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At least 811 records · Page 45

Optical transmission modules for multi-channel superconducting quantum interference device readouts

We developed an optical transmission module consisting of 16-channel analog-to-digital converter (ADC), digital-noise filter, and one-line serial transmitter, which transferred Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) readout data to a computer by a single optical cable. A 16-channel ADC sent out SQUID readouts data with 32-bit serial data of 8-bit channel and 24-bit voltage data at a sample rate of 1.5 kSample/s. A digital-noise filter suppressed digital noises generated by digital clocks to obtain SQUID modulation as large as possible. One-line serial transmitter reformed 32-bit serial data to the modulated data that contained data and clock, and sent them through a single optical cable. When the optical transmission modules were applied to 152-channel SQUID magnetoencephalography system, this system maintained a field noise level of 3 fT/√Hz @ 100 Hz.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Electrically tunable terahertz wave modulator based on complementary metamaterial and graphene

In this paper, we design and numerically demonstrate an electrically controllable light-matter interaction in a hybrid material/metamaterial system consisting of an artificially constructed cross cut-wire complementary metamaterial and an atomically thin graphene layer to realize terahertz (THz) wave modulator. By applying a bias voltage between the metamaterial and the graphene layer, this modulator can dynamically control the amplitude and phase of the transmitted wave near 1.43 THz. Moreover, the distributions of current density show that this large modulation depth can be attributed to the resonant electric field parallel to the graphene sheet. Therefore, the modulator performance indicates the enormous potential of graphene for developing sophisticated THz communication systems.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

O-band quantum-confined Stark effect optical modulator from Ge/Si{sub 0.15}Ge{sub 0.85} quantum wells by well thickness tuning

We report an O-band optical modulator from a Ge/Si{sub 0.15}Ge{sub 0.85} multiple quantum well (MQW). Strong O-band optical modulation in devices commonly operating within E-band wavelength range can be achieved by simply decreasing the quantum well thickness. Both spectral photocurrent and optical transmission studies are performed to evaluate material characteristics and device performance from a surface-illuminated diode and a waveguide modulator, respectively. These results demonstrate the potential of using Ge/Si{sub 0.15}Ge{sub 0.85} MQWs for the realization of future on-chip wavelength-division multiplexing systems with optical modulators operating at different wavelengths over a wide spectral range.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Side-gate modulation effects on high-quality BN-Graphene-BN nanoribbon capacitors

High-quality BN-Graphene-BN nanoribbon capacitors with double side-gates of graphene have been experimentally realized. The double side-gates can effectively modulate the electronic properties of graphene nanoribbon capacitors. By applying anti-symmetric side-gate voltages, we observed significant upward shifting and flattening of the V-shaped capacitance curve near the charge neutrality point. Symmetric side-gate voltages, however, only resulted in tilted upward shifting along the opposite direction of applied gate voltages. These modulation effects followed the behavior of graphene nanoribbons predicted theoretically for metallic side-gate modulation. The negative quantum capacitance phenomenon predicted by numerical simulations for graphene nanoribbons modulated by graphene side-gates was not observed, possibly due to the weakened interactions between the graphene nanoribbon and side-gate electrodes caused by the Ga{sup +} beam etching process.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Characterization of submillisecond response optical addressing phase modulator based on low light scattering polymer network liquid crystal

Optically addressed conventional nematic liquid crystal spatial light modulator has attracted wide research interests. But the slow response speed limited its further application. In this paper, polymer network liquid crystal (PNLC) was proposed to replace the conventional nematic liquid crystal to enhance the response time to the order of submillisecond. The maximum light scattering of the employed PNLC was suppressed to be less than 2% at 1.064 μm by optimizing polymerization conditions and selecting large viscosity liquid crystal as solvent. The occurrence of phase ripple phenomenon due to electron diffusion and drift in photoconductor was found to deteriorate the phase modulation effect of the optical addressed PNLC phase modulator. The wavelength effect and AC voltage frequency effect on the on state dynamic response of phase change was investigated by experimental methods. These effects were interpreted by electron diffusion and drift theory based on the assumption that free electron was inhomogeneously distributed in accordance with the writing beam intensity distribution along the incident direction. The experimental results indicated that the phase ripple could be suppressed by optimizing the wavelength of the writing beam and the driving AC voltage frequency when varying the writing beam intensity to generate phase change in 2π range. The modulation transfer function was also measured.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Switching circuit to improve the frequency modulation difference-intensity THz quantum cascade laser imaging

We demonstrate new switching circuit for difference-intensity THz quantum cascade laser (QCL) imaging by amplitude modulation and lock in detection. The switching circuit is designed to improve the frequency modulation so that it can stably lock the amplitude modulation of the QCL and the detector output. The combination of a voltage divider and a buffer in switching circuit to quickly switch the amplitude of the QCL biases of 15.8 V and 17.2 V is successfully to increase the frequency modulation up to ∼100 Hz.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Incommensurate and commensurate modulations of Ba{sub 5}RTi{sub 3}Nb{sub 7}O{sub 30} (R = La, Nd) tungsten bronzes and the ferroelectric domain structures

Incommensurate and commensurate structural modulations of Ba{sub 5}RTi{sub 3}Nb{sub 7}O{sub 30} (R = La, Nd) tungsten bronze ceramics were investigated by using a cooling holder equipped transmission electron microscopy in the temperature range from 100 K to 363 K. The incommensurate modulation was observed in both Ba{sub 5}LaTi{sub 3}Nb{sub 7}O{sub 30} and Ba{sub 5}NdTi{sub 3}Nb{sub 7}O{sub 30} at room temperature, while there was a transition from incommensurate tilted structure to commensurate superstructure for Ba{sub 5}NdTi{sub 3}Nb{sub 7}O{sub 30} with decreasing temperature. The incommensurate and commensurate modulations were determined by the A-site occupancy of Ba and R cations. The A-site disorder resulted in larger incommensurability parameter δ and the diffusion of the satellite reflection spots. The effect of A-site disorder on the coupling between long-range dipolar order and the commensurate modulation was also discussed. The obvious ferroelectric 180° domains with spike-like shape parallel to c axis were observed for Ba{sub 5}NdTi{sub 3}Nb{sub 7}O{sub 30}, while no macro ferroelectric domain was determined for Ba{sub 5}LaTi{sub 3}Nb{sub 7}O{sub 30}.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Effect of beam emittance on self-modulation of long beams in plasma wakefield accelerators

The initial beam emittance determines the maximum wakefield amplitude that can be reached as a result of beam self-modulation in the plasma. The wakefield excited by the fully self-modulated beam decreases linearly with the increase in the beam emittance. There is a value of initial emittance beyond which the self-modulation does not develop even if the instability is initiated by a strong seed perturbation. The emittance scale at which the wakefield is suppressed by a factor of two with respect to the zero-emittance case (the so called critical emittance) is determined by inability of the excited wave to confine beam particles radially and is related to beam and plasma parameters by a simple formula. The effect of beam emittance can be observed in several discussed self-modulation experiments.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Electrically and spatially controllable PDLC phase gratings for diffraction and modulation of laser beams

We present a study on electrically- and spatially-controllable laser beam diffraction, electrooptic (EO) phase modulation, as well as amplitude-frequency EO modulation by single-layer microscale polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) phase gratings (PDLC SLPGs) of interest for device applications. PDLC SLPGs were produced from nematic liquid crystal (LC) E7 in photo-curable NOA65 polymer. The wedge-formed PDLC SLPGs have a continuously variable thickness (2–25 µm). They contain LC droplets of diameters twice as the layer thickness, with a linear-gradient size distribution along the wedge. By applying alternating-current (AC) electric field, the PDLC SLPGs produce efficient: (i) diffraction splitting of transmitted laser beams; (ii) spatial redistribution of diffracted light intensity; (iii) optical phase modulation; (iv) amplitude-frequency modulation, all controllable by the driven AC field and the droplet size gradient.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Modulation of intensity emerging from zero effort (MIEZE) with extended Fourier time at large scattering angle

Modulation of Intensity Emerging from Zero Effort (MIEZE) is a neutron resonant spin echo technique that allows one to measure time correlation scattering functions in materials by implementing radio-frequency (RF) intensity modulation at the sample and the detector. The technique avoids neutron spin manipulation between the sample and the detector and, thus, could find applications in cases where the sample depolarizes the neutron beam. However, the finite sample size creates a variance in the path length between the locations where scattering and detection happen, which limits the contrast in intensity modulation that one can detect, in particular, toward long correlation times or large scattering angles. We propose a modification to the MIEZE setup that will enable one to extend those detection limits to longer times and larger angles. Furthermore, we use Monte Carlo simulations of a neutron scattering beamline to show that by tilting the RF flippers in the primary spectrometer with respect to the beam direction, one can shape the wave front of the intensity modulation at the sample to compensate for the path variance from the sample and the detector. The simulation results indicate that this change enables one to operate a MIEZE instrument at much increased RF frequencies, thus improving the effective energy resolution of the technique. For the MIEZE instrument simulated, it shows that for an incident beam with the maximum divergence of 0.33°, the maximum Fourier time can be increased by a factor of 3.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Electron energy gain due to a laser frequency modulation experienced by electron during betatron motion

Direct laser acceleration of electrons is an important energy deposition mechanism for laser-irradiated plasmas that is particularly effective at relativistic laser intensities in the presence of quasi-static laser-driven plasma electric and magnetic fields. These radial electric and azimuthal magnetic fields provide transverse electron confinement by inducing betatron oscillations of forward-moving electrons undergoing laser acceleration. Electrons are said to experience a betatron resonance when the frequency of betatron oscillations matches the average frequency of the laser field oscillations at the electron position. In this paper, we show that the modulation of the laser frequency as seen by an electron performing betatron oscillations can be another important mechanism for net energy gain that is qualitatively different from the betatron resonance. Specifically, we show that the frequency modulation experienced by the electron can lead to net energy gain in the regime where the laser field performs three oscillations per betatron oscillation. There is no net energy gain in this regime without the modulation because the energy gain is fully compensated by the energy loss. The modulation slows down the laser oscillation near transverse stopping points, increasing the time interval during which the electron gains energy and making it possible to achieve net energy gain.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

The influence of laser power modulation on melt pool dynamics in laser powder bed fusion

While the majority of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) metal additive manufacturing uses a continuous wave (CW) laser heat source, some commercial applications of LPBF additive manufacturing instead involve the modulation of the laser power on tens-of-microsecond timescales as an adjustable process variable. This article reports the use of in situ, high speed x-ray and optical imaging to probe melt pool fluid flow, defect formation, and nearby powder motion during LPBF with both modulated and CW laser heat sources. We observe melt pool dynamics unique to modulated laser melting even at very high duty cycles that are related to fluctuations in vapor depression depth, complex pore formation mechanisms, and changes to denudation physics when compared to CW melting. These behaviors are present in Ti–6Al–4V, 316L stainless steel, and AL1100 alloys but vary slightly as a function of material, indicating a substantial dependence on the viscosity and surface tension of the liquid metal. While high duty cycles produce weld tracks of comparable quality to CW melting, lower duty cycles introduce substantial defect concentrations. At intermediate duty cycles, careful control of modulation parameters can repeatably and precisely yield one pore per laser pulse, suggesting a method for intentionally inserting engineered porosity at specific sites during an LPBF build.

3D printing↗

Filamentation of a phase-modulated pulse under conditions of normal, anomalous and zero group velocity dispersion

We have investigated experimentally and numerically the influence of the initial temporal phase modulation of a pulse on the spatiotemporal intensity distribution and the frequency-angular spectrum of femtosecond laser pulses with self-channelling in a condensed medium. We have detected a decrease in the intensity of divergent anti-Stokes frequency components during filamentation of radiation under conditions of normal group-velocity dispersion (GVD) and strong phase modulation. In the zero-GVD regime under conditions of the phase modulation of radiation, the spatiotemporal transformation of the pulse is similar to that in the normal-GVD regime, which leads to a qualitative change in the supercontinuum spectrum. In the anomalous-GVD regime, a sequence of 'light bullets' is formed in the filament for both a phase-modulated and a transform-limited pulse. (extreme light fields and their applications)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Double resonance modulation characteristics of optically injection-locked Fabry–Perot lasers

The distributed resonator model is used to show the presence of several resonance responses on the modulation characteristic of optically injection-locked Fabry–Perot lasers. The positions of the resonance peaks on the modulation characteristic are determined by the resonator length and frequency detuning of optical injection. It is shown that an appropriate choice of the resonator length and injection locking conditions allows one to obtain efficient modulation in two ranges near 40 – 60 GHz or to increase the direct modulation bandwidth up to 50 GHz. (control of laser radiation parameters)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Acousto-optic gyrotropic-crystal-based modulator with a rotating polarisation vector

We study the influence of ellipticity of gyrotropic-crystal eigenwaves on the output characteristics of an acousto-optic (AO) modulator based on the interferometer scheme. The schemes of AO modulators are considered, which provide the polarisation vector rotation frequency fn /2, where f is the frequency of the acoustic wave, and n is the integer. Preference is given to the scheme combining cascade and polarisation-independent diffraction. An experimental layout of the AO modulator operating at f = 44.5 MHz is described, the modulation frequency of the output laser light intensity being 89 MHz. The frequency of the electrical signal from the photodetector is equal to 179.5 MHz. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Frequency of self-modulation oscillations in a solid-state coupled-cavity ring laser

Self-modulation oscillations of the intensity of a solid-state coupled-cavity ring laser are theoretically investigated. The results obtained analytically show that external optical coupling allows the frequency of self-modulation oscillations to be varied in a wide range (from a few kilohertz to hundreds of megahertz). Using coupled cavities, it is possible to significantly weaken the influence of the coupling of counterpropagating waves through backscattering on the self-modulation frequency and to increase the scale factor that determines the dependence of the self-modulation frequency on the rotation velocity. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Methods and algorithms for computer synthesis of holographic elements to obtain a complex impulse response of optical information processing systems based on modern spatial light modulators

The possibilities of designing optical devices for data processing and imaging based on the manipulation of coherent light beams by means of spatial light modulators (SLMs) are investigated. A review of commercially available SLMs is presented and the limitations of their complex modulation characteristics are analysed. The main problem of using present-day SLMs is the lack of the ability to modulate directly all states within a unit circle in the complex plane. In this regard, the characteristics of current methods for the synthesis of holographic elements are described that implement a given complex impulse response of the optical system and are optimal for using SLMs with purely amplitude, purely phase, and hybrid amplitude – phase modulation. (paper)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Effect of hollow fiber membrane packing on the performance of modules formed with fiber tows

Membrane processes are the preferred option for many gas separations. Hollow fiber membranes are commonly used in these processes. Commercial hollow fiber membrane modules are often fabricated from small groups of fibers (i.e., a tow) that are arranged into a larger cylindrical bundle. The existence of fiber tows can lead to packing non-uniformity. This nonuniformity can result in nonideal fluid distribution in the shell and be detrimental to module performance. In this work, full three-dimensional models of flow and mass transfer within fiber bundles formed from tows have been developed. These models account for the detailed fiber arrangement within modules and are solved to evaluate module separation performance in terms of stage cut and required membrane area as a function product gas purity for carbon capture applications. Results are presented illustrating the effects of varying fiber packing arrangements within a tow and varying tow packing arrangements. Further, the results suggest smaller tows are preferred over larger tows, at fixed overall fiber packing and lower intra- and inter-tow packings are preferred. To reduce the computational cost of simulating large fiber bundles, the use of an equivalent planar bundle is proposed (EPB). A simple procedure for determining the geometry of the EPB is described and validated through comparisons of calculated performance metrics with results obtained from full three-dimensional simulations.

42 ENGINEERING↗