Measuring the ‘complexity’ of sound

Sounds in the natural environment form an important class of biologically relevant non-stationary signals. We propose a dynamic spectral measure to characterize the spectral dynamics of such non-stationary sound signals and classify them based on rate of change of spectral dynamics. We categorize sounds with slowly varying spectral dynamics as simple and those with rapidly changing spectral dynamics as complex. We propose rate of spectral dynamics as a possible scheme to categorize sounds in the environment.     

Probing of complete and incomplete fusion dynamics in heavy-ion collision

Three different types of experiments have been performed to explore the complete and incomplete fusion dynamics in heavy-ion collisions. In this respect, first experiment for the measurement of excitation functions of the evaporation residues produced in the ²⁰Ne + ¹⁶⁵Ho system at projectile energy ranges ≈2–8 MeV /nucleon has been done. Measured cumulative and direct cross-sections have been compared with the theoretical model code PACE-2, which takes into account only the complete fusion process. It has been observed that, incomplete fusion fraction is sensitively dependent on projectile energy and mass asymmetry between the projectile and the target systems. Second experiment for measuring the forward recoil range distributions of the evaporation residues produced in the ²⁰Ne + ¹⁶⁵Ho system at projectile energy ≈8 MeV /nucleon has been done. It has been observed that, some evaporation residues have shown additional peaks in the measured forwardrecoil range distributions at cumulative thicknesses relatively smaller than the expected range of the residues produced via complete fusion. The results indicate the occurrence of incomplete fusion involving the breakup of ²⁰Ne into ⁴He + ¹⁶O and /or ⁸Be + ¹²C followed by one of the fragments with target nucleus ¹⁶⁵Ho. Third experiment for the measurement of spin distribution of the evaporation residues produced in the ¹⁶O + ¹²⁴Sn system at projectile energy ≈6 MeV /nucleon, showed that the residues produced as incomplete fusion products associated with fast α and 2 α-emission channels observed in the forward cone, are found to be distinctly different from those of the residues produced as complete fusion products. The spin distribution of the evaporation residues also inferred that in incomplete fusion reaction channels input angular momentum (J ₀) increases with fusion incompleteness when compared to complete fusion reaction channels. Present observation clearly shows that the production of fast forward α-particles arises from relatively larger angular momentum in the entrance channel leading to peripheral collision.     

Some exact solutions of magnetized viscous model in string cosmology

In this paper, we study anisotropic Bianchi-V Universe with magnetic field and bulk viscous fluid in string cosmology. Exact solutions of the field equations are obtained by using the equation of state (EoS) for a cloud of strings, and a relationship between bulk viscous coefficient and scalar expansion. The bulk viscous coefficient is assumed to be inversely proportional to the expansion scalar. It is interesting to examine the effects of magnetized bulk viscous string model in early and late stages of evolution of the Universe. This paper presents different string models like geometrical (Nambu string), Takabayasi (p-string) and Reddy string models by taking certain physical conditions. We discuss the nature of classical potential for viscous fluid with and without magnetic field. The presence of bulk viscosity stops the Universe from becoming empty in its future evolution. It is observed that the Universe expands with decelerated rate in the presence of viscous fluid with magnetic field whereas, it expands with marginal inflation in the presence of viscous fluid without magnetic field. The other physical and geometrical aspects of each string model are discussed in detail.     

Probing strong field ionization of solids with a Thomson parabola spectrometer

Intense ultrashort laser pulses are known to generate high-density, high-temperature plasma from any substrate. Copious emission of hot electrons, from a solid substrate, results in strong electrostatic field that accelerates the ions with energies ranging from a few eV to MeV. Ion spectrometry from laser–plasma is convolved with multiple atomic systems, several charge states and a broad energy spread. Conventional mass spectrometric techniques have serious limitations to probe this ionization dynamics. We have developed an imaging ion spectrometer that measures charge/mass-resolved ion kinetic energies over the entire range. Microchannel plate (MCP) is used as the position-sensitive detector to perform online and single shot measurements. The well-resolved spectrum even for the low-energy ions, demonstrates that the spectral width is limited by the space-charge repulsion for the ions generated in the hot dense plasma.     

Erbium–ytterbium fibre laser emitting more than 13 W of power in 1.55 μm region

We report the work on erbium:ytterbium-doped double clad fibre laser (EYDFL), that is pumped at 976 nm. The maximum output power generated is 13.6 W in 1550 nm region with a slope efficiency of about 21%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest power reported from an EYDFL, that uses commercially available off-the-shelf large mode area Er:Yb-doped double-clad fibre.     

Structural and optical tunability of metallodielectric composites with gradual shell growth

Metallodielectric (gold@silica) composites were prepared by seed and grow method. The dielectric microspheres (core material) of an average size of 400 nm were synthesized by sol–gel method and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were prepared by reducing the chloroauric solution. Shell growth around silica (SiO₂) microspheres was carried out in a multistep layer-by-layer process. The synthesized composites were characterized using techniques such as field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV–Visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy. FE-SEM and FTIR analyses have confirmed the functionalization of SiO₂ surfaces with the amine terminal group along with the gold shell growth. XRD analysis has given an average crystallite size of 12.3 nm for metallodielectric composites. Absorption spectra have demonstrated the dependence of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak on the successive shell growth by exhibiting a red shift.     

Impact of density-dependent symmetry energy and Coulomb interactions on the evolution of intermediate mass fragments

Within the framework of isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics (IQMD) model, we demonstrate the evolution of intermediate mass fragments in heavy-ion collisions. In this paper, we study the time evolution, impact parameter, and excitation energy dependence of IMF production for the different forms of density-dependent symmetry energy. The IMF production and charge distribution show a minor but considerable sensitivity towards various forms of density-dependent symmetry energy. The Coulomb interactions affect the IMF production significantly at peripheral collisions. The IMF production increases with the stiffness of symmetry energy.     

Improved Design of 8-Channel Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) Multiplexer Using Tapered Entry into the Slab Waveguides

An improved design of silicon-on-insulator based 8 × 8 AWG multiplexer is presented using tapered entry into the slab waveguide. Our simulation result clearly shows significant enhancement of electric field from 0.44 V/m to 0.732 V/m, reduction in insertion loss from 7.13 db to 2.7 db, with bandwidth of 230 GHz and channel spacing 200 GHz while keeping other parameters within acceptable limits.