Rizal Maulana, Ádám Rák, Sándor Földi, György Cserey
Continuous monitoring of physiological signals is essential for the early detection of health problems. A measurement system that ensures high sensitivity, accuracy, and user comfort is needed. In this study, we designed and optimized a flexible piezoresistive yarn (FPY) sensor to achieve a high sensitivity and wide working range for detecting physiological signals. The representative sensor design was constructed by applying an FPY bonding pattern, utilizing tightly arranged triangular patterns and using minimal FPY. The prototype sensor operates in two measurement modes, strain and pressure, and was evaluated for measuring neck motion, finger bending, respiratory signals, and arterial blood pressure (ABP) waveforms. A qualitative evaluation, performed by comparing the characteristics of the measurement results of each physiological signal with those from related studies, indicates a high similarity in its morphological characteristics. Then, a quantitative evaluation through baseline drift analysis demonstrates that the FPY sensor displays high measurement stability. The ABP waveform measurement shows the most stable baseline, with a mean absolute error (MAE) of $0.0051 \pm 0.0029$ in terms of baseline drift, using normalized values from 0 to 1. Based on our results, the prototype sensor can be used as an innovative solution for physiological signal monitoring and can be further enhanced for personalized healthcare and sports applications.
Ric Fulop, Laurence Lyons, Robert Nick, Marc H. Weber, Ming Liu, Haig Atikian, Uwe Bauer, Alexander C. Barbati, Neil Gershenfeld
Whether the flash state in electrically driven solids involves non-equilibrium defect production or is accounted for by Joule heating alone has been debated since 2010. Using positron annihilation spectroscopy on copper, we observe a fully reversible, electrically switchable vacancy population: the DBS S-parameter rises above baseline whenever applied current exceeds a critical density and returns on current removal. Positron lifetime spectroscopy independently confirms open-volume defect formation and reveals a void to cluster relaxation hierarchy. The current-induced vacancy concentration exceeds the thermal-equilibrium value at 352C by > 106x, is present only while current is applied, and vanishes within minutes. The nucleation rate scales steeply with the applied current, connecting the minute-scale kinetics resolved here to the sub-second flash events observed in ceramic sintering. These results demonstrate current-induced Frenkel-pair production in a metal and identify a defect-mediated, non-equilibrium contribution to the flash state.
Fawzi Aly, Alex Kitt, Luke Mohr
Additive manufacturing and welding processes are highly sensitive to heat dissipation, where improper thermal management leads to residual stresses, distortions, and cracking. Existing heat transfer models, such as Rosenthal's solutions, fail to handle finite 3D geometries, cooling effects, or transient behavior, limiting their accuracy. We overcome these limitations by developing an analytical framework that incorporates cooling boundary conditions mimicking Newton's Law of Cooling. Using two different and proven-equivalent approaches, Laplace transform and Fourier series, we derive closed-form solutions for transient and steady-state temperature profiles under various heat sources, including Gaussian, ellipsoidal, double-ellipsoidal, and time-dependent on/off switch sources. We compare our analytical solutions to numerical implementations, demonstrating strong agreement while providing deeper physical insight. This approach significantly reduces computational cost and experimental requirements, making it a scalable tool for optimizing thermal predictions and mitigating residual stresses in metal-based manufacturing. Additionally, our framework enables the generation of synthetic datasets for machine learning models to predict heat distribution efficiently.
Bingjia Xiao, Tao Chen, Puqing Jiang
Patterned-transducer thermoreflectance enhances sensitivity to low-thermal-conductivity materials by suppressing lateral heat spreading in the metal transducer, but its wider use is limited by the cost of repeated high-fidelity forward evaluations in iterative fitting. Here, we develop a transfer-learning-enhanced POD-FNN surrogate for rapid phase prediction in patterned-transducer thermoreflectance, using patterned FDTR as a representative case. A validated COMSOL model is first constructed, and proper orthogonal decomposition is applied directly to the phase signals to build a compact reduced-order representation. A feedforward neural network is then trained to predict the POD coefficients from thermophysical and geometric parameters. Within the original parameter domain, the surrogate achieves mean and median RMSE values of 0.19 and 0.17 degrees, with a maximum RMSE below 0.47 degrees, while reducing the average prediction time per signal from 5.39 s to 0.01 s (about 534x). In inverse analysis, the fitting time for a representative case is reduced from about 18950 s to about 65 s with comparable accuracy. The framework is further applied to measured Al/SiO2 samples, yielding stable silica thermal conductivities of 1.44 +/- 0.088, 1.43 +/- 0.093, and 1.50 +/- 0.079 W/(m K) for conventional FDTR and patterned FDTR with pattern radii of 5.3 and 3.25 um, respectively. Transfer learning further improves performance in expanded parameter domains, with the TL-FR strategy giving the best overall results. Reducing the additional target-domain dataset from 6000 to 1000 samples also lowers the high-fidelity data-generation time from about 34179 s to about 5885 s. The proposed framework provides an accurate and efficient route for repeated forward evaluation, rapid inverse fitting, and cost-effective model updating in patterned thermoreflectance workflows.
Ceren Cengiz, Mihir Pewekar, Hrishikesh Kulkarni, Yunruo Ni, Nathan Sambo, Adam Maxwell, Eli Vlaisavljevich, Wynn Legon, Shima Shahab
Transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) offers noninvasive access to deep brain circuits but remains limited by skull-induced phase aberration, acoustic impedance mismatch, and poor volumetric control of intracranial pressure fields. Conventional phased-array and planar holographic strategies compensate aberrations electronically or computationally, yet do not resolve geometric and coupling inconsistencies imposed by subject-specific cranial morphology. We introduce personalized skull-conforming acoustic holograms that physically encode individualized wavefront corrections into a conformal acoustic interface. Within a subject-specific volumetric holography (SSVH) framework, cranial geometry and therapeutic constraints are embedded into a physics-based optimization pipeline for holographic phase synthesis. The resulting lens is integrated with a skull- and skin-conforming coupling layer that enhances impedance continuity, reduces reflection losses, and stabilizes spatial alignment, enabling simultaneous aberration mitigation and efficient transcranial transmission. Numerical simulations across multiple subjects and targets demonstrate consistent volumetric focusing and reliable target coverage while maintaining pressure fields within safety limits. Experimental validation using an ex vivo human skull confirms accurate fabrication, effective acoustic coupling, and faithful reconstruction of designed three-dimensional acoustic fields. By unifying wavefront engineering with anatomical conformity, this work establishes skull-conforming acoustic holography as a scalable strategy for high-fidelity, anatomically adaptive transcranial ultrasound targeting.
Md Shakhawath Hossain, Nhat Minh Nguyen, Thi Ngoc Anh Mai, Trung Vuong Doan, Chaohao Chen, Qian Peter Su, Jiayan Liao, Yongliang Chen, Quynh Le-Van, Vu Khac Dat, Toan Dinh, Xiaoxue Xu, Toan Trong Tran
The transition of materials and devices to nanometer, atomic, and quantum scales makes thermal characterization increasingly challenging, driving the need for advanced nanoscale thermometry. Fluorescence nanothermometry has emerged as a powerful approach, enabling remote, spatially resolved temperature measurements with sub-micrometer-to-nanometer precision across applications in nanoelectronics, microfluidics, and biological systems. In these systems, temperature is inferred from variations in fluorescence observables, including spectral position, intensity, linewidth, and excited-state dynamics. This review provides a comprehensive and critical overview of fluorescence nanothermometry, covering fundamental mechanisms, material platforms, recent advances, and emerging applications. It further presents a critical evaluation of key challenges and discusses emerging strategies and future research directions toward achieving robust, real-time thermometry. It is anticipated that this review will stimulate further advances in material platforms and system design, accelerating the development of accurate, scalable, and application-ready nanoscale thermometers.
Klaus Jäger, Jyotirmoy Mandal, Barry P. Rand, Forrest Meggers, Christiane Becker
Sub-bandgap reflectors (SBR) can reduce the temperature of photovoltaic (PV) modules by reflecting the near-infrared region of the solar spectrum with photon energies smaller than the electronic bandgap of the solar cell absorber material. We consider an ideal SBR, which reflects 100 % of non-harvestable low-energy photons but does not alter the reflectivity of the PV module for usable high-energy photons, and estimate how reducing the module temperature with the SBR affects the annual and the cumulative energy yield of silicon PV modules for six locations in North America and Europe. An ideal SBR would increase the annual energy yield between 1.0 % and 1.5 % for open-rack mounted modules and between 1.6 % and 2.4 % for close-roof mounted PV modules. Whether a non-ideal SBR provides a benefit in actual deployments strongly depends on the location and the optical properties of the coating. Beyond effects on the instantaneous power conversion efficiency and hence the annual energy yield, reducing the temperature by a SBR might also reduce the degradation and increase the overall lifetime of the PV module. By describing degradation using a simple Arrhenius approach using typical activation energies between 0.4 eV and 0.8 eV, we find that an ideal SBR increases the cumulative energy yield over 30 years between 2.2 % and 4.0 % for an open-rack mounted PV module in Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
Byeongjin Kim, Ian Anderson, Tzu-Hsuan Hsu, Ruochen Lu
In this work, we experimentally investigate the gradient stress (sigma1) in 128 deg Y-cut transferred thin film lithium niobate (TFLN) films with thicknesses from 100 to 460 nm using cantilever curvature analysis. The results reveal a strong dependence of sigma1 on both crystallographic orientation and film thickness, with stress-free orientations at approximately 55 deg and 125 deg for 220-460 nm films, shifting to approximately 20 deg and 160 deg for 100 nm films. The extracted normalized sigma1 ranges from -0.1 to 3.4 MPa/nm (100 nm), -0.8 to 0.34 MPa/nm (220 nm), and -0.12 to 0.08 MPa/nm (460 nm), indicating a pronounced thickness-dependent through-thickness stress gradient. Finite element simulations show excellent agreement with the measurements, validating the curvature-based extraction method and confirming that sigma1 originates from an orientation-dependent residual stress gradient. To mitigate this effect, a bilayer TFLN structure with opposite crystallographic orientations, forming a periodically poled piezoelectric film (P3F), is investigated, enabling partial cancellation of sigma1. A 90/110 nm P3F bilayer reduces the equivalent normalized sigma1 to -0.4 to -0.04 MPa/nm, resulting in significantly reduced deformation. These results establish gradient stress engineering through orientation, thickness, and bilayer design as an effective strategy for achieving mechanically stable and scalable TFLN microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices.
Mikhail Smagin, Iuliia Timankova, Pavel Pankin, Yong Li, Mihail Petrov
We study unidirectional transverse scattering in a two-dimensional acoustic dimer composed of two isotropic subwavelength scatterers. Using a coupled multipole model, we show that inter-particle coupling enables effective monopole-dipole interference and supports a transverse Kerker effect under plane wave excitation. In contrast to a single non-absorbing isotropic particle, where Kerker-type cancellation is only approached in the weak-scattering limit, the dimer can combine pronounced directionality with strong overall scattering. This regime is promising for compact acoustic beam steering and directional wave routing.
Madhubanti Mukherjee, Rampi Ramprasad, Harikrishna Sahu
Superhard materials are critical for wear-resistant and high-stress applications. Conventional approaches correlating hardness with elastic moduli derived from DFT calculations enable rapid screening but overlook the strong load dependence of hardness. In this work, machine learning (ML) models were developed using a large, curated dataset of load-dependent experimental Vickers hardness (Hv) measurements. Moderate correlation was observed between experimental and DFT-based Hv values, whereas a single-task ML model trained solely on experimental data outperformed multi-task models that combined experimental and computed data. The superior performance of the single-task model highlights that explicit inclusion of indentation load, along with compositional, electronic, and structural descriptors, is essential and sufficient for accurate hardness prediction, beyond what can be achieved using DFT-accessible bulk and shear moduli alone (or in tandem with experimental data). These results emphasize the importance of high-quality experimental data and explicit inclusion of measurement conditions, particularly load, in the development of reliable hardness prediction models.
Sotiris Droulias, Giorgos Stratidakis, Angeliki Alexiou
Wavefront engineering for applications in near-field wireless connectivity is gradually becoming common ground. In this landscape, beams that propagate on bent paths are ideal candidates for dynamic blockage avoidance and suppression of potential eavesdropping. In this work we study the physical layer security offered by bending beams, and we demonstrate their capabilities for line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight eavesdropping. We analyze the dependencies between the possible locations of an eavesdropper and the design parameters of such beams, and we introduce metrics to assess their physical layer security performance. Our results demonstrate their superiority with respect to beams generated with conventional beam-forming.
Tapas Kumar Pa, Dibakar Ghosh
The Murali-Lakshmanan-Chua (MLC) circuit is a well-recognized prominent nonlinear, nonautonomous, and dissipative electronic circuit having a versatile chaotic nature. Unraveling the dynamical synergy responsible for the genesis of extreme events in nonlinear dynamical systems is a prolific and spellbinding research area. The present study unveils the dynamical exposition of emerging extreme events in the MLC circuit concerning two different events being defined in the system. The large expansion of the chaotic attractor following the PM intermittency route plays the crucial role as the precursor behind the emergence of extreme events in the system. Our main finding reveals the prevalence of a force field due to the presence of externally applied periodic force in the system that creates the dynamical synergy that compels the chaotic trajectory traversing in its phase space to be largely deviated from the residing space, and this large deviation shows the signature of extreme events. Apart from the force field explication, we explored another two dynamical aspects that also interpret the mechanism behind the genesis of extreme events as the large deflection of the chaotic trajectory in the system: the decomposition of the phase space in stable and unstable manifolds concerning slow-fast dynamics and using Floquet multipliers. These two different aspects of calculations of the stable and unstable manifolds explicate the large excursion of the chaotic trajectory as extreme events from two different perspectives. We also analyzed the rare occurrences of the extreme events statistically using extreme value theory: the threshold \textit{excess values} follow the generalized Pareto distribution, and the inter-extreme-spike-intervals follow the generalized extreme value distribution.
Lei Liu, Xiujuan Zhang, Ming-Hui Lu, Yan-Feng Chen
Skyrmions are particle-like topological textures that hold great promise for low-power electronics and wave-based functionalities. Yet their utility is hindered by the lack of robust and controllable transport. Here, we show that band topology can be harnessed to overcome this limitation. We experimentally realize an acoustic quantum skyrmion--valley Hall effect in a surface phononic crystal via engineered spin--orbit--momentum interaction. Skyrmions emerge as valley-locked topological edge states, robustly propagating along designed domain walls. Crucially, the skyrmion transport exhibits concurrent orbital angular momentum (OAM)--valley locking and spin--texture locking, enabling controllable propagation through selective excitation. Our results establish a direct correspondence between real-space and momentum-space topology, providing a general strategy for robust, controllable skyrmion transport.
Ric Fulop, Neil Gershenfeld
Field-driven phenomena, from flash sintering to electromigration, exhibit threshold fields spanning six orders of magnitude. We show their product with the onset activation coherence length is a universal critical activation voltage, Vc =0.1-2.7 V. Vc represents the threshold electrical work required to resonantly couple to the universal phonon damping peak where lattice softening is maximized. This invariant unifies macroscopic thermal instabilities with the nanoscale Blech limit, establishing a universal phenomenological law for field-lattice coupling across 17 crystal families
Mustafa Yücel, Karim Achouri
Electromagnetic invisibility, defined as reflectionless transmission with zero phase delay, imposes strict constraints on metasurface designs that go beyond conventional reflection suppression based on the Kerker effect. This condition can be viewed as a metasurface analogue of radiationless states such as anapole excitations. Here, we show that invisibility in metasurfaces embedded in identical media can only be achieved by introducing degrees of freedom, such as non-zero angle of incidence or higher-order multipolar responses. We demonstrate that, in dissimilar substrate and superstrate, achieving invisibility within a dipolar framework fundamentally requires pure bianisotropic coupling, while purely electric and magnetic responses are insufficient for lossless, passive and reciprocal systems. Using effective surface susceptibilities that account for the surrounding media and transverse wave vector, we derive closed-form conditions for both co- and cross-polarized invisibility. Importantly, we also demonstrate that the required bianisotropy does not need to be intrinsic, as an effective bianisotropic response may be achieved with anisotropic metasurface in dissimilar media leading to magnetoelectric coupling. Full-wave simulations of a metasurface at an air-dielectric interface confirm invisibility under oblique incidence. This work establishes a universal dipolar framework for invisible meta-optics in practically realistic scenarios.
Jianming Wen
We develop a compact theory of time-reversed Young (TRY) interference beyond the symmetric two-slit geometry by considering equally spaced three-slit, finite $N$-slit, and infinite periodic slit arrays. In the TRY configuration, a point emitter illuminates the aperture, a position-fixed detector records the signal, and the response is reconstructed in source space by correlating the detector record with the source-coordinate label. We show that the three-slit case already reveals the essential new physics beyond two slits: a quadratic Fresnel phase survives, modifies the reconstructed interference law, and lifts the nominal dark fringes in the generic case. For a general equally spaced $N$-slit array, we identify the exact reconstructed response and show that the familiar textbook grating factor is recovered only when the quadratic phase is negligible, compensated, or reduced to a common phase across the array. In that ideal limit, the reconstructed peaks are source-space analogues of classical grating orders rather than outgoing diffraction beams. For an infinite periodic TRY array, we further show that the same discrete quadratic phase generates full and fractional Talbot-like revivals in source space, governed by a reciprocal-distance condition rather than the conventional Talbot propagation law. These results show that the symmetric two-slit TRY geometry is exceptional, while multi-slit TRY systems naturally combine source-space discrimination with sensitivity to aperture-wide phase structure and periodic-array revival physics.
S. Rahimipour, B. Rafiei, E. Salahinejad
This work focuses on the structure, wettability and corrosion behaviors of Ti-6Al-4V alloy after roughening treatments in different concentrations of NaOH aqueous solutions followed by low surface energy hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HDTMS) coating. In this regard, scanning electron microscopy, contact angle measurements, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were used to characterize the samples. In contrast to hydrophilicity caused by the hydrothermal alkaline treatments, the subsequent HDTMS coating donated considerable hydrophobicity. Typically, the highest sessile water contact angle (about 147 deg) was obtained for the sample treated in 3 molar NaOH solution followed by the HDTMS coating. In addition, the alkaline treatment reduced the corrosion resistance of the surface in a NaCl aqueous solution; however, the HDTMS hydrophobization process improved it significantly. It is eventually concluded that the coupled use of alkaline treatment and HDTMS functionalization can be further considered for moisture-exposed applications of Ti-based alloys.
Remi Blandin, Martin Laabs, Rudolf von Bunau, Bryn Lloyd, Silvia Farcito, Denys Nikolayev, Gabriela Hossu, Peter Birkholz, Dirk Plettemeier
This study experimentally validates a numerical model of electromagnetic propagation through the human head during the pronunciation of different vowels, with the goal of improving our understanding of the underlying physical phenomena. A realistic finite element model was created from magnetic resonance images acquired while pronouncing the vowels /a/, /i/, and /u/. The model was validated against scattering matrix measurements obtained from two subjects whose geometries were modeled. Despite several potential sources of discrepancy, the simulations and measurements showed good qualitative agreement, confirming the validity of the approach. Similar transmission coefficient patterns were observed across subjects for the same vowels. Within the investigated frequency range of (1-6 GHz), the electric field exhibited a Mie scattering pattern. Local minima and maxima in the transmission coefficient, characterizing different articulatory configurations, were correlated with local variations in the electric field amplitude. The transmission coefficient's shape results from an interplay between resonance patterns and antenna placement, while the degree of mouth opening influences the shape of scattering modes. Although technically challenging, this numerical approach proved effective for studying electromagnetic propagation in the human head. The resulting robust numerical model and improved understanding of the underlying physics are expected to facilitate the development of radio-frequency-based silent speech interfaces.
Ziqian Zhang, Ryan L. Russell, Choon Kong Lai, Benjamin J. Eggleton
Photonic stepped-frequency (SF) radar offers high range resolution and only requires low-speed driving electronics, but existing architectures face challenges in achieving low phase noise and uniform frequency steps simultaneously. Here, we demonstrate a photonic SF radar system that exploits dual Brillouin lasers in a shared fiber cavity to simultaneously suppress phase noise and ensure uniform frequency stepping. Phase noise is reduced through Brillouin optomechanical suppression and common-mode noise rejection upon photomixing. Frequency-step uniformity is enforced via lasing at a series of uniformly spaced cavity resonances. The system generates an X-band SF waveform spanning 1.31 GHz, achieving >23 dB of phase-noise improvement at a 100 kHz offset relative to a low-cost driving voltage-controlled oscillator. The demonstrated system reduces the dependence of the output waveform quality on noise in the driving electronics, offering a path towards high-performance radar sensing.
Shiyu Li, Zhixiong Gong
The ability to trap a single cell or microparticle in three dimensions is important for biomedical and microfluidic applications. Single-beam acoustic tweezers based on focused waves provide a compact and biocompatible approach because of their high spatial resolution and strong intensity gradients. However, 3D trapping remains challenging, especially at high frequencies, because the weak axial restoring radiation force may not overcome the pushing drag force caused by acoustic bulk streaming in free space. The combined effect of acoustic radiation force and streaming-induced drag force on a microparticle has not been systematically studied. Although the radiation force scales with the square of the focal pressure amplitude p_foc, the scaling of streaming-induced drag force with p_foc under different flow conditions remains unclear. Here, we establish a unified theoretical and numerical framework to compare these two effects and derive an explicit scaling law, U0 ~ p_foc^n, for the streaming velocity from the viscous to the inertial regime. We show that n = 2 in the viscous limit (Re_lambda << 1), n = 4/3 in the inertial limit (Re_lambda >> 1), and n lies between 4/3 and 2 in the transition regime (Re_lambda ~ 1). We further introduce the Schiller-Naumann model to estimate the drag force more accurately than the Stokes model. On this basis, we find that the ratio of axial radiation force to drag can vary non-monotonically with p_foc, contrary to the conventional expectation of monotonic increase. This work provides a theoretical basis for optimizing single-beam acoustic tweezers for stable 3D trapping of single cells.