Combined Finite Difference Time Domain Research Articles

Precise Determination of the Temperature Gradients in Laser-irradiated Ultrathin Magnetic Layers for the Analysis of Thermal Spin Current

We investigated the temperature distribution induced by laser irradiation of ultrathin magnetic films by applying a finite element method (FEM) to the finite difference time domain (FDTD) representation for the analysis of thermal induced spin currents. The dependency of the thermal gradient (∇T) of ultrathin magnetic films on material parameters, including the reflectivity and absorption coefficient were evaluated by examining optical effects, which indicates that reflectance (R) and the apparent absorption coefficient (α*) play important roles in the calculation of ∇T for ultrathin layers. The experimental and calculated values of R and α* for the ultrathin magnetic layers irradiated by laser-driven heat sources estimated using the combined FDTD and FEM method are in good agreement for the amorphous CoFeB and crystalline Co layers of thicknesses ranging from 3~20 nm. Our results demonstrate that the optical parameters are crucial for the estimation of the temperature gradient induced by laser illumination for the study of thermally generated spin currents and related phenomena.

Annealing Induced Morphology of Silver Nanoparticles on Pyramidal Silicon Surface and Their Application to Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering.

This paper reports on a simple and cost-effective process of developing a stable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate based on silver (Ag) nanoparticles deposited on silicon (Si) surface. Durability is an important issue for preparing SERS active substrate as silver nanostructures are prone to rapid surface oxidation when exposed to ambient conditions, which may result in the loss of the enhancement capabilities in a short period of time. Here, we employ the galvanic displacement method to produce Ag nanoparticles on Si(100) substrate prepatterned with arrays of micropyramids by chemical etching, and subsequently, separate pieces of such substrates were annealed in oxygen and nitrogen environments at 550 °C. Interestingly, while nitrogen-annealed Si substrates were featured by spherical-shaped Ag particles, the oxygen annealed Si substrates were dominated by the formation of triangular shape particles attached with the spherical one. Remarkably, the oxygen-annealed substrate thus produced shows very high SERS enhancement compared to the either unannealed or nitrogen annealed substrate. The hitherto unobserved coexistence of triangular morphology with the spherical one and the gap between the two (source of efficient hot-spots) are the origin of enhanced SERS activity for the oxygen-annealed Ag particle-covered Si substrate as probed by the combined finite-difference time domain (FDTD) simulation and cathodoluminesensce (CL) experiment. As the substrate has already been annealed in an oxygen environment, further probability of oxidation is reduced in the present synthesis protocol that paves the way for making a novel long-lived thermally stable SERS substrate.

Multichip LED Modules With V-Groove Surfaces for Light Extraction Efficiency Enhancements Considering Roughness Scattering

Although multichip light-emitting diode (LED) modules are becoming popular in high-power lighting applications, better light extraction efficiency is always desirable in the industry. In this paper, V-grooves fabricated by the low-cost dicing process have been utilized on the top face of the multichip LED module to enhance the output power. An analytical model including the consideration of surface has been established by using a fractal theory. The combined finite difference time domain and ray tracing method has been used to simulate the light extraction enhancement considering the surface roughness scattering effects. The results show 12% enhancements in the experiments when the measured surface roughness of the V-groove has RMS roughness of $0.25~\mu \text{m}$ , which is in good agreement with the simulation result of 13.7%. The multichip LED models have been applied in indoor downlight systems and it is found that the luminous efficiency has been enhanced by 9.6% under a current of 350 mA (5.8 W) when compared with multichip LED modules without V-grooves.

Erratum: Light-matter interaction and lasing in semiconductor nanowires: A combined finite-difference time-domain and semiconductor Bloch equation approach [Phys. Rev. B91, 045203 (2015)

Erratum: Light-matter interaction and lasing in semiconductor nanowires: A combined finite-difference time-domain and semiconductor Bloch equation approach [Phys. Rev. B<b>91</b>, 045203 (2015)

Light-matter interaction and lasing in semiconductor nanowires: A combined finite-difference time-domain and semiconductor Bloch equation approach

We present a time-domain model for the simulation of light-matter interaction in semiconductors in arbitrary geometries and across a wide range of excitation conditions. The electromagnetic field is treated classically using the finite-difference time-domain method. The polarization and occupation numbers of the semiconductor material are described using the semiconductor Bloch equations including many-body effects in the screened Hartree-Fock approximation. Spontaneous emission noise is introduced using stochastic driving terms. As an application of the model, we present simulations of the dynamics of a nanowire laser including optical pumping, seeding by spontaneous emission and the selection of lasing modes.

Modeling of the angular tolerancing of an effective medium diffractive lens using combined finite difference time domain and radiation spectrum method algorithms

A new rigorous vector-based design and analysis approach of diffractive lenses is presented. It combines the use of two methods: the Finite-Difference Time-Domain for the study in the near field, and the Radiation Spectrum Method for the propagation in the far field. This approach is proposed to design and optimize effective medium cylindrical diffractive lenses for high efficiency structured light illumination systems. These lenses are realised with binary subwavelength features that cannot be designed using the standard scalar theory. Furthermore, because of their finite and high frequencies characteristics, such devices prevent the use of coupled wave theory. The proposed approach is presented to determine the angular tolerance in the cases of binary subwavelength cylindrical lenses by calculating the diffraction efficiency as a function of the incidence angle.

Experimental validation of a combined electromagnetic and thermal FDTD model of a microwave heating process

Microwave cooking, tempering, and pasteurizing of foods involves several complex and interacting physical phenomena. Although such processes are widely used, the interactions between the food product, packaging, and the microwave oven itself are particularly complicated, are not well understood, and applicable simulation tools are lacking. In this contribution we describe a combined finite difference time domain model for the electromagnetic and the heat transfer processes which include temperature dependence of the electrical and thermal properties of the food product. This model is validated by comparison to experiment. >