Drag reduction of three-dimensional bodies by base blowing with various gas densities.

This study reveals that injecting a light fluid of density ρ_{b} in the recirculating bubble of a bluff body at Re≈6.4×10^{4} has a greater drag reduction potential than blowing fluid of a density greater than or equal to that of the free stream ρ. It is found that the maximum drag reduction scales as (ρ_{b}/ρ)^{-1/6}. This power law combines the ability of the recirculating bubble to diffuse the injected momentum and the effectiveness of the injection to increase the recirculating bubble length.

Frequency-selection mechanism in incompressible open-cavity flows via reflected instability waves.

We present an alternative perspective on nonharmonic mode coexistence, commonly found in the shear layer spectrum of open-cavity flows. Modes obtained by a local linear stability analysis of perturbations to a two-dimensional, incompressible, and inviscid sheared flow over a cavity of finite length and depth were conditioned by a so-called coincidence condition first proposed by Kulikowskii [J. Appl. Math. Mech. 30, 180 (1966)] which takes into account instability wave reflection within the cavity. The analysis yields a set of discrete, nonharmonic frequencies, which compare well with experimental results [Phys. Fluids 20, 114101 (2008); Exp. Fluids 50, 905 (2010)].

Area law scaling for the entropy of disordered quasifree fermions.

We study theoretically and numerically the entanglement entropy of the d-dimensional free fermions whose one-body Hamiltonian is the Anderson model. Using the basic facts of the exponential Anderson localization, we show first that the disorder averaged entanglement entropy ⟨S(Λ)⟩ of the d dimension cube Λ of side length l admits the area law scaling ⟨S(Λ)⟩ ∼ l((d-1)),l ≫ 1, even in the gapless case, thereby manifesting the area law in the mean for our model. For d = 1 and l ≫ 1 we obtain then asymptotic bounds for the entanglement entropy of typical realizations of disorder and use them to show that the entanglement entropy is not self-averaging, i.e., has nonvanishing random fluctuations even if l ≫ 1.

Determining the spectral signature of spatial coherent structures in an open cavity flow.

We applied to an open flow a proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) technique, on two-dimensional (2D) snapshots of the instantaneous velocity field, to reveal the spatial coherent structures responsible for the self-sustained oscillations observed in the spectral distribution of time series. We applied the technique to 2D planes out of three-dimensional (3D) direct numerical simulations on an open cavity flow. The process can easily be implemented on usual personal computers, and might bring deep insights regarding the relation between spatial events and temporal signature in (both numerical or experimental) open flows.

Experimental targeting and control of spatiotemporal chaos in nonlinear optics.

We demonstrate targeting and control over spatiotemporal chaos in an optical feedback loop experiment. Different stationary target patterns are stabilized in real time by means of a two dimensional space extended perturbation field driven by an interfaced computer and applied in real space to a liquid crystal display device inserted within a control optical loop. The flexibility of the system in switching between different target patterns is also demonstrated.

Detecting local synchronization in coupled chaotic systems.

We introduce a technique to detect and quantify local functional dependencies between coupled chaotic systems. The method estimates the fraction of locally synchronized configurations, in a pair of signals with an arbitrary state of global synchronization. Application to a pair of interacting Rössler oscillators shows that our method is able to quantify the number of dynamical configurations where a local prediction task is possible, as well as in the absence of global synchronization features.

Transition to space-time chaos in an optical loop with translational transport.

We describe the transition from regular patterns to space-time chaos in an optical system with nonlocal feedback. The nonlocality introduced breaks the rotational symmetry of the system, resulting in a scenario for the transition from regular patterns to a disordered dynamics. The different regimes are characterized both in terms of spatial and temporal correlation functions, and by means of a Kahrunen-Loeve decomposition. This allows the determination of the structures participating in the dynamics, and an estimation of the active degrees of freedom versus the control parameter.

Bistability between different localized structures in nonlinear optics.

We report the observation of different localized structures coexisting for the same parameter values in an extended system. The experimental findings are carried out in a nonlinear optical interferometer and are fully confirmed by numerical simulations. The existence of each kind of localized structure is put in relation to a corresponding delocalized pattern observed. A quantitative evaluation of the range of pump parameter allowing bistability between localized structures is given. The phenomenon reported results to be robust in parameter space.

Competition of periodic and homogeneous modes in extended dynamical systems.

Despite their simple structure, spatially homogeneous modes can participate directly in pattern-formation processes. This is demonstrated by new experimental and theoretical results for thermo- and electroconvection in planar nematic liquid crystals, where two distinct homogeneous modes, twist and splay distortions of the director field, emerge. Their nonlinear excitation is due to certain spontaneous symmetry-breaking bifurcations.

Transition to spatiotemporal chaos in the fronts dynamics of a subcritical state.

The evolution of the isolated domains of a bifurcated structure in a subcritical state is experimentally studied along the hysteresis branch, up to the critical point at which a chaotic regime is found to develop. The width of the domains is unstable and the fronts dynamics exhibit a cascade of bifurcations as the constraint increases. The chaotic regime is initiated by a splitting of the isolated domains, controlled by a width-selection mechanism. Most of these results are qualitatively reproduced in a fifth-order Ginzburg-Landau model.

Two-dimensional optical architectures for the receive mode of phased-array antennas.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate two optical architectures that process the receive mode of a p x p element phased-array antenna. The architectures are based on free-space propagation and switching of the channelized optical carriers of microwave signals. With the first architecture a direct transposition of the received signals in the optical domain is assumed. The second architecture is based on the optical generation and distribution of a microwave local oscillator matched in frequency and direction. Preliminary experimental results at microwave frequencies of approximately 3 GHz are presented.