Coherent control of negative refraction based on local-field enhancement and dynamically induced chirality

This paper studies the electromagnetic response of a coherently driven dense atomic ensemble to a weak probe.It finds that negative refraction with little absorption may be achieved in the presence of local-field enhanced interaction and dynamically induced chirality.The complex refractive index governing the probe refraction and absorption depends critically on the atomic density,the steady population distribution,the coherence dephasings,and the frequency detunings,and is also sensitive to the phase of the driving field because the photonic transition paths form a close loop.Thus,it can periodically tune the refractive index at a fixed frequency from negative to positive values and vice versa just by modulating the driving phase.Moreover,the optimal negative refraction is found to be near the probe magnetic resonance,which then requires the electric fields of the probe and the drive being on two-photon resonance due to the dipole synchronisation.     

SiOxNy thin films with variable refraction index: Microstructural, chemical and mechanical properties

In this work amorphous silicon oxynitride films with similar composition (ca. Si_0.40N_0.45O_0.10) were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering from a pure Si target under different N₂-Ar mixtures. Rutherford backscattering (RBS) studies revealed that the coatings presented similar composition but different density. The mechanical properties evaluated by nanoindentation show also a dependence on the deposition conditions that does not correlate with a change in composition. An increase in nitrogen content in the gas phase results in a decrease of hardness and Young's modulus.The microstructural study by high resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM-FEG) on non-metalized samples allowed the detection of a close porosity in the form of nano-voids (3-15 nm in size), particularly in the coatings prepared under pure N₂ gas. It has been shown how the presence of the close porosity allows tuning the refraction index of the films in a wide range of values without modifying significantly the chemical, thermal and mechanical stability of the film.     

Materials with a desired refraction coefficient can be made by embedding small particles

A method is proposed to create materials with a desired refraction coefficient, possibly negative one. The method consists of embedding into a given material small particles. Given n₀(x), the refraction coefficient of the original material in a bounded domain , and a desired refraction coefficient n(x), one calculates the number N(x) of small particles, to be embedded in D around a point xD per unit volume of D, in order that the resulting new material has refraction coefficient n(x).     

Refraction holodiagrams and Snell's law

The refraction holodiagram RHD is analyzed here with respect to the law of refraction. Particularly, we study the surface that exactly conjugates by refraction a virtual point source with a real image or conversely. By using the total optical path as a parameter we build a diagram that consists in a family of Descartes ovals of the apple type that contains the Pascal's limaçon as a particular extreme case and the spherical surface with the Weierstrass points as another. These representations permit the straightforward application of Fermat's principle in the case of arbitrary refracting surfaces and show the shape of generalized Fresnel's zones in the intersections with any surface. Snell's law is applied to rays incident on the apple type surfaces to find out the conditions for exact conjugation. Sensitivity to optical path variations is also discussed. The RHD curves family can be represented in a Cartesian way where the ovals appear as equally spaced straight lines.     

Acoustic metasurface for refracted wave manipulation

Here we present a design of a transmitted acoustic metasurface based on a single row of Helmholtz resonators with varying geometric parameters. The proposed metasurface can not only steer an acoustic beam as expected from the generalized Snell's law of refraction, but also exhibits various interesting properties and potential applications such as insulation of two quasi-intersecting transmitted sound waves, ultrasonic Bessel beam generator, frequency broadening effect of anomalous refraction and focusing.     

Influence of atmospheric refraction on the performance of an outdoor ultrasonic pulse compression system

Nowadays, many ultrasonic sensory systems are being developed to operate outdoors, where they are finding a variety of applications, such as local positioning, vehicle navigation or obstacle detection. To assure the reliable operation of these systems under any meteorological condition, it is necessary to achieve a thorough comprehension of the effects that the different atmospheric phenomena can have on the propagation of these acoustic waves. This paper deals with one of these phenomena, atmospheric refraction, and its influence on the performance of an ultrasonic system whose signals are detected by matched filtering.     

基于声光折射的聚焦超声焦点声压检测

提出了一种基于声光折射对聚焦超声焦点声压进行非侵入式检测的方法。当一束直径小于声波长的平行光束入射穿过聚焦超声的焦点时,通过研究焦点声压与光线偏转的具体关系,建立了光线最大偏转距离与焦点声压变化的关系模型,从而计算出焦点峰值声压。为了对理论模型进行验证,采用凹球面型聚焦换能器进行实验研究。通过与采用光纤水听器测量的结果进行对比,证明理论模型的可行性。结果表明实验得到的光斑图像与理论分析的结果一致,且用该方法测得的焦点峰值声压与光纤水听器测量的结果相比,相对误差小于15%,证明该方法具有可行性,能够定量检测焦点峰值声压。模型的提出也为将声光折射效应用于整个聚焦声场的定量检测提供了实验依据和理论依据。     

Broadband and high efficiency terahertz metasurfaces for anomalous refraction and vortex beam generation

The applications of metasurfaces are currently a highly active research field due to their extraordinary ability to manipulate electromagnetic waves. The ultra-thin characteristics of metasurfaces allow the miniaturization and integration of metasurface devices. However, these devices work typically under a low efficiency and narrow bandwidth condition. In this work, we design eight multilayered unit cells with similar amplitudes and a phase interval of π/4, which convert the polarization states of the terahertz (THz) waves between two orthogonal directions. The average cross-polarized transmission amplitudes of these cells are all around 0.9 in an ultra-broad frequency range from 0.5 THz to 1.4 THz. Furthermore, unit cells are used to construct both an ultra-thin anomalous refraction metalens and a vortex phase plate. Our simulation results show that the anomalous refraction for the transmitted linear polarization component is comparable to the theoretical prediction, and the maximum error is determined to be below 4.8%. The vortex phase plate can also generate an ideal terahertz vortex beam with a mode purity of 90% and more. The distributions of longitudinal electric field, intensity, and phase illustrate that the generated vortex beam has excellent propagation characteristics and a weak divergence. Simulations of the two types of metasurface devices, based on the eight unit cells, exhibit very high efficiencies in a wide bandwidth. Our research will assist in the improvement in the practical applications of metasurfaces. It also provides a reference for the design of high efficiency and broadband devices that are applied to other frequency ranges.     

左右手系材料界面处全反射行为的特性

基于电磁场理论，推导了左右手系材料界面处发生全反射时的物理特性，分析了相位变化情况.提出利用左右手系材料构成周期性结构，观测全反射时介质中隐失波干涉的实验设想，并从理论上计算了干涉条纹的分布. 关键词： 左手材料 负折射率 全反射 隐失波     

惠更斯作图法分析双折射中e光的反常现象

在单轴晶体双折射中,e光会发生一些反常的折射现象如负折射、e光离散角、全反射现象等.与文献中普遍所采用的基于平面光波在晶体中传播的电磁理论特性求解的过程不同,本文则以更为直观的惠更斯作图法为出发点,利用几何求解,得出负反射临界角、e光离散角、全反射临界角,并加以说明和讨论.