High transmission nanowire contact arrays with subwavelength spacing

We demonstrate high optical transmission in solar cell contacts based on nanowire arrays with subwavelength spacing. The photocurrent results obtained from fabricated devices are compared with numerical simulations. The proposed contact design leads to optical losses significantly smaller than the fraction of the top surface taken up by the metallic contact (<10% vs. 36%). The resulting sheet resistance of the contact is 46.7 Ω/square, comparing favourably with transparent conductive oxides.

     

超小间距纳米柱阵列中的谐振调制

本文首先研究了具有通常柱间距（大于100 nm）的纳米柱阵列在近红外波段的光学特性并实现了通过改变阵列参数（如周期）来调制局域表面等离子体谐振. 随后,通过使用电子束直写和离子束刻蚀的方法制备出具有超小柱间距（小于50 nm）和超高密度（ultrahigh density）的纳米柱阵列并通过对表面等离子体谐振的调制实现了在可见光波段滤出不同颜色的单色光. 本文中所展示的纳米柱功能阵列可以与现有的数字光处理（digital light processing,DLP）技术相兼容进而构造具有超小像素的显示屏,可以在显示、成像等领域取得广泛的应用. 关键词： 纳米柱 超小间距 超高密度 显示     

Scattering response of a bianisotropic cylinder with electrically small cross-section

EM scattering response of an infinitely long bianisotropic cylinder with electrically small cross-section suspended in free space is presented. Formulation of this problem is based on the coupled integral equation method with the long wavelength approximation. Reduced expressions for the scattering of plane waves, both E-wave and H-wave types, are obtained. It is revealed that for certain polarization matrices determined by the constitutive parameters of the scatterer, cross-polarization and/or co-polarization phenomena may occur, respectively.     

The energy level spacing for two harmonic oscillators with generic ratio of frequencies

The limit distribution of energy level spacing is studied for the system of two harmonic oscillators with generic ratio of frequencies. It is proved that for any fixed generic ratio no limit distribution exists, but for random with any absolutely continuous distributionp()d on [0, 1] a universal random limit distribution of the energy level spacing exists. Some properties of the random limit distribution are discussed.     

Volumetric diffusers: pseudorandom cylinder arrays on a periodic lattice

Most conventional diffusers take the form of a surface based treatment, and as a result can only operate in hemispherical space. Placing a diffuser in the volume of a room might provide greater efficiency by allowing scattering into the whole space. A periodic cylinder array (or sonic crystal) produces periodicity lobes and uneven scattering. Introducing defects into an array, by removing or varying the size of some of the cylinders, can enhance their diffusing abilities. This paper applies number theoretic concepts to create cylinder arrays that have more even scattering. Predictions using a boundary element method are compared to measurements to verify the model, and suitable metrics are adopted to evaluate performance. Arrangements with good aperiodic autocorrelation properties tend to produce the best results. At low frequency power is controlled by object size and at high frequency diffusion is dominated by lattice spacing and structural similarity. Consequently the operational bandwidth is rather small. By using sparse arrays and varying cylinder sizes, a wider bandwidth can be achieved.     

Optimal array pattern synthesis for broadband arrays

Broadband beamformers with constant mainlobe response over the frequency of interest are desirable in many applications including underwater acoustics, ultrasonics, acoustic imaging and communications, and so on. Solutions to this problem have been presented for specific array geometry often requiring a larger number of sensors. And the array pattern synthesis error minimization is employed for the whole field of view, which leads to suboptimal designs. In this paper, a broadband array pattern synthesis approach to designing time-domain constant mainlobe response beamformer is proposed. By imposing constraints both on the mainlobe spatial response variation over frequency and on the sidelobes of the beamformer, several optimization criteria are presented and the corresponding convex second-order cone programming implementations are given. In this approach, no preliminary desired beampattern is required and the beam responses variation minimization is employed only in the mainlobe region and not in the sidelobe regions, which improves the beamformer mainlobe synthesis accuracy. Equally, one can obtain lower sidelobes at the same mainlobe synthesis accuracy. This approach is applicable to arrays with arbitrary geometry. Simulation and experimental results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of this approach. Performance comparisons of the proposed beamformers and the existing beamformer are also provided.     

The energy level spacing for two harmonic oscillators with golden mean ratio of frequencies

Berry and Tabor discussed, among other things, a beautiful problem about the energy level spacing distribution for a system of two harmonic oscillators. They gave some interesting theoretical arguments which show that there is no level clustering for generic harmonic oscillators, and various numerical experiments were exposed and discussed. But the main question they posed about the existence of the limit distribution of the level spacing remained open. The present paper discusses this question in the case when the ratio of the frequencies is the golden mean =(5–1)/2. The approach enables one to study the generic case of the frequency ratio as well, which is done elsewhere.     

Azimuthal symmetry, flow dynamics, and heat transport in turbulent thermal convection in a cylinder with an aspect ratio of 0.5

We report an experimental study of flow dynamics and structure in turbulent thermal convection. Flow visualization, together with particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurement, reveal that the instantaneous flow structure consists of an elliptical circulatory roll and two smaller counterrotating rolls, and that the azimuthal motion of the quasi-2D instantaneous flow structure produces a time-averaged 3D flow pattern featuring two toroidal rings near the top and bottom plates, respectively. The apparently stochastic azimuthal motion of the flow structure, which generates a net rotation on average, is found to possess the characters of a Brownian ratchet. Using an artificially generated flow mode, we are able to produce a bimodal-Nu behavior and thus demonstrate that different flow states can indeed produce different global heat transport in a turbulent convection system.     

Acoustic scattering by a circular cylinder parallel with another of small radius

The scattering of a plane acoustic wave by an infinite penetrable or impenetrable circular cylinder, parallel with another one, also penetrable or impenetrable, of acoustically small radius, is considered. The method of separation of variables, in conjunction with translational addition theorems for cylindrical wave functions, is used. Analytical expressions are obtained for the scattered pressure field and the various scattering cross sections, for normal incidence. Numerical results are given for penetrable and impenetrable cylinders.     

Localization of multiple acoustic sources with small arrays using a coherence test

Direction finding of more sources than sensors is appealing in situations with small sensor arrays. Potential applications include surveillance, teleconferencing, and auditory scene analysis for hearing aids. A new technique for time-frequency-sparse sources, such as speech and vehicle sounds, uses a coherence test to identify low-rank time-frequency bins. These low-rank bins are processed in one of two ways: (1) narrowband spatial spectrum estimation at each bin followed by summation of directional spectra across time and frequency or (2) clustering low-rank covariance matrices, averaging covariance matrices within clusters, and narrowband spatial spectrum estimation of each cluster. Experimental results with omnidirectional microphones and colocated directional microphones demonstrate the algorithm's ability to localize 3-5 simultaneous speech sources over 4 s with 2-3 microphones to less than 1 degree of error, and the ability to localize simultaneously two moving military vehicles and small arms gunfire.     

Use of the wake of a small cylinder to Control unsteady loads on a circular cylinder

Simultaneous measurements of lift and drag forces have been performed in order to study passive control of unsteady loads induced on a circular cylinder. For this purpose, an aerodynamic balance has been developed. The balance, developed for a cylinder of 25.4 mm in diameter, was designed to operate in the subcritical regime (Re=32000). This instrument is characterized by its sensitive element that forms a small central part of the cylinder. The static and dynamic calibrations of the balance show the appropriateness of the present design. Moreover, qualification experiments carried out with a single cylinder gave results (mean and rms values of the lift and drag coefficients) that are in good agreement with those found in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to present a passive control experiment performed by means of the wake of a smaller cylinder interacting with a larger one. Firstly, a parametric study was performed by varying the following: i) the diameterdS of the small cylinder for one large cylinder diameterd (7 values in the range 0.047≤d _S /d≤0.125); ii) the center-to-center spacingS/d (11 values in the range 1.375≤S/d≤2.5); and iii) the stagger anglea(0≤a≤90 with a fine angular stepDa fora≤15). A maximum mean drag reduction of about 48% is achieved. Ata=4 to 8, one can observe a peak of mean lift coefficient. Then unsteady fluid forces, vortex shedding frequency and flow pattern were systematically investigated for the small cylinder having a diameterdS=2.4 mm (0.094d). Reductions of 78% and 56% of the rms lift and drag fluctuations respectively were obtained with the small cylinder placed at a slight stagger angle in the range 6<a<9. This leads to an instantaneous force vector that exhibits more steadiness both in angle and amplitude. Moreover, at these stagger angles, the energy of the lift fluctuations at the shedding frequency is significantly reduced compared to the single cylinder case.     

Phase iteration and spacing iteration algorithms for speckle fringe pattern processing

Speckle fringe pattern is characterized by speckle noise because the speckle is the information carrier. Phase iteration and Spacing iteration are algorithms that are able to extract the information as well as suppress noise. Phase iteration is a loop of smoothing, phase calculation, and pattern reconstruction. Spacing Iteration is a repetition of correlation, phase calculation, and least-squares fit. The two algorithms are reviewed and compared in this paper. The modern computer provides the capability to explore all sorts of convergent methods by simply ‘do it again’. Phase iteration and Spacing iteration are two of the convergent methods in processing optical metrology fringe pattern.     

Numerical simulation of flow around a circular cylinder with curved sectional grooves

In a circular cylinder with uniform flow, a sudden decrease in the drag force occurs at a high Reynolds numbers; however, it is known that the same phenomenon occurs at a lower Reynolds number in the case where there exist grooves or roughness on the circular cylinder surface. To clarify the flow characteristics around a circular cylinder in the case of changing the shape of grooves we analyzed the drag coefficient, lift coefficient, turbulent kinetic energy, vorticity and pressure by applying the RNGk-ε turbulent model. The shapes of the grooves were arced, triangulated and curved. The results showed that the separation point for a circular cylinder with curved sectional grooves shifts to the most downstream side and the drag coefficient becomes the smallest among circular cylinders with grooves.     

Predicting particle deposition for flow over a circular cylinder in combustion environments

Particle deposition on heat exchanger tubes is a serious concern in solid fuel combustion and gasification systems, such as power plants and syngas coolers. To predict deposition rates, several detailed computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models have been developed. However, these models are computationally expensive and cannot be used for quick determination of deposition rates and/or slagging tendencies. Particle impaction efficiency correlations, while not as accurate as detailed CFD models, are easier to use and are able to estimate the impaction rate of particles on the heat exchanger tubes. Nonetheless, since deposition and slagging are not just functions of particle impaction rates, but also sticking propensity, which is related to the particle temperature at impact, the impaction efficiency correlations fail to provide sufficient information. To address this shortcoming, similar correlations for particle temperature at impact have been developed in this work, based on a non-dimensional parameter that captures the flow and boundary conditions, as well as particle properties. When used alongside the impaction efficiency correlations, the new correlations developed can provide a reasonable estimate of the deposition and slagging tendencies, at negligible computational expense.