Ghost imaging using homodyne detection

We present a theoretical study of ghost imaging based on correlated beams arising from parametric down-conversion, and which uses balanced homodyne detection to measure both the signal and idler fields. We analytically show that the signal-idler correlations contain the full amplitude and phase information about an object located in the signal path, both in the near-field and the far-field case. To this end we discuss how to optimize the optical setups in the two imaging paths, including the crucial point regarding how to engineer the phase of the idler local oscillator as to observe the desired orthogonal quadrature components of the image. We point out an inherent link between the far-field bandwidth and the near-field resolution of the reproduced image, determined by the bandwidth of the source of the correlated beams. However, we show how to circumvent this limitation by using a spatial averaging technique which dramatically improves the imaging bandwidth of the far-field correlations as well as speeds up the convergence rate. The results are backed up by numerical simulations taking into account the finite size and duration of the pump pulse.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Midfield RF Signal Detector

This project is part of a Master’s thesis which looks at alternative ways to measure blood glucose. The Master’s thesis uses mid-field signals in order to match impedance and therefore lose less power as they travel through flesh. The goal of this senior project is to build a receiver for those signals and give accurate RSSI (received signal strength indicator) measurements. Mid-fields were originally explored by Stanford professor Dr. Ada Poon [3] who used the signaling technique to recharge the batteries of deeply implanted devices. Devices implanted near the surface of the skin were able to have their batteries recharged using inductive coupling but when devices were implanted deeper in the body, the drop in energy before the signals reached the devices made wireless recharging impractical. Using inductive coils to transmit energy is a near field application and the near field coupling decays as as from the source [1]. Far field transmission is called radiative mode when it is used for far field power transfer, and the power decays as, which can be used when the implant is much smaller than its distance from the source. Dr. Poon discovered how to match impedances with flesh which allowed signals to travel farther without attenuation. These signals are called mid-field signals and occupy a position between near field and far field signals. Poon et al showed that in the midfield power transfer combines inductive and radiative modes [2] and shows much less attenuation as it travels through the body. The project described in this report is part of the larger glucose sensor project but because the glucose sensor system may be patented in the future, details of the work will not be described here. The glucose sensor system needs to sense the strength of a 1.6GHz mid-field wave at some point in the system and developing a sensor to receive and measure RSSI is what is described in this project

Computational and Experimental Investigation of Interfacial Area in Near-Field Diesel Spray Simulation

[EN] The dense spray region in the near-field of diesel fuel injection remains an enigma. This region is difficult to interrogate with light in the visible range and difficult to model due to the rapid interaction between liquid and gas. In particular, modeling strategies that rely on Lagrangian particle tracking of droplets have struggled in this area. To better represent the strong interaction between phases, Eulerian modeling has proven particularly useful. Models built on the concept of surface area density are advantageous where primary and secondary atomization have not yet produced droplets, but rather form more complicated liquid structures. Surface area density, a more general concept than Lagrangian droplets, naturally represents liquid structures, no matter how complex. These surface area density models, however, have not been directly experimentally validated in the past due to the inability of optical methods to elucidate such a quantity. Optical diagnostics traditionally measure near-spherical droplet size far downstream, where the spray is optically thin. Using ultra-small-angle x-ray scattering (USAXS) measurements to measure the surface area and x-ray radiography to measure the density, we have been able to test one of the more speculative parts of Eulerian spray modeling. The modeling and experimental results have been combined to provide insight into near-field spray dynamics.Authors acknowledge that part of this work was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness in the frame of the COMEFF (TRA2014-59483-R) project.Pandal, A.; Pastor Enguídanos, JM.; Payri, R.; Kastengren, A.; Duke, DJ.; Matusik, KE.; Giraldo-Valderrama, JS.... (2017). Computational and Experimental Investigation of Interfacial Area in Near-Field Diesel Spray Simulation. SAE International Journal of Fuel and Lubricants. 10(2):1-9. doi:10.4271/2017-01-0859S1910

Black Holes as Probes of Moduli Space Geometry

We argue that supersymmetric BPS states can act as efficient finite energy probes of the moduli space geometry thanks to the attractor mechanism. We focus on 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ compactifications and capture aspects of the effective field theory near the attractor values in terms of physical quantities far away in moduli space. Furthermore, we illustrate how the standard distance in moduli space can be related asymptotically to the black hole mass. We also compute a measure of the resolution with which BPS black holes of a given mass can distinguish far away points in the moduli space. The black hole probes may lead to a deeper understanding of the Swampland constraints on the geometry of the moduli space.Comment: 14 pages + appendix + reference

On choosing the start time of binary black hole ringdown

The final stage of a binary black hole merger is ringdown, in which the system is described by a Kerr black hole with quasinormal mode perturbations. It is far from straightforward to identify the time at which the ringdown begins. Yet determining this time is important for precision tests of the general theory of relativity that compare an observed signal with quasinormal mode descriptions of the ringdown, such as tests of the no-hair theorem. We present an algorithmic method to analyze the choice of ringdown start time in the observed waveform. This method is based on determining how close the strong field is to a Kerr black hole (Kerrness). Using numerical relativity simulations, we characterize the Kerrness of the strong-field region close to the black hole using a set of local, gauge-invariant geometric and algebraic conditions that measure local isometry to Kerr. We produce a map that associates each time in the gravitational waveform with a value of each of these Kerrness measures; this map is produced by following outgoing null characteristics from the strong and near-field regions to the wave zone. We perform this analysis on a numerical relativity simulation with parameters consistent with GW150914- the first gravitational wave detection. We find that the choice of ringdown start time of $3\,\mathrm{ms}$ after merger used in the GW150914 study to test general relativity corresponds to a high dimensionless perturbation amplitude of $\sim 7.5 \times 10^{-3}$ in the strong-field region. This suggests that in higher signal-to-noise detections, one would need to start analyzing the signal at a later time for studies that depend on the validity of black hole perturbation theory.Comment: 23+4 pages, 22 figure

Design and implementation of near-field measurement probes

The problems of electronics product because of electromagnetic incompatibility are in-creasing constantly. To end this incompatibility the European Union (EU) has decided to empower the Directive 2004/108/EC so devices could operate close to each other properly. The product manufacturers are required to make standardized tests to verify that the product is compliant with the Directive 2004/108/EC. Many times the designer uses a lot of time to design product functions and uses project time for verification of these functions. However, the final product should be tested in according the most recent electromagnetic standards and one of these many tests is the radio disturbance test as a function of frequency and for this disturbance the standard states limit values. This thesis is intended to bring out some phenomena by using calculations to show that how these limit values are easily broken if the product contains some design faults for example in the printed circuit board. The main focus is to design a near-field measure-ment probes which are electric field probes, magnetic field probes and a high-frequency current probe. The standardized test is done in the far field, and sometimes for the designer it is very difficult to spot the origin of interference. According the measurement results of this thesis the designed and implemented near-field probes can be used efficiently to locate the origin of interference. The magnetic field probe and electric field probe can be used to spot interference source from the printed circuit board (PCB) and high-frequency cur-rent probe can be used to search product external cable which carries common-mode current. According the calculations of this thesis the common-mode current is most problematic radiator from electronic product cabling.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

The Design of a Novel Tip Enhanced Near-field Scanning Probe Microscope for Ultra-High Resolution Optical Imaging

Traditional light microscopy suffers from the diffraction limit, which limits the spatial resolution to λ/2. The current trend in optical microscopy is the development of techniques to bypass the diffraction limit. Resolutions below 40 nm will make it possible to probe biological systems by imaging the interactions between single molecules and cell membranes. These resolutions will allow for the development of improved drug delivery mechanisms by increasing our understanding of how chemical communication within a cell occurs. The materials sciences would also benefit from these high resolutions. Nanomaterials can be analyzed with Raman spectroscopy for molecular and atomic bond information, or with fluorescence response to determine bulk optical properties with tens of nanometer resolution. Near-field optical microscopy is one of the current techniques, which allows for imaging at resolutions beyond the diffraction limit. Using a combination of a shear force microscope (SFM) and an inverted optical microscope, spectroscopic resolutions below 20 nm have been demonstrated. One technique, in particular, has been named tip enhanced near-field optical microscopy (TENOM). The key to this technique is the use of solid metal probes, which are illuminated in the far field by the excitation wavelength of interest. These probes are custom-designed using finite difference time domain (FDTD) modeling techniques, then fabricated with the use of a focused ion beam (FIB) microscope. The measure of the quality of probe design is based directly on the field enhancement obtainable. The greater the field enhancement of the probe, the more the ratio of near-field to far-field background contribution will increase. The elimination of the far-field signal by a decrease of illumination power will provide the best signal-to-noise ratio in the near-field images. Furthermore, a design that facilitates the delocalization of the near-field imaging from the far-field will be beneficial. Developed is a novel microscope design that employs two-photon non-linear excitation to allow the imaging of the fluorescence from almost any visible fluorophore at resolutions below 30 nm without changing filters or excitation wavelength. The ability of the microscope to image samples at atmospheric pressure, room temperature, and in solution makes it a very promising tool for the biological and materials science communities. The microscope demonstrates the ability to image topographical, optical, and electronic state information for single-molecule identification. A single computer, simple custom control circuits, field programmable gate array (FPGA) data acquisition, and a simplified custom optical system controls the microscope are thoroughly outlined and documented. This versatility enables the end user to custom-design experiments from confocal far-field single molecule imaging to high resolution scanning probe microscopy imaging. Presented are the current capabilities of the microscope, most importantly, high-resolution near-field images of J-aggregates with PIC dye. Single molecules of Rhodamine 6G dye and quantum dots imaged in the far-field are presented to demonstrate the sensitivity of the microscope. A comparison is made with the use of a mode-locked 50 fs pulsed laser source verses a continuous wave laser source on single molecules and J-aggregates in the near-field and far-field. Integration of an intensified CCD camera with a high-resolution monochromator allows for spectral information about the sample. The system will be disseminated as an open system design

Étude et contrôle cohérent du champ proche optique de milieux diélectriques désordonnés et de films semi-continus métal-diélectriques

One important challenge to address in the optical field is a better understanding of the optical near field of systems and how we can interact with them from the far-field. It is in this regard that I studied and controlled of the near field of both 3D disordered dielectric media and metal-dielectric disordered films. For 3D media, we used a near-field microscope to measure the optical field on their surface. To reach a free-artefact measure, we had to carefully prepare the sample by minimising the rugosity. In a second part, we studied optical modes on metal-dielectric films et we showed that it exists extended modes for some specific values of metal filling fraction of the sample. Extension of the modes has been quantified by measuring the interaction length and has been found in the order of 10 μm, enough to allow a far field control of the modes. These measurements opened the way for wavefront control of the incident beam in order to focus light in the near field of the sample. We use a spatial light modulator to control the incident wavefront and a non-linear signal (two photons luminescence - TPL) for the near-field measurement of the optical field. We could reach focusing of the energy by a factor more than ten. Finally, the SNOM technique has been coupled to the wavefront shaping system and we get preliminary measurements of optimisation in the near-field by this technique.Un défi actuel dans le domaine de l'optique est de mieux comprendre les effets de champ proches optiques des systèmes et de pouvoir agir dessus. C'est dans ce contexte que j'explore tout au long de cette thèse ces notions appliquées aux milieux 3D diélectriques désordonnés et aux films désordonnés métal-diélectriques. Pour les milieux 3D, nous avons choisi une approche par un montage de microscopie de champ proche pour faire la mesure du champ proche optique. Nous avons pour cela dû faire un travail en amont sur la préparation des échantillons pour éviter les artefacts de mesure. Ces mesures ont révélés des structures intéressantes. Nous avons ensuite étudié les modes optiques sur les films métal-diélectriques et montré qu'il existe des modes étendus pour certaine valeurs de la faction surfacique de métal déposée. Nous avons quantifié leur extension par la mesure de la longueur d'interaction et mesuré des valeurs de l'ordre de la dizaine de microns, suffisant pour être contrôlé depuis le champ lointain. Ces mesures ont ouvert la voie au contrôle du front d'onde du faisceau incident dans l'objectif de la focalisation en champ proche de la lumière. Ceci a pu être réalisé grâce à l'utilisation d'un modulateur spatial de lumière pour le contrôle du front d'onde et à un signal non-linéaire de luminescence à deux photons pour la mesure du champ proche optique. Nous obtenons la focalisation en champ proche de l'énergie d'un facteur supérieur à dix. Enfin, la technique de microscopie de champ proche a pu être implémentée et couplée au contrôle de front d'onde et une première optimisation a pu être obtenue. Cela reste néanmoins un travail préliminaire