The development of flexible strain sensors over the past decade has focused on accessing high strain percentages and high sensitivity (i.e., gauge factors). Strain sensors that employ capacitance as the electrical signal to correlate to strain are typically restricted in sensitivity because of the Poisson effect. By employing auxetic structures, the limits of sensitivity for capacitive sensors have been exceeded, which has improved the competitiveness of this modality of sensing. In this work, the first employment of helical auxetic yarns as capacitive sensors is presented. It is found that the response of the helical auxetic yarn capacitive sensors (termed as HACS) is dependent on the two main fabrication variables—the ratio of diameters and the helical wrapping length. Depending on these variables, sensors that respond to strain with increasing or decreasing capacitance values can be obtained. A greater auxetic character results in larger sensitivities accessible at smaller strains—a characteristic that is not commonly found when accessing high gauge factors. In addition, the highest sensitivity for auxetic capacitive sensors reported thus far is obtained. A mechanism of sensor response that explains both the variable capacitance response and the high gauge factors obtained experimentally is proposed.

The use of spin waves as a signal carrier requires developing the functional elements allowing for multiplexing and demultiplexing information coded at different wavelengths. For this purpose, we propose a system of thin ferromagnetic layers dynamically coupled by a rectangular ferromagnetic resonator. We show that single and double, clockwise and counterclockwise, circulating modes of the resonator offer a wide possibility of control of propagating waves. Particularly, at frequency related to the double-clockwise circulating spin-wave mode of the resonator, the spin wave excited in one layer is transferred to the second one where it propagates in the backward direction. Interestingly, the wave excited in the second layer propagates in the forward direction only in that layer. This demonstrates add-drop filtering and circulator functionality. Thus, the proposed system can become an important part of future magnonic technology for signal routing.

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