Beam Steering Effects Research Articles

The significance of beam steering on laser-induced incandescence measurements in laminar counterflow flames

Beam steering is often encountered in laser diagnostic measurements, especially in flame environments, due to changes in refractive index caused by thermal and species gradients. It can negatively affect the accuracy of the results. In this work, the effects of beam steering on laser-induced incandescence (LII) measurements of pre-vaporized-liquid counterflow flames are assessed. The focus on counterflow flames is to facilitate future detailed experimental campaigns on one-dimensional nonpremixed sooty flames. It is found that the temperature and species gradients in the counterflow configuration have a much more significant impact on the beam profile than in laminar flat flames, especially for heavier fuels. As a result of the changes in the beam profile, for the same applied laser energy, the local fluence shifts markedly with fuel type, therefore, having a direct impact on the LII measurements. A procedure is developed for ensuring accurate measurements and it is shown that, for a specific fuel, it is possible to tailor the laser energy, such that the collected LII signal in the counterflow flames is nearly independent of beam-steering effects.

Pneumatic Atomization: Beam-Steering Correction in Laser Diffraction Measurements of Spray Droplet Size Distributions

Laser diffraction is among the most widely used methods for spray droplet size measurements. However, the so-called beam-steering effect must be considered when pneumatic atomizers are used for droplet generation. The beam-steering effect is a systematic measurement error, leading to the detection of apparent large spray droplets due to gradients in the refractive index of the gas phase. The established correction method is based on the reduction of the laser diffraction system’s measurement range by deactivation of detectors, relevant for the detection of large droplets. As this method is only applicable when size ranges of real and apparent droplet sizes are clearly different, an alternative method for beam-steering correction is introduced in the presented study. It is based on a multimodal log-normal fit of measured spray droplet sizes. The modality representing the largest droplets is correlated to the beam-steering effect and therefore excluded from the measured size distribution. The new method was successfully applied to previously published droplet size distribution measurements of an internal mixing Air-Core-Liquid-Ring (ACLR) atomizer. In measurements where the method of detector deactivation is applicable, excellent accordance of droplet size distributions, gained by both correction methods, was found. In measurements with overlapping real and apparent parts of the distribution, the new correction method led to a significant reduction of overestimated large droplets. As a consequence, we conclude that the new method presented here for beam-steering correction should be applied in laser diffraction measurements of spray droplet sizes, generated by pneumatic atomizers.

Effect of Beam Steering on Echogenic and Nonechogenic Needle Visibility at 40°, 50°, and 60° Needle Insertion Angles.

Currently, there is little understanding of the role of echogenic needles and beam steering at moderate angles of needle insertion. The ultrasound images of the echogenic and nonechogenic needles inserted into pork at 40°, 50°, and 60° were scored by anesthesiologists on a scale of 0-10. The effect of different levels of beam steer was also explored. At 40°, steep beam steering improves visualization of both nonechogenic and echogenic needles to an equal, satisfactory level. At 50° and 60°, visualization of nonechogenic needles is poor, whereas visibility of an echogenic needle was adequate and may be improved with steep beam steering.

Optical ray tracing method for simulating beam-steering effects during laser diagnostics in turbulent media.

In most coherent spectroscopic methods used in gas-phase laser diagnostics, multiple laser beams are focused and crossed at a specific location in space to form the probe region. The desired signal is then generated as a result of nonlinear interactions between the beams in this overlapped region. When such diagnostic schemes are implemented in practical devices having turbulent reacting flow fields with refractive index gradients, the resulting beam steering can give rise to large measurement uncertainties. The objective of this work is to simulate beam-steering effects arising from pressure and temperature gradients in gas-phase media using an optical ray tracing approach. The ZEMAX OpticStudio software package is used to simulate the beam crossing and uncrossing effects in the presence of pressure and temperature gradients, specifically the conditions present in high-pressure, high-temperature combustion devices such as gas turbine engines. Specific cases involving two-beam and three-beam crossing configurations are simulated. The model formulation, the effects of pressure and temperature gradients, and the resulting beam-steering effects are analyzed. The results show that thermal gradients in the range of 300-3000 K have minimal effects, while pressure gradients in the range of 1-50 atm result in pronounced beam steering and the resulting signal fluctuations in the geometries investigated. However, with increasing pressures, the temperature gradients can also have a pronounced effect on the resultant signal levels.

Total transmission of airborne sound by impedance-matched ultra-thin metasurfaces

Acoustic labyrinthine metamaterials are particularly effective for constructing acoustic metasurfaces owing to their extreme refractive index. However, an evident drawback of these coiling-up structures is their large impedance mismatch with incident waves, causing less than optimal results. In this paper, we show that the intractable impedance mismatching problem can be solved by spatially tailoring the geometry of the labyrinthine metamaterial units and hence their effective constitutive parameters. These optimized units simultaneously exhibit a tunable refractive index up to 7 and a perfect impedance match with air; thus, as building units, they show potential for improving the performance of acoustic metasurface-based applications. Applying these deep-subwavelength units in anomalous refraction and an acoustic antenna, we demonstrate that the new optimized acoustic labyrinthine metamaterial-based design scheme shows extraordinary beam-steering effects, and more importantly, it provides extremely high transmission efficiency with a smaller size than existing designs.

Tuning of near‐ and far‐field properties of all‐dielectric dimer nanoantennas via ultrafast electron‐hole plasma photoexcitation

AbstractAll‐optical ultrafast signal modulation and routing by low‐loss nanodevices is a crucial step towards an ultracompact optical chip with high performance. Here, we propose a specifically designed silicon dimer nanoantenna, which is tunable via photoexcitation of dense electron‐hole plasma with ultrafast relaxation rate. On the basis of this concept, we demonstrate the effect of beam steering by up to 20 degrees through simple variation of the intensity of incident light. The effect, which is suitable for ultrafast light routing in an optical chip, is demonstrated both in the visible and near‐IR spectral regions for silicon‐ and germanium‐based nanoantennas. We also reveal the effect of electron‐hole plasma photoexcitation on the local density of states (LDOS) in the dimer gap and find that the orientation averaged LDOS can be altered by 50%, whereas modification of the projected LDOS can be even more dramatic, almost five‐fold for transverse dipole orientation. Moreover, our analytical model sheds light on the transient dynamics of the studied nonlinear nanoantennas, yielding all temporal characteristics of the suggested ultrafast nanodevice. The proposed concept paves the way to the creation of low‐loss, ultrafast, and compact devices for optical signal modulation and routing. image

Theoretical modeling on the laser induced effect of liquid crystal optical phased beam steering

Non-mechanical laser beam steering has been reported previously in liquid crystal array devices. To be one of the most promising candidates to be practical non-mechanical laser deflector, its laser induced effect still has few theoretical model. In this paper, we propose a theoretical model to analyze this laser induced effect of LC-OPA to evaluate the deterioration on phased beam steering. The model has three parts: laser induced thermal distribution; temperature dependence of material parameters and beam steering deterioration. After these three steps, the far field of laser beam is obtained to demonstrate the steering performance with the respect to the incident laser beam power and beam waist.

Transmission characteristics of acousto-optic filter using sectioned transducer

Abstract The paper examines operation of a tunable acousto-optic filter applying a sectioned piezoelectric transducer. The analysis was carried out for a tellurium dioxide cell having 1.4-cm long transducer divided into 7 identical sections connected in series. Each section generated acoustic waves with a time delay relatively to adjacent sections. The time delay caused electric and acoustic phase shifts as well as inclination of a resulting acoustic wave front in the crystal. We showed that the inclination of the acoustic front influenced on shape of the filter transmission function causing asymmetry of side lobes. Investigation of the filter was carried out at the driving acoustic frequencies 100–240 MHz. The measurement proved that the electric phase shifts between the adjacent sections increased with the frequency up to 30°. Ratio of intensities of the first two side lobes in the transmission function was varying with the frequency from 0.9 to 0.5. Based on the carried out analysis, we discussed a prototype device using the acoustic beam steering effect. The device applied two sets of transducer sections that simultaneously generated two acoustic wave fronts tilted with respect to each other.

Performance of a simulation-based phase aberration correction technique in transcranial ultrasound modeling

Due to its irregular geometry and acoustic properties, the presence of the skull in transcranial focused ultrasound therapies can lead to considerable beam phase aberration, resulting in distorted focal spots. There are several possible techniques for correcting this phase aberration with a phased-array transducer, the most accurate of which (although invasive) is hydrophone-based time reversal. There are also simulation-based approaches, and here we exploit the time-advantages of the Hybrid Angular Spectrum (HAS) numerical method and apply it to two models of the skull: a 3D-printed plastic skull analog and a segment of a human skull for which a CT scan has been obtained. We compare the focused pressure patterns—obtained via hydrophone scans—for the cases of no phase correction, hydrophone-based phase correction, and simulation-based (HAS) phase correction. We show the degree to which the correction methods improve the focal spot quality, pressure amplitude, and localization accuracy. The very good results for the analog model compared to results for the skull segment indicate that better mapping of CT Hounsfield units to acoustic properties of the bone is needed. In addition, we use the simulation technique to predict the effects of beam steering and transducer/model misregistration on the effectiveness of aberration correction.

Beam Dynamics for High-Power Superconducting Heavy-Ion Linear Accelerator of RAON

We investigated optimum choices of accelerator parameters for superconducting-technology-based heavy-ion linear accelerator (linac) to achieve the high beam quality at an in-flight target with a high beam power of 400 kW. The superconducting linac system is designed to provide a stable-ion beams from protons to uranium with energies of 600 MeV and 200 MeV/u, respectively. The linac optics is also designed such that the effects of envelope instability, parametric resonance between the transverse and longitudinal planes, beam steering effect due to asymmetric field in quarter-wave resonance (QWR) cavities, and emittance growth in charge strippers due to the straggling effect, parametric resonance, and envelope instability become as small as possible. The dimensions of the warm and cold sections in the low-energy section which mainly determine the longitudinal acceptance of the linac are optimized to achieve a longitudinal acceptance larger than 27 keV/u-ns enabling stable operation. The tracking simulation for the uranium beam was performed and we achieved the transverse normalized rms emittance of 0.095 mm-mrad and longitudinal rms emittance of 2.10 keV/u-ns at the end of designed linac without uncontrolled beam losses along the linac. In order to estimate the degradation of the machine performance due to imperfections such as misalignment, ripple of the magnet power source, and phase and power variation of the RF source, the particle tracking simulation was performed and the uncontrolled beam loss with the machine imperfection without the orbit and optics correction was less than 1 W/m which is a condition required for machine operation. The optimum scheme for orbit correction in the low-energy linac is investigated based on the transfer matrix of the elements and the validation of the scheme is confirmed by the particle tracking simulation using TRACK code.

Planar laser-induced incandescence of turbulent sooting flames: the influence of beam steering and signal trapping

The influence of beam steering and signal trapping on the accuracy of soot volume fractions measured using planar laser-induced incandescence (LII) has been investigated in turbulent non-premixed sooting flames at atmospheric pressure. In turbulent non-premixed C2H4/air flames, the influence of local de-focusing/focusing of the laser sheet from beam steering can result in the underestimate of the averaged LII signal by 30 %, even when operating within the so-called plateau regime of laser fluence. Beam steering was also found to be significant in both the upstream region of C2H4/air flames and non-reacting C2H4 flows, because the fuel has a relatively high refractive index compared with ambient air. The extent of beam steering at different heights of reacting and isothermal flows as well as its dependence on exit Reynolds number (Re) has been measured. The measurements reveal that even at low turbulence levels (2000 < Re < 3000), beam steering effects can be significant. Also found is that the LII signal at a 450 nm wavelength can be attenuated by a few per cent at high soot loading regions in turbulent flames due to signal trapping. Finally, the feasibility of directly evaluating the signal attenuation via planar LII results was assessed by comparing the virtual soot attenuation calculated based on the planar LII result with that measured using light-of-sight extinction.

Research on the Phase Center of Uniform Linear Array

Accurate estimation of array’s phase center is of great importance in navigation, tracking and other aircraft and aerospace systems. In this paper first the effect of reference point on the phase pattern of a uniform linear array is studied and the phase center of the array is estimated. Then the effect of beamsteering on the location of phase center in phased arrays is theoretically analyzed, finally numerical simulations are carried out and the results are in good agreement with the theoretical analysis.

Beam steering correction of the quarter wave resonator in the HISCL

The Intensity Heavy Ion Superconducting Linear Accelerator as the injector of the High Intensity Heavy-Ion Accelerator Facility, which is a new project proposed in China has been designed. One of the design options in the low energy part is based on Quarter Wave Resonators (QWRs). However, because of the unsymmetrical geometry of the cavity, there are dipole fields near the beam hole, which may steer the beam vertically, thus leading to emittance growth and beam loss. The effect of the dipole mode field is analyzed, and a method to overcome the beam steering effect by placing QWRs with opposite orientation is proposed in this paper. The simulation results show that the beam steering effect is reduced effectively by this method, and the deviation of the beam centroid is decreased from 2.87 mm to 0.1 mm. The emittance growth is also smaller.

Beam steering via peak power decay in nonlinear waveguide arrays

We report the experimental observation and theoretical analysis of a novel beam-steering effect in periodic waveguide arrays that arises from the interplay between discrete diffraction, Kerr nonlinearity and any mechanism that effectively weakens the nonlinear part of the beam. In this regime the propagation direction shows increased sensitivity to the input angle and for a certain angular range around normal incidence a nonlinear beam may be guided to a direction opposite to that initially inserted. For continuous wave beams the role of this mechanism is played by absorption of any kind, such as three photon absorption, two photon absorption or even linear absorption. For pulsed beams we show that the same dynamics can arise due to strong normal temporal dispersion, while absorption is not necessary and can be a further enhancing or alternative factor. This observation falls under a more general dissipation-assisted beam velocity control mechanism in nonlinear optical lattices, which is also theoretically predicted by the effective particle approach.

Beam shaping for CARS measurements in turbulent environments

This paper describes a new technique to mitigate the effect of beam steering on CARS measurements in turbulent, variable density environments. The new approach combines planar BOXCARS phase-matching with elliptical shaping of one of the beams to generate a signal robust to beam steering, while keeping the same spatial resolution. Numerical and experimental results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach. One experiment investigates the effect of beam shaping in the presence of a controlled and well quantified displacement of the beams at the focal plane. Another experiment, more qualitative, proves the effectiveness of the technique in the presence of severe beam steering due to turbulence.

Ray tracing of chemiluminescence in an unconfined non-premixed turbulent jet flame using large-eddy simulation

Optical diagnostic techniques, such as chemiluminescence imaging, are commonly used to study turbulent flames. Inherent to turbulent flames is the spatio-temporal variation of the volumetric distribution of temperature and chemical composition. In consequence, the index of refraction varies accordingly and causes distortion of any optical ray intersecting the turbulent flame. This distortion is well known as beam steering. Beam steering may degrade imaging quality by reducing the overall spatial resolution. Its impact of course depends on the actual specifications of the imaging system itself. In this study a methodology is proposed to tackle this issue numerically and is exemplified for chemiluminescence imaging in a well-known turbulent hydrogen-fueled jet flame. Large-eddy simulation (LES) of this unconfined non-premixed flame is used to simulate instantaneous volumetric distributions of the flow and scalar fields including the local index of refraction. This simulation additionally predicts local concentrations of electronically excited chemiluminescent active species. At locations with significantly high concentrations of luminescent species, optical rays are initiated in the direction of the array detector used for recording single chemiluminescence images. Assuming the validity of geometrical optics, these rays are tracked along their pathways. Their direction of propagation changes according to the local instantaneous distribution of the index of refraction. After leaving the computational domain of the ray tracing code which is fed by the LES, each ray is processed by the commercial code ZEMAX® and imaged onto an array detector. Measured and numerically simulated ensemble-averaged chemiluminescence images are compared to each other. Overall, a satisfying agreement is observed. The primary aim of this paper is the exposition of this method where numerical and experimental results are not any more compared in the flame but where this comparison is shifted to the imaging plane. Future extensions to higher pressures in enclosed combustors or internal combustion engines where beam-steering effects are much more pronounced than in atmospheric jet flames are addressed.

SP2-4 Evaluation of the liquid length via diffused back-illumination imaging in vaporizing diesel sprays(SP: Spray and Spray Combustion,General Session Papers)

The development of quantitatively robust spray measurements is important for advancing model development and fundamental understanding. However, the physical interpretation of both experimental measurements and model predictions needs to be carefully considered when making comparisons between them. One such example occurs in the measurement of liquid-phase of sprays injected under an evaporating environment. Various experimental techniques are applied to quantify the maximum liquid penetration, but the selection of the measurement technique and the details of the experimental arrangement may significantly influence the results. Moreover, the liquid length measured through one experimental setup may not be consistent with the definition used in a model, making a comparison between the two indirect. Hence, there is still a need to assess the physical meaning of experimentally measured liquid lengths in order to provide a direct relationship with model-based predictions. The aim of this work is to experimentally study the liquid penetration and steady liquid length in diesel sprays by applying diffused back-illumination imaging. Compared to Mie scattering, diffused back-illumination offers advantages because a reference image without the injected spray provides an intensity reference that can be used to calculate light extinction; thus leading to a better standardization of the measurement among researchers. Recent standards developed for gasoline sprays along with a suggestion made by the Engine Combustion Network call for diffused back-illumination imaging to evaluate liquid length. An analysis of the results provided by this technique has been carried out to evaluate the potential to measure liquid length of evaporating diesel sprays injected in a high-pressure, high-temperature optical vessel. The results of this study showed that the diffused back-illumination provides measurements of the liquid penetration that are fairly consistent with Mie scattering experiments in capturing the trends. On the other hand, the experiments showed that the effects of beam-steering limited the technical capabilities to extract quantitative measurements of the liquid length under diesel engine conditions and that a methodology must be implemented to satisfactory measure the liquid-phase of the sprays.

Self-Synchronization of Laser Modes and Multistability in Quantum Cascade Lasers

We predict and confirm experimentally the regime of complete synchronization between lateral modes in a quantum cascade laser, when frequency combs belonging to different lateral modes merge into a single comb. The synchronization occurs through the transition from multistability to a single stable state and is accompanied by phase locking and beam steering effects.

Surface Plasmon Mode Steering and Negative Refraction

The propagation of surface plasmon beams through singly and doubly periodic metallic gratings is analyzed both in real and Fourier spaces. Large beam steering effects are experimentally revealed by probing the isofrequency surfaces (IFS) related to propagating plasmonic Bloch waves inside the gratings. In particular, negative refraction is demonstrated close to the Bragg condition. We analyze how the local structure of the IFS can amplify the sensitivity of surface plasmon-based sensors.

The influence of wavelength in extinction measurements and beam steering in laser-induced incandescence measurements in sooting flames

The accuracy of laser-induced incandescence (LII) measurements is significantly influenced by the calibration process and the laser profile degradation due to beam steering. Additionally, the wavelength used for extinction measurements, needed for LII calibration, is critical and should be kept as high as possible in order to avoid light absorption by molecular species in the flame. The influence of beam steering on the LII measurement was studied in turbulent sooting C2H4/air flames at different pressures. While inhomogeneities in the laser profile become smoothed out in time-averaged measurements, especially at higher pressure, the corresponding single-shot beam profiles reveal an increasing effect of beam steering. In the current configuration it was observed that the resulting local laser fluence remains within certain limits (30% to 200%) of the original value. A sufficiently high incident laser fluence can thus prevent the local fluence from dropping below the LII threshold value of approximately 0.3 J/cm2 at the cost of increased soot surface vaporization. A spatial resolution in the dimension of the sheet thickness of below 1 mm cannot be guaranteed at increased pressure of 9 bars due to beam steering. A feasibility study in a combustor at technical conditions demonstrates the influence of both effects beam steering and choice of calibration wavelength and led to the conclusion that, however, a shot-to-shot calibration of LII with simultaneously measured extinction can be realized.