SH-Mode Seismic-Reflection Imaging of Earthfill Dams

Assessing subsurface characteristics and imaging geologic features (e.g., faults, cavities, low-velocity layers, etc.) are typical problems in near-surface geophysics. These questions often have adverse geotechnical engineering implications, and can be especially acute when associated with high-hazard structures such as large earthen flood-control dams. Dam-related issues are becoming more frequent in the United States, because a large part of this major infrastructure was designed and constructed in the early- to mid-twentieth century; these dams are thus passing into the latter stages of their design life, where minute flaws that were overlooked or thought to be insignificant in design/construction are now proving problematic. The high-hydraulic heads associated with these structures can quicken degradation of weak areas and compromise long-term integrity. Addressing dam-related problems solely with traditional invasive drilling techniques is often inadequate (i.e., lack of lateral resolution) and/or economically exorbitant at this scale. However, strategic geotechnical drilling integrated with the broad utility of near-surface geophysics, particularly the horizontally polarized shear-wave (SH-mode) seismic-reflection technique for imaging the internal structural detail and geological foundation conditions of earthfill embankment dams can cost-effectively improve the overall subsurface definition needed for remedial engineering. Demonstrative evidence for this supposition is provided in the form of SH-wave seismic-reflection imaging of in situ and engineered as-built components of flood-control embankment dams at two example sites in the central United States

Observation of Dynamic Interactions between Fundamental and Second-Harmonic Modes in a High-Power Sub-Terahertz Gyrotron Operating in Regimes of Soft and Hard Self-Excitation

Dynamic mode interaction between fundamental and second-harmonic modes has been observed in high-power sub-terahertz gyrotrons [T. Notake et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 225002 (2009); T. Saito et al. Phys. Plasmas 19, 063106 (2012)]. Interaction takes place between a parasitic fundamental or firstharmonic (FH) mode and an operating second-harmonic (SH) mode, as well as among SH modes. In particular, nonlinear excitation of the parasitic FH mode in the hard self-excitation regime with assistance of a SH mode in the soft self-excitation regime was clearly observed. Moreover, both cases of stable twomode oscillation and oscillation of the FH mode only were observed. These observations and theoretical analyses of the dynamic behavior of the mode interaction verify the nonlinear hard self-excitation of the FH mode

Large second harmonic generation enhancement in SiN waveguides by all-optically induced quasi phase matching

Integrated waveguides exhibiting efficient second-order nonlinearities are crucial to obtain compact and low power optical signal processing devices. Silicon nitride (SiN) has shown second harmonic generation (SHG) capabilities in resonant structures and single-pass devices leveraging intermodal phase matching, which is defined by waveguide design. Lithium niobate allows compensating for the phase mismatch using periodically poled waveguides, however the latter are not reconfigurable and remain difficult to integrate with SiN or silicon (Si) circuits. Here we show the all-optical enhancement of SHG in SiN waveguides by more than 30 dB. We demonstrate that a Watt-level laser causes a periodic modification of the waveguide second-order susceptibility. The resulting second order nonlinear grating has a periodicity allowing for quasi phase matching (QPM) between the pump and SH mode. Moreover, changing the pump wavelength or polarization updates the period, relaxing phase matching constraints imposed by the waveguide geometry. We show that the grating is long term inscribed in the waveguides, and we estimate a second order nonlinearity of the order of 0.3 pm/V, while a maximum conversion efficiency (CE) of 1.8x10-6 W-1 cm-2 is reached

Seismic representation theorem coupling: synthetic SH mode sum seismograms for non-homogeneous paths

In this paper the methods for representation theorem coupling of finite-element or finite difference calculations and propagator matrix method calculations (Harkrider) are developed.The validity and accuracy of the resulting hybrid method are demonstrated.The resulting hybrid technique can be used to study the propagation of any phase that can be represented in terms of an SH mode sum seismogram, across regional transition zones or other heterogeneities. These heterogeneities may exist in regions which form subsegments of a longer, mostly plane-layered, path. Examples of structures of interest through which such waves can be propagated using these techniques include, regions of crustal thickening or thinning such as continent-ocean transitions or basins, anomalous bodies of any shape located in the path, and sudden transitions from one layered structure to another. Examples of the types of phases that may be propagated through these structures include Love waves, L_g, S_n, and S_a

Diffuse scattered field of elastic waves from randomly rough surfaces using an analytical Kirchhoff theory

We develop an elastodynamic theory to predict the diffuse scattered field of elastic waves by randomly rough surfaces, for the first time, with the aid of the Kirchhoff approximation (KA). Analytical expressions are derived incorporating surface statistics, to represent the expectation of the angular distribution of the diffuse intensity for different modes. The analytical solutions are successfully verified with numerical Monte Carlo simulations, and also validated by comparison with experiments. We then apply the theory to quantitatively investigate the effects of the roughness and the shear-to-compressional wave speed ratio on the mode conversion and the scattering intensity, from low to high roughness within the valid region of KA. Both the direct and the mode converted intensities are significantly affected by the roughness, which leads to distinct scattering patterns for different wave modes. The mode conversion effect is very strong around the specular angle and it is found to increase as the surface appears to be more rough. In addition, the 3D roughness induced coupling between the out-of-plane shear horizontal (SH) mode and the in-plane modes is studied. The intensity of the SH mode is shown to be very sensitive to the out-of-plane correlation length, being influenced more by this than by the RMS value of the roughness. However, it is found that the depolarization pattern for the diffuse field is independent of the actual value of the roughness

Can we improve the prediction of hip fracture by assessing bone structure using shape and appearance modelling?

Copyright 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.Peer reviewedPreprin

Phonon and plasmon excitation in inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy of graphite

The inelastic electron tunneling spectrum (IETS)of highly oriented pyrolitic graphite (HOPG) has been measured with scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) at 6K. The observed spectral features are in very good agreement with the vibrational density of states (vDOS) of graphite calculated from first principles. We discuss the enhancement of certain phonon modes by phonon-assisted tunneling in STS based on the restrictions imposed by the electronic structure of graphite. We also demonstrate for the first time the local excitation of surface-plasmons in IETS which are detected at an energy of 40 meV.Comment: PRB rapid communication, submitte

Second Harmonic Generation Enabled by Longitudinal Electric Field Components in Photonic Wire Waveguides

We investigate type I second harmonic generation in III-V semiconductor wire waveguides aligned with a crystallographic axis. In this direction, because of the single nonzero tensor element of III-V semiconductors, only frequency conversion by mixing with the longitudinal components of the optical fields is allowed. We experimentally study the impact of the propagation direction on the conversion efficiency and confirm the role played by the longitudinal components through the excitation of an antisymmetric second harmonic higher order mode