347 research outputs found
Radiation from elementary sources in a uniaxial wire medium
We investigate the radiation properties of two types of elementary sources
embedded in a uniaxial wire medium: a short dipole parallel to the wires and a
lumped voltage source connected across a gap in a generic metallic wire. It is
demonstrated that the radiation pattern of these elementary sources have quite
anomalous and unusual properties. Specifically, the radiation pattern of a
short vertical dipole resembles that of an isotropic radiator close to the
effective plasma frequency of the wire medium, whereas the radiation from the
lumped voltage generator is characterized by an infinite directivity and a
non-diffractive far-field distribution.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
On the derivative of the associated Legendre function of the first kind of integer order with respect to its degree
In our recent works [R. Szmytkowski, J. Phys. A 39 (2006) 15147; corrigendum:
40 (2007) 7819; addendum: 40 (2007) 14887], we have investigated the derivative
of the Legendre function of the first kind, , with respect to its
degree . In the present work, we extend these studies and construct
several representations of the derivative of the associated Legendre function
of the first kind, , with respect to the degree , for
. At first, we establish several contour-integral
representations of . They are then
used to derive Rodrigues-type formulas for with . Next, some closed-form
expressions for are
obtained. These results are applied to find several representations, both
explicit and of the Rodrigues type, for the associated Legendre function of the
second kind of integer degree and order, ; the explicit
representations are suitable for use for numerical purposes in various regions
of the complex -plane. Finally, the derivatives
, and , all with , are evaluated in terms
of .Comment: LateX, 40 pages, 1 figure, extensive referencin
Diffraction by a small aperture in conical geometry: Application to metal coated tips used in near-field scanning optical microscopy
Light diffraction through a subwavelength aperture located at the apex of a
metallic screen with conical geometry is investigated theoretically. A method
based on a multipole field expansion is developed to solve Maxwell's equations
analytically using boundary conditions adapted both for the conical geometry
and for the finite conductivity of a real metal. The topological properties of
the diffracted field are discussed in detail and compared to those of the field
diffracted through a small aperture in a flat screen, i. e. the Bethe problem.
The model is applied to coated, conically tapered optical fiber tips that are
used in Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscopy. It is demonstrated that such
tips behave over a large portion of space like a simple combination of two
effective dipoles located in the apex plane (an electric dipole and a magnetic
dipole parallel to the incident fields at the apex) whose exact expressions are
determined. However, the large "backward" emission in the P plane - a salient
experimental fact that remained unexplained so far - is recovered in our
analysis which goes beyond the two-dipole approximation.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, published in PRE in 200
Dynamics of light propagation in spatiotemporal dielectric structures
Propagation, transmission and reflection properties of linearly polarized
plane waves and arbitrarily short electromagnetic pulses in one-dimensional
dispersionless dielectric media possessing an arbitrary space-time dependence
of the refractive index are studied by using a two-component, highly symmetric
version of Maxwell's equations. The use of any slow varying amplitude
approximation is avoided. Transfer matrices of sharp nonstationary interfaces
are calculated explicitly, together with the amplitudes of all secondary waves
produced in the scattering. Time-varying multilayer structures and
spatiotemporal lenses in various configurations are investigated analytically
and numerically in a unified approach. Several new effects are reported, such
as pulse compression, broadening and spectral manipulation of pulses by a
spatiotemporal lens, and the closure of the forbidden frequency gaps with the
subsequent opening of wavenumber bandgaps in a generalized Bragg reflector
Oblique launching of optical surface waves by a subwavelength slit
The electromagnetic field on the metal surface launched by a subwavelength
slit is analytically studied, for the case when the fundamental mode inside the
slit has a wavevector component along the slit axis (conical mount). Both
near-field and far-field regions are discussed, and the role of surface
plasmon-polaritons and Norton waves is revealed. It is shown that the distance
from the slit at which NW are more intense than surface plasmons decrease with
parallel wavevector, which could help experimental studies on Norton waves.
Additionally, it is found that the s-polarization component, while present for
any non-zero parallel wavevector, only weakly contributes to the NWs.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
In the diffraction shadow: Norton waves versus surface plasmon-polaritons in the optical region
Surface electromagnetic modes supported by metal surfaces have a great
potential for uses in miniaturised detectors and optical circuits. For many
applications these modes are excited locally. In the optical regime, Surface
Plasmon Polaritons (SPPs) have been thought to dominate the fields at the
surface, beyond a transition region comprising 3-4 wavelengths from the source.
In this work we demonstrate that at sufficiently long distances SPPs are not
the main contribution to the field. Instead, for all metals, a different type
of wave prevails, which we term Norton waves for their reminiscence to those
found in the radio-wave regime at the surface of the Earth. Our results show
that Norton Waves are stronger at the surface than SPPs at distances larger
than 6-9 SPP's absorption lengths, the precise value depending on wavelength
and metal. Moreover, Norton waves decay more slowly than SPPs in the direction
normal to the surface.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
Modal Analysis and Coupling in Metal-Insulator-Metal Waveguides
This paper shows how to analyze plasmonic metal-insulator-metal waveguides
using the full modal structure of these guides. The analysis applies to all
frequencies, particularly including the near infrared and visible spectrum, and
to a wide range of sizes, including nanometallic structures. We use the
approach here specifically to analyze waveguide junctions. We show that the
full modal structure of the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguides--which
consists of real and complex discrete eigenvalue spectra, as well as the
continuous spectrum--forms a complete basis set. We provide the derivation of
these modes using the techniques developed for Sturm-Liouville and generalized
eigenvalue equations. We demonstrate the need to include all parts of the
spectrum to have a complete set of basis vectors to describe scattering within
MIM waveguides with the mode-matching technique. We numerically compare the
mode-matching formulation with finite-difference frequency-domain analysis and
find very good agreement between the two for modal scattering at symmetric MIM
waveguide junctions. We touch upon the similarities between the underlying
mathematical structure of the MIM waveguide and the PT symmetric quantum
mechanical pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians. The rich set of modes that the MIM
waveguide supports forms a canonical example against which other more
complicated geometries can be compared. Our work here encompasses the microwave
results, but extends also to waveguides with real metals even at infrared and
optical frequencies.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables, references expanded, typos fixed,
figures slightly modifie
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