Hysteresis shaping in stochastic driven systems

A large set of sensors (SQUID, piezoelectric, etc.) show a nonlinear calibr ation curve due to the hysteresis phenomenon. Moreover, sensors usually wor k in the presence of noise that very often compromises the sensitivity of t he device in the low-level range. A useful way to investigate the behavior of such a complex system is to mod el the hysteresis with the well-known quartic double well (QDW) potential s ubjected to noise-driven fluctuations along with a periodic signal. The aut hors in a previous work [11] discussed the analysis of such a system in the case when a deterministic signal is forced in. In this paper, an analysis of the QDW potential subjected to both dissipati on and stochastic fluctuation along with an external deterministic forcing signal is performed to investigate the possibility of optimizing the system sensitivity, by a suitable shaping of the hysteresis, as the forcing term characteristics change. This study can help to improve the feature of a general class of devices fo rced with a low-amplitude signal, located in a noisy environment. Moreover, suitable issues useful during the design phase of the devices can be obtai ned.