Propagation Of Electromagnetic Pulses Research Articles

“Superlight” Propagation of Electromagnetic Pulses in a Resonant-Absorbing Gas Medium

“Superlight” Propagation of Electromagnetic Pulses in a Resonant-Absorbing Gas Medium

Slowing down light in a qubit metamaterial

The rapid progress in quantum information processing leads to a rising demand for devices to control the propagation of electromagnetic wave pulses and to ultimately realize universal and efficient quantum memory. While in recent years, significant progress has been made to realize slow light and quantum memories with atoms at optical frequencies, superconducting circuits in the microwave domain still lack such devices. Here, we demonstrate slowing down electromagnetic waves in a superconducting metamaterial composed of eight qubits coupled to a common waveguide, forming a waveguide quantum electrodynamics system. We analyze two complementary approaches, one relying on dressed states of the Autler–Townes splitting and the other based on a tailored dispersion profile using the qubits tunability. Our time-resolved experiments show reduced group velocities of down to a factor of about 1500 smaller than in vacuum. Depending on the method used, the speed of light can be controlled with an additional microwave tone or an effective qubit detuning. Our findings demonstrate high flexibility of superconducting circuits to realize custom band structures and open the door to microwave dispersion engineering in the quantum regime.

High-current space-charge-limited pulses using ultrashort laser pulses.

The maximum current that can be delivered by a 1-D vacuum diode is limited due to the space-charge reduction of the accelerating field. For a steady-state operation, this is given by the Child-Langmuir space-charge limit. However, for pulsed diode sources, the instantaneous current can be much higher than this limit, as long as the pulse length is much less than the transit time across the diode gap. This enables the generation of high current pulses with pulse durations of the order of tens of picoseconds using photocathodes driven by ultrashort laser pulses. The generation of such short and powerful electromagnetic pulses is important for numerous applications such as ultrawideband radar or as photocathode sources for accelerators. In this work, the limiting current pulse is investigated in the case of a very short, square-top initial pulse and it is found that these pulses propagate in a self-similar manner, remaining as a square-top charge cloud in space throughout their acceleration and propagation. The resultant current and pulse duration turn out to be dependent on only three parameters, which are the applied voltage, the vacuum transit time, and the fraction of the saturation charge density in the initial charge cloud. The resultant scaling of the resultant peak current and pulse duration are calculated numerically as a function of starting sheet-charge density, allowing the calculation of the resultant pulses for any ultrashort, pulse-driven vacuum photodiode design.

Generation of the second harmonic during propagation of an extremely short optical pulse in a medium with chiral carbon nanotubes

In this paper, the propagation of electromagnetic pulse in the medium of single-walled carbon nanotubes (chiral type) is investigated. The existence of the second harmonic generation mode, which was not observed at the initial time, is revealed. A high second harmonic output is set, as well as the dependence of the second harmonic output on the problem parameters. It is proposed to use this effect to generate entangled photons.

A Performance-Enhanced Absorbing Boundary Condition for FDTD Methods on Face-Centered Cubic Grids

Based on the auxiliary differential equation (ADE), a performance-enhanced convolution perfectly matched layer (CPML) for the face-centered cubic finite-difference time-domain (FCC-FDTD) method is developed in this letter. Unlike the traditional FDTD methods on Yee’s grids, for which the CPML technique is relatively straightforward to be implemented, poor performance, and even instability may occur in the FCC-FDTD method. To avoid these problems, the ADE technique is incorporated into the derivation, and the impact of node locations on absorbing boundary constitutive parameters is carefully considered. In addition, the derivation of the time-marching formulations is substantially simplified. The optimal ranges of constitutive parameters are found through a numerical sweep. Two numerical examples, the electromagnetic pulse propagation and absorbed power density of a brain model during mobile communication, are examined to validate the performance. The results suggest that the proposed ADE-CPML for the FCC-FDTD method shows good stability and accuracy.

Characterization of Electromagnetic Pulses Generated from Plasma Associated with Laser Filaments-Excited Aluminum Alloy Interaction

Femtosecond laser filament-generated plasma can generate electromagnetic pulses (EMPs). These pulses may reduce the instrument’s precision, and, hence, influence the accuracy of the experimental results. They may even cause widespread disruption by disabling of the electronic control systems or distribution networks of power plants. This study investigated the characteristics of EMPs generated from the interaction of filament-generated plasmas with a solid target in air. In this study, ultrafast laser filamentation was used to produce plasma, which was focused on a 3 mm-thick aluminum (Al) alloy target for interaction, and the spatial distribution and main contributors of the EMPs were systematically and extensively studied. The results showed that the EMPs generated from ultrafast laser filament interaction with the Al alloy target had the following characteristics: the EMP energy generated from laser filament interaction with solid targets is tens of times higher than that generated only from the femtosecond laser filament; the maximum EMP signals appeared at a 20°–80°detection angle. The relationship between the energy of EMPs and the width and energy of the laser pulses is presented and discussed. These findings are beneficial for gaining insight into the EMP generation mechanism, spatial distribution, and transmission, and for providing more information for the design of EMPs’ shielding.

Ultrafast light-induced THz switching in exchange-biased Fe/Pt spintronic heterostructure

The ultrafast optical control of magnetization in spintronic structures enables one to access to the high-speed information processing, approaching the realm of terahertz (THz). Femtosecond visible/near-infrared laser-driven ferromagnetic/nonmagnetic metallic spintronic heterostructures-based THz emitters combine the aspects from the ultrafast photo-induced dynamics and spin-charge inter-conversion mechanisms through the generation of THz electromagnetic pulses. In this Letter, we demonstrate photoexcitation density-dependent induced exchange-bias tunability and THz switching in an annealed Fe/Pt thin-film heterostructure, which otherwise is a widely used conventional spintronic THz emitter. By combining the exchange-bias effect along with THz emission, the photo-induced THz switching is observed without any applied magnetic field. These results pave the way for an all-optical ultrafast mechanism to exchange-bias tuning in spintronic devices for high-density storage, read/write magnetic memory applications.

Comparison of the Moist Material Relative Permittivity Readouts Using the Non-Invasive Reflectometric Sensors and Microwave Antenna.

The article concerns the issue of non-invasive moisture sensing in building materials. Two techniques that enable evaluating the value of the relative permittivity of the material, being the measure of porous material moisture, have been utilized for the research. The first is the microwave technique that utilizes the non-contact measurement of velocity of microwave radiation across the tested material and the second is the time domain reflectometry (TDR) technique based on the measurement of electromagnetic pulse propagation time along the waveguides, being the elements of sensor design. The tested building material involved samples of red ceramic brick that differed in moisture, ranging between 0% and 14% moisture by weight. The main goal of the research was to present the measuring potential of both techniques for moisture evaluation as well as emphasize the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Within the research, it was stated that both methods provide similar measuring potential, with a slight advantage in favor of a microwave non-contact sensor over surface TDR sensor designs.

Time-of-flight methodologies with large-area diamond detectors for the effectively characterization of tens MeV protons

A novel detector based on a polycrystalline diamond sensor is here employed in an advanced time-of-flight scheme for the characterization of energetic ions accelerated during laser-matter interactions. The optimization of the detector and of the advanced TOF methodology allow to obtain signals characterized by high signal-to-noise ratio and high dynamic range even in the most challenging experimental environments, where the interaction of high-intensity laser pulses with matter leads to effective ion acceleration, but also to the generation of strong Electromagnetic Pulses (EMPs) with intensities up to the MV/m order. These are known to be a serious threat for the fielded diagnostic systems. In this paper we report on the measurement performed with the PW-class laser system Vega 3 at CLPU (∼30 J energy, ∼1021 W/cm2 intensity, ∼30 fs pulses) irradiating solid targets, where both tens of MeV ions and intense EMP fields were generated. The data were analyzed to retrieve a calibrated proton spectrum and in particular we focus on the analysis of the most energetic portion (E > 5.8 MeV) of the spectrum showing a procedure to deal with the intrinsic lower sensitivity of the detector in the mentioned spectral-range.

Generation and regulation of electromagnetic pulses induced by hybrid laser pulses interacting with solid targets

In inertial confinement fusion, electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) can be produced during high-power laser interacting with solid targets, which are intimately related to laser intensity and laser energy. In this study, EMPs generated by hybrid laser pulses coupling with targets are recorded and analyzed. The results indicate that a single picosecond laser gives birth to the most intense EMPs, but they are remarkably suppressed when a nanosecond laser-shooting target is triggered before the picosecond and femtosecond laser. One possible hypothesis is proposed based on x-rays inducing pre-ablation that generates pre-plasma at the surfaces of the picosecond target and femtosecond target, leading to a sharp drop both in the energy and number of the emitting hot electrons and protons. The findings will deepen our understanding of the mechanism of EMPs’ generation and will also open a new avenue to regulate EMPs by hybrid laser pulses.

Uncertainty Quantification of Self-Breakdown Switches in a Circuit Model Using Wiener–Haar Expansion

Since many electromagnetic compatibility tests are resourcelimited, it is important to quantify the uncertainties of instruments beforehand. One of the common instruments is the trigger pulse generator with self-breakdown switches. Due to the abrupt changing caused by self-breakdown switches, stochastic methods based on the generalized polynomial chaos suffer from Gibbs-type phenomena and become erroneous around abrupt transition point. This article proposes an effective technique based on the Haar wavelets for quantifying the time delay of self-breakdown switches in stochastic simulations. Wiener–Haar wavelet expansion method is suitable for dealing with abrupt-changing problems and is applied to the nodal-analysis-based circuit model. The stochastic circuit model is expanded to an augmented model with deterministic coefficients by exploiting wavelets’ orthogonality. Furthermore, the distribution of time delay is represented as the mean value of a Heaviside function, which is implemented by an auxiliary circuit in the model. The statistical mean can be directly obtained from the 0th coefficient of Wiener–Haar expansion. A case study of a trigger generator for electromagnetic pulse generators is provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. It is shown that, compared with Monte Carlo methods, Wiener–Haar representation provides robust results with less computational time and a faster convergence rate.

Low frequency Compressional modes in degenerate semiconductor plasmas

Properties of low frequency compressional electromagnetic wave pulse in a magnetized semiconductor hole-electron plasma, are investigated. The quantum mechanical effects such as Fermi pressure, quantum tunneling and exchange-correlation potential of inertialess electrons, inertial holes and stationary charged ion particulates are considered in the presence of the magnetic field. A new type of dispersion relation is derived for low-frequency compressional waves by employing quantum magneto-hydrodynamic model and Maxwell equations; the dispersion relation is then analyzed for parallel, perpendicular and oblique propagation of compressional electromagnetic wave pulse to the external magnetic field direction. We have analyzed the obtained dispersion relations numerically, for different semiconductor plasma such as GaAs, GaSb and, GaN, the graphs shows that the frequency of compressional electromagnetic wave pulse decreases with increase of electron-hole density concentration, whereas the frequency increases with the increase of angle of propagation compressional electromagnetic wave pulse. Our results are applicable to understanding the dynamics of semiconductor plasma to produce high power, high band-width devices in contrast to the existing gas plasma devices. Keywords: degenerate semiconductor plasma, quantum mechanical effects, compression electromagnetic wave, gas plasma device.

Development of energy storage for high voltage electromagnetic pulse generator

Recently, much attention has been paid to electromagnetic stability in the development of energy storage devices, which makes it possible to maintain operating parameters during exposure to electromagnetic pulses and the consequences of their interaction. The issue of ensuring the electromagnetic stability of electronic equipment, due to the fact that under the influence of electromagnetic pulses in electronic and electrical circuits are overvoltage pulses, depending on the origin of electromagnetic pulses, distance from electromagnetic pulses source to hardware components amplitude, rise time and pulse duration can change. That is why the task of creating high-energy electromagnetic pulse generators remains extremely important for modern research. The main use of such generators is to study the interaction of thin-film layers of semiconductor materials with high-energy electromagnetic pulses and the development of elements to protect electronic equipment from the effects of electromagnetic pulses. A set of electromagnetic pulses generators has been created, the use of which will allow studying the properties of the protection elements of electronic equipment in a wide range of electromagnetic pulses capacities. In combination with the previously developed design of the electromagnetic pulses generator, this will affect the studied samples of electronic equipment and protection elements through the integrated operation of the electromagnetic pulses, which will have both high time and high energy. To ensure comfortable and safe research work, the device has a visual indication of operating modes, including modes of high DC voltage generation. The developed control device and power supply for the high-energy electromagnetic pulse generator meets the requirements established during its development and can be used to study the interaction of semiconductor thin-film layers with high-energy electromagnetic pulses.

Optical pulses in carbon nanotubes with strong electron-electron interaction due to impurities

In this paper, we investigate electromagnetic pulse propagation in a medium with impurity carbon nanotubes, which are associated with the acoustic subsystem. The electron spectrum for the carbon system is obtained from the model that takes into account Coulomb impurities. Based on the Maxwell's and the wave equations for the vector of the medium displacements, we obtain the effective equations for the vector potential of the electromagnetic field and the component of the displacement vector of the medium. The dependence of the pulse shape on the various system parameters is analyzed.

Formation of microwave frequency-chirped solitons of self-induced transparency under conditions of cyclotron resonance absorption.

We study the formation of solitons of microwave self-induced transparency (M/W-SIT) which occurs under cyclotron resonance interaction of an electromagnetic pulse with an initially rectilinear magnetized electron beam. Taking into account the relativistic dependence of the gyrofrequency on the particle energy for electromagnetic wave propagating with a phase velocity different from the speed of light (i.e., far from the autoresonance conditions), such a beam can be considered as a medium of nonisochronous unexcited oscillators. Thus, similar to passing light pulses in the two-level medium, for sufficiently large amplitude and duration the incident electromagnetic pulse decomposes into one or several solitons. We find analytically the generalized solution for the M/W-SIT soliton with amplitude and duration determined, besides the soliton velocity, by the frequency self-shift parameter. The feasibility and stability of the obtained solutions are confirmed in numerical simulations of a semibounded problem describing propagation and nonlinear interaction of an incident electromagnetic pulse.

Generation of high-power electromagnetic pulses and its application to radiation effect research: A review

<p indent=0mm>This study reviews the research progress of high-power electromagnetic pulse generation. It introduces the physical model, different technologies, and the experimental generation of ultrafast, ultrashort, and ultra-high-power electromagnetic pulses. Progress on the radiation effects of electromagnetic pulses and the measured damage thresholds of microcontroller and photo-electronic devices are also discussed. Finally, future research prospects in this field are suggested.

Measurement of strong electromagnetic pulses generated from solid targets at sub-ns kJ-class PALS laser facility

Measurements had been performed of strong electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) generated as a result of laser–target interaction at the sub-ns kJ-class Prague Asterix Laser System facility. Two conductive Prodyn FD5C D-dot pencil probes were used. Measurements were performed inside the experimental chamber and outside the chamber in a large chamber window 40 cm in diameter in a setup that guaranteed 6 GHz bandwidth. A very good signal-to-noise ratio (17:1) was obtained after some steps were taken to ensure proper EMP shielding of the data collection setup. The EMP signal in the time domain was found to have the form of a sharp initial spike followed by gradually decaying oscillations interspersed with some secondary spikes. The values of the vertical component of the electric field strength were estimated. The highest value recorded in this experiment was kV m−1 at a distance of 40 cm from the target. It was observed that plastic targets—particularly the 100s of µm thick plastic foils—tend to generate stronger EMP fields than Cu and Au targets. A time-frequency analysis was performed for a typical shot, clearly showing some spectral features that appear only sometime after the start of the signal and hence indicate EMP generation from secondary sources. Electrons ejected from the target were recorded with the energies exceeding 1.5 MeV, which indicates that highly energetic processes are triggered as a result of the laser–target interaction.

High-repetition rate solid target delivery system for PW-class laser-matter interaction at ELI Beamlines.

L3-HAPLS (High-repetition-rate Advanced Petawatt Laser System) at ELI (Extreme Light Infrastructure) Beamlines currently delivers 0.45 PW pulses (12J in 27fs) at 3.3Hz repetition rate. A fresh target surface for every shot was placed at the laser focus using an in-house tape target system designed to withstand large laser intensities and energies. It has been tested for different material thicknesses (25 and 7.6 µm), while L3-HAPLS delivered laser shots for energies ranging from 1 to 12J. A technical description of the tape target system is given. The device can be used in diverse geometries needed for laser-matter interaction studies by providing an ≈300° free angle of view on the target in the equatorial plane. We show experimental data demonstrating the shot-to-shot stability of the device. An x-ray crystal spherical spectrometer was set up to measure the Kα yield stability, while a GHz H-field probe was used to check the shot-to-shot electromagnetic pulse generation. Finally, we discuss short and mid-term future improvements of the tape target system for efficient user operation.

Design of Compact Solid-State Modulator for High-Power Electromagnetic Pulse Generation

The proposed compact solid-state modulator for the generation of high-power electromagnetic (HPEM) pulses uses a lithium polymer battery as the input power source and is capable of achieving a 100-Hz pulse discharge rate with a peak voltage of 400 kV for 2 min. The developed pulse generator consists of two charging units. The primary charging unit is designed to work with 200-A battery current, which increases switching losses and temperature increments at the main switch. To compensate the problems, a half-bridge three-phase structure is connected to transformers via the proposed delta-star connection that decreases the turns ratio of the three-phase transformer effectively. Furthermore, the resonant components are intentionally placed on the secondary side of the three-phase transformer, which is characterized by low current and high voltage conditions. The secondary charging unit uses the resonance between the two capacitors, and the inductor must protect not only the controller, which is susceptible to HPEM pulse effects, but also the output rectifying diodes of the primary charging unit from the peak 20-kA pulse discharging effect. The design procedures and analysis are verified with simulations for each charging unit. The experimental results using various loads, including the actual tesla transformer, validate the system performance and confirm a 94% power efficiency with a peak power density of 431 W/L.

Study of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) effect on surveillance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

The contemporary deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for commercial purposes and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) threat to mechatronic devices necessitates the study of EMP on surveillance UAVs. This research paper describes the effect of EMP interference on the structure, communication and cabling circuit of the UAV. This was achieved using the CST microwave studio with an induced plane wave referring to MIL-STD464 and applying the transmission line matric solver method. The cable field coupling for bi-directional, uni-directional radiation and uni-directional irradiation were carried out with a constant resistive load of 50 Ω and the induced coupling currents and voltages, current in space domain, TLM mesh is obtained indicating the susceptibility of the UAV under different conditions of EMP interference and the electromagnetic distribution in the UAV circuit layout. Experimentally, the UAV is setup with an EMP generator and its response was observed at 12 m, 10 m and 8 m from the radiation source with the corresponding field strengths.