Analytical approach to dielectric optical bent slab waveguides

A rigorous classical analytic frequency domain model of con?ned optical wave propagation along 2D bent slab waveguides and curved dielectric interfaces is investigated, based on a piecewise ansatz for bend mode profiles in terms of Bessel and Hankel functions. This approach provides a clear picture of the behaviour of bend modes, concerning their decay for large radial arguments or effects of varying bend radius. Fast and accurate routines are required to evaluate Bessel functions with large complex orders and large arguments. Our implementation enabled detailed studies of bent waveguide properties, including higher order bend modes and whispering gallery modes, their interference patterns, and issues related to bend mode normalization and orthogonality properties

The GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey VII: The Bivariate Neutral Hydrogen-Stellar Mass Function for Massive Galaxies

We present the bivariate neutral atomic hydrogen (HI)---stellar mass function (HISMF) (phi(M_HI, M_*)) for massive (log M_*/M_sun > 10) galaxies derived from a sample of 480 local (0.025 < z < 0.050) galaxies observed in HI at Arecibo as part of the GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey (GASS). We fit six different models to the HISMF and find that a Schechter function that extends down to a 1% HI gas fraction, with an additional fractional contribution below that limit, is the best parametrization of the HISMF. We calculate Omega_{HI, M_* >10^10} and find that massive galaxies contribute 41% of the HI density in the local universe. In addition to the binned HISMF we derive a continuous bivariate fit, which reveals that the Schechter parameters only vary weakly with stellar mass: M_HI^*, the characteristic HI mass, scales as M_*^0.39, alpha, the slope of the HISMF at moderate HI masses, scales as M_*^0.07, and f, the fraction of galaxies with HI gas fraction greater than 1%, scales as M_*^-0.24. The variation of f with stellar mass should be a strong constraint for numerical simulations. To understand the physical mechanisms that produce the shape of the HISMF we redefine the parameters of the Schechter function as explicit functions of stellar mass and star formation rate to produce a trivariate fit. This analysis reveals strong trends with SFR. While M_HI^* varies weakly with stellar mass and SFR, alpha is a stronger function of both stellar mass and especially star formation rate. The HISMF is a crucial tool that can be used to constrain cosmological galaxy simulations, test observational predictions of the HI content of populations of galaxies, and identify galaxies whose properties deviate from average trends.Comment: 31 pages, 20 figures, accepted to Ap

Evidence for dielectric aging due to progressive 180 domain wall pinning in polydomain Pb(Zr0.45Ti0.55)O3 thin films

An evidence that the dielectric ageing in the polydomain Pb(Zr0.45Ti0.55)O3 thin films is controlled by progressive pinning of 180 domain walls is presented. To provide such a conclusion, we use a general method, which is based on the study of the time evolution of the nonlinear, but anhysteretic, dielectric response of the ferroelectric to a weak electric field. A thermodynamic model of the ferroelectric system where the dielectric response is controlled by bending movements of pinned 180 domain walls is developed. Within this model, the nonlinear permittivity of the ferroelectric is expressed as a function of the microstructural parameters of the domain pattern. It is shown that using the analysis of the time evolution of the nonlinear permittivity, it is possible to estimate changes in the concentration of the pinning centers that block the movements of the 180 domain walls during aging in polydomain perovskite ferroelectrics.Comment: This version is modifed and corrected according to recently published Erratum: Phys. Rev. B 79, 219903(E) (2009). 21 pages, 3 figure