Morphological instabilities of a thin film on a Penrose lattice: a Monte Carlo study

We computed by a Monte Carlo method the thermal relaxation of a polycrystalline thin film deposited on a Penrose lattice. The thin film was modelled by a 2 dimensional array of elementary domains, which have each a given height. During the Monte Carlo process, the height of each of these elementary domains is allowed to change as well as their crystallographic orientation. After equilibrium is reached at a given numerical temperature, all elementary domains have changed their orientation into the same one and small islands appear, preferentially on the domains of the Penrose lattice located in the center of heptagons. This method is a new numerical approach to study the influence of the substrate and its defects on the islanding process of polycrystalline films.Comment: 9 pages,5 figure

Sub-diffraction light propagation in fibers with anisotropic dielectric cores

We present a detailed study of light propagation in waveguides with anisotropic metamaterial cores. We demonstrate that in contrast to conventional optical fibers, our structures support free-space-like propagating modes even when the waveguide radius is much smaller than the wavelength. We develop analytical formalism to describe mode structure and propagation in strongly anisotropic systems and study the effects related to waveguide boundaries and material composition

Improved success rate and stability for phase retrieval by including randomized overrelaxation in the hybrid input output algorithm

In this paper, we study the success rate of the reconstruction of objects of finite extent given the magnitude of its Fourier transform and its geometrical shape. We demonstrate that the commonly used combination of the hybrid input output and error reduction algorithm is significantly outperformed by an extension of this algorithm based on randomized overrelaxation. In most cases, this extension tremendously enhances the success rate of reconstructions for a fixed number of iterations as compared to reconstructions solely based on the traditional algorithm. The good scaling properties in terms of computational time and memory requirements of the original algorithm are not influenced by this extension.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

A study of long range order in certain two-dimensional frustrated lattices

We have studied the Heisenberg antiferromagnets on two-dimensional frustrated lattices, triangular and kagome lattices using linear spin-wave theory. A collinear ground state ordering is possible if one of the three bonds in each triangular plaquette of the lattice becomes weaker or frustrated. We study spiral order in the Heisenberg model along with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction and in the presence of a magnetic field. The quantum corrections to the ground state energy and sublattice magnetization are calculated analytically in the case of triangular lattice with nearesr-neighbour interaction. The corrections depend on the DM interaction strength and the magnetic field. We find that the DM interaction stabilizes the long-range order, reducing the effect of quantum fluctuations. Similar conclusions are reached for the kagome lattice. We work out the linear spin-wave theory at first with only nearest-neighbour (nn) terms for the kagome lattice. We find that the nn interaction is not sufficient to remove the effects of low energy fluctuations. The flat branch in the excitation spectrum becomes dispersive on addition of furthet neighbour interactions. The ground state energy and the excitation spectrum have been obtained for various cases.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure

Magnetic Properties of Undoped C60C_{60}

The Heisenberg antiferromagnet, which arises from the large $U$ Hubbard model, is investigated on the $C_{60}$ molecule and other fullerenes. The connectivity of $C_{60}$ leads to an exotic classical ground state with nontrivial topology. We argue that there is no phase transition in the Hubbard model as a function of $U/t$, and thus the large $U$ solution is relevant for the physical case of intermediate coupling. The system undergoes a first order metamagnetic phase transition. We also consider the S=1/2 case using perturbation theory. Experimental tests are suggested.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures (included

Scattering-free plasmonic optics with anisotropic metamaterials

We develop an approach to utilize anisotropic metamaterials to solve one of the fundamental problems of modern plasmonics -- parasitic scattering of surface waves into free-space modes, opening the road to truly two-dimensional plasmonic optics. We illustrate the developed formalism on examples of plasmonic refractor and plasmonic crystal, and discuss limitations of the developed technique and its possible applications for sensing and imaging structures, high-performance mode couplers, optical cloaking structures, and dynamically reconfigurable electro-plasmonic circuits

Identifying and Indexing Icosahedral Quasicrystals from Powder Diffraction Patterns

We present a scheme to identify quasicrystals based on powder diffraction data and to provide a standardized indexing. We apply our scheme to a large catalog of powder diffraction patterns, including natural minerals, to look for new quasicrystals. Based on our tests, we have found promising candidates worthy of further exploration.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Nanowire metamaterials with extreme optical anisotropy

We study perspectives of nanowire metamaterials for negative-refraction waveguides, high-performance polarizers, and polarization-sensitive biosensors. We demonstrate that the behavior of these composites is strongly influenced by the concentration, distribution, and geometry of the nanowires, derive an analytical description of electromagnetism in anisotropic nanowire-based metamaterials, and explore the limitations of our approach via three-dimensional numerical simulations. Finally, we illustrate the developed approach on the examples of nanowire-based high energy-density waveguides and non-magnetic negative index imaging systems with far-field resolution of one-sixth of vacuum wavelength.Comment: Updated version; accepted to Appl.Phys.Let

Quasi-planar optics: computing light propagation and scattering in planar waveguide arrays

We analyze wave propagation in coupled planar waveguides, pointing specific attention to modal cross-talk and out-of-plane scattering in quasi-planar photonics. An algorithm capable of accurate numerical computation of wave coupling in arrays of planar structures is developed and illustrated on several examples of plasmonic and volumetric waveguides. An analytical approach to reduce or completely eliminate scattering and modal cross-talk in planar waveguides with anisotropic materials is also presented