5,933 research outputs found
Degenerate four-wave mixing in triply-resonant Kerr cavities
We demonstrate theoretical conditions for highly-efficient degenerate
four-wave mixing in triply-resonant nonlinear (Kerr) cavities. We employ a
general and accurate temporal coupled-mode analysis in which the interaction of
light in arbitrary microcavities is expressed in terms a set of coupling
coefficients that we rigorously derive from the full Maxwell equations. Using
the coupled-mode theory, we show that light consisting of an input signal of
frequency can, in the presence of pump light at
, be converted with quantum-limited efficiency into an output shifted
signal of frequency , and we derive expressions for
the critical input powers at which this occurs. We find that critical powers in
the order of 10mW assuming very conservative cavity parameters (modal volumes
cubic wavelengths and quality factors . The standard
Manley-Rowe efficiency limits are obtained from the solution of the classical
coupled-mode equations, although we also derive them from simple
photon-counting "quantum" arguments. Finally, using a linear stability
analysis, we demonstrate that maximal conversion efficiency can be retained
even in the presence of self- and cross-phase modulation effects that generally
act to disrupt the resonance condition.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures. To appear in Physical Review
Frequency-selective near-field enhancement of radiative heat transfer via photonic-crystal slabs: a general computational approach for arbitrary geometries and materials
We demonstrate the possibility of achieving enhanced frequency-selective
near-field radiative heat transfer between patterned (photonic crystal) slabs
at designable frequencies and separations, exploiting a general numerical
approach for computing heat transfer in arbitrary geometries and materials
based on the finite-difference time-domain method. Our simulations reveal a
tradeoff between selectivity and near-field enhancement as the slab--slab
separation decreases, with the patterned heat transfer eventually reducing to
the unpatterned result multiplied by a fill factor (described by a standard
proximity approximation). We also find that heat transfer can be further
enhanced at selective frequencies when the slabs are brought into a
glide-symmetric configuration, a consequence of the degeneracies associated
with the non-symmorphic symmetry group
Valorization of microalgal biomass by hydrothermal carbonization and anaerobic digestion
The potential of hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) as a novel choice for treating microalgal biomass (MAB) was assessed. The hydrochar obtained at 210 °C had a carbon content and a higher heating value (HHV) 1.09 and 1.1 times greater, respectively, than that of the feedstock. Also, washing the hydrochar with HCl efficiently removed ash and increased its carbon content 1.40-fold. Energy recovery in the liquid fraction from the hydrothermal treatment (LF) by anaerobic digestion (AD) allowed methane yields of 188â356 mL STP CH4 gâ1 VSadded, to be obtained. As a result, the amount of energy recovered from MAB was increased from about 4 MJ kgâ1 (20% in terms of HHV) to 15.4, 12.1 and 10.4 MJ kgâ1 by combining HTC at 180, 210 and 240 °C, respectively, with AD. Therefore, HTC at 180 °C in combination with AD seemingly provides an effective method for valorizing MABThe authors wish to express their gratitude to Spainâs MINECO (CTM2016-76564-R and
449 RYC-2013-12549) for funding this wor
Tailoring optical nonlinearities via the Purcell effect
We predict that the effective nonlinear optical susceptibility can be
tailored using the Purcell effect. While this is a general physical principle
that applies to a wide variety of nonlinearities, we specifically investigate
the Kerr nonlinearity. We show theoretically that using the Purcell effect for
frequencies close to an atomic resonance can substantially influence the
resultant Kerr nonlinearity for light of all (even highly detuned) frequencies.
For example, in realistic physical systems, enhancement of the Kerr coefficient
by one to two orders of magnitude could be achieved
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