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Nature 437, 962-963 (13 October 2005) | doi:10.1038/437962a; Published online 12 October 2005
Device physics: No-nuisance noise
Adi R. Bulsara1
Abstract
'Silence is golden' is a maxim of limited applicability where stochastic resonance holds sway. The effect uses noise to boost signal output in certain systems — and has just been seen in oscillators on a very small scale.
Stochastic resonance1, 2 encapsulates the sexy notion that moderate (and, ideally, carefully controlled) levels of noise in a nonlinear dynamical system can actually enhance the information throughput — and so improve the sensing and processing of otherwise undetectable signals. Originally postulated as a mechanism to explain how ice ages occur, the effect has since been demonstrated in a plethora of laboratory experiments, and has also been proposed to be responsible for the way in which biological sensing mechanisms function to take advantage of inherent background noise.
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