Electronic Oscillator Research Articles

Plasmons in the Kagome metal CsV3Sb5

Plasmon polaritons, or plasmons, are coupled oscillations of electrons and electromagnetic fields that can confine the latter into deeply subwavelength scales, enabling novel polaritonic devices. While plasmons have been extensively studied in normal metals or semimetals, they remain largely unexplored in correlated materials. In this paper, we report infrared (IR) nano-imaging of thin flakes of CsV3Sb5, a prototypical layered Kagome metal. We observe propagating plasmon waves in real-space with wavelengths tunable by the flake thickness. From their frequency-momentum dispersion, we infer the out-of-plane dielectric function ϵc\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${{{{{{\\boldsymbol{\\epsilon }}}}}}}_{{{{{{\\boldsymbol{c}}}}}}}$$\\end{document} that is generally difficult to obtain in conventional far-field optics, and elucidate signatures of electronic correlations when compared to density functional theory (DFT). We propose correlation effects might have switched the real part of ϵc\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${{{{{{\\boldsymbol{\\epsilon }}}}}}}_{{{{{{\\boldsymbol{c}}}}}}}$$\\end{document} from negative to positive values over a wide range of middle-IR frequencies, transforming the surface plasmons into hyperbolic bulk plasmons, and have dramatically suppressed their dissipation.

On Effect of Chloroform on Electrical Activity of Proteinoids.

Proteinoids, or thermal proteins, produce hollow microspheres in aqueous solutions. Ensembles of the microspheres produce endogenous spikes of electrical activity, similar to that of neurons. To make the first step toward the evaluation of the mechanisms of such electrical behaviour, we decided to expose proteinoids to chloroform. We found that while chloroform does not inhibit the electrical oscillations of proteinoids, it causes substantial changes in the patterns of electrical activity. Namely, incremental chloroform exposure strongly affects proteinoid microsphere electrical activity across multiple metrics. As chloroform levels rise, the spike potential drops from 0.9 mV under control conditions to 0.1 mV at 25 mg/mL. This progressive spike potential decrease suggests chloroform suppresses proteinoid electrical activity. The time between spikes, the interspike period, follows a similar pattern. Minimal chloroform exposure does not change the average interspike period, while higher exposures do. It drops from 23.2 min under control experiments to 3.8 min at 25 mg/mL chloroform, indicating increased frequency of the electrical activity. These findings might lead to a deeper understanding of the electrical activity of proteinoids and their potential application in the domain of bioelectronics.

Plasmon-Induced Hot Electrons in Nanostructured Materials: Generation, Collection, and Application to Photochemistry.

Plasmon refers to the coherent oscillation of all conduction-band electrons in a nanostructure made of a metal or a heavily doped semiconductor. Upon excitation, the plasmon can decay through different channels, including nonradiative Landau damping for the generation of plasmon-induced energetic carriers, the so-called hot electrons and holes. The energetic carriers can be collected by transferring to a functional material situated next to the plasmonic component in a hybrid configuration to facilitate a range of photochemical processes for energy or chemical conversion. This article centers on the recent advancement in generating and utilizing plasmon-induced hot electrons in a rich variety of hybrid nanostructures. After a brief introduction to the fundamentals of hot-electron generation and decay in plasmonic nanocrystals, we extensively discuss how to collect the hot electrons with various types of functional materials. With a focus on plasmonic nanocrystals made of metals, we also briefly examine those based upon heavily doped semiconductors. Finally, we illustrate how site-selected growth can be leveraged for the rational fabrication of different types of hybrid nanostructures, with an emphasis on the parameters that can be experimentally controlled to tailor the properties for various applications.

Experimental investigation of the chaotification of a Duffing-like electronic oscillator under two-frequency excitation.

Two-frequency excitation has recently emerged as an efficient method to generate strong chaotification of Duffing and Duffing-like dynamical systems with both single- and double-well potentials. For the systems with a double-well potential, large continuous regions with robust chaos (chaotic attractor insensitive to changes in the system parameters) have been predicted to exist when the method is applied. Motivated by these theoretical results, in this work, we investigate experimentally the chaotification under two-frequency excitation of a simple electronic circuit analogous to the double-well Duffing oscillator. The experimental results confirm the theoretical expectations, and a strong chaotification is observed. Evidences are also presented that the chaotic attractor is robust. Therefore, the work establishes experimentally the two-frequency excitation as a simple and reliable method of chaotification. Furthermore, because of its ease of fabrication, the experimental results turn the particular circuit considered in this work into an interesting practical alternative as a reliable source of continuous-time chaotic signals.

Engineering Charge Density Waves by Stackingtronics in Tantalum Disulfide.

In the realm of condensed matter physics and materials science, charge density waves (CDWs) have emerged as a captivating way to modulate correlated electronic phases and electron oscillations in quantum materials. However, collectively and efficiently tuning CDW order is a formidable challenge. Herein, we introduced a novel way to modulate the CDW order in 1T-TaS2 via stacking engineering. By introducing shear strain during the electrochemical exfoliation, the thermodynamically stable AA-stacked TaS2 consecutively transform into metastable ABC stacking, resulting in unique 3a × 1a CDW order. By decoupling atom coordinates, we atomically deciphered the 3D subtle structural variations in trilayer samples. As suggested by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, the origin of CDWs is presumably due to collective excitations and charge modulation. Therefore, our works shed light on a new avenue to collectively modulate the CDW order via stackingtronics and unveiled novel mechanisms for triggering CDW formation via charge modulation.

Rectification and converter control of the FPSLGs for energy storage applications

AbstractThis article presents two power converters with controllers attached to the Free‐Piston Stirling Linear Generator (FPSLG) and energy storage system (ESS). The rectifier uses hysteresis‐SVPWM current regulation and CB‐SPWM, while the buck‐boost converter utilizes the dual‐loop PI control method. The storage battery receives energy from a linear‐generator with a rectifier and converter. The FPSE and linear motors in the FPSLG convert thermal to electrical energy. A two‐level electrical energy conversion technique using a three‐phase AC signal to DC and DC‐DC converter has been devised to reduce output electrical energy oscillation as well as stabilize the generating system's DC power. Initially, the FPSE's nonlinear model and the three‐phase permanent magnet linear‐motor's linear mathematical model were created and followed by the ESS and control mechanism simulation. The simulation shows that the ESS system and control approach can give stable power to the storage battery using linear‐generator power. The PR controller replaces the PI controller in the position loop to improve frequency and displacement tracing. The control system design was simulated in MATLAB and the topology's feasibility and correctness were confirmed. Comparative analysis shows that, rectifier uses the H‐SVPWM's unity power factor of AC and stability controllability of the DC‐side voltage is better than the CB‐SPWM approach.

Constructing High-Active Surface of Plasmonic Tungsten Oxide for Photocatalytic Alcohol Dehydration.

Plasmonic semiconductors with broad spectral response hold significant promise for sustainable solar energy utilization. However, the surface inertness limits the photocatalytic activity. Herein, a novel approach is proposed to improve the body crystallinity and increase the surface oxygen vacancies of plasmonic tungsten oxide by the combination of hydrochloric acid (HCl) regulation and light irradiation, which can promote the adsorption of tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) on plasmonic tungsten oxide and overcome the hindrance of the surface depletion layer in photocatalytic alcohol dehydration. Additionally, this process can concentrate electrons for strong plasmonic electron oscillation on the near surface, facilitating rapid electron transfer within the adsorbed TBA molecules for C-O bond cleavage. As a result, the activation barrier for TBA dehydration is significantly reduced by 93% to 6.0kJ mol-1, much lower than that of thermocatalysis (91kJ mol-1). Therefore, an optimal isobutylene generation rate of 1.8mol g-1 h-1 (selectivity of 99.9%) is achieved. A small flow reaction system is further constructed, which shows an isobutylene generation rate of 12mmol h-1 under natural sunlight irradiation. This work highlights the potential of plasmonic semiconductors for efficient photocatalytic alcohol dehydration, thereby promoting the sustainable utilization of solar energy.

Local oscillators-free chip-enabled W-band wireless IM-DD PAM-4 data transmission with simultaneous dual-laser modulation and envelope detection.

Wireless data traffic is expected to exponentially increase in the future, and meeting this demand will require high data rate photonic-wireless links operating in the W-band (75-110 GHz). For this purpose, pulse-amplitude-modulation with four levels (PAM-4)-based intensity modulation and direct detection (IM-DD) photonic-wireless systems are preferred due to their simplified configuration. In this Letter, we present an experimental demonstration of an IM-DD PAM-4 photonic-wireless link in the W-band, leveraging a monolithic dual-laser photonic chip to enhance integration. Through injection-locking by an optical comb, the chip generates a W-band wireless signal via photo-mixing with a photodiode. This comb injection approach facilitates the phase correlation of the chip's two modes, resulting in a stabilized beat note. Additionally, the on-chip integration of the dual lasers enables the modulation of the two modes with a single modulator, improving the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) while eliminating the need for extra splitters or combiners. Meanwhile, the envelope detector (ED) plays a crucial role in the simplified configuration, contributing to the overall decrease in size, weight, power, and complexity of the system. The integration of the chip-based phase-locked light source and the utilization of the ED thus signify noteworthy features of our experimental setup, which functions without the necessity of both optical and electrical local oscillators. PAM-4 signal modulation is simultaneously applied to the two coherent optical carriers. Our experiments have effectively transmitted 5 and 10 Gbaud PAM-4 W-band wireless signals in a cost-effective, lightweight, and straightforward configuration, achieving a line data rate of up to 20 Gbit/s economically. These experimental results demonstrate the practical potential of implementing fully integrated photonic-wireless transmitters.

DFT and TD‐DFT Study of Many‐Body and Hydrogen Bonding Interactions: Nitrosamine Oligomers

AbstractThis study focuses on the properties and intermolecular interactions of nitrosamine oligomers, which are important in both semiconductor manufacturing and nuclear waste management. The study explores various configurations of nitrosamine oligomers, ranging from monomers to pentamers in linear, ladder, and cyclic clusters, with the finding that dimer cyclic forms and hexamers and above are unstable. Many‐body analysis revealed that two‐body interaction energies made remarkable contributions to the binding energy, while the sum of 3‐, 4‐, and 5‐body energy contributed less, indicating the decrease in stability of nitrosamine from dimer to pentamer clusters. Using advanced computational techniques, such as dispersion‐corrected B3LYP‐D3 and TD‐DFT, the study investigates the vibrational modes and electronic absorption spectra of nitrosamine oligomers. The results reveal that different configurations can significantly affect the vibrational modes and electronic properties of nitrosamine oligomers. The NH2 symmetric and asymmetric modes were particularly intense in various forms of nitrosamine oligomers. The wavelengths of electronic transition, oscillator strength, and HOMO to LUMO gap were reported. Additionally, the study reports on nitrosamine oligomers’ hydrogen‐bonded cooperativity and binding energy contributions. Overall, these findings offer valuable insights into the stability and properties of nitrosamine oligomers, with potential applications in materials science and chemical engineering.

Initiation and suppression of Taconis oscillations in tubes with junctions and variable-diameter tube segments

Taconis oscillations represent spontaneous, usually unwanted excitations of acoustic modes in narrow pipes going from warm ambient environment into cold cryogenic space. These oscillations can drastically magnify heat leak and create vibrations undesirable for measurement instruments. In this study, modifications of a classical constant-diameter-tube Taconis setup are investigated. Specifically, variable-diameter tubes were found to strongly affect excitation, with wider tube segments in the warm environment encouraging oscillations, while additions of properly chosen pipe network configurations can supress the oscillations. The low-amplitude thermoacoustic theory, previously developed for thermoacoustic engines and refrigerators, was adapted for modelling Taconis phenomena, accounting for finite-length segments with temperature evolution where thermal-to-acoustic energy conversion takes place. Experiments were conducted using primarily hydrogen as a working fluid to validate theoretical predictions. With the rapid development of various hydrogen storage and transfer systems, it is expected that Taconis oscillations may become an issue, and this study provides an initial modelling framework to assess this phenomenon in hydrogen systems.

The influence of laser focusing conditions on the direct laser acceleration of electrons

Direct laser acceleration of electrons during a high-energy, picosecond laser interaction with an underdense plasma has been demonstrated to be substantially enhanced by controlling the laser focusing geometry. Experiments using the OMEGA EP facility measured electrons accelerated to maximum energies exceeding 120 times the ponderomotive energy under certain laser focusing, pulse energy, and plasma density conditions. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that the laser focusing conditions alter the laser field evolution, channel fields generation, and electron oscillation, all of which contribute to the final electron energies. The optimal laser focusing condition occurs when the transverse oscillation amplitude of the accelerated electron in the channel fields matches the laser beam width, resulting in efficient energy gain. Through this observation, a simple model was developed to calculate the optimal laser focal spot size in more general conditions and is validated by experimental data.

A full-duplex 5G mobile fronthaul based on analog RoF-WDM-PON supporting flexible frequency-band switching with colorless and simple RRH

In this paper, a full-duplex analog radio over fiber scheme based on wavelength division multiplexing passive optical network (A-RoF-WDM-PON) is proposed for the 5G mobile fronthaul (MFH). For the downlink, a flexible switching of the frequency-band covering sub-6G and millimeter wave (MMW) is enabled by the combination of a polarization controller and a polarizer. The colorless and simple remote radio head (RRH) is realized by the wavelength reuse and phase modulation of the upstream (US) signal. For the uplink, the high-frequency US signal can be photonic down-converted to an immediate frequency (IF) with the assistance of the 2nd order harmonic of the electrical local oscillator (ELO) and the coherent detection is employed to improve the receiver sensitivity. The proposed scheme is experimentally demonstrated by the transmission of a 100-Msym/s 16-QAM downstream (DS) signal over 25 km single-mode fiber (SMF) and a 100-Msym/s 16-QAM US signal over 10 km SMF. The experimental results show that the error vector amplitudes (EVMs) for downlink at frequency bands of 3.5 GHz, 12.5 GHz and 21.5 GHz are 6.30%, 5.90% and 7.15% respectively. The EVM of US signal at 19 GHz is 7.64%. The EVM performance versus the received optical power for both up- and down-link are also measured. Additionally, a dual-wavelength multiplexing transmission is carried out, the measured EVMs in one wavelength channel are 7.65%, 7.63%, 11.33% and 8.47%, and the EVMs for the other wavelength channel are 8.09%, 7.74%, 11.45% and 8.42%, which meets the standard of the Third Generation Partnership Program (3GPP).

Approaching Electroencephalographic Pathological Spikes in Terms of Solitons

A delicate balance between dissipative and nonlinear forces allows traveling waves termed solitons to preserve their shape and energy for long distances without steepening and flattening out. Solitons are so widespread that they can generate both destructive waves on oceans’ surfaces and noise-free message propagation in silica optic fibers. They are naturally observed or artificially produced in countless physical systems at very different coarse-grained scales, from solar winds to Bose–Einstein condensates. We hypothesize that some of the electric oscillations detectable by scalp electroencephalography (EEG) could be assessed in terms of solitons. A nervous spike must fulfill strict mathematical and physical requirements to be termed a soliton. They include the proper physical parameters like wave height, horizontal distance and unchanging shape; the appropriate nonlinear wave equations’ solutions and the correct superposition between sinusoidal and non-sinusoidal waves. After a thorough analytical comparison with the EEG traces available in the literature, we argue that solitons bear striking similarities with the electric activity recorded from medical conditions like epilepsies and encephalopathies. Emerging from the noisy background of the normal electric activity, high-amplitude, low-frequency EEG soliton-like pathological waves with relatively uniform morphology and duration can be observed, characterized by repeated, stereotyped patterns propagating on the hemispheric surface of the brain over relatively large distances. Apart from the implications for the study of cognitive activities in the healthy brain, the theoretical possibility to treat pathological brain oscillations in terms of solitons has powerful operational implications, suggesting new therapeutical options to counteract their detrimental effects.

Enhance the detection of surface micro/nanostructures by SPPs generated from silver film covered hemi-microsphere

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are widely used for surface micro/nanostructures detection. However, because of the limitations of the common SPPs excitation conditions, it is difficult to flexibly detect surface micro/nanostructures in the air without being limited by the substrate structure. In this paper, a new SPPs excitation structure is developed. This structure is a silver film covered hemi-microsphere. SPPs could be excited on the surface of the Ag film, and induce collective oscillations of free electrons on the substrate surface to generate periodic electromagnetic waves. The periodic electromagnetic waves can enhance the electromagnetic field around the surface micro/nanostructures, which could benefit the detection of those surface micro/nanostructures. This method could work in the air, and requires less of the sample structure, but also could move above the sample to achieve a large range of detection. Simulation experiment results demonstrate that this structure has a good detection effect. The maximum enhancement achieved for nanoparticles is 113-fold. This structure holds great potential for medical detection and biosensing.

Optically Tunable Electrical Oscillations in Oxide-Based Memristors for Neuromorphic Computing.

The application of hardware-based neural networks can be enhanced by integrating sensory neurons and synapses that enable direct input from external stimuli. This work reports direct optical control of an oscillatory neuron based on volatile threshold switching in V3O5. The devices exhibit electroforming-free operation with switching parameters that can be tuned by optical illumination. Using temperature-dependent electrical measurements, conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM), in situ thermal imaging, and lumped element modelling, it is shown that the changes in switching parameters, including threshold and hold voltages, arise from overall conductivity increase of the oxide film due to the contribution of both photoconductive and bolometric characteristics of V3O5, which eventually affects the oscillation dynamics. Furthermore, V3O5 is identified as a new bolometric material with a temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) as high as -4.6% K-1 at 423 K. The utility of these devicesis illustrated by demonstrating in-sensor reservoir computing with reduced computational effort and an optical encoding layer for spiking neural network (SNN), respectively, using a simulated array of devices.

Long-range air-host plasmonic propagation with subwavelength confinement

Confining light at a subwavelength scale is important for building ultracompact opto-electronic networks. Plasmonic waveguides are good candidate devices for this purpose. However, the oscillation of electrons relating to surface plasmon polaritons causes energy dissipation, which limits the propagation length and thus reduces the waveguide performance. Here, we design a low-loss plasmonic waveguide composed of a nanowire dimer structure on a metal substrate, in which the dominant modes are localized within the air gap between the nanowires and referred to as air-host plasmonic modes. The use of air instead of dielectric materials as the host medium can reduce ohmic loss and avoid the dispersion effect of dielectric. When the constructed nanowires have a diameter less than 100 nm, the air-host mode has subwavelength-scale confinement and a propagation length of ∼100 μm, which has broad application prospects for the construction of ultracompact plasmonic devices.

Coherent Control of Bloch Oscillations in a Superconducting Circuit

Bloch oscillations (BOs) are oscillations of electrons under external constant forces in a lattice, revealing the wavelike behavior of electrons. BOs lead to the localization of the wave packet that is called Wannier-Stark localization (WSL), resulting in the inhibition of conductivity. We simulate BOs experimentally in a one-dimensional superconducting circuit with nine qubits. The nine qubits form a one-dimensional lattice and an electron is mapped to a photon. We experimentally realize the coherent control of BOs by applying a well-controlled driving force with a frequency close to BOs. We observe the competition between localization and delocalization of the wave pocket by changing the drive parameters. Our study demonstrates the visualized wave behavior of electrons and proves a way to modulate electron transport in a perfect lattice. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Terahertz resonant-tunneling-diode oscillator with two offset-fed slot-ring antennas

We proposed and fabricated a terahertz resonant-tunneling-diode oscillator integrated with two offset slot-ring antennas for high-output power and high-directivity radiation. In this device, the length of the antenna, approximately half the wavelength of the oscillation frequency, enables efficient terahertz radiation. The increased radiation conductance, resulting from the offset and the two slot-ring antennas, enables higher output power. Additionally, radiation directivity can be improved by using two slot-ring antennas. The fabricated device generated high-power oscillation of 1.29 mW at 412 GHz. This is the highest output power of a single electronic device oscillator in the 400 GHz range.

Plasmonic tuning of nano-antennas for super-gain light amplification

Nanoscale conductive materials are often used for inducing localized free electron oscillations known as plasmons. This is due to their high electronic excitability under optical irradiation owing to their super-small volume. Recently, plasmons have been of interest for enhancing the gain-bandwidth product of optical amplifiers. There are currently two well-established mechanisms for light amplification. The first one is via stimulated emission of radiation (lasers) using a given energy source and often an optical feedback mechanism. The second one is based on the nonlinear coupling of a low-intensity input wave and a high-intensity pump wave for energy exchange (parametric amplifiers). Both techniques have shortcomings. Lasers have a small operation bandwidth and offer a limited gain, but require moderate energy pumping to operate. Whereas optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) offer a high operation bandwidth along with a much higher optical gain, with the drawback of requiring intense pumping to be functional. The aim of this paper is to introduce a technique that combines the advantages and eliminates the drawbacks of both techniques in the nanoscale to allow for a better amplification performance in integrated optical devices. This is achieved by inducing a plasmonic chirp in conductive nanomaterials a.k.a nano-antennas, which enables the confinement of an enormous electric energy density that can be coupled to an input beam for amplification. Using the Finite Difference Time Domain numerical-method with the material parameters of well-known semiconductors, intramaterial condensation of electric energy density is observed in semiconductor nano-antennas for certain plasmonic chirp-frequencies which enables broadband high-gain optical amplification based on free-electron oscillations that is promising for small-scale optical devices requiring a high gain-bandwidth product. The results are in good agreement with semiempirical data.

Numerical study of single-layer and interlayer grating polarizers based on metasurface structures for quantum key distribution systems

Polarization is an important property of light, which refers to the direction of electric field oscillations. Polarization modulation plays an essential role for polarization encoding quantum key distribution (QKD). Polarization is used to encode photons in the QKD systems. In this work, visible-range polarizers with optimal dimensions based on resonance grating waveguides have been numerically designed and investigated using the COMSOL Multiphysics Software. Two structures have been designed, namely a single-layer metasurface grating (SLMG) polarizer and an interlayer metasurface grating (ILMG) polarizer. Both structures have demonstrated high extinction ratios, ~1.8·103 and 8.68·104, and the bandwidths equal to 45 and 55 nm for the SLMG and ILMG, respectively.