A bridged loop-gap S-band surface resonator for topical EPR spectroscopy.

The design and structure of a bridged loop-gap surface resonator developed for topical EPR spectroscopy and imaging of the distribution and metabolism of spin labels in in vivo skin is reported. The resonator is a one-loop, one-gap bridged structure. A pivoting single loop-coupling coil was used to couple the microwave power to the loop-gap resonant structure. A symmetric coupling circuit was used to achieve better shielding and minimize radiation. The frequency of the resonator can be easily adjusted by trimming the area of the capacitive foil bridge, which overlaps the gap in the cylindrical loop. The working frequency set was 2.2 GHz and the unloaded Q was 720. The B1 field of this resonator was measured and spatially mapped by three-dimensional EPR imaging. The resonator is well suited to topical measurements of large biological subjects and is readily applicable for in vivo measurements of free radicals in human skin.     

Electron Spin Resonance Imaging Probes and a Sample Holder for Thin and Long One-Dimensional Samples

Most electron spin resonance (ESR) experiments involve the use of samples that can be easily placed in millimeter-size tubes and measured efficiently in conventional resonators. However, in some cases, the samples must remain intact, due to which conventional commercial resonators may not be suitable to measure them. Here, we describe a set of three resonators, which can be combined and incorporated as part of a 1-D continuous wave ESR imaging probe to measure and image very thin (~50–500 μm) and very long (~10–30 mm) objects. The dielectric resonators we employ make it possible to greatly enhance spin sensitivity per unit of length––compared to the use of a rectangular ESR cavity, at ~9.3 GHz. In addition, a special sample holder was developed to facilitate the handling and measurement of such thin and long delicate objects, which in our case are the Arabidopsis roots. A detailed design of the resonators, imaging probe, and the sample holder is provided, along with experimental results for the resonator properties, its spin sensitivity, and imaging capability.     

High-Bandwidth Q-Band EPR Resonators

The emerging technology of ultra-wide-band spectrometers in electron paramagnetic resonance—enabled by recent technological advances—provides the means for new experimental schemes, a broader range of samples, and huge gains in measurement time. Broadband detection does, however, require that the resonator provides sufficient bandwidth and, despite resonator compensation schemes, excitation bandwidth is ultimately limited by resonator bandwidth. Here, we present the design of three resonators for Q-band frequencies (33–36 GHz) with a larger bandwidth than what was reported so far. The new resonators are of a loop-gap type with 4–6 loops and were designed for 1.6 mm sample tubes to achieve higher field homogeneity than in existing resonators for 3 mm samples, a feature that is beneficial for precise spin control. The loop-gap design provides good separation of the B ₁ and E field, enabling robust modes with powder samples as well as with frozen water samples as the resonant behavior is largely independent of the dielectric properties of the samples. Experiments confirm the trends in bandwidth and field strength and the increased B ₁ field homogeneity predicted by the simulations. Variation of the position of the coupling rod allows the adjustment of the quality factor Q and thus the bandwidth over a broad range. The increased bandwidth of the loop-gap resonators was exploited in double electron–electron resonance measurements of a Cu(II)-PyMTA ruler to yield significantly higher modulation depth and thus higher sensitivity.     

Development of a resonator with automatic tuning and coupling capability to minimize sample motion noise for in vivo EPR spectroscopy

EPR spectroscopy has been applied to measure free radicals in vivo; however, respiratory, cardiac, and other movements of living animals are a major source of noise and spectral distortion. Sample motions result in changes in resonator frequency, Q, and coupling. These instabilities limit the applications that can be performed and the quality of data that can be obtained. Therefore, it is of great importance to develop resonators with automatic tuning and automatic coupling capability. We report the development of automatic tuning and automatic coupling provisions for a 750-MHz transversely oriented electric field reentrant resonator using two electronically tunable high Q hyperabrupt varactor diodes and feedback loops. In both moving phantoms and living mice, these automatic coupling control and automatic tuning control provisions resulted in an 8- to 10-fold increase in signal-to-noise ratio.     

Tunable delay line with interacting whispering-gallery-mode resonators

We theoretically study a parallel configuration of two interacting whispering-gallery-mode optical resonators and show a narrowband modal structure as a basis for a widely tunable delay line. For the optimum coupling configuration the system can possess an unusually narrow spectral feature with a much narrower bandwidth than the loaded bandwidth of each individual resonator. The effect has a direct analogy with the phenomenon of electromagnetically induced transparency in quantum systems for which the interference of spontaneous emission results in ultranarrow resonances.     

Single loop multi-gap resonator for whole body EPR imaging of mice at 1.2 GHz

For whole body EPR imaging of small animals, typically low frequencies of 250-750 MHz have been used due to the microwave losses at higher frequencies and the challenges in designing suitable resonators to accommodate these large lossy samples. However, low microwave frequency limits the obtainable sensitivity. L-band frequencies can provide higher sensitivity, and have been commonly used for localized in vivo EPR spectroscopy. Therefore, it would be highly desirable to develop an L-band microwave resonator suitable for in vivo whole body EPR imaging of small animals such as living mice. A 1.2 GHz 16-gap resonator with inner diameter of 42 mm and 48 mm length was designed and constructed for whole body EPR imaging of small animals. The resonator has good field homogeneity and stability to animal-induced motional noise. Resonator stability was achieved with electrical and mechanical design utilizing a fixed position double coupling loop of novel geometry, thus minimizing the number of moving parts. Using this resonator, high quality EPR images of lossy phantoms and living mice were obtained. This design provides good sensitivity, ease of sample access, excellent stability and uniform B(1) field homogeneity for in vivo whole body EPR imaging of mice at 1.2 GHz.     

Analysis of two stacked cylindrical dielectric resonators in a TE₁₀₂ microwave cavity for magnetic resonance spectroscopy

The frequency, field distributions and filling factors of a DR/TE??? probe, consisting of two cylindrical dielectric resonators (DR1 and DR2) in a rectangular TE??? cavity, are simulated and analyzed by finite element methods. The TE(+++) mode formed by the in-phase coupling of the TE??(δ)(DR1), TE??(δ)(DR2) and TE??? basic modes, is the most appropriate mode for X-band EPR experiments. The corresponding simulated B(+++) fields of the TE(+++) mode have significant amplitudes at DR1, DR2 and the cavity's iris resulting in efficient coupling between the DR/TE??? probe and the microwave bridge. At the experimental configuration, B(+++) in the vicinity of DR2 is much larger than that around DR1 indicating that DR1 mainly acts as a frequency tuner. In contrast to a simple microwave shield, the resonant cavity is an essential component of the probe that affects its frequency. The two dielectric resonators are always coupled and this is enhanced by the cavity. When DR1 and DR2 are close to the cavity walls, the TE(+++) frequency and B(+++) distribution are very similar to that of the empty TE??? cavity. When all the experimental details are taken into account, the agreement between the experimental and simulated TE(+++) frequencies is excellent. This confirms that the resonating mode of the spectrometer's DR/TE??? probe is the TE(+++) mode. Additional proof is obtained from B?(x), which is the calculated maximum x component of B(+++). It is predominantly due to DR2 and is approximately 4.4 G. The B?(x) maximum value of the DR/TE??? probe is found to be slightly larger than that for a single resonator in a cavity because DR1 further concentrates the cavity's magnetic field along its x axis. Even though DR1 slightly enhances the performance of the DR/TE??? probe its main benefit is to act as a frequency tuner. A waveguide iris can be used to over-couple the DR/TE??? probe and lower its Q to ≈150. Under these conditions, the probe has a short dead time and a large bandwidth. The DR/TE??? probe's calculated conversion factor is approximately three times that of a regular cavity making it a good candidate for pulsed EPR experiments.     

Experimental investigation of the sound absorption performance of compartmented Helmholtz resonators

An experiment was derived in the present study to investigate the effects of coupling up two Helmholtz resonators on their overall sound absorption performance. The effect of compartmenting the cavity of a resonator on its sound absorption property was also discussed. Such cavity compartmentation in fact creates a coupled resonator with a front and a rear resonator. The results show that the coupling in many cases can improve the sound absorption capacity and widen the working bandwidth of the resonators provided that the uncoupled resonance frequency of the front resonator is larger than or equal to that of the rear resonator. Results also suggest that the best compartmentation is that with these uncoupled resonance frequencies very close to each other. It is also found that the undamped plane wave approach is sufficient to predict the resonance frequencies of the coupled resonators within engineering tolerance.     

A tunable reentrant resonator with transverse orientation of electric field for in vivo EPR spectroscopy

There has been a need for development of microwave resonator designs optimized to provide high sensitivity and high stability for EPR spectroscopy and imaging measurements of in vivo systems. The design and construction of a novel reentrant resonator with transversely oriented electric field (TERR) and rectangular sample opening cross section for EPR spectroscopy and imaging of in vivo biological samples, such as the whole body of mice and rats, is described. This design with its transversely oriented capacitive element enables wide and simple setting of the center frequency by trimming the dimensions of the capacitive plate over the range 100-900 MHz with unloaded Q values of approximately 1100 at 750 MHz, while the mechanical adjustment mechanism allows smooth continuous frequency tuning in the range +/-50 MHz. This orientation of the capacitive element limits the electric field based loss of resonator Q observed with large lossy samples, and it facilitates the use of capacitive coupling. Both microwave performance data and EPR measurements of aqueous samples demonstrate high sensitivity and stability of the design, which make it well suited for in vivo applications.     

Transverse oriented electric field re-entrant resonator (TERR) with automatic tuning and coupling control for EPR spectroscopy and imaging of the beating heart

Sample motion, particularly that of a beating heart, induces baseline noise and spectral distortion on an EPR spectrum. In order to quench motional noise and restore the EPR signal amplitude and line-width, an L-band transverse oriented electric field re-entrant resonator (TERR) was designed and constructed with provisions for automatic tuning control (ATC) and automatic coupling control (ACC) suited for studies of isolated beating rat hearts. Two sets of electronic circuits providing DC biased voltage to two varactor diodes were implemented to electronically adjust coupling and tuning. The resonator has a rectangular cross-sectional sample arm of 25 mm diameter with a Q value of 1100 without sample. Once inserted with lossy aqueous samples of 0.45% NaCl, Q value drops to 400 with a volume of 0.5 ml and 150 with 5 ml. The ATC/ACC functions were tested with a moving phantom and isolated beating rat hearts with the improvement of signal to noise ratio (S/N, peak amplitude of signal over peak amplitude of baseline noise) of 6.7-, and 4 to 6-fold, respectively. With these improvements, EPR imaging could be performed on an isolated beating rat heart. Thus, this TERR resonator with ATC/ACC enables application of EPR spectroscopy and imaging for the measurement and imaging of radical metabolism, redox state, and oxygenation in the isolated beating rat heart.     

微环芯腔与锥形纳米光纤耦合过程的实验研究

在实验上研究了共振于铯原子跃迁线附近的微环芯腔与锥形纳米光纤的耦合特性。通过精密控制微环芯腔与锥形纳米光纤的相对位置,实现了两者的欠耦合、临界耦合和过耦合的精确控制。当微环芯腔与锥形纳米光纤间距为0.6μm时,系统达到临界耦合,透射率为0.3%±0.3%,耦合效率为99.7%±0.3%。由微环芯腔透射光谱得到微环芯腔的自由光谱区为1067±5GHz,等效腔长为223±1μm,线宽为2.9±0.1GHz,本征品质因数为(6.2±0.6)×10~4。随着微环芯腔与锥形纳米光纤间距的减小,微环芯腔的线宽逐渐增大,共振频率发生红移,频率移动为19.2±0.1GHz。该研究找到了有效控制微环芯腔与锥形纳米光纤耦合状态的方法,为下一步实现微环芯腔与原子间强耦合奠定了实验基础。同时该研究加深了人们对微环芯腔不同耦合状态的认识,为研究欠耦合和过耦合状态提供了实验基础。     

All-optical scheme for detecting the possible Majorana signature based on QD and nanomechanical resonator systems

Majorana fermions(MFs) are exotic particles that are their own anti-particles. Currently, the search for MFs occurring as quasiparticle excitations in condensed matter systems has attracted widespread interest, because of their importance in fundamental physics and potential applications in topological quantum computation based on solid-state devices. Motivated by recent experimental progress towards the detection and manipulation of MFs in hybrid semiconductor/superconductor heterostructures, in this review, we present a novel proposal to probe MFs in all-optical domain. We introduce a single quantum dot(QD), a hybrid quantum dot-nanomechanical resonators(QD-NR) system, and a carbon nanotube(CNT) resonator implanted in a single electron spin system with optical pump-probe technology to detect MFs, respectively. With this scheme, a possible Majorana signature is investigated via the probe absorption spectrum and nonlinear optical Kerr effect, and the coupling strength between MFs and the QD or the single electron spin is also determined. In the hybrid QD-NR system, vibration of the NR will enhance the nonlinear optical effect, which makes the MFs more sensitive for detection. In the CNT resonator with a single electron, the single electron spin can be considered as a sensitive probe, and the CNT resonator behaved as a phonon cavity is robust for detecting of MFs. This optical scheme will provide another method for the detection MFs and will open the door for new applications ranging from robust manipulation of MFs to quantum information processing based on MFs.     

Low-loss silica-on-silicon two-dimensional Fabry-Perot cavity based on holographic Bragg reflectors

We report on the demonstration of an integrated slab-waveguide-based concentric Fabry-Perot resonator that employs holographic Bragg reflectors as cavity mirrors. The cavity, produced in a low-loss silica-on-silicon slab waveguide by high-fidelity deep-ultraviolet photolithographic fabrication, exhibits a reflectivity-limited Q factor of approximately 10(5). Increasing the mirror's reflectivity will provide Q values similar to those of silica-based ring resonators, whereas the folded Fabry-Perot resonator design allows access to a substantially larger free spectral range by cavity shortening.     

Mode cycling in microring optical resonators

Electromagnetic resonators are important not only as realizable models of fundamental concepts in classical and quantum physics, based on the existence and properties of eigenmodes, but also in the practical design of lasers, amplifiers, sensors, filters, and delay lines. Coupled-eigenmode systems may be realized via the multiple eigenmodes of a single resonator or by the coupling of a mode across multiple resonators. Mode cycling is demonstrated as a distinct concept of sequential population transfer in coupled multiple-eigenvalue resonators. Based on this principle, a coupled polymeric microring resonator interferometer is fabricated and characterized; the device achieves greater than 30 dB extinction and (loaded) Q approximately 5.5 x 10(3).     

Observation of critical coupling in a fiber taper to a silica-microsphere whispering-gallery mode system

We present the observation of critical coupling in a high- Q fused-silica microsphere whispering-gallery mode resonator coupled to a fiber taper. Extremely efficient and controlled power transfer to high- Q ( approximately 10(7)) resonators has been demonstrated. Off-resonance scattering loss was measured to be less than 0.3%. On-resonance extinction in transmitted optical power through the fiber coupler was measured as high as 26 dB at the critical coupling point. This result opens up a range of new applications in fields as diverse as near-field sensing and quantum optics.     

Characteristic Attributes of Multiple Cascaded Terahertz Metasurfaces with Magnetically Tunable Subwavelength Resonators

The characteristics of multiple cascaded metasurfaces comprising H‐shaped, magnetostatically controllable, subwavelength terahertz (THz) resonators made of InAs were systematically investigated, using a commercial solver based on the finite‐integration method, for the design of tunable filters. Three configurations of the biasing magnetostatic field were compared with each other as well as with the bias‐free configuration for filtering of normally incident linearly polarized plane waves. A close study of only one metasurface was found sufficient to broadly determine the sensitivity to the direction of the magnetostatic field and the bandwidth of a stopband. Furthermore, the effects of metasurface geometry and biasing field can be considered separately for initial design purposes. All features in the transmittance spectra for the bias‐free configuration that are related to the number of cascaded metasurfaces are also observed when the biasing magnetostatic field is applied. The coupling of adjacent metasurfaces in a cascade is strongly affected by the relative permittivity and the thickness of the spacer between the two metasurfaces. The spectral locations of stopbands scale with respect to the spacer's relative permittivity, the scaling rule being different from a classical one. The stopbands are redshifted when the spacer thickness is increased, with the redshift dependent on the polarization of the incident plane wave. Inter‐metasurface coupling and inter‐resonator coupling on the same metasurface affect the spectral location of a stopband in opposite ways. On‐off type switching can be obtained by changing the orientation of magnetostatic field. The elucidated characteristics are expected to be important for not only filters but also other tunable THz devices.     

Wave propagation in a duct with a periodic Helmholtz resonators array

Helmholtz resonator is often used to reduce noise in a narrow frequency range. To obtain a broader noise attenuation band, combing several resonators is a possible way. This paper presents a theoretical study of sound propagation in a one-dimensional duct with identical side-branch resonators mounted periodically. The analysis of each resonator was based on a distributed-parameter model that considered multi-dimensional wave propagation in its neck-cavity interface. This model provided a more accurate prediction of the resonant frequency of the resonator than traditional lumped-parameter model. Bloch wave theory and the transfer matrix method were used to investigate wave propagation in these spatially periodic resonators. The results predicted by the theory fit well with the computer simulation using a three-dimensional finite element method and the experimental results. This study indicates that the wave coupling in this periodic system results in the dispersion of the frequency band into the stop and the pass bands. The long-term significance is that periodic resonators may more effectively control noise in ducts by broadening the bandwidth they attenuate and increasing the magnitude of sound attenuation.     

Adiabatic microring resonators

A class of whispering-gallery-mode resonators, herein referred to as adiabatic microring resonators, is proposed and numerically demonstrated. Adiabatic microrings enable electrical and mechanical contact to be made to the resonator without inducing radiation, while supporting only a single radial mode and therein achieving an uncorrupted free spectral range (FSR). Rigorous finite-difference time-domain simulations indicate that adiabatic microrings with outer diameters as small as 4 μm can achieve resonator quality factors (Qs) as high as Q = 88,000 and an FSR of 8.2 THz, despite large internal contacts.     

On the nature of resonance splitting in coupled multiring optical resonators

The spectrum of resonance frequencies in so-called free-standing resonators, built with coupled ring or disk resonators is analytically and numerically investigated. The composite resonator which constitutes the core of numerous photonic devices such as channel dropping filters, dispersion compensators, laser mirrors, etc., determines the salient characteristics of the device, such as its passband width and free spectral range (FSR). The spectral characteristics of the resonances are determined by the refractive indices of the waveguides, the dimensions of the resonators, and the strength of coupling between them. Novel relationships between these parameters are described that result in the invariance of the splitting ratios and as a consequence maintain the passband characteristics of the associated devices. Waveguide attenuation affecting the Q factor of the composite resonators is found to have insignificant effect on their spectral characteristics.     

Fiber laser using a microsphere resonator as a feedback element

We show that a glass microsphere resonator can be used as a wavelength-selective mirror in fiber lasers. Due to their high quality factor (Q approximately 10(8)), microsphere resonators possess a narrow reflection bandwidth. This feature enables construction of single-frequency fiber lasers even when the laser cavity is long. Nonlinear effects (such as stimulated Raman lasing) were also observed in our setup at relatively low pump powers.