Abstract: A RF antenna having a magnetostrictive film may be made by patterning selected portions of a top surface of the quartz wafer for deposition of electrode metal and deposition of the magnetostrictive film and depositing the electrode metal and the magnetostrictive film; temporarily bonding the quartz wafer to a handle wafer; thinning the quartz wafer to a desired thickness; etching the quartz wafer to define the outlines of at least one quartz resonator bearing the electrode metal and the magnetostrictive film; patterning selected portions of a bottom surface the at least one quartz resonator for deposition of electrode metal and at least one bond pad and depositing the electrode metal and the at least one bond pad; bonding the at least one quartz resonator to a substrate wafer; and releasing the at least one quartz resonator from the handle wafer.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for coupling two nonlinear resonators via a nonlinear element to generate phononic frequency combs.

Abstract: A low-power, chip-scale atomic beam clock is provided that maintains high precision for at least one week at any practical temperature. In some variations, the invention provides a chip-scale atomic beam clock comprising: a micro-optical bench; an atom collimator configured to generate a collimated atomic beam via differential pumping through microchannels; a VCSEL configured to emit laser photons horizontally in the plane of the micro-optical bench; an in-plane lithographically defined diffraction grating configured to split the laser photons into a first photon beam and a second photon beam; in-plane lithographically defined mirrors configured to retroflect the photon beams; in-plane photodetectors configured to detect the photon beams after being retroflected, wherein the first photon beam and the second photon beam interrogate the collimated atomic beam in-plane with the micro-optical bench.

Abstract: A drive circuit with predistortion. In some embodiments, a system includes a signal input, a predistortion circuit, and an amplifier circuit. The predistortion circuit may be operatively coupled to the signal input and to the amplifier circuit and configured to modify a radio frequency (RF) signal received at the signal input to cause the amplifier circuit to drive, into a load connected to the amplifier circuit, a current that is substantially a replica of the input signal.

Abstract: A reconfigurable optical frequency selective structure having embedded therein: (a) an array of optical antennas for picking up propagating radiation in a visible or infrared frequency region and achieving preferential absorption of electromagnetic energy at a target wavelength k within the region, (b) an array of optical mesa structures of sub-wavelength scale including a phase-change material, the array of optical antennas being disposed atop the array of optical mesa structures respectively; (c) a metal ground plane disposed beneath the array of optical mesa structures, the array of optical mesa structures standing above the ground plane or an interfacial layer and being separated from one another to inhibit parasitic capacitance coupling therebetween; and (d) a plurality of heaters for selectively heating any one of the array of optical mesa structures to cause the phase change material in the selected optical mesa structure to change from an amorphous state, wherein the antenna atop the selected mesa

Abstract: An N-bit reflectarray unit cell is disclosed comprising a first part of a first dipole and a second part of the first dipole, and a first switch for connecting and disconnecting the first part of the first dipole to and from the second part of the first dipole. The unit cell further comprises a first part of a second dipole and a second part of the second dipole, and a second switch for connecting and disconnecting the first part of the second dipole to and from the second part of the second dipole.

Abstract: A process enables growing thick stoichiometric crystalline and preferably IR-transparent optical PCMO material on Si and other substrates. Sputter deposition is carried out in oxygen-free inert gas (e.g., Ar) environment, which helps to prevent decomposition of the PCMO material over the substrate. In the disclosed process, there is no need to add a seed layer prior to PCMO deposition. Moreover, no post-deposition annealing is needed in a high-temperature and high-pressure oxygen furnace, but an anneal provides certain additional benefits in terms of improved transparency at IR wavelengths. Over a long deposition time for a thick PCMO film on the high temperature (?450° C.) substrates, the PCMO deposition is made repeated cycles of deposition of the PCMO material at the high temperature, each deposition cycle being followed by cooling the PCMO-deposited substrate to a substantially lower temperature (<50° C.).

Abstract: This disclosure provides an improvement over the state of the art by teaching a low-cost method to produce feedstock powder, without undergoing a phase change, from industrially relevant wrought alloys that are widely available at low cost. The surfaces of aspherical particles are functionalized with particulates having a different size and composition than the particles, to control the solidification response of the feedstock. Some variations provide a metal-containing functionalized material comprising: a plurality of aspherical particles comprising a metal or a metal alloy; and a plurality of metal-containing or ceramic particulates that are assembled on surfaces of the aspherical particles, wherein the particulates are compositionally different than the aspherical particles. Methods of making and using the metal-containing functionalized materials are described.

Abstract: A filter comprising a linear array of a plurality of TL-inspired T-networks connected in series by capacitors, each TL-inspired T-network typically comprising a pair of conventional transmission lines connected in series with a circuit comprising pair of inductors and a single capacitor, the conventional transmission lines associated with each TL-inspired T-network being optionally combinable together or with conventional transmission lines in neighboring TL-inspired T-networks, wherein the circuit comprising a pair of inductors and a single capacitor is an artificial transmission line providing target characteristic impedance, which is same as that of the conventional transmission lines, and phase delay.

Abstract: A computer system comprising N real sensors for generating N real sensor signals, and a multiplexer for selecting M of the real sensor signals from the N of real sensor signals, where M is less than N. The computer system further comprises a combiner for combining the M real sensor signals to generate a virtual sensor signal representing an output of one of the unselected N real sensors.

Abstract: A local agent of a multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) system is disclosed, the local agent comprising a MARL network comprising at least one local hidden layer responsive to a plurality of local observations. A transmitter is configured to transmit an output of the local hidden layer to at least one remote agent, and a receiver is configured to receive an output of a remote hidden layer from the at least one remote agent. A combiner module is configured to combine the local hidden layer output with the remote hidden layer output to generate a combined hidden layer output, wherein the MARL network is configured to process the combined hidden layer output to generate at least one action value for the local agent.

Abstract: A sensor cluster is disclosed comprising a first plurality of side surfaces of a first N-hedron structure, and a second plurality of side surfaces of a second N-hedron structure. A first plurality of a first type of sensor are mounted on the first plurality of side surfaces, and a second plurality of a second type of sensor are mounted on the second plurality of side surfaces. N is greater than three and the first plurality of side surfaces are interleaved with the second plurality of side surfaces.

Abstract: Some variations provide an additively manufactured article comprising a first region and a second region, wherein the first region is a solid region or a porous region, wherein the second region has a pore size larger than the first-region pore size, and wherein the first-region average permeability is lower than the second-region average permeability. Some variations provide a co-sintering method of making an architected material with regions having different permeabilities, in which different additive-manufacturing process parameters are applied to distinct regions of the structure. Other variations provide a wall-pinning method of making an architected material with regions having different permeabilities, in which additive-manufacturing process parameters are selected to sinter pinned feedstock powder between solid walls. Engineered structures with controlled permeability, integrated manifolds, and arbitrary geometries are disclosed, without the requirement of complex manufacturing.

Abstract: Described is a system for semantically grounded video generation. In operation, the system receives a raw video frame of a scene from one or more sensors on an autonomous platform and then encodes the video into a low-dimensional representation of the scene. The low-dimensional representation is then decoded and fed into a controller model for the autonomous platform. Semantic concepts are extracted and then fed into a world model to predict state and action dynamics of the autonomous platform. A raw observation space is then fed into discriminator networks that operate on frames and videos to determine between real and synthetically generated content. The generative capability of one or more encoders and decoders are modified such that the discriminator networks are unable to distinguish between real and synthetically generated content. Finally, the system recursively generates semantically grounded videos using a conjunction of the world model and controller model.

Abstract: A corner bracket comprising a volume of matter having n pairs of parallel faces, where n is an integer larger than 2; each face of each pair of parallel faces comprising an opening; the openings in the faces of each pair of parallel faces being joined by a cylindrical recess having a longitudinal axis perpendicular to the faces joined by the cylindrical recess; the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical recesses being arranged such that the cylindrical recesses do not intersect each other. The number n can be 3 and the volume of matter can be a cube.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, system, and computer program product for processing low frequency signals. A communications system comprising a low frequency receiver, a denoiser, and a signal extractor. The low frequency receiver receives low frequency signals in which a communications signal is expected. The denoiser is in communication with the low frequency receiver. The denoiser denoises the low frequency signals received from the low frequency receiver. The denoising results in a generation of denoised signals. The signal extractor in communication with the denoiser. The signal extractor extracts the communications signal from the denoised signal.

Abstract: A computer system is disclosed for processing a sensor signal comprising a signal component and a noise component. A signal shifter is configured to generate a shifted version of the sensor signal, and a blind source separator (BSS) module is configured to process the sensor signal and the shifted version of the sensor signal to generate a signal output representing the signal component of the sensor signal.

Abstract: Some variations provide a polyoxalamide polymer comprising: one or more first segments containing at least one repeat unit that includes (i) a branched, aliphatic hydrocarbon species and (ii) first amide groups at internal ends of the repeat unit, wherein the first amide groups are part of oxalamide groups; one or more polymer end groups containing second amide groups that are each covalently bonded directly to one of the first amide groups, wherein the second amide groups are also part of the oxalamide groups, and wherein the oxalamide groups contain —N—C(?O)—C(—O)—N-sequences; and a reacted form of one or more multifunctional amine chain extenders or crosslinkers with an amine functionality of 3 or greater. The polyoxalamide polymer may be present in a lens, a window, a coating, or a film, for example. The polyoxalamide polymer may have UV transparency, visual transparency, NIR transparency, MWIR transparency, and/or LWIR transparency.

Abstract: A computer system is disclosed for processing industrial Boolean satisfiability (SAT) problems. A computer implemented SAT image encoder is configured to encode a runtime industrial SAT problem into a pixelated problem image comprising a plurality of rows, wherein the runtime industrial SAT problem comprises a plurality of clauses and each row of the pixelated problem image represents a corresponding one of the clauses. A computer implemented clause embedding module is configured to encode each row of the pixelated problem image into a corresponding vector, and a computer implemented vector encoder is configured to encode the vectors into an output indicating whether the runtime industrial SAT problem is satisfiable or unsatisfiable.

Abstract: Some variations provide a method of making an additively manufactured single-crystal metallic component, comprising: providing a feedstock comprising a first metal or metal alloy; providing a build plate comprising a single crystal of a second metal or metal alloy; exposing the feedstock to an energy source for melting the feedstock, generating a melt layer on the build plate; and solidifying the melt layer, generating a solid layer (on the build plate) of a metal component. The solid layer is also a single crystal of the first metal or metal alloy. The method may be repeated many times to build the part. Some variations provide a single-crystal metallic component comprising a plurality of solid layers in an additive-manufacturing build direction, wherein the plurality of solid layers forms a single crystal of a metal or metal alloy with a continuous crystallographic texture. The crystal orientation may vary along the additive-manufacturing build direction.