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DOE OSTI2016

Design of a hybrid silicon-plasmonic co-propagating coupler operating close to coherent perfect absorption

By hybrid integration of plasmonic and dielectric waveguide concepts, it is shown that nearly perfect coherent absorption can be achieved in a co-propagating coupler geometry. First, the operating principle of the proposed device is detailed in the context of a more general 2 × 2 lossy coupler formalism. Then, it is shown how to tune the device in a wide region of possible working points, its broadband operation, and the tolerance to fabrication uncertainties. Finally, a complete picture of the electromagnetic modes inside the hybrid structure is analyzed, shining light onto the potentials which the proposed device holds in view of classical and quantum signal processing, nonlinear optics, polarization control, and sensing.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2019

Electromagnetic energy flow in confined regions of evanescent waves: wavelength-scale analysis by the method of single expression

An alternative expression for the Poynting vector for monitoring electromagnetic energy flow in confined regions of evanescent waves is presented. This expression is an intrinsic integrable function of the boundary problem solution in the method of single expression (MSE). The peculiarity of the MSE is the fact that it does not exploit the superposition principle by representing solutions of the Helmholtz equation as a sum of counter propagating waves in the medium, but rather considers resulting wave with certain amplitude and phase by solving special set of the MSE equations with backward calculation approach. This permits to have a universal expression for the Poynting vector appropriate both for media of a positive product of permittivity and permeability and of a negative product of these values that is relevant to the region of evanescent waves. For the boundary problem solution carried out numerically by the MSE it is possible to observe distributions of not only electric and magnetic field amplitudes, but also the Poynting vector in any confined media including regions of evanescent waves. The presented alternative expression for the Poynting vector in the MSE is in complete agreement with the traditional representation of the Poynting vector for the medium where it is defined.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2018

First step toward a synthetic diagnostic for magnetic fluctuation measurements using cross-polarization scattering on DIII-D

Cross-polarization scattering (CPS) provides localized magnetic fluctuation ($\tilde{B}$) measurements in fusion plasmas based on the process where $\tilde{B}$ scatters electromagnetic radiation into the orthogonal polarization. The CPS system on DIII-D utilizes the probe beam of a Doppler backscattering (DBS) diagnostic combined with a cross-view CPS receiver system, which allows simultaneous density and $\tilde{B}$ measurements with good spatial and wavenumber coverage. The interpretation of the signals is challenging due to the complex plasma propagation of the DBS probe beam and CPS receive beams. A synthetic diagnostic for CPS is therefore essential to interpret data and perform detailed validation tests of non-linear turbulence simulations. This work reports a first step toward a synthetic diagnostic for CPS utilizing GENRAY, a 3-D ray tracing code, to simulate the propagation of the probe and scattered rays. The local $\tilde{B}$ wavenumber is calculated from the local O- and X-mode wavenumbers using the wave vector matching scattering condition. The CPS wavenumber values and spatial locations are determined by a complex consideration that includes the local density and $\tilde{B}$ level, receive antenna pattern and orientation, scattering volume, wavenumber values detected at the various scattering centers, and alignment of the magnetic wave vector with the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field. The issue of a spurious CPS signal due to polarization mismatches for launch and receive is also discussed. It is suggested that simultaneous O- and X-mode DBS measurements should be utilized for better understanding of the CPS signal contamination when the cutoff locations for both polarizations are close.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2019

Observation of a beam-driven low-frequency mode in Heliotron J

A low-frequency electromagnetic mode (LF-mode) has been observed in a stellarator/heliotron device, Heliotron J. The LF-mode is observed only in neutral beam heated plasmas with a co-current, which increases the rotational transform. The observed LF-mode peaks at rho = 0.86–0.91, where rho = r/a is the normalized minor radius. The LF-mode propagates in the ion diamagnetic drift direction, and the poloidal mode number is m ~ 6–8, determined with a combination of Mirnov coil arrays and 2D fast camera measurement. A high m number induces significant Doppler shift from the background ion flow. The frequency is corrected with both E × B rotation and the ion diamagnetic flow. The corrected frequency is almost consistent with the beta-induced Alfvén eigenmode gap evaluated with the STELLGAP code, although very close to the accumulation point. The mode could also be a global Alfvén eigenmode.

BAE↗

DOE OSTI2021

Verification of a fully implicit particle-in-cell method for the  v ∥ -formalism of electromagnetic gyrokinetics in the XGC code

A fully implicit particle-in-cell method for handling the v ∥ -formalism of electromagnetic gyrokinetics has been implemented in XGC. By choosing the v ∥ -formalism, here we avoid introducing the nonphysical skin terms in Ampère's law, which are responsible for the well-known “cancellation problem” in the p ∥ -formalism. The v ∥ -formalism, however, is known to suffer from a numerical instability when explicit time integration schemes are used due to the appearance of a time derivative in the particle equations of motion from the inductive component of the electric field. Here, using the conventional δf scheme, we demonstrate that our implicitly discretized algorithm can provide numerically stable simulation results with accurate dispersive properties. We verify the algorithm using a test case for shear Alfvén wave propagation in addition to a case demonstrating the ion temperature gradient-kinetic ballooning mode (ITG-KBM) transition. The ITG-KBM transition case is compared to results obtained from other δf gyrokinetic codes/schemes, whose verification has already been archived in the literature.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2015

Optically transparent frequency selective surfaces on flexible thin plastic substrates

A novel 2D simple low cost frequency selective surface was screen printed on thin (0.21 mm), flexible transparent plastic substrate (relative permittivity 3.2). It was designed, fabricated and tested in the frequency range 10-20 GHz. The plane wave transmission and reflection coefficients agreed with numerical modelling. The effective permittivity and thickness of the backing sheet has a significant effect on the frequency characteristics. The stop band frequency reduced from 15GHz (no backing) to 12.5GHz with polycarbonate. The plastic substrate thickness beyond 1.8mm has minimal effect on the resonant frequency. While the inner element spacing controls the stop-band frequency, the substrate thickness controls the bandwidth. The screen printing technique provided a simple, low cost FSS fabrication method to produce flexible, conformal, optically transparent and bio-degradable FSS structures which can find their use in electromagnetic shielding and filtering applications in radomes, reflector antennas, beam splitters and polarizers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2015

Particle visualization in high-power impulse magnetron sputtering. I. 2D density mapping

Time-resolved characterization of an Ar-Ti high-power impulse magnetron sputtering discharge has been performed. This paper deals with two-dimensional density mapping in the discharge volume obtained by laser-induced fluorescence imaging. The time-resolved density evolution of Ti neutrals, singly ionized Ti atoms (Ti{sup +}), and Ar metastable atoms (Ar{sup met}) in the area above the sputtered cathode is mapped for the first time in this type of discharges. The energetic characteristics of the discharge species are additionally studied by Doppler-shift laser-induced fluorescence imaging. The questions related to the propagation of both the neutral and ionized discharge particles, as well as to their spatial density distributions, are discussed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2020

Net energy gain in direct laser acceleration due to enhanced dephasing induced by an applied magnetic field

Even in the situation where an electron interacts with a single plane wave, the well-known dynamical adiabaticity can be broken when an applied magnetic field is present, which will act to increase the dephasing rate of the electron during the interaction. Here we demonstrate this for the case where there is a uniform static magnetic field which is oriented either parallel or perpendicular to the electric field of the incident plane wave, and perpendicular to the direction of its propagation. The described energy gain phenomenon has direct relevance to laser-plasma interactions that involve external magnetic fields generated by laser-driven capacitor coils.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2021

Electromagnetic power of lightning superbolts from Earth to space

Lightning superbolts are the most powerful and rare lightning events with intense optical emission, first identified from space. Superbolt events occurred in 2010-2018 could be localized by extracting the high energy tail of the lightning stroke signals measured by the very low frequency ground stations of the World-Wide Lightning Location Network. Here, we report electromagnetic observations of superbolts from space using Van Allen Probes satellite measurements, and ground measurements, and with two events measured both from ground and space. From burst-triggered measurements, we compute electric and magnetic power spectral density for very low frequency waves driven by superbolts, both on Earth and transmitted into space, demonstrating that superbolts transmit 10-1000 times more powerful very low frequency waves into space than typical strokes and revealing that their extreme nature is observed in space. We find several properties of superbolts that notably differ from most lightning flashes; a more symmetric first ground-wave peak due to a longer rise time, larger peak current, weaker decay of electromagnetic power density in space with distance, and a power mostly confined in the very low frequency range. Their signal is absent in space during day times and is received with a long-time delay on the Van Allen Probes. These results have implications for our understanding of lightning and superbolts, for ionosphere-magnetosphere wave transmission, wave propagation in space, and remote sensing of extreme events.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2019

LPSE : A 3-D wave-based model of cross-beam energy transfer in laser-irradiated plasmas

The new component of the “laser–plasma simulation environment” (LPSE) described here is a practical numerical model that solves the coupled vector equations for the propagation of nearly monochromatic, coherent, lectromagnetic waves in inhomogeneous unmagnetized plasmas. It operates efficiently in the numerically challenging semiclassical regime where characteristic plasma scale lengths are many times greater than the wavelength of the light and solutions are highly oscillatory. Solutions can be obtained in one, two, or three spatial dimensions and time. Additionally, the model includes the effects of nonlinear coupling of electromagnetic waves to the low-frequency plasma perturbations (i.e., ion-acoustic response) that are responsible for stimulated Brillouin scattering. Induced plasma perturbations are assumed to be imposed on a prescribed large-scale inhomogeneous background that includes spatially varying plasma density and flow. Our code is directly relevant to the problem of cross-beam energy transfer in laser-driven inertial confinement fusion. Lastly, it may also be applicable in other areas where eikonal solutions of multicomponent wave equations (or coupled wave equations) are insufficient, such as optical scattering from ultrasound, electron dynamics in quantum devices or in nanoscale light–matter interactions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2015

Self-focusing of electromagnetic surface waves on a nonlinear impedance surface

The self-focusing effect of optical beams has been a popular topic of study for quite a while, but such a nonlinear phenomenon at microwave frequencies has never been realized, partially due to the underdevelopment of nonlinear material. In this research, self-focused electromagnetic (EM) surface waves are demonstrated on a circuit-based, power-dependent impedance surface. The formation of a self-focused beam is investigated using a series of discrete-time simulations, and the result is further validated in measurement. It is experimentally observed that, in contrast to the normal scattering of low-power surface waves, high-power waves propagate through the surface while maintaining narrow beam width, and even converge extremely tightly to create a hot spot with higher power. The result is essentially a nonlinear effect of the surface that compensates for the natural tendency of surface waves to diffract. This intriguing experiment can be extended to various potential EM applications such as power-dependent beam steering antennas and nonlinear microwave propagation or dissipation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2015

COSMIC-RAY PITCH-ANGLE SCATTERING IN IMBALANCED MHD TURBULENCE SIMULATIONS

Pitch-angle scattering rates for cosmic-ray particles in MHD simulations with imbalanced turbulence are calculated for fully evolving electromagnetic turbulence. We compare with theoretical predictions derived from the quasilinear theory of cosmic-ray diffusion for an idealized slab spectrum and demonstrate how cross helicity affects the shape of the pitch-angle diffusion coefficient. Additional simulations in evolving magnetic fields or static field configurations provide evidence that the scattering anisotropy in imbalanced turbulence is not primarily due to coherence with propagating Alfvén waves, but an effect of the spatial structure of electric fields in cross-helical MHD turbulence.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Oblique propagation and temperature effects on the resonant right-hand ion beam instability

The resonant right-hand instability (RHI) is often the dominant mode driven by reflected ions upstream of Earth’s quasi-parallel bow shock. In the tradition of Peter Gary, this paper further explores the right-hand instability using numerical solutions of the plasma dispersion relation and non-linear kinetic simulations, with parameters inspired by observations from NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. Agreement is found between the ion distributions in the particle-in-cell simulations and Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft data, which show the gyrophase bunching characteristic of the instability. The non-linear structures created by right-hand instability tend to be stronger when the plasma beta is lower. These structures have sizes of around 100 to 200 ion inertial lengths perpendicular to the magnetic field, presenting planet-sized disturbances to the magnetosphere. 2d and 3D hybrid particle-in-cell simulations show that modes with a range of propagation angles oblique to the magnetic field are excited, providing a ground to understand previous statistical studies of observed foreshock waves.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2017

Rainbow trapping of ultrasonic guided waves in chirped phononic crystal plates

The rainbow trapping effect has been demonstrated in electromagnetic and acoustic waves. In this study, rainbow trapping of ultrasonic guided waves is achieved in chirped phononic crystal plates that spatially modulate the dispersion, group velocity, and stopband. The rainbow trapping is related to the progressively slowing group velocity, and the extremely low group velocity near the lower boundary of a stopband that gradually varies in chirped phononic crystal plates. As guided waves propagate along the phononic crystal plate, waves gradually slow down and finally stop forward propagating. The energy of guided waves is concentrated at the low velocity region near the stopband. Moreover, the guided wave energy of different frequencies is concentrated at different locations, which manifests as rainbow guided waves. We believe implementing the rainbow trapping will open new paradigms for guiding and focusing of guided waves. Furthermore, the rainbow guided waves with energy concentration and spatial separation of frequencies may have potential applications in nondestructive evaluation, spatial wave filtering, energy harvesting, and acoustofluidics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2015

Nonlinear absorption of Alfven wave in dissipative plasma

We propose a method for studying absorption of Alfven wave propagation in a homogeneous non-isothermal plasma along a constant magnetic field, and relaxation of electron and ion temperatures in the A-wave. The absorption of a A-wave by the plasma arises due to dissipative effects - magnetic and hydrodynamic viscosities of electrons and ions and their elastic interaction. The method is based on the exact solution of two-fluid electromagnetic hydrodynamics of the plasma, which for A-wave, as shown in the work, are reduced to a nonlinear system of ordinary differential equations.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2017

Multimode theory of plasmon excitation at a metal – photonic crystal interface

Surface plasmon excitation at a photonic crystal – metal interface is studied taking into account multiple scattering of an initial light wave on a periodical crystal structure. The analysis is focused on calculating characteristics of the eigenwaves in a one-dimensional crystal, which comprise a set of harmonics with the wavevectors separated from each other by the value of the crystal lattice wavevector. Reflection from the crystal – metal interface binds the amplitudes of propagating and evanescent modes. Calculations show that for the dielectric characteristics of a synthetic opal and a substrate made of a real metal with a ruby laser radiation used as the initial wave, the fulfilment of plasmon resonance conditions leads to a local increase in the surface plasmon amplitude by a factor of 6.4 – 9 as compared to the average amplitude of the initial wave. As a rule, the effect can only be obtained for a single surface wave, all other waves being substantially weaker than the main plasmon. There is a specific case where the resonance condition holds for two modes simultaneously. In this case, two oppositely directed fluxes of equal intensity are generated at the interface. The resonance condition breaks at a small deviation of the incident angle of the initial wave θ from the normal direction (|θ| ⩾ 10{sup −4} rad). In the latter case, the picture is asymmetric: at angles |θ| ⩾ 5 × 10{sup −3} rad, only one plasmon remains intensive. The local density of electromagnetic energy at the photonic crystal – metal interface may exceed the corresponding value of the initial wave by a factor of 40 – 80. (surface plasmons)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2015

Effect of microstructure on the coupled electromagnetic-thermo-mechanical response of cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine-estane energetic aggregates to infrared laser radiation

The coupled electromagnetic (EM)-thermo-mechanical response of cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine-estane energetic aggregates under laser irradiation and high strain rate loads has been investigated for various aggregate sizes and binder volume fractions. The cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX) crystals are modeled with a dislocation density-based crystalline plasticity formulation and the estane binder is modeled with finite viscoelasticity through a nonlinear finite element approach that couples EM wave propagation with laser heat absorption, thermal conduction, and inelastic deformation. Material property and local behavior mismatch at the crystal-binder interfaces resulted in geometric scattering of the EM wave, electric field and laser heating localization, high stress gradients, dislocation density, and crystalline shear slip accumulation. Viscous sliding in the binder was another energy dissipation mechanism that reduced stresses in aggregates with thicker binder ligaments and larger binder volume fractions. This investigation indicates the complex interactions between EM waves and mechanical behavior, for accurate predictions of laser irradiation of heterogeneous materials.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2019

Normal modes of strictly resonant and quasi-resonant regimes of electromagnetically induced transparency

We report the results of a theoretical study of the evolution of a probe pulse under electromagnetically induced transparency conditions in the lambda scheme of degenerate inhomogeneously broadened quantum transitions. It is assumed that the interacting fields are elliptically polarised, and their effect on the medium can be either strictly resonant or quasi-resonant. It is shown that probe light in a medium can be represented as the sum of two normal modes, i.e. quasi-monochromatic elliptically polarised fields propagating independently of each other. The major axis of the polarisation ellipse of the normal mode of the first type is parallel, and that of the second type is perpendicular to the major axis of the polarisation ellipse of the control light. Due to the fact that velocities of normal-mode pulses are different, a single probe pulse entering a medium splits into individual pulses inside the medium, each of which transfers the energy of one of the normal modes. In the case of quasi-resonance, the splitting occurs at a shorter distance than in the case of strict resonance. If normal modes are not phase modulated at the input surface of the medium, then in the case of quasi-resonance they become phase modulated during their propagation inside the medium, whereas this does not occur in the case of strict resonance. It is shown that in the case of quasi-resonance, the phase modulation value of the mode of the second of the above types significantly exceeds that of the first type. The medium transparency for the normal mode of the first type slightly decreases with the transition from the case of strict resonance to the case of quasi-resonance, while the medium transparency for the mode of the second type decreases significantly. The total probe field, which is the sum of the normal modes, has phase modulation before it splits into mode pulses in cases of both strict resonance and quasi-resonance, even if it does not have it on the input surface. (nonlinear optical phenomena)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗