A meshless method for an inverse two-phase one-dimensional nonlinear Stefan problem

We extend a meshless method of fundamental solutions recently proposed by the authors for the one-dimensional two-phase inverse linear Stefan problem, to the nonlinear case. In this latter situation the free surface is also considered unknown which is more realistic from the practical point of view. Building on the earlier work, the solution is approximated in each phase by a linear combination of fundamental solutions to the heat equation. The implementation and analysis are more complicated in the present situation since one needs to deal with a nonlinear minimization problem to identify the free surface. Furthermore, the inverse problem is ill-posed since small errors in the input measured data can cause large deviations in the desired solution. Therefore, regularization needs to be incorporated in the objective function which is minimized in order to obtain a stable solution. Numerical results are presented and discussed. © 2014 IMACS.

Optimization of cascaded regenerative links based on phase sensitive amplifiers

We develop an analytical method for optimizing phase sensitive amplifiers for regeneration in multilevel phase encoded transmission systems. The model accurately predicts the optimum transfer function characteristics and identifies operating tolerances for different signal constellations and transmission scenarios. The results demonstrate the scalability of the scheme and show the significance of having simultaneous optimization of the transfer function and the signal alphabet. The model is general and can be applied to any regenerative system. © 2013 Optical Society of America.

Dynamic complexity of chaotic transitions in high-dimensional classical dynamics:Leu-Enkephalin folding

Leu-Enkephalin in explicit water is simulated using classical molecular dynamics. A ß-turn transition is investigated by calculating the topological complexity (in the "computational mechanics" framework [J. P. Crutchfield and K. Young, Phys. Rev. Lett., 63, 105 (1989)]) of the dynamics of both the peptide and the neighbouring water molecules. The complexity of the atomic trajectories of the (relatively short) simulations used in this study reflect the degree of phase space mixing in the system. It is demonstrated that the dynamic complexity of the hydrogen atoms of the peptide and almost all of the hydrogens of the neighbouring waters exhibit a minimum precisely at the moment of the ß-turn transition. This indicates the appearance of simplified periodic patterns in the atomic motion, which could correspond to high-dimensional tori in the phase space. It is hypothesized that this behaviour is the manifestation of the effect described in the approach to molecular transitions by Komatsuzaki and Berry [T. Komatsuzaki and R.S. Berry, Adv. Chem. Phys., 123, 79 (2002)], where a "quasi-regular" dynamics at the transition is suggested. Therefore, for the first time, the less chaotic character of the folding transition in a realistic molecular system is demonstrated. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.

Precipitation of chromium containing phases in aluminide coated nickel-base superalloy single crystals

The precipitation of chromium-containing phases, in both the B2 type β-phase coating matrix (nominally NiAl) and the substrate of high-activity-pack-aluminized single crystals of a nickel-base superalloy, is considered in this paper. An ‘edge-on’ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique is employed to examine the precipitation of M23X6, σ, α-Cr and other phases after coating and diffusion treatment and subsequent post-coating treatment at 850 and 950 °C. Initial precipitation is dominated by the formation of M23X6 in both the coating and substrate, however, in the case of single-crystal substrates the formation of this carbon-rich phase is not sustained. M23X6 precipitation is superceded by the formation of coherent precipitates of the α-Cr phase which effectively retains the basis but removes the superlattice of the β-matrix. Extensive precipitation of α-Cr has the effect of changing the balance of chromium to molybdenum in solution in the β-phase and further precipitation is dominated by Σ-phase intermetallics and other Cr-Mo-containing phases.

Multi-wavelength regeneration of phase encoded signals based on phase sensitive amplifiers

Future high capacity optical links will have to make use of frequent signal regeneration to enable long distance transmission. In this respect, the role of all-optical signal processing becomes increasingly important because of its potential to mitigate signal impairments at low cost and power consumption. More substantial benefits are expected if regeneration is achieved simultaneously on a multiple signal band. Until recently, this had been achieved only for on-off keying modulation formats. However, as in future transmission links the information will be encoded also in the phase for enhancing the spectral efficiency, novel subsystem concepts will be needed for multichannel processing of such advanced signal formats. In this paper we show that phase sensitive amplifiers can be an ideal technology platform for developing such regenerators and we discuss our recent demonstration of the first multi-channel regenerator for phase encoded signals.

Efficient packing for phase regenerative channels

We compare the performance of advanced modulation formats in cascaded phase regenerative systems and demonstrate the importance of constellation optimization to the transfer function characteristics of the regenerator. © 2013 IEEE.

Blind phase noise estimation for CO-OFDM transmissions

In this paper, we discuss in detail the performance of different blind phase noise estimation schemes for coherent optical orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing transmissions. We first derive a general model of such systems with phase noise. Based on this model, the phase cycle slip probability in blind phase noise estimation is calculated. For blind phase tracking, we present and discuss the implementation of feedback loop and digital phase tracking. We then analyze in detail the performance of a decision-direct-free blind scheme, in which only three test phases are required for phase noise compensation. We show that the decision-direct-free blind scheme is transparent to QAM formats, and can provide a similar performance to the conventional blind phase search employing 16 test phases. We also propose two novel cost functions to further reduce the complexity of this scheme.