Identifying and Exploring Synthetic Antiferromagnetic Skyrmions

Synthetic antiferromagnetic (SAF) skyrmions are emerging as novel information carriers due to their high mobility and lack of a skyrmion Hall effect. However, distinguishing SAF skyrmions from their ferromagnetic counterparts using imaging techniques like magneto-optical microscopy remains challenging. While the suppressed intrinsic skyrmion Hall effect (SkHE) has been commonly used to identify SAF skyrmions, it is important to note that other factors such as defect pinning and dipolar interaction can also lead to a suppressed SkHE. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a universal identification method that can reliably differentiate SAF skyrmions from ferromagnetic ones. In this study, the generation of a SAF skyrmion within a standard SAF stack is demonstrated and its motion with almost no SkHE is investigated. Furthermore, a universal identification method is proposed wherein the application of an out-of-plane field allows the SAF skyrmion to be decoupled into two domains, which can either expand or contract with the application of an electric current. By expediting the development of a reliable means of identifying SAF skyrmions, these findings will accelerate the realization of practical applications based on these unique information carriers.     

结合房间声学特点的子带自适应滤波声学回音抵消算法

子带自适应滤波算法是处理长阶声学回声抵消问题的重要方法之一。结合房间声学的特点,对各子带采用不同长度的FIR滤波器进行滤波,将有限的资源进行更合理的分配,节省了资源和计算量,并在一定程度上提高了收敛速度。     

Alias-Free Subband Adaptive Filtering With Critical Sampling

To overcome the limitations of a conventional fullband adaptive filtering, various subband adaptive filtering (SAF) structures have been proposed. Properly designed, an SAF will converge faster at a lower computational cost than a fullband structure. However, its design should consider the following two facts: the interband aliasing introduced by the downsampling process degrades its performance, and the filter bank in the SAF introduces additional computational overhead and system delay. In this paper, to fully exploit the benefits of using an SAF, an almost alias-free SAF structure with critical sampling is proposed. The interband alising is removed from the subband signal by isolating the aliasing using a bandwidth-increased analysis filter. Computer simulations show that the proposed structure converges faster than both an equivalent fullband structure at lower computational complexity and recently proposed SAF structures for a colored input.     

An Implementation of an Adaptive Control Algorithm for a Three-Phase Shunt Active Filter

This paper deals with the hardware implementation of a shunt active filter (SAF) for compensation of reactive power, unbalanced loading, and harmonic currents. SAF is controlled using an adaptive-linear-element (Adaline)-based current estimator to maintain sinusoidal and unity-power-factor source currents. Three-phase load currents are sensed, and using least mean square (LMS) algorithm-based Adaline, online calculation of weights is performed and these weights are multiplied by the unit vector templates, which give the fundamental-frequency real component of load currents. The dc bus voltage of voltage source converter (VSC) working as a SAF is maintained at constant value using a proportional–integral controller. The switching of VSC is performed using hysteresis-based pulsewidth-modulation indirect-current-control scheme, which controls the source currents to follow the derived reference source currents. The practical implementation of the SAF is realized using dSPACE DS1104 R&D controller having TMS320F240 as a slave DSP. The MATLAB-based simulation results and implementation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the SAF with Adaline-based control for load compensation.      

Perturbation analysis: the state of the art and research issuesexplained via the GI/G/1 queue

Perturbation analysis (PA) of discrete event dynamic systems (DEDS) enables parameter sensitivities of DEDS to be obtained by observing a single sample path of the system. A simple GI/G/1 system is used to give an introduction to PA and illustrate the basic theoretical issues involved in this technique. The application of PA to networks of queues is covered briefly, and then some of the recent extensions to PA are discussed. It is shown that many interesting open questions remain for PA, and areas for research are indicated     

Optimal K-survivable backward-recursive path computation (BRPC) in multi-domain PCE-based networks

The path computation element (PCE) enables optimal path computation in single-domain (G)MPLS networks. To overcome the lack of traffic engineering (TE) information in multi-domain networks and to preserve both computation optimality and domain confidentiality, the backward-recursive PCE-based computation (BRPC) procedure has been standardized. BRPC procedure is based on PCE protocol (PCEP) and enables synchronized computation of TE label-switched paths with the requested level of reliability and quality of service requirements (i.e., guaranteed bandwidth). In this paper, the problem of computing $K$ K -survivable optimal multi-domain paths by resorting to BRPC procedure is analyzed. Extensions to PCEP protocol are discussed to achieve path optimality when domain information is kept confidential. The optimality is theoretically proved, and the computational complexity is shown to be more efficient than existing approaches. The discussed extensions are experimentally validated in an MPLS network test bed based on commercial equipments and are shown to have performance comparable to standard PCEP approach.     

Postsmoothing for the LMS algorithm and a fixed point roundofferror analysis

The effect of post-algorithm smoothing on digital implementations of the least mean square (LMS) algorithm is studied. An expression is derived for the mean square error (MSE) with post-algorithm (PA) smoothing but without finite wordlength effects. It is shown that the MSE can be reduced from that of LMS without PA smoothing. PA smoothing results in reduced convergence speed. The effect of fixed-point finite precision on PA smoothing is studied. An expression for the MSE is derived. Monte Carlo simulation results that support the result that digital LMS with PA smoothing performs better than digital LMS without PA smoothing are presented     

Dopant‐Free Spiro‐Triphenylamine/Fluorene as Hole‐Transporting Material for Perovskite Solar Cells with Enhanced Efficiency and Stability

Chemical doping is often used to enhance electric conductivity of the conjugated molecule as hole‐transporting material (HTM) for the application in optoelectronics. However, chemical dopants can promote ion migration at the electrical field, which deteriorates the device efficiency as well as increases the fabrication cost. Here, two star HTMs, namely 2,2′,7,7′‐tetrakis(N,N‐di‐p‐methoxyphenyl‐amine) 9,9′‐spirobifluorene (Spiro‐OMeTAD) and poly(triarylamine) are subjeted to chemical combination to yield dopant‐free N2,N2,N2′,N2′,N7,N7,N7′,N7′‐octakis(4‐methoxyphenyl)‐10‐phenyl‐10H‐spiro[acridine‐9,9′‐fluorene]‐2,2′,7,7′‐tetraamine (SAF‐OMe). The power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 12.39% achieved by solar cells based on pristine, dopant‐free SAF‐OMe are among the highest reported for perovskite solar cells and are even comparable to devices based on chemically doped Spiro‐OMeTAD (14.84%). Moreover, using a HTM comprised of SAF‐OMe with an additional dopant results in a record PCE of 16.73%. Compared to Spiro‐OMeTAD‐based devices, SAF‐OMe significantly improves stability.     

Optimal simultaneous wireless information and energy transfer in OFDMA decode-and-forward relay networks

In this paper, we consider simultaneous wireless information and energy transfer in an orthogonal-frequency-division-multiple-access decode-and-forward relay network, in which an energy-constrained relay node harvests energy from a source node and uses the harvested energy to forward information to multiple destination nodes. Our objective is to maximize the end-to-end sum rate by resource allocation, subject to transmit power constraint at the source and energy-harvesting (EH) constraint at the relay. A non-convex and mixed-integer programming (MIP) problem is formulated to optimize time-switching (TS) ratios of EH and information decoding at the relay, TS ratio of information transmission from relay to destinations, subcarrier allocation as well as power allocation (PA) over all subcarriers at source and relay. We propose to decouple this problem into a convex problem and an MIP problem in fractional form. To solve the MIP problem, we transform it into an equivalent optimization problem in subtractive form which has a tractable solution. As a result, we propose a novel scheme to achieve jointly optimal TS ratios, subcarrier allocation and PA. Simulation results verify the optimality of our proposed resource allocation scheme.     

Hole‐Transporting Materials Incorporating Carbazole into Spiro‐Core for Highly Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

Hole‐transporting materials (HTMs) play a significant role in hole transport and extraction for perovskite solar cells (PeSCs). As an important type of HTMs, the spiro‐architecture‐based material is widely used as small organic HTM in PeSCs with good photovoltaic performances. The skeletal modification of spiro‐based HTMs is a critical way of modifying energy level and hole mobility. Thus, many spiro alternatives are developed to optimize the spiro‐type HTMs. Herein, a novel carbazole‐based single‐spiro‐HTM named SCZF‐5 is designed and prepared for efficient PeSCs. In addition, another single‐spiro HTM SAF‐5 with reported 10‐phenyl‐10H‐spiro[acridine‐9,9′‐fluorene] (SAF) core is also synthesized for comparison. Through varying from SAF core to SCZF core as well as comparing with the classic 9,9′‐spiro‐bifluorene, it is found that the new HTM SCZF‐5 exhibits more impressive power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 20.10% than SAF‐5 (13.93%) and the commercial HTM spiro‐OMeTAD (19.11%). On the other hand, the SCZF‐5‐based device also has better durability in lifetime testing, indicating the newly designed SCZF by integrating carbazole into the spiro concept has good potential for developing effective HTMs.     

Testing Methods for PUF-Based Secure Key Storage Circuits

Design for test is an integral part of any VLSI chip. However, for secure systems extra precautions have to be taken to prevent that the test circuitry could reveal secret information. This paper addresses secure test for Physical Unclonable Function based systems. It investigates two secure Built-In Self-Test (BIST) solutions for Fuzzy Extractor (FE) which is the main component of PUF-based systems. The schemes target high stuck-at-fault (SAF) coverage by performing scan-chain free functional testing, to prevent scan-chain abuse for attacks. The first scheme reuses existing FE blocks (for pattern generation and compression) to minimize the area overhead, while the second scheme tests all the FE blocks simultaneously to minimize the test time. The schemes are integrated in FE design and simulated; the results show that for the first test scheme, a SAF fault coverage of 95 % can be realized with no more than 47.1k clock cycles at the cost of a negligible area overhead of only 2.2 %; while for the second test scheme a SAF fault coverage of 95 % can be realized with 3.5k clock cycles at the cost of 18.6 % area overhead. Higher fault coverages are possible to realize at extra cost (i.e., either by extending the test time, or by adding extra hardware, or a combination of both).     

On the optimality of the OFDMA network

This letter studies the optimality of the OFDMA network. It is proved that in the multiuser multicarrier downlink system with independent decoding, OFDMA is the optimal multiple access scheme. It is also shown that the optimality of OFDMA holds for any adaptive modulation scheme whose rate-SNR/SINR function can be approximated as a convex function.     

The condition for the applicability of the Viterbi algorithm withimplications for fading channel MLSD

The general condition for the optimality of the Viterbi algorithm (VA) as a method for implementing maximum-likelihood sequence detection (MLSD) is described. It is shown that this folding condition is not met for the fading linear Gaussian channel. This clarifies previously published results and allows approaches for approximate MLSD to be viewed as an attempt to force the VA as a suboptimal solution     

Perturbation analytic methodologies for design and optimization ofcommunication networks

Perturbation analysis (PA) is a technique for estimating performance sensitivities of queuing networks from direct observation of a single stochastic realization. It is used here to address such problems for communication networks. For a G/G/1 link model, it is shown that efficient PA algorithms can be used to estimate online the marginal delay of messages due to incoming flow perturbations. This information is used in a minimum-delay distribution algorithm to optimize routing. PA algorithms are extended to estimate throughput and mean delay sensitivities with respect to link capacities, including blocking phenomena due to finite queues. A window-flow-control model is considered, and experimental results of PA estimates for throughput sensitivities are provided. these estimates are seen to be accurate under heavy-load conditions, but, in general, enhanced PA techniques are required to incorporate more-complicated dynamic flow control and routing policies     

Power Adaptation for Energy Efficient Bi-directional Relaying with Quality-of-Service Requirement and Individual Peak-Power Limit

This paper addresses an optimal power adaptation (PA) problem of a two-time-slot bi-directional relaying network with a half-duplex amplify-and-forward relay. Unlike the existing studies, our goal is to develop effective PA strategies that can dynamically adjust the transmit-power levels of all the terminals to achieve energy efficiency, while satisfying the individual peak-power limit on each terminal and the quality-of-service (QoS) requirement of the network. By using the instantaneous channel state information (ICSI) and the statistical CSI (SCSI) knowledge, respectively, and with the aid of traffic information, the PA problem is analytically solved, leading to the so-called ICSI and SCSI based PA strategies with closed-form PA solutions for individual transmit-powers at the relay and the two end-terminals. Simulation results have verified the correctness of the derived expressions and confirmed the efficiency of our proposed strategies. It is shown that the proposed PA strategies can significantly reduce the total transmit-power of the network with guaranteed network QoS.

     

Huffman coding with an infinite alphabet

A new type of sufficient condition is provided for a probability distribution on the nonnegative integers to be given an optimal D-ary prefix code by a Huffman-type algorithm. In the justification of our algorithm, we introduce two new (essentially one) concepts as the definition of the “optimality” of a prefix D-ary code, which are shown to be equivalent to that defined in the traditional way. These new concepts of the optimality are meaningful even for the case where the Shannon entropy H(P) diverges     

Sputtered L10-FePd and its Synthetic Antiferromagnet on Si/SiO2 Wafers for Scalable Spintronics

As a promising alternative to the mainstream CoFeB/MgO system with interfacial perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), L1₀-FePd and its synthetic antiferromagnet (SAF) structure with large crystalline PMA can support spintronic devices with sufficient thermal stability at sub-5 nm sizes. However, the compatibility requirement of preparing L1₀-FePd thin films on Si/SiO₂ wafers is still unmet. In this paper, high-quality L1₀-FePd and its SAF on Si/SiO₂ wafers are prepared by coating the amorphous SiO₂ surface with an MgO(001) seed layer. The prepared L1₀-FePd single layer and SAF stack are highly (001)-textured, showing strong PMA, low damping, and sizeable interlayer exchange coupling, respectively. Systematic characterizations, including advanced X-ray diffraction measurement and atomic resolution-scanning transmission electron microscopy, are conducted to explain the outstanding performance of L1₀-FePd layers. A fully-epitaxial growth that starts from MgO seed layer, induces the (001) texture of L1₀-FePd, and extends through the SAF spacer is observed. This study makes the vision of scalable spintronics more practical.     

Transistor off-state leakage current induced by TiSi2pre-amorphizing implant in a 0.20 μm CMOS process

We report on an anomalous off-state leakage current found in NMOS devices fabricated with a pre-amorphizing (PA) implant before titanium silicide formation. We present data which indicates that the leakage current is caused by channeling of the arsenic PA implant through the polysilicon gate. An angled PA implant is shown to prevent the channeling and allow the fabrication of well-behaved devices with low resistance titanium silicide     

Dynamic programming approach to optimal vertex selection for polygon-based shape approximation

A new vertex selection scheme for polygon-based contour coders is presented. In the proposed method, final vertex points are determined by a 'two-step procedure'. In the first step, the initial vertices are simply selected from the contour, thereby constituting a subset of the original contour, using conventional methods such as the iterated refinement method (IRM) or progressive vertex selection (PVS) method. In the second step, a vertex adjustment process is incorporated to generate final vertices that are no longer confined to the contour and are optimal in view of the given distortion measure. For the optimality of the final vertices, a dynamic programming (DP)-based solution for the adjustment of the vertices is proposed. Consequently, the authors offer two main contributions. First, it is shown that DP can be successfully applied to vertex adjustment. Secondly, the use of DP enables global optimality to be achieved in vertex selection without any iterative processes. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over traditional methods