Propagation of elastic waves through two-dimensional lattices of cylindrical empty or water-filled inclusions in an aluminum matrix

The layer-multiple-scattering method is developed to study wave propagation through two-dimensional lattices of cylindrical inclusions in an elastic medium. The lattices are a series of periodically spaced infinite one-dimensional periodic gratings (or rows) of inclusions. The layer-multiple-scattering method allows the analysis of the reflection and transmission properties of the two-dimensional lattice, provided those of each row are known. These are later determined by means of an exact multiple scattering formalism based on modal series developments. A new characteristic equation is obtained that describes the Bloch wave propagation into the infinite lattice. Lattices with empty and fluid-filled inclusions are compared. The comparison shows the existence of pass and stop bands due to the resonances of the fluid-filled inclusions. Resonant inclusions allow the opening of narrow pass bands inside phononic stop band, which is an interesting phenomenon for demultiplexing problems. It is worth noting that inclusion resonances have nothing to do with resonances due to defects, as they involve the whole lattice. In addition, it is shown that stop bands, at an oblique incidence, due to a strong coupling between longitudinal and transverse waves, are related to dispersive guided waves that propagate in the direction of the reticular planes of the lattices.     

Hamiltonian systems with indefinite kinetic energy

Some interesting features of a class of two-dimensional Hamiltonians with indefinite kinetic energy are considered. It is shown that such Hamiltonians cannot be reduced, in general, to an equivalent dynamical Hamiltonian with positive definite kinetic energy quadratic in velocities. Complex nonlinear evolution equations like the K-dV, the MK-dV and the sine-Gordon equations possess such Hamiltonians. The case of complex K-dV equation has been considered in detail to demonstrate the generic features. The two-dimensional real systems obtained by analytic continuation to complex plane of one-dimensional dynamical systems are also discussed. The evolution equations for nonlinear, amplitude-modulated Langmuir waves as well as circularly polarized electromagnetic waves in plasmas, are considered as illustrative examples.     

Role of confined Bloch waves in the near field heat transfer between two photonic crystals

The near field heat transfer between two finite size one-dimensional photonic crystals separated by a small vacuum gap and maintained in nonequilibrium thermal situation is theoretically investigated. The main features of this electromagnetic transfer are discussed and compared with what is generally observed with media that support surface polaritons. It is shown that the presence of surface Bloch waves can significantly enhance heat transfers beyond the far field limit for both polarization states of electromagnetic field at subwavelength separation distances. A specific attention is addressed to the consequence of the slopes of surface Bloch waves dispersion curves on the heat transfer. In particular, it is shown that the localization of surface Bloch waves close to the light line allows to observe a transfer exaltaion at larger separation distances than the Wien wavelength. These results could open new possibilities for the development of innovative near-field technologies such as near-field thermophotovoltaic conversion, plasmon assisted nanophotolitography or near-field spectroscopy.     

Bloch–Floquet waves and controlled stop bands in periodic thermo-elastic structures

An algorithm for controlling the stop bands for elastic Bloch–Floquet waves within a periodic structure is proposed. Explicit asymptotic estimates of frequencies of translational and rotational standing waves, together with the numerical estimates of the stop band frequencies, are given. Thermal pre-stress is introduced and used to control the position of the stop bands on the dispersion diagram.     

Fermat principle for a nonstationary medium

One possible formulation of a variational principle of the Fermat type for systems with time-dependent parameters is suggested. In a stationary case, it reduces to the Mopertui-Lagrange least-action principle. A class of Hamiltonians (dispersion relations) is indicated, for which the variational principle reduces to the Fermat principle in a general nonstationary case. Hamiltonians that are homogeneous functions of momenta are in this category. For the important case of nondispersive waves (corresponding to Hamiltonians being homogeneous function of momenta order 1) the Fermat principle fully determines the geometry of the rays. Equations relating the variation of signal frequency with the rate of change of propagation time are established.     

Spontaneous emission from Bloch states of a two-level atom in a periodic field of the biparabolic shape

By analogy with the Wigner-Weisskopf model, spontaneous emission of an atom is considered in a spatially periodic field of the resonance counter-propagating waves. The Bloch state obtained by the interaction of the initially excited (unexcited) atom with a field of the counter-propagating waves plays the role of the excited (ground) state of the free atom. The spontaneous emission probability averaged over polarizations is shown to become anisotropic, with the symmetry axis directed along the wave propagation path. The anisotropy is caused by the spatially periodic distribution of the wave function of the translational motion of an atom in the external field. The degree of anisotropy depends on the position of Bloch energy levels in the allowed bands of the energy spectrum.     

Spin-orbit lateral superlattices: Energy bands and spin polarization in 2DEG

The Bloch spinors, energy spectrum, and spin density in energy bands are studied for a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) with Rashba spin-orbit (SO) interaction subject to the one-dimensional (1D) periodic electrostatic potential of a lateral superlattice. The space symmetry of the Bloch spinors with spin parity is studied. It is shown that the Bloch spinors at fixed quasi-momentum describe the standing spin waves with the wavelength equal to the superlattice period. The spin projections in these states have components both parallel and transverse to the 2DEG plane. The anticrossing of the energy dispersion curves due to the interplay between the SO and periodic terms is observed, thus, leading to the spin flip. The relation between the spin parity and the interband optical selection rules is discussed, and the effect of magnetization of the SO superlattice in the presence of an external electric field is predicted. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Effect of the anisotropy of a conducting layer on the dispersion law of electromagnetic waves in layered metal-dielectric structures

The dispersion laws of electromagnetic waves in layered periodic metal-dielectric structures with anisotropic metal layers have been theoretically analyzed. It has been found that the anisotropy of metal layers is responsible for the appearance of additional allowed energy bands for photons. It has been shown that these bands correspond to plasma (Langmuir) waves propagating in anisotropic metal layers of the structure. Conditions under which the directions of group and phase velocities of Langmuir waves coincide or are opposite have been determined. It has been shown that the penetration of the electromagnetic field of Langmuir waves into dielectric layers is exponentially weak and this field is primarily concentrated in metal layers, where it oscillates in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the layers.     

Higher-Order Bragg Resonance in Gravity Surface Waves over Periodic Bottoms

A calculation method based on the Bloch theorem is developed for the gravity surface waves over the periodic bottoms of large undulations. The study shows the existence of comparable high-order bandgaps, which are demonstrated to result from the higher-order Bragg resonances, i.e. the resonant interactions between surface waves and the harmonic components of the fluctuating bottom. It is also shown that the band widths of the high-order gaps are quite sensitive to the amplitudes of high-order harmonics of the bottom.     

On the modulation equations and stability of periodic generalized Korteweg–de Vries waves via Bloch decompositions

In this paper, we consider the relation between Evans-function-based approaches to the stability of periodic travelling waves and other theories based on long-wavelength asymptotics together with Bloch wave expansions. In previous work it was shown by rigorous Evans function calculations that the formal slow modulation approximation resulting in the linearized Whitham averaged system accurately describes the spectral stability to long-wavelength perturbations. To clarify the connection between Bloch-wave-based expansions and Evans-function-based approaches, we reproduce this result without reference to the Evans function by using direct Bloch expansion methods and spectral perturbation analysis. One of the novelties of this approach is that we are able to calculate the relevant Bloch waves explicitly for arbitrary finite-amplitude solutions. Furthermore, this approach has the advantage of being applicable in the more general multi-periodic setting where no conveniently computable Evans function has yet been devised.     

Observation of the atomic structure of a crystal without a high-resolution electron microscope

It is demonstrated for the example of tetragonal tungsten bronze that it is possible, as was indicated in a previous paper [V. L. Indenbom and S. B. Tochilin, JETP Lett. 65, 252 (1995)], to resolve to within 0.2–0.3 Å the atomic columns along which electrons are channeled. The-Nb-O-Nb-columns are represented by 1S Bloch waves with a half-width of the order of 0.1 Å and the-W-O-W-columns are represented by 2S Bloch waves, which give aureoles with diameters of the order of 1 Å. A chemical analysis of the sample is performed on the basis of the brightness of the peaks in the Patterson map.     

Semiclassical diagonalization of quantum Hamiltonian and equations of motion with Berry phase corrections

It has been recently found that the equations of motion of several semiclassical systems must take into account terms arising from Berry phases contributions. Those terms are responsible for the spin Hall effect in semiconductor as well as the Magnus effect of light propagating in inhomogeneous media. Intensive ongoing research on this subject seems to indicate that a broad class of quantum systems may be affected by Berry phase terms. It is therefore important to find a general procedure allowing for the determination of semiclassical Hamiltonian with Berry Phase corrections. This article presents a general diagonalization method at order ħ for a large class of quantum Hamiltonians directly inducing Berry phase corrections. As a consequence, Berry phase terms on both coordinates and momentum operators naturally arise during the diagonalization procedure. This leads to new equations of motion for a wide class of semiclassical system. As physical applications we consider here a Dirac particle in an electromagnetic or static gravitational field, and the propagation of a Bloch electrons in an external electromagnetic field.     

Bloch oscillations for circularly polarized light

All previous investigations on the Bloch oscillations of waves focus on scalar waves. Here we demonstrate, for the first time, the existence of Bloch oscillations of vector fields for circularly polarized light (CPL) propagating through a designed liquid crystal structure. To obtain the Wannier-Stark ladder of the CPL, we have designed a cholesteric liquid crystal structure with spatially varying pitch. The Bloch oscillations of the CPL have been observed in such a structure by exact numerical simulations. We have also shown that such a phenomenon can be easily detected in time-resolved reflection experiments.     

Tunneling dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates with higher-order interactions in optical lattice

The nonlinear Landau-Zener tunneling and nonlinear Rabi oscillations of Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with higher-order atomic interaction between the Bloch bands in an accelerating optical lattice are discussed. Within the two-level model, the tunneling probability of BEC with higher-order atomic interaction between Bloch bands is obtained. We finds that the tunneling rate is closely related to the higher-order atomic interaction. Furthermore, the nonlinear Rabi oscillations of BEC with higher-order atomic interaction between the bands are discussed by imposing a periodic modulation on the level bias. Analytical expressions of the critical higher-order atomic interaction for suppressing/enhancing the Rabi oscillations are obtained. It is shown that the critical value strongly depends on the modulation parameters (i.e., the modulation amplitude and frequency) and the strength of periodic potential.     

The nontrivial states in one-dimensional nonlinear bichromatic superlattices

We study topological properties of one-dimensional nonlinear bichromatic superlattices and unveil the effect of nonlinearity on topological states. We find the existence of nontrivial edge solitions, which distribute on the boundaries of the lattice with their chemical potential located in the linear gap regime and are sensitive to the phase parameter of the superlattice potential. We further demonstrate that the topological property of the nonlinear Bloch bands can be characterized by topological Chern numbers defined in the extended two-dimensional parameter space. In addition, we discuss that the composition relations between the nolinear Bloch waves and gap solitions for the nonlinear superlattices. The stabilities of edge solitons are also studied.     

A multiscale hp-FEM for 2D photonic crystal bands

A multiscale generalised hp-finite element method (MSFEM) for time harmonic wave propagation in bands of locally periodic media of large, but finite extent, e.g., photonic crystal (PhC) bands, is presented. The method distinguishes itself by its size robustness, i.e., to achieve a prescribed error its computational effort does not depend on the number of periods. The proposed method shows this property for general incident fields, including plane waves incident at a certain angle to the infinite crystal surface, and at frequencies in and outside of the bandgap of the PhC. The proposed MSFEM is based on a precomputed problem adapted multiscale basis. This basis incorporates a set of complex Bloch modes, the eigenfunctions of the infinite PhC, which are modulated by macroscopic piecewise polynomials on a macroscopic FE mesh. The multiscale basis is shown to be efficient for finite PhC bands of any size, provided that boundary effects are resolved with a simple macroscopic boundary layer mesh. The MSFEM, constructed by combing the multiscale basis inside the crystal with some exterior discretisation, is a special case of the generalised finite element method (g-FEM). For the rapid evaluation of the matrix entries we introduce a size robust algorithm for integrals of quasi-periodic micro functions and polynomial macro functions. Size robustness of the present MSFEM in both, the number of basis functions and the computation time, is verified in extensive numerical experiments.     

Electronic energy band parameters of CsCl evaluated on core Bloch states and plane waves

Electronic energy bands of CsCl crystal have been calculated within the mixed basis approach with using the core Bloch states and plane waves. The calculated energy parameters of the crystal are in the satisfactory agreement with the experimental data obtained from the analysis of the core–valence luminescence spectra. The obtained results form a base for calculation of CVL spectra parameters.