Zeitschriftenaufsätze

As computers come to be used in more and more settings, the importance of digital signal processing increases in parallel. It has become a fundamental necessity to train both undergraduate and postgraduate engineers in this subject. The article which follows gives one approach to this teaching, a series of web-based practical sessions on signal and pattern recognition in a virtual laboratory (vPSM) using multimedia learning modules. The technology used is conventional web technology together with professional mathematics software, accessed via a universal XML interface developed for the purpose.

The d-wave pairing symmetry in high-critical temperature superconductors makes it possible to realize superconducting rings with built-in pi phase shifts. Such rings have a twofold degenerate ground state that is characterized by the spontaneous generation of fractional magnetic flux quanta with either up or down polarity. We have incorporated pi phase-biased superconducting rings in a logic circuit, a flip-flop, in which the fractional flux polarity is controllably toggled by applying single flux quantum pulses at the input channel. The integration of pi rings into conventional rapid single flux quantum logic as natural two-state devices should alleviate the need for bias current lines, improve device symmetry, and enhance the operation margins.