565 research outputs found
Engineered Optical Nonlocality in Nanostructured Metamaterials
We analyze dispersion properties of metal-dielectric nanostructured
metamaterials. We demonstrate that, in a sharp contrast to the results for the
corresponding effective medium, the structure demonstrates strong optical
nonlocality due to excitation of surface plasmon polaritons that can be
engineered by changing a ratio between the thicknesses of metal and dielectric
layers. In particular, this nonlocality allows the existence of an additional
extraordinary wave that manifests itself in the splitting of the TM-polarized
beam scattered at an air-metamaterial interface
Surface plasmon resonance study of the actin-myosin sarcomeric complex and tubulin dimers
Biosensors based on the principle of surface plasmon resonance (SPR)
detection were used to measure biomolecular interactions in sarcomeres and
changes of the dielectric constant of tubulin samples with varying
concentration. At SPR, photons of laser light efficiently excite surface
plasmons propagating along a metal (gold) film. This resonance manifests itself
as a sharp minimum in the reflection of the incident laser light and occurs at
a characteristic angle. The dependence of the SPR angle on the dielectric
permittivity of the sample medium adjacent to the gold film allows the
monitoring of molecular interactions at the surface. We present results of
measurements of cross-bridge attachment/detachment within intact mouse heart
muscle sarcomeres and measurements on bovine tubulin molecules pertinent to
cytoskeletal signal transduction models.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Modern Optics *Corresponding author: Andreas
Mershin ([email protected]
Ray-based description of normal mode amplitudes in a range-dependent waveguide
An analogue of the geometrical optics for description of the modal structure
of a wave field in a range-dependent waveguide is considered. In the scope of
this approach the mode amplitude is expressed through solutions of the ray
equations. This analytical description accounts for mode coupling and remains
valid in a nonadiabatic environment. It has been used to investigate the
applicability condition of the adiabatic approximation. An applicability
criterion is formulated as a restriction on variations of the action variable
of the ray.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Anomalous transparency of water-air interface for low-frequency sound
Sound transmission through water-air interface is normally weak because of a
strong mass density contrast. Here we show that the transparency of the
interface increases dramatically at low frequencies. Rather counterintuitively,
almost all acoustic energy emitted by a sufficiently shallow monopole source
under water is predicted to be radiated into atmosphere. Physically, increased
transparency at lower frequencies is due to the increasing role of
inhomogeneous waves and a destructive interference of direct and
surface-reflected waves under water. The phenomenon of anomalous transparency
has significant implications for acoustic communication across the water-air
interface, generation of ambient noise, and detection of underwater explosions.Comment: 29 pages, including 4 figure
Influence of positional correlations on the propagation of waves in a complex medium with polydisperse resonant scatterers
We present experimental results on a model system for studying wave
propagation in a complex medium exhibiting low frequency resonances. These
experiments enable us to investigate a fundamental question that is relevant
for many materials, such as metamaterials, where low-frequency scattering
resonances strongly influence the effective medium properties. This question
concerns the effect of correlations in the positions of the scatterers on the
coupling between their resonances, and hence on wave transport through the
medium. To examine this question experimentally, we measure the effective
medium wave number of acoustic waves in a sample made of bubbles embedded in an
elastic matrix over a frequency range that includes the resonance frequency of
the bubbles. The effective medium is highly dispersive, showing peaks in the
attenuation and the phase velocity as functions of the frequency, which cannot
be accurately described using the Independent Scattering Approximation (ISA).
This discrepancy may be explained by the effects of the positional correlations
of the scatterers, which we show to be dependent on the size of the scatterers.
We propose a self-consistent approach for taking this "polydisperse
correlation" into account and show that our model better describes the
experimental results than the ISA
Acoustic scattering from double-diffusive microstructure
Author Posting. © Acoustical Society of America, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of Acoustical Society of America for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 122 (2007): 1449-1462, doi:10.1121/1.2764475.Laboratory measurements of high-frequency broadband acoustic backscattering (200–600 kHz) from the diffusive regime of double-diffusive microstructure have been performed. This type of microstructure, which was characterized using direct microstructure and optical shadowgraph techniques, is identified by sharp density and sound speed interfaces separating well-mixed layers. Vertical acoustic backscattering measurements were performed for a range of physical parameters controlling the double-diffusive microstructure. The echoes have been analyzed in both the frequency domain, providing information on the spectral response of the scattering, and in the time domain, using pulse compression techniques. High levels of variability were observed, associated with interface oscillations and turbulent plumes, with many echoes showing significant spectral structure. Acoustic estimates of interface thickness (1–3 cm), obtained for the echoes with exactly two peaks in the compressed pulse output, were in good agreement with estimates based on direct microstructure and optical shadowgraph measurements. Predictions based on a one-dimensional weak-scattering model that includes the actual density and sound speed profiles agree reasonably with the measured scattering. A remote-sensing tool for mapping oceanic microstructure, such as high-frequency broadband acoustic scattering, could lead to a better understanding of the extent and evolution of double-diffusive layering, and to the importance of double diffusion to oceanic mixing.Funding for this project was provided
by the Ocean Acoustics program at the Office of Naval
Research and by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Cecil and Ida Greene Technology Award. Tetjana Ross was
supported by the WHOI Postdoctoral Scholarship through
the generous support of the Doherty Foundation
Disorder-induced cavities, resonances, and lasing in randomly-layered media
We study, theoretically and experimentally, disorder-induced resonances in
randomly-layered samples,and develop an algorithm for the detection and
characterization of the effective cavities that give rise to these resonances.
This algorithm enables us to find the eigen-frequencies and pinpoint the
locations of the resonant cavities that appear in individual realizations of
random samples, for arbitrary distributions of the widths and refractive
indices of the layers. Each cavity is formed in a region whose size is a few
localization lengths. Its eigen-frequency is independent of the location inside
the sample, and does not change if the total length of the sample is increased
by, for example, adding more scatterers on the sides. We show that the total
number of cavities, , and resonances, , per
unit frequency interval is uniquely determined by the size of the disordered
system and is independent of the strength of the disorder. In an active,
amplifying medium, part of the cavities may host lasing modes whose number is
less than . The ensemble of lasing cavities behaves as
distributed feedback lasers, provided that the gain of the medium exceeds the
lasing threshold, which is specific for each cavity. We present the results of
experiments carried out with single-mode optical fibers with gain and
randomly-located resonant Bragg reflectors (periodic gratings). When the fiber
was illuminated by a pumping laser with an intensity high enough to overcome
the lasing threshold, the resonances revealed themselves by peaks in the
emission spectrum. Our experimental results are in a good agreement with the
theory presented here.Comment: minor correction
Observation of Surface-Avoiding Waves: A New Class of Extended States in Periodic Media
Coherent time-domain optical experiments on GaAs-AlAs superlattices reveal
the exis-tence of an unusually long-lived acoustic mode at ~ 0.6 THz, which
couples weakly to the environment by evading the sample boundaries. Classical
as well as quantum states that steer clear of surfaces are generally shown to
occur in the spectrum of periodic struc-tures, for most boundary conditions.
These surface-avoiding waves are associated with frequencies outside forbidden
gaps and wavevectors in the vicinity of the center and edge of the Brillouin
zone. Possible consequences for surface science and resonant cavity
ap-plications are discussed.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure
Combining airborne gas and aerosol measurements with HYSPLIT: a visualization tool for simultaneous evaluation of air mass history and back trajectory consistency
The history of air masses is often investigated using backward trajectories
to gain knowledge about processes along the air parcel path as well as
possible source regions. Here, we describe a refined approach that
incorporates airborne gas, aerosol, and environmental data into back
trajectories and show how this technique allows for simultaneous evaluation
of air mass history and back trajectory reliability without the need to
calculate trajectory errors.
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We use the HYbrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT)
model and add a simple semi-automated computing routine to facilitate
high-frequency coverage of back trajectories initiated along free
tropospheric (FT) flight tracks and profiles every 10 s. We integrate our in
situ physiochemical data by color-coding each of these trajectories with its
corresponding in situ tracer values measured at the back trajectory start
points along the flight path. The unique color for each trajectory aids
assessment of trajectory reliability through the visual clustering of air
mass pathways of similar coloration.
Moreover, marked changes in trajectories associated with marked changes evident
in measured physiochemical or thermodynamic properties of an air mass add credence
to trajectories. This is particularly true when these air mass properties are
linked to trajectory features characteristic of recognized sources or processes.
This visual clustering of air mass pathways is of particular value for large-scale 3-D flight tracks
common to aircraft experiments where air mass features of interest are often
spatially distributed and temporally separated.
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The cluster-visualization tool used here reveals that most FT back
trajectories with pollution signatures measured in the central equatorial
Pacific reach back to sources on the South American continent over
10 000 km away and 12 days back in time, e.g., the Amazonian basin. We also
demonstrate the distinctions in air mass properties between these and
trajectories that penetrate deep convection in the Inter-Tropical Convergence
Zone. Additionally, for the first time we show consistency of modeled
precipitation along back trajectories with scavenging signatures in the
aerosol measured for these trajectories
Wave Scattering by Obstacles in Joined Fluid-Solid Half Spaces
In recent years, attention has shifted from the ultrasonic NDE of bulk flaws to flaws in structural components that involve nearby surfaces. Very often it is convenient to exajnine the part in a water tank, locating the transmitting/receiving transducers in water. This paper is concerned with a theoretical study of a near surface flaw in an immersion tank experiment. The analytical problem to be studied is the scattering of ultrasound by an obstacle that is located near a solid-fluid (water) interface. The distance ‘d’ of the center of the flaw from the interface ranges from ‘a’ to ‘15a’ where ‘a’ is a typical radius of the flaw
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