BRAMBILLA M.

This paper introduces a new method for utilizing piezoelectric elements placed within a structure or system for structural health monitoring purposes. The novel damage feature suggested here is the piezoelectric coupling factor. It is proven to be sensitive to damage presence and its severity and it is not significantly affected by changes in...

The paper presents an exploratory study about the use of electro-mechanical coupling measurements as a feature for detecting structural alterations using piezoelectric transducers. This coupling between the piezoelectric transducers and the structure can be estimated by means of low frequency vibration measurements and will prove to be a...

A novel scattering-type near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) system based on a terahertz (THz) quantum cascade laser operating in self-detection mode is employed to probe a resonant phonon-polariton mode of a thin topological insulator flake (Bi2Te2.2Se0.8). Background-free near-field imaging with nanoscale spatial resolution is demonstrated.