Ternary and quadriphase sequence diffusers

A room acoustic diffuser breaks up reflected wavefronts, and this can be achieved by presenting a spatially varying surface impedance. In hybrid surfaces, varying impedance is achieved by patches of absorption and reflection, giving reflection coefficients nominally of 0 and 1. These surfaces are hybrids, absorbing some of the incident sound while diffusing any reflected energy. A problem with planar hybrid surfaces is that specular energy is only removed by absorption. By exploiting interference, by reflecting waves out-of-phase with the specular energy, it is possible to diminish the specular energy further. This can be achieved by using a diffuser based on a ternary sequence that nominally has reflection coefficients of 0, -1, and +1. Ternary sequences are therefore a way of forming hybrid absorber-diffusers that achieve better scattering performance without additional absorption. This paper discusses methods for making ternary sequence diffusers, including giving sequence generation methods. It presents prediction results based on Fourier and boundary element method models to examine the performance. While ternary diffusers have better performance than unipolar binary diffusers at most frequencies, there are frequencies at which the performances are the same. This can be overcome by forming diffusers from four-level, quadriphase sequences

Surface diffusion coefficients for room acoustics : free-field measures

A surface diffusion coefficient is needed in room acoustics to enable the quality of diffusing surfaces to be evaluated. It may also facilitate more accurate geometric room acoustic models. This paper concentrates on diffusion coefficients derived from free-field polar responses. An extensive set of two- and three-dimensional measurements and predictions was used to test the worth of different diffusion coefficient definitions. The merits and problems associated with these types of coefficients are discussed, and past parameters reviewed. Two new coefficients are described. The new measure based on the autocorrelation function is forwarded as the best free-field coefficient. The strengths and weaknesses of the coefficient are defined. © 2000 Acoustical Society of America

Validating delta-filters for resonant bar detectors of improved bandwidth foreseeing the future coincidence with interferometers

The classical delta filters used in the current resonant bar experiments for detecting GW bursts are viable when the bandwidth of resonant bars is few Hz. In that case, the incoming GW burst is likely to be viewed as an impulsive signal in a very narrow frequency window. After making improvements in the read-out with new transducers and high sensitivity dc-SQUID, the Explorer-Nautilus have improved the bandwidth ($\sim 20$ Hz) at the sensitivity level of $10^{-20}/\sqrt{Hz}$. Thus, it is necessary to reassess this assumption of delta-like signals while building filters in the resonant bars as the filtered output crucially depends on the shape of the waveform. This is presented with an example of GW signals -- stellar quasi-normal modes, by estimating the loss in SNR and the error in the timing, when the GW signal is filtered with the delta filter as compared to the optimal filter.Comment: 7 pages, presented in Amaldi6, accepted for publication in Journal of Physics: Conference Serie

Diamond nucleation from the gas phase onto cold-worked Co-cemented tungsten carbide

Co-cemented tungsten carbide (WC–Co) substrates with fine (1 μm) and coarse (6 μm) grain size were sintered using 6 wt.% Co as a binder. The as-sintered samples were ground to the final geometry (10×10×3 mm3). After the grinding treatment, the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the WC X-ray diffraction (XRD) peaks indicated a high level of strain in a few micrometers thick surface layer, according to the penetration depth of Cu Kα radiation. The as-ground substrates were submitted to a two-step etching procedure with Murakami's solution, to roughen the surface, and 10 s acid wash to etch surface cobalt out. The Murakami's etching time was varied between 1 and 20 min. Fine- and coarse-grained substrates submitted to different chemical etching times were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and XRD, and then submitted to short diamond nucleation runs in a Hot Filament Chemical Vapour Deposition reactor. Both FWHM of WC peaks and diamond nucleation density decreased by increasing the Murakami's etching duration, providing that the etched layer did not exceed 2 μm thickness. When a layer thicker than a couple of micrometers was removed by etching, diamond nucleation density was very low and no more dependent on etching time. This occurrence suggested that diamond nucleation density correlates well with the amount of residual strain at the substrate surface and can be tailored by a suitable control of strain-related defects produced by mechanical treatments

A new data analysis framework for the search of continuous gravitational wave signals

Continuous gravitational wave signals, like those expected by asymmetric spinning neutron stars, are among the most promising targets for LIGO and Virgo detectors. The development of fast and robust data analysis methods is crucial to increase the chances of a detection. We have developed a new and flexible general data analysis framework for the search of this kind of signals, which allows to reduce the computational cost of the analysis by about two orders of magnitude with respect to current procedures. This can correspond, at fixed computing cost, to a sensitivity gain of up to 10%-20%, depending on the search parameter space. Some possible applications are discussed, with a particular focus on a directed search for sources in the Galactic center. Validation through the injection of artificial signals in the data of Advanced LIGO first observational science run is also shown.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure

An improved algorithm for narrow-band searches of continuous gravitational waves

Continuous gravitational waves signals, emitted by asymmetric spinning neutron stars, are among the main targets of current detectors like Advanced LIGO and Virgo. In the case of sources, like pulsars, which rotational parameters are measured through electromagnetic observations, typical searches assume that the gravitational wave frequency is at a given known fixed ratio with respect to the star rotational frequency. For instance, for a neutron star rotating around one of its principal axis of inertia the gravitational signal frequency would be exactly two times the rotational frequency of the star. It is possible, however, that this assumption is wrong. This is why search algorithms able to take into account a possible small mismatch between the gravitational waves frequency and the frequency inferred from electromagnetic observations have been developed. In this paper we present an improved pipeline to perform such narrow-band searches for continuous gravitational waves from neutron stars, about three orders of magnitude faster than previous implementations. The algorithm that we have developed is based on the {\it 5-vectors} framework and is able to perform a fully coherent search over a frequency band of width $\mathcal{O}$(Hertz) and for hundreds of spin-down values running a few hours on a standard workstation. This new algorithm opens the possibility of long coherence time searches for objects which rotational parameters are highly uncertain.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 6 tables, submitted to CQ

Dry turning of alumina/aluminum composites with CVD diamond coated Co-cemented tungsten carbide tools

Triangular (TPGN 160308) WC-6 wt.%Co inserts having different average grain sizes (1 and 3 µm) were submitted to surface roughening either by wet etching with Murakami's reagent or by a heat treatment in the hot filament chemical vapour deposition (HFCVD) reactor. The heat treatment was performed in a monohydrogen-rich atmosphere at substrate temperatures as high as 1000 degrees C. Scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy showed that this pre-treatment led to surface roughening of the as-ground inserts and to a lower surface Co concentration. Prior to deposition, all inserts were etched with an acid solution of hydrogen peroxide. Diamond coatings were deposited by HFCVD. The coated inserts were tested by dry machining of aluminum-matrix composite (Al-10%Al2O3) bars. Turning test results indicated that a proper combination of substrate pretreatment and microstructure can significantly improve tool life

A semi-coherent analysis method to search for continuous gravitational waves emitted by ultra-light boson clouds around spinning black holes

As a consequence of superradiant instability induced in Kerr black holes, ultra-light boson clouds can be a source of persistent gravitational waves, potentially detectable by current and future gravitational-wave detectors. These signals have been predicted to be nearly monochromatic, with a small steady frequency increase (spin-up), but given the several assumptions and simplifications done at theoretical level, it is wise to consider, from the data analysis point of view, a broader class of gravitational signals in which the phase (or the frequency) slightly wander in time. Also other types of sources, e.g. neutron stars in which a torque balance equilibrium exists between matter accretion and emission of persistent gravitational waves, would fit in this category. In this paper we present a robust and computationally cheap analysis pipeline devoted to the search of such kind of signals. We provide a full characterization of the method, through both a theoretical sensitivity estimation and through the analysis of syntethic data in which simulated signals have been injected. The search setup for both all-sky searches and higher sensitivity directed searches is discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figure