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Results for “ELECTROMAGNETIC PROPAGATION”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 451 records · Page 25

Adaptive step-size algorithm for Fourier beam-propagation method with absorbing boundary layer of auto-determined width

Two algorithms that enhance the utility of the absorbing boundary layer are presented, mainly in the framework of the Fourier beam-propagation method. One is an automated boundary layer width selector that chooses a near-optimal boundary size based on the initial beam shape. Furthermore, the second algorithm adjusts the propagation step sizes based on the beam shape at the beginning of each step in order to reduce aliasing artifacts.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Probing extra dimension through gravitational wave observations of compact binaries and their electromagnetic counterparts

The future gravitational wave (GW) observations of compact binaries and their possible electromagnetic counterparts may be used to probe the nature of the extra dimension. It is widely accepted that gravitons and photons are the only two completely confirmed objects that can travel along null geodesics in our four-dimensional space-time. However, if there exist extra dimensions and only GWs can propagate freely in the bulk, the causal propagations of GWs and electromagnetic waves (EMWs) are in general different. In this paper, we study null geodesics of GWs and EMWs in a five-dimensional anti-de Sitter space-time in the presence of the curvature of the universe. We show that for general cases the horizon radius of GW is longer than EMW within equal time. Taking the GW150914 event detected by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory and the X-ray event detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor as an example, we study how the curvature k and the constant curvature radius l affect the horizon radii of GW and EMW in the de Sitter and Einstein-de Sitter models of the universe. This provides an alternative method for probing extra dimension through future GW observations of compact binaries and their electromagnetic counterparts.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Observation of a strong correlation between electromagnetic soliton formation and relativistic self-focusing for ultra-short laser pulses propagating through an under-dense plasma

A strong correlation is observed between the formation of electromagnetic solitons, generated during the interaction of a short intense laser pulse (30 fs, {approx}10{sup 18} W/cm{sup 2}) with a rarefied (<0.1n{sub c}) plasma, and pulse self-focusing. Pulse defocusing, which occurs after soliton generation, results in laser-pulse energy depletion. The role of stimulated Raman scattering in soliton generation is analyzed from 2D particle-in-cell simulations. An observed relationship between initial plasma density and soliton generation is presented that might have relevance to wake-field accelerators.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

THz electromagnetic radiation driven by intense relativistic electron beam based on ion focus regime

The simulation study finds that the relativistic electron beam propagating through the plasma background can produce electromagnetic (EM) radiation. With the propagation of the electron beam, the oscillations of the beam electrons in transverse and longitudinal directions have been observed simultaneously, which provides the basis for the electromagnetic radiation. The simulation results clearly show that the electromagnetic radiation frequency can reach up to terahertz (THz) wave band which may result from the filter-like property of plasma background, and the electromagnetic radiation frequency closely depends on the plasma density. To understand the above simulation results physically, the dispersion relation of the beam-plasma system has been derived using the field-matching method, and the dispersion curves show that the slow wave modes can couple with the electron beam effectively in THz wave band, which is an important theoretical evidence of the EM radiation.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Nonlinear waves in an array of zigzag waveguides with alternating positive and negative refractive indices

Interaction of coupled waves propagating in a system of waveguides with alternating positive and negative refractive indices is studied theoretically. The zigzag configuration of the waveguides in the array allows communication not only between the nearest neighbours, but also with the waveguides beyond them. It is shown that the spectrum of linear waves in such a waveguide system has a bandgap. Partial solutions are found to the system of coupled waves corresponding to a stationary electromagnetic field pulse that propagates along the array of tunnel-coupled waveguides as a whole. Investigation of the interaction of nonlinear solitary waves has demonstrated numerically the stability of their relatively weak disturbances and collisions with each other. (nanogradient dielectric coatings and metamaterials)

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Analysis of Jovian low frequency radio emissions

The density of ions in the Io plasma torus and the scattering of these ions by low frequency electromagnetic emissions detected by Voyager 1 were studied. The ion density profile was investigated using whistler dispersion measurements provided by the Voyager plasma instrument. The scale height and absolute density of H+ ions in the vicinity of the plasma torus were determined by combining the measured plasma densities with the whistler dispersion measurements. A theoretical analysis of the modes of propagation of low frequency electromagnetic emissions in the torus was undertaken. Polarization reversal effects and rough estimates of the ion diffusion coefficient were utilized. Numerical evaluation of the ion diffusion coefficients in the torus were made using the observed Voyager 1 wave intensities. Results show that the observed wave intensities produce significant ion diffusion effects in the ion torus.

Gurnett, D. A.↗

Lower Hybrid Drift Waves During Guide Field Reconnection

Generation and propagation of lower hybrid drift wave (LHDW) near the electron diffusion region (EDR) during guide field reconnection at the magnetopause is studied with data from the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission and a theoretical model. Inside the current sheet, the electron beta (β e ) determines which type of LHDW is excited. Inside the EDR, where the electron beta is high (β e ~5), the long-wavelength electromagnetic LHDW is observed propagating obliquely to the local magnetic field. In contrast, the short-wavelength electrostatic LHDW, propagating nearly perpendicular to the magnetic field, is observed slightly away from the EDR, where β e is small (~0.6). These observed LHDW features are explained by a local theoretical model, including effects from the electron temperature anisotropy, finite electron heat flux, electrostatics, and parallel current. The short-wavelength LHDW is capable of generating significant drag force between electrons and ions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Accessibility condition of wave propagation and multicharged ion production in electron cyclotron resonance ion source plasma

A new tandem type source of electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasmas has been constructing for producing synthesized ion beams in Osaka University. Magnetic mirror field configuration with octupole magnets can be controlled to various shape of ECR zones, namely, in the 2nd stage plasma to be available by a pair mirror and a supplemental coil. Noteworthy correlations between these magnetic configurations and production of multicharged ions are investigated in detail, as well as their optimum conditions. We have been considering accessibility condition of electromagnetic and electrostatic waves propagating in ECR ion source plasma, and then investigated their correspondence relationships with production of multicharged ions. It has been clarified that there exits efficient configuration of ECR zones for producing multicharged ion beams experimentally, and then has been suggested from detail accessibility conditions on the ECR plasma that new resonance, i.e., upper hybrid resonance, must have occurred.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Ordinary-mode electromagnetic instability in colliding plasma streams.

The instability of the electromagnetic linearly polarized mode propagating perpendicularly to the magnetic field is studied for a system composed of two colliding plasma streams, in each of which the electrons and ions are streaming at the same velocity. Using linearized Vlasov-Maxwell equations and allowing for anisotropic temperatures, it is found that in the presence of streaming ions the instability can occur in very low-beta plasmas. The plasma is increasingly susceptible to the electromagnetic instability with increasing values of beta, streaming velocity, temperature ratio of parallel to perpendicular electrons, and temperature ratio of perpendicular electrons to perpendicular ions.

Lee, K. F.↗

Computational modeling of femtosecond optical solitons from Maxwell's equations

An algorithm is developed that permits the direct time integration of full-vector nonlinear Maxwell's equations. This capability permits the modeling of both linear and nonlinear instantaneous and dispersive effects in the electric polarization in material media. The modeling of the optical carrier is retained. The fundamental innovation is to notice that it is possible to treat the linear and nonlinear convolution integrals, which describe the dispersion, as new dependent variables. A coupled system of nonlinear second-order ordinary differential equations can then be derived for the linear and nonlinear convolution integrals, by differentiating them in the time domain. These equations, together with Maxwell's equations, are solved to determine the electromagnetic fields in nonlinear dispersive media. Results are presented of calculations in one dimension of the propagation and collision of femtosecond electromagnetic solitons that retain the optical carrier, taking into account as the Kerr and Raman interactions.

Goorjian, Peter M.↗

A Roadmap for a Lightning Modeling Grand Challenge

This document is a roadmap for building an interconnected model of the physical processes that produce a lightning discharge, and its observable optical and radio signals. We call this a Lightning Modeling Grand Challenge, recognizing that significant effort and coordination of human and financial resources is required to realize the capability. The roadmap serves to outline the coordination of resources necessary to enable stitching together existing knowledge and model components to make a lightning prediction, and to test these predictions with observations. Such a capability does not currently exist. The roadmap is motivated not only by a spirit of scientific inquiry, but by practical challenges faced by US Federal and societal stakeholders. Advancements in lightning observations have outpaced our tests of integrated understanding, leaving many stakeholders unsure how to design their missions to properly detect and discriminate lightning, and unsure how to apply the sometimes-disagreeing lightning signals from diverse instruments. The time is right to connect existing theories and models to support stakeholders in understanding the signals they observe, for needs as diverse as climate monitoring, national security, weather forecasting, public safety, and protection of natural and built environments. The roadmap’s two main technical sections describe the components of a linked physical model, followed by a description of models of lightning signals and sensors that are driven by outputs from the physical model. The goal is to predict the time-varying physical properties of lightning that are self-consistent with the thunderstorm’s structure and dynamics. These lightning signals then propagate through the storm, with realistic dispersion and attenuation, to receivers on the ground or in space. At a high level, the model begins with weather (cloud) model output, including explicit prediction of the electrification of cloud particles. The cloud’s electrical structure drives a model of lightning physics, from initiation, through channel development, and discharges along those channels. Key lightning parameters, such as the temperature and currents in the channel, and their space and time distribution, are then used to produce optical and electromagnetic signal sources that propagate to modeled receivers. This architecture therefore generates a dataset suitable for comparison to existing and envisioned observing systems. The need for additional measurements and field campaigns to support model development is described. In each model sub-component, inputs, outputs, uncertainties, evaluation methods, and next steps are summarized, interleaved with references to the scientific literature. Identifying boundaries between the model sub-components aids in segmenting an integrated, complex model into practical work packages and system sub-components, allowing a diverse team to contribute and maintain the system. We estimate that at least five years of effort and a $\$$10M initial investment is necessary to make a significant step forward. Mechanisms to facilitate community coordination, including annual workshops and open-source code repositories, are described.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

A one-dimensional study of the evolution of the microwave breakdown in air

The microwave breakdown in air is simulated numerically within a simple 1D model taking into account a perturbation of electromagnetic field by plasma. The simulations were performed using two qualitatively different codes. One of these codes is based on computation of Maxwell equations, whereas the other one utilizes an approximation of quasi-monochromatic electromagnetic field. There is a good agreement between simulation results obtained by using both codes. Calculations have been carried out in a wide range of air pressures and field frequencies; also varied were initial spatial distributions of plasma density. The results reveal strong dependence of the breakdown evolution on the relation between the field frequency and the gas pressure as well as on the presence of extended rarefied background plasma. At relatively low gas pressures (or high field frequencies), the breakdown process is accompanied by the stationary ionization wave propagating towards the incident electromagnetic wave. In the case of a high gas pressure (or a relatively low field frequency), the peculiarities of the breakdown are associated with a formation of plasma filament array. The extended background plasma can suppress formation of the plasma filament array completely even at high pressures (or low frequencies)

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Comptonization in Ultra-Strong Magnetic Fields: Numerical Solution to the Radiative Transfer Problem

We consider the radiative transfer problem in a plane-parallel slab of thermal electrons in the presence of an ultra-strong magnetic field (B approximately greater than B(sub c) approx. = 4.4 x 10(exp 13) G). Under these conditions, the magnetic field behaves like a birefringent medium for the propagating photons, and the electromagnetic radiation is split into two polarization modes, ordinary and extraordinary, that have different cross-sections. When the optical depth of the slab is large, the ordinary-mode photons are strongly Comptonized and the photon field is dominated by an isotropic component. Aims. The radiative transfer problem in strong magnetic fields presents many mathematical issues and analytical or numerical solutions can be obtained only under some given approximations. We investigate this problem both from the analytical and numerical point of view, provide a test of the previous analytical estimates, and extend these results with numerical techniques. Methods. We consider here the case of low temperature black-body photons propagating in a sub-relativistic temperature plasma, which allows us to deal with a semi-Fokker-Planck approximation of the radiative transfer equation. The problem can then be treated with the variable separation method, and we use a numerical technique to find solutions to the eigenvalue problem in the case of a singular kernel of the space operator. The singularity of the space kernel is the result of the strong angular dependence of the electron cross-section in the presence of a strong magnetic field. Results. We provide the numerical solution obtained for eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the space operator, and the emerging Comptonization spectrum of the ordinary-mode photons for any eigenvalue of the space equation and for energies significantly lesser than the cyclotron energy, which is on the order of MeV for the intensity of the magnetic field here considered. Conclusions. We derived the specific intensity of the ordinary photons, under the approximation of large angle and large optical depth. These assumptions allow the equation to be treated using a diffusion-like approximation.

acceleration of particles↗

Investigation of finite element: ABC methods for electromagnetic field simulation

The mechanics of wave propagation in the presence of obstacles is of great interest in many branches of engineering and applied mathematics like electromagnetics, fluid dynamics, geophysics, seismology, etc. Such problems can be broadly classified into two categories: the bounded domain or the closed problem and the unbounded domain or the open problem. Analytical techniques have been derived for the simpler problems; however, the need to model complicated geometrical features, complex material coatings and fillings, and to adapt the model to changing design parameters have inevitably tilted the balance in favor of numerical techniques. The modeling of closed problems presents difficulties primarily in proper meshing of the interior region. However, problems in unbounded domains pose a unique challenge to computation, since the exterior region is inappropriate for direct implementation of numerical techniques. A large number of solutions have been proposed but only a few have stood the test of time and experiment. The goal of this thesis is to develop an efficient and reliable partial differential equation technique to model large three dimensional scattering problems in electromagnetics.

Chatterjee, A.↗

Generation of auroral kilometric radiation by a finite-size source in a dipole magnetic field. Part II

Propagation and amplification of extraordinary electromagnetic waves in a dipole magnetic field in a narrow 3D plasma cavity in which a weakly relativistic electron beam propagates along the magnetic field in the direction of the gradient of the magnetic field strength is investigated. The domain of wave vectors at the starting point for which the wave amplification factors at the output of the density cavity reach their maximum values is found, and the amplification factor as a function of the wave frequency is determined. It is shown that the longitudinal velocity of fast electrons, which enables generation of waves in a broader frequency range, plays an important role in the formation of the spectrum of the auroral kilometric radiation (AKR). In this case, waves with the largest amplification factors at the output of the cavity have frequencies exceeding the cutoff frequency of the background plasma at the wave generation altitude. The global inhomogeneity of the magnetic field and plasma density, which governs the residence time of the waves in the amplification region, plays a key role in the formation of the AKR spectrum. It is shown that this time is the main factor determining the energy of the waves emerging from the source.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Electron cyclotron resonance near the axis of a quadrupole linear trap

The quasi-longitudinal propagation of an extraordinary electromagnetic wave in the vicinity of the electron cyclotron resonance layer in an open linear trap with a quadrupole magnetic field is studied analytically, taking into account the inhomogeneity of the magnetic field in a paraxial approximation. The ray trajectories are derived from a simplified dispersion equation, that is, nonetheless able to accurately describe the transition from finite to zero perpendicular refractive index. A criterion for an on-axis resonance point to be an attractor for the ray trajectories is formulated, which generalizes a similar criterion for axisymmetric linear traps derived in a recent paper [D. S. Bagulov and I. A. Kotelnikov, Phys. Plasmas 19, 082502 (2012)].

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Enhanced microwave absorption performance of lightweight absorber based on reduced graphene oxide and Ag-coated hollow glass spheres/epoxy composite

Using a combination of Ag-coated hollow glass spheres (HGS@Ag) and a small quantity of graphene sheets within the epoxy matrix, we have prepared a novel lightweight high efficiency microwave absorption composite. Compared with pure HGS@Ag and graphene composite, the −10 dB absorption bandwidth and the minimum reflection loss of the novel composite are improved. Reflection loss exceeding −20 dB is obtained for composites in a wide frequency range and the minimum reflection loss reaches −46 dB while bandwidth less than −10 dB can reach up to 4.1 GHz when an appropriate absorber thickness between 2 and 3.5 mm is chosen. The enhanced microwave absorption performance of the novel composite is due to the enhanced dielectric response, enhanced conductivity, and the trap of electromagnetic radiation with increased propagation paths by multiple reflections.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗