Geometrical Phase Transition on WO3_3 Surface

A topographical study on an ensemble of height profiles obtained from atomic force microscopy techniques on various independently grown samples of tungsten oxide WO$_3$ is presented by using ideas from percolation theory. We find that a continuous 'geometrical' phase transition occurs at a certain critical level-height $\delta_c$ below which an infinite island appears. By using the finite-size scaling analysis of three independent percolation observables i.e., percolation probability, percolation strength and the mean island-size, we compute some critical exponents which characterize the transition. Our results are compatible with those of long-range correlated percolation. This method can be generalized to a topographical classification of rough surface models.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Applied Physics Letters (2010

Spectra for the product of Gaussian noises

Products of Gaussian noises often emerge as the result of non-linear detection techniques or as a parasitic effect, and their proper handling is important in many practical applications, including in fluctuation-enhanced sensing, indoor air or environmental quality monitoring, etc. We use Rice's random phase oscillator formalism to calculate the power density spectra variance for the product of two Gaussian band-limited white noises with zero-mean and the same bandwidth W. The ensuing noise spectrum is found to decrease linearly from zero frequency to 2W, and it is zero for frequencies greater than 2W. Analogous calculations performed for the square of a single Gaussian noise confirm earlier results. The spectrum at non-zero frequencies, and the variance of the square of a noise, is amplified by a factor two as a consequence of correlation effects between frequency products. Our analytic results is corroborated by computer simulations.Comment: submitted for publicatio

Fluctuation-enhanced sensing

We present a short survey on fluctuation-enhanced gas sensing. We compare some of its main characteristics with those of classical sensing. We address the problem of linear response, information channel capacity, missed alarms and false alarms.Comment: Keynote Talk at SPIE's 4th international symposium on Fluctuations and Noise, Conference Noise and Fluctuations in Circuits, Devices and Materials, Florence, Italy, May 20-24, 200

Conformal Curves on WO3WO_3 Surface

We have studied the iso-height lines on the $\mathrm{WO_3}$ surface as a physical candidate for conformally invariant curves. We have shown that these lines are conformally invariant with the same statistics of domain walls in the critical Ising model. They belong to the family of conformal invariant curves called Schramm-Loewner evolution (or $SLE_{\kappa}$), with diffusivity of $\kappa \sim 3$. This can be regarded as the first experimental observation of SLE curves. We have also argued that Ballistic Deposition (BD) can serve as a growth model giving rise to contours with similar statistics at large scales.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures. accepted in PR

Modern technologies production of cheese enriched with Omega - 3 fatty acids

Thermochromic films of MgxV1-xO2 were made by reactive dc magnetron   sputtering onto heated glass. The metal-insulator transition   temperature decreased by similar to 3 K/at. %Mg, while the optical   transmittance increased concomitantly. Specifically, the transmittance   of visible light and of solar radiation was enhanced by similar to 10%   when the Mg content was similar to 7 at. %. Our results point at the   usefulness of these films for energy efficient fenestration

Energy Requirement of Control: Comments on Szilard's Engine and Maxwell's Demon

In mathematical physical analyses of Szilard's engine and Maxwell's demon, a general assumption (explicit or implicit) is that one can neglect the energy needed for relocating the piston in Szilard's engine and for driving the trap door in Maxwell's demon. If this basic assumption is wrong, then the conclusions of a vast literature on the implications of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and of Landauer's erasure theorem are incorrect too. Our analyses of the fundamental information physical aspects of various type of control within Szilard's engine and Maxwell's demon indicate that the entropy production due to the necessary generation of information yield much greater energy dissipation than the energy Szilard's engine is able to produce even if all sources of dissipation in the rest of these demons (due to measurement, decision, memory, etc) are neglected.Comment: New, simpler and more fundamental approach utilizing the physical meaning of control-information and the related entropy production. Criticism of recent experiments adde

Fluctuation-enhanced gas sensing

AbstractThe sensitivity of gas sensors was earlier measured by classical method-comparison the resistance of sensors in gas media and air. Here we reported results of the study of low-frequency noise characteristics of sensors. We compare data for different Figaro TGS sensors as well as our sol-gel H2 tin dioxide and porous silicon sensors. The study was performed in dry air and in a mix of dry air with carbon monoxide, hydrogen and alcohol of different concentrations. Higher sensitivity of spectral dependence of noise (SDN) to gas concentration in comparison with classical method of the measurements of gas sensing by a change in the Ohmic resistance part of current-voltage characteristics of samples allows using such SND powerful method for determination of gas concentration in the air or environment