Controlling the Radiation Parameters of a Resonant Medium Excited by a Sequence of Ultrashort Superluminal Pulses

We investigate the possibility of controlling the radiation parameters of a spatially periodic one-dimensional medium consisting of classical harmonic oscillators by means of a sequence of ultrashort pulses that propagate through the medium with a superluminal velocity. We show that, in the spectrum of the transient process, in addition to the radiation at a resonant frequency of oscillators, new frequencies arise that depend on the period of the spatial distribution of the oscillator density, the excitation velocity, and the angle of observation. We have examined in detail the case of excitation of the medium by a periodic sequence of ultrashort pulses that travel with a superluminal velocity. We show that it is possible to excite oscillations of complex shapes and to control the radiation parameters of the resonant medium by changing the relationship between the pulse repetition rate, the medium resonant frequency, and the new frequency.     

Induced resonant transparency of magnetic materials for gamma radiation: Propagation dynamics

The theory of spatiotemporal dynamics of gamma radiation in a resonant medium upon excitation of two-frequency gamma magnetic resonance in magnetic materials is considered. The radiation absorption at the fundamental frequency and the harmonic generation are investigated under conditions when the frequency of gamma radiation is shifted by the half-sum or half-difference of the frequencies of radio-frequency magnetic fields. It is shown that the propagation of gamma radiation through an absorber is characterized by a steady-state gamma intensity (resonant transparency). A consistent radio-frequency spectral analysis demonstrates that the intensities of harmonics drastically change at the transparency region boundaries due to nonlinear interference. The theory of quantum and dynamical beats of synchrotron radiation under conditions of induced resonant transparency is proposed.     

Particular features of the emission of radiation by a superluminally excited Raman-active medium

Particular features of the emission of radiation by a Raman-active medium excited by a sequence of ultrashort superluminal pulses have been studied theoretically. It is shown that such an excitation gives rise to the possibility of obtaining unipolar rectangular videopulses the duration and amplitude of which depend on the velocity of propagation of the excitation over the medium.     

Predicting optimal drive sweep rates for autoresonance in Duffing-type oscillators: A beat method using Teager-Kaiser instantaneous frequency

Sustained resonance in a linear oscillator is achievable with a drive whose constant frequency matches the resonant frequency of the oscillator. But in oscillators with nonlinear restoring forces such as the pendulum, Duffing and Duffing-Van der Pol oscillator, the resonant frequency changes as the amplitude changes, so a constant frequency drive results in a beat oscillation instead of sustained resonance. Duffing-type nonlinear oscillators can be driven into sustained resonance, called autoresonance, when the drive frequency is swept in time to match the changing resonant frequency of the oscillator. We find that near-optimal drive linear sweep rates for autoresonance can be estimated from the beat oscillation resulting from constant frequency excitation. Specifically, a least squares estimate of the Teager-Kaiser instantaneous frequency versus time for the beat response to a stationary drive provides a near-optimal estimate of the nonstationary drive linear sweep rate needed to sustain resonance in the pendulum, Duffing and Duffing-Van der Pol oscillators. We confirm these predictions with model-based numerical simulations. An advantage of the beat method of estimating optimal drive sweep rates for maximal autoresonant response is that no model is required so experimentally generated beat oscillation data can be used for systems where no model is available.     

Emission of radiation by a resonance medium excited with a variable superluminal velocity

Specific properties of the radiation emitted by a spatially modulated resonance medium excited by an ultrashort light pulse propagating through the medium at a variable superluminal velocity are analyzed. In so doing, frequencies different from that of the resonance transition of the medium may appear in the emission spectrum. It is demonstrated that, in contrast to an earlier studied case of medium excitation at constant velocity, variation of the excitation velocity leads to generation of a spectral continuum, the boundaries of which are determined by the range of variation of the medium-excitation velocity.     

Superluminal parametric Doppler effect in insulators and in an electron-positron vacuum

It has been shown that counterpropagating electromagnetic waves with different frequencies generate two lattices in a cubically nonlinear medium, one of which moves at a superluminal velocity. When weak radiation reflects from the superluminal lattice, the wavefront is quasi-conjugated with distortions owing to the Doppler frequency shift. These effects occur both in insulators with fast nonlinearity and in an electron-positron vacuum.     

Waves in resonant random media

Electromagnetic properties of resonant inhomogeneous media are investigated. A new type of transverse electromagnetic wave arising due to the effective spatial dispersion is studied. It is shown that scattering on the fluctuations of the resonant frequency of the medium shifts the Cherenkov threshold and reduces the intensity of the Cherenkov radiation.     

Modulation of radiation in nonstationary resonant media

We study the propagation of radiation in a gas, the resonant frequency of which changes with time when affected by external electric and magnetic fields. It is shown that for an harmonic change of the resonant frequency under appreciable energy exchange between electromagnetic field and medium, deep amplitude modulation of radiation may be achieved. The analytical expressions obtained for a field in a gas allow rather accurate calculation of the space-time structure of the radiation penetrated through the medium layer. The numerical calculations are compared with the known experiment [4], good agreement is obtained. The transformation of radiation between dispersive branches with adiabatic stepwise variation of the resonant frequency has been also studied. Branch-tobranch transformation is investigated and the adiabatic invariant is found to be the total number of the high and low frequency radiation quanta corresponding to two dispersive branches.     

Waves in resonant random media

Abstract

Electromagnetic properties of resonant inhomogeneous media are investigated. A new type of transverse electromagnetic wave arising due to the effective spatial dispersion is studied. It is shown that scattering on the fluctuations of the resonant frequency of the medium shifts the Cherenkov threshold and reduces the intensity of the Cherenkov radiation.     

Acoustically induced transparency in optically dense resonance medium

It is shown that mechanical vibration (acoustical oscillation) of a solid medium along the propagation of multifrequency laser radiation enables one to control the resonant absorption. There exists an optimal spectral structure of the incident field dependent on vibration amplitude as well as the number and intensity of the frequency components that provides the full resonant transparency. A mechanism of the transparency is discussed. Transparency of this kind is shown to appear also via adiabatic modulation of the atomic transition frequency by an external microwave field.     

Complex resonance in Fresnel reflection of radiation pulses

The Fresnel reflection of radiation pulses with an exponential temporal amplitude profile is analyzed. The conditions for the relevance of the concept of reflectance at a complex frequency, the imaginary part of which determined the rate of time variation of the amplitude, are specified. For the radiation pulses under study, we demonstrate a complex resonance, i.e., an increase in the magnitude of reflectance for the complex frequency of incident radiation (trailing edge of a pulse) that approaches the complex frequency of natural oscillations of oscillators in the medium.     

Millimeter-Wave HF Relativistic Electron Oscillators

A review of the experimental study of single-mode oscillators based on stimulated bremsstrahlung and Cerenkov radiation of high-current relativistic electron beams is given. Three types of Cerenkov oscillators are investigated in detail: orotrons, surface wave oscillators and a flimatron (free electron maser (FEM) based on Smith-Purcell radiation). The bremsstrahlung oscillators studied are gyrotrons with TM modes, a ubitron operating at a quasi-critical frequency and cyclotron autoresonance masers. Electrodynamic and electron methods of mode selection provide stable radiation with a reproducible space structure of radiation in all oscillators under study. The radiation power attained 50-100 MW for long and 10-30 MW for short millimeter wavelengths at the efficiency up to 5-10 percent. Various types of oscillators are compared. Promising methods for increasing power and radiation frequency are discussed.     

Nuclear resonant scattering using synchrotron radiation

A one-dimensional quantum model for nuclear resonant scattering using synchrotron radiation has been developed. This model gives a clear physical interpretation of the most prominent features of the coherent forward scattering process namely, the “speed-up” and “dynamical beat” effects. The form of the solution, for the time-dependent forward scattered intensity of the resonant radiation from the resonant medium after synchrotron radiation excitation, is a finite series. This unique solution can be interpreted in terms of a summation over all multiple forward scattering paths the radiation takes in reaching the detector. The resonant medium is represented by a linear chain of N effective resonant nuclei. The analysis starts from a coupled set of quantum mechanical equations for the relevant amplitudes in frequency space. Transformation to the time domain gives an analytical expression for the forward scattered intensity. The contribution of every order of the multiple scattering processes from the N effective nuclei appears naturally. The expression gives a clear physical understanding of all relevant aspects of resonant forward nuclear scattering. Furthermore, the present formalism allows the consideration of incoherent processes. This permits the study of processes in which there is gamma emission with recoil or emission of internal-conversion electrons. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Parametric generation of even polarization harmonics in a cubic nonlinear layer

The response of a cubic nonlinear medium to the action of a short-duration laser pulse is considered in the case in which the frequency of the optical radiation is close to the frequency of linear oscillators of the medium. It is shown that it is possible to realize parametric generation of even harmonics under the action of a high-intensity femtosecond pulse (with an amplitude exceeding some critical value), which leads to the formation of a supercontinuum at a certain duration and intensity of the incident pulse.     

Subluminal and superluminal parametric doppler effects in the case of light reflection from a moving smooth medium inhomogeneity

The reflection of test radiation from a smooth inhomogeneity of medium characteristics propagating with a subluminal or superluminal velocity is analyzed. The equations describing the propagation of the forward- and counter-propagating waves in such an inhomogeneous medium are derived. Quasi-phase conjugation is demonstrated in the case of superluminal inhomogeneities. The Bragg resonance conditions are formulated and the conditions for increasing the reflection coefficient of radiation from an inhomogeneity are discussed.     

Resonant excitation of evanescent spatial harmonics in medium formed by parallel metallic nanorods

The results of analytical modeling of the resonant excitation of evanescent harmonics in a medium formed by parallel metallic nanorods taking into account the spatial dispersion are presented. Analytical expressions are derived for the reflection and transmission coefficients, as well as for the amplitudes of electromagnetic waves inside the medium. These expressions are compared to similar expressions that were previously obtained using a local model of an ultimately anisotropic material without taking into account the spatial dispersion. The obtained expressions are simplified for various partial cases, including the superresolution imaging of a source that is located at a considerable distance from the metamaterial layer. A layer of a medium composed from finitesized wires is numerically simulated and it is demonstrated that, due to the effect of resonant excitation of evanescent spatial harmonics in the layer, subwavelength details of an object that is considerably distant from the layer can be distinguished inside of the layer.     

General properties of nuclear resonant scattering

The process of nuclear resonant scattering resonant scattering is considered on the basis of an optical model. The coherent properties coherent properties of the radiation and scattering mechanism are described. The complementary pictures of γ-ray resonant scattering in energy and time domains are presented. Special attention is paid to scattering of a γ quantum by an ensemble of nuclei. The central concept of the theory of nuclear resonant scattering, the nuclear exciton, nuclear exciton as a delocalized nuclear excitation, is described in detail. It is shown that both temporal and spatial aspects of coherence play a crucial role in the evolution of the nuclear exciton. A large place is given to the analysis of resonant scattering of synchrotron radiation by nuclear ensembles.

     

Disturbing synchronization: Propagation of perturbations in networks of coupled oscillators

We study the response of an ensemble of synchronized phase oscillators to an external harmonic perturbation applied to one of the oscillators. Our main goal is to relate the propagation of the perturbation signal to the structure of the interaction network underlying the ensemble. The overall response of the system is resonant, exhibiting a maximum when the perturbation frequency coincides with the natural frequency of the phase oscillators. The individual response, on the other hand, can strongly depend on the distance to the place where the perturbation is applied. For small distances on a random network, the system behaves as a linear dissipative medium: the perturbation propagates at constant speed, while its amplitude decreases exponentially with the distance. For larger distances, the response saturates to an almost constant level. These different regimes can be analytically explained in terms of the length distribution of the paths that propagate the perturbation signal. We study the extension of these results to other interaction patterns, and show that essentially the same phenomena are observed in networks of chaotic oscillators.     

Electron dynamics in the laser and quasi-static electric and magnetic fields

3/2 dimensional Hamiltonian equations, accounting for arbitrary polarized plane wave laser radiation and arbitrary electric and magnetic fields in the directions both along and across to the direction of the laser beam propagation, are derived for superluminal phase velocity of the laser radiation. An impact of superluminal laser radiation phase velocity on the transition to stochastic electron motion is studied.     

Negative shift of a light beam reflected from the interface between optically transparent and resonant media

The lateral shift of a light beam reflected from the interface between an optically transparent dielectric and a medium for which the frequency dependences of the real and imaginary parts of the permittivity have a resonant form is investigated. At certain radiation frequencies and angles of incidence, a negative displacement of the reflected beam along the interface takes place.