The linear temporal stability characteristics of converging-diverging, symmetric wavy walled channel flows are numerically investigated in this paper. The basic flow in the problem is a superposition of plane channel flow and periodic flow components arising due to the small amplitude sinusoidal waviness of the channel walls. The disturbance equations are derived within the frame work of Floquet theory and solved using the spectral collocation method. Two-dimensional stability calculations indicate the presence of fast growing unstable modes that arise due to the waviness of the walls. Neutral stability calculations are performed in the disturbance wavenumber-Reynolds number (a s-R) plane, for the wavy channel with wavenumber k 1 =0.2 and the wall amplitude to semi-channel height ratio, E,,., up to 0.1. It is also shown that the two-dimensional wavy channel flows can be modulated by a suitable frequency of wall excitation cog , thereby stabilizing the flow.

A numerical procedure is developed for the analysis of flow in a channel whose walls describe a travelling wave motion. Following a perturbation method, the primitive variables are expanded in a series with the wall amplitude as the perturbation parameter. The boundary conditions are applied at the mean surface of the channel and the first-order perturbation quantities are calculated using the pseudospectral collocation method. Although limited by the linear analysis, the present approach is not restricted by the Reynolds number of the flow and the wave number and frequency of the wavy-walled channel. Using the computed wall shear stresses, the positions of flow separation and reattachment are determined. The variations in velocity and pressure with frequency of excitation are also presented.

Atomic ions, confined in radio-frequency Paul ion traps, are a promising candidate to host a future quantum information processor. In this letter, we demonstrate a method to couple two motional modes of a single trapped ion, where the coupling mechanism is based on applying electric fields rather than coupling the ion's motion to a light field. This reduces the design constraints on the experimental apparatus considerably. As an application of this mechanism, we cool a motional mode close to its ground state without accessing it optically. As a next step, we apply this technique to measure the mode's heating rate, a crucial parameter determining the trap quality. In principle, this method can be used to realize a two-mode quantum parametric amplifier.

This paper is part of a study on the receptivity characteristics of the shear flow in a channel whose walls are subjected to a wave-like excitation. The small amplitude forced wavy wall motion is characterised by a wave number vector 21, 22 and a frequency o~g. The basic flow in the problem is a superposition of the PoiseuiUe flow and a periodic component that corresponds to the wave excitation of the wall. The aim of the study is to examine the susceptibility of this flow to transition. The problem is approached through studying the stability characteristics of the basic flow with respect to small disturbances. The theoretical framework for this purpose is Floquet theory. The solution procedure for solving the eigenvalue problem is the spectral collocation method. Preliminary results showing the influence of the amplitude and the wave number of the wall excitation on the stability boundary of the flow are presented.