Enlargement of the omnidirectional photonic band gap by one-dimensional plasma-dielectric photonic crystals with fractal structure

In this paper, an omnidirectional photonic band gap (OBG) which originates from Bragg gap compared to $\text{ zero- }\overline{n}$ zero- n ¯ gap or single negative (negative permittivity or negative permeability) gap, realized by one-dimensional plasma-dielectric photonic crystals with fractal structure (Thue–Mores aperiodic structure), which is composed of plasma and one kind of homogeneous, isotropic dielectric is theoretically studied by the transfer matrix method in detail. Such OBG is insensitive to the incident angle and the polarization of electromagnetic wave. From the numerical results, the bandwidth and central frequency of OBG can be notably enlarged by tuning the thickness of plasma and dielectric layers but cease to change with increasing the Thue–Mores order. The OBG also can be manipulated by the plasma density. Moreover, the plasma collision frequency has no effect on the bandwidth of OBG.     

Influence of temperature on the electric,dielectric and AC conductivity properties of nano-crystalline zinc substituted cobalt ferrite synthesized by solution combustion technique

Cobalt–zinc nanoferrites with formulae Co $_{1-x}$ Zn $_{x}$ Fe $_{2}$ O $_{4}$ , where x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3, have been synthesized by solution combustion technique. The variation of DC resistivity with temperature shows the semiconducting behavior of all nanoferrites. The dielectric properties such as dielectric constant ( $\varepsilon $ ’) and dielectric loss tangent (tan $\delta )$ are investigated as a function of temperature and frequency. Dielectric constant and loss tangent are found to be increasing with an increase in temperature while with an increase in frequency both, $\varepsilon $ ’ and tan $\delta $ , are found to be decreasing. The dielectric properties have been explained on the basis of space charge polarization according to Maxwell–Wagner’s two-layer model and the hopping of charge between Fe $^{2+}$ and Fe $^{3+}$ . Further, a very high value of dielectric constant and a low value of tan $\delta $ are the prime achievements of the present work. The AC electrical conductivity ( $\sigma _\mathrm{AC})$ is studied as a function of temperature as well as frequency and $\sigma _\mathrm{AC}$ is observed to be increasing with the increase in temperature and frequency.     

Spatiotemporal dispersion and waveguide properties of 2D-periodic metallic rod photonic crystals

The method of integral equations based on the Green function of periodically arranged sources with a given phase shift (a periodic Green function) is used to investigate periodic metamaterials in the form of the simplest metallic and dielectric inclusions into a rectangular and cubic lattice in a dielectric medium (matrix) with permittivity ?. Metallic rods with a radius of the order of tens of nanometers are described by a complex macroscopic permittivity \(\operatorname{Re} \tilde \varepsilon < 0\) . Waves in the terahertz and infrared ranges propagate along the rods virtually with the speed of light and with small losses weakly dependent on the transverse wave number, while those in the optical range, especially in its short-wavelength part, transform into slow waves of a dielectric waveguide.     

The slow light in the closed-packed face-centered cubic photonic crystal: characteristics and application design

Using the plane wave expansion method, we calculated the energy band distribution of face-centered cubic (FCC) photonic crystals in the reciprocal lattice space. The influences of various dielectric constant materials on the properties of slow light are discussed. The results show that, in the close-packed hollow spherical FCC photonic crystal, the group velocity of light can be slow down to the velocity about $10^{-4}c$ 10 - 4 c . And the slow light effect tends to occur more strongly in the hollow spherical structure in comparison with the dielectric spherical structure. The possible applications of the slow light effect in the 3D photonic crystal are proposed for solar cells and optical communication devices.     

Optical properties of nano-multi-layered quantum dot: oscillator strength, absorption coefficient and refractive index

In this paper, the exact solution of Schrödinger equation for multi-layered quantum dot (MLQD) within the effective mass approximation and dielectric continuum model is obtained with finite and infinite confining potential (CP). The MLQD is a nano-structured semiconductor system that consists of a spherical core (GaAs) and a coated spherical shell (Ga $_{1-x}$ Al $_{x}$ As) as the whole dot is embedded inside a bulk material (Ga $_{1-y}$ Al $_{y}$ As). Using the obtained energies, wave functions and taking advantage of numeric calculations, the oscillator strength, refractive index and absorbtion coefficient change associated with intersubband electronic transition from the ground state to the first allowed excited state are investigated for different CPs (both finite and infinite) and shell thicknesses. The results show that all values of ground state energy for large core dot radius approach the same value (the energy of bulk material) independent of CPs and shell thicknesses. Also it is shown that the optical properties are strongly affected by the changes in CPs and shell thicknesses.     

Optical properties of ZnO nanocrystals embedded in PMMA

We report in this work the preparation of thin films of ZnO nanocrystals synthesized and dispersed in polymethylmethacrylate using a easy route and deposited in class substrate by spin coating technique. Their structural and optical properties were investigated by X-ray, absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The XRD patterns exhibit sharp peaks at $2\uptheta $ corresponding to the hexagonal (wurtzite) phase diffraction planes. The optically characterization, exhibit a wide absorption band in the range of the study and a large emission band with three peaks at 481.5, 531.09 and at 671.28 nm.The crystallites radius (R) was estimated by applying the effective mass approximation model and was about 1.8 nm. From measurements of second order susceptibilities using harmonic generation technique at $\lambda = 1,064\,\text{ nm }$ in picoseconds regime we deduced $\lambda _\mathrm{eff}^{<2>}$ equal to $5.95\times 10^{-10}$  m/V. Obtained $\lambda _\mathrm{eff}^{<2>}$ was four order of magnitude larger compared with ZnO bulk material (2.5 pm/V).     

Application of a complex band structure to compute the surface states by the Green's function method

By using the analytical properties of the band energies and wave functions in the complex quasi-momentum domain, a procedure is constructed for the calculation of the Green's function \(G_{k_\parallel }\) . The function \(G_{k_\parallel }\) is represented as the sum of components dependent on complex wave vectors. If such a representation is used for \(G_{k_\parallel }\) in the calculation of the surface Green's function [2], then the equation to determine the surface state spectrum in a model with a potential jump agrees with that obtained in [3] by the method of merging the wave functions.     

Long-time Asymptotic for the Derivative Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation with Step-like Initial Value

We study long-time asymptotics of the solution to the Cauchy problem for the Gerdjikov-Ivanov type derivative nonlinear Schrödinger equation i q t + q xx ? i q 2 q ? x + 1 2 | q | 4 q = 0 $$iq_{t}+q_{xx}-iq^{2}\bar{q}_{x}+\frac{1}{2}|q|^{4}{q}=0 $$ with step-like initial data q ( x , 0 ) = 0 $q(x,0)=0$ for x ≤ 0 $x \leqslant 0$ and q ( x , 0 ) = A e ? 2 iBx $q(x,0)=A\mathrm {e}^{-2iBx}$ for x > 0 $x>0$ , where A > 0 $A>0$ and B ∈ ? $B\in \mathbb R$ are constants. We show that there are three regions in the half-plane { ( x , t ) | ? ∞ < x < ∞ , t > 0 } $\{(x,t) | -\infty <x<\infty , t>0\}$ , on which the asymptotics has qualitatively different forms: a slowly decaying self-similar wave of Zakharov-Manakov type for x > ? 4 tB $x>-4tB$ , a plane wave region: x > ? 4 t B + 2 A 2 B + A 2 4 $x<-4t\left (B+\sqrt {2A^{2}\left (B+\frac {A^{2}}{4}\right )}\right )$ , an elliptic region: ? 4 t B + 2 A 2 B + A 2 4 > x > ? 4 tB $-4t\left (B+\sqrt {2A^{2}\left (B+\frac {A^{2}}{4}\right )}\right )<x<-4tB$ . Our main tools include asymptotic analysis, matrix Riemann-Hilbert problem and Deift-Zhou steepest descent method.     

Sharp parameter bounds for certain maximal point lenses

Starting from an $n$ -point circular gravitational lens having $3n+1$ images, Rhie (ArXiv Astrophysics e-prints, 2003) used a perturbation argument to construct an $(n+1)$ -point lens producing $5n$ images. In this work we give a concise proof of Rhie’s result, and we extend the range of parameters in Rhie’s model for which maximal lensing occurs. We also study a slightly different construction given by Bayer and Dyer (Gen Relativ Gravit 39(9):1413–1418, 2007) arising from the $(3n+1)$ -point lens. In particular, we extend their results and give sharp parameter bounds for their lens model. By a substitution of variables and parameters we show that both models are equivalent in a certain sense.     

Terahertz generation by nonlinear mixing of laser and its second harmonic in a rippled density plasma

Terahertz radiation generation by second-order nonlinear mixing of laser $ (\omega_{1} ,\,\vec{k}_{1} ) $ and its frequency shifted second harmonic $ \omega_{2} = 2\omega_{1} - \omega ,\,\,\vec{k}_{2} \, $ $ (\omega \ll \omega_{1} ) $ in a plasma, in the presence of an obliquely inclined density ripple of wave number $ \vec{q} $ , are investigated. The lasers exert ponderomotive force on electrons and drive density perturbations at $ (2\omega_{1} ,\,2\vec{k}_{1} - \vec{q}) $ and $ (\omega_{1} - \omega_{2} ,\,\vec{k}_{1} - \vec{k}_{2} - \vec{q}) $ . These perturbations beat with the electron oscillatory velocities due to the lasers to produce a nonlinear current at $ \omega ,\,\vec{k} = 2\vec{k}_{1} - \vec{k}_{2} - \vec{q} $ , resonantly driving the terahertz radiation when $ \vec{q} $ satisfies the phase matching condition. The radiated THz intensity depends on the relative polarization of the lasers and scales as the square of intensity of the fundamental laser and linearly with the square root of the intensity of the second harmonic. The THz emission is maximized when the polarization of the lasers is aligned. These results are consistent with the recent experimental results.     

Optimal N-Point Configurations on the Sphere: “Magic” Numbers and Smale’s 7th Problem

This paper inquires into the concavity of the map \(N\mapsto v_s(N)\) from the integers \(N\ge 2\) into the minimal average standardized Riesz pair-energies \(v_s(N)\) of \(N\) -point configurations on the sphere \(\mathbb {S}^2\) for various \(s\in \mathbb {R}\) . The standardized Riesz pair-energy of a pair of points on \(\mathbb {S}^2\) a chordal distance \(r\) apart is \(V_s(r)= s^{-1}\left( r^{-s}-1 \right) \) , \(s \ne 0\) , which becomes \(V_0(r) = \ln \frac{1}{r}\) in the limit \(s\rightarrow 0\) . Averaging it over the \(\left( \begin{array}{c} N\\ 2\end{array}\right) \) distinct pairs in a configuration and minimizing over all possible \(N\) -point configurations defines \(v_s(N)\) . It is known that \(N\mapsto v_s(N)\) is strictly increasing for each \(s\in \mathbb {R}\) , and for \(s<2\) also bounded above, thus “overall concave.” It is (easily) proved that \(N\mapsto v_{-2}^{}(N)\) is even locally strictly concave, and that so is the map \(2n\mapsto v_s(2n)\) for \(s<-2\) . By analyzing computer-experimental data of putatively minimal average Riesz pair-energies \(v_s^x(N)\) for \(s\in \{-1,0,1,2,3\}\) and \(N\in \{2,\ldots ,200\}\) , it is found that the map \(N\mapsto {v}_{-1}^x(N)\) is locally strictly concave, while \(N\mapsto {v}_s^x(N)\) is not always locally strictly concave for \(s\in \{0,1,2,3\}\) : concavity defects occur whenever \(N\in {\mathcal {C}}^{x}_+(s)\) (an \(s\) -specific empirical set of integers). It is found that the empirical map \(s\mapsto {\mathcal {C}}^{x}_+(s),\ s\in \{-2,-1,0,1,2,3\}\) , is set-theoretically increasing; moreover, the percentage of odd numbers in \({\mathcal {C}}^{x}_+(s),\ s\in \{0,1,2,3\}\) is found to increase with \(s\) . The integers in \({\mathcal {C}}^{x}_+(0)\) are few and far between, forming a curious sequence of numbers, reminiscent of the “magic numbers” in nuclear physics. It is conjectured that these new “magic numbers” are associated with optimally symmetric optimal-log-energy \(N\) -point configurations on \(\mathbb {S}^2\) . A list of interesting open problems is extracted from the empirical findings, and some rigorous first steps toward their solutions are presented. It is emphasized how concavity can assist in the solution to Smale’s \(7\) th Problem, which asks for an efficient algorithm to find near-optimal \(N\) -point configurations on \(\mathbb {S}^2\) and higher-dimensional spheres.     

Investigation on an ultra-compact 1\times 2 polymer electro-optic switch using cross-coupling 2N+1 vertical-turning serial-coupled microrings

Generic model and thorough investigation are proposed for a novel $1\times 2$ 1 × 2 polymer electro-optic (EO) switch based on one-group $2N+1$ 2 N + 1 vertical-turning serial-coupled microrings. For realizing boxlike flat spectrum as well as low crosstalk and insertion loss, resonance order and coupling gaps are optimized. The MRR switches with $N \ge 1$ N ≥ 1 reveal favorable boxlike spectrum as when compared with the simple device with only one microring ( $N = 0$ N = 0 ). For obtaining $<-30\,\text{ dB }$ < - 30 dB crosstalk under through-state, the dependency of switching voltage on $N$ N is determined as $7.19 \times \text{ exp }(-N/0.72) + 1.72\,(\text{ V })$ 7.19 × exp ( - N / 0.72 ) + 1.72 ( V ) . Under the operation voltages of 0 V (drop state) and the predicted switching voltages (through state), the device performances are analyzed, and $1 \le N \le 10$ 1 ≤ N ≤ 10 is required for dropping the insertion loss (drop state) below 10 dB. The crosstalk of the ten devices ( $N = 1-10$ N = 1 - 10 ) are $< -19.5\,\text{ dB }$ < - 19.5 dB under drop state and $< -28.7\,\text{ dB }$ < - 28.7 dB under through state, and the insertion losses of the devices ( $N = 1-10$ N = 1 - 10 ) are $< 9.715\,\text{ dB }$ < 9.715 dB under drop state and $< 1.573\,\text{ dB }$ < 1.573 dB under through state. The device also has ultra-compact footprint size of only 0.33–1.06 mm, which is only 1/10–1/3 of those of our previously reported polymer EO switches based on directional coupler or Mach–Zehnder interferometer structures. Therefore, the proposed device is capable of highly integration onto optical networks-on-chip.     

Reinforced Brownian Motion: A Prototype

We analyze the Brownian Motion limit of a prototypical unit step reinforced random-walk on the half-line. A reinfoced random walk is one which changes the weight of any edge (or vertex) visited to increase the frequency of return visits. The generating function for the discrete case is first derived for the joint probability distribution of \(S_N\) (the location of the walker at the \(N^{th}\) step) and \(A_N\) , the maximum location the walker achieved in \(N\) steps. Then the bulk of the analysis concerns the statistics of the limiting Brownian walker, and of its “environment”, both parametrized by the amplitude \(\delta \) of the reinforcement. The walker marginal distribution can be interpreted as that of free diffusion with a source serving as a diffusing soft confinement, details depending very much on the value of \(-1< \delta < \infty \) .     

Universality of the Local Regime for the Block Band Matrices with a Finite Number of Blocks

We consider the block band matrices, i.e. the Hermitian matrices $H_N$ , $N=|\Lambda |W$ with elements $H_{jk,\alpha \beta }$ , where $j,k \in \Lambda =[1,m]^d\cap \mathbb {Z}^d$ (they parameterize the lattice sites) and $\alpha , \beta = 1,\ldots , W$ (they parameterize the orbitals on each site). The entries $H_{jk,\alpha \beta }$ are random Gaussian variables with mean zero such that $\langle H_{j_1k_1,\alpha _1\beta _1}H_{j_2k_2,\alpha _2\beta _2}\rangle =\delta _{j_1k_2}\delta _{j_2k_1} \delta _{\alpha _1\beta _2}\delta _{\beta _1\alpha _2} J_{j_1k_1},$ where $J=1/W+\alpha \Delta /W$ , $\alpha < 1/4d$ . This matrices are the special case of Wegner’s $W$ -orbital models. Assuming that the number of sites $|\Lambda |$ is finite, we prove universality of the local eigenvalue statistics of $H_N$ for the energies $|\lambda _0|< \sqrt{2}$ .     

Line intensity measurements of methane’s \nu _3-band using a cw-OPO

We report on absolute line strength measurements of P(1), R(0) and R(1) singlet lines in the \(3.3\,\upmu\hbox {m}\,\nu _{3}\) (C–H stretching) band of methane \(^{12}\hbox {CH}_4\) at reference temperature \(T=296\)  K. Line strength measurements are performed at low pressure \((P \le 1\hbox { Torr})\) using direct absorption spectroscopy technique based on a widely tunable continuous-wave singly resonant optical parametric oscillator. The \(1\sigma \) overall accuracy in line strength determinations ranges between 7 and 8 % mostly limited by pressure and frequency measurements. A comparison with previous reported values is made. Our results show good agreement with the HITRAN 2012 database.     

A novel Sr_{3}Pb_{6}Ce_{2}Ti_{12}O_{36} ferroelectric thin film grown by pulsed laser ablation

Complex perovskite oxide ferroelectric thin films are of great technological interest because of their high dielectric constant and large tunability. In this paper, we report the structural and electrical properties of Sr \(_{3}\) Pb \(_{6}\) Ce \(_{2}\) Ti \(_{12}\) O \(_{36}\) (SPCTO) thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition. The role of oxygen pressure and substrate temperature on the microstructure, dielectric properties and leakage current mechanism of SPCTO thin films was investigated. Strong oxygen partial pressure dependence on the microcrystalline properties and leakage current conduction mechanism was observed. Both Raman spectra and C-V characteristics show a ferroelectric phase rather than paraelectric phase for the deposited thin films. Investigations on the leakage current showed that SPCTO thin films deposited at different oxygen pressure have different dominant conduction mechanism at various electric fields. The low field conduction mechanism is governed by Ohmic and space charge limited conduction mechanisms, whereas at high fields, the conduction process is dominated by Schottky emission mechanism. The dielectric constant as well as the tunability is found to increase with increase in the crystallite size.     

Dielectric properties and microstructural characterization of cubic pyrochlored bismuth magnesium niobates

Cubic bismuth pyrochlores in the $\mathrm{Bi}_{2}\mathrm{O}_{3}$ –MgO– $\mathrm{Nb}_{2}\mathrm{O}_{5}$ system have been investigated as promising dielectric materials due to their high dielectric constant and low dielectric loss. Here, we report on the dielectric properties and microstructures of cubic pyrochlored $\mathrm{Bi}_{1.5}\mathrm{MgNb}_{1.5}\mathrm{O}_{7}$ (BMN) ceramic samples synthesized via solid-state reactions. The dielectric constant (measured at 1 MHz) was measured to be ${\sim}120$ at room temperature, and the dielectric loss was as low as 0.001. X-ray diffraction patterns demonstrated that the BMN samples had a cubic pyrochlored structure, which was also confirmed by selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns. Raman spectrum revealed more than six vibrational models predicted for the ideal pyrochlore structure, indicating additional atomic displacements of the A and $\mathrm{O}'$ sites from the ideal atomic positions in the BMN samples. Structural modulations of the pyrochlore structure along the [110] and [121] directions were observed in SAED patterns and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) images. In addition, HR-TEM images also revealed that the grain boundaries (GBs) in the BMN samples were much clean, and no segregation or impure phase was observed forming at GBs. The high dielectric constants in the BMN samples were ascribed to the long-range ordered pyrochlore structures since the electric dipoles formed at the superstructural direction could be enhanced. The low dielectric loss was attributed to the existence of noncontaminated GBs in the BMN ceramics.     

Dispersion dependence of two-photon absorption transition on frequency in Si PIN photodetector

The variation of two-photon absorption (TPA) coefficient \(\beta _{\mathrm{TPA}} (\omega )\) of Si excited at difference photon energy was investigated. The TPA coefficient was measured by using a picosecond pulsed laser with the wavelength could be tuned in a wide photon-energy range. An equivalent RC circuit model was adapted to derive the TPA coefficient \(\beta _{\mathrm{TPA}} (\omega )\) . The results showed that \(\beta _{\mathrm{TPA}} (\omega )\) varied from \(4.2 \times 10^{-4}\) to \(1.17 \times 10^{-3 }\)  cm/GW in the transparent wavelength region \(1.80<\lambda <1.36\,\upmu \) m of Si. The increasing tendency of \(\beta _{\mathrm{TPA}} (\omega )\) with the incident photon energy can be qualitatively interpreted as the photon energy increases from \(E_{\mathrm{ig}}/2\) to nearly \(E_{\mathrm{ig}}\) , the electrons excited from the valance band find an increasing availability of conduction band states. Comparing with the high-energy side transitions, the TPA coefficient in low-energy side is about 10 times too small. This can be attributed that the TPA transition in low-energy side is the process of photon-assisted electron transitions from valence to conduction band occurring between different points in k-space, while is direct transition in high-energy side.     

Anisotropic resonant magnetoplasticity of NaCl crystals in the Earth’s magnetic field

Resonant relaxation of the dislocation structure under the action of crossed magnetic fields, i.e., constant magnetic field of the Earth (B _Earth) and alternating radio-frequency field ( $\tilde B$ ), has been experimentally studied in a series of dielectric (NaCl) crystals with various compositions of impurities under variations in the frequency, direction of the pumping field $\tilde B$ , and orientation of the samples in the Earth’s magnetic field. The frequency dependence of the dislocation path length l(ν) exhibits peaks with various heights (l _max) and resonant frequencies (ν_res). The maximum resonant effect has been observed for dislocations with the direction L orthogonal to the plane of crossed magnetic fields in a configuration of mutually perpendicular vectors {L, $\tilde B$ , B _Earth} belonging, together with sample edges {a, b, c}, to the 〈100〉 system. Variation of the concentration C of calcium impurity in crystals of the NaCl_Ca series only influenced the resonant peak height as $l_{\max } \propto 1/\sqrt C $ . Rotation of the magnetic field $\tilde B$ in the (b, c) plane from direction $\tilde B$ ⊥ B _Earth to $\tilde B$ ∥ B _Earth also did not influence the frequency of the resonance but changed its amplitude. Depending on the crystal type, this influence changed from rather insignificant (in crystals of the NaCl_LOMO series) to complete suppression of the effect for $\tilde B$ ∥ B _Earth (in the NaCl_Nik series). The resonant frequency ν_res is sensitive to orientation of the sample with respect to B _Earth. Upon rotation of the crystal by the angle θ = ∠(c, B _Earth) about the a ⊥ B _Earth edge, the initial peak for dislocations L ‖ a at the crystal orientation θ = 0 and the frequency ν _res ⁰ is replaced by a pair of peaks at frequencies ν_{1, 2} ≈ ν _res ⁰ cosθ_{1, 2}, where θ₁ = 90° ? θ and θ₂ = θ. Previously, these peaks were observed separately in NaCl_Nik crystals for $\tilde B$ ∥ c and $\tilde B$ ∥ b. In the present study, these peaks have been observed simultaneously for both orientations of $\tilde B$ in NaCl_LOMO and NaCl_Ca crystals, where the resonance is not completely suppressed for $\tilde B$ ∥ B _Earth.     

Inverse model of the piezoelectric ceramic polarization under wide bandwidth mechanical excitations with fractional derivative consideration

This paper presents an inverse piezoelectric ceramic polarization model, $T(P)$ , working in wide bandwidth under various mechanical excitations. The model was derived from the polarization model under electric field, $P(E)$ , by use of the correlation ( $E =\alpha \cdot T\cdot P$ ) between the external mechanical excitation and piezoelectric ceramic electric field. Using the model, $T(P)$ , a given polarization could be obtained by calculating the mechanical stress waveform applied to the ceramic. The piezoelectric ceramic P188 was investigated in the experiment; measurement bench and procedures have been developed to evaluate the accuracy of the model. By means of modeling dynamic counterpart (a fractional derivative part), large range of frequency ( $10^{-3} \text{ Hz } < f < 10 \text{ Hz }$ ) imposed polarization have been examined and experimental results turned out to be good both with sinusoidal and triangular waveforms. The same fractional derivative operator is universal both in mechanical and electrical excitations.