1,773 research outputs found
EMD-based filtering (EMDF) of low-frequency noise for speech enhancement
An Empirical Mode Decomposition based filtering (EMDF) approach is presented as a post-processing stage for speech enhancement. This method is particularly effective in low frequency noise environments. Unlike previous EMD based denoising methods, this approach does not make the assumption that the contaminating noise signal is fractional Gaussian Noise. An adaptive method is developed to select the IMF index for separating the noise components from the speech based on the second-order IMF statistics. The low frequency noise components are then separated by a partial reconstruction from the IMFs. It is shown that the proposed EMDF technique is able to suppress residual noise from speech signals that were enhanced by the conventional optimallymodified log-spectral amplitude approach which uses a minimum statistics based noise estimate. A comparative performance study is included that demonstrates the effectiveness of the EMDF system in various noise environments, such as car interior noise, military vehicle noise and babble noise. In particular, improvements up to 10 dB are obtained in car noise environments. Listening tests were performed that confirm the results
Time-optimal polarization transfer from an electron spin to a nuclear spin
Polarization transfers from an electron spin to a nuclear spin are essential
for various physical tasks, such as dynamic nuclear polarization in nuclear
magnetic resonance and quantum state transformations on hybrid electron-nuclear
spin systems. We present time-optimal schemes for electron-nuclear polarization
transfers which improve on conventional approaches and will have wide
applications.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
Composite Dipolar Recoupling: Anisotropy Compensated Coherence Transfer in Solid-State NMR
The efficiency of dipole-dipole coupling driven coherence transfer
experiments in solid-state NMR spectroscopy of powder samples is limited by
dispersion of the orientation of the internuclear vectors relative to the
external magnetic field. Here we introduce general design principles and
resulting pulse sequences that approach full polarization transfer efficiency
for all crystallite orientations in a powder in magic-angle-spinning
experiments. The methods compensate for the defocusing of coherence due to
orientation dependent dipolar coupling interactions and inhomogeneous
radio-frequency fields. The compensation scheme is very simple to implement as
a scaffold (comb) of compensating pulses in which the pulse sequence to be
improved may be inserted. The degree of compensation can be adjusted and should
be balanced as a compromise between efficiency and length of the overall pulse
sequence. We show by numerical and experimental data that the presented
compensation protocol significantly improves the efficiency of known dipolar
recoupling solid-state NMR experiment
Axion Inflation and Gravity Waves in String Theory
The majority of models of inflation in string theory predict an absence of
measurable gravitational waves, r << 10^{-3}. The most promising proposals for
making string theoretic models that yield measurable tensor fluctuations
involve axion fields with slightly broken shift symmetry. We consider such
models in detail, with a particular focus on the N-flation scenario and on
axion valley/natural inflation models. We find that in Calabi-Yau threefold
compactifications with logarithmic Kahler potentials K it appears to be
difficult to meet the conditions required for axion inflation in the
supergravity regime. However, in supergravities with an (approximately)
quadratic shift-symmetric K, axion inflation may be viable. Such Kahler
potentials do arise in some string models, in specific limits of the moduli
space. We describe the most promising classes of models; more detailed study
will be required before one can conclude that working models exist.Comment: 30 + 16 pages, 5 figures. Added references, corrected typo
Time Optimal Control in Spin Systems
In this paper, we study the design of pulse sequences for nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy as a problem of time optimal control of the unitary propagator. Radio-frequency pulses are used in coherent spectroscopy to implement a unitary transfer between states. Pulse sequences that accomplish a desired transfer should be as short as possible in order to minimize the effects of relaxation and to optimize the sensitivity of the experiments. Here, we give an analytical characterization of such time optimal pulse sequences applicable to coherence transfer experiments in multiple-spin systems. We have adopted a general mathematical formulation, and present many of our results in this setting, mindful of the fact that new structures in optimal pulse design are constantly arising. From a general control theory perspective, the problems we want to study have the following character. Suppose we are given a controllable right invariant system on a compact Lie group. What is the minimum time required to steer the system from some initial point to a specified final point? In nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and quantum computing, this translates to, what is the minimum time required to produce a unitary propagator? We also give an analytical characterization of maximum achievable transfer in a given time for the two-spin system
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