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Published work

31 published item(s)

preprint2026arXiv

Focusable Monocular Depth Estimation

Monocular depth foundation models generalize well across scenes, yet they are typically optimized with uniform pixel-wise objectives that do not distinguish user-specified or task-relevant target regions from the surrounding context. We therefore introduce Focusable Monocular Depth Estimation (FDE), a region-aware depth estimation task in which, given a specified target region, the model is required to prioritize foreground depth accuracy, preserve sharp boundary transitions, and maintain coherent global scene geometry. To prioritize task-critical region modeling, we propose FocusDepth, a prompt-conditioned monocular relative depth estimation framework that guides depth modeling to focus on target regions via box/text prompts. The core Multi-Scale Spatial-Aligned Fusion (MSSA) in FocusDepth spatially aligns multi-scale features from Segment Anything Model 3 to the Depth Anything family and injects them through scale-specific, gated conditional fusion. This enables dense prompt cue injection without disrupting geometric representations, thereby endowing the depth estimation model with focused perception capability. To study FDE, we establish FDE-Bench, a target-centric monocular relative depth benchmark built from image-target-depth triplets across five datasets, containing 252.9K/72.5K train/val triplets and 972 categories spanning real-world and embodied simulation environments. On FDE-Bench, FocusDepth consistently improves over globally fine-tuned DA2/DA3 baselines under both box and text prompts, with the largest gains appearing in target boundary and foreground regions while preserving global scene geometry. Ablations show that MSSA's spatial alignment is the key design factor, as disrupting prompt-geometry correspondence increases AbsRel by up to 13.8%.

preprint2025arXiv

A Unified Approach to Submodular Maximization Under Noise

We consider the problem of maximizing a submodular function with access to a noisy value oracle for the function instead of an exact value oracle. Similar to prior work, we assume that the noisy oracle is persistent in that multiple calls to the oracle for a specific set always return the same value. In this model, Hassidim and Singer (2017) design a $(1-1/e)$-approximation algorithm for monotone submodular maximization subject to a cardinality constraint, and Huang et al (2022) design a $(1-1/e)/2$-approximation algorithm for monotone submodular maximization subject to any arbitrary matroid constraint. In this paper, we design a meta-algorithm that allows us to take any "robust" algorithm for exact submodular maximization as a black box and transform it into an algorithm for the noisy setting while retaining the approximation guarantee. By using the meta-algorithm with the measured continuous greedy algorithm, we obtain a $(1-1/e)$-approximation (resp. $1/e$-approximation) for monotone (resp. non-monotone) submodular maximization subject to a matroid constraint under noise. Furthermore, by using the meta-algorithm with the double greedy algorithm, we obtain a $1/2$-approximation for unconstrained (non-monotone) submodular maximization under noise.

preprint2024arXiv

A Data-driven dE/dx Simulation with Normalizing Flow

In high-energy physics, precise measurements rely on highly reliable detector simulations. Traditionally, these simulations involve incorporating experiment data to model detector responses and fine-tuning them. However, due to the complexity of the experiment data, tuning the simulation can be challenging. One crucial aspect for charged particle identification is the measurement of energy deposition per unit length (referred to as dE/dx). This paper proposes a data-driven dE/dx simulation method using the Normalizing Flow technique, which can learn the dE/dx distribution directly from experiment data. By employing this method, not only can the need for manual tuning of the dE/dx simulation be eliminated, but also high-precision simulation can be achieved.

preprint2023arXiv

A High Order Geometry Conforming Immersed Finite Element for Elliptic Interface Problems

We present a high order immersed finite element (IFE) method for solving the elliptic interface problem with interface-independent meshes. The IFE functions developed here satisfy the interface conditions exactly and they have optimal approximation capabilities. The construction of this novel IFE space relies on a nonlinear transformation based on the Frenet-Serret frame of the interface to locally map it into a line segment, and this feature makes the process of constructing the IFE functions cost-effective and robust for any degree. This new class of immersed finite element functions is locally conforming with the usual weak form of the interface problem so that they can be employed in the standard interior penalty discontinuous Galerkin scheme without additional penalties on the interface. Numerical examples are provided to showcase the convergence properties of the method under $h$ and $p$ refinements.

preprint2023arXiv

Decentralized Gradient Tracking with Local Steps

Gradient tracking (GT) is an algorithm designed for solving decentralized optimization problems over a network (such as training a machine learning model). A key feature of GT is a tracking mechanism that allows to overcome data heterogeneity between nodes. We develop a novel decentralized tracking mechanism, $K$-GT, that enables communication-efficient local updates in GT while inheriting the data-independence property of GT. We prove a convergence rate for $K$-GT on smooth non-convex functions and prove that it reduces the communication overhead asymptotically by a linear factor $K$, where $K$ denotes the number of local steps. We illustrate the robustness and effectiveness of this heterogeneity correction on convex and non-convex benchmark problems and on a non-convex neural network training task with the MNIST dataset.

preprint2022arXiv

An Improved Analysis of Gradient Tracking for Decentralized Machine Learning

We consider decentralized machine learning over a network where the training data is distributed across $n$ agents, each of which can compute stochastic model updates on their local data. The agent's common goal is to find a model that minimizes the average of all local loss functions. While gradient tracking (GT) algorithms can overcome a key challenge, namely accounting for differences between workers' local data distributions, the known convergence rates for GT algorithms are not optimal with respect to their dependence on the mixing parameter $p$ (related to the spectral gap of the connectivity matrix). We provide a tighter analysis of the GT method in the stochastic strongly convex, convex and non-convex settings. We improve the dependency on $p$ from $\mathcal{O}(p^{-2})$ to $\mathcal{O}(p^{-1}c^{-1})$ in the noiseless case and from $\mathcal{O}(p^{-3/2})$ to $\mathcal{O}(p^{-1/2}c^{-1})$ in the general stochastic case, where $c \geq p$ is related to the negative eigenvalues of the connectivity matrix (and is a constant in most practical applications). This improvement was possible due to a new proof technique which could be of independent interest.

preprint2022arXiv

Learning Disentangled Behaviour Patterns for Wearable-based Human Activity Recognition

In wearable-based human activity recognition (HAR) research, one of the major challenges is the large intra-class variability problem. The collected activity signal is often, if not always, coupled with noises or bias caused by personal, environmental, or other factors, making it difficult to learn effective features for HAR tasks, especially when with inadequate data. To address this issue, in this work, we proposed a Behaviour Pattern Disentanglement (BPD) framework, which can disentangle the behavior patterns from the irrelevant noises such as personal styles or environmental noises, etc. Based on a disentanglement network, we designed several loss functions and used an adversarial training strategy for optimization, which can disentangle activity signals from the irrelevant noises with the least dependency (between them) in the feature space. Our BPD framework is flexible, and it can be used on top of existing deep learning (DL) approaches for feature refinement. Extensive experiments were conducted on four public HAR datasets, and the promising results of our proposed BPD scheme suggest its flexibility and effectiveness. This is an open-source project, and the code can be found at http://github.com/Jie-su/BPD

preprint2022arXiv

Mass Testing and Characterization of 20-inch PMTs for JUNO

Main goal of the JUNO experiment is to determine the neutrino mass ordering using a 20kt liquid-scintillator detector. Its key feature is an excellent energy resolution of at least 3 % at 1 MeV, for which its instruments need to meet a certain quality and thus have to be fully characterized. More than 20,000 20-inch PMTs have been received and assessed by JUNO after a detailed testing program which began in 2017 and elapsed for about four years. Based on this mass characterization and a set of specific requirements, a good quality of all accepted PMTs could be ascertained. This paper presents the performed testing procedure with the designed testing systems as well as the statistical characteristics of all 20-inch PMTs intended to be used in the JUNO experiment, covering more than fifteen performance parameters including the photocathode uniformity. This constitutes the largest sample of 20-inch PMTs ever produced and studied in detail to date, i.e. 15,000 of the newly developed 20-inch MCP-PMTs from Northern Night Vision Technology Co. (NNVT) and 5,000 of dynode PMTs from Hamamatsu Photonics K. K.(HPK).

preprint2022arXiv

RelaySum for Decentralized Deep Learning on Heterogeneous Data

In decentralized machine learning, workers compute model updates on their local data. Because the workers only communicate with few neighbors without central coordination, these updates propagate progressively over the network. This paradigm enables distributed training on networks without all-to-all connectivity, helping to protect data privacy as well as to reduce the communication cost of distributed training in data centers. A key challenge, primarily in decentralized deep learning, remains the handling of differences between the workers' local data distributions. To tackle this challenge, we introduce the RelaySum mechanism for information propagation in decentralized learning. RelaySum uses spanning trees to distribute information exactly uniformly across all workers with finite delays depending on the distance between nodes. In contrast, the typical gossip averaging mechanism only distributes data uniformly asymptotically while using the same communication volume per step as RelaySum. We prove that RelaySGD, based on this mechanism, is independent of data heterogeneity and scales to many workers, enabling highly accurate decentralized deep learning on heterogeneous data. Our code is available at http://github.com/epfml/relaysgd.

preprint2021arXiv

Current-induced magnetization switching in a chemically disordered A1 CoPt single layer

We report the first demonstration of the current-induced magnetization switching in a perpendicularly magnetized A1 CoPt single layer. We show that good perpendicular magnetic anisotropy can be obtained in a wide composition range of the A1 Co1-xPtx single layers, which allows to fabricate perpendicularly magnetized CoPt single layer with composition gradient to break the inversion symmetry of the structure. By fabricating the gradient CoPt single layer, we have evaluated the SOT efficiency and successfully realized the SOT-induced magnetization switching. Our study provides an approach to realize the current-induced magnetization in the ferromagnetic single layers without attaching SOT source materials.

preprint2021arXiv

JUNO Physics and Detector

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a 20 kton LS detector at 700-m underground. An excellent energy resolution and a large fiducial volume offer exciting opportunities for addressing many important topics in neutrino and astro-particle physics. With 6 years of data, the neutrino mass ordering can be determined at 3-4 sigma and three oscillation parameters can be measured to a precision of 0.6% or better by detecting reactor antineutrinos. With 10 years of data, DSNB could be observed at 3-sigma; a lower limit of the proton lifetime of 8.34e33 years (90% C.L.) can be set by searching for p->nu_bar K^+; detection of solar neutrinos would shed new light on the solar metallicity problem and examine the vacuum-matter transition region. A core-collapse supernova at 10 kpc would lead to ~5000 IBD and ~2000 (300) all-flavor neutrino-proton (electron) scattering events. Geo-neutrinos can be detected with a rate of ~400 events/year. We also summarize the final design of the JUNO detector and the key R&D achievements. All 20-inch PMTs have been tested. The average photon detection efficiency is 28.9% for the 15,000 MCP PMTs and 28.1% for the 5,000 dynode PMTs, higher than the JUNO requirement of 27%. Together with the >20 m attenuation length of LS, we expect a yield of 1345 p.e. per MeV and an effective energy resolution of 3.02%/\sqrt{E (MeV)}$ in simulations. The underwater electronics is designed to have a loss rate <0.5% in 6 years. With degassing membranes and a micro-bubble system, the radon concentration in the 35-kton water pool could be lowered to <10 mBq/m^3. Acrylic panels of radiopurity <0.5 ppt U/Th are produced. The 20-kton LS will be purified onsite. Singles in the fiducial volume can be controlled to ~10 Hz. The JUNO experiment also features a double calorimeter system with 25,600 3-inch PMTs, a LS testing facility OSIRIS, and a near detector TAO.

preprint2021arXiv

Overcoming Long-term Catastrophic Forgetting through Adversarial Neural Pruning and Synaptic Consolidation

Artificial neural networks face the well-known problem of catastrophic forgetting. What's worse, the degradation of previously learned skills becomes more severe as the task sequence increases, known as the long-term catastrophic forgetting. It is due to two facts: first, as the model learns more tasks, the intersection of the low-error parameter subspace satisfying for these tasks becomes smaller or even does not exist; second, when the model learns a new task, the cumulative error keeps increasing as the model tries to protect the parameter configuration of previous tasks from interference. Inspired by the memory consolidation mechanism in mammalian brains with synaptic plasticity, we propose a confrontation mechanism in which Adversarial Neural Pruning and synaptic Consolidation (ANPyC) is used to overcome the long-term catastrophic forgetting issue. The neural pruning acts as long-term depression to prune task-irrelevant parameters, while the novel synaptic consolidation acts as long-term potentiation to strengthen task-relevant parameters. During the training, this confrontation achieves a balance in that only crucial parameters remain, and non-significant parameters are freed to learn subsequent tasks. ANPyC avoids forgetting important information and makes the model efficient to learn a large number of tasks. Specifically, the neural pruning iteratively relaxes the current task's parameter conditions to expand the common parameter subspace of the task; the synaptic consolidation strategy, which consists of a structure-aware parameter-importance measurement and an element-wise parameter updating strategy, decreases the cumulative error when learning new tasks. The full source code is available at https://github.com/GeoX-Lab/ANPyC.

preprint2020arXiv

An Enriched Immersed Finite Element Method for Interface Problems with Nonhomogeneous Jump Conditions

This article presents and analyzes a $p^{th}$-degree immersed finite element (IFE) method for elliptic interface problems with nonhomogeneous jump conditions. In this method, jump conditions are approximated optimally by basic IFE and enrichment IFE piecewise polynomial functions constructed by solving local Cauchy problems on interface elements. The proposed IFE method is based on a discontinuous Galerkin formulation on interface elements and a continuous Galerkin formulation on non-interface elements. This $p^{th}$-degree IFE method is proved to converge optimally under mesh refinement. In addition, this article addresses the stability of this IFE method and has established upper bounds for its condition numbers which are optimal with respect to the mesh size but suboptimal with respect to the contrast of the discontinuous coefficient.

preprint2020arXiv

Deep Collaborative Embedding for information cascade prediction

Recently, information cascade prediction has attracted increasing interest from researchers, but it is far from being well solved partly due to the three defects of the existing works. First, the existing works often assume an underlying information diffusion model, which is impractical in real world due to the complexity of information diffusion. Second, the existing works often ignore the prediction of the infection order, which also plays an important role in social network analysis. At last, the existing works often depend on the requirement of underlying diffusion networks which are likely unobservable in practice. In this paper, we aim at the prediction of both node infection and infection order without requirement of the knowledge about the underlying diffusion mechanism and the diffusion network, where the challenges are two-fold. The first is what cascading characteristics of nodes should be captured and how to capture them, and the second is that how to model the non-linear features of nodes in information cascades. To address these challenges, we propose a novel model called Deep Collaborative Embedding (DCE) for information cascade prediction, which can capture not only the node structural property but also two kinds of node cascading characteristics. We propose an auto-encoder based collaborative embedding framework to learn the node embeddings with cascade collaboration and node collaboration, in which way the non-linearity of information cascades can be effectively captured. The results of extensive experiments conducted on real-world datasets verify the effectiveness of our approach.

preprint2020arXiv

Don't Use Large Mini-Batches, Use Local SGD

Mini-batch stochastic gradient methods (SGD) are state of the art for distributed training of deep neural networks. Drastic increases in the mini-batch sizes have lead to key efficiency and scalability gains in recent years. However, progress faces a major roadblock, as models trained with large batches often do not generalize well, i.e. they do not show good accuracy on new data. As a remedy, we propose a \emph{post-local} SGD and show that it significantly improves the generalization performance compared to large-batch training on standard benchmarks while enjoying the same efficiency (time-to-accuracy) and scalability. We further provide an extensive study of the communication efficiency vs. performance trade-offs associated with a host of \emph{local SGD} variants.

preprint2020arXiv

Dynamic Model Pruning with Feedback

Deep neural networks often have millions of parameters. This can hinder their deployment to low-end devices, not only due to high memory requirements but also because of increased latency at inference. We propose a novel model compression method that generates a sparse trained model without additional overhead: by allowing (i) dynamic allocation of the sparsity pattern and (ii) incorporating feedback signal to reactivate prematurely pruned weights we obtain a performant sparse model in one single training pass (retraining is not needed, but can further improve the performance). We evaluate our method on CIFAR-10 and ImageNet, and show that the obtained sparse models can reach the state-of-the-art performance of dense models. Moreover, their performance surpasses that of models generated by all previously proposed pruning schemes.

preprint2020arXiv

Error Analysis of Symmetric Linear/Bilinear Partially Penalized Immersed Finite Element Methods for Helmholtz Interface Problems

This article presents an error analysis of the symmetric linear/bilinear partially penalized immersed finite element (PPIFE) methods for interface problems of Helmholtz equations. Under the assumption that the exact solution possesses a usual piecewise $H^2$ regularity, the optimal error bounds for the PPIFE solutions are derived in an energy norm and the usual $L^2$ norm provided that the mesh size is sufficiently small. A numerical example is conducted to validate the theoretical conclusions.

preprint2020arXiv

Extrapolation for Large-batch Training in Deep Learning

Deep learning networks are typically trained by Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) methods that iteratively improve the model parameters by estimating a gradient on a very small fraction of the training data. A major roadblock faced when increasing the batch size to a substantial fraction of the training data for improving training time is the persistent degradation in performance (generalization gap). To address this issue, recent work propose to add small perturbations to the model parameters when computing the stochastic gradients and report improved generalization performance due to smoothing effects. However, this approach is poorly understood; it requires often model-specific noise and fine-tuning. To alleviate these drawbacks, we propose to use instead computationally efficient extrapolation (extragradient) to stabilize the optimization trajectory while still benefiting from smoothing to avoid sharp minima. This principled approach is well grounded from an optimization perspective and we show that a host of variations can be covered in a unified framework that we propose. We prove the convergence of this novel scheme and rigorously evaluate its empirical performance on ResNet, LSTM, and Transformer. We demonstrate that in a variety of experiments the scheme allows scaling to much larger batch sizes than before whilst reaching or surpassing SOTA accuracy.

preprint2020arXiv

Feasibility and physics potential of detecting $^8$B solar neutrinos at JUNO

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory~(JUNO) features a 20~kt multi-purpose underground liquid scintillator sphere as its main detector. Some of JUNO's features make it an excellent experiment for $^8$B solar neutrino measurements, such as its low-energy threshold, its high energy resolution compared to water Cherenkov detectors, and its much large target mass compared to previous liquid scintillator detectors. In this paper we present a comprehensive assessment of JUNO's potential for detecting $^8$B solar neutrinos via the neutrino-electron elastic scattering process. A reduced 2~MeV threshold on the recoil electron energy is found to be achievable assuming the intrinsic radioactive background $^{238}$U and $^{232}$Th in the liquid scintillator can be controlled to 10$^{-17}$~g/g. With ten years of data taking, about 60,000 signal and 30,000 background events are expected. This large sample will enable an examination of the distortion of the recoil electron spectrum that is dominated by the neutrino flavor transformation in the dense solar matter, which will shed new light on the tension between the measured electron spectra and the predictions of the standard three-flavor neutrino oscillation framework. If $Δm^{2}_{21}=4.8\times10^{-5}~(7.5\times10^{-5})$~eV$^{2}$, JUNO can provide evidence of neutrino oscillation in the Earth at the about 3$σ$~(2$σ$) level by measuring the non-zero signal rate variation with respect to the solar zenith angle. Moveover, JUNO can simultaneously measure $Δm^2_{21}$ using $^8$B solar neutrinos to a precision of 20\% or better depending on the central value and to sub-percent precision using reactor antineutrinos. A comparison of these two measurements from the same detector will help elucidate the current tension between the value of $Δm^2_{21}$ reported by solar neutrino experiments and the KamLAND experiment.

preprint2020arXiv

TAO Conceptual Design Report: A Precision Measurement of the Reactor Antineutrino Spectrum with Sub-percent Energy Resolution

The Taishan Antineutrino Observatory (TAO, also known as JUNO-TAO) is a satellite experiment of the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO). A ton-level liquid scintillator detector will be placed at about 30 m from a core of the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant. The reactor antineutrino spectrum will be measured with sub-percent energy resolution, to provide a reference spectrum for future reactor neutrino experiments, and to provide a benchmark measurement to test nuclear databases. A spherical acrylic vessel containing 2.8 ton gadolinium-doped liquid scintillator will be viewed by 10 m^2 Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) of >50% photon detection efficiency with almost full coverage. The photoelectron yield is about 4500 per MeV, an order higher than any existing large-scale liquid scintillator detectors. The detector operates at -50 degree C to lower the dark noise of SiPMs to an acceptable level. The detector will measure about 2000 reactor antineutrinos per day, and is designed to be well shielded from cosmogenic backgrounds and ambient radioactivities to have about 10% background-to-signal ratio. The experiment is expected to start operation in 2022.

preprint2016arXiv

Fast Muon Simulation in the JUNO Central Detector

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a multi-purpose neutrino experiment designed to measure the neutrino mass hierarchy using a central detector (CD), which contains 20 kton liquid scintillator (LS) surrounded by about 17,000 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). Due to the large fiducial volume and huge number of PMTs, the simulation of a muon particle passing through the CD with the Geant4 toolkit becomes an extremely computation-intensive task. This paper presents a fast simulation implementation using a so-called voxel method: for scintillation photons generated in a certain LS voxel, the PMT's response is produced beforehand with Geant4 and then introduced into the simulation at runtime. This parameterisation method successfully speeds up the most CPU consuming process, the optical photon's propagation in the LS, by a factor of 50. In the paper, the comparison of physics performance between fast and full simulation is also given.

preprint2015arXiv

A Priori Error Estimates for Some Discontinuous Galerkin Immersed Finite Element Methods

In this paper, we derive a priori error estimates for a class of interior penalty discontinuous Galerkin (DG) methods using immersed finite element (IFE) functions for a classic second-order elliptic interface problem. The error estimation shows that these methods can converge optimally in a mesh-dependent energy norm. The combination of IFEs and DG formulation in these methods allows local mesh refinement in the Cartesian mesh structure for interface problems. Numerical results are provided to demonstrate the convergence and local mesh refinement features of these DG-IFE methods.

preprint2015arXiv

Neutrino Physics with JUNO

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), a 20 kton multi-purpose underground liquid scintillator detector, was proposed with the determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy as a primary physics goal. It is also capable of observing neutrinos from terrestrial and extra-terrestrial sources, including supernova burst neutrinos, diffuse supernova neutrino background, geoneutrinos, atmospheric neutrinos, solar neutrinos, as well as exotic searches such as nucleon decays, dark matter, sterile neutrinos, etc. We present the physics motivations and the anticipated performance of the JUNO detector for various proposed measurements. By detecting reactor antineutrinos from two power plants at 53-km distance, JUNO will determine the neutrino mass hierarchy at a 3-4 sigma significance with six years of running. The measurement of antineutrino spectrum will also lead to the precise determination of three out of the six oscillation parameters to an accuracy of better than 1\%. Neutrino burst from a typical core-collapse supernova at 10 kpc would lead to ~5000 inverse-beta-decay events and ~2000 all-flavor neutrino-proton elastic scattering events in JUNO. Detection of DSNB would provide valuable information on the cosmic star-formation rate and the average core-collapsed neutrino energy spectrum. Geo-neutrinos can be detected in JUNO with a rate of ~400 events per year, significantly improving the statistics of existing geoneutrino samples. The JUNO detector is sensitive to several exotic searches, e.g. proton decay via the $p\to K^++\barν$ decay channel. The JUNO detector will provide a unique facility to address many outstanding crucial questions in particle and astrophysics. It holds the great potential for further advancing our quest to understanding the fundamental properties of neutrinos, one of the building blocks of our Universe.

preprint2015arXiv

Simulation of natural radioactivity backgrounds in the central detector

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is an experiment proposed to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and probe the fundamental properties of neutrino oscillation. The JUNO central detector is a spherical liquid scintillator detector with 20 kton fiducial mass. It is required to achieve a $3\%/\sqrt{E(MeV)}$ energy resolution with very low radioactive background, which is a big challenge to the detector design. In order to ensure the detector performance can meet the physics requirements, reliable detector simulation is necessary to provide useful information for detector design. A simulation study of natural radioactivity backgrounds in the JUNO central detector has been performed to guide the detector design and set requirements to the radiopurity of detector materials.

preprint2014arXiv

Network flow-based simultaneous retiming and slack budgeting for low power design

Low power design has become one of the most significant requirements when CMOS technology entered the nanometer era. Therefore, timing budget is often performed to slow down as many components as possible so that timing slacks can be applied to reduce the power consumption while maintaining the performance of the whole design. Retiming is a procedure that involves the relocation of flip-flops (FFs) across logic gates to achieve faster clocking speed. In this paper we show that the retiming and slack budgeting problem can be formulated to a convex cost dual network flow problem. Both the theoretical analysis and experimental results show the efficiency of our approach which can not only reduce power consumption by 8.9%, but also speedup previous work by 500 times.

preprint2013arXiv

Induced magneto-transport properties at palladium/yttrium iron garnet interface

As a thin layer of palladium (Pd) is directly deposited on an yttrium iron garnet or YIG (Y3Fe5O12) magnetic insulator film, Pd develops both low- and high-field magneto-transport effects that are absent in standalone Pd or thick Pd on YIG. While the low-field magnetoresistance peak of Pd tracks the coercive field of the YIG film, the much larger high-field magnetoresistance and the Hall effect do not show any obvious relationship with the bulk YIG magnetization. The distinct high-field magneto-transport effects in Pd are shown to be caused by interfacial local moments in Pd.

preprint2010arXiv

Epitaxial EuO Thin Films on GaAs

We demonstrate the epitaxial growth of EuO on GaAs by reactive molecular beam epitaxy. Thin films are grown in an adsorption-controlled regime with the aid of an MgO diffusion barrier. Despite the large lattice mismatch, it is shown that EuO grows well on MgO(001) with excellent magnetic properties. Epitaxy on GaAs is cube-on-cube and longitudinal magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements demonstrate a large Kerr rotation of 0.57°, a significant remanent magnetization, and a Curie temperature of 69 K.

preprint2010arXiv

Optical characterization of Bi$_2$Se$_3$ in a magnetic field: infrared evidence for magnetoelectric coupling in a topological insulator material

We present an infrared magneto-optical study of the highly thermoelectric narrow-gap semiconductor Bi$_2$Se$_3$. Far-infrared and mid-infrared (IR) reflectance and transmission measurements have been performed in magnetic fields oriented both parallel and perpendicular to the trigonal $c$ axis of this layered material, and supplemented with UV-visible ellipsometry to obtain the optical conductivity $σ_1(ω)$. With lowering of temperature we observe narrowing of the Drude conductivity due to reduced quasiparticle scattering, as well as the increase in the absorption edge due to direct electronic transitions. Magnetic fields $H \parallel c$ dramatically renormalize and asymmetrically broaden the strongest far-IR optical phonon, indicating interaction of the phonon with the continuum free-carrier spectrum and significant magnetoelectric coupling. For the perpendicular field orientation, electronic absorption is enhanced, and the plasma edge is slightly shifted to higher energies. In both cases the direct transition energy is softened in magnetic field.

preprint2010arXiv

Tuning carrier type and density in Bi2Se3 by Ca-doping

The carrier type and density in Bi2Se3 single crystals are systematically tuned by introducing a calcium (Ca) dopant. A carrier density of ~1x1017 cm-3 which corresponds to ~25 meV in the Fermi energy is obtained in both n- and p-type materials. Electrical transport properties show that the insulating behavior is achieved in low carrier density crystals. In addition, both the band gap and reduced effective mass of carriers are determined.

preprint2007arXiv

Modeling and Propagation of Noisy Waveforms in Static Timing Analysis

A technique based on the sensitivity of the output to input waveform is presented for accurate propagation of delay information through a gate for the purpose of static timing analysis (STA) in the presence of noise. Conventional STA tools represent a waveform by its arrival time and slope. However, this is not an accurate way of modeling the waveform for the purpose of noise analysis. The key contribution of our work is the development of a method that allows efficient propagation of equivalent waveforms throughout the circuit. Experimental results demonstrate higher accuracy of the proposed sensitivity-based gate delay propagation technique, SGDP, compared to the best of existing approaches. SGDP is compatible with the current level of gate characterization in conventional ASIC cell libraries, and as a result, it can be easily incorporated into commercial STA tools to improve their accuracy.