High-precision Measurements of Ionospheric TEC Gradients with the Very Large Array VHF System

We have used a relatively long, contiguous VHF observation of a bright cosmic radio source (Cygnus A) with the Very Large Array (VLA) to demonstrate the capability of this instrument to study the ionosphere. This interferometer, and others like it, can observe ionospheric total electron content (TEC) fluctuations on a much wider range of scales than is possible with many other instruments. We have shown that with a bright source, the VLA can measure differential TEC values between pairs of antennas (delta-TEC) with an precision of 0.0003 TECU. Here, we detail the data reduction and processing techniques used to achieve this level of precision. In addition, we demonstrate techniques for exploiting these high-precision delta-TEC measurements to compute the TEC gradient observed by the array as well as small-scale fluctuations within the TEC gradient surface. A companion paper details specialized spectral analysis techniques used to characterize the properties of wave-like fluctuations within this data.Comment: accepted for publication in Radio Scienc

Design of 370-ps Delay Floating-Voltage Level Shifters With 30-V/ns Power Supply Slew Tolerance

A new design method for producing high-performance and power-rail slew-tolerant floating-voltage level shifters is presented, offering increased speed, reduced power consumption, and smaller layout area compared with previous designs. The method uses an energy-saving pulse-triggered input, a high-bandwidth current mirror, and a simple full latch composed of two inverters. A number of optimizations are explored in detail, resulting in a presented design with a dVdd slew immunity of 30 V/ns, and near-zero static power dissipation in a 180-nm technology. Experimental results show a delay of below 370 ps for a level-shift range of 8-20 V. Postlayout simulation puts the energy consumption at 2.6 pJ/bit at 4 V and 7.2 pJ/bit at 20 V, with near symmetric rise and fall delays

Predicting vapor liquid equilibria using density functional theory: a case study of argon

Predicting vapor liquid equilibria (VLE) of molecules governed by weak van der Waals (vdW) interactions using the first principles approach is a significant challenge. Due to the poor scaling of the post Hartree-Fock wave function theory with system size/basis functions, the Kohn-Sham density functional theory (DFT) is preferred for systems with a large number of molecules. However, traditional DFT cannot adequately account for medium to long range correlations which are necessary for modeling vdW interactions. Recent developments in DFT such as dispersion corrected models and nonlocal van der Waals functionals have attempted to address this weakness with a varying degree of success. In this work, we predict the VLE of argon and assess the performance of several density functionals and the second order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) by determining critical and structural properties via first principles Monte Carlo simulations. PBE-D3, BLYP-D3, and rVV10 functionals were used to compute vapor liquid coexistence curves, while PBE0-D3, M06-2X-D3, and MP2 were used for computing liquid density at a single state point. The performance of the PBE-D3 functional for VLE is superior to other functionals (BLYP-D3 and rVV10). At T = 85 K and P = 1 bar, MP2 performs well for the density and structural features of the first solvation shell in the liquid phase

Connection between dynamics and thermodynamics of liquids on the melting line

The dynamics of a large number of liquids and polymers exhibit scaling properties characteristic of a simple repulsive inverse power law (IPL) potential, most notably the superpositioning of relaxation data as a function of the variable TV{\gamma}, where T is temperature, V the specific volume, and {\gamma} a material constant. A related scaling law, TmVm{\Gamma}, with the same exponent {\Gamma}={\gamma}, links the melting temperature Tm and volume Vm of the model IPL liquid; liquid dynamics is then invariant at the melting point. Motivated by a similar invariance of dynamics experimentally observed at transitions of liquid crystals, we determine dynamic and melting point scaling exponents {\gamma} and {\Gamma} for a large number of non-associating liquids. Rigid, spherical molecules containing no polar bonds have {\Gamma}={\gamma}; consequently, the reduced relaxation time, viscosity and diffusion coefficient are each constant along the melting line. For other liquids {\gamma}>{\Gamma} always; i.e., the dynamics is more sensitive to volume than is the melting point, and for these liquids the dynamics at the melting point slows down with increasing Tm (that is, increasing pressure).Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

Precision neutron interferometric measurement of the nd coherent neutron scattering length and consequences for models of three-nucleon forces

We have performed the first high precision measurement of the coherent neutron scattering length of deuterium in a pure sample using neutron interferometry. We find b_nd = (6.665 +/- 0.004) fm in agreement with the world average of previous measurements using different techniques, b_nd = (6.6730 +/- 0.0045) fm. We compare the new world average for the nd coherent scattering length b_nd = (6.669 +/- 0.003) fm to calculations of the doublet and quartet scattering lengths from several modern nucleon-nucleon potential models with three-nucleon force (3NF) additions and show that almost all theories are in serious disagreement with experiment. This comparison is a more stringent test of the models than past comparisons with the less precisely-determined nuclear doublet scattering length of a_nd = (0.65 +/- 0.04) fm.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Beyond Born-Mayer: Improved Models for Short-Range Repulsion in ab Initio Force Fields

Short-range repulsion within intermolecular force fields is conventionally described by either Lennard-Jones (<i>A</i>/<i>r</i>¹²) or Born–Mayer (<i>A</i> exp­(−<i>Br</i>)) forms. Despite their widespread use, these simple functional forms are often unable to describe the interaction energy accurately over a broad range of intermolecular distances, thus creating challenges in the development of ab initio force fields and potentially leading to decreased accuracy and transferability. Herein, we derive a novel short-range functional form based on a simple Slater-like model of overlapping atomic densities and an iterated stockholder atom (ISA) partitioning of the molecular electron density. We demonstrate that this Slater–ISA methodology yields a more accurate, transferable, and robust description of the short-range interactions at minimal additional computational cost compared to standard Lennard-Jones or Born–Mayer approaches. Finally, we show how this methodology can be adapted to yield the standard Born–Mayer functional form while still retaining many of the advantages of the Slater-ISA approach

Counter Machines and Distributed Automata: A Story about Exchanging Space and Time

We prove the equivalence of two classes of counter machines and one class of distributed automata. Our counter machines operate on finite words, which they read from left to right while incrementing or decrementing a fixed number of counters. The two classes differ in the extra features they offer: one allows to copy counter values, whereas the other allows to compute copyless sums of counters. Our distributed automata, on the other hand, operate on directed path graphs that represent words. All nodes of a path synchronously execute the same finite-state machine, whose state diagram must be acyclic except for self-loops, and each node receives as input the state of its direct predecessor. These devices form a subclass of linear-time one-way cellular automata.Comment: 15 pages (+ 13 pages of appendices), 5 figures; To appear in the proceedings of AUTOMATA 2018

A 6.7-GHz Active Gate Driver for GaN FETs to Combat Overshoot, Ringing, and EMI

Active gate driving has been demonstrated to beneficially shape switching waveforms in Si-and SiC-based power converters. For faster GaN power devices with sub-10-ns switching transients, however, reported variable gate driving has so far been limited to altering a single drive parameter once per switching event, either during or outside of the transient. This paper demonstrates a gate driver with a timing resolution and range of output resistance levels that surpass those of existing gate drivers or arbitrary waveform generators. It is shown to permit active gate driving with a bandwidth that is high enough to shape a GaN switching during the transient. The programmable gate driver has integrated high-speed memory, control logic, and multiple parallel output stages. During switching transients, the gate driver can activate a near-arbitrary sequence of pull-up or pull-down output resistances between 0.12 and 64 A hybrid of clocked and asynchronous control logic with 150-ps delay elements achieves an effective resistance update rate of 6.7 GHz during switching events. This active gate driver is evaluated in a 1-MHz bridge-leg converter using EPC2015 GaN FETs. The results show that aggressive manipulation of the gate-drive resistance at sub-nanosecond resolutions can profile gate waveforms of the GaN FET, thereby beneficially shaping the switch-node voltage waveform in the power circuit. Examples of open-loop active gate driving are demonstrated that maintain the low switching loss of constant-strength gate driving, while reducing overshoot, oscillation, and EMI-generating high-frequency spectral content