arXiv subjects

Yutong Li

Publications and source records attributed to Yutong Li.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Safe Reinforcement Learning Using Robust Action Governor

Reinforcement Learning (RL) is essentially a trial-and-error learning procedure which may cause unsafe behavior during the exploration-and-exploitation process. This hinders the application of RL to real-world control problems, especially to those for safety-critical systems. In this paper, we introduce a framework for safe RL that is based on integration of a RL algorithm with an add-on safety supervision module, called the Robust Action Governor (RAG), which exploits set-theoretic techniques and online optimization to manage safety-related requirements during learning. We illustrate this proposed safe RL framework through an application to automotive adaptive cruise control.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2020

Generation and manipulation of chiral terahertz waves emitted from the three-dimensional topological insulator Bi2Te3

Arbitrary manipulation of broadband terahertz waves with flexible polarization shaping at the source has great potential in expanding real applications such as imaging, information encryption, and all-optically coherent control of terahertz nonlinear phenomena. Topological insulators featuring unique spin-momentum locked surface state have already exhibited very promising prospects in terahertz emission, detection and modulation, which may lay a foundation for future on-chip topological insulator-based terahertz systems. However, polarization shaped terahertz emission with prescribed manners of arbitrarily manipulated temporal evolution of the amplitude and electric-field vector direction based on topological insulators have not yet been explored. Here we systematically investigated the terahertz radiation from topological insulator Bi2Te3 nanofilms driven by femtosecond laser pulses, and successfully realized the generation of efficient chiral terahertz waves with controllable chirality, ellipticity, and principle axis. The convenient engineering of the chiral terahertz waves was interpreted by photogalvanic effect induced photocurrent, while the linearly polarized terahertz waves originated from linear photogalvanic effect induced shift currents. We believe our works not only help further understanding femtosecond coherent control of ultrafast spin currents in light-matter interaction but also provide an effective way to generate spin-polarized terahertz waves and accelerate the proliferation of twisting the terahertz waves at the source.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Terahertz Strong-Field Physics in Light-Emitting Diodes for Terahertz Detection and Imaging

Intense terahertz (THz) electromagnetic fields have been utilized to reveal a variety of extremely nonlinear optical effects in many materials through nonperturbative driving of elementary and collective excitations. However, such nonlinear photoresponses have not yet been discovered in light-emitting diodes (LEDs), letting alone employing them as fast, cost effective,compact, and room-temperature-operating THz detectors and cameras. Here we report ubiquitously available LEDs exhibited gigantic and fast photovoltaic signals with excellent signal-to-noise ratios when being illuminated by THz field strengths >50 kV/cm. We also successfully demonstrated THz-LED detectors and camera prototypes. These unorthodox THz detectors exhibited high responsivities (>1 kV/W) with response time shorter than those of pyroelectric detectors by four orders of magnitude. The detection mechanism was attributed to THz-field-induced nonlinear impact ionization and Schottky contact. These findings not only help deepen our understanding of strong THz field-matter interactions but also greatly contribute to the applications of strong-field THz diagnosis.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

1.4-mJ High Energy Terahertz Radiation from Lithium Niobates

Free-space super-strong terahertz (THz) electromagnetic fields offer multifaceted capabilities for reaching extreme nonlinear THz optics, accelerating and manipulating charged particles, and realizing other fascinating applications. However, the lack of powerful solid-state THz sources with single pulse energy >1 mJ is impeding the proliferation of extreme THz applications. The fundamental challenge lies in hard to achieve high efficiency due to high intensity pumping caused crystal damage, linear absorption and nonlinear distortion induced short effective interaction length, and so on. Here, through cryogenically cooling the crystals, delicately tailoring the pump laser spectra, chirping the pump pulses, and magnifying the laser energies, we first successfully realized the generation of 1.4-mJ THz pulses lithium niobates under the excitation of 214-mJ femtosecond laser pulses via tilted pulse front technique. The 800 nm-to-THz energy conversion efficiency reached 0.7%, and a free-space THz peak electric and magnetic fields reached 6.3 MV/cm and 2.1 Tesla. Our numerical simulations based on a frequencydomain second-order nonlinear wave equation under slowly varying envelope approximation reproduced the experimental optimization processes. To show the capability of this super-strong THz source, nonlinear absorption due to field-induced intervalley scattering effect in high conductive silicon induced by strong THz electric field was demonstrated. Such a high energy THz source with a relatively low peak frequency is very appropriate not only for electron acceleration towards table-top X-ray sources but also for extreme THz science and nonlinear applications.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Virtual Complete Intersections in $\mathbb{P}^1 \times \mathbb{P}^1$

The minimal free resolution of the coordinate ring of a complete intersection in projective space is a Koszul complex on a regular sequence. In the product of projective spaces $\mathbb{P}^1 \times \mathbb{P}^1$, we investigate which sets of points have a virtual resolution that is a Koszul complex on a regular sequence. This paper provides conditions on sets of points; some of which guarantee the points have this property, and some of which guarantee the points do not have this property.

math.AG↗

arXiv2020

A Game Theoretic Approach for Parking Spot Search with Limited Parking Lot Information

We propose a game theoretic approach to address the problem of searching for available parking spots in a parking lot and picking the ``optimal'' one to park. The approach exploits limited information provided by the parking lot, i.e., its layout and the current number of cars in it. Considering the fact that such information is or can be easily made available for many structured parking lots, the proposed approach can be applicable without requiring major updates to existing parking facilities. For large parking lots, a sampling-based strategy is integrated with the proposed approach to overcome the associated computational challenge. The proposed approach is compared against a state-of-the-art heuristic-based parking spot search strategy in the literature through simulation studies and demonstrates its advantage in terms of achieving lower cost function values.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2020

Human-Machine Collaboration for Automated Vehicles via an Intelligent Two-Phase Haptic Interface

Prior to realizing fully autonomous driving, human intervention will be required periodically to guarantee vehicle safety. This fact poses a new challenge in human-machine interaction, particularly during control authority transition from the automated functionality to a human driver. This paper addresses this challenge by proposing an intelligent haptic interface based on a newly developed two-phase human-machine interaction model. The intelligent haptic torque is applied on the steering wheel and switches its functionality between predictive guidance and haptic assistance according to the varying state and control ability of human drivers, helping drivers gradually resume manual control during takeover. The developed approach is validated by conducting vehicle experiments with 26 human participants. The results suggest that the proposed method can effectively enhance the driving state recovery and control performance of human drivers during takeover compared with an existing approach, further improving the safety and smoothness of the human-machine interaction in automated vehicles.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2020

Varied fusion reaction probability induced by ion stopping modification in laser-driven plasma with different temperature

The dynamics of nuclear reaction in plasma is a fundamental issue in many high energy density researches, such as the astrophysical reactions and the inertial confinement fusion. The effective reaction cross-sections and ion stopping power in plasma need to be taken into account to analyze the reactivity. In this research, we have experimentally investigated the from D-D reactions from interactions between deuteron beams and deuterated polystyrene (CD) plasma, driven by two laser pulses respectively. The neutron yields, plasma density and deuteron energy loss in plasma have been measured, and the plasma temperature and deuteron stopping power have been analyzed from simulations. It is shown that, compared with a cold target, the reaction probability in plasma conditions can be enhanced or suppressed, which is ascribed to the deuteron stopping power modifications in plasma. In hotter CD plasma, the energy loss of moderate energetic deuterons reduces, which leads to higher D-D reaction probability, while the contrary happens in colder plasma. This work provides new understanding of fusion reactions in plasma environment.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2020

Anomalous stopping of laser-accelerated intense proton beam in dense ionized matter

Ultrahigh-intensity lasers (10$^{18}$-10$^{22}$W/cm$^{2}$) have opened up new perspectives in many fields of research and application [1-5]. By irradiating a thin foil, an ultrahigh accelerating field (10$^{12}$ V/m) can be formed and multi-MeV ions with unprecedentedly high intensity (10$^{10}$A/cm$^2$) in short time scale ($\sim$ps) are produced [6-14]. Such beams provide new options in radiography [15], high-yield neutron sources [16], high-energy-density-matter generation [17], and ion fast ignition [18,19]. An accurate understanding of the nonlinear behavior of beam transport in matter is crucial for all these applications. We report here the first experimental evidence of anomalous stopping of a laser-generated high-current proton beam in well-characterized dense ionized matter. The observed stopping power is one order of magnitude higher than single-particle slowing-down theory predictions. We attribute this phenomenon to collective effects where the intense beam drives an decelerating electric field approaching 1GV/m in the dense ionized matter. This finding will have considerable impact on the future path to inertial fusion energy.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2019

Statistical analysis of micro-variability properties of the blazar S5 0716+714

The typical blazar S5 0716$+$714 is very interesting due to its rapid and large amplitude variability and high duty cycle of micro-variability in optical band. We analyze the observations in I, R and V bands obtained with the $1.0m$ telescope at Weihai observatory of Shandong University from 2011 to 2018. The model of synchrotron radiation from turbulent cells in a jet has been proposed as a mechanism for explaining micro-variability seen in blazar light curves. Parameters such as the sizes of turbulent cells, the enhanced particle densities, and the location of the turbulent cells in the jet can be studied using this model. The model predicts a time lag between variations as observed in different frequency bands. Automatic model fitting method for micro-variability is developed, and the fitting results of our multi-frequency micro-variability observations support the model. The results show that both the amplitude and duration of flares decomposed from the micro-variability light curves confirm to the log-normal distribution. The turbulent cell size is within the range of about 5 to 55 AU, and the time lags of the micro-variability flares between the I-R and R-V bands should be several minutes. The time lags obtained from the turbulence model are consistent with the fitting statistical results, and the time lags of flares are correlated with the time lags of the whole light curve.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2019

Enhancement of Spintronic Terahertz Emission via Annealing in Ferromagnetic Heterostructures

We systematically investigate the influence of annealing effect on terahertz (THz) generation from CoFeB based magnetic nanofilms driven by femtosecond laser pulses. Three times enhancement of THz yields are achieved in W/CoFeB through annealing effect, and double boosting is obtained in Pt/CoFeB. The mechanism of annealing effect originates from the increase of hot electron mean free path induced by crystallization, which is experimentally corroborated by THz transmission measurement on time-domain spectroscopy. Comparison studies of the thickness dependent THz efficiency after annealing are also implemented, and we eventually conclude that annealing and thickness optimization are of importance for scaling up THz intensity. Our observations not only deepen understanding of the spintronic THz radiation mechanism but also provide normal platform for high speed spintronic opto-electronic devices.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2019

Optimization of high performance spintronic terahertz sources

To achieve high efficiency and good performance of spintronic terahertz sources, we propose and corroborate a remnant magnetization method to radiate continuously and stably terahertz pulses from W/CoFeB/Pt magnetic nanofilms without carrying magnets on the transmitters driven by femtosecond laser pulses. We systematically investigate the influences of the pumping central wavelength and find out the optimal wavelength for a fixed sample thickness. We also optimize the incidence angle of the pumping laser and find the emission efficiency is enhanced under oblique incidence. Combing the aforementioned optimizations, we finally obtain comparable radiation efficiency and broadband spectra in W/CoFeB/Pt heterostructures compared with that from 1 mm thick ZnTe nonlinear crystals via optical rectification under the same pumping conditions of 100 fs pulse duration from a Ti:sapphire laser oscillator, which was not previously demonstrated under such pulse duration. We believe our observations not only benefit for a deep insight into the physics of femtosecond spin dynamics, but also help develop novel and cost-effective ultrabroadband spintronic terahertz emitters.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

Femtosecond control of terahertz spin-charge conversion in ferromagnetic heterostructures

Employing electron spin instead of charge to develop spintronic devices holds the merits of low-power consumption in information technologies. Meanwhile, the demand for increasing speed in spintronics beyond current CMOS technology has further triggered intensive researches for ultrafast control of spins even up to unprecedent terahertz regime. The femtosecond laser has been emerging as a potential technique to generate an ultrafast spin-current burst for magnetization manipulation. However, there is a great challenge to establish all-optical control and monitor of the femtosecond transient spin current. Deep insights into the physics and mechanism are extremely essential for the technique. Here, we demonstrate coherently nonthermal excitation of femtosecond spin-charge current conversion parallel to the magnetization in W/CoFeB/Pt heterostructures driven by linearly polarized femtosecond laser pulses. Through systematical investigation we observe the terahertz emission polarization depends on both the magnetization direction and structural asymmetry. We attribute this phenomenon of the terahertz generation parallel to the magnetization induced by linearly polarized femtosecond laser pulses probably to inverse spin-orbit torque effect. Our work not only is beneficial to the deep understanding of spin-charge conversion and spin transportation, but also helps develop novel on-chip terahertz opto-spintronic devices.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

Deformations of the Weyl Character Formula for $SO(2n+1,\mathbb{C})$ via Ice Models

We explore combinatorial formulas for deformations of highest weight characters of the odd orthogonal group $SO(2n+1)$. Our goal is to represent these deformations of characters as partition functions of statistical mechanical models -- in particular, two-dimensional solvable lattice models. In Cartan type $A$, Hamel and King [8] and Brubaker, Bump, and Friedberg [3] gave square ice models on a rectangular lattice which produced such a deformation. Outside of type $A$, ice-type models were found using rectangular lattices with additional boundary conditions that split into two classes -- those with `nested' and `non-nested bends.' Our results fill a gap in the literature, providing the first such formulas for type $B$ with non-nested bends. In type $B$, there are many known combinatorial parameterizations of highest weight representation basis vectors as catalogued by Proctor [19]. We show that some of these permit ice-type models via appropriate bijections (those of Sundaram [21] and Koike-Terada [15]) while other examples due to Proctor do not.

math.CO↗

arXiv2018

Radio-loud AGN variability from three-dimensional propagating relativistic jets

The enormous sizes and variability of emission of radio-loud AGNs arise from the relativistic flows of plasma along two oppositely directed jets. We use the Athena hydrodynamics code to simulate an extensive suite of 54 propagating three-dimensional relativistic jets with wide ranges of input jet velocities and jet-to-ambient matter density ratios. We determine which parameter sets yield unstable jets that produce jet dominated FR I type radio galaxy morphologies and which tend to produce stable jets with hot-spots and FR II morphologies. Nearly all our simulations involve jets with internal pressures matched to those of the ambient medium but we also consider over-pressured jets and discuss differences from the standard ones. We also show that the results are not strongly dependent on the adiabatic index of the fluid. We focus on simulations that remain stable for extended distances (60-240) times the initial jet radius. Scaled to the much smaller sizes probed by VLBI observations, the fluctuations in such simulated flows yield variability in observed emissivity on timescales from months. Adopting results for the densities, pressures and velocities from these simulations we estimate normalized rest frame synchrotron emissivities from individual cells in the jets. The observed emission from each cell is strongly dependent upon its variable Doppler boosting factor. We sum the fluxes from thousands of zones around the primary reconfinement shock. The light curves an power-spectra, with red-noise slopes between -2.1 and -2.5, so produced are similar to those observed from blazars.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2018

Broadband Magnetic-Manipulated Spintronic Terahertz Emitter with Arbitrarily Tunable Polarizations

Flexible manipulation of terahertz-wave polarization during the generation process is very important for terahertz applications, especially for the next-generation on-chip functional terahertz sources. However, current terahertz emitters could not satisfy such demand, hence calling for new mechanism and conceptually new terahertz source. Here we demonstrate a magnetic-field-controlled, highly-efficient, cost-effective, and broadband terahertz source with flexible switch of terahertz polarization states in ferromagnetic heterostructures driven by femtosecond laser pulses. We verify that the chirality, azimuthal angle, and ellipticity of the generated elliptical terahertz waves can be independently manipulated by delicately engineering of the external applied magnetic fields via effectively manipulating the photo-induced spin currents. Such an ultrafast photomagnetic interaction-based, magnetic-field-controlled, and broadband tunable solid-state terahertz source integrated with terahertz polarization tunability function not only has the capability to reveal physical mechanisms of femtosecond spin dynamics, but also demonstrates the feasibility to realize novel on-chip terahertz functional devices, boosting the potential applications for controlling elementary molecular rotations, phonon vibrations, spin precessions, high-speed terahertz communication, and accelerating the development of ultrafast terahertz opto-spintronics.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

THz pulses over 50 millijoules generated from relativistic picosecond laser-plasma interactions

Ultrahigh-power terahertz (THz) radiation sources are essential for many applications, such as nonlinear THz physics, THz-wave based compact accelerators, etc. However, until now none of THz sources reported, whether based upon large-scale accelerators or high power lasers, have produced THz pulses with energies above the millijoule (mJ) barrier. Here we report on the efficient generation of low-frequency (<3 THz) THz pulses with unprecedentedly high energies over 50 mJ. The THz radiation is produced by coherent transition radiation of a picosecond laser-accelerated ultra-bright bunch of relativistic electrons from a solid target. Such high energy THz pulses can not only trigger various nonlinear dynamics in matter, but also open up a new research field of relativistic THz optics.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2018

Statistical analysis of variability properties of the Kepler blazar W2R 1926+42

We analyzed Kepler light curves of the blazar W2R 1926+42 that provided nearly continuous coverage from quarter 11 through quarter 17 (589 days between 2011 and 2013) and examined some of their flux variability properties. We investigate the possibility that the light curve is dominated by a large number of individual flares and adopt exponential rise and decay models to investigate the symmetry properties of flares. We found that those variations of W2R 1926+42 are predominantly asymmetric with weak tendencies toward positive asymmetry (rapid rise and slow decay). The durations (D) and the amplitudes (F0) of flares can be fit with log-normal distributions. The energy (E) of each flare is also estimated for the first time. There are positive correlations between logD and logE with a slope of 1.36, and between logF0 and logE with a slope of 1.12. Lomb-Scargle periodograms are used to estimate the power spectral density (PSD) shape. It is well described by a power law with an index ranging between -1.1 and -1.5. The sizes of the emission regions, R, are estimated to be in the range of 1.1*10^15 cm - 6.6*10^16 cm. The flare asymmetry is difficult to explain by a light travel time effect but may be caused by differences between the timescales for acceleration and dissipation of high-energy particles in the relativistic jet. A jet-in-jet model also could produce the observed log-normal distributions.

astro-ph.GA↗