely used in the encoding and CNS extraction of the spectrum of complex stimuli such as speech.     

Intermodulation distortion of the single-mode laser-diode

A detailed study of laser-diode intermodulation distortion (IMD) using the Volterra model that was developed for the single-mode laser-diode with optoelectronic feedback is presented in this paper. The IMD is analyzed by analyzing the amplitudes of the output sinusoids of various frequencies resulting from an input which is the sum of two sinusoids. The sinusoids at all frequencies due to the first-, second-, and third-order Volterra operators were determined and are discussed in this paper. The ones with frequencies which are not used in practical applications are included since, even though they are not in the pass-band of the first-order operator, they still can possibly effect system performance.     

Theoretical Analysis of the Intermodulation Performance of Mach-Zehnder Modulators with Difference Frequency Injection

Large signal analysis of Mach-Zehnder electro-optic modulators excited by three tone signals is presented. The special case of two equal-amplitude sinusoids plus a difference-frequency injection is considered in detail. The results show that even under large signal conditions it is possible, at least in theory, to totally eliminate the third-order intermodulation when the amplitudes of the equal-amplitudes input sinusoids and the difference-frequency injection are equal. This would be a promising technique for achieving highly linear Mach-Zehnder electro-optic modulators.     

Stable wavelength tunable fiber ring laser for true-time delay system

In this paper, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel wavelength tunable fiber ring laser source for a photonic beamforming system to control phased-array antenna. In this fabrication, a Sagnac loop composed of a polarization-maintaining (PM) coupler and a piece of high-birefringence (Hi-Bi) PM fiber is acted as a comb filter to make the frequency spacing equal. The wavelength of the output signal is controlled by the tunable filter outside the Sagnac loop. The intensities of the output signals with different wavelengths increased or decreased at the same frequency spacing are equal. A five-channel true-time delay system consisting of this tunable fiber source and five grating delay lines for discrete beamsteering has been demonstrated. In the experiment, the output signals of the tunable fiber ring with the equal frequency spacing have the same intensity of about 5.9 dBm and the same high signal to noise ratio (SNR) of 40 dB. If the tunable filter in this laser is replaced by a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) tunable filter, the speed of switching wavelength will increase rapidly.     

Harmonic and Intermodulation Performance of the Semiconductor Bolometer

A mathematical model for the temperature dependence of the bolometer semiconductor resistance is presented. The model, basically a sine-series function, can easily yield closed-form expressions for the harmonic and intermodulation performance of the acquired interferogram voltage with large-amplitude multisinusoidal variations in the incident radiation. The special case of two-tone equal-amplitude incident radiation is considered in detail. The results show that the intermodulation components are always higher than the harmonic components of the same order. The results also show that the second-order intermodulation is always dominant and is higher than the second-harmonic component by about 6 dB. Moreover, the results show that for relatively small incident amplitudes of the incident radiation the ratio between the second- and third-harmonic components is almost equal to the ratio between the second-harmonic component and the fundamental. The results also show that the ratio between the amplitudes of the second- and third-order intermodulation components is almost equal to the ratio between the amplitudes of the second-order intermodulation component and the fundamental.     

Large signal performance of micromachined silicon condenser microphones

A mathematical model for the open-circuit output voltage of a micromachined silicon condenser microphone with a single deeply corrugated diaphragm as a function of the applied acoustic pressure is presented. The model, basically a sine-series function, can easily yield closed-form expressions for the amplitudes of the output components resulting from a multisinusoidal input acoustic pressure. The special case of an equal-amplitude two-tone acoustic pressure input is considered in detail. The results show that the microphone generates only odd-order harmonic and intermodulation products. The results also show that the amplitudes of these components are strongly dependent on the microphone parameters, the corrugation depth and the ratio between the half-length of the diaphragm and its thickness. Moreover, the results show that the acoustic pressure required to produce a pre-specified output open-circuit voltage is strongly dependent on these parameters.     

Third-harmonic generation in regular domain structures

The process of frequency conversion in regular domain structures is studied using the constant-intensity approximation. The investigations are carried out at values of complex amplitudes of the fundamental radiation and third harmonic at the output of each domain equal to the values of the corresponding complex amplitudes at the input of the subsequent domain. We show that the optimum length of each domain depends on the input pump intensity in the given domain. Thus, it is possible by choosing the optimum lengths of domains, phase mismatch, and pump intensity even at a low number of periods of nonlinear susceptibility modulation of the lattice to reach considerable values of conversion efficiency at the structure output in comparison with the traditional case of homogeneous nonlinear media.     

Two-frequency amplification in a semiconductor tapered amplifier for cold atom experiments

Simultaneous two-frequency amplification is highly desirable in cold atom experiments. The nonlinear response would appear in the two-frequency amplification with a semiconductor tapered amplifier(TA) and has a direct influence on the experimental result. We investigated in detail the effects of frequency difference, total power, and power ratio of two seeding lasers on the output components based on a simplified theoretical model. The simulation results showed that the multiple sideband generation in the amplifier due to self-phase and amplitude modulation could be suppressed and the TA tended to linearly amplify the power ratio between two-frequency components, when the two seeding lasers had a large frequency difference. This was verified experimentally in the output power ratio measurement via a calibrated Fabry-Perot interferometer method with a good linearity and an uncertainty of 1%. We also discussed the consequences of power ratio responses in the amplification in light of cold atom experiments, especially in the ac Stark shift related phase error of Raman-type atom interferometers(AIs). It was shown that the fluctuation of intensity ratio of Raman beams may induce significant systematic errors for an AI gyroscope.     

Amplitude fluctuations and femtosecond pulse train noise in fibers

The results of numerical investigations of the femtosecond mode-locked laser radiation spectrum broadened in an optical fiber with the effect of incoming radiation noise are presented. It was found that the pulse train intensity stability, i.e., fluctuations of incoming radiation, strongly affect output spectral characteristics such as the spectral envelope and amplitudes of equidistant components in a femtosecond comb. Thus, intensity instability of about 1–10% or less can be critical for predictable and high amplitudes of spectral components; moreover, in this case, experimental measurements of spectral envelope dissemble the real femtosecond comb amplitudes.     

Acousto-optic collinear diffraction of arbitrarily polarized light

Collinear acousto-optic diffraction of arbitrarily polarized light is studied. It is shown that in the general case, the diffraction spectrum at the output of an acousto-optic cell contains four components, which have different frequencies and polarizations. Beats of these components lead to modulation of the intensity of light transmitted through the output analyzer. The amplitudes of the transmitted light components are analyzed as functions of the frequency and power of the acoustic wave for different polarizer and analyzer orientations. Experimental investigations are carried out in a calcium molybdate collinear cell.     

Frequency selectivity of single cochlear-nerve fibers based on the temporal response pattern to two-tone signals

The physiological basis of auditory frequency selectivity was investigated by recording the temporal response patterns of single cochlear-nerve fibers in the cat. The characteristic frequency and sharpness of tuning was determined for low-frequency cochlear-nerve fibers with two-tone signals whose frequency components were of equal amplitude and starting phase. The measures were compared with those obtained with sinusoidal signals. The two-tone characteristic frequency (2TCF) is defined as the arithmetic-center frequency at which the fiber is synchronized to both signal frequencies in equal measure. The 2TCF closely corresponds to the characteristic frequency as determined by the frequency threshold curve. Moreover, the 2TCF changes relatively little (2%-12%) over a 60-dB intensity range. The 2TCF generally shifts upward with increasing intensity for cochlear-nerve fibers tuned to frequencies below 1 kHz and shifts downward as a function of intensity for units with characteristic frequencies (CF's) above 1 kHz. The shifts in the 2TCF are considerably smaller than those observed with sinusoidal signals. Filter functions were derived from the synchronization pattern to the two-tone signal by varying the frequency of one of the components over the fiber's response area while maintaining the other component at the 2TCF. The frequency selectivity of the two-tone filter function was determined by dividing the vector strength to the variable frequency signal by the vector strength to the CF tone. The filter function was measured 10 dB down from the peak (2T Q 10 dB) and compared with the Q 10 dB of the frequency threshold curve. The correlation between the two measures of frequency selectivity was 0.72. The 2T Q 10 dB does change as a function of intensity. The magnitude and direction of the change is dependent on the sharpness of tuning at low and moderate sound-pressure levels (SPL's). The selectivity of the more sharply tuned fibers (2T Q 10 dB greater than 3) diminishes at intensities above 60 dB SPL. However, the broadening of selectivity is relatively small in comparison to discharge rate-based measures of selectivity. The selectivity of the more broadly tuned units remains unchanged or improves slightly at similar intensity levels. The present data indicate that the frequency selectivity and tuning of low-frequency cochlear-nerve fibers are relatively stable over a 60-dB range of SPL's when measured in terms of their temporal discharge properties.     

Multicomponent stimulus interactions observed in basilar-membrane vibration in the basal region of the chinchilla cochlea.

Multicomponent stimuli consisting of two to seven tones were used to study suppression of basilar-membrane vibration at the 3-4-mm region of the chinchilla cochlea with a characteristic frequency between 6.5 and 8.5 kHz. Three-component stimuli were amplitude-modulated sinusoids (AM) with modulation depth varied between 0.25 and 2 and modulation frequency varied between 100 and 2000 Hz. For five-component stimuli of equal amplitude, frequency separation between adjacent components was the same as that used for AM stimuli. An additional manipulation was to position either the first, third, or fifth component at the characteristic frequency (CF). This allowed the study of the basilar-membrane response to off-CF stimuli. CF suppression was as high as 35 dB for two-tone combinations, while for equal-amplitude stimulus components CF suppression never exceeded 20 dB. This latter case occurred for both two-tone stimuli where the suppressor was below CF and for multitone stimuli with the third component=CF. Suppression was least for the AM stimuli, including when the three AM components were equal. Maximum suppression was both level- and frequency dependent, and occurred for component frequency separations of 500 to 600 Hz. Suppression decreased for multicomponent stimuli with component frequency spacing greater than 600 Hz. Mutual suppression occurred whenever stimulus components were within the compressive region of the basilar membrane.     

Estimation of the mean power content of summed sinusoids and an application to acoustic noise measurement in shallow water

Measurements of physical quantities such as pressure or velocity commonly display significant variations in both space and time. The variation in a single spatial or temporal co-ordinate may often be described by the sum of a finite number of sinusoids of differing wavenumber or frequency, whichever is appropriate. The power average of a small number of random samples is presented as a suitable estimate of the mean power content of such a sum of sinusoids of evenly distributed random argument. Confidence levels which apply to these estimates have been derived by a direct Monte Carlo simulation for three separate cases in which the sinusoids are assumed to have constant equal amplitudes, constant amplitudes which are sample values of an evenly distributed random variable, or constant amplitudes which are sample values of a Gaussian distributed random variable of zero mean and unit variance. The confidence levels, which are unbiased, have a maximum standard error of 0·003. Independent checks on the accuracy of the data have been provided by numerical integration in a few special cases. Use of the confidence levels is illustrated by their application to measurements of acoustic source noise taken in shallow water by the appropriate use of vertical arrays of randomly spaced transducers.     

非均匀输入图像对基于细菌视紫红质膜的新事物滤波器输出特性的数值模拟

研究了基于细菌视紫红质(bR)膜的新事物滤波器的非均匀输入图像对输出图像特性的影响.与具有均匀光强分布的输入图像相比，在正弦分布的输入图像情况下，输出图像的光强分布不再呈现单调变化，而是出现两个峰值，其中间有较小的光强.bR膜的M态寿命和物体运动速度对输出图像上蓝光光强的分布有一定影响.M态寿命越大，透过的蓝光光强越小，减小的幅度是随着M态寿命的增加而减小，当M态寿命τ>50s时，减小的幅度几乎为零.在相同的入射光情况下，对于输出图像的相同位置，输入图像的运动速度越大，其输出的蓝光光强越大. 关键词： 细菌视紫红质膜 新事物滤波器 非均匀输入图像 输出特性     

Spectral integration of broadband signals in diotic and dichotic masking experiments.

The method of G?ssler [Acustica 4, 408-414 (1954)] was used to measure the audibility of multicomponent signals as a function of their bandwidth against a broadband, white-noise masker. Test signals were composed of 1 to 41 sinusoids with a spectral spacing of 10 Hz and were always spectrally centered around 400 Hz. Masker duration was 400 ms and the 300-ms signals were centered within the noise intervals. A three-interval forced-choice procedure with adaptive level adjustment was applied. NoSo, NoSm, NoS pi, and N pi So masked thresholds were obtained for four subjects. A comparison of the diotic and the three dichotic conditions yields no significant difference in the bandwidth dependence and suggests equal integration bandwidths for all conditions. However, the original results of G?ssler could not be replicated: Neither were the overall levels of signals with a bandwidth below the critical bandwidth constant nor were the results for broadband signals in accordance with a single-band model of detection. The narrow-band data are much better described by calculating the overall signal level at the output of a rounded exponential filter [Patterson et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 72, 1788-1803 (1982)] with an equivalent rectangular bandwidth of 65 Hz. For broader signal bandwidths, the signal level at threshold increases as predicted by a multiband model.     

Interaction of Airy–Gaussian beams in saturable media

Based on the nonlinear Schr o¨dinger equation, the interactions of the two Airy–Gaussian components in the incidence are analyzed in saturable media, under the circumstances of the same amplitude and different amplitudes, respectively. It is found that the interaction can be both attractive and repulsive depending on the relative phase. The smaller the interval between two Airy–Gaussian components in the incidence is, the stronger the intensity of the interaction. However, with the equal amplitude, the symmetry is shown and the change of quasi-breathers is opposite in the in-phase case and out-of-phase case. As the distribution factor is increased, the phenomena of the quasi-breather and the self-accelerating of the two Airy–Gaussian components are weakened. When the amplitude is not equal, the image does not have symmetry. The obvious phenomenon of the interaction always arises on the side of larger input power in the incidence. The maximum intensity image is also simulated. Many of the characteristics which are contained within other images can also be concluded in this figure.     

用于脉冲功率装置调试的高功率电阻分压器型负载

介绍了电阻分压器型负载的结构、分压原理和设计方法,分析了高频作用下趋肤效应对负载阻值的影响,计算了负载和真空腔内的电场强度分布以及负载的等效电感和等效电容,利用Pspice程序模拟了回路参数对输出信号的影响。对负载的分压比进行了标定,标定结果为7.59×10-5。为避免闪络现象的发生,设计加工接地金属套筒,用来降低负载阴极三结合点处的电场强度。负载工作电压幅值428 kV,电流幅值9.48 kA,工作阻抗45 Ω,电压和电流波形与设计值符合得较好,满足设计要求。     

Multi-line pulsed CO2 oscillator

For use in laser-induced fusion investigations, a CO₂ laser oscillator was developed whose output spectrum contains three simultaneously appearing lines of equal intensity. An etalon filter provided the required wavelength dependent loss.     

Self-referenced temporal phase reconstruction from intensity measurements using causality arguments in linear optical filters

We introduce and numerically demonstrate a simple and general concept for direct reconstruction of the temporal phase profile of an optical signal from temporal intensity measurements at the input and output of an arbitrary linear optical filter. The concept is based on exploiting the linearity and causality properties of any physical filter. Very few restrictions need to be imposed on the optical filter response to ensure an unambiguous phase reconstruction. The filter can be specifically designed to minimize the noise influence on the measurement process.     

Numerical investigation of the inertial cavitation threshold by dual-frequency excitation in the fluid and tissue

Inertial cavitation thresholds, which are defined as bubble growth by 2-fold from the equilibrium radius, by two types of ultrasonic excitation (at the classical single-frequency mode and dual-frequency mode) were calculated. The effect of the dual-frequency excitation on the inertial cavitation threshold in the different surrounding media (fluid and tissue) was studied, and the paramount parameters (driving frequency, amplitude ratio, phase difference, and frequency ratio) were also optimized to maximize the inertial cavitation. The numerical prediction confirms the previous experimental results that the dual-frequency excitation is capable of reducing the inertial cavitation threshold in comparison to the single-frequency one at the same output power. The dual-frequency excitation at the high frequency (i.e., 3.1 + 3.5 MHz vs. 1.1 + 1.3 MHz) is preferred in this study. The simulation results suggest that the same amplitudes of individual components, zero phase difference, and large frequency difference are beneficial for enhancing the bubble cavitation. Overall, this work may provide a theoretical model for further investigation of dual-frequency excitation and guidance of its applications for a better outcome.