EM Coupling Research Articles

Wearable Pad for Enhancing EM Coupling with Biological Tissues

Wearable Pad for Enhancing EM Coupling with Biological Tissues

A Decoupling Technique for Beamforming Antenna Arrays Using Simple Guard Trace Structures

This paper discusses decoupling techniques for suppressing electromagnetic coupling between elements of beamforming antenna arrays. Guard trace structures, which are commonly used for crosstalk reduction on printed circuit board technology, are proposed to be inserted between the array elements for coupling reduction. Two types of guard trace structures, i.e., straight guard traces and serpentine guard traces, were explored, and the effect of using via holes on both types of guard traces was studied. For this purpose, two-element antenna arrays with guard trace structures inserted between array elements were designed and simulated. The simulation results showed that a straight guard trace with vias (straight GTV) and a serpentine guard trace without vias (serpentine GT) could effectively reduce EM coupling between elements of array antennas. To verify the simulation results, prototypes of antenna arrays with straight GTV and serpentine GT were realized and measured. The measurement results showed coupling reductions of 5 dB and 6.4 dB could be achieved when straight GTV and serpentine GT are inserted between two array elements separated by edge-to-edge distances of 4 mm and 9.05 mm, respectively. Therefore, the proposed decoupling technique is suitable for beamforming antenna arrays with a very close distance between array elements.

An EMTP Extension for Computing Earthing System Transient Step and Touch Voltages

This paper presents a novel technique for computing dangerous voltages due to lightning transients imposed on earthing system, which is based on the use of the well-known ATP-EMTP software package. Earth surface transient potential distributions, as well as step and touch voltages computations, are performed through extending the widely used EMTP software package with a new post-processor (computer program), developed especially for that purpose. The earthing grid is approximated by the circular cross-section conductors. In numerical model, conductors are subdivided into segments (1D finite elements) and Clark's model with distributed constant parameters is then applied. Leakage conductance of conductor segments is modeled in EMTP as an additional lumped parameter. Analytical expressions for distributed and lumped segment parameters are derived using the average potential method. Due to the limitations of the EMTP, EM coupling between segments is neglected. The earth model is limited to the homogenous earth. Soil ionization effect is not accounted for, but could be incorporated, through some modifications of algorithms. Lightning surge model used is based on the Heidler's model of current source.

Source Reconstruction of Electronic Circuits in Shielding Enclosures Based on Numerical Green’s Function and Application in Electromagnetic Interference Estimation

In this work, to characterize the radiated emission from electronic circuits in shielding enclosure, an improved electric dipole-based source reconstruction method (SRM) is developed. Moreover, by resorting to this reconstructed equivalent source, the estimation of electromagnetic interference (EMI) between different circuit modules in the enclosure can be conveniently and accurately evaluated. Different from the free-space SRM, the equivalent dipoles of the proposed SRM are directly placed over the shielding box enclosed circuit board, and the numerical Green’s function (NGF) is developed to bridge the connection between the equivalent dipoles and the planar scanned magnetic near-field. With the NGF strategy, the effects of surrounding environments (including the presence of substrate, ground plane, and shielding enclosure) are inclusively considered, which makes the proposed SRM valid for any complex EM environments in theory. Since the proposed SRM also has the capability of reproducing the radiated emission inside the shielding enclosure, it is critically helpful to evaluate the EMI between different circuit modules inside the shielding enclosure. To reach this aim, the Rayleigh-Carson Reciprocity theorem is referred, in which the original EM coupling problem is decomposed into the “forward problem” and “reverse problem.” A Huygens box enclosing the victim circuit module is built and the EM fields on the box are obtained using the reconstructed dipoles in both problems. Then the EMI can be calculated accordingly. Therefore, the novelty and merits of the proposed approach are threefold: 1) the physically-based equivalent dipole model considers the interactions between the radiation sources and the surrounding objects, leading to the accurate prediction of radiated emissions both outside and inside the enclosure; 2) due to the utilization of the NGF, there is no approximation involved in the solution of the dipole’s radiation, thus improving the calculation precision; and 3) the near-field coupling between multiple electronic circuit modules inside the shielding enclosure can be identified precisely, which is useful for diagnostics of radiation sources. The effectiveness of this algorithm is verified by representative numerical examples.

Rotational symmetry engineered, polarization and incident angle-insensitive, perfect metamaterial absorber for X and Ku band wireless applications

In this paper, a square enclosed split-maze shaped metamaterial absorber is proposed for X and Ku band wireless applications. Two square metal enclosures were introduced around the split-maze structure to make it rotational symmetric and thus insensitive to cross-polarization. The proposed absorber has shown maximum absorptions at 9.33 GHz, 12.83 GHz, 13.86 GHz, and 15.61 GHz with single negative value of permittivity. The absorber is insensitive to the incident angle of applied EM waves for normal and oblique incidence up to 180 degrees. In addition, it was proved co- & cross-polarization insensitive due to the symmetric structure of the patch. A comprehensive equivalent circuit analysis was done to explain the fundamental EM behaviour of the metamaterial structure, and the circuit outputs coincided with the simulation results. Finally, the metamaterial was measured for both unit cell, and the array after fabrication and simulation results were validated. The proposed MMA is suitable for wireless applications in devices, especially for sensing, EM energy harvesting, EM coupling reduction, and antenna gain enhancement purposes.

In-Band Scattering and Radiation Tradeoff of Broadband Phased Arrays Based on Scattering-Matrix Approach

A novel method based on the combination of scattering-matrix approach and microwave network theory is proposed for the realization of in-band scattering and radiation tradeoff of broadband phased arrays. In particular, the proposed method is able to efficiently predict both radiation performances and scattering characteristics of finite phased arrays with element-independent matching networks (EIMNs)/loads. The in-band scattering and radiation tradeoff of finite arrays can be achieved by the optimization of the loaded EIMNs/loads. Moreover, the accuracy of this method is guaranteed by considering some factors, such as the EM coupling and the edge effects of finite arrays. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, a <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1\times16$ </tex-math></inline-formula> linear array operating at 8.0–10.0 GHz for scanning up to 45° is designed as the reference prototype and the quasi-coaxial lines are served as the EIMNs. The optimized results show that an obvious scattering reduction is achieved throughout the operating bandwidth in comparison with the reference array. Finally, the optimized linear array is fabricated and measured, and good agreement is obtained to further demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Optimization of a hybrid plasmonic configuration: particle on a corrugated film and its SERS application.

Hybrid SERS configurations, which combine manufactured metallic chips with nanoparticles, have emerged as powerful and promising SERS substrates because they not only provide cost-effective and high-yield manufacture, but also demonstrate excellent sensitivity and outstanding reproducibility. Herein, a plasmonic hybrid structure, a particle on an Au film over nanoparticles (particle-AuFON) configuration, was studied for SERS application. In a previous study, we constructed a hybrid substrate by grafting Au@Ag core–shell NPs onto the AuFON structure. In this study, the hybrid substrate is designed and simulated to optimize electromagnetic enhancement while also affording exceptional uniformity, repeatability and stability, which are essential factors in SERS applications. This hybrid substrate provides good SERS performance with a detection limit of 1 × 10−10 M, which is 100-fold improvement compared to AuFON substrate or Au@Ag NPs. The excellent signal enhancement originates from the hotspot improvement and densification, as visualized by the FDTD calculations. Additional hotspots were created at the gaps between the Au@Ag NPs and the AuFON, thus improving the density of hotspots. Moreover, the intensity of the hotspots was improved due to EM coupling between the original hotspots and additional hotspots. To validate the feasibility of this hybrid substrate in SERS-based detection, melamine was detected as an example. The detection limit was 10 nM, which was much lower than the maximum limit of melamine in infant formula (1 ppm) legislated by the governments of both the United States and China. A calibration curve was plotted between the SERS intensity and melamine concentration with a correlation coefficient of 0.98. This hybrid SERS substrate shows great potential in SERS-based sensing and imaging, as it provides high sensitivity and outstanding reproducibility with a simple fabrication procedure, facilitating the cost-effective and high-yield manufacture of SERS substrates.

Roles of graphene nanogap for the AgNFs electrodeposition on the woven Cu net as flexible substrate and its application in SERS

A new substrate composing of Ag nanoflowers on graphene@Cu net (AgNFs/G@Cu) was fabricated on the flexible woven copper net. Graphene, an ideal 2D plane, provides better dispersion of regular electrodeposited AgNFs arrays. Graphene nanogap was used to enhance the EM coupling between AgNFs and metal Cu substrate. Regular AgNFs arrays offer denser “hotspots”, which further enhance the EM coupling. High sensitivity (rhodamine 6G (R6G): 10−14 M, crystal violet (CV): 10−12 M) and good homogeneity are realized in our experiment and proved by the COMSOL simulation. Cu net, remarkable flexibility and practicality, allows for a close contact to the sample surface by swabbing. Malachite green (MG) as low as 10−11 M on the surface of the marine fish can be detected. This work may offer novel and practical SERS applications in the areas of pesticide residue, food security and biotechnology.

Second Harmonic Generation Manipulation Enabled by Electromagnetic Coupling in Bianisotropic Metamolecules

AbstractBianisotropic metamolecules provide a novel opportunity to realize optical magnetism through localized electromagnetic coupling (EM coupling). Previous investigations of the EM coupling, however, are mostly limited to linear regime. In this work, active manipulation of light in nonlinear regime with EM coupling is theoretically studied. To this end, a bianisotropic metamolecule composed of four uniform gold nanodisks is designed. Simulation results show that a Fano‐like resonance induced by EM coupling is sufficient to control the second harmonic generation (SHG) signal. By rotating polarization angle of optical excitation source, the emitted SHG signal is switched on–off with the EM coupling. Furthermore, modulation of the SHG signal is demonstrated through the EM coupling by tuning the gap size and filling material.

Dimensionless parameters controlling fluid flow in electromagnetic cold crucible

A 3-D numerical model was established for predicting the flow field in a square electromagnetic cold crucible (EMCC) used for melting and directionally solidifying TiAl alloys. Four dimensionless parameters that characterise the melt flow in the EMCC were derived, those being the Hartman (Ha), magnetic Reynolds (Rω), coils-melt position (h) and the ratio of the melt height to length (H/L) numbers. Parametric simulations and experiments were carried out to understand the effects of processing parameters such as the intensity and frequency of the current, the relative coils-melt position and the melt shape on the flow field. The meridional flow normally consists of two vortices in the half meridian plane, the lower vortex decreases with increasing Ha, Rω and h (hb>hm), as well as decreasing H/L. Higher Ha, H/L and lower h induce intensive fluid flow in the melt due to the stronger EM coupling, which could promote the uniformity of solute in the melt. The turbulence kinetic energy is significantly influenced by the length scale of the turbulent flow and the flow velocity in the melt, it increases with increasing Ha, h and H/L, while reduces and tends to be stable at higher Rω. Relatively higher flow velocity and turbulence kinetic energy can be obtained when Rω is close to 10. The weakened flow in the vicinity of solid/liquid interface under lower Ha and Rω, as well as higher h and H/L is beneficial for continuous growth of columnar crystals during the directional solidification process.

Dominant dimensionless parameters controlling solute transfer during electromagnetic cold crucible melting and directional solidifying TiAl alloys

Electromagnetic cold crucible (EMCC) is widely applied to melt and solidify refractory and reactive materials, the electromagnetically driven flow in the melt leads to intensive transfer behaviors of solute and strongly affects crystal growth. In this paper, a 3-D numerical model for predicting the solute transfer behaviors in a square EMCC used for melting and directional solidifying was established and verified. A two-way coupling method was proposed to calculate the electromagnetically driven flow and its effects on solute transfer. Influences of the dominant dimensionless parameters on solute transfer behaviors in the EMCC were examined, those being the Hartman (Ha), magnetic Reynolds (Rω), coils-melt position (h) and the ratio of the melt height to length (H/L) numbers. Results demonstrate that the solute segregation tends to appear in the vicinity of solid/liquid (S/L) interface, the top of meniscus and the confluence of two eddies near the wall of meniscus. The solute segregation degree (Se=Cmax−CminC0) decreases with increasing Ha, which contributes to the augment of flow intensity in the melt. Moreover, the Se decreases linearly with increasing Rω owing to the intensive oscillation of melt flow. The enhanced EM coupling with increasing H/L results in the decrease of Se in the melt. However, the solute segregation in the corner of the meniscus gradually aggravates with increasing h, which results from the enlarging of lower eddies in the bulk of the melt. The solute segregation in the vicinity of S/L interface is strongly influenced by the scale and the flow intensity of lower eddies, which could change the phase transition path and morphology of crystal during directional solidification process. Larger value of Ha, Rω and H/L, as well as smaller h are beneficial to alleviate the solute segregation in the vicinity of S/L interface.

Effect of coupling noise on the interpretation of results of electromagnetic horizontal sounding and modeling

The time variation of a source of alternating current produces an electromagnetic coupling between the transmitting and receiving systems in induced electrical polarization and resistivity surveys that employ horizontal electrical sounding. The coupling alters, sometimes significantly, the resistivity and chargeability values and, consequently, compromises the interpretation of the data. This work develops the analysis of this coupling on the time domain for both a homogeneous Earth and an Earth constituted of several homogeneous horizontal layers. Based on the results, it evaluates the theoretical variation of the voltage and compares it to observed data of an induced electrical polarization and resistivity survey with horizontal electrical sounding. The comparative study of the voltage decay curves assesses the contribution of the electromagnetic coupling to the values of the chargeability and apparent resistivity as a function of the bipole length and the period of the source current. Besides that, the respective pseudosections have delineated the horizontal and vertical variations of those two electrical properties, providing the interpretation of the geoelectrical section. This research is important for the oil industry because it may furnish information that help to: (i) define the structure of the sedimentary strata; (ii) estimate the clay content of the sandstones; and (iii) detect the possible presence of metallic sulphide halos at fractured zones of the sediments above the oil reservoir. It may be adapted to analysis of EM coupling in both resistive and induced electric well logs.

Strongly Confined Spoof Surface Plasmon Polaritons Waveguiding Enabled by Planar Staggered Plasmonic Waveguides.

We demonstrate a novel route to achieving highly efficient and strongly confined spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) waveguides at subwavelength scale enabled by planar staggered plasmonic waveguides (PSPWs). The structure of these new waveguides consists of an ultrathin metallic strip with periodic subwavelength staggered double groove arrays supported by a flexible dielectric substrate, leading to unique staggered EM coupling and waveguiding phenomenon. The spoof SPP propagation properties, including dispersion relations and near field distributions, are numerically investigated. Furthermore, broadband coplanar waveguide (CPW) to planar staggered plasmonic waveguide (PSPW) transitions are designed to achieve smooth momentum matching and highly efficient spoof SPP mode conversion. By applying these transitions, a CPW-PSPW-CPW structure is designed, fabricated and measured to verify the PSPW’s propagation performance at microwave frequencies. The investigation results show the proposed PSPWs have excellent performance of deep subwavelength spoof SPPs confinement, long propagation length and low bend loss, as well as great design flexibility to engineer the propagation properties by adjusting their geometry dimensions and material parameters. Our work opens up a new avenue for development of various advanced planar integrated plasmonic devices and circuits in microwave and terahertz regimes.

FDTD simulation study of size/gap and substrate-dependent SERS activity study of Au@SiO2 nanoparticles**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61177004).

We use Au@SiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) to systematically and comprehensively study the relationship between nanostructure and activity for surface-enhanced Raman scattering. Calculation simulation using the finite different time domain method verifies the experiment results and further reveals that the particle size and the distance between the NPs play vital roles in the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Furthermore, in order to better simulate the real experiment, a Au@SiO2 nanosphere dimer is placed on the silicon substrate and Au substrate, separately. The simulation results show that the large EM field coupling is due to the “hot spots” transferred from the NP–NP gaps to NP–surface of metal gaps, meanwhile, more “hot spots” occur. We also find that the signal intensity strongly depends on the position of the probe molecule. This work provides a better understanding of EM field enhancement.

Recovering IP information in airborne-time domain electromagnetic data

SUMMARY We propose a methodology to generate a 3D distribution of pseudo-chargeability from airborne time domain electromagnetic data. The processing flow is as follows: (a) Apply 3D inversion to TEM data to restore a background conductivity. This might involve omitting responses that are obviously contaminated with IP signals, such as negative transients in coincident loop surveys. The recovered background conductivity is assumed to be uncontaminated by IP signals. (b) Compute the TEM response from the background conductivity and subtract it from the observations. This yields the d IP data, and reduces the EM coupling. (c) The background conductivity is likely not exactly the earth conductivity, but we assume that the major effects of this inaccuracy will lead to a large scale, smoothly varying perturbation to the d IP data. If this correct, then these can be recognized and removed. (d) The final data are linearly related to a pseudo-chargeability through a sensitivity function that is analogous to that employed in usual DC-IP ground surveys. (e) The d IP data at various time channels can be inverted individually. The pseudo-chargeability models may be useful in themselves or they may be further processed to estimate Cole-Cole, or equivalent, parameters. We demonstrate our procedure on a field data set from Mt. Milligan. In the field example, we identify chargeable targets that show no indication of negative transients in the raw data. From the images we can make inferences about the relative strength and geometries of the chargeable bodies.

3D IP Inversion of Airborne EM data at Tli Kwi Cho

SUMMARY In this study, we revisit three airborne EM surveys over Tli Kwi Cho (TKC). These consist of a frequency domain DIGHEM data set, and two time domain surveys, VTEM and AeroTEM. Negative transients have been recorded in both of the time domain surveys and we interpret these as arising from chargeable bodies. The kimberlite pipes are referred to as DO-27 and DO-18. We look in more detail at the transient data and apply the ATEM-IP inversion procedure to recover a 3D pseudo-chargeability distribution. Important components of the analysis involve estimating a background conductivity for the region. For DO-27 we have used a 3D parametric inversion to recover the conductivity from TEM data. The IP signal for the inversion is obtained by subtracting the time domain responses estimated by EM inversion from the observed background signal. This process also removes EM coupling noise that might be contaminating the data. The resultant IP data are inverted with a linear inverse approach using the sensitivity from the background conductivity. This yields a 3D model of pseudo-chargeability.

Bosonization and the Berry connection in two-dimensional QED

The dynamical effects of topological charge in two-dimensional QED can be expressed in terms of a topological order parameter via a Berry phase construction. The Berry phase describes the electric charge polarization of the vacuum in a manner similar to the theory of polarization in topological insulators. The topological order parameter labels discrete vacua which differ by units of electric flux. Here the associated Berry connection is explicitly constructed from the Dirac Hamiltonian eigenstates by introducing a small attractive Thirring coupling, so that there is still a stable boson in the limit of zero EM coupling. The Berry connection arises from the analytic structure of the Bethe ansatz states in complex rapidity near the free fermion point.

A Microstrip-Line-Fed Suspended Square Slot Microstrip Antenna for Circular Polarization Operations

A microstrip line-fed suspended square slot antenna with parasitic patch is presented. The proposed antenna is excited by a microstrip line feed placed at the bottom side of the substrate. The antenna geometry gets excitation via EM coupling. In this structure circular polarization (CP) is also obtained with suspended air gap and CP frequency can be switched between 4.5GHz to 5.5GHz. Thus, a 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth of about 4.32% is obtained. This structure exhibitsimpedance bandwidth, which is over 20.83%. The antenna was optimized with Ansoft’s HFSS software and was validated through a prototype. Measured results fairly agree with the simulated data.

Radiative Decay Width of Neutral non-Strange Baryons from PWA

An overview of the GW SAID and ITEP groups effort to analyze pion photoproduction on the neutron-target will be given. The disentanglement the isoscalar and isovector EM couplings of N∗ and Δ∗ resonances does require compatible data on both proton and neutron targets. The final-state interaction plays a critical role in the state-of-the-art analysis in extraction of the γ n → π N data from the deuteron target experiments. It is important component of the current JLab, MAMI-C, SPring-8, ELSA, and ELPH programs.

Coupling Between Multipath Environments Through a Large Aperture

A key issue in measuring the shielding of buildings against wireless communications signals is presented. We use a mode-stirred reverberation chamber (RC) to emulate the EM coupling through windows or doors. This is achieved experimentally by leaving the RC door open. The room hosting the RC is identified as an external semi-reverberant space, and thus used to generate the stochastic field exciting the internal RC through the door opening. Two methods for the transmission parameter measurement and shielding effectiveness estimation are compared: the first one consists in moving receiving antenna within a volume, the second one makes use of a rotating stirrer. The comparison confirms the interchangeability of the two techniques provided a proper averaging factor is introduced. This argument supports a quasi-ergodic hypothesis in imperfect and semi-open reverberating environments. The measured aperture SE is compared to a theoretical value given by an ideal reverberating environment.