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At least 1,063 records · Page 59

Monolithic multigrid methods for two-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamics

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) representations are used to model a wide range of plasma physics applications and are characterized by a nonlinear system of partial differential equations that strongly couples a charged fluid with the evolution of electromagnetic fields. The resulting linear systems that arise from discretization and linearization of the nonlinear problem are generally difficult to solve. In this paper, we investigate multigrid preconditioners for this system. We consider two well-known multigrid relaxation methods for incompressible fluid dynamics: Braess--Sarazin relaxation and Vanka relaxation. We first extend these to the context of steady-state one-fluid viscoresistive MHD. Then we compare the two relaxation procedures within a multigrid-preconditioned GMRES method employed within Newton's method. To isolate the effects of the different relaxation methods, we use structured grids, inf-sup stable finite elements, and geometric interpolation. Furthermore, we present convergence and timing results for a two-dimensional, steady-state test problem.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Monolithic Multigrid Methods for Magnetohydrodynamics

The magnetohydrodynamics equations model a wide range of plasma physics applications and are characterized by a nonlinear system of partial differential equations that strongly couples a charged fluid with the evolution of electromagnetic fields. After discretization and linearization, the resulting system of equations is generally difficult to solve due to the coupling between variables and the heterogeneous coefficients induced by the linearization process. In this paper, we investigate multigrid preconditioners for this system based on specialized relaxation schemes that properly address the system structure and coupling. Here, three extensions of Vanka relaxation are proposed and applied to problems with up to 170 million degrees of freedom and fluid and magnetic Reynolds numbers up to 400 for stationary problems and up to 20,000 for time-dependent problems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Dynamics of hot QCD matter 2024 — Bulk properties

The second Hot QCD Matter 2024 conference at IIT Mandi focused on various ongoing topics in high-energy heavy-ion collisions, encompassing theoretical and experimental perspectives. This proceedings volume includes 19 contributions that collectively explore diverse aspects of the bulk properties of hot QCD matter. The topics encompass the dynamics of electromagnetic fields, transport properties, hadronic matter, spin hydrodynamics, and the role of conserved charges in high-energy environments. These studies significantly enhance our understanding of the complex dynamics of hot QCD matter, the quark–gluon plasma (QGP) formed in high-energy nuclear collisions. Advances in theoretical frameworks, including hydrodynamics, spin dynamics and fluctuation studies, aim to improve theoretical calculations and refine our knowledge of the thermodynamic properties of strongly interacting matter. Experimental efforts, such as those conducted by the ALICE and STAR collaborations, play a vital role in validating these theoretical predictions and deepening our insight into the QCD phase diagram, collectivity in small systems, and the early-stage behavior of strongly interacting matter. In conclusion, combining theoretical models with experimental observations offers a comprehensive understanding of the extreme conditions encountered in relativistic heavy-ion and proton-proton collisions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

SCEPTRE v. 2.0 (Sandia Computational Engine for Particle Transport for Radiat

SCEPTRE solves the linear Boltzmann transport equation for general one-, two- and three-dimensional unstructured-mesh Cartesian geometries. SCEPTRE can handle any particle type for which multigroup-Legendre cross sections are available. However, the code is designed primarily to model the transport of photons, electrons, and positrons through matter. SCEPTRE 2.0 includes several auxiliary packages for pre- and post-processing, regression testing, stochastic radiation transport, thermal radiation transport, and charged-particle transport in the presence of electromagnetic fields. SCEPTRE 2.0 includes sophisticated transport-synthetic acceleration and ray-effects mitigation capabilities.

Pautz, Shawn↗

Real-time time-dependent density functional theory in Quantum Espresso and related codes

A set of subroutines that interact with an existing computer program, Quantum Espresso (QE), that takes a set of electronic orbitals from QE and propagates them forward in time in response to a number of perturbations. These perturbations include the motion of ions and a wide spectrum of applied electromagnetic fields (e.g., static magnetic fields, slowly-varying electric fields, x-rays, etc.). From the time evolution of the electronic orbitals comes time-varying values of physical observables like the electronic charge and current densities and atomic forces. These are further post-processed to yield properties of interest like stopping powers, conductivities, and the dynamic structure factor. The electronic orbitals are described in a plane wave basis and the equations of motion are carried out using a unitary or approximately unitary time propagation algorithm. Related work will include subroutines for interfacing this capability, as well as others that already exist within QE, with a fork of QE that is more extensible and modular.SAND2019-12611 M Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

Baczewski, Andrew↗

Drekar v.2.0

Drekar is an application code that solves partial differential equations for fluids that can be optionally coupled to electromagnetics. Drekar solves low-mach compressible and incompressible computational fluid dynamics (CFD), compressible and incompressible resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), and multiple species plasmas interacting with electromagnetic fields. Drekar discretization technology includes continuous and discontinuous finite element formulations, stabilized finite element formulations, mixed integration finite element bases (nodal, edge, face, volume) and an initial arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) capability. Drekar contains the implementation of the discretized physics and leverages the open source Trilinos project for both parallel solver capabilities and general finite element discretization tools. The code will be released open source under a BSD license. The code is used for fundamental research for simulation of fluids and plasmas on high performance computing environments.

Seefeldt, Ben↗

HiTEM

SAND2025-03438O HiTEM3d v1.0 is a user-friendly software designed to simulate how electromagnetic signals move through large geological environments, particularly around wellbores. It helps geophysicists and resource explorers understand subsurface conditions more effectively and affordably. By simplifying complex geological models, HiTEM3d allows users to visualize and analyze electromagnetic fields, making it easier to identify valuable resources like minerals or water. Its efficient processing capabilities ensure quick results, making it an essential tool for anyone involved in geophysical research or exploration. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

Weiss, Chester [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Liv↗

Model-predictive optimal control of ferrofluidic microrobots in three-dimensional space

Ferrofluid microrobots have emerged as promising tools for minimally invasive medical procedures. Their unique properties to navigate complex fluids and reach otherwise inaccessible regions of the human body have enabled new applications in targeted drug delivery, tissue engineering, and diagnostics. Here, this paper proposes a model-predictive controller for the external magnetic manipulation of ferrofluid microrobots in three dimensions (3D). The internal optimization routine of the controller determines appropriate changes in the applied electromagnetic field to minimize the deviation between the actual and desired trajectories of the microrobot. A linear system governing locomotion is derived and used as the equality constraints of the optimization problems associated with the feedback index. In addition to ferrofluid droplets, the controller presented in this work may be applied to other magnetically-pulled microrobots. Several experiments are performed to validate the controller and showcase its ability to adapt to changes in system parameters such as the desired tracking trajectory and the size, orientation, deformation, and velocity of the microrobot. The accuracy of the controller is analyzed for each experiment, and the average error is found to be within 0.25 mm for small velocities. An additional experiment is performed to demonstrate significant improvement over a PID controller that is optimally tuned using Bayesian optimization. The results presented in this paper suggest that the proposed control algorithm could enable new microrobotic capabilities in minimally invasive medical procedures, lab-on-a-chip applications, and microfluidics.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Quantum annealing-aided design of an ultrathin-metamaterial optical diode

Abstract Thin-film optical diodes are important elements for miniaturizing photonic systems. However, the design of optical diodes relies on empirical and heuristic approaches. This poses a significant challenge for identifying optimal structural models of optical diodes at given wavelengths. Here, we leverage a quantum annealing-enhanced active learning scheme to automatically identify optimal designs of 130 nm-thick optical diodes. An optical diode is a stratified volume diffractive film discretized into rectangular pixels, where each pixel is assigned to either a metal or dielectric. The proposed scheme identifies the optimal material states of each pixel, maximizing the quality of optical isolation at given wavelengths. Consequently, we successfully identify optimal structures at three specific wavelengths (600, 800, and 1000 nm). In the best-case scenario, when the forward transmissivity is 85%, the backward transmissivity is 0.1%. Electromagnetic field profiles reveal that the designed diode strongly supports surface plasmons coupled across counterintuitive metal–dielectric pixel arrays. Thereby, it yields the transmission of first-order diffracted light with a high amplitude. In contrast, backward transmission has decoupled surface plasmons that redirect Poynting vectors back to the incident medium, resulting in near attenuation of its transmission. In addition, we experimentally verify the optical isolation function of the optical diode.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Method for computationally efficient design of dielectric laser accelerator structures

Here, dielectric microstructures have generated much interest in recent years as a means of accelerating charged particles when powered by solid state lasers. The acceleration gradient (or particle energy gain per unit length) is an important figure of merit. To design structures with high acceleration gradients, we explore the adjoint variable method, a highly efficient technique used to compute the sensitivity of an objective with respect to a large number of parameters. With this formalism, the sensitivity of the acceleration gradient of a dielectric structure with respect to its entire spatial permittivity distribution is calculated by the use of only two full-field electromagnetic simulations, the original and ‘adjoint’. The adjoint simulation corresponds physically to the reciprocal situation of a point charge moving through the accelerator gap and radiating. Using this formalism, we perform numerical optimizations aimed at maximizing acceleration gradients, which generate fabricable structures of greatly improved performance in comparison to previously examined geometries.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Wavelength-tunable infrared chiral metasurfaces with phase-change materials

Optical phase-change materials exhibit tunable permittivity and switching properties during phase transition, which offers the possibility of dynamic control of optical devices. Here, a wavelength-tunable infrared chiral metasurface integrated with phase-change material GST-225 is demonstrated with the designed unit cell of parallelogram-shaped resonator. By varying the baking time at a temperature above the phase transition temperature of GST-225, the resonance wavelength of the chiral metasurface is tuned in the wavelength range of 2.33 µm to 2.58 µm, while the circular dichroism in absorption is maintained around 0.44. The chiroptical response of the designed metasurface is revealed by analyzing the electromagnetic field and displacement current distributions under left- and right-handed circularly polarized (LCP and RCP) light illumination. Moreover, the photothermal effect is simulated to investigate the large temperature difference in the chiral metasurface under LCP and RCP illumination, which allows for the possibility of circular polarization-controlled phase transition. The presented chiral metasurfaces with phase-change materials offer the potential to facilitate promising applications in the infrared regime, such as chiral thermal switching, infrared imaging, and tunable chiral photonics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Four-channel optically pumped magnetometer for a magnetoencephalography sensor array

We present a novel four-channel optically pumped magnetometer (OPM) for magnetoencephalography that utilizes a two-color pump/probe scheme on a single optical axis. We characterize its performance across 18 built sensor modules. The new sensor implements several improvements over our previously developed sensor including lower vapor-cell operating temperature, improved probe-light detection optics, and reduced optical power requirements. The sensor also has new electromagnetic field coils on the sensor head which are designed using stream-function-based current optimization. We detail the coil design methodology and present experimental characterization of the coil performance. The magnetic sensitivity of the sensor is on average 12.3 fT/rt-Hz across the 18 modules while the average gradiometrically inferred sensitivity is about 6.0 fT/rt-Hz. The sensor 3-dB bandwidth is 100 Hz on average. The on-sensor coil performance is in good agreement with the simulations.

Iivanainen, Joonas (ORCID:0000000160344604)↗

Infrared phase-change chiral metasurfaces with tunable circular dichroism

Integrating phase-change materials in metasurfaces has emerged as a powerful strategy to realize optical devices with tunable electromagnetic responses. Here, phase-change chiral metasurfaces based on GST-225 material with the designed trapezoid-shaped resonators are demonstrated to achieve tunable circular dichroism (CD) responses in the infrared regime. The asymmetric trapezoid-shaped resonators are designed to support two chiral plasmonic resonances with opposite CD responses for realizing switchable CD between negative and positive values using the GST phase change from amorphous to crystalline. The electromagnetic field distributions of the chiral plasmonic resonant modes are analyzed to understand the chiroptical responses of the metasurface. Furthermore, the variations in the absorption spectrum and CD value for the metasurface as a function of the baking time during the GST phase transition are analyzed to reveal the underlying thermal tuning process of the metasurface. The demonstrated phase-change metasurfaces with tunable CD responses hold significant promise in enabling many applications in the infrared regime such as chiral sensing, encrypted communication, and thermal imaging.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Dual-polarization Dirac cones in a simple 2D square lattice photonic crystal

We report on dual-polarization Dirac cones in a simple square lattice two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal (PC) based on transmission at accidental degeneracies centered at the k = 0 symmetry ( Γ <#comment/> ) point. Finite difference time domain simulations are used to identify the material and geometric parameters for Dirac-like dispersion. A configuration that produces a Dirac-like point for both transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarizations at the same frequency is presented. The PC dispersion shows the expected threefold degenerate linear branch crossings at the Dirac-like point. Full-field electromagnetic wave simulations exhibit some common behaviors of devices based on Dirac-like dispersion, such as cloaking and waveguiding. The configuration works for a considerable range of the parameter space, and thus is experimentally realizable with a wide range of materials.

Rodríguez, J. A. (ORCID:0000000178926207)↗

Universal structure of propagation-invariant optical pulses

Space–time structuring of light—where spatial and temporal degrees of freedom are deliberately coupled and controlled—is an emerging area of optics that enables novel configurations of electromagnetic fields. Of particular importance for applications are optical pulses whose peak intensity travels at an arbitrary, tunable velocity while maintaining its spatiotemporal profile. Space–time wave packets (STWPs) and the ideal flying focus (FF) are two prominent realizations of these pulses. Here, we show that these realizations share an identical spatiotemporal field structure and that this structure represents a universal solution for constant-velocity, propagation-invariant pulses.

Almeida, R. (ORCID:0000000288435855)↗

On-chip terahertz emission from Floquet-Bloch states [Invited]

Floquet engineering uses time-periodic electromagnetic fields to modify the electronic properties of quantum materials via the creation of Floquet-Bloch states. These photon-dressed states inherit features from both the material and the driving field, enabling the exploration and control of quantum phenomena in light-matter hybrid systems. In non-centrosymmetric materials, shift currents can arise from the quantum geometric properties of electronic wavefunctions. However, shift currents from Floquet-Bloch states remain experimentally unexplored. Here, we employ an on-chip optoelectronic circuit to detect intrinsic terahertz emission from Floquet-Bloch states in T d -WTe 2 under intense optical driving. We observe strong edge-localized terahertz emission that scales linearly with the driving field, consistent with the theoretical prediction for shift currents generated by Floquet-Bloch states. The results advance our understanding of strongly driven quantum materials and provide insights for developing efficient, bias-free terahertz sources for future optoelectronic technologies.

Li, Xinyu [Max Planck Institute for the Structure ↗

Ultra-intense femtosecond laser interactions with aligned nanostructures

The interaction of ultrafast laser pulses of relativistic intensity with high aspect ratio nanostructures can efficiently and volumetrically heat matter to an ultra-high-energy-density regime encountered in the center of stars and within the core of fusion capsules compressed by the world’s largest lasers. It also generates gigantic quasi-static electromagnetic fields that accelerate particles to very high energy. Here, we present an overview of the physics and applications of these dense relativistic plasmas that can be created with pulses of relatively modest energy from lasers that can operate at a high repetition rate. Recent nanowire array experiments produced near-solid density plasmas with an extreme degree of ionization (e.g., Au +72 ), converted ultrafast pulses of laser light into intense x-ray flashes with record efficiency, and accelerated ions to MeV energies, efficiently driving micro-scale fusion reactions that generate flashes of quasi-monoenergetic neutrons. These plasmas also serve as a platform for advancing the understanding of atomic processes in extreme environments and open a new pathway to laser-driven fusion energy. The irradiation of nanostructures at intensities of > 1 x 10 22 W cm –2 is predicted to lead to an extreme ultra-high energy density plasma regime characterized by terabar pressures that is virtually unexplored.

Optics↗

Material platforms for optical metasurfaces

Optical metasurfaces are judicously engineered electromagnetic interfaces that can control and manipulate many of light’s quintessential properties, such as amplitude, phase, and polarization. These artificial surfaces are composed of subwavelength arrays of optical antennas that experience resonant light-matter interaction with incoming electromagnetic radiation. Their ability to arbitrarily engineer optical interactions has generated considerable excitement and interest in recent years and is a promising methodology for miniaturizing optical components for applications in optical communication systems, imaging, sensing, and optical manipulation. However, development of optical metasurfaces requires progress and solutions to inherent challenges, namely large losses often associated with the resonant structures; large-scale, complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible nanofabrication techniques; and incorporation of active control elements. Furthermore, practical metasurface devices require robust operation in high-temperature environments, caustic chemicals, and intense electromagnetic fields. Although these challenges are substantial, optical metasurfaces remain in their infancy, and novel material platforms that offer resilient, low-loss, and tunable metasurface designs are driving new and promising routes for overcoming these hurdles. In this review, we discuss the different material platforms in the literature for various applications of metasurfaces, including refractory plasmonic materials, epitaxial noble metal, silicon, graphene, phase change materials, and metal oxides. We identify the key advantages of each material platform and review the breakthrough devices that were made possible with each material. Finally, we provide an outlook for emerging metasurface devices and the new material platforms that are enabling such devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗