Three-Tone Coherent Microwave Electromechanical Measurement of a Superfluid Helmholtz Resonator

We demonstrate electromechanical coupling between a superfluid mechanical mode and a microwave mode formed by a patterned microfluidic chip and a 3D cavity. The electric field of the chip-cavity microwave resonator can be used to both drive and detect the motion of a pure superflow Helmholtz mode, which is dictated by geometric confinement. The coupling is characterized using a coherent measurement technique developed for measuring weak couplings deep in the sideband unresolved regime. The technique is based on two-probe optomechanically induced transparency/amplification using amplitude modulation. Instead of measuring two probe tones separately, they are interfered to retain only a signal coherent with the mechanical motion. With this method, we measure a vacuum electromechanical coupling strength of $g_0 = 2\pi \times 23.3$ $\mathrm{\mu}$Hz, three orders of magnitude larger than previous superfluid electromechanical experiments.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Appl. Phys. Lett., out for peer review, revte

An internet-based system to support interdisciplinary and inter-organisational collaborative conceptual design

This paper builds on work presented at the last two CIBSE conferences, and describes the development of an Internet-based design tool to support interdisciplinary teams during the conceptual phase of the design process. Originally, devised as a paper-based framework comprising five phases and twelve activities, the interactive internet-based version accords well with the richly iterative and often non-linear process which design typically follows. The tool is intended to encourage inspirational concept design without imposing a rigid procedure. As well as offering alternative routes through concept design, the tool contains ‘team thinking tools’ to help designers widen the solution space, set priorities and evaluate options. In addition, drawing on management science literature about effective teamwork practices, it helps a team deal with social interactions. Also, at the user’s option, the system can be used to capture, store and retrieve decisions made, and the reasoning behind them. Overall the system, which exists as a working prototype, offers the combined prospects of decision support, an audit trail, and improved knowledge management. The prototype is available openly on the web, and constructive feedback from users is welcomed. At least one of the collaborating organisations is adapting the system to its individual needs and embedding it within its own operating procedures

Using training workshops to map interdisciplinary team working

Contemporary building projects are increasingly complex and demand close integration between the design of the building services and the fabric. The early stages of the design process, when alternative concepts are being generated and the least promising are eliminated, are recognised as crucial, since they define the parameters within which the whole project will be constrained. AMEC Design, a large practice of building service engineers, surveyors, architects and other building design professionals is committed to interdisciplinary teamwork at the conceptual phase of design, and is participating with other construction organisations and with the University of Cambridge in research to map the process of design at the concept phase. Workshops for design team members are run regularly by the company as part of its staff development programme. A recent workshop provided an opportunity to monitor interdisciplinary design teams and to develop an initial 12-phase model of the conceptual design process. The process as observed was clearly non-linear, implying the need for models which allow flexible interpretations. Future revisions will be followed by further testing in similar workshops, and eventually its application on live projects

Mapping the early stages of the design process - a comparison between engineering and construction

The conceptual stage of a construction project is a vibrant, dynamic and creative period. Ideas are generated rapidly about the nature of the project, the requirements and desires, and potential solutions. But this period can also be disorganised and even chaotic; there are many uncertainties about the project, and the risks are high. Design team members may be unfamiliar to each other and unaccustomed to one anothers' ways of working. Maps of the design process are intended to obviate the need for the design team to re-invent the process each time, and to contribute to a working environment in which good design can flourish. Several process maps already exist for construction. One of the best known in the UK is the Plan of Work published over 30 years ago by the Royal Institute of British Architects, and whose terminology continues to be used throughout the industry. Recently other maps of the process have begun to emerge, some from industry, others from academic institutions. Neither the RIBA Plan of Work, nor more recent maps, give in-depth support to the concept phase. At the Department of Architecture at Cambridge University we are working with a number of construction industry firms (AMEC Design, BAA, Hotchkiss Ductwork Ltd, Hutter, Jennings & Titchmarsh, Matthew Hall, Pascall & Watson) on Mapping the design process during the conceptual phase of building projects. The project runs from April 1998 to March 2000 and is funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Loughborough University is also involved in the project. It focuses on two areas: i) the collation, evaluation and potential transfer of established mapping methods and design techniques at the concept stage from engineering and other industries to construction; and ii) the refinement, testing and exploitation of these design techniques by construction industry designers

One step forward and three back: a study of the patterns of interdisciplinary conceptual design

One step forward and three back: a study of the patterns of interdisciplinary conceptual desig

A novel architecture for room temperature microwave optomechanical experiments

We have developed a novel architecture for room temperature microwave cavity optomechanics, which is based on the coupling of a 3D microwave reentrant cavity to a compliant membrane. Devices parameters have enabled resolving the thermomechanical motion of the membrane, and observing optomechanically induced transparency/absorption in the linear regime, for the first time in a microwave optomechanical system operated at room temperature. We have extracted the single photon coupling rate (g0) using four independent measurement techniques, and hence obtain a full characterization of the proposed cavity optomechanical system

Stanford University's Submissions to the WMT 2014 Translation Task

We describe Stanford’s participation in the French-English and English-Germa