Enhancement of image quality by using metamaterial inspired energy harvester

Metamaterial energy harvester based subwavelength imaging structure is presented. Besides, 2×2 array patch antenna is designed to create incident radiated signal towards the proposed harvester structure. Harvested energy is converted to DC voltage signal by using Schottky diodes and each cell is represented by 256 grey levelled pixel value. Therefore, any incident electromagnetic wave placed in the operating frequency range can be monitorized. In the experimental study, experiments are realized with and without antenna to investigate the effects of instantaneous electromagnetic waves and the observed images. Afterwards, another experiment is conducted to observe the effects of metal plate which is located between the antenna and the harvester structure. The last experiment is performed by using a Yagi Uda antenna for sub-wavelength imaging. The proposed harvester structure can be used in various applications such as energy harvesting, incident wave tracing, crack detection, spy device detection, medical imaging, and so on.     

Multi-band left-handed metamaterial inspired by tree-shaped fractal geometry

We report an alternative method of designing a new metamaterial with left handed (LH) characteristics over multi-band (MB) frequencies at microwave frequency regime. The resultant LH metamaterial (LHM) consisting of a single-sided tree-shaped fractal structure features triple magnetic resonances and one electric resonance apart from the lower metal plasma response, which is responsible for the three bands of negative refraction. The multi-resonant mechanism has been systematically studied to account for all electromagnetic behaviors, and capacitor–inductor circuit models are put forward for quantitative analysis. The LHM is balanced in the fundamental passband when only one layer is utilized, whereas the balanced condition is slightly broken when a collection of sub-wavelength cells are cascaded. The negative-zero-positive refraction of the fundamental LH band and the negative refraction of the higher LH band have been numerically validated by a prism-like LHM. For demonstration, a three-layer LHM slab sample is fabricated and measured. Consistent numerical and experimental results are observed. The method not requiring individual resonant particles and electrically continuous wires paves the way for a new route to compact MB LHM design.     

Near-field optical imaging using force detection with new tip-electrode geometry

We propose a new tip-electrode geometry to detect an (optical) evanescent field using noncontact atomic force microscopy. Using a semi-transparent metal electrode on the prism surface, the force sensitivity due to evanescent field in new tip-electrode geometry was enhanced by a factor of about 1000, comparing with that in old tip-electrode geometry where electrode was located behind the prism. Furthermore, this tip-electrode geometry avoids the electrostatic field caused by the residual charges and contact-electrified charges near the prism surface, which affects the force sensitivity due to evanescent field. We demonstrated the high resolution imaging of the evanescent field on the Au film with 15-nm (λ/33) lateral resolution.     

Electric field controlled cohesive symmetric hook-C shape inspired metamaterial for S-band application

In this paper, a split ring resonator (SRR) bounded new cohesive symmetric hook-C shaped unit cell is developed. The metamaterial has 4   ×  4-unit cell array, which is applicable for s-band application for its high bandwidth (S₂₁ < -10 dB) of 0.6 GHz and high effective medium ratio (EMR) 12.78. Commercially available electromagnetic simulator CST (Computer simulation technology) microwave studio has been utilized at 2.93 GHz resonance frequency in this investigation. The electric field of this design is also observed by modifying the design structure that shows effective results. The new developed hook-C shaped metamaterial is fabricated and measured to validate the simulation results, which is eligible for high performance in long distance communications. The proposed metamaterial is highly recommended to apply in Airport Surveillance Radar (ASR) system for its highly effective medium ratio and size miniaturization.     

Hyperbolic metamaterial using chiral molecules

We theoretically investigate the intra-band transitions in Mobius molecules.Due to the weak magnetic response,the relative permittivity is significantly modified by the presence of the medium while the relative permeability is not.We show that there is hyperbolic dispersion relation induced by the intra-band transitions because one of the eigen-values of permittivity possesses a different sign from the other two,while all three eigen-values of permeability are positive.We further demonstrate that the bandwidth of negative refraction is 0.165 eV for the H-polarized incident light,which is broader than the ones for inter-band transitions by 3 orders of magnitude.Moreover,the frequency domain has been shifted from ultra-violet to visible domain.Although there is negative refraction for the E-polarized incident light,the bandwidth is much narrower and depends on the incident angle.     

Near-field thermoelastic imaging coupled with infrared detection

Near-field thermoelastic imaging is a simple way to investigate the thermal and coupled thermoelastic properties of materials. A few microscopes, deriving from the atomic force microscope, have been used to observe and to quantify the samples observed. But the main problem is the absolute measurement of the temperature, because surface topography and thermal expansion contributions are not easily discernible. In the proposed SThEM (scanning thermoelastic microscope), the tip is excited at the resonance frequency of the cantilever and the sample is periodically heated by the Joule effect. Thus the static contributions (drift, topography) are reduced. Moreover, a radiometric sensor, operating in the far field, has been added in order to quantify the temperature. This multi-acquisition microscope enables one to investigate small objects at the nanoscale with complementary information at the micrometric scale.     

Near-field computation using the null-field method

In this paper we analyze three methods for computing the total field in the near-zone region. These methods use the expansion of the scattered field outside the minimum circumscribing sphere, an integral representation of the scattered field and a vector spherical wave expansion of the near-zone field. Calculations of the total field within the circumscribing sphere are presented for dielectric prolate spheroids to compare the different methods.     

裂纹或气泡对熔石英损伤修复坑场调制的近场模拟

建立了含有裂纹或气泡的高斯型修复坑的3维模型, 用3维时域有限差分方法研究了熔石英后表面该类缺陷对355 nm入射激光的近场调制. 研究表明, 裂纹的调制明显大于气泡或者高斯坑本身, 因此为了抑制修复元件的初始损伤, 应尽量避免任何未修复的裂纹存在, 尤其是与入射光呈夹角约25°的裂纹, 同时应避免尺寸大于5 λ 的气泡存在. 当裂纹或气泡位于近表面层3 λ 以内且靠近修复坑环边缘时, 对场的调制最明显. 随着侧移的增加, 近表面区缺陷诱导场叠加, 强点总数涨落较大且易形成极大峰值, 特别是含有裂纹的情形; 远表面区强点总数逐渐增大并趋于稳定. 随着嵌深的增加, 强点的数目大体呈减弱趋势, 当嵌深大于3 λ 时, 逐渐趋于平缓振荡. 如果裂纹或气泡位于坑点正下方几个波长内, 激光辐照下其效果相当于延长了高斯坑的深度.     

Near-field optical microscopy using an integrating sphere

A scanning near-field optical microscope using an integrating sphere is demonstrated. The images from a usual near-field optical microscope often include contrasts caused by the sample structure because the reflection and transmission angles of signal waves depend on the size and shape of the sample. The observation angle dependency of signals can be avoided by using an integrating sphere. Background signals resulting from using the sphere can be reduced by using lock-in detection synchronously with modulation of tip–sample distance. The whole detection system is possibly useful for observing the distribution of the refractive index and/or the absorption coefficient. Received: 27 October 2000 / Final version: 29 August 2001 / Published online: 7 November 2001     

Design of miniaturization resonant cavities using metamaterial

Based on the method of transformation optics, we show the miniaturization of a resonant cavity filled with metamaterials. Because the electromagnetic behavior in the transformation space is invariant in the original space, the quality factor Q and the resonant modes of a miniaturized resonant cavity filled with metamaterial are the same as for those in the original space. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulation confirms that the miniaturization of resonant cavities is effective.     

Terahertz bandpass filters using double-stacked metamaterial layers

Bandpass filters are reported based on double-stacked metamaterial layers separated by an air gap for operation at terahertz frequencies. Several stacking configurations were investigated designed for a ~0.5 THz center frequency. The filters exhibited improved spectral transmission properties when compared with conventional ones based on single metamaterial layers. 3 dB bandwidth of ~78 GHz and sidelobe suppression ratio >16 dB were determined when symmetric or asymmetric double layers were stacked. We demonstrate that superior frequency selectivity can be achieved when metamaterial layers with different unit cells are used. Good agreement was found between measured and simulated transmission response.     

Dual-band detection based on metamaterial sensor at terahertz frequency

Optical Review - This work reported a novel terahertz sensor based on metamaterial absorber. The proposed structure is composed of rectangular metallic resonator made of gold placed above on...     

Tunable negative index metamaterial using yttrium iron garnet

A magnetic field tunable, broadband, low-loss, negative refractive index metamaterial is fabricated using yttrium iron garnet (YIG) and a periodic array of copper wires. The tunability is demonstrated from 18 to 23 GHz under an applied magnetic field with a figure of merit of 4.2 GHz/kOe. The tuning bandwidth is measured to be 5 GHz compared to 0.9 GHz for fixed field. We measure a minimum insertion loss of 4 dB (or 5.7 dB/cm) at 22.3 GHz. The measured negative refractive index bandwidth is 0.9 GHz compared to 0.5 GHz calculated by the transfer function matrix theory and 1 GHz calculated by finite element simulation.     

Amplification of acoustic evanescent waves using metamaterial slabs

We amplified acoustic evanescent waves using metamaterial slabs with a negative effective density. For the amplifying effect of the slab to overcome the dissipation, it is necessary that the imaginary part of the effective density is much smaller than the real part, a condition not satisfied so far. We report the construction of membrane-based two-dimensional negative-density metamaterials which exhibited remarkably small dissipation. Using a slab of this metamaterial we realized a 17-fold net amplitude gain at a remote distance from the evanescent wave source. Potential applications include acoustic superlensing.     

Colorimetric DNA detection of transgenic plants using gold nanoparticles functionalized with L-shaped DNA probes

In this study, a DNA colorimetric detection system based on gold nanoparticles functionalized with L-shaped DNA probes was prepared and evaluated. We investigated the hybridization efficiency of the L-shaped probes and studied the effect of nanoparticle size and the L-shaped DNA probe length on the performance of the as-prepared system. Probes were attached to the surface of gold nanoparticles using an adenine sequence. An optimal sequence of 35S rRNA gene promoter from the cauliflower mosaic virus, which is frequently used in the development of transgenic plants, and the two complementary ends of this gene were employed as model target strands and probe molecules, respectively. The spectrophotometric properties of the as-prepared systems indicated that the large NPs show better changes in the absorption spectrum and consequently present a better performance. The results of this study revealed that the probe/Au-NPs prepared using a vertical spacer containing 5 thymine oligonucleotides exhibited a stronger spectrophotometric response in comparison to that of larger probes. These results in general indicate the suitable performance of the L-shaped DNA probe-functionalized Au-NPs, and in particular emphasize the important role of the gold nanoparticle size and length of the DNA probes in enhancing the performance of such a system.     

利用拖船辐射噪声的深海声学参数近场匹配场反演方法

针对深海声学参数难以通过远距离合作声源反演获取的问题,提出了利用拖船低频噪声近场匹配场反演方法。首先,利用聚焦波束形成计算拖曳阵接收拖船噪声的方向性,获得传播路径特征;然后,构建多参数反演模型,由波数积分声传播模型计算拷贝场,采用遗传算法对多频匹配场目标函数进行反演。同时,采用蒙特卡罗方法分析参数后验概率密度。仿真与试验结果表明:深海环境中拖曳阵接收拖船噪声主要来自海底反射路径,利用该特性反演得到海水深度、噪声源距离、阵列深度、沉积层厚度等参数,多频联合反演可以提高沉积层厚度等参数反演准确性。宽带匹配场处理表明,利用反演最优参数模型能准确给出拖船噪声源的空间位置。     

Near-field characteristics of the parametric loudspeaker using ultrasonic transducers

A parametric speaker is a device for generating and focusing highly directional sound beams. It is essentially a by-product that comes with the nonlinearity of ultrasound. It is noteworthy that this directional beam was controlled and utilized mostly for far-field applications in the past. We empirically study the directivity and attenuation characteristics of the parametric loudspeaker in the near-field where we desire to use it. Physical parameters for experiments are imported from a theoretical model based on the far-field approximation. The findings are that increases in aperture size and modulation frequency cause higher directivity, but have more than twice the beamwidth of the far-field approximation. The attenuation also does not obey the inverse-square law which describes far-field spreading from acoustic sources. The results conclusively explain a series of formation and attenuation of the virtual sound sources and define limitations of use in the near-field.     

Near-field light localization using subwavelength apertures incorporated with metamaterials

We report strong near-field electromagnetic localization by using subwavelength apertures and metamaterials that operate at microwave frequencies. We designed split ring resonators with distinct configurations in order to obtain extraordinary transmission results. Furthermore, we analyzed the field localization and focusing characteristics of the transmitted evanescent waves. The employed metamaterial configurations yielded an improvement on the transmission efficiency on the order of 27 dB and 50 dB for the deep subwavelength apertures. The metamaterial loaded apertures are considered as a total system that offered spot size conversion ratios as high as 7.12 and 9.11 for the corresponding metamaterial configurations. The proposed system is shown to intensify the electric fields of the source located in the near-field. It also narrows down the electromagnetic waves such that a full width at half maximum value of λ/29 is obtained.     

Quantum inspired evolutionary algorithm for community detection in complex networks

Community structure is indispensable to discover the potential property of complex network systems. In this paper we propose two algorithms (QIEA-net and iQIEA-net) to discover communities in social networks by optimizing modularity. Unlike many existing methods, the proposed algorithms adopt quantum inspired evolutionary algorithm (QIEA) to optimize a population of solutions and do not need to give the number of community beforehand, which is determined by optimizing the value of modularity function and needs no human intervention. In order to accelerate the convergence speed, in iQIEA-net, we apply the result of classical partitioning algorithm as a guiding quantum individual, which can instruct other quantum individuals' evolution. We demonstrate the potential of two algorithms on five real social networks. The results of comparison with other community detection algorithms prove our approaches have very competitive performance.