1,986 research outputs found
Modeling and Energy Optimization of LDPC Decoder Circuits with Timing Violations
This paper proposes a "quasi-synchronous" design approach for signal
processing circuits, in which timing violations are permitted, but without the
need for a hardware compensation mechanism. The case of a low-density
parity-check (LDPC) decoder is studied, and a method for accurately modeling
the effect of timing violations at a high level of abstraction is presented.
The error-correction performance of code ensembles is then evaluated using
density evolution while taking into account the effect of timing faults.
Following this, several quasi-synchronous LDPC decoder circuits based on the
offset min-sum algorithm are optimized, providing a 23%-40% reduction in energy
consumption or energy-delay product, while achieving the same performance and
occupying the same area as conventional synchronous circuits.Comment: To appear in IEEE Transactions on Communication
The millimeter-wave properties of superconducting microstrip lines
We have developed a novel technique for making high quality measurements of the millimeter-wave properties of superconducting thin-film microstrip transmission lines. Our experimental technique currently covers the 75-100 GHz band. The method is based on standing wave resonances in an open ended transmission line. We obtain information on the phase velocity and loss of the microstrip. Our data for Nb/SiO/Nb lines, taken at 4.2 K and 1.6 K, can be explained by a single set of physical parameters. Our preliminary conclusion is that the loss is dominated by the SiO dielectric, with a temperature-independent loss tangent of 5.3 ± 0.5 x 10^(-3) for our samples
Sub micron area Nb/AlO(x)/Nb tunnel junctions for submillimeter mixer applications
In this paper, we report on a fabrication process developed for submicron area tunnel junctions. We have fabricated Nb/AlO(x)/Nb tunnel junctions with areas down to 0.1 sq micron using these techniques. The devices have shown excellent performance in receiver systems up to 500 GHz and are currently in use in radio astronomy observatories at 115, 230, and 500 GHz
Reaching the hydrodynamic regime in a Bose-Einstein condensate by suppression of avalanche
We report the realization of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in the
hydrodynamic regime. The hydrodynamic regime is reached by evaporative cooling
at a relative low density suppressing the effect of avalanches. With the
suppression of avalanches a BEC containing 120.10^6 atoms is produced. The
collisional opacity can be tuned from the collisionless regime to a collisional
opacity of more than 3 by compressing the trap after condensation. In the
collisional opaque regime a significant heating of the cloud at time scales
shorter than half of the radial trap period is measured. This is direct proof
that the BEC is hydrodynamic.Comment: Article submitted for Phys. Rev. Letters, 6 figure
Frequency shifts of photoassociative spectra of ultracold metastable Helium atoms : a new measurement of the s-wave scattering length
We observe light-induced frequency shifts in one-color photoassociative
spectra of magnetically trapped He atoms in the metastable
state. A pair of ultracold spin-polarized helium atoms is excited into
a molecular bound state in the purely long range potential connected to
the asymptote. The shift arises from the optical coupling of
the molecular excited bound state with the scattering states and the bound
states of two colliding atoms. We measure the frequency-shifts for
several ro-vibrational levels in the potential and find a linear
dependence on the photoassociation laser intensity. Comparison with a
theoretical analysis provides a good indication for the s-wave scattering
length of the quintet () potential, nm, which
is significantly lower than most previous results obtained by non-spectroscopic
methods.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Position and energy-resolved particle detection using phonon-mediated microwave kinetic inductance detectors
We demonstrate position and energy-resolved phonon-mediated detection of particle interactions in a silicon substrate instrumented with an array of microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs). The relative magnitude and delay of the signal received in each sensor allow the location of the interaction to be determined with ≲ 1mm resolution at 30 keV. Using this position information, variations in the detector response with position can be removed, and an energy resolution of σ_E = 0.55 keV at 30 keV was measured. Since MKIDs can be fabricated from a single deposited film and are naturally multiplexed in the frequency domain, this technology can be extended to provide highly pixelized athermal phonon sensors for ∼1 kg scale detector elements. Such high-resolution, massive particle detectors would be applicable to rare-event searches such as the direct detection of dark matter, neutrinoless double-beta decay, or coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering
Specht modules and semisimplicity criteria for Brauer and Birman--Murakami--Wenzl Algebras
A construction of bases for cell modules of the Birman--Murakami--Wenzl (or
B--M--W) algebra by lifting bases for cell modules of
is given. By iterating this procedure, we produce cellular bases for B--M--W
algebras on which a large abelian subalgebra, generated by elements which
generalise the Jucys--Murphy elements from the representation theory of the
Iwahori--Hecke algebra of the symmetric group, acts triangularly. The
triangular action of this abelian subalgebra is used to provide explicit
criteria, in terms of the defining parameters and , for B--M--W algebras
to be semisimple. The aforementioned constructions provide generalisations, to
the algebras under consideration here, of certain results from the Specht
module theory of the Iwahori--Hecke algebra of the symmetric group
Getting the elastic scattering length by observing inelastic collisions in ultracold metastable helium atoms
We report an experiment measuring simultaneously the temperatureand the flux
of ions produced by a cloud of triplet metastablehelium atoms at the
Bose-Einstein critical temperature. The onsetof condensation is revealed by a
sharp increase of the ion fluxduring evaporative cooling. Combining our
measurements withprevious measurements of ionization in a pure BEC,we extract
an improved value of the scattering length nm. The analysis
includes corrections takinginto accountthe effect of atomic interactions on the
criticaltemperature, and thus an independent measurement of the
scatteringlength would allow a new test of these calculations
Strongly quadrature-dependent noise in superconducting micro-resonators measured at the vacuum-noise limit
We measure frequency- and dissipation-quadrature noise in superconducting
lithographed microwave resonators with sensitivity near the vacuum noise level
using a Josephson parametric amplifier. At an excitation power of 100~nW, these
resonators show significant frequency noise caused by two-level systems. No
excess dissipation-quadrature noise (above the vacuum noise) is observed to our
measurement sensitivity. These measurements demonstrate that the excess
dissipation-quadrature noise is negligible compared to vacuum fluctuations, at
typical readout powers used in micro-resonator applications. Our results have
important implications for resonant readout of various devices such as
detectors, qubits and nano-mechanical oscillators.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
Rotationally induced Penning ionization of ultracold photoassociated helium dimers
We have studied photoassociation of metastable \tripS helium atoms near the
\tripS-\tripP asymptote by both ion detection in a magneto-optical trap and
trap-loss measurements in a magnetic trap. A detailed comparison between the
results of the two experiments gives insight into the mechanism of the Penning
ionization process. We have identified four series of resonances corresponding
to vibrational molecular levels belonging to different rotational states in two
potentials. The corresponding spin states become quasi-purely quintet at small
interatomic distance, and Penning ionization is inhibited by spin conservation
rules. Only a weak rotational coupling is responsible for the contamination by
singlet spin states leading to a detectable ion signal. However, for one of
these series Bose statistics does not enable the rotational coupling and the
series detected through trap-loss does not give rise to sufficient ionization
for detection.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to EuroPhysics Letter
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